6teen Fan Fiction ❯ 7teen: Up up and a Jude ❯ A drift ( Chapter 3 )

CHAPTER THREE

 

Caitlin was hugging Jude's body as tight as she could to avoid slipping off. They were both already five-hundred feet up, that was almost as tall as the building across the street where I lived, and they were still going higher and being blown by the wind, straight into town.

 

“Take it… easy… bra!” groaned Jude. “You're kinda… choking me?”

 

Lots of people down below could see them overhead and couldn't believe their eyes. Some people in their high-rise office buildings fainted in their chairs.

 

Even a psychiatrist who was helping his patient realize, “That humans can't fly.” just as Caitlin and Jude passed by. “It is… completely… and utterly-- ?! UN… BELIEVABLE!” and he fainted too.

 

Caitlin and Jude didn't like this at all, even thought they had a fantastic view, “Hey… I can see my house from here.” Caitlin said. Who knew what was going to happen to them?

 

…

 

 

 

All of us were running about in a panic, except for me. I quickly called Starr, and she was just as panicking as ever when I told her that her boyfriend and Caitlin were up in the sky, but exactly where we didn't know.

 

Starr had some really bad news, she had calculated that the helium in Jude's body which supported his lift would last him another two hours before it would wear off. The problem was now that he was airborne, and still steadily rising. If the gas started to flow out of him at a terrific altitude he wouldn't have a very soft landing, and with Caitlin on his back, that meant extra weight.

 

In other words, in just two hours, Caitlin and Jude were going to drop like a rock. “There has to be something we can do!” cried Jen. “Yeah, but what…?” I added, “They could be anywhere by now.”

 

As terrified as Starr was, being a genius taught her to keep her head, especially since her knowledge was needed more than ever. So she did some more calculating, and determined that the winds were blowing East, and that Jude would rise at one-hundred feet per minute, and he wouldn't be able to go any higher than two-thousand to three-thousand feet up, but that would still be much too high to chance their landing.

 

Wyatt suddenly had an idea. “Nikki, can't you ask your dad's company to lend us a chopper or something?”

 

“What?!” Nikki snapped. “Are you crazy. My dad wouldn't do anything like that.” but much to her surprise, she called her dad, “Uh… sure… I lend you chopper to save your Canadian friends.” And he didn't sound at all upset or disbelieving. “Unbelievable!” Nikki groaned.

 

The fact that her dad was now president of that huge company, from when Nikki moved to Nunavut, could still not take things quite so seriously. Still… we all had our jobs to do. I ran home across the street to get my car. Then, I dropped Jonesy and Nikki off at the company building Nikki's dad ran. Jonesy and Nikki were going up in the chopper with the pilot to assist in the rescue, while the rest of us would keep in touch with them by walkie-talkie as we tried to locate Jude and Caitlin.

 

Nikki and Jonesy headed to the roof where two pilots were in a chopper waiting for them, and unlike Nikki's dad, they had actually SEEN Caitlin and Jude float past them a while ago and were more than willing to lend a hand, and they were off.

 

…

 

Meanwhile, Caitlin and Jude had gone higher than the whole city. So high, that not only was it hard to spot them from the ground, but Caitlin sneezed, “Oo-oo-ooh it's getting c-c-c-cold up here!”

 

Jude was feeling a little chilly too, and there were bugs in his teeth. “Plech! Nasty, man!” Then his phone rang. “Yo… what's up? Er-- I mean… what's down?”

 

…

 

The four of us in my car were talking to Jude on my car's speakerphone system. “Jude… it's Mykan. We're on the road, and Nikki and Jonesy are in a chopper, we're going to try and find you guys.”

 

Starr talked to Nikki and Jonesy on the walkie-talkie and confirmed they were airborne, but they had no idea where to look. Caitlin and Jude had drifted a long way, and had risen much higher in the last hour. They were only a speck in the sky and very hard to find.

 

There wasn't much time left until Jude would run out of gas. Jen suggested that Jude and Caitlin look below to try and figure out where they were.

 

Easier said than done. Caitlin was much too freaked to look down. She didn't have a head for opened-heights, and Jude was no help either since he wasn't much a compass or a guide to the world, “…But I think we just flew past the edge of town…”

 

…

 

Starr got that and continued to calculate the wind. Jude and Caitlin we're heading east. “Yeah, yeah I got them. They're heading for Lloydminster.”

 

“Lloydminster? That's on the edge of the country.” cried Wyatt.

 

…

 

Jonesy and Nikki heard that over the walkie-talkie and told the pilots. They set course quickly and were off. “How are we going to find them, though?” asked Jonesy.

 

That was something nobody knew. Starr was only able to track their headings but not the location, but we had to find them, and fast. “How long is it before Jude runs out of gas?” Nikki asked.

 

…

 

Starr was finding it difficult to say, “Jude has like… ten minutes at the most, but… he could start to fall, like… any second.”

 

It was all up to Jonesy and Nikki now. My car wouldn't be able to reach the city for at least a half hour. “Please… let them be okay.” Jen muttered.