Carlotta is obviously surprised when Miss speaks up. "Really, I didn't take you for the parachuting type." Carlotta smiles at her.
Miss settles back in her chair. "What type did you take me for?" she says, winking at Carlotta.
"Oh...you seem....less likely to take your life into your hands like that I suppose." She hurriedly adds "Not that thats a bad thing!"
"Oh...you seem....less likely to take your life into your hands like that I suppose." She hurriedly adds "Not that thats a bad thing!"
"Ahh, don't worry love, we take out life into our hands walking out the door in the morning. Where did you learn to fly?"
"I had an Uncle who flew in the Airforce for over thirty years. When he retired he lived pretty close to the farm where I grew up and he used to come over and help us out, and when I was around fourteen I started pestering him to let me try to fly his little biplane. Eventually he agreed to teach me, but he told me he only would if I got good grades, helped out around the farm, didn't get into trouble, y'know the whole thing. Uncle Frank's probably the reason I stayed out of most of the big trouble...I loved flying. Think I got it from him." Carlotta smiles at Miss, but seems to be slightly lost in her memories.
The hours slowly pass by and soon Canada is behind you and you are on your way towards the Tallpine airfield. Its fairly small airport for a fairly small town, but the town is remote enough to need one. Carlotta's preflight research indicated that mostly helicopters flew in and out of town, but there were also several pilots with private planes in town.
Night has truly fallen by the time Carlotta begins her approach. About twenty miles from the airfield, approaching from the southeast over the mountains ringing the town, Carlotta suddenly feels the throttle vibrate strangely and then the plane veers sharply to the left.
Carlotta has to struggle to maintain control.
The other three, close to asleep from the darkness and the thrum of the engines are jarred violently awake. Some of the luggage slides around and stomachs lurch.
John 'Whoofs' in surprise as he is tossed to the side, jarring his already stiff neck. He plants a thumb up under the brim his baseball cap and lifts it out of his eyes.
"Rassin-Frassin,... Hey, everthing alright doll?" He asks, still drowsy.
Carlotta tenses up, tensely but calmly attempting to pull the plane back into control. She doesn't reply to John immediately, concentrating on the controls.
"Everything's...fine." She says in a strained voice.
Carlotta straightens out the plane, though it continues to try to wobble on her.
Carlotta tenses up, tensely but calmly attempting to pull the plane back into control. She doesn't reply to John immediately, concentrating on the controls.
"Everything's...fine." She says in a strained voice.
"Glad to hear it." John mumbles, sounding less-than-convinced. He uncurls from where he was sleeping and glances out of the window.
Kenny visibly shakes as the plan jerks about. He tries to speak but his suddenly dry throat prevents him from doing so. He looks about wildly, more from fear than from design.
Spot.
"Nod off for a minute love?" Miss says, trying to keep the alarm out of her voice.
Spot:
"I never nod off" She tosses back with a grin.Seeing Kenny's alarm: "Don't fret Kenman, everything is just fine. I swear. Scout's honor."
John Westbrook needs to make a sanity check. As he looks over to his left, out the plane window, he sees the suggestion of something white on the plane. Some sort of bestial, winged creature which clutches at the plane wing with claws. It can be seen only dimly and yet every detail etches itself in John's mind, from the glowering eyes to the wicked sneer of the too human face.
The rest of you don't see anything.
John's tanned face suddenly turns bedsheet white. His mouth moves, but no noise comes out,...
Sanity Damage:
John loses 3 points of sanity from the sight of the pale wicked looking thing perched on the wing. A strange tongue lolls from its fanged mouth as it clutches at the wing flasp and John can't help but notice it is both earless and noseless.Finally, perhaps tired of wrestling with the plane, it launches itself from the plane and disappears into the night.
A moment later Carlotta regains complete control of the plane.
Carlotta's hands finally relax slightly on the controls. "What the hell happened there??"
"Guh,...Guh,...Guh,... GAAAH!" John screams shrilly as the lurching plane levels out. He breath comes fast and heavy, and in an instant he has broken out in a cold sweat. SLowly his head swivels around to face the others. His eyes are wide as saucers, and his irises have dilated to pinpoints from adrenaline.
"Did you f!@#$% see that? Tell me you saw that!" He manages to croak out, pleading,...
"Guh,...Guh,...Guh,... GAAAH!" John screams shrilly as the lurching plane levels out. He breath comes fast and heavy, and in an instant he has broken out in a cold sweat. SLowly his head swivels around to face the others. His eyes are wide as saucers, and his irises have dilated to pinpoints from adrenaline.
"Did you f!@#$% see that? Tell me you saw that!" He manages to croak out, pleading,...
Miss stands and walks over to John, she leans over him, and looks out his window. "Nothings out there," she puts her hand on his shoulder. "What's wrong?"
"Holee F@#$%^-in Twilight Zone! You didn't SEE that?!?" Jone yells, a cross between angry and panicked.
"It was, it was,... I don't know WHAT it was!" John looks out the window again, peering hard, trying to see if its still there, but obviously not wanting to see that thing again anytime soon. Finally he sits back down and rubs his eyes.
"It was, a person, white, like a ghost, but it was holding onto the wing. It had this long tongue, and a mouth full of teeth. And it,... had no ears or nose!" He shudders, takes a deep breath, and continues. "It, looked like it was holding onto the wing flap. Then it fell, no,... it Jumped off of the wing!"
The adrenaline fades, leaving John to slump in his seat. He looks up at Edith. "Straight out of the Twilight Zone I tell ya'!"
Carlotta can see the lights of the airfield now.
Carlotta lets out a sigh. "So thats what the hell was wrong with the plane. I was hoping the engine wasn't falling out or something.
Look John, after everything else me and Kenny have been through I believe you. We were sent up here to investigate something...I'd say we've just seen it."
Carlotta lets out a sigh. "So thats what the hell was wrong with the plane. I was hoping the engine wasn't falling out or something.
Look John, after everything else me and Kenny have been through I believe you. We were sent up here to investigate something...I'd say we've just seen it."
John looks relieved. He obviously didn't excpect to be believed.
"Great! So,... we can go home now?!?" He asks jokingly. Mostly. His smile is forced and his eyes are still haunted, but he looks to be back in control of himself once more. He deliberately avoids looking out of the window again.
"Did the face look Asian at all? It sounds like the Chinese have improved on their single-man flight systems. The guy you saw was probably a saboteur trying to wreck the wing and make us crash. His ears were just covered by his flight mask. What looked like his tongue was probably an air tube so that he could breath at this altitude."
"Carlotta, can you get us down faster than you planned? The wing-jumper might try again."
As Carlotta checks in with the small tower, she is met with incredulous surprise and then with hasty instructions. She brings the plane in without further incident.
As the group unloads their luggage from the plane, a man rushes out from the tower, "Are you all out of your mind! Flying in here at this time of night!"
He grows suddenly silent as he realizes that he doesn't recognize any of the four and then changes his tone, "So what brings you folks in? How was the flight?"
After Kenny speaks: "Yeah...and we've already seen that the Asian people as a whole can be awfully deviant..."
Carlotta frowns at the man when they land. "Is there a reason we shouldn't fly in here at night? What's going on around here? We're...getting away from the heat of Arizona...we though something cooler might be nice. The flight was a little rocky towards the end...not exactly sure what happened."
Carlotta frowns at the man when they land. "Is there a reason we shouldn't fly in here at night? What's going on around here? We're...getting away from the heat of Arizona...we though something cooler might be nice. The flight was a little rocky towards the end...not exactly sure what happened."
John opens his mouth,... then snaps it shut. He settles for glaring at Carlotta and the ground tech from under furrowed brows.
The man fumbles for a moment with his words before finally managing, "We get some strange headwinds off the mountains at night. Folks from around here just know not to be up in the air after dark. Been more than one accident with them that tries it."
Sense Motive
Edit:
Whoop! I knew he was lying before I even rolled.
Kenny:
John 'humphs'.
"So, how late is it anyway? And where can a guy get some food around here?" He asks the group in general.
"There's a couple of places in town you can get food, though only the local BK is open this time of night. There's a bed and breakfast, the hunting lodge and Em's place, that would be the EconoLodge now - they can all put you up if you need a place. Tomorrow you should check out the Roaring Twenties: Best Steak in Town. My name's Walter, Walter Smith."
"The Roaring Twenties sounds like my kind of place. Westbrook, John Westbrook." John replies, shaking his hand.
"Nice to meet you, Walter. I'm Kenny, this is Carlotta and Ms. Edith. We are here to get a taste of the Last Frontier. Hey, what's the best attraction outside of the town itself?" Kenny says all of this with great enthusiasm and friendliness.
"There's hunting and fishing and we have a bowling alley but we only open it on Saturdays. Not a very big community, all of about three hundred of us. But we get a lot of visitors in August when hunting season really begins - that's why there's the motel. You are in luck though as we have open Caribbou here abouts all year round. There's a couple men who make good guides. And of course there's the river and doing some hiking or camping. Though we don't advise you camp south of town, there's plenty of big animals in the mountains."
As the group moves away from the plane and towards the building that serves as an airport (where Carlotta needs to fill out some forms) they are struck by two things. It is much cooler here than it was in Arizona, despite being the second day of July. Secondly, they are apparently five miles from town without a vehicle.
Carlotta stares back at the glaring John as if to say "What??"
She keeps quiet while the men talk, filling out the necessary forms. As they walk out she turns to Smith "Do you...happen to know if there is a car here for us? Did anyone call ahead about us or anything"
"Don't have a rental car place around here. Some of the locals keep extra vehicles they rent out to hunters that don't have one. Might be able to get something tomorrow like that for you all. It's a bit late but I can call the wife to give you a ride into town."
Carlotta smiles at him. "Thanks, we'd really appreciate it. Otherwise I think we'd be walking..."
John also nods in agreement.
"I'd appreciate it. Don't want to march,... walk that distance if'n I don't have to. Thanks kindly.
"Yes, thank you so much. I can't believe that we overlooked that."
The call is made, there is some discussion over the phone. Meanwhile, the papers are filled out.
"Wife has a sick kid she can't leave," says the man, "I'll see what I can do though. Make yourself comfortable."
He begins to dial another number.
Carlotta smiles at the man. "Thanks for helping us out." She sits down and leans against the wall. "G@%~~@n, I guess we shouldn't rely on Mary and Rogers to get us set up when we're going places..."
Carlotta smiles at the man. "Thanks for helping us out." She sits down and leans against the wall. "G%&&!#n, I guess we shouldn't rely on Mary and Rogers to get us set up when we're going places..."
Miss grins at Carlotta, "Hey, walking could be fun, be a bit of an adventure. So long as we don't get eaten by a mutated bear. " She shudders. "I don't like bears."
A few calls later and there is a vehicle on the way. Its the owner of the hunting lodge and he will furthermore let them crash there for the night if they want, free of charge (but just the one night free). Walter confides that the other man (Emmet) is likely hoping they'll just choose to stay there as his business won't pick up for another three weeks.
John nods. "Makes sense. Still bein' a nice guy either way."
Carlotta smiles tiredly back at Miss. "Psh, with me and Kenny's luck we would get eaten by a bear. Or worse. But hey, maybe you'll be our good luck charm."
She smiles up at Walter. "Thanks for your help. Well, either way we're set for the night and we probably will end up staying at the lodge. I don't see a reason not to."
She proceeds outside as soon as all the business is taken care of.
Emmet arrives, driving a large, modified hummer. He's a tall, thin man in jeans and wearing a leather coat to protect him against the night air.
"Howdy folks," he says, "I hear you need a place to crash for the night. Mighty late to be flying in around these parts. But glad you made it safely. Just rhow your luggage in the back."
There is seating for about eight in the vehicle. Its apparently been stretched inside to provide extra seating. A sticker on the side of the vehicle reads "Tall Pine Hunting Inc." There are three rifles in the hummer, one of them between the driver's seat and the front passenger seat and another two hanging on racks on the back door. Emmet is also packing a pistol.
John nods and murmurs appreciative words at the man, and obligingly tosses his bags into the back, keeping his backpack with him protectively. He raises an eyebrow at the guns in the vehicle.
"Can't wait for hunting season to start?" He asks with droll, sleepy humor.