Dishonourable Discharge: Grace Augustine

48

Ivory, Max and Norm stood shoulder to shoulder watching the live video feed of the destruction happening in the forest.

The Omaticaya clan were pouring out of Hometree, their screams rising above the clamour of the machinery. Ivory squinted, just about managing to make out the red Stanford University T-shirt that Grace's Avatar wore. Grace's bright green eyes were streaming as tear gas flooded the clearing. A Na'vi child staggered, collapsing onto the grass, screaming in agony as the gas burned its skin. Grace scooped up the child and staggered onwards, gasping for breath.

"I think I'm going to be sick." Ivory gasped as the monitor showed the child's flesh beginning to bubble and blister, their blood a startling scarlet against their blue skin.

Max grabbed one of the bins and hurriedly pushed it into the dark haired woman's arms.

Ivory turned away and threw up. Norm caught hold of the ends of her hair, pulling it away from her face.

"Thanks," Ivory wiped her mouth and dumped the bin at her feet.

"It's okay." Norm murmured, barely able to tear his eyes away from the live feed still playing on the monitor.

"No problem." Max straightened his glasses.

Whoom! An incendiary round exploded. Flames roared through the base of Hometree, destroying everything in their path in a puff of smoke. Hometree turned into a burning smoky hell in a matter of seconds. Flames tore up the inside like a chimney as stragglers scrambled outside, coughing as they dragged their wounded with them. In the tree a small group of Na'vi were climbing rapidly, barely ahead of the fireball.

Missiles streamed down from the dragon and the other gunships, the base of Hometree vanishing in a chain of explosive blasts. The pillars crumbled into matchsticks as the enormous tree groaned and began to move. In a cacophony of cracking, splintering roots the mighty tree toppled with an agonising slowness. It crashed down through the forest canopy, crushing the lesser trees in its path. The Omaticaya watched in horror as the one fixed thing in their lives collapsed. Hometree hit the ground like the end of the world, raising an enormous cloud of dust and pulverised debris.

In the corner of the screen Ivory saw Grace gathering crying children, herding then away from the fire storm as they pulled at her desperately. Jake was bringing up the rear, a wild look in his eyes. Another incendiary round exploded. Grace's scream echoed high above the explosion. "Oh my god." Ivory whispered. The smoke cleared but Grace was nowhere to be seen. "Grace!" It felt as though her heart had fallen out of her chest and splattered onto the floor.

"Ivy you don't know that she's-" Max began, his voice shaking.

"You said it yourself Max, when an Avatar dies the human driving them can die too. Grace is gone. There's no way in hell that her Avatar survived that." Ivy's breath was coming in gasps. She bit her bottom lip hard, unable to force the tears back.

"Ivy it's Grace, she knows exactly what weaponry the RDA have and she most likely knew exactly how they'd use it. She's not stupid, she'll have gotten herself out of there." Norm's voice wavered and it sounded as though he was trying to convince himself that the woman he had idolised for years hadn't just died on the screen right in front of them. He reached out and pulled Ivory into an awkward hug, trying to remember what he'd done as a teenager back on Earth when one of his sisters had cried.

Ivory pushed him away blindly, trying to force back a sob.