5. THE DESCENT

As soon as Cameron started to fall, his new fast-reflexed friend kicked into action. He still had a hold of the piece of fabric, which now trailed out behind him, flapping madly in the wind. Holding tightly onto the end in his hand, he threw his body into a spin. The fabric spun around himself until the free flying end had moved to more accessible position. Cameron reached out a hand and grabbed on. Holding tightly, he pulled the end of it over his head. The air quickly filled the material, which unwrapped around him quite violently. Cameron spun around, the material spinning off of him and winding around his wrist. When it was fully deployed, it caught the air and slowed down Cameron’s descent with a jolt. A sudden flash of pain erupted in Cameron’s shoulder. He’d either torn a muscle of dislocated his shoulder. No time to worry about that now, he thought. That was the easy part.

He’d managed to slow his descent, but it wasn’t enough. He was still falling towards the ground at an unsafe velocity. To make matters worse, he’d started spinning uncontrollably. This was no parachute he was holding. The air was getting trapped under the material, Cameron’s weight below being the only thing stopping its escape. This caused the material to constantly tip the angle of it to allow the air to pass out, causing the lurching, swinging, spinning motion that now had Cameron in it’s grip. Cameron fought as hard as he could to retain his hold on his impromptu lifeline. He didn’t want the last thing to go through his mind before he died to be his spinal cord. A gust of wind caught the falling figure, blowing him towards one of the neighbouring buildings that lived in the tower’s shadow. Cameron grimaced as he slammed into the side of the building, almost causing him to lose his grip on the make shift parachute. But he held fast. He tried to push himself up against the building as much as possible, using the dragging motion to slow his descent even further. The rough edging of the building tore through his clothes and his skin, causing him to call out in pain. Looking down, he realised he still hadn’t slowed down enough. The roof of the building below him was coming up fast, and at the speed he was travelling, the impact would leave his legs as little more than beef mince. Off to the side, he saw the open area of the Mall itself, laying a good six or seven stories lower than the roof below him. That just might give him enough time to slow to a point where he wouldn’t be turned into a Jackson Pollock painting. He better do something fast, he thought, cause that roof was rushing up to meet him fast, and it didn’t look friendly.

Cameron brought his legs up and pushed himself as far away as from the building as he could. He spun around, the chute flipping him around again. He swung his body as far over as he possibly could, swinging and stretching, trying to make the chute go in the direction he wanted. The edge of the roof came up, and with last-ditch effort, he swung himself out and over the side. Falling further, he saw what looked like a flagpole jutting out the side of one of the buildings that was closer to ground level. Swinging his legs, he aimed the parachute at the pole as best he could. The apex of the chute manages to just snag the top of the pole. It caught, sending Cameron swinging into the ornate concrete side of the storefront. This time it was too much for him, and he lost his grip on one end of the material. Now only about 4 stories above the ground, he started to fall again. He crashed into the wood awning that jutted out from the top of the store, smashing through it. Just below that was a delivery van that had been parked out front of the store whose awning Cameron had just destroyed. The van was Cam’s final stop on his express flight down, hitting the roof broadside. Cameron had managed to slow his descent significantly, but the force of his fall still came with enough energy that it shattered all the windows of the Van and caved in the roof. When the dust cleared, Cameron lay in the roof’s indentation, battered, bloody and still.