The air was bitter cold as icy rain hammered down on the hot air balloon. Tall Fang pulled her hat down harder on her head as another bolt of lightning and a thunder clap shattered her ear drums. Her hot air balloon bobbed and swung like a ball in water. "The weather was fine this morning!" Tall Fang thought as she clung to the side of the balloon basket. She looked over the edge to only see copious amounts of fog, and couldn't tell if she was over land or a body of water. She decided to not take the risk of descending and pulled cords to make the balloon go higher, in hope to get above the storm.
The balloon hissed as it began to rise, suddenly a bolt of lightning shot down and hit the balloon, and it burst with a mighty BOOM! The basket began to fall as the destroyed balloon flapped behind it. Tall Fang hung tightly to the rail as the basket fell faster and faster. Her items flew out of the basket as she tried to grab them, but she let them go, as she saw the clouds get higher above her head and the fog let up. She quickly saw the tops of trees. Knowing she was about to hit, she let go of the rail, curled into a ball and shut her eyes, seconds later, the basket hit the ground with a giant thud.
Tall Fang opened her eyes and slowly stretched out her sore body as she grabbed onto the rail and pulled herself up. She observed the wooded area. It was snowing heavily and it was too dark to see much of anything in front of her. "Hello!?" She called out, but there was no response. She looked back into the basket with the few items she had left. She took a tarp and spread it on top of the basket as a roof, then she took the flashlight and thankfully it still worked although it flickered. She had little food, little water, and her gun but it only had the bullets that it was already loaded with as the extra bullets must have flown out. She checked her belt and pockets. She had her pocketknife, and a baggie of cotton balls soaked in petroleum jelly, a lighter and her compass. She decided to wait until morning to go exploring, took a swig of her water, curled into a fetal position, and attempted to sleep in the cruel bitterness of the snowstorm.
The light of daytime shone through the basket. Tall Fang got up and rubbed her eyes after a failed attempt to sleep. She lifted the tarp as was hit with a burst of cold air. She noticed the snow had stopped so she stepped out and pulled out her trusty pocketknife from her belt. If she was going to survive, she needs a fire to stay warm. She walked through the snow, listening to it crunch under her feet. A minute later she came upon a fallen pine tree. Using her knife she cut the branches and the brown pine needles and peeled off some bark. Back at the crash site, she built the fire and using a couple of cotton balls, she was able to successfully light the fire. She also noticed several yards away, grew a cranberry bush. "Well now I don't have to worry about starving." She said aloud to herself. For water, she had a steel canteen, she could stuff snow into it and let it melt and boil over the fire.
She pulled out her compass, but realized the needle broke, rendering it useless. She groaned, and called out "Hello!?" again, and again no response.
*23 days later*
Tall Fang was walking through the woods again, shaking from the cold and constantly calling out to see if anyone was there. Her dead pine wood rations were getting smaller and smaller, so was the cranberry bushel, her lighter was running low on fuel; she had to find a way out.
She suddenly felt a drop fall on her face. She looked up to see rumbling clouds that were threatening rain. She sighed and gave up on the search today and turned around to head back. The storm came faster than she thought, and rain began pouring down from the sky so hard that she couldn't see in front of her. She ran through the forest, lost like a leaf in a hurricane. After a few minutes, the cruel rain with the icy weather was taking a toll on our hero, she began to slow down as her body began to stiffen. She had to keep moving or else she knew she was going to freeze to death! A few minutes later, when she felt like her body was about to give up on her, she ran into something hard. She rubbed her face as she placed her hands on what seemed like a wall. She felt around the wall to what felt like a door handle. She swung it open and barged inside.
She quickly removed her long purple coat and with a frozen, teeth-chattering body, she moved towards the other side of the building. It was small and run down, but she found something that made her heart sing. A radio! With stiff, shaking hands she picked up the radio. It had a faint signal on it, but it was better than no signal! She extended the antenna and turned the knob. Then she took the remote microphone attached to it, and spoke into it. "H-hello, anyone there?" She struggled saying with chattering teeth. She waited for several seconds until she spoke again. "P-please, a-anyone?" A few seconds later, she heard a response. "Hello, are you alright?" A male voice spoke. Tall Fang felt her spirits sky rocket. "My balloon has crashed onto this land, I need help." She replied. "I bet you are using my old worn radio, I'm surprised that rusty hunk of metal even works; well stay put, I'll come get you." He said. "Thank you s-so much." She sighed with relief.
Tall Fang curled into a fetal position to stay warm as she waited anxiously for her rescue. The rain continued to pound upon the shack. What seemed like an eternity, Tall Fang heard footsteps come into the shack. She looked up and saw an elderly man holding an umbrella and a coat. "Ah, here you are my dear." He said. He helped Fang stand up and draped the coat over her shivering body and took her soaking wet coat. "Let's hurry back to my mansion before you fully freeze to death." He said. "A mansion?" She thought. But she was too close to freezing to care at the moment and followed the stranger through the icy forest until they came upon a large lit house.