Boom!

We flip, everything spinning around me in a violent blur. Tumbling, plunging until – crunch! – something slams into us to stop our momentum. I ricochet between my harness and seat, the impact knocking the air out of my lungs. It’s like reliving the Silver Wing crash. Time slows, sounds reaching me in distorted fragments. The roar of rushing water. More scraping, followed by an abrupt floating sensation as the Crawler breaks free.

I whip my head toward Vin, relieved to see he’s still secure in his harness. His eyes are glassy though and he looks like he’s in pain, lips pressed into a thin line. Across the way, Lily and Cael mirror his tense expression, like they’re bracing for something even worse than what just hit us.

“Shock mine!” Cael shouts, gesturing to the front of the cabin. So that’s what caused the explosion. “Front stabilizers are gone!”

“So what do we do?” I yell back.

The Crawler turbines cut on and off, chopping his answer into fragments. “Waves… into rocks... get to… escape hatch!”

For some crazy reason, he’s reaching for his harness as he says this. So is Lily. I watch in horror as they release their locks. Are they fragging suicidal?

“What are you doing?” I shout.

Cael points to the back of the Crawler, then makes a ripping motion.  “Wait… completely flooded.”

Now I get it. As insane as it sounds, they’re going to try to open the top hatch. The controls must be up front. But why not just ask our pilot to do it? When I crane my neck toward the helm, I get my answer. He’s slumped to one side of his chair, a blood-spattered arm dangling into the aisle. The hull around him looks all warped and dented, like a crushed aluminum can. Must be where the mine hit. We’re lucky to be alive.

But not for long. Cael’s right. Without its stabilizers, the Crawler has become a death trap in this storm. Our only chance is to flood the cabin, then try to swim for the shore. I reach for my harness release but someone grabs my hand to stop me. Lily.

“Not yet!” Her cold fingers wrap around mine. “Wait until the cabin’s completely flooded.” She shifts her gaze to Vin. “You too. Understand?”

I shake my head. “But —”

“No.” She tightens her grip to cut me off, nails digging into my palm.  “Only if we don’t make it.”

Before I can object further, she lets go and bolts for the pilot’s seat. Cael scrambles after her, but he only makes it halfway before losing his footing and stumbling backward.

That’s when I realize we’re rising again, caught in the pull of another massive swell. Cael tries to lunge after Lily but there’s no way he’ll reach her now. The incline’s too steep. The Crawler tilts on its side as the wave sucks us in, building with the roar of an approaching tornado.

“Hold on!” I shout, catching Cael’s hand as he tumbles by. His momentum almost rips my arm out of its socket, but Vin saves us both by grabbing onto me. Together, we haul Cael back into his seat and help him into his harness before securing our own.

“Lily!” Cael’s arms flail in her direction, but it’s too late.

The wave breaks with the fury of a waterfall, rolling us like a log. One revolution. Two. Three. We pick up speed as we tumble, everything blurring into a swirl of crunching metal and debris. Caught between my harness and seatback, it feels as if I’m being thrashed about in a Ripper’s jaws. Nothing to do now but squeeze my lids shut and brace for the next impact.

Crunch! Invisible fists punch our hull, thowing me into my harness with rib-crushing force. When the straps slacken, I gasp for air and pop open my eyes, just in time to see a body tumbling by.

No! Lily! I choke out her name, trying to convince myself I just saw something else, but the knot in my stomach says otherwise. That was definitely a body. When I turn to Cael though, he puffs out his cheeks in relief. Either he didn’t see her or…

I follow his gaze to the pilot’s seat, where a familiar pair of green eyes stares back at me.

“Anyone hurt back there?” Lily calls out. Her hair’s a tangled mess, but otherwise she looks fine. Must have strapped herself into our pilot’s harness before the wave struck, which means it was his lifeless body I saw flying past me a moment ago.

“We’re okay!” Cael answers, eyes scanning the cabin. “But what happened? Are we wedged against the rocks?”

Before Lily can answer, another wave thunders into us. The Crawler bucks against its mooring, rattling and scraping from side to side, but we can’t break free. The water surges and ebbs like a living, breathing thing, determined to claw us loose, but each successive wave feels like it’s only wedging us in deeper.

“Lily!” Cael shouts above the roaring surf. “Can you locate the depth gauge? Check the control panel, just right of the nav screen!”

“Right… got it!” she answers after a few seconds. “Wait a minute. This can’t be right.” She glances over her shoulder. “I’m reading zero.”

Cael arches a brow. “That’s possible. The waves could have carried us ashore.”

“Or the gauge could be broken,” Vin counters.

“He’s right,” I say. “Maybe we’re stuck on the ocean floor.”

Cael turns to us, acknowledging the possibility with a shrug. “Either way, we can’t stay here. If the storm takes us back out to sea, we’re finished.” He unclips his harness and holds onto one strap for support, then signals for us to copy him. “Lily! Know where to find the rear hatch release?”

“Obviously,” she huffs before turning back to the control panel.

“Good. Then blow it on the count of three.”

“Wait!” Vin cuts in. “What if we’re still underwater?”

“Then hold your breath and swim!” Lily yells over her shoulder. “Here we go. One... Two...”  She flips a switch. “Three!”

Compressed gas hisses overhead, followed by a loud sizzle and pop! as the rear hatch blows outward. I take in the deepest breath my bruised chest will allow, then brace for the crush of water, but nothing happens. When I peer up at the hole where the hatch used to be, I see nothing but darkness. Then I feel it: a breath of fresh air, tickling my skin like a feather.

Unbelievable! Cael’s gamble just paid off. By some miracle, the waves must have thrown us onto dry land. I release my harness and scramble toward the opening, Vin right behind me.

“Hey!” He whacks my shoulder. “I’ve got your back. Just don’t do anything crazy out there.”

“Wait.” Lily slips past him and wraps her arms around me like she’s coming in for an embrace. My cheeks flush when her hands run down my sides, but then she starts pulling and tugging at my shirt. What in flames is she doing? I look down, only to realize she’s tying a rope around my waist.

“Just in case,” she says, stepping back to appraise her work. “Thea will kill me if you wash out to sea.”

Can’t argue with that. When she lets out some slack, I back up until I’m directly beneath the escape hatch. A cold mist swirls down through the opening, salting my lips. I brace a hand against the frame and take a deep breath before hauling myself up and out.

A brutal wind hits me as soon as I emerge. Cold and laced with sea spray, it scours my face and stings my eyes, forcing me into a crouch. Dark clouds streak overhead, backlit by flashes of lightning. Each flicker illuminates another detail of our surroundings. The jagged cliff towering overhead. The way the Crawler lies, wedged into a rocky crevice and angled skyward. One glance over my shoulder and I’m grateful for the rope around my waist. Storm waves churn into white foam below, like water boiling in a cauldron. If I lose my grip and fall, I’ll be pulverized by the rocks long before I drown.

A rumble of thunder draws my attention back to the sky. The Crawler is stuck between two massive boulders at the base of a cliff that must rise over a hundred feet straight up. There’s no way we’ll reach safety. The cliff is too high, the climb too steep and treacherous. It’s just a matter of time before the storm surge washes us back out to sea.

I need to find a way out of here before that happens.

I sweep my left hand outward over the face of the Crawler, feeling nothing but slick metal. When I repeat the motion with my right hand, my fingers catch on a protrusion. The next lighting flash reveals it to be a metal strut, running along the full length of the vessel. The strut ends at the base of a mangled, claw-like structure that’s jammed between the two boulders.  Must be one of the Crawler’s legs. Maybe we can use it to squeeze our way inside the crevice. There might be a way to climb up from there.

I grab onto the strut and use it to scramble away from the open hatch, then rotate my body until I’m looking down into the Crawler. Anxious eyes peer up at me.

“What do you see?” Cael calls out, his voice barely audible above the howling wind.

I cup my hands to my mouth and shout back, “We’re on the rocks, but we could be swept off at any moment!”

He nods and relays the info before turning back to me. “See any way… get ashore?”

“Maybe, but we need to move! Now!”

I signal that I’m shifting away to make room for everyone, then belly-crawl along the outer hull, my boots squeaking and slipping on the slick, curved surface. When I glance over my shoulder, Vin is maneuvering onto the strut behind me. He’s followed by Lily, with Cael emerging last in the anchor position. We’re all tethered together by one rope.

Good. Either we all make it to safety or no one makes it.

I shift my focus back to the narrow strut, knowing just one slip could kill us all. The realization threatens to paralyze me, but then I think of Vin and push myself forward. He’s here because of me. He’s my responsibility, and I won’t let him die because I panicked.

The surf hisses and spits behind me, but I block out the sound and edge closer to the claw. Half way there and I’m gripping the strut so hard that my fingers go numb. I’m less than an arm’s length away when the hiss suddenly grows into a roar. My stomach clenches at the sound. I know what’s coming without turning around. Before Vin shouts out his frantic warning.

“Wave!”

I cling to the strut like a barnacle, but it’s no use. A wall of water strips me loose and shoots me toward the rocks. All I can do is hold my breath, tuck and roll. Thwump!  My shoulder caroms off something hard and slick, a split second before the rope jerks taut around my waist. The wave keeps coming but now I’m rooted to the same spot, like a tree caught in a violent flood.

Seawater scours my face, forcing its way up my nose. Burning. Choking. Holding me under. But then the current suddenly weakens and reverses direction. I thrust my head above the foaming backwash, coughing and sputtering for air. Tears cloud my vision, but I can just make out the blurry outlines of Vin, Lily and Cael still clinging to the rope behind me.

Once the wave has receded, I realize what saved us. A loop of rope caught around one of the Crawler’s legs, keeping us from washing out to sea. But now what? The wave swept us toward the boulders, but they look even more impenetrable up close. I crane my neck straight up, wondering why I ever thought we had a chance.

That’s when I catch a pinpoint of white light, blinking above the cliff like a rising star. But it can’t be a star. The cloud cover is too heavy. Which leaves only one terrifying possibility.

Enforcers. They’ve found us.

The light stretches into a beam that sweeps downward, then over the Crawler’s wrecked hull before finally settling on my chest. Three more targeting beams follow, spotlighting Cael, Lily and Vin in rapid succession.

So this is how it ends. Just as Gant promised, death will come to his enemies from above.

But the Enforcers don’t open fire. Instead, they drop over the cliff edge, dangling in mid-air like the spiders of my nightmares. They float toward us, pincers primed with venom. Poised to impale. Devour.

My thoughts turn to Astrid, taking comfort in the fact that at least she won’t die with us. She still has a chance. If only I’d had the courage to tell her how I feel. If only we had more time. Now she’ll never know.

“Don’t move!” a deep male voice commands from above. I glance up to see the spiders morphing back into Enforcers.

They’re here to capture, not to kill.  Knowing what Gant probably has in mind for us, that’s even worse.

Boots land behind me with a hollow thud. Then powerful arms wrap around my chest, forcing a noose over my neck. I catch a glint of metal, right before my assailant slashes through the rope that ties me to Vin. That’s when I realize what he plans to do. He’s going to hang me, then let my body wash out to sea.

If I fight back now, at least I’ll take the bastard with me.

I arch my back and drive my elbow upward, aiming for his jaw, but he twists away with ease. Before I can take another shot, he pulls me into a headlock. His reflexes are lightning fast, his grip surprisingly gentle for an Enforcer.

Then there’s the fact that he just growled a warning into my ear. Two words that sounded a whole lot like “Relax, Stalker!”

No way. Is it possible…?

I whirl around to get a better look at my attacker. Head-mounted spotlight. No slicer, blast shield or plate armor. Instead of the standard Enforcer gear, he’s wearing light-weight, dark battle mesh that doesn’t look all that different from mine. I tug at what I thought was a hangman’s noose, suddenly realizing he’s strapped me into a safety harness.

“Hey!” I gasp. “You’re not –!”

“Not a ‘Forcer?” The stranger coughs out a laugh. “Sorry to disappoint. Now stop thrashing around or you’ll kill us both.”

“Wait! You’re Aletheians?”

“Name’s Dillan,” he answers with a grunt. When he’s done securing the harness around my waist, he flashes a hand signal to his partners before grasping our tether. “And you’d better hold on like your life depends on it, ‘cause I’m not coming down for you twice.”

“But how did you find us?”

He motions with his free hand to the churning surf. “When you hit that mine, you were hard to miss.”

My thoughts return to Astrid, wondering if her Crawler met with the same fate as ours. Before I can ask my rescuer though, he tugs on the tether three times.

Must be the signal for lift-off, because one heartbeat later, we’re shooting straight up the cliff face and into the night.

***

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