by Lisa Lace
Chapter Ten
JORI
When Sam passed out on the sand beside the outer wall of Harrington's estate, I managed to remain calm. She was still breathing, and I thought her arm was only bruised, not broken.
I filled in our side of the hole with dirt, digging madly. I used the energy from my fright - I hadn't known if Sam would be able to escape.
If I stayed here, we would be found when they performed a perimeter search. If I left, I would have to carry Sam. I didn't know how far I could take her. She wasn't a large woman, but I had caught an off-planet fever in prison. It had weakened me in unexpected ways. I still didn't have the muscle mass from before I went in. I had been working out and trying to gain weight, but it was a slow process.
I heard voices. They were close to us. We had to move. I didn't have a long time to make a decision. I lifted Sam up, but I knew I wouldn't be able to take her far. The only thing I could think of was to bring her into the ocean with me. I could swim underwater quickly, pulling her along with her head above the water, allowing her to breathe. It was easy to improve my cardiovascular fitness, but difficult to regain muscle.
I walked into the warm water to test her buoyancy; I was relieved when I realized the water would support most of her weight. As I towed Sam into deeper water, a wave washed over her, splashing her in the face. She gasped and woke up, coughing and spluttering.
"Jori, what's happening?"
I clapped a hand over her mouth. Sound travels easily in water. A whisper can be heard a long distance away. We would be lucky if we had not given away our position already. But soon we'd be far away, and I hoped they wouldn't know where to go. The ocean would cover our tracks.
I pulled her ear to my mouth.
"Hold on to my back and stay out of the way of my arms. I'm going to swim underwater. It's your job to keep your head out and breathe. We're going to move fast."
She nodded. She was still waking up but looked determined.
I turned onto my front and showed her how to wrap her arms around my chest and under one arm. This way, she wouldn't pull on my neck. She gasped when I accidentally stretched her hurt arm, but I didn't have time to worry about her pain.
I ducked under the surface, not bothering to inhale before my head disappeared below the water. I quickly flipped my clear inner eyelid down and opened my eyes, seeing everything below the surface.
I took a deep breath through my underwater breathing organs and began to move, using the fastest stroke I knew. Vandwans have about twenty more strokes than humans. I suppose we are more interested in swimming because we spend more time in the water. Ashlyn and I had discussed the subject when I had stayed at their house. She was a good swimmer, for a human.
The stroke I chose kept my arms away from Sam's grip and allowed me to leave my head underwater and swim faster. I raced through the ocean. If our pursuers were tracking us visually, I wanted to make us as hard to find as possible.
I had instructed Samantha to tap my back if she was in trouble underwater. She hadn't indicated distress, so I assumed she was fine and kept swimming. I felt myself tiring quickly. I was out of shape, and I would need a break soon. Running and swimming used different muscles.
When I could swim no further, I slowed down and angled back towards the beach. We were getting a little close to The Barrier, too, which was making me nervous. At this point, we were close to land. It would be better to go ashore, rest, and decide what to do.
When the water was shallow enough, I let Sam down onto the sand, and we staggered out of the ocean. She was weak from her arm injury. I was weak from exhaustion. We made quite a pair.
As we crept farther along the beach, I thought I recognized the skyline. We were close to the neighboring city. I had come further than I had expected. Either I wasn't as weak as I thought, or I had a lot of adrenaline in my system.
"Which city is that?" Sam asked.
"It's Oora," I told her.
"That's impossible. It's too far away."
"Vandwans can swim quickly, Sam. We're not like you people." I could see by her expression that she didn't believe me. "I was worried about us, and I wanted to make sure we'd escape. Maybe I overdid it."
She looked impressed. "What do we do now, Jori?" she said, cradling her hurt arm with the other hand.
"We're going to have to walk," I said. We hadn't gone far when I asked a question that had been bothering me. "Does your arm hurt much?" She was walking stiffly and looked like she was in pain.
"I can take it," she said. I didn't think it was the truth, but it might have been a necessary lie. I needed her to keep walking. I didn't contradict her.
A few minutes later, I thought I noticed someone behind us on the beach. I looked nervously at Sam to see if she had seen them yet. From the grimace on her face, I knew she had. When they started running, we had to start moving too. She struggled immediately.
Running on sand is arduous, and I could tell she didn't have much experience with it. I wondered why they weren't firing at us yet.
The bullets came again, and I felt something hit me in the upper back of my bodysuit. Thank goodness Harrington's men were terrible shots.
"Come on," I said. "We have to get back in the water. It will be harder for them to shoot us."
We ran into the waves. As soon as we were deep enough, she wrapped her arms around me, and I began cutting through the water again. Moving underwater felt more draining than the first time. After a few minutes, I could feel I was tiring already but I pressed on. When Sam tapped a distress signal on my back, I slowed down and lifted my head, breathing slowly.
"There's a ship, Jori," she said, indicating it with a flick of her head. She clung to me as I treaded water more quickly than a human ever could, easily keeping us afloat.
I looked out to sea and had a hard time making out the shape of a galleon. The sun was setting behind the ship, casting shadows on our side. Once my eyes became accustomed to the light and I remembered to flip back my inner eyelid, which had been making things blurry, I saw a door open on the side of the ship. They were lowering a cage into the water.
"I can't believe it," I muttered to myself. The only thing that would be in that cage was a rogahz, and it would be coming to eat us. I took off quickly. Sam wasn't ready and got a face full of water. I heard her coughing and hacking on my back, but it was better to cough than to die.
The fear of the rogahz's teeth helped me accelerate even though I was tired. My terror gave me more energy than I thought I had left. We were going so fast that when we hit shallow water, we plowed into the sand. I dragged Sam to her feet and helped her onto the shore. I only let her take a break when we were far away from the water.
"Jori, what is the matter with you?" she shouted. I motioned to the water, and her face went white when she spotted the terrible creature circling in the area where we had just been. It was frustrated now that we had denied it a meal.
Her legs gave out, and she sank onto the sand.
"What is that thing?" she asked. She was shaking.
I didn't say anything. I was exhausted and shocked, filled with the thought that we had barely escaped a horrible death. We rarely encountered rogahz in the wild. They were one of the reasons why we created The Barrier. We wanted to keep them away from civilization. Not only were people trying to shoot us, but they were also attacking us in the water as well, using deadly predators.
Samantha looked up and pulled me down beside her. She wrapped her arms around me. I felt her warm tears on my neck. She never made a sound.
I was facing the sea. I saw when they called the rogahz back and returned it to the cage on the ship. The sun had set by now, and the shadows concealed our location. Harrington would be coming after us because he knew who I was and he wanted me dead. I was a threat to everything he held dear, and he wouldn't stop until the threat was completely nullified.
I rose to my feet.
"Jori, what are you doing? You need to rest. We need to stay here until
we regain our strength." I shook my head.
"They'll be coming after us."
I couldn't explain more. I didn't have the energy, but she seemed to understand.
"Where should we go?" she murmured.
"The docks in the city," I said, tilting my head. She was already on her feet, taking my hand. "It's busy with lots of people. It should be easy to hide."
"Okay. Come on," she said. This time, it was her hand that pulled me and gave me strength.
"Jori? We're just a few feet from the docks. Do you think you can make it?"
I cut my eyes over towards her, not bothering to turn my head and waste energy. I gave a tiny nod and continued putting one foot in front of the other. Samantha looked worried, but squeezed my hand and kept walking. Soon we arrived at a boardwalk stretching out to the docks. All the ships came to port and transferred cargo here.
"Won't we stand out in our bodysuits?" Sam whispered to me.
I shook my head, not bothering to explain. She would see soon enough. The atmosphere at the docks was crazy. It wasn't just where ships loaded and unloaded, but it was also a fair where hundreds of sellers came to hock their wares. There were performers and all sorts of unusual people. We would blend in with all the other weirdos. As soon as we walked into the crowd, I saw her smile. She understood.
Our relief was short-lived. There was a shout behind us. Sam turned her head, and said, "Jori. It's them."
I didn't ask if she were sure. I didn't ask how she knew. I moved, dragging the last bit of energy out of my body to force my tired arms and legs to run one last time. We took off down the fairgrounds area of the docks, dodging around people and booths. There was another boardwalk further on that would take us back to land. I guided us in that direction, turning sharply without altering my speed.
As I ran, Sam suddenly put on the brakes and tried to drag me back.
"Wait!" she yelled.
I lost my footing and slipped, crashing into a chain. Sam yanked my arm. I couldn't believe she had all that strength packed into a little body. I landed on my ass, cursing in my mind because I didn't have the energy to speak.
"Jori. I can't read the signs, but it's under construction," she said. "There's nothing to walk on."
I finally looked where I was rushing and saw a dark yawning abyss below us. At the bottom of the long drop was a pile of sharp rocks in shallow water, waiting to break my back.
Samantha wasn't looking at me, but she pulled me to my feet again. I groaned.
"Come on, Jori," she said. Her voice quavered. "They're still coming."
When I looked back, I saw our pursuers had been slowed by the crowd and had lost sight of us for the moment. I made a decision and took off at a slow jog with Sam by my side.
We ran down one of the arms of the docks, where ships of all sizes were moored, loading and unloading their cargo. We shouldn't have run; it may have made us stand out in the crowd. Our assailants caught sight of us and moved in our direction.
"Jori, where do we go?" Sam wailed. There was no way out of our location. Each arm of the docks stretched out but ended at the ocean. If we wanted to go back, we would have to retrace our steps.
I tried to stay calm and remember my training. There was always a way out. Scan. Look for it. Something will be here, but it might not be obvious at first glance. I quickly searched around us.
At the end of the dock, a large ship was pulling away.
"That ship," I whispered, tapping my computer until the scrambler activated. We would need it to block the cameras around us. "Run to it."
"There's no way to board," she said. I was already tugging on her hand, and we took off. The ship was gaining speed. It was moving faster than we could.
"We're going to have to jump," I said. "Run as fast as you can, Sam."
We tore along the dock. People dashed out of our way when they saw us sprinting at them. I tried to run faster, reaching deep within myself for more strength. Sam kept up with me. I didn't know if it was in spite of or because of her fear.
When we reached the end of the platform, we jumped to the ship. I saw Sam land and collapse on the deck of the vessel, groaning when she hit. I wasn't able to jump far enough. I was exhausted from my swim and the run afterward. I managed to grab hold of the bottom rung of a railing. I looped my arm through it and clasped my hands together.
I hung suspended for the moment. I could feel my grip slipping.
Shots rang out, and I felt more stings on my back as some of them found their target. As the ship accelerated, we started to leave them behind. Unfortunately, gunfire wasn't the biggest threat anymore. I was about to fall back into the ocean. In my exhausted state, I wouldn't be able to swim.
"Sam," I called. My voice croaked out of my body.
She stirred and opened her eyes. When she saw my situation, she rushed to me immediately.
"Can you get your leg up? Hold on. I'll get you, somehow."
She lay flat on the deck and reached down, grabbing for my leg. Her breath hissed as she stretched her hurt arm towards me. I tried to lift my leg to help her, but it was impossible. It took everything I had to cling to the rail. She inched closer. I was worried she would tumble into the ocean.
"You're going to fall in," I said.
"No, I'm not," she said. She hooked her legs around a nearby vertical post. She was able to lower her body slightly and this time she could reach me. On the third try, she pulled my leg up.
"I've got you."
She hooked my foot around a rung so I couldn't slip back again. She could easily reach my other leg now; soon she had my whole body on the deck. It was difficult to pull my hands apart. I tried to release them, but they were stiff, and she had to pull with all her might. Lactic acid spread through my body from my exertions, and I was stiffening up. With a grunt, she got me away from the edge and dragged me along the deck.
"There," I whispered, pointing to a spot I knew the ship's cameras didn't reach. I had spent some time hitching rides on ships like this one as a teenager. "Beside the barrel."
She didn't ask any questions. She dragged me along, pulling my arms along the deck until we were in position. I pointed to my computer.
"Turn off the scrambler," I said. "It's not necessary anymore. No cameras will see us here."
I lay my head down on the wooden boards and fell asleep.
Chapter Eleven
SAMANTHA
When Jori passed out on the deck of the ship, I was worried. I didn't know anything about Vandwans. Was he dead? He had done an awful lot of swimming. I checked his mouth, and he was still breathing. Maybe he had pushed his body to its limits. I wasn't as tired as Jori because I hadn't physically exerted myself. He had towed me through miles of ocean to a different city. How was that possible, even for a merman?
I recalled people on Earth who set records swimming distances much further than twenty miles. I supposed it was reasonable after all, on a water world, but to see it in front of my eyes was amazing.
There was no way I would be able to sleep. I was wound up, nauseated, and seasick already.
I lay down with my back against his and replayed the events of the night, trying to come to terms with what had happened to us. The party had been decent, but then I had panicked, and we'd gone out on the patio. I had seen glimpses of the real Jori two times. What had he said?
Would an asshole give up five years of his life, his name, the love of his family, and the possibility of a relationship with an amazing woman just to save some kids that he doesn't even know?
The truth of his words hit me again. An asshole wouldn't do that, but Jori had. He wasn't an asshole; he just played one in real life. Would an asshole swim miles carrying me on his back? Of course, he couldn't take the chance that Harrington would capture me. But somehow I sensed that even if I weren't a risk to his operation, Jori would have protected me. He could have stashed me somewhere and made his escape without being encumbered by me.
But he hadn't. He'd taken me with him.
Nobody had ever done anything like that for me before.
Was Jori a hero? I was surprised I hadn't realized it sooner.
I remembered the rogahz and how hard he worked to get us out of the water before it ate us. What kind of sick fucks keep sea creatures to eat people? Only on Vandwa.
Thank goodness for Jori and this ship to put some distance between us and those goons. Finally, my thoughts circled back to almost losing Jori. It didn't matter if he could breathe underwater. He would have been in trouble if he slipped off the ship. I was lucky to have lifted him up. All my years in grade school hanging from monkey bars helped me later in life.
I sighed.
We were safe for now. And I was more tired than I thought. My eyelids were getting heavy. I turned and cuddled up close to Jori, wrapping my arm around him. For this particular moment in time, he was mine to hold.
JORI
The wind blowing in my face woke me up. It was powerful; more than a gust, but less than a gale. I cursed and wondered what I had done to deserve such rotten luck.
Sam had her body wrapped around me. She clutched me tightly as she slept soundly. Lying next to her was nice, but the wind was not. I looked at the clouds and noted that the ship sails stood completely billowed out. The ship was steady. For now, the computers were able to correct the course.
I allowed myself to enjoy the feeling of Sam's arms around me for another blissful minute. I noticed the ship was going up and down on the dips and swells of the enormous waves. The computers were no longer able to compensate for the vertical motion. Without warning, the sails began to retract into the masts. The loss of our sails was a bad sign.
As I inspected the ship carefully, it appeared rickety and old. The main mast looked dried out. My brother would be appalled if he saw the condition of the vessel. It looked like it would snap in a storm.
If I read the winds correctly, there was a storm brewing out in the middle of the ocean right now.
I closed my eyes. We needed to get off this ship before it collapsed around us.
