[FIC] - 31_Days Theme Exchange 2009 - Ending of all things
Title: Ending of all things
Series: Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles
Character/Pairing: Sarah
Rating: G
There are some days when she really shouldn’t have gotten out of bed. Today is one of them.
Standing on the sidewalk staring at the mushroom clouds, panic flowing around her as people screamed and ran, Sarah realises that the day has come.
Judgement Day.
The end is nigh, as Ellison would have said. But this was different. Everything is different. They’d changed so much about the future that they don’t know what to expect anymore.
“Mom!”
She turns at the sound of John’s voice. He is running up the street, dodging people and debris. The shockwave is coming, gathering strength. Soon it won’t be safe to be outside.
She knows this, has prepared for this for twenty years, but she can’t seem to move.
“Mom!”
John grabs her by the arms and pulls her with him as he lunges sideways into the open door of a hardware store. Their groceries are left scattered on the sidewalk. It’s strange how quickly priorities change. John was supposed to have gone to buy the newspaper. Now he’s crouching, cradling her in his arms and covering her face with his shirt as the wind gets stronger. He tries to pull the door of the store shut, but the shockwave is here, and it’s all they can do to cling together helplessly. The air is hot, and it’s like breathing boiling oil. Her hair is burning.
Seconds, minutes, hours later, the chaos eases, and Sarah stands up.
She steps out into the street and slowly walks towards town. The bodies are still smoking. Her groceries are nowhere to be seen. She hears John scramble to follow her. When he grips her arm and spins her to face him, she can see the burns on his arms. There is a long cut on the side of his face.
“Mom, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
She is. They all are, now. She has failed them completely. Especially John.
“Say something. I can’t do this without you. What do we do now?”
She looks around them, at the bodies, the ruined buildings, and at the cloud rising from the city centre. It’s nothing like Kyle described. Or Derek. Or Cameron. Or any of them. It’s much, much worse. LA is gone. The world is gone, and this is a whole new one.
Series: Terminator: the Sarah Connor Chronicles
Character/Pairing: Sarah
Rating: G
There are some days when she really shouldn’t have gotten out of bed. Today is one of them.
Standing on the sidewalk staring at the mushroom clouds, panic flowing around her as people screamed and ran, Sarah realises that the day has come.
Judgement Day.
The end is nigh, as Ellison would have said. But this was different. Everything is different. They’d changed so much about the future that they don’t know what to expect anymore.
“Mom!”
She turns at the sound of John’s voice. He is running up the street, dodging people and debris. The shockwave is coming, gathering strength. Soon it won’t be safe to be outside.
She knows this, has prepared for this for twenty years, but she can’t seem to move.
“Mom!”
John grabs her by the arms and pulls her with him as he lunges sideways into the open door of a hardware store. Their groceries are left scattered on the sidewalk. It’s strange how quickly priorities change. John was supposed to have gone to buy the newspaper. Now he’s crouching, cradling her in his arms and covering her face with his shirt as the wind gets stronger. He tries to pull the door of the store shut, but the shockwave is here, and it’s all they can do to cling together helplessly. The air is hot, and it’s like breathing boiling oil. Her hair is burning.
Seconds, minutes, hours later, the chaos eases, and Sarah stands up.
She steps out into the street and slowly walks towards town. The bodies are still smoking. Her groceries are nowhere to be seen. She hears John scramble to follow her. When he grips her arm and spins her to face him, she can see the burns on his arms. There is a long cut on the side of his face.
“Mom, what’s wrong? Are you hurt?”
She is. They all are, now. She has failed them completely. Especially John.
“Say something. I can’t do this without you. What do we do now?”
She looks around them, at the bodies, the ruined buildings, and at the cloud rising from the city centre. It’s nothing like Kyle described. Or Derek. Or Cameron. Or any of them. It’s much, much worse. LA is gone. The world is gone, and this is a whole new one.