132 Turbulent Times Part Three

132 Turbulent Times Part Three

The entire plane could have been put together in about 12 to 16 hours, if I was an asshole and completely ignored my girlfriend and son as I worked my ass off. Since I wasn't an asshole or stupid enough to do that, the assembly was spread out for almost an entire week instead. Luckily, the parts list matched the available parts completely and I checked them off as I put the thing together.

I wasn't sure why I thought someone was going to sabotage the build or would either steal or ruin one of the parts. Maybe it was my paranoia kicking in and warning me to keep a closer eye on things? Well, I've never ignored my gut feelings before and I wasn't going to ignore them now.

I set up an alert ward, thanks to those scrap metal pieces I practised on using runic magic and I didn't detect anyone entering the space where the plane was, not even at night. It was a relief when I bolted the propeller onto the front of the thing and several sets of applause came from the gathered audience of everyone in the camp.

“We've all watched you work on that thing in your spare time, Rick.” Shane said and waved at the completed plane. “Now what the hell is it?”

I laughed at that and saw a lot of the other survivors also didn't know. “I see some history is in order.” I said and patted the spot beside the engine. “This is the Mitsubishi A6M Zero fighter plane and it went into production in 1940 and ended in 1945. It almost made us lose World War 2, because it was cheap, fast, and could fly up to 1,600 miles and for up to 12 hours on a single tank of fuel.”CHeCk for new stories on no/v/el/bin(.)c0m

“Holy shit.” Someone whispered, clearly shocked by the information.

“Shh! Language!” Someone else hissed and a few people chuckled.

“This one is a lot more fuel efficient, since it's made almost entirely out of aluminum. According to Dale, it should just about triple the fuel efficiency, the time it can stay in the air, and the distance it can go.” I said and a few of the men whistled at that.

“You could easily cross the whole country on a single tank.” Juan said, clearly impressed. “It's only about 2,900 miles from New York to California.”

“You're thinking too small, Juan. He could leave here, fly to New York, then fly to LA, and he could almost make it back here if his tank was topped off.” Shane said, making them all look at the plane differently. “The only downside is the complete lack of radio.”

Someone let out a curse and the others grumbled about that.

“Before anyone suggests anything, I've already tried to scrounge something from the big rigs and buses along the highway. Everything's wrecked or ruined, probably because they made a lot of noise when active and they were disabled by people to keep them quiet or smashed by the walkers.” I said and a few more people made angry sounds.

“We can't offer to install the CB radio we have on top of the RV. It's all we have left to listen for others.” Dale said and almost everyone nodded.

“All of the electronics stores I've come across also didn't have anything even close to a radio I could use.” I said and sighed. “If I take this thing out for a flight, I'll be going out deaf to the world, because the walkie-talkies don't have the range for it.”

One of the men raised their hands to ask a question.

“What is it, Jim?” I asked and he looked surprised that I knew his name.

“What's the use of it if you can't talk to anyone that might see you fly by?” Jim asked.

Since that was a great question, I chose to answer in the only way possible.

“That's what the landing gear is for. There are thousands of smaller airports, wide highways, and even open fields where it can land and take off easily.” I responded and now most of them looked surprised.

“How are you supposed to get that thing out to the highway to take off?” Andrea asked.

“Highway? What do I need that for?” I asked and motioned to the cleared out area. “I just need to push those piles of smaller rocks aside a bit more and we'll have our very own runway with plenty of room for taking off and landing.”

Andrea's head turned and looked, then she looked back where the plane was, then she looked back at the entire length of the runway. “There's no way... can you really...”

We had also changed around the tents and where they were positioned to bring them closer to the main campfire. I started making quick trips into the woods and bringing back piles of chopped wood to stack near the moving vans. No one questioned why they were all nice and dry and burned much better and cleaner than the older pieces of wood that the others had gathered.

It ended up taking a full week before the map of Atlanta had the appropriate spaces marked for where I needed to go, with a couple of my own suggestions added, since they were on the way to checking the areas where the authorities had said the safe zones were before the power went out.

My two suggestions were the prison near Newnan and the large army base near Columbus, mostly because both had large open areas nearby to easily land. Since the army base was about a hundred miles away, I barely needed any fuel to reach it and to come back. It would also be a fast trip if I only went there, which was why it took so long to work out a circuitous route to cover as much of the state as possible.

“Are you sure you can't squeeze in another seat or fit someone else into the cockpit?” Amy asked, her voice hopeful. We were all at the makeshift runway and they were seeing me off.

I took her into my arms and gave her a kiss. “If I wasn't doing anything else except flying straight, I'd consider taking someone along, even if the extra weight reduces the fuel efficiency.”

A few of the men laughed and the women hissed. Joking about their weight was a mistake, apparently.

“Carl would also yell a lot if I brought him along.” I said, barely saving myself from an argument. The look on Amy's face told me that I wouldn't be dodging it when I came back, so I leaned in and whispered in her ear. “If I find a two-seater while I'm out, I'll fly it back just for you.”

Amy nibbled on my ear for a second. “I'm really going to miss you... wearing this uniform.”

I chuckled and let her go as I stepped back. “I'll be back tomorrow afternoon. I'll land at the base when it starts to get dark, since there's no power anywhere and nothing's lit up, then I'll finish the planned flight in the morning along the rest of the safe areas and will come back here.”

“We'll have some torches ready for you to land, just in case you're late.” Dale offered.

“Thanks, Dale. I'm glad you're here giving us all such great ideas.” I praised him and he smiled widely. I turned to the others and nodded, then knelt and hugged a nervous looking Carl. “Don't worry, buddy. If something bad happens, I won't let anything stop me from coming back here to you.”

“Th-thanks, Dad.” Carl said and hugged me back.

I heard a few people muttering that I probably should have said that to Amy. I smiled and let Carl go and stood. “I gave Amy the same promise every day for the last week and she's kind of bored of hearing it, honestly.”

Amy nodded and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “It's sincere and also tiring to hear all the time.”

“My plan worked? What a surprise.” I said with a flat voice and she laughed. I picked up the backpack with enough supplies for two days and walked over to the plane. I stored it under the seat and waved to everyone, then I climbed in and closed the canopy.

The engine started with the first ignition and the soft sound shocked everyone there. They had all expected a huge rumbling sound and stared at the plane like they didn't know what it was. Did I cover a bunch of the parts with strengthening runes and sound dampening runes when people weren't looking? Yes, I did. The looks on their faces was worth it.

I may have also added power runes to the engine and I gunned the throttle to shoot the plane down the runway and I pulled up long before the end of it to zoom up into the air. The shouts and yells could be heard by me, even this far away, so I made a quick turn and a barrel roll to fly back over the runway and tilted the plane on its side to wave to everyone.

“GO DAD! GO GO GO!” Carl yelled as he jumped up and waved both arms at me.

I did another turn and barrel roll and increased speed, surprising the crowd even more. Most of them didn't realize the swift little plane could almost top out at 350 miles per hour without any modifications. With strengthening and empowering runes? It could top out at 450 MPH.

I didn't go that fast, obviously. I couldn't make observations of the surroundings if I was going too fast to look at them. I also had a notepad to write everything down, in case there was something close by the camp for us to go retrieve.

Well, for me to retrieve. I doubted that I could convince anyone else to leave for a few days to pick up cattle and chickens, except for Amy and Carl. They would probably follow me everywhere if I said they could come along, which proves the old adage that love makes you blind.

I laughed at the thought and checked the small hand-drawn map of the state I stuck to the front of the cockpit under the window. I checked the compass and turned the plane slightly to start the search pattern. With luck, I wouldn't have to deviate too much to find what I was really looking for. Better means for the people at the camp to live and not just survive.