Tim hit the switch for the burner above their heads and the propane-fueled engines roared to life. The balloon’s envelope was already filled with hot air; he’d prepped it for their arrival before Lucas and Julie got to him, so take off would be prompt.
Malinda hustled around on foot, undoing the ropes that held the balloon down against the grass of the baseball field. As soon as she undid the last of the anchor ropes Tim felt the same buoyant rush as the balloon lifted the first few inches into the air.
“Whoa!” Julie exclaimed, grabbing the side of the basket with one hand and Lucas with the other.
Tim watched as Lucas’ face split from a slow, satisfied smile. The man might’ve had a bad morning, but the moment of liftoff seemed to erase the majority of it.
“Quite the feeling, eh?” Tim yelled over the roar of the propane burner. “When people ask me, ‘Tim, what’s taking off in your air balloon like?’ I tell them it feels like flooring the pedal on a Corvette, or when your first roller coaster hits its zenith and starts down, or that moment right before you kiss someone you’ve missed for a long time.”
Lucas leaned over and kissed Julie.
“It’s transcendent,” the man hollered back as the balloon ascended into the sky.
“See you at the crash site!” Malinda shouted up from the descending ground.
Tim leaned over the edge of the basket and waved down at her. She had a shit-eating grin on her face.
“Crash site?” Julie asked after Tim paused gassing the loud burner.
“My eloquent daughter loves to refer to where the balloon lands as ‘the crash site.’ She chooses to call it that when we’re ten feet up, of course. My little angel.”
“So we’re not going to crash?” Julie asked after looking at Lucas.
Tim laughed. “It’s always possible, but unlikely. Winds are gentle and blowing towards the fields east of town, the forecast is clear, and I’m a decent pilot.”
“That’s a relief. Worrying about crashing would be a terrible distraction,” Julie said with a nervous laugh.
“Distract yourself with that Ferris wheel,” Tim said, pointing at the massive ride as it spun its lazy circle.
The early morning saw the ride half-full of people looking to start their fun before most folks had lunch, but the children and teenagers sitting in the buckets as they rolled up into the sky and back down again were still elated. Tim watched the faces of his riders as they took in the giant wheel that slid down and away like it was sinking in the ocean below them. The enormous structure of the ride shrank and shrank until it was no larger than a quarter held up, and sliding away behind them along with the rest of the fair. The sound of children laughing drifted upward, and made the adults smile.
“That’s so beautiful,” Lucas said, and coughed once. “Looking up at it before you go on the wheel it seems insane that you’ll be so high. Now here we are a hundred feet above it, and it seems so small. So safe.” He winced and his hand went to the bandage on his arm. Julie leaned in and offered the press of her body as comfort.
“Sore?” Tim asked him.
“Yeah. Itchy. Kinda burns. I feel like I’m gonna get sick.”
“If you do, heave-ho over the side and aim for a pigeon. I’ve got water, Tylenol and Advil in the first aid kit. Just say the word,” Tim said.
“Thank you. Fresh wounds are just tough, I think.”
“Yes they are,” the pilot said, and fired the burner to gain elevation. Now once we get away from the warm air right here we’ll gain some quick elevation. With any luck we’ll hit about 2,500 feet today.”
“Half a mile up?” Julie asked, shocked.
“Just about,” Tim answered. “If you lean over a little bit, you can see we’re about to pass over Bridge Street, and right over there is the intersection with Main Street. See the lights?”
“Yeah, wow. It looks so small,” Lucas said.
“Like ants, right? That’s the old joke?” Julie said.
“Yep. And over there, up the hill a little bit is the elementary school, and behind that the middle school. Almost 120,000 square feet of educational facility. Of course all the kids are on summer break right now. You can see some of them are doing summer football and soccer in the fields just behind the lower building there. And the whole of it looks about the size of your palm.”
The balloon soared over the tops of the small town’s homes and the large trees that dwarfed those. They slid a mere 10 feet above the top of an oak tree that had to be 150 feet tall. The rush of the close encounter made the young couple exchange worried glances but the confidence of Tim allowed them to relax. The din of the traffic in the town coupled with the music of the fair and the general hustle and bustle of the world below faded away. When Tim paused the roar of the burner the only sound the three of them had was the wind.
Out of the serene silence a tiny noise grew from below, shrill and familiar.
“Po-po,” Lucas said, nodding his head down towards the east along Main Street. “Lit up and going like a bat out of hell.”
Tim and Julie leaned over and watched as the black and white Crown Victoria weaved around traffic heading east. Its speed crept up and up as it approached, passed almost directly underneath them and then sped away. It made a sharp turn behind some houses and disappeared down a side street heading in the direction of the school and kids playing sports. When the noise of the siren abated another joined it.
“Two cops? In a small town like this?” Lucas said. “When I grew up here we only had three cops total. They swapped shifts to cover town most of the time. We’d sneak out at night when we knew none of them were working. One of the officers was my friend’s dad so we always knew.”
“Teenagers. I tell ya,” Tim joked. “Ever since that condo complex went in on the side of town, and then the strip mall over on Preston Street they’ve had a full force. Tax base supports it now.”
“Cool. My parents must feel safe,” Lucas said, and gripped his arm again.
“Still hurts?” Julie asked as she reached out a gentle hand to his ramshackle bandage.
“Yeah, I had a druggie bite me, Julie. It hurts like hell.”
A third siren appeared, this one flaring to life in their vicinity. Tim went to the other side of the basket and looked down as a white ambulance sped away from the fire station in the direction the cruisers went. It passed several vehicles on the solid yellow in its haste to get to whatever it was that the cops were already at. The electronic bleating of the emergency vehicle faded when it turned away down the same side street, dying off like the moan of a whale singing its song in the deep.
“That’s not good,” Tim said. “Where’s Malinda?”
He leaned over the basket in the opposite direction they’d been looking and peered down at the streets below and behind. He searched the side streets that led to the town park where the festival was being held and tried to see through leaves on the trees that lined the rural streets. He could only make out the yellow line on the center of the streets, and the occasional vehicle roof, but couldn’t see the Silverado or the white box trailer they transported the balloon in. He felt tightness in his chest. He’d felt it before; during the worst days of the divorce.
He lifted the walkie off his belt and thumbed it alive.
“Malinda, you on our tail? I can’t see you beneath or behind.”
A few second later she replied. “Hey, Dad. I got caught behind a National Guard humvee as they were towing in their recruiting flatbed. I meant to walkie and hadn’t. I’m sorry.”
“That’s fine. We just saw some police cruisers and an ambulance scream through town and I had a dad moment.”
“Yeah, traffic sucks, but it’s clearing up. I’m fine. I’m about… a quarter mile behind you on Gamble Street. I’ll be turning on Main Street heading east towards Westfield in a second.”
“Perfect. We’re moving at about 15 miles an hour right now.”
“Alright. Over and out.”
Tim put the walkie on his belt a
nd inhaled a deep lungful of the cool morning air. Summer air. He smiled, and lifted his sunglasses off his chest where the tether around his neck let them lie. They were heading east after all, and the sun was bright as it departed from the dawn the wind carried them towards.
“Enjoy this, you two. You may never get another ride in a hot air balloon and I guarantee you no other ride after this will compare.”
- Part Three -
Actual Signs of the Impending Apocalypse
“Is it normally this loud up here?” Julie asked Tim.
“No. I’m very sorry. I don’t know what’s going on down there, but the amount of sirens is just out of control,” Tim said. “It’s normally quite serene at a typical altitude, but we have to sit a little lower than I’d like. The air is a smidge warm this morning and I’ve got us in a good groove of cool air.”
Lucas coughed. “When do we land?”
“About 10 minutes. If you look on that rise over there to the northeast you’ll see some beautiful old farms. Big white houses with big red barns. That’s where the wind almost always blows us.”
“It’s so pretty,” Lucas said.
“It is,” Tim said. “You don’t live near here anymore? Am I picking up what you’re putting down?”
They laughed.
“Yeah,” Lucas answered him. “I went to school at UConn and then got a job in tech on the west coast. We came back here to visit family on vacation. It was their first time meeting Julie,” Lucas said, then looked at her, proud.”
“The left coast, eh? It’s a different world than this, that’s for sure. My daughter goes to school in Michigan. That’s a whole different world too. Judging by your smile and the fact that she’s still around here the meeting with the parents went well?”
They clutched hands in excitement and grinned.
“Yeah I thought so,” Tim said. “Congratulations. Love is literally in the air.”
Just as Tim finished speaking a gust hit them, rocking the basket and sending them all off balance. Julie grabbed the lip of the basket and stayed afoot but Lucas couldn’t hold on with his injured arm. His hand slipped off and he went to the floor, rolling against the side of the container and into a whimpering heap. He sat up and clutched his damaged forearm. Somehow in the fall the bandage had torn free and the wound had opened. The oval bite mark looked deeper than Tim had imagined, and judging by the amount of blood running from the wound, the damage had been severe.
“Luke!” Julie yelled and dropped to his side. Tim knelt as well to render aid to his fallen passenger but the man was already pushing them away, trying to pull his way back to his feet. Blood began to spatter and coat the floor of the basket.
“Stop, I’m alright!” He barked.
But he wasn’t.
“Your arm, Lucas,” Tim said, pointing at the deep bite wound exposed to the air and the blood streaming down his arm from it. “You’re bleeding again.”
Lucas looked down at his arm as he tried to stand up in the basket and Tim noticed how pale the man had become. In the golden glow of the late morning light his washed out color had been obscured but now, in the shadow of the basket Tim could see the man and his true condition. The man wasn’t just feeling ill; he was deathly ill. He might be dying.
“Lucas, I’m a licensed pilot in command of an aircraft and I’m gonna ask you a serious question that needs a serious answer; how bad do you feel right now?”
He gave up on standing and his weight hit the floor of the balloon’s passenger basket with a thump, shaking it. He looked from his bleeding arm to the blood on the floor. He looked at Julie, then up to Tim. He tried to smile but instead his face soured into a silent sob.
“I’m not good. I feel awful. Feverish. Real cloudy. I’m so hungry and thirsty. My arm is murderous right now. I just wanted to finish the ride. I wanted it to be perfect for my girlfriend.”
“Fiance,” Julie corrected with a smile.
Lucas gave a look that was an apology.
“I understand. Okay, thank you,” Tim said, and got to his feet. He grabbed his walkie off his belt. “Malinda, come in.”
“Yeah, Dad?” she replied. In the background Tim could hear the radio going. Sounded like talk radio, or the news.
“Hey Lucas up here isn’t doing well at all. Not feeling well, so I’m putting the balloon down as soon as we’re over flat, clear terrain. Can you speed ahead of us and get ready? And can you call 911 and let them know I’ve got an ill passenger with a bite wound?”
“They won’t be surprised,” she replied.
“Say again?”
“Radio got taken over about ten minutes ago with emergency broadcasts. People are going a little cray-cray.”
“Say again,” Tim asked her, feeling his frustration level with his daughter rise.
“They’re warning folks about attackers biting. Africa and Europe are experiencing a ton of people biting everyone. And then get this; when they die, they’re getting back up as zombies. I think there’s something in the water.”
“Night of the Living Dead style?”
“Yeah. Way better than the 2004 remake of Dawn of the Dead style. Fast zombies are just too much to handle,” his daughter said.
“Okay, so let’s assume I believe that’s true. If that’s the case, then I have a bite victim here that needs immediate medical assistance, and we’re still putting down as soon as we’re over that flat area about a mile ahead of our position. The Crane farm.”
“Okay, I can see it. Hey; the people on the radio say to watch out for fever, jaundice, and the eyes hazing over. Losing color.”
“What’s that mean?”
“Death and reanimation are imminent,” Malinda said in her best Vincent Price impersonation. “They can go from bad to worse in a hurry.”
“Call 911 and have them send an ambulance to the field. There are paramedics staged at the fair already for this. If you call now they’ll be ready for us where we land.”
“Okay. Be safe Daddy.”
She hadn’t called him Daddy in ten years.
“I will. I love you.”
Tim hooked the walkie on his belt and looked down at his bitten passenger. The conversation he’d just had with his daughter was out in the open to Lucas and Julie; the walkie had no earpiece. They’d heard every word and judging by the looks on their faces, they weren’t happy, or equipped with the skills to deal with the situation at hand.
“She was kidding right?” Lucas asked Tim. “Like… like earlier when she said crash site?”
“Sir, I have no doubt that she’s exaggerating. She’s 20. That being said, we are going to land as soon as we get over that hill ahead of us, and we’re going to get you to the hospital. I’ll drive you there myself if I have to.”
“Because you think he might become a zombie? You’re just going to take her word on that?” Julie asked, her emotions starting to get the better of her. “Listen to yourself. That’s the cray-cray here.”
“No, not because I think he’s going to become a zombie, Julie. Because he has an open, bleeding wound, a fever, and probably some kind of blood infection,” he said to her, firm but gentle. “Look at the rest of his arm. The discoloration. He’s sweating bullets and shaking like a leaf. I don’t know what jaundice looks like, but I bet Lucas fits the description. No sense risking his health.”
She looked down at Lucas’ arm. Dark red streaks spread out under the skin like a spider web. Thick strands of infection ran out from the oval teeth marks in the meat of his arm. The threads of illness grew thinner as they grew longer, terminating at his elbow and wrist. The rest of him looked better but not by much. He was pale; sallow and covered in a thick sludge of cold sweat. His breathing was growing harder, and shallower with each passing second.
Julie looked away and covered her face with both hands.
“I’ll be okay. Just land us. The doctors can fix me. Thank you, Tim,” Lucas said, and started to cry with Julie.
“I’ll take care of us gett
ing on the ground. You bet your biffy. Now, with time being a factor… Julie please grab that first aid kit, and let’s get a proper, fresh bandage on Lucas’ arm. I don’t like how that bite looks, and we’re at least 10 minutes from landing.”
- Part Four -
Any Landing You Can Walk Away From
“We are good and clear from the power lines,” Tim said to his daughter on the walkie.
“Yep. I see you. I can’t see an easy way to drive out into that field,” Malinda said back.
“You gotta drive around the corner of the Crane property to the north side. There’s a gap in the stone wall there. They leave the fence open all weekend so balloon pilots and their crews can come and go for the fair.”
“Oh yeah, I see it. Looks like you’ll be able to land right in the middle.”
“That’s the plan,” Tim said. “See you in a minute.” He turned to the lethargic Lucas and the increasingly manic Julie, who was beside herself over the whole situation. “We’re descending well. The air is being easy on us. Now if there’s an issue, when we get low, I’ll have to pull the rip line. That’s essentially the reverse of an eject button. It opens a flap at the top of the balloon and the hot air keeping us aloft gets vented out like a whale spout. That means we can get dumped on the ground pretty hard. Could be a rough landing, but we’ll be okay.”
Lucas nodded his head, but Tim wasn’t sure how much of it sank in.
“Is there anything I can do?” Julie asked in a moment of clarity.
“Stay low like you are. Lay down, in fact. Spread your mass out and watch me so if I fall you see me coming. It can be scary as we come in. Feels like we’re going a hundred miles an hour but we’re not. If we hit the ground hard, just expect it, and know that we will be okay. We’re gonna walk away from this.”
“Okay.”
Tim returned his attention to the balloon’s descent. Like he’d said; he was a good pilot, but even the best pilots aren’t able to control the wind, or air temperature, or humidity. Nonetheless, he felt good about the abrupt call for a landing. He felt just as good about pulling the rip line if it came down to it.
An Ill Wind: Tales from the world of Adrian's Undead Diary Volume Five Page 2
