[COMPLETED]
[WATTYS 2022 WINNER]
James Quinn can't die. Actually... that's not true. He's died many times - somewhere in the neighborhood of 250 - only to be reborn as himself to live his life over again.
For millennia, he's had to endure this c...
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Back in the present, Martha was still falling to her death. No longer a snowflake floating light and wide, she was a missile, locked and loaded with violent potential.
As the air beat against her face and whistled past her ears, she stared at the Earth speeding towards her. What would that feel like? Would it be painful – for the ground to smash her skull to pieces? Or would she die instantly? Would she remember the sensation? Enough to describe it to James like an old soldier trading war stories with another? Or would she-
"Pull, Beckett! Pull!" Nan screamed through her earpiece.
"Shit!" Martha pulled her ripcord and her body flipped upright, feet grazing the top of a banyan tree. She banked hard right to avoid a second then hard left to avoid a third before hitting the ground rougher than was her plan.
After shrugging off her parachute, Martha looked up and waited for Nan's slow descent. Though the forest was dense in places, the night was clear and the moon bright enough for her to remove her goggles.
Finally, Nan landed, pulled off her parachute and goggles, then whispered to Martha, "Why did you wait so long to pull? That was insane!"
"After we survive this, I'll teach you that too."
"No thank you."
Martha ignored the strange look Nan was giving her, held up her wrist, and activated the holographic map from her watch. Based on a combination of GPS analysis and intel from an informant working within the compound, a green, three dimensional representation of the surrounding terrain floated above the gadget. There was about a kilometer of forest before the open grounds of James' fifteen acre estate. Just beyond the edge of the forest, a red dot glowed, marking their point of entry.
"We go dark from here," Martha said. Nan nodded silently and the agents were off.
They moved as quickly and quietly as they could, over and around thick rooted trees and bushes until they reached the clearing. Martha could see the maintenance door. It was attached to a concrete structure that angled downward away from them, disappearing underground. She adjusted her watch to scan for devices emitting wifi signals and found none. The intel was right. No security cameras at the maintenance door. Pretty sloppy, James.
Martha nodded to Nan, then the pair of agents scurried the short distance to the door. Once there, Nan pulled a pen from a sleeve in her suit then held it next to the door handle. She clicked the back, activating a laser cutter at its front and traced a circle around. Martha pulled on the handle and it ripped off with a clunk!
The door opened easily. Inside, they found storage cabinets on their left and what appeared to be a control panel for the irrigation system on their right. Ahead were stairs leading down.
