Crash Landing

Shion and Chizuru ran back to the hall of beds which was now more of an obstacle course than a hallway. All the beds had shifted away from the wall and into the center, obstructing normal travel through the area.

The two, gorilla-jumped, vaulted, and slid their way through the maze of beds. Each second, the angle of the floor began to get slightly steeper. By the time the two reached the stairs there was a 60 degree incline. Rushing up the final stairway, Chizuru and Shion ran into the door separating the two from freedom and bang, it wouldn't budge. All the crates on deck must have slid against the door. Chizuru nervously looked at Shion as she gave the door one final shove.

Shion sighed, "Chizuru, don't worry. I can definitely move the door, but my arms are going to be useless after. I'm counting on you to protect me once I'm defenseless, ok?"

Before Chizuru could respond Shion started jumping up and down opening and closing her hands repeatedly then shaking them around.

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck shit," Shion let out a gut wrenching growl, "God help me, I hate doing this!" She began pushing on the metal door with such intense force that the door itself began to buckle.

The feat that Shion was going to perform was made possible with a combination of mental training and expedited healing from the nanites. Normally, the brain tells the body when it's under great stress, or hurt and it slows the body down or does whatever it can to escape the threat. So for example, if you put your hand on something hot your spine itself reflexively pulls it back.

Shion had experienced so much pain during her eye surgery that her pain tolerance already surpassed that of a normal human, but with the advanced healing powers of the nanites, Shion learned how to remove all limits on her strength. Her body no longer drew back from sources of pain, but instead could be activated to use 100% of her muscle fibers all at once. Most humans could only give about 80% before their bodies sensed danger and deactivated their own muscles, but not Shion. She could ignore the pain and force her body to work so hard that it broke itself down.

Shion pushed even harder than before, she groaned as she could feel her muscles tearing and the bones in her forearms cracking under the strain. The nanites were working to heal and repair any damage as it happened, but they couldn't keep up. The amount of damage that her own contracting muscles were doing to her bones and themselves was catastrophic.

Everything in Shion's mind and body was screaming to run, but instead she pushed down harder. Chizuru looked increasingly worried as blood began dripping out of Shion's mouth past the respirator mask and her eyes became bloodshot.

The door started to move. "Harder, harder, harder, push, harder" Shion thought as her field of vision started to narrow. If she didn't push harder, the door wasn't opening any further and she would be signing their death certificates. "Harder, harder," more blood spilled out of Shion's mouth. Just then Chizuru put her back against the door and started pushing as well and it shifted enough for a person to squeeze through.

"Go," whimpered Shion.

Chizuru turned to Shion and said, "I refuse to leave you."

"Don't then. Go out there and see if you can move the crate a little or if we can wedge something in the door. Hurry, I'm about to faint."

Chizuru hurried through the crack and frantically searched for something to hold the door open. There was no way she could move that crate, it had to weigh at least a ton, so she had to figure something else out.

“The guard,” Chizuru thought. On the floor near the door, the body of the guard they killed when they first arrived was still there. She grabbed his solid metal baton and jabbed it between the door and the frame.

Shion's body dropped, went limp, and landed with a thud. Chizuru reached inside the doorway and dragged Shion out, a mere second before the guard's weapon snapped and the door slammed shut again.

Chizuru's heart raced as she scrambled to her knees. Shion was out cold. Chizuru shook Shion by the shoulders, gently at first then roughly , but Shion didn't move at all. This made Chizuru start to panic further. She pulled down Shion's vest and dug her knuckles deep into her sternum.

Shion's blood shot eyes flew open. She took a giant gasping breath and started coughing. When she couldn't get up Shion muttered, "Leave me here Chizuru. I pushed too hard, I can't move another muscle. If you take me with you, you won't make it in time. Someone needs to make it so we can notify the capitol about what we saw here. I'll heal but it's gonna take too long."

Chizuru began crying. She grabbed Shion's cheek and pinched it. "Why are you so stupid? I love you, remember? And you said you did too, so you really think I could leave you? Well, I can't. Fuck the capitol, if I can't leave with you then I am not leaving. Don't think for a second that I'm just going to let you die either because I won't. You are coming with me and that's it. Period."

Shion's eyes began to water. This was the first time that she had ever seen Chizuru do something that was solely in her best interest and straight up defied orders.

Shion whispered, "I love you. If you want to save us please hurry".

Over the loudspeaker, "30 seconds till impact, evacuate immediately".

Chizuru looked around frantically before she noticed the thick cords wrapped around the crates. She cut one off, crossed it under Shion's vest and hoisted Shion onto her back before tying the cord in the front of her body.

Shion hung limply on Chizuru's back and said "what now?"

"We jump," replied Chizuru as she walked over to the edge of the deck.

They were rapidly approaching the petrified forest but there was still about a 25 foot gap between the girls and the tops of the trees.

Shion gave a little grunt, "You know that's crazy right?"

Chizuru raised her eyebrows and began back pedaling, "On three. One. Two. Three."

Chizuru started running and without hesitation flung herself and Shion off the side of the deck. Shion started yelling as the two free fell for what felt like eternity.

In a blur of snapping branches and Shion's terrified screams, the two continued to fall into a tree until the two came to a sudden stop when Chizuru was finally able to grab onto a thick tree branch. In the distance, a large explosion rang out from the downed airship, and smoke rose into the sky and the two felt a rush of heat blow past them.

The two hung there in silence for a few minutes before Shion burst into laughter. Then Chizuru started laughing so hard she had to wipe the tears from her eyes.

Shion between laughs said, "I actually thought we were going to die."

Chizuru sniffling, "Oh my God. So did I."

"You know, even if we almost died, that was pretty exciting to say the least," replied Shion.

"Honestly, it's really scary to think, but this is actually the most fun I have had in a long time," Chizuru said while choking back a laugh.

"You know something? I think you are the only person I actually have fun with anymore. Chizuru, on a more serious note, hanging like this is actually super painful," Shion weakly replied, moving her dangling body back and forth. Shion recalled their race to the stage, the fight near Gino's and suddenly the pain wasn't so bad anymore.

"Oh shit," Chizuru gasped as she let go of the branch and landed in a tall squat before releasing the knott from the cable around her waist. Shion landed on the ground with a thud.

Shion struggled to her knees and was sitting up at this point, arms laying limp at her sides palms facing up.

Chizuru kneeled down next to Shion, "Are you alright?"

Shion replied " Honestly no. Cut open my sleeves so I can see the damage."

Chizuru cut open both sleeves lengthwise then peeled them open. When she saw the damage she let out a quiet gasp. From the middle of her palm, all the way up to her shoulder, both of Shion's arms were black and blue and dead looking. A few random cuts and tears littered her forearms.

Shion looked over and didn't seem startled at all about it. "I figured this would happen, that's why I hate doing that."

Chizuru gently touched Shion's arm, "Does it hurt?”

Shion replied with a peaceful smile, "Even the fabric touching my arms was excruciating. I'll be ok though, give me a few days and I'll be all healed up. We better start running. If there are more troops they will be heading to the crash site. We need to get back to the battalion and notify the Capitol."

Chizuru fashioned a make-shift sling from her jacket and helped Shion put her arms inside. Shion leaned her head against Chizuru's collar bone in an armless hug. Thinking back on how happy she was with Chizuru even in scary moments like this, Shion was finally able to say the three words with confidence that she thought she would never be able to say with honesty, "I love you Chizuru." Chizuru smiled back, "I love you too."