“What about Netto?”
He turned away from her and began to shift.
“I want my trophy,” Zeph said just as he dove back into the ocean.
She ran to the rail and leaned over, crying out Zeph's name, but he was already lost within the dark water. Rylie didn't know how long she stood there staring at the seafoam. All she could remember was being transfixed until a cold hand touched her shoulder and Da pulled her away from the side.
“Time to go,” he said, his voice cracking as he stared into the distance. She turned to see what he was looking at long enough for more giants appear out of the early morning mist.
Rylie took a step back. Bigger things arose from the water. And not all of them were on the other side of the signal. She pushed back her fear and followed Zeph's orders.
Rylie left the Cyborgs behind.
Chapter Fourteen
***
It had taken him hoursbecause of his partner’s insatiable need to show off. Hours without Rylie within his vicinity. Netto groaned, seeing the watership appear in the distance, unmoving in the ocean, half destroyed from the damage it incurred.
For the last part of the day, he had followed the ship's signal with a four-ton trophy dragging behind him. He would admit that he was tired. Netto would even admit it in front of another Cyborg.
Using the remainder of his energy stores, he shot forward toward rest, toward Rylie. He needed to see her and make sure she was all right, his veins burned with it.
As he drew closer, the smell of exhaust replaced the sweet ocean brine that coated his face. It stuck to him. Claimed him.
The Croc flashed beneath him, chasing off any would-be predators looking for an easy meal.
He could still taste the fleshy, fishy innards of the creature that had risen from the depths. But it did not have claws, nor did it have the teeth to match the markings that were ingrained in his head. The leviathan had little in the way of bone and cartilage. It didn't have spikes or even the scales fishes had.
It had come from somewhere lower than the ocean's abyss. Netto didn't know where, but he knew that he had somehow woken it up from amongst the deep sea trenches.
Its head dragged behind him, sinking whenever he slowed down.
If Zeph hadn't assured him that Rylie was safe, Netto would've been happy to leave the trophy behind. He didn’t care for trophies and wondered how Zeph even planned on bringing the damned thing home. Maybe he was trying to build himself a monument on Kepler. Netto would have rolled his eyes if he wasn’t convinced he’d pass out doing it.
Netto owned very little and had never wanted for much. He was never sure when he would have to leave, and he found that over time, the fewer things that one had, the easier it was to move on. Everything he owned could fit in a single bag. Whatever was left remained in a small lockbox below the floor of the quarters he rented out in Ghost City.
