Under any normal circumstances, Ashleigh would be jumping up and down, flailing her limbs this way and that in an effort to shake off the stress. For some reason, though, her intuition told her that doing so on a plane that was quite some distance away from the earth was an incredibly bad idea. In those five minutes, she did well to stand exactly in the same spot; distracting her mind with checking and re-checking her gear to ensure that there was nothing exposed. When the red light caught her eye, she could do little else but stare at the back of Anna.<br/><br/>Ashleigh desperately didn't want it to disappear into the dark.<br/><br/>Inevitably, that figure did vanish, hurling itself out of the plane with as much grace and confidence that one would expect  of someone who has done this a few times in her life. The far from extreme scientist looked on for a split second, stunned, before a little voice in the back of her head told her that everyone was waiting. Who was everyone? Those behind her? Those eager to follow her discoveries? Those who have fallen victim to this tragic virus who can only hope to be cured? Ashleigh sure as hell didn't know, but there was no time to try and figure that out.<br/><br/>A running start turned into a lazy stumble, the youngest of the group grudgingly threw herself out of the back of the plane. There were a number of sensations that she felt in that instant she was exposed to the elements. It was windy, it was cold, it was far from enjoyable. Her mind kept telling her that she could felt particularly cold between the legs. Ashleigh could only hope that it actually wasn't her wetting herself.<br/><br/>Actually deciding to open her eyes, she was met with a blanket of darkness. The only break in it was the flashing light on Hackett's shoulder. It seemed to be getting further and further away... but not in terms of distance. As Ashleigh fell to what she thought was straight, the officer slowly but surely was veering off to the left. Judging from simple experience alone, the scientist was definitely not on the right track. Her mind couldn't even sort out what was going wrong as the parachute deployed itself automatically, as it should.<br/><br/>When Ashleigh managed to re-orient herself, she looked out at where she thought she remembered seeing Hackett, and then up to where the others should have been. The parachute blocked off quite a bit of her field of vision, but as far as she could tell, there weren't any lights, any indicators, of her teammates around. Any number of swears flew out of Ashleigh's mouth, and only when she remembered that there was a comm device in her gear did she calm down. She couldn't even hear herself speak, so that would have to wait until she found some sort of ground.<br/><br/>With what little time there was to reach the ground, Ashleigh did what she thought was best in turning in the direction that she thought the 'LZ' was. Her vision could barely make out trees and such, and that was quite clear when she and her parachute got caught up in them. Dangerous, yes, but thankfully there wasn't an injury to speak of. This little development did essentially overrule any sort of instruction she did get from both Anna and her morning instructor, but perhaps that was for the best. Releasing herself from her chute, Ashleigh far from gracefully plummeted the remaining ten feet or so to the ground.<br/><br/>The dark kept the young woman from truly exploring the little bit of forest that she found herself in. She doubted that there were going to be any real threats in the area, but drew the pistol from her thigh holster regardless. "Lovely," Ashleigh said to herself, cursing her luck more than ever. Luckily she was still able to remember that they were all linked up on a comm system. "Oh... I'm sure you can all use your fancy night vision and whatnot to see me but I can't see you. Mind giving me a clue as to where to go?"<br/><br/>Though she clearly was, Ashleigh really didn't want to be thought of as a liability to their survival. Playing off that she was independent and capable seemed to be the best way to do that.