Chapter 21

It was the craziest waterslide I'd ever ridden. The pure darkness was only interrupted by the flashing orange of hysterical alarms, and the walls were unforgiving, metal, and abrasive. The river water was relentless, determined to force us back into the deepest depths of the doomed supply base. Panicked announcements, translated to me by whoever could hear over the whipping water, called for abandonment. All departments to make for the hangar. Base flood. Base flood. Watertight integrity lost. Make for the hangar without delay.

I bumped into another Kelbrid as the flow came to a sharp corner. My head emerged as the rebounded water sprang in the opposite direction, digging under my eyelids and sending me spinning right back under, futilely struggling against the new direction of the current. I kicked out and caught the Kelbrid again, and in return, I got a scratch to my side, intentional or not. With whatever clarity I had left, I reached forward and grabbed the Kelbrid's arm. My other hand tapped and prodded at the chest area. I felt the sturdy cloth of the uniform and yanked at it hard.

Who's uniform am I pulling?! I called to the others.

Negative answers from all three of them, no matter how alarmed and terrified their responses. With that realization, I pulled that Kelbrid closer, ensuring that my weapon was hoisted behind me and out of reach despite the unpredictable current. I suddenly grabbed for the neck, clutching it tightly to hold him and guarantee an accurate hit.

We spun upwards, and our upper bodies were out of the water for a moment. I couldn't see him in detail. He was only a silhouette in a distant orange light. I punched hard, caught him on the bridge of the nose, and I felt him go limp just as a wave knocked me back down into the swirling torrent. I tried but failed to find the unconscious body again. That was good.

In the brief lapses of time where my sight was temporarily granted back to me, I used it to identify where the water was dragging us. It was like traveling back in time, winding our way down the same corridors and passageways we'd ascended from the office at the pace of a torrential river. It was a familiar place, and as our morph time grew slimmer and more desperate, familiarity was the best we could hope for.

Everybody got weapons?! Jake called. He was a few meters ahead of me. I'd caught occasional glances of him. He or Santorelli... Santorelli was leading the way by at least a passageway and no doubt having a blast.

Got mine, I responded after groaning away the pain of another scrape against an abrasive wall.

Tobias added, I still have mine.

We're just coming up to the offices, Jake assumed. Base Headquarters. If it isn't already lost, we'll make sure of it. We destroy it, then make for the way we came in. Morph bird as soon as we find the sinkhole.

Orders received. Another peak of optimism launched me as if from the swelling, clutching water. I felt the hard ground beneath my stomach, and when I rubbed the liquid from my eyes, I was blinded by color. But the water was rising. I felt it pooling up around my fingers and then over my shoulders. My eyes shut, and I lost track of how long for.

Hope these things are waterproof, I heard Santorelli mention.

Get up, Marco!

My eyes snapped open, and I arrived late back to full-conscious reality. I was aware of the environment more than a foot away from me once more, and I forced myself groggily to my knees. I was surrounded by computers. Computers and workstations. We were back in the office. The once calm, quiet room was diluted with the river's demonic roar coming to visit, pounding on the walls and tipping the tables and chairs. That was coupled with the illuminating beam blast from Santorelli, who opened fire on the stations and panels in the far corner. The sound deafened, and the blaze heated. It only angered the burns I was nurturing.

I flung the sorry scarf back around my neck and took up my soaked laser. Waterproof? The glow of the barrel when I teased the trigger suggested so. Ignoring the dull pain of my scolded fingertip, I pressed and lit the place up.

It melted through computer screens, sliced through cubicle walls, and burst wooden desks into missile splinters. Flames snarled to the ceiling, casting hypnotic shadows on the dancing water. It rose, threatening to engulf the fire, but the flames would remain and destroy any chance of the computers' survival. The pooling liquid was rising up our thighs. It wouldn't be long before the place was lost for good.

And I was thankful for the water. So grateful for its cooling as my upper body blistered and cooked in the trapped heat of the burning office. Smoke blackened the ceiling and began to descend. It was time to go, and all heads would frequently turn to Jake, waiting for his call.

I released the trigger. I tried to. When I looked down, just able to see through the steam and smoke, I saw the lick of flame rising around the barrel. The pain had gone ignored for long enough and now called for attention. I yelped and dropped my hand down just a foot or so. It hit the body of water, and the flame engulfing my hand was extinguished. And yet, the laser wouldn't leave. I lifted it back out of the water, only to see bubbled, melted skin marrying it permanently to me.

Jake! I screeched. It was enough. More than enough.

Thankfully, he agreed. They aren't rescuing anything, he concluded. Go, go! Get out!

Thank fuck for that! Santorelli cheered. He was the first to the door, the only escape from the unbreathable air.

I was coughing. My body was burnt, beaten, and it was starved of oxygen. Poisoned. I needed that air. I dropped the laser from my grasp, but it was a few seconds before my skin gave way from bone and allowed its departure. I waded through water that was up to my chest, still tugging and pushing from every angle, threatening to swallow me whole.

I saw Tobias follow Santorelli out, and Jake was not far behind. I was last to leave, but the door just seemed so far. Its edges were blurred, everything about it becoming indistinct.

And then a spark, followed instantly by blackness. What was left of the office lighting died with the inferno, and all that remained to lure me was the circle of orange, the rim of the office door ahead. A semi-circle reflected on the disturbed surface of the water, making it flicker like a flame. Still, I could see it, even through the dense smoke. It was my exit, and it was only a few steps away…

I pushed forward with another struggling step, but something pulled back! My scarf tightened, squeezing around my neck and forcing a weak gasp from my throat. I stumbled on awkward legs and fell backward. Water filled my mouth, and my body reacted with immediate panic to accompany the immense pain. I pulled up for the surface, but I was tugged back again. My crimson scarf was caught, tangled around my neck. I didn't know what on. I knew I just had to get it off!

I clasped my hands to the thick fabric and tried to pry it away, but the previous pull had tightened whatever knot it was in beyond easy release. I reached for the surface again… I couldn't reach it.

Oh shit! Oh shit!

I attempted the knot again, but my right-hand fingers were all numbed or deformed beyond use. Pain and blisters buried my left fingers. They tried. Pulled, dug, and twisted. No luck. Nothing.

I gulped—big mistake. Water surged down my neck again, and I choked, spurted, and swallowed. I saw nothing. Heard nothing. My fingers fell away from the scarf. I reached up and felt nothing but the cold, churning water.

Wait, no… I saw. I saw through the water as if some disembodied light cast a glowing bubble around me. The light faded in slowly, but I saw my hands. My own hands. And my arms. There were no blisters, no burns. For a moment, I could breathe.

Whap!

The crack of a bladed, blue tail. It slashed in front of my face, the force of air alone enough to thrust me backward.

And then I couldn't breathe again! The water surrounded me once more. I watched my arms, so smooth and unspoiled, begin to blister right before my eyes. I didn't feel it, couldn't hear it. I only saw the boils swell and the skin redden to black.

How I wished that it was all I saw. In my disgust, I turned away, crying out in anguish to whatever cursed me, and there, a tremendous spiderlike claw was looking me dead in the eyes, mere inches from my face. Behind, I could see black eyes and a blacker, voiceless mouth.

The claws snapped forward, twisted, and grabbed at the air like the spider around a helpless fly. They wrapped like wire around my chest, cutting deep into my skin and squeezing out all the soul they could from me like I was a ketchup sachet.

I was dead. I let it

Marco!

Let it

We have six minutes! Wake up!

Six minutes? I… Wait.

I clasped my fingers; I felt air. I took a breath and felt air. I felt the lashing of water against the rest of me, but there was air. Real air!

My eyes opened just as I heard footsteps splashing out of a body of water. I saw the orange light of the alarms and three struggling Kelbrids hoisting me along. They had found me.

My scarf had vanished.

The place is abandoning! I heard Jake bellow. Morph now!

I was all too happy to oblige.