by Amy Braun
The marauders stood in place, panting and moving slowly to relax their bodies. My heart was still pounding.
Sawyer sheathed his cutlass to his hip and placed his flintlock at his side. He glanced over the bodies, made sure they were dead, then looked at me where I stood by the door.
He smiled.
“See, Firecracker? Nothing to worry about.”
I didn’t know whether to laugh or scream.
“Nice to know we have extra escape vessels,” Gemma said, glued to Nash’s side.
The big marauder ran his hand up and down his lover’s arm. “Something tells me any other obstacles we face won’t be as simple.”
Sawyer’s smile dropped, the light in his eyes fading completely. “Guess it’s time to find out what we’re up against. Seven of those docks are still empty. That means more skiffs are out there, and they’ll be coming back sooner or later.”
“Probably sooner,” Gemma remarked. “I doubt the forecast called for showers of Hellions.”
Sawyer’s smile was grim.
He and Nash walked to the door on the right, both of them taking a side of it. Together, they pushed and pulled on the wheel. Metal squealed against metal as it was twisted, but soon enough the two young men unlocked the door. I was surprised at how little effort it took, but then again, the Hellions would never assume anyone would make it up to their ship to attack them. Maybe the element of surprise would be on our side after all. The men held the door open so Gemma and I could slip through. Sawyer swung himself inside, quickly followed by Nash.
Teardrop light bulbs protruded from the top of the wall like a row of pustules, dousing us in dying yellow light. Once my eyes adjusted to the dim light, I could see well enough. The corridor we entered was narrow and plain with a single staircase leading upward. It curved around after about a hundred steep steps, which would lead to the top half of the airship if its outer design were to be trusted.
I didn’t wait for the others, bounding for the stairs as fast as I could. A strong hand circled my arm and stopped me. I turned around impatiently as Sawyer held me in place.
“Masks,” he said, raising his.
I glanced at it, then narrowed my eyes. “I won’t forget.”
He looked skeptical, but released my arm and let me start running up the stairs. It didn’t take long to realize that I seriously underestimated how steep they would be.
By the time I made it to the last step, right in front of another door with a hand wheel lock, my legs were rubbery and my lungs were burning. At least I wasn’t the only one winded. The marauders behind me were bent at the waist and gasping for air. When we caught out breath, Sawyer turned to Gemma and Nash.
“Ready?” he asked his crew.
“Ready to run into a ship that could be filled with monsters that will rip out our throats and drink our blood without a second thought?” Gemma summed up unhelpfully. Then she grinned. “Sounds like fun.”
Her smile was easy and carefree, but I saw the way she gripped Nash’s hand and squeezed it tightly.
Sawyer nodded to his friends, his easygoing smile doing little to hide his worry. “Claire and I will look for her sister and take the ship. Once you plant the bombs, get back here, wait thirty minutes, then blow them. Whether we come back or not.”
“Sawyer, are you sure about this?” Nash asked, seeing the seriousness on his captain’s face.
“Sure enough. But you know the rules. Pirates aren’t patient.”
It must have been some kind of code, because neither Nash nor Gemma contradicted him.
Sawyer beckoned Nash. The big marauder followed his captain, taking my place by the wheel. I stepped back to give them space, glancing at Sawyer. Was I making the right choice, or the selfish one? This might have been the only way to save Abby and any other survivors, but I was still risking the lives of three people I counted as allies. I could be leading them to their deaths, and I wasn’t strong enough to save all of them. But they’d hardly protested, and Sawyer seemed more eager than ever to exact revenge on the Hellions. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if something happened to them.
Then again, if it did happen, I probably wouldn’t live long enough to wallow in guilt.
As Sawyer and Nash worked on the door, Gemma grabbed my elbow. The severity in her eyes rooted me to the floor.
“If you let anything happen to him, it won’t just be the Hellions you’ll have to run from.”
I stared at Gemma, unable to find any words to say. She had never been very aggressive toward me, but I clearly underestimated her loyalty to her captain. I had no doubt that she would throw me to the Hellions if Sawyer were harmed because of me. I scrambled for something to say that might placate her, but the words died in my throat. There was no telling what we’d find beyond that door. Gemma let go of my arm, leaving my words unspoken.
Sawyer and Nash shoved open the door, which was just as cranky as the last one. It grabbed my attention, drawing me away from Gemma. I took a couple more wary steps, looking at the dim red glow beyond the opening. Sawyer pulled the Hellion mask over his face and slipped through the crevice. I was about to put my own Hellion mask on, but hesitated.
I was closer to Abby, in the same area as her, but I had never felt so distant. Fear gripped my mind with icy talons, ready to tear apart my sanity and leave me screaming. I didn’t know what I would find in here, but I couldn’t turn back now.
I pulled the Hellion mask over my face, and nudged through the open door into the Behemoth, taking a deep breath and praying it wouldn’t be my last.
Chapter 12
It was like stepping into a monster’s belly. The cavern past the door stretched until it was lost in shadows. The floor was smooth, bolted iron that gleamed red from the pockets of light skimming across it. That light was coming from rectangular gaps in the walls, flaring behind slim archways that curved like ribs under the hundred foot ceiling. The red glows made me think of the dozens of furnaces working to keep the ship running. The air tasted thick and smelled like ashes. I heard distant, roaring fires, saw their light shove against the shadows and skitter along the walls.
Fresh sweat trickled down my neck, spine, and temples, not just caused by the boiling heat getting trapped in my jumpsuit. I knew Abby was here, that she was terrified and desperate for help, but my body didn’t want to move. It didn’t trust the darkness or the red lights. I didn’t want to turn a corner and find flames, or Hellions, or my sister’s unseeing eyes as she lay on a pile of corpses.
Something touched my shoulder. I jumped, though it was Sawyer’s hand. I caught a glimpse of Nash and Gemma moving down the hall behind him. Sawyer waited patiently. I could only imagine how he was seeing me through the horrible black goggles covering his face.
“Come on,” he said, muffled by the mask. “There’s a door over here,” he pointed to a tall, red shadow on our right, indicating there was an open doorway heading to another room. “Let’s start there. Maybe it’ll lead us to your sister.”
I was still trapped in a frightened haze, so all I did was nod and follow him.
Sawyer led me through the cavern, moving briskly but not running. We couldn’t see any Hellions, but there was no point in risking the sight of a guard or a grunt worker. Something was keeping this demonic ship running, and I doubted it was all electricity.
I focused on Sawyer’s back as he walked, not wanting to engrain more of the terrible heat and atrocious, burning smells into my mind. The cutlass Sawyer usually wore on his hip was now strapped to his back, hiding it from the initial sight of any Hellions we might encounter. I’d also seen him tuck knives into his boots and the belt around his waist. Hellions didn’t use knives or any weapons for that matter, preferring to rip at their prey with their bare hands. The marauders had hidden their pistols, knowing the sound of gunfire would alert any Hellions to our presence if they were forced to use them.
I didn’t have much, save for a pair of knives Sawyer had given me, my last three flashbangs, and
the Volt, which we needed to take down the Behemoth. If it came to a fight, it would be to the death.
Sawyer pressed his back to the wall when he neared the burst of red light coming from the nearby door. The intensity of the heat doubled until I was gasping for breath under the mask. The leather of the jumpsuit clung to me, and I felt like I was going to boil in my own skin. Sawyer was grunting beside me, trying to steady his own breathing. He had to be going through the same thing I was, but he was determined to ignore it.
Harder to ignore were the terrified screams carrying the sound of fire. There was a living survivor on the Behemoth, in awful pain.
Sawyer slid along the wall carefully until he reached the corner, then turned his head around to get a better look. I saw his shoulders stiffen and heard his breath hitch. Sawyer turned back to me, his expression unreadable thanks to the mask.
“There are two Hellions in that room with an adult male. A human.” Fury laced his voice. “We have to do something.”
I was nervous about saying no, that it was too risky. Sawyer didn’t give me the chance to protest. “I can also see another door leading to a darker corridor. We should take it and see where it goes.”
After I nodded, he turned back to the opening of the door, pushed off the wall, and walked around the corner. I followed him casually, though my heart rate had sped up considerably because of his warning. I walked around the corner into the furnace room, and froze in place.
Walking into the furnace room was like walking into a fire. The air was stifling and thick, sliding through the vents in the Hellion mask and going down my throat like tar. Across from us was a black kiln that stood close to eight feet tall and was the same distance across. The doors of the kiln were thrown open to reveal an enormous blaze of red and orange flames that thrashed outside of the metal stove. Rings of black smoke swelled out of the furnace, sweeping along the roof before being sucked up into the vents overhead. Two hulking Hellions stripped of their shirts worked in front of the flame, thick muscles rippling as they stoked the glowing coals and fuelled the fire.
Then I noticed the human.
Trapped in the grip of the larger of the two Hellions was a frail, sickly looking man whose age I couldn’t determine. He was also stripped of his shirt, his skin covered in bruises and dried blood. He tried feebly to escape the crushing hold the Hellion had on his arm, but his struggles were useless. He was like a piece of paper trapped under a rock. He wouldn’t live much longer.
Before I could say or do anything, Sawyer removed the cutlass from his back and lunged forward. The Hellions heard him, turning their gaze to us as one of their own seemed to charge them. Sawyer’s first attack was directed at the Hellion holding the survivor. He slashed the sword at the Hellion’s throat while the creature jumped back. The edge of the cutlass nicked the Hellion’s throat, but was nowhere near deep enough to kill him.
To make matters worse, the Hellion stoking the flames had been drawn into the fight. It swung the shovel toward Sawyer, the flat edge of the burning tool striking him in the back. Sawyer screamed in pain, dropping to his knees and trying to regain his composure. The Hellions screeched their rage, drowning out the screams of the survivor. Both Hellions rushed Sawyer, the injured one lurching down to grab the marauder while the other raised the shovel over Sawyer’s neck, preparing to bring the tool down and sever his spinal column. If I didn’t do anything, Sawyer was going to die.
But I hadn’t been standing idly when the fight started.
I wasn’t as fast as a Hellion, but I launched into the furnace room and grabbed the shovel before it could hit Sawyer’s neck. My arms were no bigger than twigs compared to the Hellion’s, but my sudden arrival shocked it and stopped the killing blow. I shoved with all my strength, pushing the shovel away. Below me, I heard metal sliding against the floor. Sawyer grunted as he collided with the second Hellion, moving their fight away from me. I wanted to watch Sawyer’s back, but I had my own problems. I started a fight with a Hellion that didn’t know I was human, and would butcher me the moment it found out.
The huge monster swung its shovel at my head. I ducked until my knees were almost touching the floor, feeling the air over my head split around the shovel. Still crouching, I darted away and grabbed the knives sheathed on my belt. I wasn’t an experienced fighter, but having two blades in my hands gave me the illusion of strength. A fantasy I didn’t think I could hold onto much longer.
The Hellion shrieked and slashed the shovel down at me. I jumped to the side, watching the shovel spark as it clashed with the iron floor. The Hellion didn’t relent, bringing the tool back up to slice open my stomach. I leaped back, my spine hitting the wall. I faltered for a second, giving the Hellion the exact moment it needed to charge me. I jerked my head to the side, avoiding the shovel as it slammed into the wall inches from my skull, but I was helpless against the rest of the attack.
Dropping the shovel, the Hellion didn’t risk getting closer to my face, instead choosing to pummel my ribs. I cried out as it beat at me, the leather of the jumpsuit doing nothing to absorb the blows. It was a small reprieve to know it hadn’t attacked me with its claws, but each punch threatened to completely shatter my ribs. If the assault kept going, I wouldn’t be able to move.
Screaming a war cry to ignore the pain, I shoved both my knives into the Hellion’s stomach. It howled angrily, stopping its attack just so it could step away from the knives. It didn’t look very hurt, only enraged that I’d been able to injure it. When I looked into its face, seeing those furious red eyes hanging behind a curtain of black, stringy hair, I nearly screamed again.
The back of the Hellion’s hand was a blur, crashing against my face and knocking me onto the ground. The mask was wrenched from my face as I fell. I groaned as pain clawed through my head. Hurt gave way to panic as I realized I was exposed. The Hellion knew what I was. It wouldn’t hold back this time.
My knives were lost, rendering me helpless when the Hellion roared and grabbed a fistful of my hair. I yelped as it whipped me onto my back. The red intensified in the Hellion’s eyes, its lips peeling back to reveal a razor-toothed smile. I fumbled for a weapon, anything that could save me, and I couldn’t hold back my scream when the Hellion descended.
Its mouth was open wide, aimed at my throat, at the same moment I found my discarded Hellion mask. I simply reacted, turning the mask so the sharp point was aimed at the Hellion’s face. The needle at the tip plunged into its skull, causing the monster to twitch once before it dropped onto me.
I screamed again as its weight crushed my bruised ribs, driving out the air I was desperate to keep. I trembled, waiting for those horrible fangs to sink into my skin, but they never did. I pushed the Hellion back just enough to look at its face, seeing the glassy sheen covering its eyes.
I had done the impossible– I killed a Hellion.
The idea didn’t thrill me as it should have.
Moving slower than I wanted to, I brought my arms under the Hellion and tried to push its corpse off me. I couldn’t hear Sawyer, and needed to know if he was all right. But I couldn’t move. The Hellion seemed to weigh a thousand pounds, its heavy bulk and dead weight turning into one massive boulder on my chest.
I grunted and shoved, but barely budged the corpse. Then the weight was rolled off my torso, relieving the pressure and allowing me to breathe again. I sucked in a lungful of air so hard I coughed, wincing as my lungs expanded against my battered ribs. A hand touched my shoulder and I jumped, calming down when I looked at a masked Hellion holding me. I gasped, trying to push away from him. The monster wrenched off its mask, revealing that it was only Sawyer.
Like me, he was roughed up. A bruise was forming on his temple and there were claw marks along his upper arms, but he seemed to be holding himself together way better than I was.
“What the hell were you thinking?” he demanded, while gently brushing away some strands of hair that had fallen into my eyes.
