Bit the bullet and made myself work on this.
I’d like to say that any of us could have lost the lottery and gotten hit by a thrown tree, but that’d be untrue. Oft was in the rear, because that’s where the most danger was; he told me later that he was the most disposable of the three of us right then, so it made sense that he be a convenient distraction. Which is what he became. Or maybe it was just the malignant luck of the draw, because the tree came flying out of the canopy just as he stepped onto the landing pad.
It wasn’t a big one, and it didn’t hit Oft squarely enough to break more than a couple of ribs and his leg. It didn’t trap him underneath its branches, either, which would have absolutely sucked. He still went flying, hitting the ground hard enough to dislocate his shoulder with a pop that I could hear all the way in the cockpit. I immediately snarled, “Finish the preflight!” to the Anticipant as I rushed back to the hatchway. I didn’t know if she had that skill, and at that moment I didn’t care. She’s a fucking witch, right? I thought to myself as I pulled out my gun. She can figure it out as she goes.