"AAAH! Not okay! Not okay!" Jaime cried out to the scarab in a panic, but then she was on him and it was the second concussion of the day as his head slammed back against the tree.
Which meant he was too out of it to dodge. The hammer caught his face and chipped off a chunk of the armor, gouging his face underneath. Nothing important got gouged like his nose or lips but unless the scarab got the armor running enough to heal him with those healing enzymes it had that was probably gonna scar.
He managed to roll away and onto his feet and started running again - or at least limping really, really fast. He was too tired to fight anymore, too scared and hurt. Help was coming, had to be only seconds out, he just had to buy some time, had to -
There. Through the trees. A sudden drop and beyond it, crystal blue water. It was a small cliff and there was a lake beyond it. A lake that looked like it might not be very deep.
"Please let it be shallow, please let it be shallow -"
He was desperate now and she might be able to get that chainsaw running again if she thought to go back for it. He was pretty sure it hadn't actually broken so much as gotten a little clogged up with dirt. And even the hammer and screwdriver might cause more damage with how much structural integrity the armor had lost. His face was now clear evidence of that.
If it was shallow, if the water was shallow, he actually had a chance. It was light blue rather than dark blue, it looked like the bottom was almost visible...
So he ran and in a moment of absolute balls out daring and desperation, he jumped off the edge, legs down, and held his breath.
Please be shallow.
After plunging through the surface, he hit the bottom almost immediately. And not because the suit weighed a frickin' ton, but because the water was only just a bit over his head. His butt hurt like crazy as it slammed against the sand and silt but internally, he crowed.
HA!
It was shallow. The suit was damaged, it was broken, but it still offered him protection he wouldn't have had otherwise. If he'd jumped into water that shallow and hit the bottom that hard without the armor, he'd almost certainly have snapped his legs or spine.
Which meant if she jumped in after, she'd likely snap her legs and drown.
Now he just had to make sure he didn't drown. The suit's life support was down so it had no oxygen supply and it was too heavy for him to float. Even if his hands had been free it would've been too heavy to swim, but he still had some of the suit's agility. So he kicked off from the bottom, hard, trying to make his good leg do all the work, breathing out as he did, and - yes! He breached the surface just long enough to draw a breath.
He exhaled slowly on the way back down, controlling his breathing.
It was already exhausting but the lake seemed to be this shallow all the way across and it wasn't that wide. He just had to keep kicking himself up for gulps of air and walking along the bottom until he reached the shore. And if she tried to follow she'd likely snap a leg or break her neck since she didn't have the same kind of protection against injury the suit offered him.
no subject
Which meant he was too out of it to dodge. The hammer caught his face and chipped off a chunk of the armor, gouging his face underneath. Nothing important got gouged like his nose or lips but unless the scarab got the armor running enough to heal him with those healing enzymes it had that was probably gonna scar.
He managed to roll away and onto his feet and started running again - or at least limping really, really fast. He was too tired to fight anymore, too scared and hurt. Help was coming, had to be only seconds out, he just had to buy some time, had to -
There. Through the trees. A sudden drop and beyond it, crystal blue water. It was a small cliff and there was a lake beyond it. A lake that looked like it might not be very deep.
"Please let it be shallow, please let it be shallow -"
He was desperate now and she might be able to get that chainsaw running again if she thought to go back for it. He was pretty sure it hadn't actually broken so much as gotten a little clogged up with dirt. And even the hammer and screwdriver might cause more damage with how much structural integrity the armor had lost. His face was now clear evidence of that.
If it was shallow, if the water was shallow, he actually had a chance. It was light blue rather than dark blue, it looked like the bottom was almost visible...
So he ran and in a moment of absolute balls out daring and desperation, he jumped off the edge, legs down, and held his breath.
Please be shallow.
After plunging through the surface, he hit the bottom almost immediately. And not because the suit weighed a frickin' ton, but because the water was only just a bit over his head. His butt hurt like crazy as it slammed against the sand and silt but internally, he crowed.
HA!
It was shallow. The suit was damaged, it was broken, but it still offered him protection he wouldn't have had otherwise. If he'd jumped into water that shallow and hit the bottom that hard without the armor, he'd almost certainly have snapped his legs or spine.
Which meant if she jumped in after, she'd likely snap her legs and drown.
Now he just had to make sure he didn't drown. The suit's life support was down so it had no oxygen supply and it was too heavy for him to float. Even if his hands had been free it would've been too heavy to swim, but he still had some of the suit's agility. So he kicked off from the bottom, hard, trying to make his good leg do all the work, breathing out as he did, and - yes! He breached the surface just long enough to draw a breath.
He exhaled slowly on the way back down, controlling his breathing.
It was already exhausting but the lake seemed to be this shallow all the way across and it wasn't that wide. He just had to keep kicking himself up for gulps of air and walking along the bottom until he reached the shore. And if she tried to follow she'd likely snap a leg or break her neck since she didn't have the same kind of protection against injury the suit offered him.
We're in the clear!
Help was coming and they were in the clear!