by Shade Owens
She wasn’t here.
My lungs began to ache, causing my panic to worsen.
I had to get out.
I kicked hard against the wall to launch myself up, when a dark shadow appeared out of nowhere, blocking the subtle light of the surface. At first, I cringed and pulled away from it, but after blinking my irritated eyes several more times, I realized the shape had a head, arms, and legs.
Allister. I’d dived right past her.
I swam hard, wrapped my arm around her waist, and continued my way up with legs kicking like a frog.
The surface seemed too far away. My chest ached so much I wondered if I’d die of a heart attack before reaching it.
I’m so close.
The moment my head penetrated the water’s surface, I sucked air in so hard it must have sounded like a bark. Footsteps shuffled nearby and a dozen hands reached down to grab me and Allister.
“Brone!” came Ellie’s voice.
I lay on my back, breathing hard.
“Get outta my way, move!”
Someone shoved their way through the crowd and knelt down by Allister. They breathed in, then out, and then another sound followed—it was the sound of something squishing wet material.
Compressions? Mouth-to-mouth?
“Hang in there, kiddo,” came Flander’s voice. “One, two, three…”
“Brone?”
Warm hands cupped my face. I blinked hard to find Ellie’s silhouette floating above me, resembling an angel.
“One, two, three…” continued Flander.
A loud, barking cough blasted out beside me and bounced off every wall inside the cave.
“There ya go,” Flander said.
Allister coughed as her friends circled her.
Turning my head sideways, I caught Flander’s stare.
“Thanks,” I breathed, watching Allister sit up and rub her head.
Flander looked at me as if I was the one who’d hit my head. “Didn’t do much, kid. You’re the one who saved the girl.”
Slowly, I sat up with Ellie’s help, and something rather unexpected happened next. Everyone in the cave, including most of Hawkins’s women, started clapping, their wet hands sounding like rubber hitting rubber.
CHAPTER 8
“If you expect me to thank you for saving her life,” Hawkins said, “you can fuck off.”
Why was she so upset about it? She’d stormed out of the cave after everyone thanked me, and I’d come out to find her standing near the entrance.
“I came to check on the storm,” I said.
She scoffed.
What was her problem? Was she scared I’d win her women over? That she’d lose her power here at the Cove?
Water trickled all around us, forming little waterfalls around the cave’s entry points. The wind had subsided, but the rain came down as if prepared to flood the entire island.
I stepped through the wall of rain and found myself on the other side, in the mud. Mist and fog floated over the entire Cove, making it impossible to see anything. How were Coin’s cabins doing? Had they been destroyed?
Probably.
Then, I realized something.
Hawkins’s radio.
I rushed back inside with a hand over my head to block the rain, which felt like little nails stabbing my skin.
“Isn’t your—” I started.
“Relax,” she said, no doubt thinking the same thing as me. “I already told you. It’s waterproof.”
Waterproof, or water resistant? I wanted to ask. But I kept my mouth shut. Surely, Hawkins knew what she was talking about.
“You better hope we can get to it,” she said.
Get to it? What was that supposed to mean?
“Or that it wasn’t dug up by the wind and swept away,” she added.
Was she trying to stress me out? Why would she have been so stupid? Why would she have left the damn thing behind in a storm?
Maybe she was lying—maybe, the radio was hidden somewhere in the cave.
She moved closer to the wall of rain pouring off the rock shelter. Had I known any better, I’d have assumed she was about to lick the water. But she didn’t—instead, she stood there with misty water sprinkling across her face and onto her eyelashes.
“I want your women,” she said at last.
Was this some sort of joke? Did she honestly expect me to hand over the people I’d saved? My friends? And did she think they’d follow her aimlessly? If she did, she was delusional.
Standing still with my mouth hanging open, I didn’t respond. How was I supposed to?
She turned to face me, her cheeks glistening, and without smiling, she said, “I’m done with this two-team bullshit. We’re one people. Not two. And you and I both know I’m a more capable leader.”
I almost scoffed in her face, but kept my mouth shut instead.
More capable leader? Who had saved hundreds of women from a life of slavery from under Rainer’s rulership? Who had just saved one of her women? How the fuck was she more capable? All she did was snort drugs and teach people lessons through violence and intimidation.
The Cove was a shitshow.
What had she done to fix it? Nothing. At once, I felt stupid for having turned against Fisher by taking Hawkins’s side to protect my own interests.
She stared at me, eyes hollow and pale face resembling that of a lifeless carcass. The moisture on her face was surely a combination of rainwater and sweat. Over the last day or so, I’d noticed something different about her—a sickness.
Was she withdrawing? Her hands, now planted on her waist as if this stance would somehow intimidate me, trembled as if she’d consumed ten cups of coffee.
Pathetic, I thought.
I must have made a face; at once, her lips curved downward with disgust and she stormed straight at me. I didn’t move or flinch, which may have been idiotic of me, but if I’d learned anything over the last year, it was that fear didn’t get you anywhere.
So we stood face-to-face, the tip of her nose touching mine.
“It wasn’t a request,” she said through clenched teeth. When I didn’t respond, she let out a hard breath, making me hold mine—aside from a decaying body, nothing smelled worse than an empty stomach combined with rotting teeth.
Wanting to push her away from me, I took a step back.
“You already told me everything I need to know about the Northers,” she said, a venomous smile creeping up. “I don’t need you anymore.”
I couldn’t believe it.
Fisher was right.
She’d used me.
She’d fucking used me and she wasn’t going to hold up her end of the bargain.
“We made a deal,” I growled.
She threw her head back and laughed, though the sound died within the loudness of the rain.
“I promised to hold up my end of the deal the moment I kill Rainer. Do you see Rainer’s head anywhere?” She extended two long arms and twirled in a circle like a madwoman. The one thing missing to make her look like a real psycho was blood between the cracks of her teeth. “I need your women if this plan’s going to work.”
“For what?” I said. “You can’t seriously expect all of them to walk right back on Norther territory. Not after what they’ve been through.”
“Whatever my plan is doesn’t concern you,” she hissed.
“Yeah, it does!”
She raised a solid fist above her head, and I clenched both of mine, prepared to take her on. I didn’t want to, but if I had to, I would. I glanced down at her belt, where her other hand hovered over her famous knife—a knife she’d used to kill several people on the Cove.
Maybe this was my shot.
What if I took out Hawkins? What if I killed her? Wouldn’t I be doing everyone a favor?
But then, I thought about Rainer and the Northers. The only way to fight them was to send someone like Hawkins after them. Besides, Hawkins had a weapon and I didn’t. There was no guarantee I’d win the fight.
She caught me staring at her knife and a sadistic smile spread across her face. Then, like a cat toying with the bloody remains of a dying mouse, she tilted her head. “You wanna try me?”
“Brone?”
I swung around to find Ellie approaching us from inside the cave. Her eyes rolled toward Hawkins, and then to me. “Everything okay?”
“It’s fine,” I lied. “Go back inside. I’ll meet you in a minute.”
She hesitated, her gaze fixated on Hawkins who straightened her stance in a hurry and placed both hands behind her back.
“Please,” I begged.
Ellie parted her lips, but nothing came out. Instead, she nodded and turned around, disappearing into the darkness. The moment she was out of sight, Hawkins leaned forward, the entire upper half of her face darkening. “Well, well, well.”
“Well, what?” I snapped.
Quickly, she plucked her knife from its holster, but not in a threatening manner. Instead, she twirled it between her fingers and started pacing across the rock platform again.
“The grieving heart regrets decisions not made,” she said as if reading out of some poetry book.
“What the fuck are you talking about?” I asked.
“You have two options here, Brone.”
I didn’t like the way it had come out of her mouth.
She stiffened up, poked the tip of her tongue with her knife, and breathed in enough air for the lungs of three people. Then, she drew its sharp tip along her cheeks, her jaw, and up to her temples. “You either give me your people, or your little girlfriend wakes up without eyes.”
CHAPTER 9
“Fish, we need to talk.”
“Fuck off,” Fisher said, her face masked by the darkness of the cave.
“This is important,” I pressed.
“I said… Fuck. Off.”
I shuffled toward her and sat down against the cave wall. The moment my hand accidentally touched her thigh, she flinched and moved away with aggression.
“Look, you don’t understand,” I hissed. “I’m sorry about earlier, but Hawkins made me a deal I couldn’t refuse.”
Fisher scoffed. “Like what? Freedom? A life off this island?”
How did she know? Had someone from Hawkins’s crew spilled the information? When I didn’t respond, Fisher threw her head back and a gentle clunk sound filled the air. “Jesus Christ, Brone. Are you fucking kidding me?”
And this was why I hadn’t told her—I knew she’d freak.
She lowered her voice even more. “I was saying the most ridiculous thing I could think of. And you’re saying I was right? That’s what she fuckin’ offered you?”
“I didn’t say anything—”
“You didn’t have to!” she growled.
“Stop—” I tried, but she must have known I was about to tell her to keep it down. Women weren’t too far from us, and the last thing I needed was for anyone to hear our conversation.
She inhaled slowly, then whispered, “Hawkins is a lunatic, Brone. She doesn’t have the means to get you off this island or anyone one else for that matter—”
“She’s communicating with someone on the outside,” I cut in.
Fisher fell silent.
“Fish?” I asked.
At long last, she said, “What do you mean?”
“She has some sort of radio device. She checks in with the guy every few hours. She promised to get me and you guys off this island once she kills Rainer. Can you see my dilemma? I want Rainer dead, too. We all do.”
“You’re in way over your head, Brone,” she said. “Hawkins isn’t your typical murdering criminal. She’s loca… a goddamn psycho.” Although I couldn’t see Fisher, I imagined her twirling a finger around her head as a way of saying, crazy. “Look, I get why you took the deal… Honestly, I do. But you can’t trust her. The fact that she wants to go after the island’s biggest badass means she wants to take over. You seriously think she’s gonna let you and a bunch of us go? She wants power.”
“She wants you guys,” I said.
“The fuck is that supposed to mean?”
I swallowed hard. I felt awful for dropping all of this on Fisher when Ellie was supposed to be my go-to, but Fisher was good at saying it like it was. She was a no-bullshit kind of woman, and that was precisely what I needed. Ellie, as much as I cared for her, would no doubt try to make me feel better about the whole situation.
Besides, I didn’t need her knowing about Hawkins threatening to hurt her—I didn’t want her to stress out.
“She wants to be the leader of the Cove,” I said.
Fisher chuckled, but it wasn’t a fun kind of laugh. In the darkness, she was probably shaking her head and slapping her forehead.
“It’s already happening,” she said.
“What is?”
“She’s using this thing… this communication device shit… she’s holding it over you.”
Fisher was right.
But how was I supposed to get out of it? She’d threatened Ellie. I couldn’t risk Ellie getting hurt.
“I don’t have much of a choice,” I said. “She threatened to go after Ellie.”
“There’s always a choice, Brone.”
“Like what?” I said. “Run?”
The sound of clothes chafing against rock came before she spoke—a shrug, I assumed. “Why not? Why stay here, anyway? Didn’t you say you have a friend waiting for you?”
Was she insane? How were we supposed to run from the Cove? The rafts were our one way out, and there were only a few of them. Each raft, at best, could hold up to ten people. Last I’d counted, there were over a hundred of us.
“Even if we leave, that isn’t gonna stop Hawkins from going after Rainer. She’ll take care of that problem for us whether we’re here or not. Man, it’s not like she’s gonna hold up her end of the deal, right? You can forget getting off this island. The one decision you have to make is to either stand up or let her win. So, unless you’re willing to hand us all over, I suggest you get ready to fight or run. Your choice, Brone.”
Why did everything have to be so complicated? How could I have been so stupid? Hawkins didn’t care about me or my people. She wanted to win no matter the cost. She sure as hell wasn’t going to pull in resources to get us off the island after she’d already gotten what she wanted.
I didn’t want to fight, but at the same time, Hawkins’s women were far more willing to fight to the death than we were. Every day, they trained onshore, battling with sticks, arrows, spears, and shields.
What were we doing? How had we been spending our time? Building shelter, clothing, and weapons which, without question, would be taken by force by Hawkins’s women when the time came.
So where did that leave us?
Right where we’d started—on the run.
CHAPTER 10
Ellie smiled down at me, brushing the back of her hand along my cheek.
Ellie!
I sat up in a hurry and looked around.
Where was everyone? The cave was empty. With the back of my hand, I rubbed my eyes.
“W-what’s going on?”
“Storm’s over,” she said.
Without saying anything, I threw both arms around her neck and pulled her in. She fell on top of me and giggled. What she didn’t know was that I wasn’t being playful—I was beyond relieved that she was alive and well right here next to me.
I hadn’t yet given Hawkins my answer, and although I knew taking my time was a risk, I hoped she’d at least give me a bit of time to decide.
“What’s it like out there?” I asked, my lips pressed against the pulsating artery of her neck.
She pulled away from me and gave me a solemn look. “Not good… Everything’s turned to mud, and the winds destroyed everything. The shelters, our food station, our clothes… everything.”
I should have known this was going to happen. Why the hell would anyone seek shelter right by the water? It was idiotic.
“There’
s another problem—” she said, and I jolted upright.
“What is it?” I asked.
She sighed, patted my thigh, and got up with a grunt. “Come on. It’s better if I show you.”
Before we even made it outside, I could hear women shouting over top one another. It sounded like they were arguing over something—like everyone on the Cove was arguing over it. What could be so important that everyone was fighting about it?
Was it Hawkins? Oh God. Was it a fight? Had both sides finally turned on each other?
“Relax,” Ellie said, tugging her hand out of my clenched fist. “No one’s hurt.”
That was a relief.
The moment we stepped out of the cave, hundreds of eyes turned our way. Half of the crowd—my women—threw their arms in the air almost as if to say, There she is.
But I couldn’t bring myself to acknowledge them—instead, my eyes were focused on the massive beast lying in the shallow water behind them. From a distance, it resembled a giant rock, but as I moved closer, its silky skin glistened under the clouded sun, and its dark eye shifted from side to side, no doubt terrified of every human in sight. Although still a bit wet from the rainfall and from the shallow water pooled around its body, it was apparent by the blotchy skin discoloration on its exposed side that it was starting to dry out. Its height reached the shoulders of most women, and it stretched out over at least thirty feet. As it moved gently with the water, hundreds of grooves were revealed under its belly—beautiful lines that resembled artistic carving.
Was it a blue whale?
I moved forward, awestruck by the devastating sight.
What was everyone doing? Why were they standing there, clueless? And what had they been fighting about?
Then, out from the crowd came Collins holding tight to a spear over her shaved head. Her eyes, two bulging balls of anger, popped out of her skull. “It’s fucking meat!”
Jack lunged in front of her with a hand palm up in front of her face. “Back off!”
Women copied Jack and formed a protective wall in front of the whale.
“Brone, do something!” Johnson shouted.
That’s when I caught Hawkins staring at me. She stood farther away from the crowd as if nothing more than a bystander, waiting to see how the situation would unfold. Why wasn’t she stepping in? Did she encourage the idea of her women killing the creature?
