Space Colony One
I’ve been steaming ahead with Space Colony One this week, and I’m actually at chapter eight and 21,000 words into the story. It’s a first draft, so it’s still very rough. I tidied this one up a little before copying it here, but it still isn’t perfect. The major polishing and refining will happen when I finished the book. Will I manage it by the end of this month, which is my goal? I hope so.
I also hope you enjoy the beginning of chapter two. More next week!
Chapter Two
When Ethan came to, he couldn’t move. Something was lying across his chest, pinning him down, and it was covering his face so all he could see was darkness. His legs were free, however, and he didn’t seem to be badly hurt. The only discomfort he could feel was an ache where he’d hit his head and the crushing pressure on his rib cage.
All around him he heard sobs, screams, and cries of pain. The memory of where he was flashed back into his mind. There had been an explosion.He began to struggle. He had to find Cariad. She could be seriously hurt. He had to help the others.
Ethan lifted his hands and pushed against the thing that was trapping him. He felt it shift, and he pushed harder, grimacing with the effort. The object seemed to move toward his head, so he concentrated his efforts in that direction. The pressure on his chest began to lift. He pushed harder with his hands, drew up his knees and used his legs to drag himself downward.
As he eased out from the confined space, his chin caught on a metal corner. He twisted his head away, but he couldn’t escape the sharp edge. He was panting with the effort of holding up the object that pressed down on him, but he couldn’t let it go. If he did that, the corner would descend into his neck.
There was nothing for it. If he wanted to get out, he would have to drag his face down the corner. He took a deep breath, pushed upward as hard as he could. He lifted the trapping object another few millimeters and pulled with his legs. As he slid along, the corner bit into his skin at his jawline. He winced. A cut formed up his face to his cheekbone. He gasped in pain, and paused a fraction of a second before making a final effort. The corner grazed his eyelashes and hit his eyebrow. It drew another cut up to his forehead.
With a yell of effort, Ethan pulled himself a last few centimeters. He was finally free.
His left eye immediately filled with blood and more ran down his face and dripped from his chin. He sat up and looked about him with his one good eye, wiping the blood from the other. Before the explosion, he’d been seated roughly midway up the tiers in the audience section of the stadium. Now, he was nearly at ground level, and the bleachers were in broken chaos all around him. A section of seating had fallen onto him, and he realized he was lucky to survive relatively unscathed.
People from other parts of the stadium were running over to help. Some were already lifting the wreckage left by the explosion, desperately trying to free trapped victims.
Still wiping the blood from his eye, Ethan leapt up. He had to find Cariad. She’d been sitting right next to him. She couldn’t be far away. He scanned around and spotted a single white shoe. It was one of hers. Then he caught another glimpse of white deep within the jumbled remains of the seating. It was the other shoe.He was sure of it, but this one seemed to be filled with a foot.
He scrambled over shards of broken plastic and metal and put his face to the opening where the shoe was visible.
“Cariad,” he shouted. He repeated her name twice but heard no reply, and the shoe didn’t move. He pulled at the ruins that were trapping her, removing the mangled pieces one by one.
“Have you found her?”
Strongquist had appeared by Ethan’s side.
“Let me help you,” the Defender said.
Ethan briefly wondered where the man had been seated that had allowed him to survive the blast. He’d thought Strongquist had been sitting close by. But his fears about Cariad soon drove the thought from his mind. He could now see her leg. Blood was spattered across her dark skin.
Together, Ethan and Strongquist removed the remaining pieces that covered her. They each grabbed one end of a large section of seating and lifted it up. Beneath it, Cariad lay on her side. One of her legs was folded up and one arm was bent at an unnatural angle. Her white clothes were stained red, and her eyes were closed.
Did you enjoy this week’s snippet? You can read the snippet from chapter one here.