Interaction [Dreamnotfound]

16 | Travel

200 reads POG

-Cas

George squinted at the map shown on the Glider dashboard for the seventh time that day.

He had absolutely no clue where he was going. Somehow, he had managed to program the destination of Orlando, Florida into the machine, but he would have to land it in a fairly open space so that he wouldn't destroy half the Florida landscape when he hit the ground.

So he was letting the Glider do the work.

The Glider was handling the speed fairly well. George had decreased it to 175 instead of 200, because he figured at the previous rate, the Glider would break down pretty quickly - and it had to get him all the way to Florida, so that wouldn't exactly be helpful.

It felt like he had been flying for hours, when in reality, it could have only been minutes. George's wristband was struggling to change timezones as they travelled, and it was constantly vibrating with an error message. It was driving George crazy.

George tore his gaze from the map on the dashboard and glanced outside the window parallel to his seat. The sun seemed to be rising, if not ever so slightly. That was... a good sign? Maybe. It meant he was getting somewhere, at least.

As the sun illuminated the sky, George could make out the trees below. They definitely didn't look like trees he would see in London, that was for sure. And he had seen ocean earlier - it seemed they had passed it. Did this mean he was almost there?
George had Clay's address in his hidden contacts, and he also had a plan. A rather disorganized plan, but a plan all the same.

Step 1: Land the Glider.

Step 2: Explore the town, but hidden.

Step 3: Find Clay's house.

He was almost on step 1.

But honestly, where could he land a giant flying vehicle?
George was shaken from his thoughts by a loud beeping. Wondering if something had gone wrong, and mildly concerned, George turned to the screen on the front of the Glider.

During his flight, he had already had two problems with the engine, so it woudn't have surprised him if another one had came up. However, that was not the case.

The screen displayed Location reached.

There was a map shown, with a pulsing red dot and the words "Orlando, Florida."
And with that, the Glider stopped flying and hovered in place.

Hopping to the edge of the vehicle, George looked out the window once more. All he could see were fields. Open fields, grass, not a tree in sight.

Plains.

What were plains?
Confusion darted through George's mind, but he ignored it, hurrying back to the front of the Glider and pressing "OK" on the screen to stop the beeping. He grabbed the manual control.

Time to land.

George really had absolutely no idea what he was doing, but he took a deep breath and pulled the stick that controlled the plane slightly down.

The Glider jolted, angling itself downwards, and George pushed.

They hurled towards the ground.

A strangled scream forced itself from George's mouth, and he yanked back. The Glider stopped abruptly.

George let go of the controller, shaking. They were a lot closer to the ground now, enough that he could see the blades of grass shifting in the breeze.

But clearly, this landing technique wasn't going to work.

An idea came to George. Scooting back to the dashboard, he typed "hover 1".

The Glider slowly began to descend. Holding his breath, George waited as it came to an unsteady stop at exactly 1 foot above the ground.

George released his breath. Perfect. Now all he had to do was get out-

The Glider gave way beneath him, crashing the last foot to the ground with a dying groan. The engine stopped completely and the screen went blank.

George yelped in surprise as he fell against the front of the ship, picking himself back up hastily.

He wasn't dumb. That was no ordinary failure, even if he had been pushing the Glider to its limits. No, that was the government shutting down his Glider.

Good thing he hadn't been 100 feet in the air when it happened.

Taking a deep breath, George forced open the door to his left, grabbed his backpack off of the ship floor and stepped out into the sun.

It was sweltering.

George was wearing a plain black hoodie and sweatpants, which was fairly normal for him. But in the Florida sun?

It was extremely hot. George yanked off his hoodie, his blue shirt showing underneath, and stuffed into his backpack.

Now, to walk a thousand miles until he found the town. A road, maybe. A path would be nice.

Consulting his phone for a compass, George decided to head in the direction he had been flying. That would probably lead him into town.

He was about a half hour in when he realized this wasn't such a good idea.

George was tired. He was in the middle of nowhere, had no food, and it was only the beginning of the day - so why was it so hot?

Not to mention, he was fairly dehydrated. He hadn't thought to bring food or water. There had been no time anyways.

But he kept moving. He told himself he would find civilization eventually.

And he was right.

George didn't know how long it had been when he reached a forest.

That wasn't the exciting part. Behind the forest he could see a house.

Finally.

George stumbled through the forest, making his way to the house and blearily checking its address.

No way.

He checked it again.

Well, he was pretty damn lucky.

No, it wasn't Clay's house. At least, he didn't think it was. But it was only a few away from where he had noted Clay's house to be.

George hadn't expected this, but it was a welcome surprise. He made his way down the street, checking for anyone outside just in case, and avoiding anyone he saw, as they did as well.

And suddenly, he was there.

He hadn't ever seen Clay's house, nor had he seen his face. They had only ever worked virtually, and through voice calls or chats.

Needless to say, he was nervous.

But he pushed his worries aside and marched up to the front door, raising his hand to knock.

It took him a good minute to work up the courage, but he did it. He knocked once, twice, three times before dropping his hand and waiting.

It felt like he waited an eternity, but the door opened.

A confused expression. Dirty blond hair. Green eyes.

"Clay?"