⸻ ( Bellamy Blake )
Jinny Shumway was the epitome of brilliance, the brightest star in their galaxy. But even stars can fall -- burning, crashing, incandescent.
( the 100 ) • 2020
( editing in progress )
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HER NEW LIFE BEGAN WITH A BANG as the dropship penetrated the Earth's atmosphere with a blazing spark, transient in its voyage to return home. Jinny's bones rattled and beads of sweat dotted her upper lip as she clenched the straps of her seat tightly. A couple of boys who had unbuckled themselves during the zero gravity interval slammed against the wall, cracking the pipes that lined it. Steam hissed out, sending a tuft of humid air into their faces. Several screams and cries of fear rang throughout the cabin when an electrical discharge suddenly surged overhead.
"Oh, God, we're gonna die!" Miller shouted beside her.
"There's only one thing we say to death, Miller," she yelled back, ducking her head low as more sparks erupted above them. "Not today!"
There was a sharp jerk as the parachutes deployed in time and the unmistakable blast of the retrorockets firing from the bottom of the ship uplifted them for a second. Jinny held her breath when she felt the deep lurch in her stomach as the ship plummeted to the ground in a rough landing. She braced herself for the shuddering jolts of the collision, wincing instinctively from the impact before they came to an abrupt halt. There was a brief moment as everyone looked around uncertainly at the now cold ship.
"Listen..." someone said out loud. "No machine hum."
Jinny felt the silence fill her ears with newfound magnitude and it electrified her veins. A sigh of relief punctured the air beside her then. "Holy shit, we're alive," Miller breathed out in awe.
"Congratulations," Jinny smirked back at him. He held his hand up and they gave each other a high five.
Her hands then immediately went to work unbuckling the various straps that had secured her in place. She threw them off and was the first to reach the hatch to the lower level with Miller close behind. The moment she jumped down from the ladder and her boots fell heavily against the hard metal, her heart came to a screeching halt.
