Memento Mori, Prologue
Oct. 31st, 2011 08:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
keaalu posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
memento_mori_11 ...don’t stop running.
Across the coarse scrubby grass of a windswept headland, an exhausted young woman sprinted for her life, on bleeding toes that her efforts had shredded to ribbons and legs that trembled with every faltering stride. Her breath burned like hot ash in her lungs, her throat seeming to shrink with every convulsive gasp, her oxygen-deprived brain had begun to make the grassy horizon tilt giddily on its axis... and as though to mock her desperate pleas for rain – rain to erase her bloody footprints, to wash away the bright trail of frightened scent behind her – an electrical storm growled on the horizon, approaching land and promising a deluge that just wouldn’t come soon enough to save her.
Just don’t stop. Not even for a second.
Never before had Blink been forced to run so far beyond what she thought she was capable of. Never before had so much been at stake – and never before had safety seemed so far beyond her reach. Even now, she could hear her pursuer behind her, bellowing threats as he sliced into her lead with every step, but the roar of her own heartbeat in her ears prevented her from working out how far away he was. He could have been mere footsteps behind, already reaching out a huge clawed fist to reclaim the prize that had dared to slip through his fingers...!
She didn’t dare look. If she turned for even a second, she knew she’d never get started again.
It soon wouldn’t matter how far away he was, anyway. If she couldn’t keep up this punishing pace, he’d be on top of her. Leading him through the unfriendly scrub had only slowed him down a little. And – more importantly – made him angrier. She could almost feel his massive fists closing on her arms already, those long dirty claws digging into her skin, crushing muscle and cracking bones.
You run away from me again, you ungrateful little cointe, and I’ll break both your legs to see that you never run anywhere ever again.
Ridiculous to think all this had been triggered simply by refusing his advances. A whole world at stake, because of one person’s bruised ego!
“...you filthy whore, you better hope I don’t get my hands on you-!”
His voice gusted up over the scrubby grass of the headland, carried on the teasing breeze.
The fence loomed up on the hoizon. Safety, if only she could make it.
“Computer? Open the gate!” she gasped into the radio, almost punching herself in the face with an exhausted, unco-ordinated hand. “Open the gate-!
Whatever you do,
Don’t.
Stop.
Running.
Across the coarse scrubby grass of a windswept headland, an exhausted young woman sprinted for her life, on bleeding toes that her efforts had shredded to ribbons and legs that trembled with every faltering stride. Her breath burned like hot ash in her lungs, her throat seeming to shrink with every convulsive gasp, her oxygen-deprived brain had begun to make the grassy horizon tilt giddily on its axis... and as though to mock her desperate pleas for rain – rain to erase her bloody footprints, to wash away the bright trail of frightened scent behind her – an electrical storm growled on the horizon, approaching land and promising a deluge that just wouldn’t come soon enough to save her.
Just don’t stop. Not even for a second.
Never before had Blink been forced to run so far beyond what she thought she was capable of. Never before had so much been at stake – and never before had safety seemed so far beyond her reach. Even now, she could hear her pursuer behind her, bellowing threats as he sliced into her lead with every step, but the roar of her own heartbeat in her ears prevented her from working out how far away he was. He could have been mere footsteps behind, already reaching out a huge clawed fist to reclaim the prize that had dared to slip through his fingers...!
She didn’t dare look. If she turned for even a second, she knew she’d never get started again.
It soon wouldn’t matter how far away he was, anyway. If she couldn’t keep up this punishing pace, he’d be on top of her. Leading him through the unfriendly scrub had only slowed him down a little. And – more importantly – made him angrier. She could almost feel his massive fists closing on her arms already, those long dirty claws digging into her skin, crushing muscle and cracking bones.
You run away from me again, you ungrateful little cointe, and I’ll break both your legs to see that you never run anywhere ever again.
Ridiculous to think all this had been triggered simply by refusing his advances. A whole world at stake, because of one person’s bruised ego!
“...you filthy whore, you better hope I don’t get my hands on you-!”
His voice gusted up over the scrubby grass of the headland, carried on the teasing breeze.
The fence loomed up on the hoizon. Safety, if only she could make it.
“Computer? Open the gate!” she gasped into the radio, almost punching herself in the face with an exhausted, unco-ordinated hand. “Open the gate-!
Whatever you do,
Don’t.
Stop.
Running.