Fall from Grace

Posted on Mon Mar 1st, 2021 @ 3:44am by Lieutenant Bonnie "Bon-Bon" Durnell

Mission: The Jungle
Location: Jungle
Timeline: Current-ish

He turned at the sound of her footfalls and reacted. His phaser blast was quick but not precise. His shot landed in her shoulder, which connected to her limp hand. The power of the shot was enough to make her turn and stumble, machete outstretched. He rose quickly and backpedaled so as not to be struck, right into the path of the random firing stun beam.

Bonnie landed face down with a hard thud. She looked up just in time to see the hunter take a hit from the stun rifle. He stood there for a moment before listing towards the ravine. Her eyes went large and she scrambled forward, leaving the machete behind.

As his body fell over the edge, she reached out and blindly caught his leg with her good hand, his weight forcing her to the ground once more. She needed that helmet and that badge, but with only one good hand she had no way to pull him back up, aside from the power in her legs. She was as small and as he was heavy.

As he slowly began to slip from her grasp, she started coming to the realization that not only was she going to lose the helmet and badge, but this man in her grip was about to fall to his death. From the corner of her eye, another problem appeared.

He slowly picked up the discarded machete and walked towards Bonnie, an angry yet satisfying look upon his face. He looked briefly for a nearby camera before he raised the weapon for a crushing blow. Just as his brain signaled his arms to strike, Bonnie cried out, “Stop.”

Which to his own surprise, he did, a sign he may have had a soul. “Why should I?” He questioned, his senility showing.

“If you kill me, your partner dies. Help me, help him, please.”

“But, that’s what the game master demands.” He laughed. “I no more care about what happens to him as I do you. So why should I deny the audience a double death? Hell, I may just get that sweet promo deal out of this.”

Bonnie sighed, with an understanding that this man was going to be of little help to her as the leg she was holding shifted weight in her grasp. She quickly tried to think of another tactic, a way of pleading with the man, but she was coming up short even as he pulled the blade to attack again, the body in her grip began to twitch.

The hunter raised his hands, machete in attack mode. But just as he was about to swing, a phaser blast struck him in the chest. He blinked, looked down at the singed hole where his heart once was, then fell, over the edge of the ravine in a silent fall to his death.

Her eyes went large as she looked down at the first hunter, holding a phaser rifle in his hands. He wasn’t aiming at her despite his predicament, or rather because of. “Why?” She asked simply.

“He would have killed us both.” He shifted causing her grip to loosen briefly and then tighten once more. “I take it you can’t pull me up?”

She shook her head sadly.

He didn’t even look away or down before he said it. “Then let me go.”

“I can’t do that either.” She said as she began to slip. “I need your helmet and badge to get through that door. I can’t let you fall.”

He chuckled. “You bested me with that stupid stun gun trick, I admire that. You know they will kill you the moment to enter that door, right?”

“Probably. But I have to try.”

He released the phaser, which fell off his shoulder and into the ravine below. Then began removing his helmet slowly, making sure it didn’t fall into the abyss. He then smiled at her while placing his badge into the helmet. “Good luck kid, catch.” And with that he tossed the helmet as high as he could.

Bonnie panicked, his jerky throw caused him to slip further, but now she had to make a choice, hold him, or catch the helmet. She didn’t think, just reacted as he fell she reached out and caught the helmet, bringing it safely into her outstretched arms.

Now she held the key. She gave a look over the edge and thanked the fallen hunter before turning towards the door in the wall.

TBC