Crash Landing

When Unique opened her eyes, her first thought was that she had died. Nothing hurt and there was no sound. She sat up and looked around her. William was lying on his side, his right arm bent at an unnatural angle. John the pilot was lying across legs. Neuro’s body was sprawled along side the control panel lying smashed on the floor of the basket. His head was bloody and it was obvious he was dead.

“William; William can you hear me? Oh, please tell me you’re still alive.” She reached over and touched his face. His eyes blinked open and she snatched her hand back, startled. “You’re alive then. Thank goodness. I can’t imagine being out here all alone. Are you all right?”

William groaned as he tried to sit up. “I don’t think so. I feel dizzy and sick to my stomach. I think my arm is broken.”

William howled in agony. His scream echoed off the rocky canyon walls and startled small birds into flight. The sweat beaded on his brow and rolled down the sides of his face. His shirt was dark with it. “You enjoyed that didn’t you, Unique? Surprised, she looked up at him sitting propped against the side of the basket. His face was grey and drawn with pain.

“Of course I did. I delight in torturing you, William; surely you know that by now”, she said sarcastically as she shook her head in disgust. “What a daft thing to say. It’s bad enough we’re stuck out here in the middle of God knows where. How far do you think we’d get if your arm ended up infected from a compound fracture? I had to set it if we’re to have any hope of getting out of here and you should be grateful that I know how to do it. Now hold still while I find something to bind it with. If that bone shifts I’ll have to do it all over again.”

“You’d enjoy that, wouldn’t you?” he muttered under his breath.

“I heard that” she said. Unique continued to rummage around in the bottom of the balloon’s basket. Everything was scattered across the bottom from the hard landing at the bottom of the rocky gorge. Remnants of the tattered balloon envelope dangled in the tree branches above their heads. “That’s it! The balloon was made of rip stop nylon – that would be the perfect thing to bind up your arm and make a sling.”

“How are you going to get up there, Unique? You’re not ten feet tall.”

“Well, I’ll stand on something then. Or maybe climb. I know how to climb trees.”

“Well, wouldn’t that be fancy – you breaking your arm. Then I could reciprocate.”

“Fat chance, William. You need two hands to pull a bone straight and you’ve only got one functional. I know what to do.” She leaned Neuro upright and propped him up with a backpack. Balancing on his shoulders, she climbed onto the edge of the basket and reached up for the nearest branch.

“You’re gonna bust your ass doing that.”

“Shut up, Will.” Unique pulled her legs straight up over her head and wrapped them around the branch. With a bit of twisting she was soon on top of the outstretched limb. Lying there catching her breath Unique looked around. She couldn’t see far but she could tell that they weren’t all the way to the bottom of the gorge. There was a gleam of water off in the distance but at a lower elevation.
“Hey, Will?” she called down. “Is there any kind of map in John’s backpack? I think I can see a river or a creek from up here.”

“How far is it?” he asked.

“I can’t tell. I can only see a little bit of it. It doesn’t look too far. It doesn’t look too big though. I can’t really tell.”

Suddenly, Will cried out.

“What happened? Are you all right?”

“I bumped my arm on Neuro. It hurt like hell.” William’s voice sounded weaker than it had. He was suffering something fierce but he was determined not to show it.

“William, I am so sorry. I shouldn’t have asked you to do that. Just sit still. I can reach a piece of this material from here and I’ll come down and look myself. Please don’t hurt you arm any more than it is. I got excited thinking we could find our way out of here. I just forgot.” Unique shimmied back on the limb and braced her back against the tree trunk. Slowly she inched her way standing. Grabbing onto another limb above her head, she reached out with her other hand and grabbed a handful of the shredded balloon hanging above her head. She tugged at it to see how tightly it was stuck. It gave a little bit and then snagged. She tugged a little harder and the material let go in a shower of twigs. She clung tightly to the branch she was holding and tried not to lose her balance.

“Hey, what are you doing up there, looking for pine nuts?” William said as the cascade of needles tumbled into his hair.

“Watch out; I’m going to drop this piece of material down to you.” She let go of the piece of green fabric she had torn from the limb. She let go and watched it flutter down into the basket beside William.

“Be careful up there. I don’t want you falling down on top of me.”

“I’m not going to land on you, William. You hollered loud enough to wake the dead the last time I set your arm. I don’t think my ears could take it if I had to do it again. Of course”, she said as she prepared to leap down from the limb into the basket, “I could keep doing it again and again until someone heard you and came to rescue us.”

“For God’s sake, Unique, what are you getting ready to do?” William scooted backwards holding his broken arm awkwardly trying to protect it. A panicked look crossed his face as his back hit the far side of the basket. There was no where else to go.

“Hush up. I’m trying to get myself into the right frame of mind.”

“To do what?” William asked.

“Well, to jump down off this branch, of course. If I could fly, I would have done it on the way up here” she replied.

William closed his eyes. He couldn’t believe she was actually going to jump down. The branch she was standing on had to be at least ten feet off the ground. He could just imagine her landing on top of him. Or even worse, missing the basket completely and killing herself before his eyes.
“Can’t you just climb down?” he asked.

“The angles are wrong for climbing down. I’m going to have to jump. Now, would you please be still so I can concentrate?”

William felt the basket give a little shake. He opened his eyes and found Unique standing in front of him. His eyes widened in surprise.
“How did you do that?” he asked.

“Meow” she said and she grinned at him.