(Issue no 51 - Whumpers-monthly)
(A Thunderbirds Are Go Virgil Tracy Whump)
âHuh-uh, huh-uh, huh-uh, huh-uh âŠUhhhh!...â
Iâm looking up at the ground, he thought.
âShit,â he uttered, as the world went black.
Then, the world was bright again.
Virgil Tracy felt dizzy and sick to his stomach.
Because he was upside down.
âHow in the hell⊠he mumbled to himself, "Ah. Right. Crashed the pod. Shit,â
He involuntarily gave in to the darkness once more.
The noise was deafening and it made his head pound harder as he came to.
âGod, these jungle birds never stop squawking, do they?â he complained to no one. âOkay, Canât stay like this. Canât pass out again. Come on Virgil!â
He tilted his head towards his feet to see exactly what he was dealing with.
âAh, for fuckâs sake,â he sighed, noting that his right ankle was twisted and tangled in a vine and is other leg was bent at the knee, hooked into a branch. Virgilâs stomach lurched and he tried to turn his head to prevent his vomit from spewing into his nostrils but he was only partially successful considering his dangling state.
âUhhh,â he said, trying to keep his chin to his chest, âIâm fucked,â
The thought of seeing the tree branch through his leg made him heave once more but there was nothing left in his stomach to eject more than just a bit of bile and drool.
He felt around his chest for his comms only to discover that his baldric was cut to pieces, no doubt from the violence of the crash.
âGreat,â he told himself. âKeeps getting better ânâ better,â but he did take solace in the fact that he had been in constant contact with John on this solo mission and his brothers would be on their way. But he also knew the serious consequences of hanging upside down for too long.
He couldnât have them find him dead.
There were enough dead Tracyâs already.
He had to live â not just because he was too young to die and honestly was afraid that he would; he did not want to imagine his familyâs pain.
âNo dying here. Not today,â
He took the deepest, albeit most painful breath he could and tried to curl upwards toward his feet.
âUuuurrrrhhh!â he screamed out in pain and strain. Instantly, some of his squawking avian companions flew off, startled by his bellowing â the sound of their wings echoing like thunderous clapping in the vast landscape as they took off.
âHOIST YOURSELF UP, MAN, COME ON!â
Virgil remembered his fatherâs words booming in his ears when he was just eleven years old.
Easier said than done, old man, he would think to himself back then.
âYOU ARE MY STRONGEST CHILD!â
Yeah, Iâm a child...asshole, he would think as he glared scowling at his father. And then, the one thing he hated hearing him say came out of the manâs mouth,
âYOUR BROTHERS CAN DO IT AND THEY ARE SCRAWNIER THAN YOU! JUST A MATTER OF TIME BEFORE GORDON AND ALAN SUPASS YOU IN THIS! COME ON! PULL YOURSELF UP!â
Virgil cringed a little at the reminder of what those words did to him and to John and Scott who paled in comparison to him when it came to mass because they were taller. The words embarrassed and angered Virgil who hated the embarrassment it caused them. They were children for christsakes! Why was everything training and competition.
One minute he was too thick and stocky and the next they were too thin and weak in their father's eyes. He wanted to see them as men - or worse, as soldiers or machines and they were just boys.
There was no satisfying the man it seemed.
It was no secret to the other older two that he was not the biggest fan of their father. Virgil had many sides to his personality as did all the Tracy children, but he was the only one bold enough to show all of them, especially the softer sides of himself that tended to irk his tough and military trained father. Virgil wasnât a pleaser like John and Scott who, being first took it upon himself to secure the manâs approval by emulating him.
Virgil loved his parents, of course, but he certainly did not idolize Jeff Tracy the way the world did. Virgil saw him for what he was â just a man as fallible as any other and he resented the pressure he placed upon their shoulders, especially after their motherâs passing. At least when she was alive she was there to buffer them from his urge to have them skip their childhood and rush headfirst into manhood.
And then, upon choosing heroism over fatherhood he blew into pieces before the eldest, raining down on him everything he was as patriarch to their family â rained them onto a nineteen-year-old who didnât deserve to step into his fatherâs shoes and live his fatherâs life - under the cast of a big shadow, Scott was dissolving under, cell by cell, breath by breath, step by step as each year went by.
No, Jeff Tracy wasnât Virgilâs hero but today, he needed to remember his fatherâs words so that Scott, John, Gordan and Alan wouldnât have to crumble even further.
He had to hoist himself up and NOW!
With each breath more difficult to take than the last, the paramedic in him knew his lungs were beginning to compress. His vision was graying as the blood was beginning to pool in his head as he struggled to keep it as upright as he could. The thumping of his heart in his ears was a clear indication that his blood pressure was getting higher. He felt drained and weak and listening to his raspy, gurgling intakes of air frightened him.
He had to move now before he blacked out again for what could be his last and fatal time.
âHOIST YOURSELF UP, MAN! THIS IS EMBARASSING AND PATHETIC FOR SOMEONE SO STRONG!â
He replayed his fatherâs angry words in his head to make himself angry enough to move upward to his caught foot.
After eight bone tiring attempts, Virgil, took a breath, painfully contracted his abdominal muscles and crunched himself upwards, the vision of his thinner and more agile brothers performing the task, replaying in time with his fatherâs critical words. The agonizing memories made the agonizing and impossible task achievable and with a loud grunt of exhaustion and pain, in two jerky movements, he managed to grab hold of his ankle.
Sweating profusely, huffing and puffing, he felt the corners of his mouth upturn, and he chuckled a little at the accomplishment,
âHehâŠIâŠI did itâŠfuckinâ did it. Fuck you, Dad ..whoâs the embarrassment now?â
Wriggling and carefully adjusting his arm to hook onto his leg, Virgil sighed, hoping that the vine would continue to support his weight. In spite of the wooziness from blood loss and shock and the gory sight of his left leg, he felt better being curled upright.
With all his might he hung on to his vine secured leg humming lightly to himself, trying to think of anything that would prevent his mind from shutting down and rendering him unconscious.
âCome on guys, where are you?â he attempted to say and like a miracle, he heard the engines of big brotherâs craft approaching.
Time jumped forward from the moment he heard Thunderbird Oneâs engines roar when Scott was hovering beside him wearing his jetpack.
âThere you are, he said gently moping his brow with a cold compress, âI need you to stay with me, Okay Virge?â Scott said with a smile that was failing to mask his concern.
âYou've got yourself in quite a fix, here. And you know it's pretty bad and weâve gotta cut the branch and weâve gotta keep the impaled piece in place, yeah?â
âI âŠI knowâŠsâokay. Mâjust hanging around,â he replied and tried to smile at Scott.
âThunderbird Two is attempting humour, Thunderbird Five,â
âCopy that Thunderbird One. I heard it. Was pretty shabby too. How is he really?â
âWell, it's not great. He's in shock, blood loss, serious leg penetrating trauma and the scanner is pinging all over the place but now that I can see him in person, I think our strong man is tough. It wonât be long until Gordon and Alan cut him free from this tangle heâs got himself in,â
Virgil closed his eyes for a moment and flung them open when Scott tapped his cheek.
âNo sleeping. Not just yet. As soon as youâre down and weâre in your âBird, Iâll stabilize your electrolytes and hopefully your blood pressure will even off and Iâll give you something for the pain and some oxygen... take the stress off your lungs, yeah? Then and only then can you sleep. Deal?â
Virgil nodded and tried his best to focus on Scottâs face while he was cut down.
âHere, let my hand go for just a second,â Scott told him, âIâm gonna lean you onto me. Alan is on the other side of you in his jetpack  and weâre gonna hover you back to Tw0,â
âHey Bro. Nice mess âŠbut donât worry weâve got ya! Youâre gonna be okay,â
Virgil chuckled a little at the youngestâs enthusiasm but was happier to hear Scottâs more reassuring tone.
âWeâre gonna keep you steady while Gordon cuts the vine and then the branch. We 've got you. You're safe,â
âItâs gonna be a bitch so scream if you have to!â
âReally Alan?â Scott said with a hint of impatience and exasperation. âTell me you donât talk to our rescuees like this,â
âWhat? Youâre always sayinâ try and lighten the mood,â
âUrghâŠ. How you doing Virge?â Scott redirected his attention to his severely injured brother.
But Virgil could only manage a grunt.
âAlmost there Gordon? Heâs fading fast!â Scott called out.
âYepâŠ.just a little moreâŠyep! Youâre all clear!â
The youngest and eldest gently carried their now too-pale brother to the med-bay in his craft and Scott, with Gordon took care of his injuries while Alan set about clearing up the tools and getting ready to fly Thunderbird One back to base.
John remote piloted the big green machine to the nearest hospital in Manaus, Brazil while the other two kept the patient stable.
âHow did you do it, Virgil? How did you get yourself as upright as you did?â
âDadâŠheard DadâŠhis muh..mockingâŠanâ fer... first t-timeâŠ.it h-helped,â he whispered, before a long groaning sigh escaped his lips, his head lolling to the side.
âHeâs out,â Scott mumbled, âIâm gonna put an o2 mask on him to help him breathe. HeâŠheâs um...he's exhausted,â
Gordon noticed the change in Scottâs demeanor. The concern morphed into sadness and disappointment and perhaps even shame. He wanted to ask Scott what Virgil meant but Scott just sat beside Virgilâs bed and took his hand, eventually resting his head on it.
Moving into the cockpit, Gordon raised John,
âHey, Virgilâs unconscious. Scottâs sitting with him so I can fly her if you want,â
âSure, thanks Gordon,â
John sounded the way Scott looked and Gordon decided he needed to understand what was going on among the three elder brothers.
âJohn, what Virgil mean when he saidâŠ
âI heard what he said,â
âSo, tell me, cause Scottâs sitting there like someone stole his puppy,â
âYou donât know any of this Gordon, you didnât know that side of Dad, so you wonât understand. You were too young,â
âIâm an adult now, John, so try me,â
John audible sighed a long deep sigh that matched the aura of his other two brothers and began to explain,
âDad used to make us get out of tricky situations he thought we could find ourselves in and some of them were easier for Scott and me to do but Virgil âŠVirgil has always ben strong but he wasnât as fast or as agile as we were and he wasnât the greatest climber and he had a more sensitive side that he dared to showâŠa side that we never dared toâŠnot to Dad. And lots of the time, Dad would try and embarrass him into doing something he wasnât good at or struggled with and he always compared us to each other. It was âŠit was tough ⊠on all of us, especially Virgil. AndâŠâ
âAndâ John continued, âI guess, it was kind of ironic and kinda sad that today it took those shitty moments to get him to find what he needed to help himself survive today. Itâs justâŠitâs bittersweet, ya know?â
Gordon scrubbed his hands over his face and took a deep breath, and sat back in the pilot's seat, wide-eyed at the shock of what he'd been told.
âI get it. I kinda know he was brutally hard on the three of you. I remember some things but not enough that it clarified anything,â Gordon started. âBut even though it was a shit time and a shit thing to do to you guys, Iâm glad Dad was like that in a way,â
âYeah? How so?â John asked,
âWell, if Dad wasnât an asshole in that way and turned your worlds upside down back then, maybe we might have found our brother hanging upside down dead today. Doesnât make what Dad did or said right but if we can take one good thing from it, is that it was enough to make Virgil find something inside himself to turn himself right side up until we got there. Out of a shitty thing, at least we got that and our lives werenât tuned upside down again today cause today⊠we didnât lose Bear and heâs gonna be okay. We all are,â