There was something in the clouds. We caught glimpses of it, drifted alongside it and finally we thought we overtook it. Everybody breathed a sigh of relief that they hadn't realised they'd been holding as the radar pinged back the "All Clear".
We realised just how long it had been since we heard that cheery little tune that signalled a thirty mile dead zone around us. We were alone in the skies at last. It felt like several lifetimes had passed by but in reality it was more like two or so months.
Two or so months of watching and waiting and praying that the generators wouldn't run dry while some unseen giant hid amidst the clouds and waited for our guard to drop. We made sure to periodically fire into the clouds just in case we might skim it with a warning shot... or two.
That night we all had more than our fair share of our cargo - a strong bitter that left us drowsy and unaware that we were rapidly rising until the air grew too cold and too thin and we looked out of the windows only to see gnarled hands clutching our vessel and carrying it out into the night.
It's hard to say just how far off course we are right now - nothing below us is familiar and all the stars are wrong. There isn't a single constellation that anybody recognises and the sound of leathery wings grows closer and closer every night.
Whatever was stalking us, whatever carried us out here, whatever is coming back towards us might not be the same single creature at all. For all we know we've been dragged out of the frying pan and into the coal chute to slowly choke on burnt fumes as we sink into the dark...
As we sink into...
The ship is sinking, or perhaps being dragged down. It's too dark outside to tell and we've drained every drop of oil from the lanterns to fuel the engines. Lighting a candle to try and see outside is painfully naive but our minds are desperate to see something out there.
We realised just how long it had been since we heard that cheery little tune that signalled a thirty mile dead zone around us. We were alone in the skies at last. It felt like several lifetimes had passed by but in reality it was more like two or so months.
Two or so months of watching and waiting and praying that the generators wouldn't run dry while some unseen giant hid amidst the clouds and waited for our guard to drop. We made sure to periodically fire into the clouds just in case we might skim it with a warning shot... or two.
That night we all had more than our fair share of our cargo - a strong bitter that left us drowsy and unaware that we were rapidly rising until the air grew too cold and too thin and we looked out of the windows only to see gnarled hands clutching our vessel and carrying it out into the night.
It's hard to say just how far off course we are right now - nothing below us is familiar and all the stars are wrong. There isn't a single constellation that anybody recognises and the sound of leathery wings grows closer and closer every night.
Whatever was stalking us, whatever carried us out here, whatever is coming back towards us might not be the same single creature at all. For all we know we've been dragged out of the frying pan and into the coal chute to slowly choke on burnt fumes as we sink into the dark...
As we sink into...
The ship is sinking, or perhaps being dragged down. It's too dark outside to tell and we've drained every drop of oil from the lanterns to fuel the engines. Lighting a candle to try and see outside is painfully naive but our minds are desperate to see something out there.
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