Bastion - Chapter 4
Water ran steadily in a hush.
Ebbing in a stream through the tunnels. Walking over wavy metal, the sewer pipe was caked with rust and debris. Worn industrial belts, shredded tires, fragments of split concrete, alongside rebar sat gray beneath a pale light.
Reaching the end, she peered across a thin expanse. Below, an infinite drop. Across, more cylindrical sewer pipes. Leaning further out, she looked down into the abyss. A deep fog seeped up from the gorge. Shrouding the mush of mechs, sentients, and other biomass within its depths.
Taking several steps back, Amma prepared herself. Lunging forward, her muscles tensed as the biomechanics of her frame wound up. In an instant, she was sprinting. Charging straight towards the edge.
Magnetized to her chest, her shredder held firm as she leapt.
Scraping the wall, she came up short. Tumbling through the air, Amma collided with a series of pipes. Crashing through them like tin cans on her way down.
In each consecutive second, her cybernetic brain ran damage assessments. Each fracture, every torn muscle, and every splintered bone was documented while a recovery timeframe was calculated. A month for this, three weeks for that.
Slamming headfirst into a beam, her skull took the blow. Sending a shock through the core of her system.
Still conscious, Amma continued her descent. Striking a section of moonlike material before twisting like a spindle into the slimy liquid of the lagoon.
Three disks in her spine had compressed. A shattered elbow, a torn knee, and a dislocated shoulder proved the extent of the damage.
Face down, she laid at the bottom of the abyss for months. Joining the scattered debris of the discarded as she waited to heal. The process was long, but she wasn’t there. Sleeping yet again, she skirted time. Avoiding it’s cruel malaise as the nanites reversed the folly of consequence.
Hello! We’re D.J. Hoskins
We are Davena and Jason Hoskins, co-authors of 30+ books and siblings who write under the pseudonym D.J. Hoskins. Three years apart and in our twenties, we have been fascinated by stories from a young age. Davena is a student attending Princeton University, and Jason attends Georgetown University.
