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- @ THOUGHTFALL
-
- # By Andrew Campbell 1994
-
-
- One of Preston's guards opened the aircraft door. Despite his
- strength, he lost grip, letting it swing outwards and hit the bodywork
- with a huge, metallic crack.
- "You gormless piece of shit!" Preston cried, poking the gun harder
- into Steve's back. Screaming air blasted into the cabin, raking back
- everyone's hair and causing them to squint. Sandy's captor found he
- had to cling on to one of the seats to keep his balance.
- "MOVE OUT OF THE WAY!" shouted Preston, shuffling Steve nearer to the
- open doorway.
- "Hey, no!" Steve yelled, his eyes huge with fear. "Please no!" And as
- he was cold-bloodedly ignored, Sandy began to scream. Outside, below a
- fragmented sea of bluish-grey clouds there awaited an eternal Amazon
- landscape... a green, uncharted alien world. No water; land.
- Solid, death-ensuring land.
- "You can't!" Steve gasped, his feet skidding closer to thin air. "You
- can't do this... please..."
- "Walker!" Preston barked. "Help me throw him out! Don't just stand
- there you fucking lazy bastard!"
- Steve felt the grip of another hand on his shoulders. No longer was
- his strength enough to delay the fate Preston had in store for him;
- now he was going to die.
- "NOOOOO!" Sandy roared, tears pouring down both cheeks. The guard -
- still hanging on to the chair - punched her to a silence with one free
- hand.
- "Don't do this to Sandy," Steve pleaded, realising his imminent
- death. All he could hope for now was the survival of his wife. Surely
- they wouldn't throw her out of the plane, too. Surely...? "All I ask
- is that you don't kill my wife like this-"
- "Shut the fuck up," Preston hissed and gave Steve one final shove.
- Steve felt the floor beneath his shoes scrape away, heard Sandy scream
- again, saw the horizon tip and roll... then he was outside, tumbling,
- holding his breath, freezing cold... listening to the thunder of his
- own body cutting through the air...
- # Sandy?
- # Hmmm?
- # I love you.
- # Me too.
- ...thoughts spinning as fast as the world... clothes peeling, head
- burning...
- # Daddy? Can we go swimming today?
- # Go on, Steve. Take her swimming. She needs to practice.
- ...green... white... green... white... a tiny black shape speeding
- away in that whiteness... through the pain and confusion he knows it
- is Sandy...
- # Preston murdered me.
- # I know, honey.
- # Sandy?
- # Hmmm?
- # Can I have a warm cup of cocoa please?
- ...green... white... green... green, green, green, he manages to keep
- control... the view of the jungle far below is blurry and dreamlike...
- he watches it without breathing... slowly realizes that what he is
- admiring will shortly take his life...
- # Sandy will you sing me a nursery rhyme? I feel ill.
- # London Bridge is falling down, falling down, falling down-
- # Not that one. Another one.
- # London Brige is falling-
- # Please Sandy, ANOTHER!
- # Don't SHOUT at me!
- ...now the view isn't so spectacular. It is horrible. Sickly. The
- most terrifying thing he has ever seen... patterns, faces, shapes in
- the trees...
- # She see's faces in the carpet! She does!
- # Your mum's weird, you know that Steve?
- # No. She's not weird at all, Sandy. I understand her now...
- ...all of a sudden he believes everything he didn't used to believe.
- Faces appear in the trees... his children, his parents... friends from
- work... people he met on holiday... Preston... drugs... a gun... Sandy
- screaming... a seat-belt fastening... the door of the plane opening
- and then his falling body interpreted by the trees... the much closer,
- closer trees...
- # Sandy?
- # Hmmm?
- # I'm going to miss you.
- # STEVE THE GROUND! THE GROUND IS COMING!
- # I know, I know, I'm going to miss you-
- # OH GOD OH JESUS STEVE PLEASE DON'T LET IT COME!! PLEASE DON'T LET-
- # Sandy don't cry, please don't cry-
- # STEVE NOOOO! NOOOOOOO! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-
- ...cold, silent wind... crackling, snapping, wetness, darkness... a
- momentary void of nothingness-
- # STEEEE-
- ...then a whistle, a crack, pain... !!!PAIN!!! Something cold, hard,
- bashing against his skin... an alien creature tearing away his
- stomach... emptiness... !!!SUCH PAIN!!! A brief flickering image of
- greenery, entangled branches, blood... the ground moaning beneath his
- weight, spikes jabbing into his flesh... hands tightly holding his
- ankles... his body, his arms, his head dangling... dripping... so cold
- and wet...
- Then the peaceful chirping of birds.
- Alien birds.
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