26

 You carry on to the mainland and the storm worsens even more. The clouds have turned day into night. You cannot tell up from down by looking out the window. The world outside is a solid black mass, occasionally broken by a blinding flash of lightning. Turbulence throws you against your harness, digging the restraints painfully into your shoulders. You have difficulty reading the instruments from the constant vibration.

The helicopter lurches downwards. “That’s not turbulence!” you think. In horror you realise that the heavy rain is flooding the air inlets of the engine, decreasing the airflow available to drive the turbine, causing a sudden loss of power.

“Brace yourselves!” you shout into your headset,” We are going down!” You say a silent prayer. Ditching at sea is almost always fatal.

At about a hundred feet you break below the cloud cover. Miraculously, a small island lies ahead of you. This is your only chance of survival. You have to ditch the helicopter there.

You aim the helicopter as well as you can, the storm and momentum more in control of the aircraft than you. With a giant “Crunch!” the helicopter hits the ground. You use all your skill as a pilot to reduce the impact. The helicopter skids on the rocky ground, shards of glass hitting your face. Sparks light up the inside of the cockpit as metal rock rips the aircraft apart. After what feels like an eternity the helicopter finally grinds to a halt. Compared to the noise a second ago, things are eerily quiet, only the sound of the wind and rain intruding on your senses. Dancing orange light casts flicking shadow on the remains of your cockpit instrument.

“The helicopter is on fire!” you realise. The whole area is flooded with fuel and the tanks were still half full, enough for an explosion! “Are you all right?” You frantically undo your harness and scramble into the back.

“Yes, yes!” says Emily. Her voice is shaky.

You cannot believe that you and Emily escaped the crash without any injury.

“Let’s get out before the whole thing explodes!” you shout at the Emily. Emily unbuckle her harness while you grab the survival pack from the cabin. The two of you stumble out of the side of the cabin into the darkness, running as fast as you can. You run for about thirty paces when the shockwave of the helicopter exploding throws you off your feet. You land face first in the dirt, very undignified.

Emily starts to erect the small shelter from the survival kit. You take a flashlight, keen to see what exactly is on this island, since your only ride is now a smoldering wreck. “I’ll be back in a while,” you let Emily know as you set off  into the darkness.

The island is quite big and it takes you twenty minutes to reach the sea. By this time the storm has lifted again and you can even see some stars through the cloud cover. As you approach an inlet forming a protected natural harbour, you see several flashes of light. This can only be from other flashlights. You dim your own and start to sneak up to the source of the lights, using large boulders as cover. You are now close enough to hear voices. Peeking over one of the rocks you see three people, a young woman and two men, rifles are slung over their shoulders.

They are about to get into a little rowboat.

If you:

Announce yourself, go to chapter 27

 

Wait to until they depart and then call the authorities, go to chapter 54