ground state || esthers death
Mar 27, 2022 16:32:12 GMT -5
Post by ali on Mar 27, 2022 16:32:12 GMT -5
When Esther had been at school, she had once learnt about potential energy though her mind shattered, broken, was missing the vital pathways to link the key parts of her brain to pull the memory from the depths of her consciousness so she did not remember it. Not really. She had learnt about how everything in the Universe, every atom, every quark, every small little thing in the entire empty expanse of the known and unknown universe was desperate to reach a state where it had little to no energy left, making it stable. The higher the energy, the greater the instability.
All something needed to begin its downfall into this state of stability, was something. A strike of a match, a random ray of radiation passing through-
A bullet-
A small push.
The next few moments of Esther’s life move almost in slow motion, but at the speed of the world all at once.
Esther watched the landship dropping back as the sparked between Peter and Talon, the wheels of the landship kicking up a flurry of dust in their wake. She watched as Talon stood on the helm of the other ship, his stun baton in one hand, his gun still smoking from where he had fired his last bullet. Peter said he had looked like an Angel, but as Esther regarded the stranger she could not help but think this not to be true- he looked like a man to her.
She felt Peter’s name passing through her lips, snatched away by the wind, as she turned to watch as Peter’s mech seized and suddenly he was falling. “PETER!!” She screamed after him, reaching out to catch him just as Ellis had done with Oz but he was too far away, the hand of her mech barely reached half the distance she needed to grab him and her face contorted into one of horror as she watched Peter falling, his mech hitting the dry and parched earth between their two ships with such silence that the sight was unnerving- then he disappeared in the sea of dust being brought up by the two ships.
“PETER!” Esther screamed, her voice breaking, taught, panicked. All she could hear was the thrum of the landship beneath her, the sound of the other voices around her faded away into nothingness as she turned to Ellis and Oz “WE NEED TO TURN BACK!! WE NEED TO GO GET PETER!! WE NEED-”
She was only half way through her demand when everything but the sound of the bullet whizzing past her filled the void. For a moment- everything stilled. Then she felt the bullet that had just been shot by the girl in the other recoil, hitting her arm as it made its return to its host. The impact was not hard, if it had hit her anywhere else she might not have even felt it but her left arm was almost bare of any armour that the other parts of her mech, falling apart and broken, gave her. The impact was enough for her to yelp, letting go of the handle she had been holding onto to keep herself steady on the bouncing, vaulting landship as it moved across the desert.
"I'll stop this." Talon’s voice appears in the void, a voice inside her head. "Happy Hunger Games, right?"
The gunshot rings out- then the world comes roaring back to life. The sound of the wind in her helmet, the wheels turning against dead and dying earth, the thrum of the engine and the thundering exhaust pipe as it splutters out smoke as the ship moves full speed ahead. Yet, Esther feels as if she is frozen, the world seemingly moves around her and she takes a moment to look down to see the gaping hole in her mech suit, sparks and twisted metal bloom like a flower as her white shirt beneath begins to turn red.
All it takes for her to lose balance is that bullet and she falls.
She doesn’t scream, she doesn’t call out as her arms flail as she falls from the ship- everything is moving in such slow motion that it feels almost like a dream- a memory- a forgotten moment-
Is this real? She asks herself
Yes. Says a voice back- familiar, unforgotten, so stark and clear that she can see him stood above her. I’m sorry my little firecracker…
Esther hits the ground and the world begins to turn again. She barely has time to think when the wheels of the landship passes over her-
CRACK
The dust slowly settles. The carcass of Esther’ mech lays scattered, shatter and broken, smiling faces of glow in the dark paint snapped in two, her bag of things scattered out across the desert like forgotten play things, broken glow sticks bleed into the earth in a rainbow of colour slowly. Esther lies on her back not far from the scattered remains of the mech, half the cockpit helmet still shielding her face as her hair spills out behind her head, vibrant and red against the dull sand of the desert. Her chest moves slowly, thick patches of blood plaster her shirt to her skin-
She is barely moving until.
“PAPA!”
Esther gasps, gulping down the thick hot air around her, her lungs clawing at purchase as her heart throbs inside her bruised and battered ribcage. Her brain wills her body to writhe and move, fingers wanting to reach up to the helmet and toss it away, legs eager to kick at the earth to push her up into a sitting position but - though she does not realise it - she can barely feel her legs and all her body has the energy to do is to allow her fingers to grip at the sand beneath her bloody fingernails. She gasps, her storm green eyes bright, wide and flittering from side to side as she tries to ground herself- her mind fumbling to think clearly.
Her chest heaves quickly as she gasps again “We..We need to go back…we need to go back…Peter…we…we need…we need….” she stumbles and stutters over her words like a broken doll, her words barely audible. “we…”
All something needed to begin its downfall into this state of stability, was something. A strike of a match, a random ray of radiation passing through-
A bullet-
A small push.
The next few moments of Esther’s life move almost in slow motion, but at the speed of the world all at once.
Esther watched the landship dropping back as the sparked between Peter and Talon, the wheels of the landship kicking up a flurry of dust in their wake. She watched as Talon stood on the helm of the other ship, his stun baton in one hand, his gun still smoking from where he had fired his last bullet. Peter said he had looked like an Angel, but as Esther regarded the stranger she could not help but think this not to be true- he looked like a man to her.
She felt Peter’s name passing through her lips, snatched away by the wind, as she turned to watch as Peter’s mech seized and suddenly he was falling. “PETER!!” She screamed after him, reaching out to catch him just as Ellis had done with Oz but he was too far away, the hand of her mech barely reached half the distance she needed to grab him and her face contorted into one of horror as she watched Peter falling, his mech hitting the dry and parched earth between their two ships with such silence that the sight was unnerving- then he disappeared in the sea of dust being brought up by the two ships.
“PETER!” Esther screamed, her voice breaking, taught, panicked. All she could hear was the thrum of the landship beneath her, the sound of the other voices around her faded away into nothingness as she turned to Ellis and Oz “WE NEED TO TURN BACK!! WE NEED TO GO GET PETER!! WE NEED-”
She was only half way through her demand when everything but the sound of the bullet whizzing past her filled the void. For a moment- everything stilled. Then she felt the bullet that had just been shot by the girl in the other recoil, hitting her arm as it made its return to its host. The impact was not hard, if it had hit her anywhere else she might not have even felt it but her left arm was almost bare of any armour that the other parts of her mech, falling apart and broken, gave her. The impact was enough for her to yelp, letting go of the handle she had been holding onto to keep herself steady on the bouncing, vaulting landship as it moved across the desert.
"I'll stop this." Talon’s voice appears in the void, a voice inside her head. "Happy Hunger Games, right?"
The gunshot rings out- then the world comes roaring back to life. The sound of the wind in her helmet, the wheels turning against dead and dying earth, the thrum of the engine and the thundering exhaust pipe as it splutters out smoke as the ship moves full speed ahead. Yet, Esther feels as if she is frozen, the world seemingly moves around her and she takes a moment to look down to see the gaping hole in her mech suit, sparks and twisted metal bloom like a flower as her white shirt beneath begins to turn red.
All it takes for her to lose balance is that bullet and she falls.
She doesn’t scream, she doesn’t call out as her arms flail as she falls from the ship- everything is moving in such slow motion that it feels almost like a dream- a memory- a forgotten moment-
Is this real? She asks herself
Yes. Says a voice back- familiar, unforgotten, so stark and clear that she can see him stood above her. I’m sorry my little firecracker…
Esther hits the ground and the world begins to turn again. She barely has time to think when the wheels of the landship passes over her-
CRACK
-
The dust slowly settles. The carcass of Esther’ mech lays scattered, shatter and broken, smiling faces of glow in the dark paint snapped in two, her bag of things scattered out across the desert like forgotten play things, broken glow sticks bleed into the earth in a rainbow of colour slowly. Esther lies on her back not far from the scattered remains of the mech, half the cockpit helmet still shielding her face as her hair spills out behind her head, vibrant and red against the dull sand of the desert. Her chest moves slowly, thick patches of blood plaster her shirt to her skin-
She is barely moving until.
“PAPA!”
Esther gasps, gulping down the thick hot air around her, her lungs clawing at purchase as her heart throbs inside her bruised and battered ribcage. Her brain wills her body to writhe and move, fingers wanting to reach up to the helmet and toss it away, legs eager to kick at the earth to push her up into a sitting position but - though she does not realise it - she can barely feel her legs and all her body has the energy to do is to allow her fingers to grip at the sand beneath her bloody fingernails. She gasps, her storm green eyes bright, wide and flittering from side to side as she tries to ground herself- her mind fumbling to think clearly.
Her chest heaves quickly as she gasps again “We..We need to go back…we need to go back…Peter…we…we need…we need….” she stumbles and stutters over her words like a broken doll, her words barely audible. “we…”
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