It had been night for a very long time now.
The sun had set maybe a month ago according to his watch and the tally marks.
He'd been in a hot air balloon when it set for the last time.
Not being able to see meant he was unable to land - stuck drifting, waiting and never hungering.
His emergency torch didn't make a big difference, it only let him see if a building was close.
After many narrow escapes the towering buildings had come to an end.
He reckoned that he was somewhere in the countryside though he still saw lights below.
There were a lot of campers, at least he thought they were camping.
Sometimes they would spot him and yell things too faintly for him to hear.
While he had rope with him, throwing it down or landing was a bad idea.
He still had no idea how he was still afloat, by all means the fuel should be long gone.
With no fuel worries (yet), he spent his time staring into the dark, wondering if sunrise would come.
Moths and birds were his closest company, sometimes swarming the balloon's flames.
Sometimes they would just land on the basket's rim and stare at him.
They made for good company - great listeners too - even if they left his small oasis.
There were days he thought about landing, days when the loneliness became a physical pain.
He had tried once, kept his torch shining down and gradually found an empty road.
The balloon was maybe around nine feet up still when screams started up and began closing in.
They sounded guttural, not making words just screeching to draw attention.
Panicking he let lose a load of ballast and ascended fast but not before he saw dark shapes below.
They looked somewhat human only not like several in one clump, all squat and shambling along.
His torch wasn't bright enough to see them properly, only their rough shapes in the gathering dark.
He hadn't tried to land since, he didn't want to go near those things - whatever they were.
Still he wondered what would have happened if he'd landed.
Would they be friendly, were they trying to help him?
What if there were others in the sky like him, stuck in planes or other balloons?
Surely there was some chance he would meet them, if they existed any more.
What if he was the last human alive among those things?
He noticed that he was drifting over more of the camps, if he squinted he could make out movement.
Cautiously he dropped more ballast, going slightly higher just in case they could jump that high.
With nothing else to do, he curled up on the basket's floor to sleep.
He hoped he would wake up at home, with the sun in his eyes and his family nearby.
He almost had his wish.
When he opened his eyes he winced at the brightness around him.
He'd missed the first sunrise in five months!
Still, the sun had risen and birds were calling out in the sky.
Maybe now he could find a safe place to land the balloon and find other people.
Rushing to his feet he peered over the basket's ledge to see... ruin.
As far as his eyes could see the ground was strewn with rubble and were those corpses?
The things he'd encountered trying to land last time were digging, probably for shelter from the sun.
Maybe they'd come from underground in the first place?
They didn't seem concerned with him in the sky though some did stop and peer at him.
He continued to drift along, unable to tear his gaze away from the remnants of his former society.
The further along he went, the fewer of those creatures he saw.
Everything appeared to be deserted and everyone either dead or monstrous.
With no way to move faster and no guarantee of safety should he land he stood there, helpless.
He reasoned with the incoming despair, at least he wasn't hungry.
Come to think of it, he hadn't felt a twinge of hunger or thirst since before the long night.
Something itched at the back of his mind, something he'd forgotten.
Something big, something monumental, something life changing.
Life changing, how those words rattled around his head, he'd almost forgotten, it was so close.
He was so close to remembering but there was still a missing piece!
Frantically he rummaged through his rucksack, laying neglected in the basket's corner.
It looked a lot more ragged than he remembered, he'd only purchased it the day before this trip.
That must have been a few months ago, how was it so torn and was that rust or blood
The memory came rushing back at him, he'd been gone for so long it all made sense.
He remembered everything, the first time plan flyer - the crash.
The fire, the pain, the ambulance, the pain, the bumpy ride, the pain and then his balloon.
He didn't even make it to the hospital.
So this really was it then.
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