I haven’t posted in a while. Again. I know. I’ve been writing something else.
The year is 2259. Dmitri Volkov looks down at his timer. Two and a half minutes left on his air filter. He picks up his pace. The timer starting to tick down as quickly as his breathing escalates.
“Fuck!”
Dmitri pushes the people out of the way running down the busy street of the Laszarevsky province. A woman curses as he knocks her to the ground.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
The timer ticking faster. His heavier breathing using more of his precious oxygen. One minute twenty-four seconds left.
I’m not going to make it.
He starts pushing himself harder. His legs scream as the inferno engulfs his muscles. He tries to avoid the behemoth that looms in front of him. Attempting to slink around him, but instead slaming right into the large man’s chest. He falls landing hard on his back the wind knocked out of him as he hits the cold city street. He looks up at the man that towers over him.
This is the end.
The man seems uninterested and steps over him. Dmitri scrambles to his feet.
I lucked out. I guess he had more important things to worry about.
He looks down. Less than one minute left. He swerves into the vehicle lane narrowly avoiding a CS27 as he sprints along the solid line. His chest heaves as he breathes harder. He looks down to watch the timer tick out slowly. Ten seconds. He looks up. His apartment is still a block away. He’s already hit his top speed. Three.
I can’t run any faster.
Two. The door to his building is just another hundred meters ahead. The filter is dead. It won’t provide any breathable air, but it’s safer to keep it on than to remove it. His lungs ache as he pulls in heavy restricted breaths of carbon monoxide. His pace slows and he looks up. The light above the door is green. He slams his palm onto the pad. There is a satisfying beep as the door begins to slowly open. The light above it flashing red and yellow.
C’mon. C’mon. Open!
Dmitri feels very dizzy now. The world around him spinning. He dives down rolling under the door into the airlock and stretches up to slam the green button as hard as he can. The lights continue flashing as the door starts to slowly close again. He tries to climb to his feet, looking up at the light. Everything in his vision fades and all he sees is the flashing red and yellow light. It starts to dim and he stumbles backward into the wall, bouncing off of it and falling to the floor.
This is it. So close and I failed.
Darkness closes in on his vision. With one last motion Dmitri flips off the mask as his eyes involuntarily close.
