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-GRCR- posted an update 4 months, 3 weeks ago
P.1 |
“Aaaaaaaaaaannnnd, we’re off!” Lark called, “Our first mission ever! We haven’t been out of training for more than a week and we’re already being set to work!”
“To safely deliver goods from Burne to the warriors in Eyttia,” Gail wiggled her brows and crossed her arms, “A pretty special mission if you ask me.”
“Nothing our team can’t get done,” Lark nodded, “”
“Have you seen the the size of the cargo we’re dropping? It’s gotta be at least a thousand pounds—I’m surprised that little aircraft can hold so much,” Gail beamed. She turned and watched as a few of her teammates climbed into the plane, and then wiped a pretend tear out of her eye, “I bet Kedar is proud to be leading his noble team into such a tasking mission.”
“Yeah, yeah, yeah. Here, Gail,” Lark grabbed one of her hands pulled her to the side of the plane. He handed her his phone and backed up towards the ship, “Take a couple picture for me before we get in and set off.”* * *
In front of the pilot was a large blue control screen; dials, levers, and switches lined the interior side walls of the plane, each controlling some particular part of the aircraft. Kedar wondered at the switches, how one would know which switch to turn and when was a something he could barely fascinate. The screen hummed quietly, and images of the plane danced across it, giving live information of the state of the aircraft
Kedar took a seat beside the pilot—Evan Hawk—as the plane pulled forward and jumped gracefully into the air. He took off his earbuds and put them in a pocket of his uniform, and then stared out the window at his side. He watched as the ground, the training center, and the supply garage disappeared below.>>
Kedar glanced over at Hawk. Sweat trickled down the man’s brow as he reached to turn up his side of the air conditioner. His hand crept along his arm and then his chest, and then towards his neck. His hand clenched his shirt so tight it seemed his veins would show through his skin. He turned to Kedar and tried to force something of a weak smile, his blue eyes hazy, “I’m feelin’ a little light headed, ya’ know. Teddy, pass me a water from the box there.”
Kedar did as told; he opened the large, glove compartment-like box in front of him and handed a water bottle to Hawk. He watched the pilot gulp down the water and furrowed his brows, “You okay, Hawk?”
“Yeah, I think so,” Hawk tried to force another smile. He set his bottle down behind his chair, and tapped his chest with a clenched hand, “Hurts. Hurts here, but I—I’ll be alright.”
“What’s it feel like, sir?”
Hawk stared straight ahead, out the plane’s window, as though he weren’t going to answer at all. He took a pained breath, and his hand moved to his chest quickly, “Crushing. An elephant stepping on—”
“Lark, pass me an aspirin,” Kedar
“Everything alright up there?” Lark slid a small jar over the seat and into Kedar’s hand, “Hawk, Kedar?”
“Sir…” Kedar offered the aspirin to Hawk.
No response. His eyes were large and open, his pupils dilated.
Kedar gasped. He shook the man’s shoulder, but nothing came of it. He glanced at Lark, who looked at him with concern in his eyes, “What are we gonna do, Ted?”
“Help me get him out of the pilots seat, Lark,” Kedar called, pulling a switch and lowering the back of Hawk’s seat. The pilot’s limp body lowered with the back of the seat, and Kedar heard panicked murmurs pass through his teammates. He and Lark pulled the man to a different seat, and Kedar bit his lower lip, “Gail, your knowledge of piloting would be very useful at the moment.”
Gail looked around for a moment like a deer in headlights, and then in a snap she unbuckled herself and moved to the front of the plane, “I’m on it.”
“Shouldn’t I fly the plane so Gail can assist with her medical knowledge?” Dashiell offered, pulling the headset off Hawk and climbing up to the front of the plane. He sat down in the passenger seat and handed the to Gail.
“I don’t know anymore than you know, Dash,” Gail put the headset on, “We’re all in the same stuck position until we get back. I’m turning the plane around so we can go back, Teddy—get ready.”
Kedar removed Hawk’s uniform coat and unbuttoned the shirt beneath. The man did not move, and Kedar could barely tell if he was breathing. Ian unbuckled and jumped down to Kedar’s side, “He’s not breathing, Ted—we need CPR.”
“Right,” Kedar stepped back as Lark began to push hard on the man’s chest—hard pumps that seemed to—according to Kedar—do more harm then good. He watched a moment, and then turned to the front of the plane, “Is everything going alright, Gail?”
“Seems like it. This cargo plane is a little different from the ones I was trained in… but I guess it’s not too much of a problem though.”>>
“H-Hey… Kedar…” Gail called, a hint of fear ringing in the back of her voice.
Kedar stood up and moved to the front, “What’s the problem?”
“I’ve lost control of the ship, and w-we’re going down…”
“Do you know how to regain control?”
“It’s not control, it’s the aileron,” Dashiell opened the side window and pointed out to the right aileron, “It’s malfunctioning.”
Kedar turned to the other five members of his team. He felt a lump build in his throat, “Guys, the plane is going down. We must leave the ship before it drags us with it. Denzil, get the parachutes.”
“But parachutes don’t always work when you jump unsteady,” Denzil screeched. He scurried to one side of the ship and retrieved all the escape packs, “We’ll die anyway!”
“It’s better to risk it to survive, though,” Lark put his pack on speedily.
“And we don’t have much time—hut!” Gail called as she and Dashiell climbed out of the front cockpit and joined the others in hurrying about, getting ready to jump. Kedar opened the large emergency door, and one by one, each member of the team hopped out. Through and above the wind, he though he heard the faint sound of popping noises as they each opened their parachutes.
Dashiell moved to the exit but paused and looked around, “What are you doing, Ted? We have to go!”
“I can’t leave Hawk behind.”
“He’s as good as dead anyway, just leave him there,”
“We can’t leave him behind,” Kedar barked, “He’s a man just as you are.”
Dashiell gave a disapproving expression, but did as instructed. He hastily scanned the plane and checked for the emergency parachutes, but was unable to locate a spare one. He grumbled and tilted his head, “There’s none. But Ted, We can’t get him to a medic with the plane down anyway, and there’s nothing more we can do to help him. Are you gonna kill yourself trying to save him?”
“I’d rather,” Kedar looked around. He waved his hand to Dashiell, signaling to move on, “Go ahead and jump, Dash; you don’t have to die with me.”
With a sigh, Dashiell exited the plane. Kedar heard a loud poof, which he suspected to be Dashiell’s parachute. Kedar turned back to Hawk. He dragged him to the edge of the aircraft and hoisted him up, his arm wrapped around the man’s midsection. He was quite unsure if this would work—he was only trained how to jump with one other person when they were conscious. It was worth the risk. He wrapped one strap of his uniform to Hawk, and then jumped out the plane—holding tight to the heavy, limp body.
P.2 |
Beneath a half opened parachute, Lark awoke. His eyes fluttered open. His neck hurt, and it hurt bad. Really bad. He could feel that there was something warm rested against his back, but the thought of looking to see what it was sent a shiver up his spine. When he’d built up enough courage—and when his curiosity got the best of him—he glanced over his shoulder. Gail’s face. Lark rolled away, “Ew, get off me.”
His sudden movement sent a surge of pain up his arm, and he release a screech. Gail leaned up and glanced at him. She yawned, her hazel eyes fluttering, “Are we in Eyttia yet?”
“No, we’re… we’re…” Lark heaved as he looked around. Where were they? The beach where they had landed, apparently, only lasted several feet before fading into forest ground and lush, thick grass. Leaves from the birch-like trees that lined the forest edge hovered overhead, attempting to hide the grayish blue sky. In the foggy distance, he could see a peak of the plane—slowly sinking beneath the clear blue water.
Lark blinked a couple of times, and then it hit him. The crash. How he’d failed to fully open out his parachute. How hard he’d collided with the ground. It all came back to him as he sat there. With pained and slow movements, he crawled over to his sister and shook her shoulders, “Gail, what happened? I thought you said flying that ship wasn’t that big of a problem?!”
“It wasn’t,” Gail yawn again. She leaned up and glanced around, “At least not if the aileron wasn’t broken. A plane with that problem shouldn’t be flown. Where is everyone?”
“I-I don’t know. Somewhere around here.”
Besides Gail, the others were no where in sight. Perhaps they’d fallen somewhere else, maybe down the way.
“Should we go look for them?” Gail asked, hopping to her feet.
“Likely,” Lark rubbed his arm. Was it broken? No, at least he didn’t think so. To bad he couldn’t remember
Laying a short distance away was a person. Their parachute had barely left its pack, and looked as though slowing the person’s fall was the last of its priorities. As Lark and Gail got closer they could tell whoever the teammate was was in dire need of assistance. Lark ran ahead of his sister and squatted down by the teammate. Baylor. And his leg was broken. Lark looked over his shoulder, “Gail, it’s Baylor, come quick. Baylor, you okay, buddy?”
“No…”
“What hurts?” Lark rolled him onto his back.
“My leg—my right one,” Baylor grunted, “I think I fell on it too hard a’ night.”
“I’m surprised you aren’t screaming, based on how its looking right now,” Lark tilted his head, noticing just how badly his leg seemed to be broken, “Get me a stick, Gail—he needs a splint.”
There was a moment of silence as Gail hurried off into the forest. Lark felt for the knife he usually kept at his side, but then remembered he’d taken it off in the plane. He thought for a moment, but then tried to rip Baylor’s pant to get to the wound.
“Bro… just roll it up,” Baylor’s hand inched towards his pant leg and gave it a slight tug. Lark finished the rolling. He removed his own uniform jacket and shirt, but put his jacket back on. He tore his shirt and worked to pad and secure Baylor’s leg.
Baylor watched Lark work in silence. He bit his lower lip, dried blood at the corners of his mouth, “I couldn’t get my parachute to work.”
“Me neither.”
“Are you hurt, then?”
Lark rotated his arm, which sent a ripple of pain through his nerves. He gritted his teeth and tried to make no sounds of pain, “Just a sprain, maybe.”
“Sprained arm? Heh.”
Gail returned a short while later. She handed a couple long sticks to her brother, and then sat down beside them, “There’s some soft grass in that there forest. ”
“Is there.”
“Yup,” Gail watched as Lark secured the sticks tight to Baylor’s leg, “Well the good news is we didn’t fall from too high. Maybe a good eighteen feet or three stories.”
“Three stories and eighteen feet aren’t the same,” Baylor laughed a little.
Lark leaned back, “Okay, that’s the best we can do for now. We need to get to the others. We don’t know where they are but we need to stick together because there are probably all sorts of uncouth animals in that forest and we don’t want any casualties. We also need to be sure they aren’t hurting either.”
Baylor grunted through his clenched teeth, attempting to prop himself up, “Okay, don’t worry about me. I think I can walk with you guys, even if it is a little messed up. Ahh….”
Gail gasped, “Baylor, don’t mo—”
“Ah, okay… uh, maybe I can’t,” He stopped and exhaled, small drops of sweat building along the side of his face.
“You need to wait here. Entirely still.”
“Okay, okay, okay,” Baylor grunted, “B-But wait, let me try one more time—”
“Baylor, I’m gonna tie you to a tree,” Gail fumed. She shook her finger at him and gave a wide-eyed look, “Don’t test me either.”
“We need to stick together, but I don’t think it’ll work right now. Gail, you wait here with Baylor, and I’ll go find the others,” Lark stated. Then, without waiting for a reply, he started off along the shoreline.
The others couldn’t have fallen too much further. They all jumped from a similar place, so unless the water carried them elsewhere, they shouldn’t be too far away. In the near distance, Lark could see a pile of rocks and a fallen tree. He climbed over and dropped to the other side, but pain rippled up his arm and begged that he take a rest for a while. With a sigh he paused a moment, but then continued on when the pain had gone away. He kept his eyes open, looking around for anyone, and hoping that someone would show up, “Leandr? Ian?”
No one. Perhaps they were a little further off. He took a deep “Teddy? Dashiell? Denzil?”
“Lee! Over here,” Denzil hopped out of the forest and sauntered along the shoreline, arms clasped around his body. He was quite recognizable—being the only person Lark knew who looked five years younger than he was. Soft features gave his face a look of childlike innocence. A shiver rippled up the teen’s spine, “Man, you don’t know how glad I am to see you.”
“Denzil,” Lark waved to him. He trotted up to the skinny framed teammate, “You alright buddy?”
“Just shaken up a little,” Denzil sighed, “Where is everyone?”
“Baylor and Gail are back there, and I’m right here, but we don’t know where anyone else is,” Lark replied, “If you keep following the ocean edge, you’ll run into the others. Or you can come with me if ya want—I’m looking for the other others.”
“I’ll stick with you.”
“Okay,” Lark continued walking again.
>
“Did your parachute work?”
“Yeah,” Denzil ____, “but I closed my eyes the moment it opened, so I didn’t see where I had landed until I did. I kinda wish I’d fallen more on the beach.”
“Are you scared of heights?” Lark blinked.
Denzil nodded, “That and I’m scared of falling. I think it’s thanks to this one time I was out with my family—when I really little—and there was this tall, tall slide. I went to the top to go down, but someone jump-scared me and… oh man, I’ll never be the same after that.”
“Did you fall off? A slide?”
“Yup. Not fun,” Denzil laughed a little. He stopped and rolled up his pant leg, revealing several faded dark lines, “It left a few marks there, and then a few on my upper arms. But its been so long—these scars are almost gone now.”
Lark looked them up and down.
>
It was getting dark. They needed to hurry. Lark didn’t like the idea of leaving Gail alone in the dark—or an injured Baylor. And where were he and Denzil anyway? Perhaps on the total opposite side of this strange island. Lark pushed his wind whipped bangs out of his face and panted, “Denzil, let’s sprint for a while. Maybe we’ll get closer to Gail and Bay. I don’t want to leave them alone.”
“Sure, let’s go.”
Lark and Denzil slowed and panted. No way. They’d run around the who island already? Was it really that small that, in less that a day, they’d already run full circle and could see Baylor and Gail? Lark shook his head, “Have you seen any of the others during that sprint, Denzil?”
“No, besides your sister and them—no one.”
Gail waved as they approached where she and Baylor were. Lark dropped to the sand and sprawled out across the sand, “We’ve been around the whole island and didn’t find anyone.”
“Besides Denzil, apparently,” Baylor commented.
“Besides him,” Lark leaned up, “That means everyone else is deeper in the forest.”
“Or in the water,” Denzil tilted his head.
Lark looked out towards the ocean. It glimmered in the light of the setting sun, sparkling and rippling.
“But it’s been a whole day at this point,” Lark , “Anyone left in the water would’ve drowned. I say we look in the forest.”
Baylor leaned up a little, “Tonight?”
“We don’t have much of an option,” Lark stood up, “Let’s all move inward, instead of bringing everyone back to the ocean. Denzil, help me lift Baylor.”
“I don’t know if this is a good idea, Lee,” Gail stepped back as the two went to lift their friend from the ground. Baylor gasped as they hoisted him up. He clenched his teeth and squeezed his eyes so tight they seemed they might seal together forever.
“Gail, you look ahead—see if there’s any good looking spots,” Lark called.
Gail nodded, and all four started into the forest.
>
Lark pushed some brush out the way. He could see two of his teammates a short while off, so he tapped Denzil and moved towards them. When he was not more than several meters away, he could identify the two to be Kedar and Leandr, and in front of them the dead body of their pilot. Lark came to a sudden stop near them, “Kedar? Leandr?”
Kedar looked up. As though a match had been lit in his being, Kedar’s face brightened a little and he jumped to his feet, “Lark? And Denzil? Oh, thank goodness you’re alive. Have you found any of the others?”
“Gail and Baylor are just a little way off,” Lark dropped to Leandr’s side to check if he was hurt—he was awfully still, and it sent a ripple of concern up Lark’s spine. To his relief, he was just asleep, and immediately woke when Lark touched him. Lark stood up, “Besides Denzil here, I haven’t found the others.”
“That leaves Dashiell and Ian,” Kedar grunted.
“Here, take us to Baylor and your sister,” Leandr stood up.
Denzil began back through the brush, Lark close behind him. Lark paused and turned around—noticing that Kedar still stood near the old pilot, with an expression of hurt and disappointment in himself. Lark bit his lower lip, “Is… is Hawk—”
“He’s dead,” Kedar murmured, turning away to follow the others.
“Ah, Teddy, there was nothing you could do,” Leandr put a hand on Kedar’s shoulder, “We tried our best—you tried your best—but what happened happened.”
“I know, Leandr, I know.”
“We’ve gotta keep pushing forward,” Lark commented, “Least we all end up like Hawk.”
Leandr looked up at Lark with a disapproving ‘why would you say that’ face. Lark shrugged. Maybe it wasn’t the best thing to say. But it was true—and truth is truth. They continued towards the ‘base’ in silence.
>
“Are we all here?” Kedar called, “It’s getting pretty dark and I cant see all of you so I’m going to call attendance. Gail?”
“Yup. I’m here!”
“Denzil?”
“Here!”
“Leandr?”
“Mostly…”
“Lark?”
“Here!”
“Baylor?”
“Here.”
“Dashiell?”
“I’m here, but we haven’t found Ian yet,” Dashiell said, leaning against a log with an annoyed expression on his face, “As far as we know, he’s still wandering around somewhere. And it’s too dark.”
“No, I’m here!”
They all looked up as Ian crawled through some brush. He dropped to his knees, and then to the ground, “I’m so tired—I haven’t slept since we jumped.”
“Ian!” Lark jumped up from his seat. He walked to his friend and pulled him to the camp, “Why didn’t you rest?”
“I was looking for the rest of you,” Ian heaved. He rubbed his eyes and sprawled out across the ground, his eyes closing, “I was going to give up but then I heard you calling. I followed your voices and here you were—you guys are so loud.”
P.3 |
A strong smell. Something foul. Foul like mold in a basement, or spoiled food. Leandr opened his eyes and glanced around. He was near a tree, and thousands of mushrooms grew all around its base. Red ones, ugly yellow ones, off blue ones—and the duller they were, the worse they smelled. When he’d finally realized they were the cause of the awful smell, it was too late. He flew into a fit of coughing, and began to feel light in the head.
“Don’t sniff the mushrooms, Lenny. They may be toxic.”
“Wish you would’ve said that sooner,” Leandr rolled away from the tree and sat up, he rubbed his hand over his nose and sighed. He glanced at Dashiell, who was watching him from across the camp. Leandr shivered, “They don’t smell good.”
Dashiell stood up. He walked over to Lark and squatted down beside him, “Asleep like a baby. I need him to wake up so I can have him check Baylor’s situation.”
He stood back up and stretched to the side, “I looked around the area this morning, and I’ve found a river a little way off. I’m going down to take a bath really quick—tell the others for me if they ask where I’ve gone.”
Leandr nodded, and then watched as Dashiell wandered off into the forest, disappearing into the trees. He stood up and looked around.
>
Maybe a quiet moment to think was what he needed too. He should check if there was a lone place nearby—anything that could supply him some peace and solitude. He slowly rolled to his feet, and then began to wander away from camp. He groped along the bark of the trees, fingering the rough spots on the bark.
The sky was beautiful this morning, peaking through the tree leaves. There were no birds in sight—something Leandr was a bit sad about. There was nothing like the soft, sweet chirping of birds to send a wave of energy and warmth through his system.
>
Leandr slowly made his way back to camp, feeling all refreshed and ready for whatever may come that day. He reached the rest of the group within a couple minutes, and reclaimed his spot next to a tree. A few of the others were awake, and working to move things around. Gail woke up a little later. She yawned loudly as she leaned up, and then stretched to the side.
“Live well, Gail,” Lark called without looking up from assisting Baylor.
There was a pause as Gail looked around a moment, and then she huffed, “Is it really ‘Living well’ if we’re all stranded on an island with no food? Is it? HM!?”
“Chill girly. That’s a lot of energy for someone who just woke up. But don’t worry. we’ll find a way out—Forlorn won’t die like this,” Lark patted her head. He turned back to Baylor and sprung to his feet, “You’re all set Baylor. Still don’t move, though.”
“What are we going to eat if we’re stranded?” Denzil asked, “And if Baylor is jacked up, who’s gonna cook?”
“We’ll need to figure all that out,” Kedar bit his lower lip.
“I’ll tell you guys what to do if you want,” Baylor commented, “I can’t directly oversee but if you follow my instructions things could turn out alright. And if Dashiell could assist in identifying edibles, that could work as well.”
“I like that. Good thinking,” Kedar nodded, “Leandr, where did Dashiell go?”
“He went to go take a bath,” Leandr bit his lower lip, “He should be back any moment though because he left early this morning.”
Leandr stood up and walked to different a tree nearby, looking into the high branches. He’d seen some fruits in a similar tree the day earlier, ones Dashiell had advised him not to touch. Maybe the surrounding trees had some too, and he could gather a few.
>
“Hey, Baylor, do you know if any of these ___s around here can be eaten?”
“Bring one here, let me see it.”
Denzil hopped over and held out the fruit. Baylor took the fruit and looked it over. He sniffed it and then nodded, “You can eat this. It’s perfectly good. Where’d you find it?”
Denzil rubbed the apple-like fruit on his shirt and then bit it. He pointed to a tree not to far away and then sprung to his feet.
“Is it good?” Gail asked.
“Good for me, but it might poison you.”
Gail blinked a couple times. She waved a finger at him and then bounced to the tree Denzil pointed at and pluck a fruit. She bit into it and chewed for a moment, “Tangy.”
>
“There you are, Dashiell—where’ve you been?”
“There’s a river down that way,” Dashiell pointed. He continued walking and brushing his short, wet hair out of his face.
“What took you so long to bathe?” Lark snorted.
Dashiell glanced up at him and then sat down on a fallen log, “There were some things I noticed that I was interested in. A few different bugs and plants.”
>
In less than a second, Dashiell and Baylor both shouted, “Don’t touch that plant!”
Ian quickly retracted his hands, “What’s with it?”
“There are sharp pines at the end of the leaves, do you see them?” Dashiell sprinted to Ian’s side, “They’re spikes filled with poison. I poked myself with one once, and consequently my hand was numb for a couple of days. Couldn’t move a finger.”
“Why did you do that?”
“I was studying plants of Ertha, and since these don’t exactly have fatal consequences I thought I’d test one.”
“That’s dumb, Dashiell,” Baylor barked, “You could’ve killed your hand if you’d given yourself too much on acciden—”
“So are we near Ertha, then?” Ian looked up.
“What, why?”
“Well if plants like these grow in Ertha, maybe we’re in or near Ertha,” Ian shrugged. Then he hummed a ‘I don’t know’ and sat down on a log.
“You do have a point,” Leandr nodded, “Ertha is surrounded by seventeen little islands. We could be on one of those. ”
“And if there really as little as we’ve been told, it’d make sense how we ran around this island in a single day!” Lark beamed, “Brilliant, Ian!”
>
“I don’t think we should move,” Dashiell swung his legs, “I’ve noticed there are a lot of dangerous plants around here, and my guess is there could be some pretty icky animals too.”
“I TOLD you but no body listens to me!” Dashiell grunted.
“We listened alright,” Gail murmured, “Just didn’t heed.”
“All the same,” Dashiell tried to wiggle loose, “Well now we’re stuck here.”
______________________________________________
Welcome to the things that run through my head.