by Jon F. Merz
“Shit,” said Thatcher before he could stop himself.
“Stand clear,” said Schwarzwalder then. He dropped the line in his hand and the life boat leveled out before finally hitting the waves with a grand splash. But the noise from the pulley reels had been louder than the surrounding night and Thatcher looked around worriedly half expecting Cyra to materialize out of the darkness and tear him apart.
The life boat bobbed in the surf below, the lines still attached to the side of Raider X, and started being dragged through the waves as Raider X continued to plow ahead. If they didn’t time their jumps correctly, they’d have to swim to reach the life boats or Raider X would simply tow the boats away from anyone who dove overboard.
“You first,” said Schwarzwalder checking his watch. “I’m the Captain, after all.”
“Are you sure about that?”
“That I’m the Captain?” Schwarzwalder grinned at him. “Yes, I’m absolutely-“
But even as he said the words, a dark form reared up behind him and grabbed him up in her claws. Cyra ripped Schwarzwalder’s left arm off, releasing a gout of blood that sprayed everywhere. Schwarzwalder screamed.
Thatcher yanked his pistol out and started firing at Cyra, even though he knew that it would do no good.
She had come for them at last.
Chapter 37
The bullets from Thatcher’s gun seemed to punch into Cyra right around her heart but they did little to affect her. She tossed Schwarzwalder’s body aside as she still gripped his arm in her other claw. This she tilted it toward her mouth and suckled at the tip of his humerus, creating an awful suckling sound that made Thatcher’s stomach lurch.
He had no idea if Schwarzwalder was dead or not, but the wound was grievous and he lay still on the deck as Cyra calmly finished her meal of marrow and tossed the arm over the side of the ship into the ocean below.
“Now that we’ve gotten everyone else out of the way,” she said. “How about you tell me the truth of why you’re here, Harrison?”
Thatcher frowned. He was out of bullets and the gun was useless anyway - the rounds had done nothing to affect Cyra.
“And what truth would that be?”
“You’re not a criminal. You’re here for another reason.”
Thatcher shook his head. “You’re mistaken. I am a criminal. I was in jail before my escape. If you don’t believe me, I don’t care. But that’s the truth.” And it was, just carefully edited. Thatcher had lied a great many times in his past and the thing that made people believe was by building them on a foundation of truth.
But he’d never lied to a creature like Cyra before and he didn’t know if she was as gullible as most humans were. Hell, was she even human anymore? Thatcher couldn’t figure it out. She looked more like a monster than the woman he’d slept with and even the image of that revolted him now. What in the world had he copulated with?
“We’ll see how much your lies hold up when the Gestapo get their hands on you.”
Thatcher frowned. “And what about you? You’ve been living a lie the entire time you knew me.”
Cyra shrugged. “I’m not bound by any code of decency. I do whatever it takes to get my assignment done. That is it.”
“You should have been honest with me,” said Thatcher. “I had no idea you were-“
“What? Something out of the realm of your nightmares?” She paused. “I must admit I was reluctant to share my essence with you because of it. What those scientists were able to do to my body is nothing short of amazing and I am proud to be their finest creation. But it is also a heavy weight to bear. I am only able to assume the form you made love for a short time before my appetite gets to be too much and my desire to reveal my true essence gets to be too overwhelming. I must both feast and be in my true form to be at peace.”
“How did they do that to you?”
“They are scientists. I make no claim to understand what they are doing in the Polish countryside. I was merely the beneficiary of their expertise. Or their horrible visions, one or the other.”
“And now what? You destroy the ship because of the cipher wheels on the bridge?”
Cyra shrugged. “I am a weapon to be used for whatever the Führer requires of me. That is my role in this world. I exist for no other purpose.”
“To what end, though? To kill and destroy. And then what? Eventually, all wars end. What happens to you then? Do you somehow get made back into the woman you were? Or are you what you are for the rest of your life?”
“Why do you care, Harrison? Would you love me for what I was even if I could no longer look like an average woman? Could you find it within your heart to love me when I look like this? For that matter, could any man?”
“Probably not,” said Thatcher.
“At least you’re honest.” Cyra cast a glimpse next to Schwarzwalder’s body. “Such a shame that he turned out to be a traitor to the Reich. There were great things ahead for him if he had simply followed orders. But he let family love get in his way and as such, he had to be punished.”
Thatcher wondered how much time was left on the bundle of explosives in the engine room. How much time had elapsed since he and Schwarzwalder had fled and lowered the life boat? It couldn’t be that much longer, could it?
Cyra regarded him. “If I had my way, I might actually keep you alive for a little while.”
Thatcher cocked his head. “To what end? Your dream of procreation? It’s not gong to happen. There’s no way I’m going to sleep with you again.”
“I don’t need your penis to make a baby,” said Cyra. “Only what is contained within your seed. And there are plenty of ways to gather that then by simple copulation. Your involvement can be as pleasurable or as painful as you want it to be.”
“You want to do it right here? On deck? Right now?”
Cyra laughed which sounded like someone was choking on their own spit. “Don’t be foolish. For an experiment like that to be successful, it must be done under carefully controlled conditions. There’s no way it would work on a ship like this.”
“So what, we head for Poland?”
“Something like that. What do you say?”
Thatcher shook his head. “What in the world would you expect me to say? The idea is ludicrous and there’s no way you’re getting any of my sperm for your crazy experiments. The last thing I want is for any of my future children to look the way you do right now. Or do any of the horrible things you’ve done here tonight.”
“What horrible things?”
“You’ve slain the entire ship. Three hundred plus are dead because of you.”
Cyra seemed to frown although Thatcher couldn’t be sure if it was actually a frown or not given how twisted and misshapen her face now was. “That was a necessity. As I said, my appetite sometimes gets the better of me and it must be sated before I can regain any semblance of control over myself. Have you ever known such hunger before, Harrison? Or perhaps it would be better described as desire.”
“I thought you were pretty desirable before I knew your truth. Now I’m horrified at what you’ve become.”
“Only because you don’t understand the essence of what I am.” She paused. “But perhaps that can be changed if you take a journey with me. I would need to get it cleared first but the idea is an interesting one.”
“What idea?”
Cyra laughed again. “Perhaps you could become an instrument of the Reich as well. The two of us could work together wreaking fear and havoc upon the Allies and anyone who stands in the way of the Führer and his dreams world conquest. We would be unstoppable. There would be nothing that could kill us.”
“How so? A lot of people have guns.”
Cyra nodded. “Indeed, but bullets can be turned aside if you skin is altered and mine is. The benefit of dining on marrow is that it contains very base level cells that rapidly aid in healing me. Unless the damage is catastrophic, there is little that can kill me. And the same could be your truth if you just let it
happen.”
Thatcher shook his head. “I rather like the way I look at the moment.”
“As do I,” said Cyra. “You were a rather delicious human for the time we spent together. It was a shame I couldn’t reveal my true self to you then because the experience would have shattered every vision of reality that you possess. And you would long for such a tryst again and again.”
“I don’t know if I agree with that assessment, but even still I’m not in any sort of hurry to transform myself into a creature I can’t even look at in the mirror. And I’m certainly not about to go to work for the Führer.”
“You don’t even know his grand plans yet, Harrison. What would be the problem with simply hearing him out?”
“Because I’ve seen what he’s capable of.”
At that moment, a deep boom sounded from within the bowels of the ship and it listed abruptly to one side. Thatcher felt his feet slip out from under him as he went down to the deck. Schwarzwalder’s body slid closer to Cyra who adroitly regained her balance and footing as if nothing had happened.
“I see the Captain has decided to scuttle the ship. Excellent.”
Thatcher got to his feet.
Cyra started to come toward him. “It’s time to go.”
Chapter 38
“How are we getting out of here?” asked Thatcher.
Cyra pointed overboard. “We’ll jump. There’s a lifeboat down there and I imagine that the Gestapo unit currently in Tenerife will be more than happy to meet us once we get closer.”
Thatcher frowned. “How did you know about the Gestapo being there?”
Cyra smiled. “They’re there because of me. This was all planned from the start right down to the timeline. Schwarzwalder was foolish enough to believe that he was too clever for the German High Command. But once his communications with Adamson were intercepted, it became necessary to put a plan into action to destroy every part of the conspiracy.”
Another explosion sounded within the ship. This one sounded even more dire than the first and the ship listed in the other direction for a moment before again listing to the starboard side.
Cyra frowned. “We need to leave now. I can’t swim that well.”
Thatcher laughed out loud. “Are you joking? After everything those scientists did to you, you mean to tell me that you can’t swim? How utterly ridiculous is that? How come?”
“I don’t like the water,” said Cyra. She looked at the ocean which was now closer than it had been. “But a quick dunk should be fine and the life boat is still tied up to the side so I’ll be fine.”
Thatcher backed up. “I’m not going with you.”
Cyra frowned. “Don’t make me kill you, Harrison. We had some fun together. But the time to go is now. Your future is assured once you are safely off of this boat.”
Thatcher shook his head. “You’ll have to kill me.”
Cyra chuckled. “You don’t want that. You have no idea how much pain I could put you through. Stop being a fool.”
But Thatcher backed up even more trying to put space between them. Another explosion echoed up from below and the ship listed more. Now a hole opened up in the deck and Thatcher could see the sea water rushing into fill the void. There were seconds left to make his decision. It had to be now or never.
Which is when he saw Schwarzwalder use his one arm to drag himself up, first to his knees and then to a squat before finally standing. He had the grenade that he’d taken from Thatcher back in the engine room in his hand. He put it to his mouth and pulled the safety ring out, spat it on the deck and stumbled forward pressing the grenade into Cyra’s back. For a moment, she actually seemed surprised, but then her shock turned to rage.
“Jump!” Shouted Schwarzwalder. “Jump now!”
Thatcher didn’t hesitate, but turned to his right and leapt off the deck even as the grenade exploded and tore both Cyra and Schwarzwalder apart. Or at least that was how it looked in the split second of time that Thatcher had actually caught a glimpse of what was going on before he crashed into the sea.
He came out of the waves spitting and gasping. Above him, the whole starboard side of the ship was dangerously close to the sea. Thatcher swam for his life and made his way to the lifeboat. He had to untie the rope before it was all pulled under when the ship went down.
Thatcher managed to grab the side of the lifeboat and pulled himself aboard before stumbling forward to where the rope was tied. He studied the knot and tore into it but it was soaked from the seawater and didn’t want to budge.
“Come on!” Thatcher shouted at the knot as his fingers ripped away doing his best to untie it. He felt some give and pushed for more as he kept swearing under his breath. Raider X loomed above him as if it would come crashing down and crush him unless he managed to get the life boat freed in time. He heard more explosions now and an awful creaking that told him that metal was being bent by the inexorable assault of the water.
One of the knots came undone and Thatcher scrambled to untie the next. Who had tied this damned thing? He thought nautical knots were supposed to be easy to untie in case of an emergency.
There!
The rope came free from Raider X and instantly the lifeboat started drifting away. Thatcher collapsed in a heap in the boat struggling to get air into his lungs.
Raider X’s main engines groaned once and came to halt as the ship listed even more almost now completely on her side. Thatcher got both oars into their oarlocks and started pulling to get away from the ship. He knew when it went down it would create a huge sucking void that could pull him under as easily as if he’d been swimming nearby.
Which is when he saw Cyra’s head break the surface twenty yards back in the direction of the ship. “Harrison!”
She was struggling in the waves. Thatcher could see the fear in her eyes. How in the world had she still managed to survive a grenade exploding right in her back? She should have had all of her internal organs blown apart. And yet she was somehow in the water now desperately trying to claw her way toward the life boat.
Thatcher kept pulling for all he was worth.
Raider X was sinking fast. And already Thatcher felt the ocean pulling on the life boat to drag it back and under. He groaned as he pulled harder on the oars, straining in their oar locks under his exertion.
“Harrison! Save me!”
Cyra’s voice carried to him despite the crashes and explosions coming from the ship as it yielded to the immense pressure of the ocean. Thatcher could see the desperation in Cyra’s face. She had apparently not been lying about not being able to swim.
But he didn’t stop. Whatever she was, he couldn’t save her. He would have lost his own life in the process and he had to get back to England. Not just because he’d completed his mission but because Hewitt needed to know about what the German scientists were creating in the Polish countryside. If there was one creature like Cyra then there would be others unless those same scientists were stopped.
He pulled harder now as the backdraft of ocean water threatened to drag him into the maelstrom vacuum that the sinking hulk of Raider X created. Cyra was being sucked back toward the ship now, screaming and gurgling. Waves washed over her head and she coughed and sputtered as she was yanked into the vacuum.
But still her eyes locked on Thatcher’s and he felt his heart lurch. He’d never considered himself a cold and heartless man before, but as he pulled on the oars he knew what the priority was. And as hard as it was to watch her die, that was exactly what he had to do.
Raider X seemed to take a huge gulp of air and then with a mighty groan, it rolled beneath the churning seas sucking everything down with it. Despite his best efforts, Thatcher was being pulled toward it as well. His arms screamed at him as he tore at the oars trying to pull against the toughest current he’d ever felt in his life. Its pull seemed interminable and without yield and yet he knew that if he did not find a way to escape, he was surely as dead as Cyra.
He spotted her head one final time be
fore she was sucked beneath the surface into a watery grave.
But still Raider X demanded more and sought the lifeboat that Thatcher occupied.
“Come on, baby, come on!”
Thatcher wrenched the oars again and again. He had blisters breaking out and popping even as he did so but he shut out the immense pain lancing through his hands and kept pulling as hard as he could. Over and over again he pulled even as he heard the roar of the vacuum so frightfully close that he thought he was surely going to drown at any moment.
But then with a final gasp, the vacuum released its hold on him and Thatcher felt the lifeboat surge away from the spot where Raider X had sunk. He kept pulling. Part of him thought it was entirely possible that Cyra would somehow find a way to break the surface and claw her way onto the life boat. Thatcher just kept pulling on the oars until he could no longer feel his arms.
Only then did he collapse back into the lifeboat, groaning from the amount of exertion he had just expended.
Silence fell over the entire sea, broken only by the lapping of waves against the bow of the lifeboat.
Thatcher lay there gasping for air for what felt like hours.
Right until a passing fishing boat found him.
Chapter 39
Two weeks later…
“That’s it, put the det cord in just like so. Good. And now step back.” The instructor peered over Thatcher’s shoulder eyeballing every little action he took. He was an older fellow with quite a number of missing teeth. But he hadn’t lost any of his fingers so far which made him a legend among demolitions instructors.
“Initiating!” said Thatcher with a yell. He fired the trigger and the log which he had just finished wiring up with plastic explosive went boom and rose several meters into the air before coming down with a fearsome crash in the clearing on the expansive grounds of the mansion in the Scottish Highlands.
