Zeph stood beside him. Netto didn’t need to see his partner’s face to know the hard look in his eyes reflected in his own.
It wasn’t just fog distorting everything before him, but the thick plumes of smoke and dust that breezed through the air.
Several barges on either side had erupted into flames and were broken and strewn about.
It was quiet, ghoulishly silent except for the calming water displaced by the watership. Now and again, a cry for help could be heard. Netto steeled himself. He looked over the edge to see a corpse, face down, floating. Serpents surrounded it, nibbling at its pale skin, and tearing at what remained of the clothes.
“I’m going to look for survivors.”
Netto turned around and faced Rylie. “I don't want you anywhere near this.”
“Netto and I will go in and do what we can. You and your family should stay here. It's not safe, not with drones in the air. They can mistake you for an enemy and fire on you,” Zeph interjected.
“I won't go anywhere near them. The pod is intact. Someone needs to look for survivors amongst this,” she waved her hand at the broken ships in the harbor. “I know there are people out there who are trapped and need our help. There are no other boats still afloat nearby.”
Netto tilted her face up. “I can't help them if I'm worried about you, but I won't stop you from doing what needs to be done. Do you still have the dagger I gave you?”
“Yes, and a couple of guns. I’ll stay in communication with Da. We'll stay close together. I promise.”
Netto placed a soft kiss on her lips. “If something happens to you...”
“Nothing will. I'll take every extra precaution. But you have to promise me that you'll do the same.”
“I promise.” He let her go with one last lingering kiss and helped her down into the pod. When it turned on, he powered through it, checking for damage and was relieved that it remained intact and unharmed. The outer shell was as hard and as strong as the watership, and the glass was reinforced and uncompromised. She would be safe and it, he knew. It helped ease the tightness in his chest. “See anything, move away, don't stay and check it out. Don't be a hero.”
“I won't.”
Netto nodded and hovered at the open hatch, unable to look away. Rylie took his hand and squeezed and he squeezed hers back. He exhaled and closed the pod, listening to the door click and seal in place. It dropped into the ocean and vanished underneath the waves.
He rejoined Zeph at the top deck as the watership moved forward again. Montihan was monitoring the radio waves and Janet was stockpiling their first-aid. He tried not to think of Rylie, but he kept a corner of his tech connected to her vessel.
Netto would remain with her for as long as he was able.
The colony came into view and with it, a creature born of nightmares appeared at the shore and the onslaught of gunfire and explosions appeared with it.
“And I thought the last one was fucked up,” Zeph muttered next to him.
“It was. This one’s smaller.”
“Its skin looks hard, which means it’ll be more difficult to bring down.”
“Yes,” he said.
They made the necessary preparations to join the fray, double-checking their nano suits that shifted with their bodies and what weapons they had left on board.
The crushing of cinderblock could be heard in the distance but it wasn't accompanied by screams. It gave him hope that the people along the beach had fled inland.
“Let's get us another trophy,” Zeph laughed. “Maybe I can sell the heads and offset the cost of this trip. A man can dream.” He shrugged.
Netto shook his head, only half listening to his partner. The creature rose up and the shape of it could be made out amongst the smoke.
It looked like a starfish but with a long serpentine tail where the fifth point would have been. The skin was cracked and worn like rawhide and stone, a deep grey with a sheen of opalescence. There were ridges along its back—at least he thought was its back. On the bottom, it had thousands of fins not unlike an anemone without the tentacles. The water around the creature was brown with a swirl of green and red mixed together.Blood and toxins.
It rounded on itself and reared up to strike like a snake, and its starfish-shaped head clapped down. He couldn't see its face but assumed it was as monstrous and sea-bearing as the rest of it.
The heavy footsteps of their host came up behind them. Netto turned around to see stern determination on Montihan's face, and a roll of bullets that were meant for the turret it atop wrapped around his arm.
“I won't go any closer. If you're going in, you have to leave from here,” Montihan said, his eyes glued to the beast before him.
