Chapter 19: Into the bowels
Crunch.
Shrimp chitin hit the hull above my head as I ducked under its strike, swiping my blade across the exposed flesh of its grotesque face. It shrieked as I flattened myself against the hull, knee high water freezing against my legs. My hand went to my revolver until I remembered it had been rendered useless by my involuntary swim. And my Kalash was somewhere at the bottom of the strait.
I eyed my incredibly inadequate knife as I clenched it in my fist, wondering how I could kill the heavily armoured creature that bore down on me with such a meager weapon, when more splashing told me it wasn't the only one. A few seconds later, I caught sight of another two in the darkness. Fucking hell, give me a break.
They hurried towards me as I pressed my back to the metal. Fuck. I couldn't let them surround me. I couldn't go back through the tear. They would be on me in a heartbeat. With gritted teeth, I thrust my knife at the shrimp's face again, aiming for the gaping maw pulsing with dripping teeth, as the other two closed in. Blood poured down my arm as I drove the knife deep into its flesh, forcing it back with a screech, giving me space.
Another second later, I scrambled to the side away from the hull just as another lunged at the spot I'd been standing. I stumbled through the flooded hold, unable to see anything except for the slimy blue-white egg clusters adhered to the walls and floor. This was a terrible situation. I had no light and my only weapon, a ten-inch blade. Darkness all around me and likely more shrimp if I continued further. Could I try to get back to the breach in the hull? Climb through and hope to hell that the boat was near? It was the only reasonable plan. Better than walking blindly into a damned shrimp nest.
Before I could decide, the shrimp came at me and I stumbled back into one of the egg clusters, throwing my hand out to stop me, but it slipped off the slimy surface and I fell back into the freezing water, my knife tumbling from my grip and disappearing in the water beside me. I struggled to roll to my feet, but the shrimp lunged at me, knocking me down again, my head falling under the water. Its bulk held me down as I fought to get my head out of the water. I groped around in the murk beside me, hoping to find my knife, and my finger brushed the handle, but it was just out of reach. The shrimp lifted its arm to strike, and I rolled out from underneath it, closing my hand around my knife, throwing myself out of the water, slamming the blade into the shrimp's mouth, stabbing with rapid strikes. Its body shuddered and collapsed.
I barely had time to yank my knife free when a second shrimp turned on me and I raised the blade again. I could take these fuckers. But as I rushed forward, gunfire boomed around the hold and shafts of light broke through the darkness, momentarily blinding me. I stumbled back while white splotches danced across my vision and my back hit the wall. With my knife held out before me, I waited to regain my vision, hoping to avoid an attack during my disorientation. I needn't have worried as the shrimp turned their attention to the shooters and soon died under an onslaught of bullets.
Blinking away the circles of light across my vision, I stared in surprise as Alina lowered her AK-12, stopping in front of me. She came to help me? But why?
"Are you alright?" she asked, eyeing the dead shrimp bobbing in the water, blood pooling around it.
I shrugged. "Nothing I can't handle. I could've taken them."
"So we'll just leave you to clear the engine room on your own, then?" Aleksander added, stepping past Alina with Yevgeni on his heels, sweeping the egg infested hold with his light.
"She doesn't really do thank you," Sam said, appearing behind Yevgeni, shooting me a frown.
"No, she thinks she can take them all, so we'll just leave her to it, save ourselves the trouble."
I glared at him and he narrowed his eyes until Alina spoke, her eyes running over the newest gash on my arm.
"You're wounded," she observed, in a tone far more friendly than Aleksander's. "And you intend to fight the lobsters with just your knife? I guess your guns wouldn't have fared too well in the water. Not a great plan."
I turned my scowl on her. "I wasn't intending to fight anything when I got back to the boat."
"There's been a change of plans," Aleksander said, giving me a disdainful look. "Plan c. Since you're already in here, I thought it appropriate to clear the engine room now. I was thinking of letting you do it on your own," he glanced across at Sam, then to Alina, "but some thought that was unkind, although you seem to think you're more than up to the task."
Alina frowned at him. "Stop it. You're not helping. She's not doing it on her own, especially when she's injured."
Why the hell was she defending me? I didn't need her help. I narrowed my eyes at her as she stopped in front of me.
"Let me clean that wound," she said, reaching for her pack.
"I'm fine. I don't need your help," I growled, stepping back.
"Are you always this antagonistic?" Aleksander asked sharply. "I wouldn't waste my time, Alina. Let her bleed."
"Careful, Aleks, you're sounding like Vadim right now," Alina replied over her shoulder and he clenched his jaw. "You're forgetting. Clickers are attracted to blood. If there's any in here, they'll come looking and I'm not sure about you, but I'm not really wanting to face another one of those."
Aleksander turned away, tapping his gun in irritation before sweeping his light over the egg sacks around us. "Just hurry up. We don't have all day."
Alina frowned at him before turning to me again. "So, will you let me clean that wound? I'm sure you don't want to fight another clicker because of some blood on your arm, right?" Her tone was clipped, holding back irritation.
Well, I was fucking angry too. "Not really. I don't enjoy almost drowning while everyone else watches," I muttered, reluctantly holding out my arm.
Alina's jaw tensed as if she held back a reply, and Sam heaved a sigh, shaking his head.
Aleksander glared at me over his shoulder before turning to Sam. "I take you as a man of your word, Sam, but I'm sorry. So far, I'm not seeing any reason she should stay on this mission. All I see is another problem we don't need."
"I swear she's capable, she's just-" he shot me a helpless glance, "been through a lot." He finished uncertainly.
"She's standing right here," I growled as Alina cleaned the wound, gritting my teeth as the iodine stung like fire.
"You've got to stop making excuses for her, Sam. A person's anger is no one's problem but their own. Everyone has been through a lot. She's not special," Aleksander said, meeting my glare. "But no one should use it as an excuse." He trudged deeper into the hold, and Yevgeni hurried after him.
"Don't go too far, we don't want to get separated down here," Alina called after him, pausing with a bandage half wrapped around my arm.
Unexpected guilt flashed through me, but I quickly suppressed that with more anger. How dare he assume he knew anything about what I've been through?
Alina finished the bandage, giving it a sharp tug. "Let's just get this done," she said, repacking her bag and following Aleksander and Yevgeni.
"Okay, but I've only got a knife." I said.
"Here." Sam pulled the strap over his head and thrust his Kalash at me. "Maybe just keep your mouth shut and do as you're told. I know it's difficult for you, but give it a shot." He shouldered his shotgun and strode off after the others, leaving me standing alone in the darkness as their lights faded behind a stack of containers. I settled the Kalash's strap over my head and switched on the light before following, anger flooding through me.
The ship's hold was a creepy labyrinth of container-lined corridors. Containers scattered from the grounding hindered our progress, and the countless shrimp eggs and anticipation of more attacks from the darkness had me on edge. Even so, my mind circled back to Sam's comment as he thrust his Kalash at me. Was I really that bad? I knew I was stubborn, but that was a survival trait. Be tough, be suspicious of strangers, don't let your guard down. But it didn't seem to get me anywhere here. It wasn't wrong, it couldn't be.
I was so distracted by my thoughts that I didn't notice the movement up ahead until gunfire shook me back to the present, where my companions were fighting a small group of shrimp. I shook my head. There wasn't time to wallow. I had to prove to this asshole I wasn't useless like they all thought. No fucking way. Senya would back hand me for thinking when I should be killing. Killing was what I knew.
With gritted teeth, I rushed forward as the others made short work of one shrimp and moved onto the next. No matter, there were still three more, and I raised my Kalash, spraying a quick, controlled burst straight at the face of the closest one. It shrieked and recoiled back, earning me a startled look from Yevgeni as my bullets flew past him. But I didn't stop until my target was dead and its body jetsam floating in the knee high water. I moved forward again as Sam and Aleksander made short work of the third shrimp, leaving only one left. That would be mine.
Shouldering past Yevgeni, I let my Kalash hang from its strap, pulling my knife from the sheath. I was close enough to smash it in the face with my fist, sending it reeling back and I followed by stabbing it viciously in its vile, gaping maw. The blade pierced easily and blood gushed over my arm, staining the neat bandage Alina had wrapped around my wound. For all their heavy armour, they didn't have any defense against being stabbed in the face. I pulled my knife as its body slumped into the water with a splash. Chest heaving, I lowered my arm, wiping the sticky blood from my blade onto my trouser leg, eyeing the fresh blood dripping from my arm. Then I turned to see everyone staring at me.
"Was that really necessary?" Sam asked with a frown, eyeing the blood.
"Well, apparently, I need to prove myself," I replied, shooting Aleksander a pointed glance, which he returned with an expression somewhere between surprise and wariness.
"I'm not sure if that was impressive or psychotic," Aleksander said. "But maybe it tells me something about you." He gestured to the others as he followed the narrow corridor between a stack of containers and the hull of the ship. "You should wash that blood off so you don't attract clickers." He called over his shoulder without looking back.
"What the hell did he mean by that? That he thinks I'm psychotic?" I frowned after him as Sam moved past me.
"Would you expect him to think anything else after that?" Sam replied as he passed.
"Ah, maybe that I know how to fight?"
"A few simple shots would have been enough."
I glared after him as anger flared again. What the hell did I have to do?
"Keep an eye out for a door," Aleksander said. "We need to find the engine room. It shouldn't be too far away."
My skin burned with hatred as I trailed behind the others, moving through the darkness, stepping around disgusting egg sacks at every turn, all the while waiting for something to attack us. Every sound had me on edge, and it didn't help that Aleksander was being an asshole. I couldn't understand how Sam liked him.
"Hold on," Aleksander said, holding up a fist in front of a steel door embedded with more egg sacks draped in a veneer of slime. I stopped beside Sam, curling my lip, guessing that was our way forward.
"We'll try through here." Aleksander eyed the egg clusters blocking the door. "Once we've cleared these." Hesitating, he glanced at me over his shoulder. "Hey, you seem to have a tendency to want to destroy things, so have at it."
I scowled at him, but he appeared serious. "Why the hell can't you do it?" I snapped.
"Oh, no. Don't let me deprive you. You were adamant you didn't need any help, so-" he stepped aside and beckoned at the door.
"Aleks," Alina sighed and stepped in front of the door.
"Let her do it."
"Why are you being like this?"
"If she wants to be difficult, then so can I."
"Fucking fine," I spat, storming forward and swinging the butt of my Kalash into the clusters of dripping eggs, tearing through them easily like a club through jelly. A few minutes and half the cluster later, I froze as several things with too many legs crawled over my arms, up my shoulders and across my back. I flung the Kalash to the side, letting it fall on its strap as I swiped at them, my skin crawling as if covered in them head to foot.
Sam grabbed me, trying to hide his smirk of amusement."Hold still," he said, brushing them off.
"Careful, they're deadly," Aleksander chuckled, grinning at me.
"You knew that would happen," I growled, my face growing hot.
"Why'd you think I let you do it?"
"Aleks," Alina admonished again, but the hint of laughter spoiled the effect. I even heard a snort from Yevgeni.
"Fuck all of you," I spat, shoving against the door. My cheeks flamed when it didn't open.
"Door handle," Aleksander pointed out. I glared at his amused expression as I yanked on the lever to open it and stormed into the next room.
"She's real easy to piss off," Aleksander said to Sam.
"Oh, yeah. She's told me she hates me at least half a dozen times by now," Sam replied, tone jovial.
Assholes.
Seething, I continued through the darkness down a metal walkway, my light sweeping across several large machines set in two lines on either side. We're these the engines? I had no idea what a ship's engines would look like, but I recognised the hundred more egg clusters that filled the walkways and even covered the walls. And I definitely recognised the dozen shrimp that turned towards my light.
I immediately raised my Kalash, firing controlled bursts at the wall of chitin as they lurched towards me. I took up position behind one of the engine blocks as the others rushed into the room, guns blazing, turning the room into a sudden mess of flying bullets.
"Watch your fire in here!" Aleksander shouted above the cacophony. "We don't want an explosion."
Noted. I leaned out to fire, but movement to my right caught my attention, snapping my head around to see a heavily armored male shrimp sneaking up behind me. Fuck. Taking a deep breath, I took aim at its underbelly, but before I could shoot, another came at me from my left side, and I leapt to the side to avoid its wicked claws. They closed in as I fired again, shooting the first in the face until it screamed and recoiled and I turned my fire on the other as it got closer, too close. I smashed it in the face as gunfire from behind it caught its attention. The bullets harmlessly bounced off its back plates, but it spun to face the new threat and Alina rammed her knife into its open maw as I killed the other to my right.
"Huh, that is effective," Alina said, pulling her knife and glancing at me.
"I do know a thing or two," I shrugged, peering past her to the mass of mutants behind her, separating us from Sam and the others. But another shrimp attacked Alina, and I had no time to worry about Sam.
"Look out," I yelled, firing until the dreaded click. Shit. In the chaos, I had forgotten to count.
Alina was quick to respond, slamming her knife into the shrimp's face. "That's almost more effective than shooting," she said.
I nodded. Maybe it was. I let my Kalash fall and retrieved my own knife, rushing forward beside Alina as we both stabbed our way through the shrimp.
"Oh, shit. Clicker!" Aleksander yelled from somewhere on the other side of the shrimp amidst bursts of gunfire. "Bravo, get your asses in here now!"
My quick scan of the room found the clicker at the far end, standing between the last two engine blocks. It jerked its head in several directions as if all the gunfire had it confused. It didn't know which direction to choose, so it just stood there, snapping its head around every time it heard more gunfire.
"It's confused!" I shouted to Alina. "It doesn't know where to go." We could use that to our advantage. But of course, it wasn't our only problem. Eight more shrimp still needed killing. They surrounded us, paying no attention to the newcomer. Alina and I stood beside each other, facing opposite directions, knives at the ready, as the men across the room fought in a tight formation, each firing quick bursts that had bullets pinging off walls.
"Watch those bullets!" Alina said next to me, her voice just audible above the booms. My ears rang with them. I shook my head as another shrimp closed in, clawing at me. I blocked it with my Kalash with a crack and smashed it back.
Just as I raised my knife to strike, the clicker slammed the shrimp into the engine block behind it with a sickening crunch of chitin, before it pulverized it with its heavy razor sharp arms. I flattened myself against the rail next to the engine in horror as blood spattered the walls. It must have mistaken the shrimp for us. I slowly backed up towards Alina, keeping as silent as I could, staring wide eyed at the clicker. Fortunately, it had its horrible jaws deep in the shrimp's flesh. My stomach roiled at the crunching of bone, but I still crept back until I drew level with Alina.
She had just finished another shrimp, her chest heaving with the exertion. I nudged her with my elbow before she could move and gestured towards the grizzly feast happening opposite us. Her eyes flared, and she flicked a hand out in front of her, telling me we should get the hell away from it. No argument here. But as we moved, it snapped its head in our direction as our boots scraped the walkway.
"Fucking move!" I yelled, and we both hauled ourselves out of its path, as it leapt the distance between us and skidded along the walkway, colliding with the shrimp the men were fighting. Alina and I shouldered our weapons and opened fire, aiming for its belly, but it quickly formed a shield with its arms, blocking our shots and we had to duck to avoid the ricochets from our own bullets. Clever fucking bastard. Shit. What the fuck did we do now? We couldn't stab it in the face with our knives. They were useless against those plates. But we had to do something.
I fought my way over to Sam, smashing a shrimp in the face. "We have a problem," I said, gesturing to the clicker.
"Yeah, no shit," he said over his shoulder, glancing at the clicker. It paused for a moment to emit its creepy tone before finding a target. With a shriek, it sprang at me, arms outstretched. My eyes flared, and I threw myself to the walkway as Sam rolled in the other direction.
Gunfire boomed overhead, slamming into its exposed belly just before it landed, spattering me with blood. Before it could respond, I jumped to my feet and ran down the centre of the room, between the two rows of engines.
"What are you doing?" Alina called after me.
"Getting it off our asses!" I yelled over my shoulder. Fuck, I couldn't believe I was doing this. I swung my Kalash into the engines as I ran, the clang echoing through the room. Briefly, I thought it had failed and tried again, but the clicker lunged after me. Damn, how was this thing so fast out of the water? Gunfire boomed again from the other end, catching its attention, and I fired a few rounds at it.
"Over here, ugly bastard." I gritted my teeth as it spun on me again. It launched after me and I darted around the nearest engine, slamming my Kalash into the railing, but it didn't matter, it followed me without a problem, skidding and scraping along the metal.
How the hell were we going to kill this thing? I couldn't lead it around in circles all day. Then I noticed a section of the rail had come free of its support, leaving a jagged edge, and an idea flashed into my mind. Crazy, but it might just work.
Taking a deep breath, I sprinted down the walkway, clicker on my heels, blazing into the centre of the room. Gunfire peppered it from the front of the room and I glanced over my shoulder to where Danila, Nikita and Arseni were firing from just inside the door, ripping into the remaining shrimp. The clicker turned in their direction.
"No!" I fired at it to regain its attention, but it crouched low to jump. "Stop shooting!" I yelled as loud as I could, but they didn't stop. Alina paused, watching me as the clicker propelled itself at the men, who turned their bullets on it instead. Fucking idiots. Their bullets were doing nothing.
"Stop fucking shooting!" I yelled again, but they couldn't hear me. If only I still had my ear piece. I caught Alina's attention and made the sharp cutting motion across my throat that I'd seen them use earlier, and she immediately relayed it. After a moment in which the gunfire continued, and I swore again, they finally stopped and all of them except Yevgeni and Sam, who were fighting the beast, edged away from it.
"I said, over here you fucker!" I bellowed down the room, hitting the rail again. Sam dropped to the walkway as the creature paused mid strike, turning its head toward me. With a shriek, it sprang down the centre of the room and I bolted around the engine to get into position. I wrestled the broken rail upwards with a growl, and my heart racing so fast it almost hurt. By the time the clicker lunged around the corner, I had the rail grasped tight in my hands, kneeling as low as I could get, bracing. My skin prickled as its clicks filled the following silence, looking for me.
"Here, dumb-ass." I growled, and that's all it took. The clicker jumped. I hunched my shoulders, clenching my eyes shut. The force of it impaling itself on the sharp end of the broken rail, threw me backwards in a heap on the walkway. It screamed and squirmed violently as boots scraped the walkway ahead of me. I glanced up to stare into several shocked faces.
"Holy fucking hell, that's one way to do it," Arseni said, eyeing the clicker as its body jerked on the floor. Pulling myself to my feet, I glanced at clicker's flailing body for a few seconds before it finally fell still. I let out a sigh of relief as I walked toward the others, smirking at their expressions. I bet they didn't expect that.
"Nice work." Alina nodded to me as I stopped in front of them.
"Yeah, well, not so bad yourself," I replied before I knew what I said. I frowned. Okay, I had to admit she was a pretty decent fighter.
She raised her eyebrows. "I wasn't expecting you to say that."
"Well, don't get used to it," I huffed, striding by as my cheeks flamed with embarrassment.
"Okay, team, form up," Aleksander said as he eyed me. He made a circular hand gesture, and his men circled around him. "Excellent work, everyone. Thanks for the assist Bravo. Now that's done, we'll stick around while you get your fuel transfer started, then we'll head topside to find the sick bay and galley."
Arseni nodded. "Okay, but our hose won't reach here. We'll have to think of something else."
"What about using those barrels over there?" Sam gestured to a far corner where a pile of barrels lay haphazardly on their sides. "Maybe you could fill them up and roll them out. I know it'll be tedious, but it might be the only way."
Arseni sighed. "I'm not looking forward to doing that, but I think you might be right." He nodded. "Fine. Let's do it."
Nikita got to work moving barrels while Danila and Arseni disappeared back through the door to retrieve their hose and pump from the boat. We trained our weapons on the door to make sure nothing tried to ambush us, but I was certain we'd cleared the immediate area. If shrimp remained, they would have been here already. I heaved a sigh as I waited, thankful for the reprieve.
Ten minutes later, Arseni returned with a clear plastic hose coiled over his shoulder, and Danila hauled a small hand pump over to where Nikita stood next to the barrels. Aleksander nodded to Arseni. "If you're good here, we'll head up."
"Yep, no problem."
Aleksander gestured to us as he headed for the door.
"Oh, hey, Natasha," Danila called to me as I went to follow.
I turned to him. "What?"
He pulled his ear piece out and held it out to me. "Thought you might need this since you lost yours. It's better you've all got one up there. Who knows what's lurking around?
I blinked at him in surprise. "Ah, thanks," I said, taking it from him and he nodded, running a hand over his head before returning to the barrels.
Darkness enveloped me as I hurried after the others through the door in the far wall into another part of the waterlogged hold. We navigated the maze of containers and narrow walkways with no more trouble. We'd cleared the area as I guessed, but I didn't know what waited for us above and I definitely wasn't looking forward to being separated from Sam and working with people I barely knew. I gritted my teeth. I just had to deal with it.
We came to another hatch that lead out into a cramped room, a mess with dislodged lockers and debris floating in the knee high water. A waterlogged laundry room and another narrow corridor followed. Despite the freezing water sloshing around our feet, we moved in efficient silence, each of us sweeping our surroundings and making sure nothing was around. But we were alone for now. Aleksander led the way into a tall stairwell that wound upwards, and I swept my light over the many steps that awaited us. I heaved a sigh as the others started climbing.
Arseni's voice in our ear pieces informed us they were proceeding with the fuel transfer and everything was going according to plan. I hoped our luck would be as good, but somehow, I didn't think that would be the case. It never turned out that way.
As we reached the first landing where Aleksander halted, a faded sign announced we had reached F deck. He pushed on the half open hatch and shone his light into the dark corridor beyond. "Come on, let's see if we can find a map."
We followed him into a narrow, utilitarian corridor lined with grimy cream walls and a peeling, grey linoleum floor, and fortunately, free of shrimp and water. I swore as water sloshed in my boots, and I knelt to unlace them, up ending the water onto the floor with a scowl.
"Here, Aleks," Yevgeni said, shining his light on the wall to the left of the door.
Aleksander glanced over his shoulder and backtracked, reading the laminated poster adhered to the wall. After a moment, he said, "okay, we're on F deck, deck crew accommodation."
Sam and Alina drew level with him as I pulled my sodden boots back on.
Aleksander traced his finger over the map. "Looks like the galley is on D deck, and the sick bay is on C deck." He turned to address us as I stood up. "Alright. We'll split into our groups from now on. I don't know what's waiting for us up there, but we all know how important this is. We can't live without medical supplies and I appreciate the effort you've put into it so far. So thank you." His eyes flicked briefly to me and he gave me a forced smile and a small nod. He then sighed as if readying himself. "But we're just getting started. Each of you note where your objectives are, so you can find it if anyone gets separated. Keep in radio contact and let's hope we encounter no more clickers." A general mutter of agreement went up around me.
"It'll be fine," Alina said, resting her hand on his arm, and I glanced away, distracting myself by peering at the map, noting the six decks from F to A at the top. The sickbay at the far end of C deck with the TV room, library and more crew accommodation. D deck housed the galley, almost in the centre. I wanted to know in case I needed to find Sam in a hurry.
"Of course," Aleksander replied with a smile as I glanced back.
Yep. It'll be fine. Even if I had to work with people I didn't know and couldn't trust.
Sam stood beside me, probably seeing the doubts on my face. "Hey, you'll be fine," he said, as if reading my thoughts. "It's just like any other mission. Just stay with Alina and Yevgeni, work with them. They're your allies." He paused for a moment. "Try not to be antagonistic."
I frowned at him. "I can't promise anything."
He smirked across at me before studying the map. I found my gaze tracking over his profile, taking in every detail of his face, the small movements of his eyes as he read the map. That familiar warmth drifted through me again and unexpectedly, I didn't want it to stop. After a moment, his gaze found mine when he finished with the map, lingering for a moment, a small smile tugging at his lips.
"Alright, if everyone's been over the map, let's get to it," Aleksander said, his voice loud in the stillness. "Bravo, check in."
Seconds later, Arseni replied, "Transfer is going smoothly, Alpha. It's tedious, but the fuel tank is just under a quarter full. Just going back to get more barrels."
"Copy. We're just about to split. Stay in contact. Open channel frown here on, but keep chatter to a minimum." He glanced at me. "Remember, if you want to speak privately, turn off your microphone. Alright, let's go."
I rolled my eyes, trailing behind, following Aleksander back into the stairwell. My pulse raced as I climbed the stairs, peering into the darkness above, and dreading what we'd find in it.