Nimbus 2056 Part 3 Take 1

Sapphire blue sky stretched from end to end of Stuckey’s vision. Clouds cantered with the parade of trees in his peripheries.

“Guys, there’s no planes?” Stuckey said from the make shift stretcher.

“Look who finally decided to wake up.” Fableton scuffed as he struggled to carry Stuckey.

“Do you guys not see it? There is nothing up in the skies, except birds!” Stuckey struggled to sit up in the stretcher and point at the sky. This action caused Gelben and Fableton to drop Stuckey.

A fresh jab of hot needles tormented Stuckey’s skin when he hit his wounds on the rocky ground.

“OOOH FUCK!” Stuckey said rolling on his side.

“Wait where the fuck are we?” he said realizing he wasn’t dreaming anymore. This was very much real.

“Anastasia did what you couldn’t and spotted the Nimbus. Turns out it was the opposite direction you went. Now if you quit squirming around we can hurry the hell up and get out of here.” Fableton demanded.

“But where, where is Anastasia? Did the……… Did the tiger get her? How did she spot the Nimbus?” Stuckey asked as he was loaded back on to the stretcher.

“I am right here.” She said from the front of the group. “Gelben and Fableton helped me climb the closest tallest tree, zoomed in with my camera, and here we are.” Anastasia

“Shit I should have thought of that.” Stuckey whispered to himself.

“We didn’t find any tracks or any sign of your ‘Saber tooth tiger’ either.” Anastasia using air quotes.

“So you think I am faking these wounds? Just a bunch of corn starch and food coloring? This is real!” Stuckey said as he jabbed his finger into his quad.

“No no no. That’s not what I meant at all. It is just that we didn’t see it.” Anastasia.

“HNNNNNGGGH ok.” Stuckey said recoiling from the self inflicted torture.

“We got another day of hiking ahead of us and the sun is getting low. Does anyone know how to make fire?” Gelben asked to change the conversation.

“Umm”

“Hmmm”

“If your phone has signal check and see if you can watch a fire starting tutorial.” Anastasia said trifling through her satchel.

Gelben and Fableton dropped Stuckey again, doing just the same.

It had been days since any of them got a notification, an email, hell even an spam email.

“I got something!” Gelben proclaimed as the buffering wheel vanished.

Everyone crowded around the tiny screen.

Fade into a stone hearth filled with a warm glowing fire. A white rug dotted with rose petals.

“This looks weird. Is there any sound?” Anastasia interrupted.

“Oh shit right.” Gelben turning the mute off.

Low troubadour voice broke through the noise of the forest.

“Everyone deserves to feel special.”

“Everyone wants to be wanted.”

“This Valentine’s day let them know you care.”

“With an edible arrangement.”

“A FUCKING AD!” Everyone yelled. Some were kicking the ground in fury.

Gelben found the skip ad icon and found another infinite loading screen.

“Maybe there is something we can use in there.” Stuckey said pointing towards a crashed but intact cargo container.

“Let’s go!” Anastasia started running towards the loot.

“We only take what we need. It is still property of the corporation until delivery.”

“Bullshit! Insurance is going to cover everything. Let’s see what everyone buys online.”

They hustled over to where the doors opened of the long metal box.

“It’s locked!”

“How do we open it Stuckey!” Fableton.

“I don’t have a key! I spend my time on the bridge.” Stuckey.

“Everyone spread out, and look for something we can use!” Anastasia.

“I’ll just wait here and guard the box.” Stuckey said sitting up right from the stretcher.

Everyone trailed off in opposite directions. The evening was drawing closer. Shadows grew longer. All the while Stuckey waited. He wasn’t certain how long it was but his isolation became evident.

It was dusk, before Gelben was the first to return. He had a heavy rock in one hand.

“Where is everyone? Am I the first one back?”

“You are our first place winner! Show me what you brought.” Stuckey asked.

“I thought maybe we could use this as a hammer or something.” Gelben.

“You were gone for that long and all you found was a rock?” Stuckey got furious when he asked this.

“There is nothing out here but sticks and stones! I got worried when I walked for so long that I just turned up and didn’t want to show up empty handed. So I picked up this rock.” Gelben.

The moon was just starting to peak up over the horizon when Anastasia and Fableton came back.

“I found this log.” Fableton said as he dragged it behind him.

“I couldn’t find anything.” Anastasia.

“Least I brought this Rock!” Gelben retorted.

“It is getting cold. We got to hurry.” She said as she began to shiver.

Suddenly a different type of chill traveled down everyone’s spine as a symphony of wolves’ howls erupted.