FORESIGHT and SCOPE: BOOK TWO

Bonus Chapter Five: Alternate Ending Part One

*We begin when it happens...In this Alternate Ending, and one I had considered DEEPLY... Tech is not able to save Fern...*

THIRD PERSON POV

BOOM! BOOM!

"Fern!" Tech snatched her waist from behind just as an outburst detonated only five yards in front of her. She squeezed her eyes shut to evade flying shrapnel as her body slammed into her friend's. When Tech's back crashed into the metal track, his body bounced and toppled over the ledge. Unfortunately, with one arm coiled around Fern, he was unable to grasp and catch them both. They both fell; Fern's sharp scream lodged in her throat. Tech yelped, but refused to release her in fear he'd lose her in their descent. However, when his shoulder made contact with the rear car, his hold was involuntarily broken—he watched her body roll away.

Click. Eeeeee....

The clamp began to slip free from the inflicted damage...

"You okay?!" Fern stammered, ignoring the throbbing in her rattled skull as she scurried to her feet. Tech crawled back towards her and managed to reel himself upright. She reached out for his hands, her eyes widened with desperation to catch him...

She was a mere couple feet from him.

Her left foot stepped down; the metal groaned omniously...

Then—

Kerchank!

The rear tram snapped completely off its back hinge, and the mid-section peeled downward, straining to remain intact. The car dropped at a sharp angle from underneath the two clones, casting them off balance. While he staggered backwards, Tech's eyes broadened when they locked on Fern in front of him; she dangerously teetered on her toes as her arms floundered to prevent herself tottering forward.

Irrr...BOOM!

Tech lost his footing, collapsed onto his back, and enfolded backwards—with his sharp wit, he managed to clip his grappling device into the car en route of plunging over. Simultaneously, Fern slammed onto her knees and her body toppled over alongside her friend. A bloodcurling scream rang out from Fern as she wildly, uselessly waved her arms in the empty air.

Fleetingly, Tech's body felt weightless, cascading while the lead-infused cable line spilled over his head. It provided him the brief stage to lock on Fern and snatch her waist mid-fall with one arm. She responded by binding her arms around his neck. When the line violently snapped with tautness, it caught the clones, bounding and swinging them to a stop...and nearly snapped Fern's hold free. They dangled an entire twenty yards underneath the damaged car. Its last clasp clung to the rail line as if its life depended on it.

That was when the V-wings swooped in and commenced their next air strike.

The female clone's body locked.

"Fern, can you reach the cable?" Tech asked once he grasped his bearings. He tried adjusting his clutch digging under her ribcage. She was slipping... His breath shortened as he demanded, "Climb up. Now."

"T-Tick—" Fern's voice squeaked under the strain in which she could not properly enunciate his name. She struggled, panicked to engage her core muscles and heave herself up Tech's body. Her barred arms burdened down on his neck while her legs freely kicked underneath her. "Tick—I-I can't—"

"Come on, you guys! Hurry!" Wrecker shouted in the comms.

"You must climb." Tech urged through his clenched teeth, enduring her full weight while he desperately sought to get her to safety...all while he attempted to devise a plan for himself... They both sensed the front tram car dipping as the clamp began to perilously slip off the rail line... If it dropped, they all did...