First Stumble Forward

Frozen mid-stride! Then—snap! My joints jerk loose. A surge hits my chest. Move! Forward! My right hand plunges straight down, slamming into the hard plastic back of the red robot lying flat before me. Click-clack! It skitters half an inch across the smooth black table. I am not stuck anymore. I am loose. I crouch right over the fallen red figure, fingers planted firm, ready to shove past anything else in my way.