Just a quick something I thought up today over lunch. Enjoy!
DISCLAIMER: Mass Effect and all other situations regarding ME are trademaks of Bioware
You run, all the way to the end of the hall, helmet under one arm and hair slapping against your neck.
There! A few tense moments and its done, you've sent the call. Finally jamming the helmet down, you take a deep breath as the recyclers whir up to speed. The one you love rushes around the corner, eyes frantic in her search. As she sees you, her eyes slow down and she calms.
It doesn't last. You tell her to run, that help is coming and that she has to go. You can see the moment her heart breaks a little bit because yours does to. You are struck with the inexplicable feeling that this will be the last meeting for a long while.
You run through burning corridors and feel the telltale kick as life pods fly out of the ship. Good, you think, they're alive. You head for one too when the voice over the intercom buzzes through. Thank goodness, you think, he's still alive.
Shit, you think again, what's he still doing here? Run. You pass through the void and you're struck by he notion that if not for the flash frozen bodies then this would be beautiful. Beneath the blue glow of the world above, all is quiet.
You run to the bridge and find the last man. As gently as you can, you get him to the pod. You move to sit with him but you're too late and go flying. You grab onto something –anything- and find that your dumb luck has landed you on the launch button. He calls; he wants you to get to him. Your eyes lock and you're not sure how much he sees, but you see devotion and acceptance.
You crush him too, the same way you did her. Push the button and launch yourselves away. He to safety, you to God only knows where. You hear the sound of walnuts cracking and dimly you realize that was your ribs. You stretch to engage the rebreather, ignoring your flaming chest. You send the command but you can't breathe. This has nothing to do with the ribs, which make what little breath you can take taste like blood.
Gas. You hear gas escaping. You reach again and your chest is an inferno, from your ribs and your lungs. The pipe, you realize –the stupid EXTERNAL pipe- is almost totally severed. You see a bright flash that is exactly the colour of vomit and you try to laugh at the irony because you feel like vomiting too.
You end up in a coughing fit –but there's no relief- you can't draw cooling breath. This is it, you think oddly calm as your vision blackens around the edges. The last thing you see is the most soothing shade of blue and the last thing you think is: So this is what you get for saving the galaxy.
