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 Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:24 pm
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:25 pm
John sat impatiently in the small waiting lobby in the airport. He was dark and tall, with dark brown eyes and short, dusty brown hair. For this occasion, it was spiked up but it still didn't look too big. His jawline was moving as he chewed on a fresh stick of gum. He wore a blue collared shirt with the sleeves rolled up and buttoned only halfway up his chest. He wore fading blue jeans and tan brown boots which were also starting to diminish. Any minute know he would board the plane and be gone.
John was a pretty smart kid but unfortunatly his brains weren't molded to fit him in the stereotypical school boy category. His grades through high school had been mediocre and there were very little oppurtunities for him to continue his education. His counselor had admitted this to him as well and suggested going into the work force. John wasn't too hapy to be called out like that but what else could he do? He had slacked off during high school and now he had walked into a brick wall.
Still, it was hard to accept a job that would pay minimum wage for the rest of your life so his counselor suggester other skilled careers. Being a lumberjack was one of the options. He couldn't really say that when he was five years old he wanted to kill trees for a living but he wasn't going to turn down this offer.
John received basic training in his hometown during some courses he went. Yeah, that was all it took to cut down a tree. He learned that his actual job wasn't possible to do where he currently lived, he'd have to go up north.
John had lived in Southern Ontario his whole life, he seldom left his whole town. He considered doing something else until his dad gave him an impassioned speech, with the main point (the extremely emphasised main point) being that he could not live in the basement his whole life. And so it was, a fire was effectively lit under Johnathan Dwyer's a**.
As expected, work after high school was not easy. Immediatly after his first shift, he wanted to leave. He had no moral obligations against destroying an entire forest though he would return to camp exhausted every day. Work started at the crack of dawn and ended at dusk. It was hard to adjust to putting this much effort into anything so he would occasionally convince himself that McDonalds wasn't such a bad place to work.
After six month, he had become a man of the forest. Bigger, stronger, leaner, not neccesarily smarter...
In order to evolve, he had to be completely destroyed and rebuilt again. The forest had done just that. Terrifying shifts and rigid work had changed him from a lazy city boy into a hard-working automaton. So much so that he had almost completely lost touch with his girlfriend.
His cellphone vibrated in his pocket and he took it out. It said he had a text message from a Sarah G., with the little icon of a mail envelope blinking on and off.
"hey! i cant believe ur coming back, where r u right now?"
"@the airport cant wati 2 see u" John texted back.
John had brought a laptop with him to the camp but he had no time to use it. It was wake up, work, eat, and sleep. There were basketball courts and other things at the camp but nobody had the time. The couple exchanged text messages daily but the rift between them was growing, he could feel it. Apparently she could too, because one day after work he received a message from her telling she needed time apart, and not neccesarily spelled like that. John wasn't sure how much more apart they could possibly be, there was a God damn forest between them. She explained that she couldn't do it anymore. She was in college after all, and he was just cutting the wood used to make paper she wrote on.
John convinced her to hold on for a couple more weeks, he'd be coming home soon for his yearly leave. She agreed to wait and their messages became more regular.
From the middle of the woods, Jack and a few other guys took the boat back down the river to a hick town named Dryden. It was in the middle of nowhere with a population barely breaking a hundred but its redeeming quality was that it was home to a small airport. Small bush planes regulalry flew from there to pick-up furs from barely legal hunting reserves. Fortunatly, the planes also flew back to the future cities of the south where people lived in buildings and husband and wife weren't also brother and sister.
"All passenger report to Flight 102. I repeat..." John looked up, that was his plane. He and a few other people he recognize made it outside of the square lobby that looked like a bomb shelter.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:26 pm
x_Ace_Of_Dragons_x With her foot tapping impatiently against the carpet flooring, Kaden sat in a small lobby, in a small airport, in a small town, in the middle of a large forest. Just about everything besides the forest seemed to be small to the young woman. At first she thought it may have to do with preserving the trees and such but after seeing so many men dressed up like lumberjacks around recently her thoughts changed. Her long, jet black hair hung limply at her sides, contrasting greatly with her pale complexion. Her arms were crossed over her chest as she glared around the lobby with her dark green eyes. Waiting was not something she enjoyed. To be honest, she was probably one of the most impatient people in the whole airport and that was saying something because many people around her seemed to be itching to be on their way as well.
The only reason she was waiting there in the first place was because of her father. Her father had suddenly become extremely ill and was staying in a hospital for the time being. She hadn't even been told what he was ill with, but she knew she needed to go and see him before anything worse happened. She lived with her mother because her parents were divorced. Her father lived down in Southern Ontario and after the divorce her mother moved way up north, obviously since Kaden had to take a plane just to go and see him.
She just graduated from high school about one week ago and had been planning on working at the bookstore she currently worked at the whole summer to help with payments. At the present time she doesn't have a boyfriend. Actually she's never really had a boyfriend before. She has gone on multiple dates but not many guys could stand her being just about as stubborn and independent as them. Since her dad is sick now she isn't worrying about her love life all too much at the moment.
Kaden uncrossed her arms and took an expensive digital camera from around her neck. Ever since she was young, her dream was to become a professional photographer. When she was little she loved animals, she still does, and she also loved the outdoors so most of her pictures were of wildlife and scenery shots. When not working at the bookstore she was usually out in the woods around her house taking all sorts of pictures.
She was subconsiously fiddling with the camera in her hands when her phone vihbrated. She was going to ignore it but when it continued vihbrating she knew someone was trying to get a hold of her. She took the phone out of her pocket and read the words 'Incoming call from Mom' that flashed across the screen. She rolled her eyes before answering. Her mom worried too much about things, especially her, so Kaden wasn't at all surprised that she was calling.
"Hey Mom."
"Hi Kaden. It took you long enough to answer..."
"I'm in an airport Mom, it's loud." Okay so that was a lie. Sure she was in an airport but there wasn't exactly that many people there.
"Well I still think it's ridiculous how you had to take a bus all the way down there to get on some tiny plane..." Her mom rambled on, totally off subject.
That's all her mom had talked to her about when they found out what Kaden had to do just to see her dad.
"It wasn't that bad and I'm sure the plane ride will seem pretty short considering how long the bus ride was."
"I know, just be careful."
"I'll be fine Mom. There's only like...ten people that are going to be on the plane and since it's a small one I'm sure nothing will happen." Kaden reassured her.
"Whatever you say, honey. Call me when you land. Love you!"
"Love you too." She flipped the phone closed and returned it to her pocket.
Well at least she had been entertained for a few moments, but now it was back to sitting here waiting to board the plane. She clicked her camera on, deciding to look and see what pictures she still had on the memory card. She usually downloaded them to her laptop immediantly so she wasn't expecting much to be on it. And she was right.
There was only three pictures, all from rest stops that the bus she had rode on stopped at. The first was of a beautiful mountain scenery with wild flowers covering the grassy area at the bottom. The second one was a squirrel washing its paws while sitting up on a tree branch. And lastly, the third was of a butterfly she had seen resting on a flower. Its wings were large with at least seven different patterns on it. Baby blue, dark brown, white and black were the colors that coated it. This was was definitely her favorite picture of the three.
"All passenger report to Flight 102. I repeat...", rang out on the loudspeaker right as she was turning her camera off. Kaden placed her camera gently in the small backpack she was carrying with her as she rose to her feet. She was pretty positive that was her plane but checked her ticket real quick to make sure. Yup. Flighty 102. She looked around to see others rising and heading out of the lobby so she silently followed after them.
--
After about fifteen minutes everyone was boarded and seated on to the bush plane. She sat next to a window with her backpack placed on her lap. The pilot's voice came on, informing everyone to make sure they were buckled in, then the plane started up and began down the runway. Once in the air Kaden gazed out the window for a bit, just enjoying the scenery.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:27 pm
The plane outside was smaller than most he had seen, probably bigger than a helicopter by a little bit. It wasn't going to be comfy sitting in there knee-to-knee with a dozen other people.
The steel machine was white overall with a yellow stripe running down from the tail and around the entire body, meeting itself at the end. In black paint, the words "CanadAir" was painted on the side. It was humming only softly as the pilot put it in the first mode of turning it on. Speaking of who, there was a large window at the front of the plane with a single body seen inside. John couldn't really tell what he was doing but the pilot was wearing a baseball cap and flight glasses. The guy looked like a real improfessional.
John boarded the plane, taking about four steps which had been wheeled over to the door. Inside, the seats were arranged about five by five, parralel to each other on each side of the plane. It was pretty narrow inside and John took one of the first seats available instead of going to the back like he was supposed to. The ceiling was so low that he had to bow his head when he was standing.
The plane began to hum loudly, the noise growing and growing until they couldn't hear anything anymore. It was way too loud. The plane moved slowly at first, navigating its way through the huge lot. Eventually, it began to move in a straight line and John realized they were going down the runway. Its speed began to pick up significantly and then there was lift. The front end of the plane rose into the air and the rest followed accordingly.
John could hear some people clapping and cheering, like they would on a large plane with about a 100 people. The ironic part was that there were literally like ten of them on board and he could barely hear anything.
The plane soared higher and higher, gaining height. Below there were green trees and blue dots; lakes. Occasionally, they would pass over a tiny town with the appropriate population of twenty. Nice.
John had planned to sleep on the ride which would most likely take a few hours but the noise had negated any chance of that. It was too loud to even think. His cellphone began to vibrate and he picked up.
"Cant wait to see u 2 <3""
John looked up and wondered if he was allowed to have this thing on. He knew on most planes you weren't because it supposedly interfered with the signals. Without hesisation he turned it off.
About an hour into the flight, John looked outside his window and noticed the plane was tilted. The side he was on was leaning down while the other side was up. How long had it been like that? It was sort of odd that they had been turning this long.
John was drumming his fingers on his arm rest when there was a fizzing sound. It was sort of audible over the engine of the plane, John quickly realized it was the intercom. He wasn't sure what the pilot was saying, if anything at all, he only heard the feedback.
He looked around at the rest of the passengers. They had heard it too, they just didn't know what it was. Some of them had concerned looks on their faces. Curious, John stood up from his seat and walked up to the closed door that led to the cockpit. He knocked on the door but nobody answered. John opened the door and looked in slowly, the pilot was sitting in his chair. The noxious smell of body gas hit his nose making him want to close the door and leave. He quickly walked to the pilots chair and started talking to him from behind, holding his breath.
"Dude, what's going on? Did you say something on the intercom?" John shouted but he didn't get an answer. Frustrated, he walked up beside and was shocked to see that the pilot was dead.
His face was frozen in an expression of pain with his right hand clutching his heart. The smell of gas must have been his bowels releasing and the noise on the intercom his futile cry for help.
Completely startled, John stumbled out of the cockpit and into the passenger section of the plane. Some of the people on board had stood up after he entered the cockpit, anxious expressions on their faces.
"The pilot is dead!" John shouted at the top of his voice, his face was completely pale.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:30 pm
x_Ace_Of_Dragons_x Looking out the window didn't seem to entertain Kaden for very long. Large areas of green forest and the occasional patch of a blue lake were not all that interesting from way up here. Plus, the puffy white clouds that kept blocking her view weren't very helpful either. She mentally scolded herself for not bringing a book or something to read. If only she had more pictures on her camera to look at. But then again electronics usually didn't fair too well up in the air so high, or at least she thought they didn't, so that probably wouldn't have solved her problem anyways. Same goes with her phone. She had turned it off before the plane had taken off, though the main reason for that was she didn't want her mother calling again. Especially while she was in such a small place with strangers.
No matter how hard she tried thinking of things to occupy herself with, her thoughts kept straying back to her father. Why hadn't her and her mother been told what he was ill with? Maybe her mother had known but just hadn't told her. If that was true Kaden would have to remember to be pissed about it later. Or maybe the doctors didn't have a clue as to what he was sick with. For all she knew they could simply be over-exaggerating and just said that he was really ill. Who knew? Maybe he watched that stupid video and was going to die in seven days like in that movie Kaden had never actually seen. Okay, so she was betting that wasn't it but making sarcastic remarks was her way of keeping her cool in rough situations.
Dragging her thoughts away from the subject, Kaden gazed inconspicuously at the people seated around her. Most of them were middle-aged who looked like they may be going on a business trip or something. There were a few elderly people as well and one younger couple that looked to be in their late twenties. The only person that seemed to be around her age was a tall, dark guy with spiky brown hair and brown eyes to match.
Kaden glanced down at the black leather watch she was wearing to find out that it's been about an hour since they had taken off. She guessed it had gone by pretty quickly, but reguarding she hadn't remembered how long the flight was supposed to be she decided not to get her hopes up.
Then all of the sudden she heard this strange buzzing type sound. After a few moments she realized it was the intercom. Was the pilot trying to say something? If so it wasn't going through very well. She noticed the other passengers had noticed the sound to because of the confused looks on their faces and some were murmuring in worried tones to each other. The guy that looked about her age rose from his seated, walked over to the door that led into the cockpit, and knocked. No one answered so she watched as he cautiously entered. What the hell was going on?
Less then a minute later the guy shuffled back into their seciton of the plane, his face having gone pale. Kaden's eyes widened in disbelief at the words that came from his mouth. The pilot was...dead?! How could that have happened? How long has he been dead? If no one had gone to check then they could have been flying along for who knows how long with no one actually flying the plane! They would have only found out when they would have crashed. Oh God, are we going to crash?
Kaden usually wasn't one to panic easily, or at least it never showed when she was panicing. But come on! No one was flying the damn plane! She believed this was one of those reasons to panic but however, she strangely seemed some what calm, unlike some of the other passengers. One of the elderly woman had actually fainted, a few people were screaming hysterically, and a guy in a business suit was hyperventilating.
She wasn't very social to be honest, but Kaden definitely knew how to handle a tough situation. Okay well not all the time but she at least knew what she had to ask at the moment. "Everyone calm down!" She yelled over all the noise. Most turned in her direction, some of them with a 'How the hell do you expect us to calm down right now?' look on their face. "Now, does anyone here know how to fly a plane?" Since there was so few of them she doubted it but that was definitely something that they needed to know. And she had been right. They all looked at her with a blank face. She frowned and murmured, "Well this is just fantastic..."
Someone screamed again and everything went into chaos once more. So no one knew how to fly a plane. What now? Kaden turned to the guy that had told them the pilot was dead. He was at least handling things better then most of the others, though his face still looked dangerously pale. "You have any ideas?" She asked, still amazed at how calm she seemed to be as she waited for an answer.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:32 pm
x_Ace_Of_Dragons_x Looking out the window didn't seem to entertain Kaden for very long. Large areas of green forest and the occasional patch of a blue lake were not all that interesting from way up here. Plus, the puffy white clouds that kept blocking her view weren't very helpful either. She mentally scolded herself for not bringing a book or something to read. If only she had more pictures on her camera to look at. But then again electronics usually didn't fair too well up in the air so high, or at least she thought they didn't, so that probably wouldn't have solved her problem anyways. Same goes with her phone. She had turned it off before the plane had taken off, though the main reason for that was she didn't want her mother calling again. Especially while she was in such a small place with strangers.
No matter how hard she tried thinking of things to occupy herself with, her thoughts kept straying back to her father. Why hadn't her and her mother been told what he was ill with? Maybe her mother had known but just hadn't told her. If that was true Kaden would have to remember to be pissed about it later. Or maybe the doctors didn't have a clue as to what he was sick with. For all she knew they could simply be over-exaggerating and just said that he was really ill. Who knew? Maybe he watched that stupid video and was going to die in seven days like in that movie Kaden had never actually seen. Okay, so she was betting that wasn't it but making sarcastic remarks was her way of keeping her cool in rough situations.
Dragging her thoughts away from the subject, Kaden gazed inconspicuously at the people seated around her. Most of them were middle-aged who looked like they may be going on a business trip or something. There were a few elderly people as well and one younger couple that looked to be in their late twenties. The only person that seemed to be around her age was a tall, dark guy with spiky brown hair and brown eyes to match.
Kaden glanced down at the black leather watch she was wearing to find out that it's been about an hour since they had taken off. She guessed it had gone by pretty quickly, but reguarding she hadn't remembered how long the flight was supposed to be she decided not to get her hopes up.
Then all of the sudden she heard this strange buzzing type sound. After a few moments she realized it was the intercom. Was the pilot trying to say something? If so it wasn't going through very well. She noticed the other passengers had noticed the sound to because of the confused looks on their faces and some were murmuring in worried tones to each other. The guy that looked about her age rose from his seated, walked over to the door that led into the cockpit, and knocked. No one answered so she watched as he cautiously entered. What the hell was going on?
Less then a minute later the guy shuffled back into their seciton of the plane, his face having gone pale. Kaden's eyes widened in disbelief at the words that came from his mouth. The pilot was...dead?! How could that have happened? How long has he been dead? If no one had gone to check then they could have been flying along for who knows how long with no one actually flying the plane! They would have only found out when they would have crashed. Oh God, are we going to crash?
Kaden usually wasn't one to panic easily, or at least it never showed when she was panicing. But come on! No one was flying the damn plane! She believed this was one of those reasons to panic but however, she strangely seemed some what calm, unlike some of the other passengers. One of the elderly woman had actually fainted, a few people were screaming hysterically, and a guy in a business suit was hyperventilating.
She wasn't very social to be honest, but Kaden definitely knew how to handle a tough situation. Okay well not all the time but she at least knew what she had to ask at the moment. "Everyone calm down!" She yelled over all the noise. Most turned in her direction, some of them with a 'How the hell do you expect us to calm down right now?' look on their face. "Now, does anyone here know how to fly a plane?" Since there was so few of them she doubted it but that was definitely something that they needed to know. And she had been right. They all looked at her with a blank face. She frowned and murmured, "Well this is just fantastic..."
Someone screamed again and everything went into chaos once more. So no one knew how to fly a plane. What now? Kaden turned to the guy that had told them the pilot was dead. He was at least handling things better then most of the others, though his face still looked dangerously pale. "You have any ideas?" She asked, still amazed at how calm she seemed to be as she waited for an answer.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:33 pm
John looked around the room, seeing if anybody knew what to do. They were all clueless just as he, but when nobody was right, the second best thing was to be loudest.
There was one girl in particular who was trying to calm everybody down. She didn't know how to fly the plane either but at least she was trying to get everyone organized. The task was almost impossible to do over the deafening noise from the engine.
She started speaking to him, he couldn't really here her but he knew what she was trying to say. He regained his composure, took her by the arm and dragged her inside the cockpit with him. Everybody else had gathered outside and were still busy panicking.
"I'm not really sure what to do," John said in a calmer voice. It was quieter in the cockpit. "What if we try to radio in for help? Maybe someone can tell us how to steer this God damn thing."
John walked over to the pilot and unbuckled his seatbelt. He looked at the girl reluctantly and picked up the man. He was heavy as hell and he was all limp from death. John turned his head as he carried the lifeless body over to the edge of the room and dropped him. He mumbled something incoherent.
John walked over to the main seat and made himself comfortable. There was another chair a few feet away from that one. The first thing he did was buckle down.
John looked around the control panel, there was nothing to indicate a radio or any other way to communicate. He felt around and noticed headphones, attached by a wire to the control panel and dangling off the edge of his seat. He put them on and held down a button while he spoke.
"Hello? Can anyone hear me? Hello?" John looked nervously at the girl. "We're in trouble, our pilot is dead. Can anyone-"
"Roger that, I read you. This is flight 102, am I correct? Over." The voice on the other end of the line spoke, followed by static again. John beamed brightly.
"Yeah, that's us. We're in mid air and our pilot just died."
"Roger. Please say over at the end of your transmission. Do you know how to steer the plane? Does anyone on board know? Over."
"No, none of us know how to steer a plane... Over."
"Right. Do you see the rudder in front of you? Over."
"The black thing? Over."
"Yeah, that's it. If you pull it the plane goes up, if you push it it goes down. Steer it either way and the plane will turn in that direction. Do you copy? Over."
"Yeah, I get it, over." John said. Strange, though, he noticed that the rudder was slightly turned to the side. He adjusted it and immediatly felt the plane turn back to the left, the contents shifting all over the place, fortunatly the dead pilot wasn't part of the contents.
"Woah," John said, sitting upright in his seat, scared as hell.
"What was that? Over." The voice asked again.
"I just adjusted the plane a bit, went all over the place."
"Copy that. Please say over at the end of each transmission. Over."
"Ah, God damn it! Is it really time for games right now.... OVER!" John shouted.
"Please remain calm. If you... ane... o the ri... eful... ver."
"What? Yo, what was that? Over!"
"St.. the righ... over."
"I can't hear you, there's something wrong. Over." After this sentence, the only reply John received was static. Just plain static. Their communications were shot and they were miles and miles into the air, with only the slightest clue of what to do.
"Hey," John said to the girl, looking straight through the window in front of him. "We're all alone. And I don't really wanna die a virgin." He appeared to be serious at first but a sly smile creeped onto his face.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:34 pm
x_Ace_Of_Dragons_x Kaden didn't usually like people touching her but she let it slide when the guy took her arm and hustled back into the cockpit. She wasn't really surprised when he informed her about not knowing what to do but she thought his radio idea was excellent. "Good idea." She mumbled as she followed him over to the controls. To be honest she thought it was a bit sad that the 'oh-so-responsible' adults were the ones panicing while two teenagers handled the situation.
Kaden stayed back as the guy removed the pilot from his seat, her eyes narrowing when he just dropped the body on the floor. But she supposed this wasn't exactly the best time to be worrying about how gentle they handled the dead.
She then seated herself in the second chair and buckled in. Her dark green eyes watched the boy as he picked up some headphones and placed them on his head. When he began talking the first thing she thought was what if someone didn't answer? She guessed they could try to figure things out on their own but having someone tell them how to fly this hunk of metal would be much more comforting.
Relief washed over Kaden's face when a voice answered loud enough for her to hear. She listened excitedly as the guy began telling the man on the other end of the radio their situation. Thank God he at least explained how to control the steering and such but wouldn't they need to know more then that to fly it?
When the guy righted the plane Kaden was pretty sure her face became even paler then it already was. She shot him a look that said, 'Try to be more careful!' Then she continued listening to their conversation, also getting irritated with the whole 'over' thing. But really, was saying 'over' necessary at a time like this?
"Damn it all!" She growled loudly when they lost connection with the radio man. How could this happen? Weren't they supposed to have like, really good radio systems so this kind of thing doesn't happen? Now they had no pilot and had no one to tell them how to fly the plane. How worse could things get?
Kaden glanced over at the guy when he said 'hey' and her mouth literally dropped open at his next words. Who did this guy think he was? Did he really expect her to just stop everything and have sex with him because he didn't want to die a virgin?
"Are you serious?! We don't have a pilot and we barely know how to fly this damn thing and all you can think about is sex?!" She snapped. "You are such a guy!" When she saw his lips curve into a smile she unbuckled, went over to his seat, which was only like three feet away, and actually smacked the side of his head. Yes, when she got angry she also got violent.
"Jeez..." Kaden mumbled. Her hands gently rubbed her temples as she tried to think. After a few moments she looked down at the boy. "Okay I think we should try landing somewhere. Then at least we don't have to worry about crashing into another plane or a tower or something." Without even waiting for an answer she turned around and slipped out of the cockpit. If they were going to try landing then she needed everyone to be sitting down and buckled up.
She refrained from groaning when she saw people were still freaking out. "Listen up!" She called. When no one listened she whistled really loud which thankfully got people's attention. "We're going to try to land the plane so I need everyone seated and buckled in." The people looked at her if she were an alien or something. "Right now!" She yelled. As if a switch turned on in their heads, the other passengers frantically began taking a random seat and strapping themselves in. "Now if you just sit tight and remain calm I'm sure everything will be fine." She reassured them. She was actually pretty shocked no one had even bothered questioning if her or the guy knew how to land the plane, which of course they didn't, so she guessed it was better if the passengers didn't know that.
Kaden turned and went back into the cockpit. "Everyone's buckled in. Now we just need to find somewhere to land." She said to the guy while walking back to the front and peering down at the ground below. Sadly she only saw miles and miles of forest. "Damn..."
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:35 pm
John's head lurched forward as she hit him. The girl was really impatient and didn't understand his jokes at all. It'd be safe to say that if he was actually the pilot he wouldn't choose her to be his co-pilot.
"Learn to take a joke, sweetheart," John said, rubbing the sore spot on the back of his head.
So now they were up in the air without a pilot, or anybody to help them out through the radio. He dared to wonder if it could possibly be any worse but if there's anything he learned through movies is that that question queues up a rainstorm. The last thing he wanted was this plane to be struck down by a bolt of lightning before they even had a chance to land it.
Before he attempted to bring the plane down, John took out his cellphone. He searched his contacts for a "Sarah G." and opened a blank page.
"hey babe, im on the plan and the pilot died, i unno y. he just droped dead and now we hvae to fly this thing. if we dont suriviv i just wanna tel u i love u and im givin u permision to date othr guys ;] <3"
John sent the message and turned off his cellphone, knowing it may be the last time he ever used it.
"Easier said than done," John said, regarding the landing. "Listen, before we even try to do this thing, maybe you should call one of your relatives," Some of the people in the back were texting their last words furiously, frequently misspelling them. "Or a loved one, whatever."
John was starting to realize the situation he was in. He was starting to sweat and his palms were getting clammy. Up until now he was all jokes but the severity of the moment was starting to weigh on him.
Down below, there were nothing but green trees with, yes, once again, the occasional lake. They were very low on gas, they'd be running out any minute now and be plummeting into the forest below. There was no sense in looking for any towns around here, they probably didn't even have an airport. Their safest chances was to try to land in the forest and wait to be rescued.
John had thought of something; they couldn't land in the forest. The trees would rip their plane apart and they'd all be killed. But where then? Their safest bet was one of the lakes. Below, John could see tons of them, but they were all small. They were scattered all over the place so either they hit one or they got torn up by a tree.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:36 pm
x_Ace_Of_Dragons_x Kaden rolled her eyes. Sure she could take a joke, though sometimes she did take things a bit too literally. But she knew he had been only joking, the smack was more because she didn't think this was an appropriate time for making jokes. Well that was a bit hypacritical since she had been making sarcastic remarks in her head earlier to make herself feel better about her dad, but he didn't know that. She let out a small sigh and didn't bother telling him what she thought since she supposed the smack was enough.
Her green eyes continued looking down at the ground below, still seeing only forest and a lake here or there. She was trying to think when his words dragged her away. "You're right...I guess I should." She mumbled. As she took out her cell phone and turned it on to text her mother, she tried to not think about that it may be the last words that her mother ever read from her.
"Hey mom, i no ur prolly mad cuz im txtin instead of callin but our pilot died & idk how much longer we hav. we're gonna try & fly the plane but idk how tht's gonna turn out so just wantd to say i love you and tell dad i love him too <333"
Kaden pressed the send button then turned the phone off. She took a deep breath, shoved the phone back in her pocket, and began thinking once more.
She looked back out the window but she just couldn't think of where they should land. Als she knew was they had to land because she had glanced at the fuel gauge and it was almost on empty. If they didn't pick a spot soon then a spot was going to be picked for them. She sat back down in her seat.
Since there was mostly forest she supposed they would have to land in it. But hitting all of those trees wouldn't be good for the plane or the forest, besides who knows what could happen if the palne took that much damage. She didn't want any explosions right before they manage to get to the ground. Then a patch of blue caught her eye. "The lake!" She practically shouted. "We could land in one of the lakes!" Kaden turned to the boy. "Do you think that would work?" The plane had life vests didn't it? She wasn't sure but still if they landed close enough to the shore they wouldn't have to swim too far. What other choice did they have?
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 3:37 pm
Everyone had strapped themselves into their seats. The two amateur pilots manned the plane as best as they could but the gauge indicating their oil levels was dwindling on empty.
The plane was starting to drop into a nose-dive but John pulled the lever and the plane pulled back up. Still, it was on an easy denoument, in a couple of minutes it would hit the earth like a steel fireball.
The girl beside him was going on about landing in a lake, she realized it too. He knew that even if they were lucky to survive, they'd still have to get out of the plane somehow. There probably wasn't a way to open the door manually unless through brute force.
"I'm gonna see if I can land in a lake. Shouldn't be too hard, right?" They had to look for the best one, though. Most of them were too small, he could see that from here. They were passing big ones and he noticed them only after it was too late. Then, directly in their path, John noticed a long stretch of water. It was larger than most lakes but it wasn't a river. It was an amorpheous body of water that was pretty lengthy.
"Ok, hold on," John said. It took a while to master the controls, everytime he turned the rudder even a little bit they would suddenly make a steep turn to the side. He angled the plane carefully, lining it up with the lake.
The trees were getting bigger and bigger. They were only about a thousand feet above the surface, clouds no longer blocked the way. John was reeling in his seat as if he was on a roller coaster. There was worry and panic at the edge of his mind, becoming prominent in his thoughts. The nose was pointing directly at the lake.
He could barely see anything except the clear, blue lake. Right before they landed, John pulled the rudder again. Instead of the nose landing in the water, the flatter of the belly skipped across the water. He was pretty sure that in all that shaking he was getting some sort of major whiplash or a concussion. Blood was coming out of his nose.
The problems didn't stop there. The plane skipped sideways across the lake, the wing that it was using for leverage snapped audibly and the plane began to roll. By the time it stopped it was upside down, they were sitting on the roof. The plane started to sink slowly.
The glass window in front of John and the other girl smashed into pieces, water came pouring in through the hole. It filled up quickly as they sank.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 4:37 pm
With worry in her eyes, Kaden couldn't help but continue to glance at the fuel gauge. It seemed to be decreasing rapidly with every passing minute, indicating that they had to land soon. Very soon. If they didn't then...well she didn't really want to think about that at the moment. Instead she kept repeating in her mind that everything was going to be just fine, though deep down she knew she didn't believe that for one second.
When the plane started diving down toward the earth her hands held on to the seat in a death grip, not even relaxing when the guy beside her pulled it back up into its original position, though that did help some what. Since it was really the only decent option, she wasn't surprised to hear him say that he was going to try and land in the lake like she had suggested. "Yeah, not hard at all..." She managed to mumble, a bit shocked she could still give out sarcastic remarks at a time like this.
Kaden was afraid they wouldn't be able to find a big enough lake to land in but miraculously a large, long stretch of water appeared before them. Okay so they had found a place to land but now it was time for the actual landing of the plane. She almost laughed at his comment about holding on. If she held on any tighter then she was sure to be graphed into the stupid seat.
The aircraft was lowering quickly and when they hit the water and started skidding down it she was glad for the seatbelt because she couldn't help hopping up and down in her seat with all the turbulance that came with landing. She usually never got sick from rides that moved a lot but right now she felt like she was going to hurl any moment. Luckily she refrained from doing so.
Then the plane began rolling over and over again. So much for having seatbelts because hers snapped so that when the plane finally stopped it was upside and her and the guy were on the roof. Her whole body was in pain and when she patted the back of her head her hand came away smeared with thick crimson liquid. But right now she supposed that didn't matter very much because the plane began sinking. Her eyes flickered back to the cockpit door as she wondered if they could manage to get out that way in time when suddenly the front window burst and water began quickly filling up the small space they were sitting in.
Before Kaden knew it the water was already up to her chest. They had no time to go through the door and all the way out so their only option was to swim through the broken window. She glanced over at the boy and mouthed 'The window!' to him since the rushing water was overwhelmingly loud and she knew he wouldn't be able to hear her. Just incase she also pointed in its direction before taking a deep breath and plunging under the water.
She blinked rapidly so that she could see and headed toward the window, the current of the water was slowing down since the cockpit had to be almost filled by now. She swam as hard as she could out the window, though not managing to avoid a piece of glass still connected. Pain surged through her left arm but she kept going, feeling her lungs tighten as she slowly began running out of air. Her back was pressed against the pointed tip of the plane as she swam straight forward. When she couldn't feel the plane against her anymore she shot straight up toward the surface, which was about twenty feet up.
Kaden broke through the surface, choking and gasping for air. She remained coughing, for she had swallowed some water, while pedaling her legs and moving her arms to stay up. When the coughing ended she tried to slow her breathing while blinking the water from her eyes. She was really just happy to be alive. Speaking of being alive, she looked around and didn't notice anyone else bobbing above the water. Had she been the only one that had gotten out? No, that couldn't be it. That guy! Where was he? She had been sure he was right behind her. Or at least that's what she had assumed. She stayed afloat while her eyes scanned the water around her, praying for someone else to appear.
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Posted: Mon May 11, 2009 9:03 pm
John was putting together a mad scramble inside of the cockpit. His seatbelt had done its job though he wasn't completely sure he wanted it to. He was hanging upside down in his seat with his nose bleeding slightly. In the midst of the turmoil, John thought he saw the other girl fall out of her seat. He could see her briefly tossed around in the eye of the hurricane and he made to scream but the window shattered, water filling his lungs.
John tore at the seatbelt with his nails, getting it off only by luck. His hand had grazed the buckle and it had snapped open. He was still floating near the ceiling of the roof. It was too blurry to see through the water but he could catch some fading light coming off the window, magnified by the floating shards of glass.
John swam in that direction, losing air fast. He hadn't prepared for the sudden jet of water, he was running on adrenaline. He thrashed through the water effectively, that is until he hit his head against the empty frame of the window. The too familiar feeling of whiplash greeted him again, the blood flowing from his nose more freely. He paused to nurse his wound momentarily but his greater sense of urgency told him he must move.
Now out of the steel trap, John kicked up. Where up was he didn't really know, he figured he would continue his routine of thrashing about. Hey, if it ain't broke don't fix it.
His movements were beginning to slow down, his muscles stiffening from lack of oxygen. Worst of all was the bursting feeling in his lungs. They must have shrivelled up and withered away by now. He was seeing colours where the surface should be. It was about the same as pressing on the screen of a calculator.
John was starting to feel lax about his imminent demise. He pushed forward again and again, yet his head did not break the surface. He did it nonchalantly, and then when he had given up hope, his head went above the water.
Blood, water, and saliva poured from his throat and nose. He coughed and gulped for air, it came too easily now. Tears were stinging his eyes so he didn't open them. He waded in the water as his lungs grew once more.
John opened his eyes narrowly. First base was landing the plane, second was surviving the crash, third was not drowning, and a home-run would be reaching the coast. It would an in-park home-run, something highly improbably.
His thoughts lay with no other's but of his own security. He turned on his belly and weakly swam towards shore. He was sore all over, nothing felt broken though. His nose was still bleeding and his head was hurting like hell. As of that moment, he could not see anybody.
The water turned shallow, enough so that he could walk. It was a welcome feeling not to have to struggle but even walking felt hard. The water reclined until it was barely a muddy puddle.
There, among the reeds, John fell unconscious on his back for what felt like it would be forever.
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Posted: Sat May 23, 2009 11:09 am
Kaden didn't know how long she had been in the water but she couldn't seem to see anyone else around and her left arm was still throbbing with pain from the wound. If she didn't make it to shallow water soon she might end of falling unconscious in open water. Definitely not good.
While she swam she kept wondering if she was really the only one that made it out. Sure she could handle being by herself, she was usually by herself anyways, but all those people dying? The thought made her stomach twist.
Her left arm was slowly going numb. She was basically dog paddling because it hurt too much to do actual strokes. When she gazed down she could see blood in the water, meaning that her arm hadn't stopped bleeding. Kaden could also feel other little pains on her body but she hoped those were just scratches and nothing serious. She was just glad this was a lake and not the ocean because the blood might have attracted sharks.
Kaden had been lost in her thoughts when her feet suddenly hit solid ground. She stumbled slightly but managed to wade to the lake shore. Once on it though she went down on her hands and knees, panting and spitting out water. She then flopped onto her back and just laid there, trying to catch her breath. She thought she was feelings a bit better but suddenly her vision turned black and she fell unconscious.
((Really sorry for the short sucky post xP There wasn't much to do in between her swimming to shore and then falling unconscious...))
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Posted: Fri May 29, 2009 11:19 pm
John woke up several times but his moments of consciousness were very short. He didn't know how long he was in the water, could have been a day or two. The whole time he slept.
John woke up for a few seconds in the nightime. He wasn't fully aware so he didn't realize anything around him except that it was dark. With that, he went back to sleep and woke up the next afternoon.
The skin on his face had turned red and it was very sensitive. The conditions in his head were delicate as well. A ringing pain, triggered by his eyes sensitivity to light and possibly after-effects of getting tossed around in a plane, made his head feel swollen. He did not know if it had hurt like this ever before.
John stared up ahead into the tree-line across the pond. His senses came back slowly to him and he realized he was still in the water. John made a foolish attempt to move but what he found was more pain. His whole body ached, he didn't want to move. The lumberjack was tempted to go back to sleep but if he did he feared he would never wake up.
Slowly, inching his way backwards painfully, John eventually made it to dry ground. His clothes were hopelessly wet and his skin was wrinkled from the heat. A day and night of soaking it up in the water could do that to you.
John didn't stop moving until he found a reliable and sturdy log he could lean his head on. Breathing hard, he surveyed the area around him.
The most prominent object was the lake. It looked big from inside the plane and it was even bigger from here. It was the largest thing in front of him and it continued far to his left until he saw it swirve around a bank and out of sight. It curved back to him, making it look like he was sitting on the inside of a capital L, not too far from the angle.
There were trees everywhere. Trees, grass, lake, and maybe a couple other things, but that's it. This kind of territory wasn't unfamiliar to him, he had been deep inside forests before. The only difference was that he wasn't stranded before, he was simply cutting down wood.
John suddenly remembered the plane and why he was here. Shockingly, the large metal machine was nowhere to be found. It should have been the first thing he saw. Instead, there were splintered pieces of metal and aluminum floating near the surface. They did only in the shallow water otherwise they sank to the bottom. That's where the plane must be, he though painfully, the bottom. John wondered if anyone else had survived.
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