Straining, Guether stretches a hand. His fingertips brush Jakob’s, then the ocean opens up, sucking the big man down. His wide eyes and gaping mouth are the last thing Miles sees of his old friend before he’s gone. There’s no sound besides the sounds of frothing water.
Then there’s nothing but the gentle sea breeze caressing the failing light.
“G-Get inside,” Miles manages, voice thick and full of shock. “Now.”
Jakob bats his arm away. “No!” He scrambles once more dangerously close to the edge. Miles grabs him, swings him around and shoves him toward the passage. Sylvi steadies the young man, helping him along as he tries to double back and go after Guether.
“Fuckin’ lemme go!” Jakob struggles, but Sylvi has a firm grip and even if Jakob outweighs her by thirty or so pounds, she’s overpowering him. Because, Sylvi is a badass like that.
Miles helps get Jakob into the passage and down the ladder. A second later, Jenna shuts and seals the hatch.
“Everyone strap in,” Jenna yells. She sounds on the verge of a mental breakdown to Miles.
“You fuckin’ jacknuts,” Jakob shrieks, bucking and scrambling to get away from Miles and Sylvi. “Lemme go! Lemma go! He’s okay. He’s fine. We need to go back!” Tears stream down his face. “We need to go back!”
“The hell happened?” Mike asks.
Miles shoves him aside and pulls Jakob close. “He’s gone. Let him go. We can’t help him. Let him go!”
Jakob’s face firms up, reddens a bit, then his gaze lowers and the tears spill down his cheeks. He pushes away from Miles and plops into his seat. “I know.”
Miles places a hand on Jakob’s shoulder. “We’ll get this fucking thing. No more running.”
Jakob nods, though doesn’t look at Miles.
Behind him, Geri says, “I have one last—”
He spins on her. “No. We kill this thing. I’m done tucking tail and running.”
The old woman does not protest. Instead she places her black bag on the floor and smiles. “I was hoping you’d say that.”
Miles turns to Emma. She’s fidgeting with her hands, but otherwise appears okay. He looks away. “Everyone buckle in. The ride is going to get crazy from here on out.”
“Like it hasn’t been so far,” Mike says, dripping in sarcasm.
He waits for them to buckle in, then storms to the cockpit. He slams the door and says, “Time to kill it.”
Jenna half turns in her seat. “Um, okay. What—”
“It ate Guether.”
She visibly flinches and watches him sit beside her. “What? No. Not Guether. He…so that’s why Jakob is freaking out?”
“Yeah. Last time it hit us, Guether fell overboard. The bastard swallowed him whole.”
“I tried yelling at you guys. It tricked the scans somehow. They were only picking up its head until it came into full view. Then I saw it all. I tried…” She shakes her head. “I tried telling you…”
Miles nods and sighs. “I know. I heard. We just weren’t fast enough. This isn’t your fault.”
“Oh, cut the bullshit,” she shouts. “I should’ve known. Now Guether is dead and his blood is on my hands!”
Okay, that’s it.
“Stop,” he says. “The only one who has his blood on their hands is the monster that killed him.” He softens a bit, trying to ignore his pounding heart. On the monitor, the serpent is still there. It’s slowly surrounding them with its length like a boa constrictor ready to crush its prey. “We need to go.”
She wipes tears from her cheeks, shudders out a sigh, and hits the throttle. Less than a second, they shoot away from the serpent at two-hundred knots. In another couple of seconds, the STAV is jetting at almost three-hundred knots. One moment Jörmungandr occupies the screen, then it doesn’t.
“Slow down and spin around,” Miles says, hand gripping the throttle, fingers hovering over the triggers. “Time to end this.”
Jenna doesn’t say anything, slows the STAV and makes a sharp one-eighty turn.
“It’ll kill us,” Jenna mutters.
“Probably.”
He feels the heat of her bewildered stare and grins. “Just focus on dodging its attacks.”
But, all at once, the serpent blips off the monitors. Through the windshield there’s nothing but darkness.
“The bastard is playing with us,” Miles says, eyes darting from the monitor to the windshield.
“Did Ma get the crack fixed?” Jenna shifts in her seat.
“I don’t know. I’d ask her, but…” He gestures at the watery darkness beyond the windshield.
“Hope she did.”
And for a very long five minutes, silence swells the cockpit. Miles absently wipes sweat from his forehead, repositions his grip on the throttle, fingers resting on the laser triggers. He has a plan.
“I’m going to shoot it with the straight lasers,” he says, breaking the silence. “When I do, I want you to get me a clear shot to one of its eyes.”
“Okay,” Jenna says and huffs out a breath. “Is it hot in here to you?”
“Yeah. But not too bad. Focus.”
“No,” Jenna says and something in her voice makes him glance over. She sways in her seat, eyelids fluttering. “There’s…there’s something wrong. I feel—” She tumbles out of her seat, striking her head on the sidewall hard enough to create a dull thunk.
Now that he’s aware, it does feel hot in the cockpit right now. Unusually hot. And there’s something else. Something like thin fingers trying to wriggle through his skull into his brain. He shivers, shoots out of the seat, opens the door and spills into the body of the STAV wheezing. His vision blurs and—
He’s walking through a cornfield in fall. Their dry, pale leaves crackle and whisper along his clothes. There’s a strong musty smell. The purgatory of corn before harvest. He’s been through this field a hundred times, he knows, on his way home from school. One of the few remaining giant fields left in the region. Giant, yes, but knows the direction he’s going and there’s no worry of getting lost in the vast rows of creaking stalks. Iowa. He’s in Iowa. Only one of three states still able to grow corn after all of Earth’s shifts.
He’s deep in this old field when a voice says, “There is no other way.”
He stops. He’s fifteen and he stops. Where had the voice come from? There is little to be seen through the waving dry, pale leaves. Maybe it’s just the breeze through the corn. He continues on, and another few steps, the voice sounds again.
“Worship me, little boy. Worship me and live forever.”
Miles, heart hammering, begins running through the corn now. Terror consumes every part of him. Directly behind him something growls. A growl getting closer and closer. The corn crashes and crackles and snaps as whatever is behind him charges.
“Kill for me,” the voice says in a growly tone.
Cold claws sink into his back and—
“…real.”
Miles blinks, head lolling. His vision clearing until he stares up at Geri’s withered face.
“It is not real, your dream,” she says. “Jörmungandr is trying to possess you and the others here. Turn you against each other. It is one of her powers I was not sure of until now.”
Somewhere close, someone screams. Mike? Jakob? He doesn’t know.
“You must not let her inside. Fight her. With all of your will, push her away. Push her—”
The old woman’s eyes widen, her mouth opens, bottom lip quivering. A runner of saliva drips from her open mouth on to him. Then she’s shoved aside, and Miles blinks up at Mike. His face is a permanent snarl. He lowers a bloody knife toward Miles.
And in Miles’ head he hears the voice chanting over and over, “Kill for me, kill for me, kill for me.”
He rolls to the side and the knife slices a groove through his arm. Pain sears his flesh and he cries out. Miles crawls away, shaking his head to free him of the thing trying to invade him. It works just enough to pull himself up using a seat.<
br />
Behind him, Mike says in a garbled voice, “In the name of our mother, I sacrifice you for long life!”
Miles turns around just in time to slap the knife out his brother’s hand and kick the man in the gut. Mike doubles over, gagging. Miles brings a knee up into Mike’s face, feeling the nose crunch against his knee. He shoves his brother aside and assesses his team. Jakob is lying in the back, face down and not moving. Sylvi crouches on a seat, one of her knives out, eyes shifting back and forth. Her cold gaze falls on Miles for a moment, then shifts away. Ma kneels over Emma.
Miles hurries over. Ma is stitching up a knife wound in Emma’s stomach. God, the poor woman. He never thought she’d have to go through all this. If he had he would have sent her home before they set out.
“She going to be okay?”
Ma nods. “Yes. Not deep enough to puncture anything.”
“Okay. Thank you.”
Ma nods again, though doesn’t say anything.
He finds Geri on the floor. Face down, like Jakob. Blood weeps from the middle of her back.
Kneeling beside her, Miles places a hand on her back. She doesn’t move. She’s—
Geri sucks in a shuddery breath and says, “U…Use Fenrir’s fang. K-Kill her.”
And with that, she moves no more.
Miles stands, sight slipping over the remaining team. Mike is curled in a slight U-shape, blood smears his face from the broken nose. Miles sighs, shakes his head and jogs to Jakob. The younger man doesn’t move or respond when he shakes him. The reason for this is starkly clear when Miles rolls Jakob over. He’s been stabbed six times in the chest and twice in the face. Miles hadn’t noticed the pool of blood because most of it was being soaked up by Jakob’s clothing.
“No,” Miles manages, feeling for a pulse despite already knowing the truth.
Jakob is dead.
He closes the younger man’s eyes, cups a cold cheek, sighs, and lies Jakob down. When he stands and turns, he finds Sylvi not on the seat now, but crouching near the wall about five feet from him.
“Sylv?”
She glances at him but doesn’t respond. Her eyes just keep shifting back and forth in their sockets.
He’d approach her, but she’s one of the deadliest assassins alive. She’d slit his throat before he even managed a word. So, instead, he gives her a wide berth, picks up Mike’s knife, and ventures back to the cockpit.
Jenna is still lying against the wall. There’s a large, red bump on her forehead.
He crouches, shaking her gently. “Hey, hun. Wake up. You need to wake up.”
Jenna groans thickly, head moving slowly back and forth.
“You hit your head,” he says.
She gurgles something, but he can’t understand it. So, he shakes her again, a little harder.
Jenna’s eyelids open, shut, open. Her forehead furrows. Something he’s seen even on his own face in the mirror. A sign of a serious headache. A migraine, maybe.
He holds her close, making sure she wakes in comfort. “Wake up, hun. You need to wake up.”
And, after a few more seconds, Jenna’s eyes open and remain open. “W-What happened?”
“That thing is turning us against each other. That heat and weird feeling was the serpent. It’s trying to possess us. It already got to Mike.”
She blinks, groans and curls into him. “God, is this even really happening?”
He sighs and strokes her head gently. “Yeah. I’m sorry.”
“Sorry for what?”
Miles looks away. “For bringing you all into this.”
She turns in his arms so she’s looking at him. “Miles, we did all of this for you. We all knew how much you loved Mike.” She grunts. “Even if he could be an asshole.”
“You feeling okay?” he asks.
“No. Fuckin’ head hurts.”
He helps her to sit. “I—”
Their world is a slamming, careening kaleidoscope of pain. Miles realizes they are flipping end over end. That’s where any real thought ends, though. The pain of being bashed into walls and the seats and the ceiling and floor is enough to strip away any thought.
By the time the tumbling is done, he’s not sure what’s broken and what’s not.
Thankfully, nothing is broken, just battered and bruised. Likewise, Jenna appears only bruised but not seriously hurt.
Miles helps Jenna into her seat and buckles her in.
“It’s going to kill us,” Jenna says.
“Not if we kill it first.” Miles smiles and places a hand on her cheek. “Let’s go get this bitch.”
Jenna perks up a bit, shakes her head and frowns at the controls. “Yeah we…” she trails off, head bobbing.
“Hey, are you—”
There’s no time to react, Jenna brings the knife up and slashes it across his face. Miles stumbles away, back bumping into his seat. Pain like fire spreads over his face and he knows he’s been cut badly. How badly, he doesn’t know and right now doesn’t care.
Jenna unbuckles and stands. She grins, a tiny stream of silvery drool trickling down her chin, knife clutched in her right hand. “You’re all going to die.”
In a last-ditch effort, Miles shouts, “Let her go, you bitch!”
She chuckles and it’s within the dark tones he realizes it’s not Jenna any more. It’s the serpent making her its puppet.
And so, speaking to the monster, he says, “What do you want?”
Jenna pauses. A frown darkens her face. Then she smirks. “Death. Time has come for the gods to rise up and reclaim this disgusting world.”
“We didn’t even do anything to you,” Miles says.
“You and your small band are examples of my power. Once the world sees, they shall believe once more.”
“Are you fucking kidding me? The military will cover our death up. No one will know what happened out here.”
Jenna shuffles closer and stops. She points the knife at Miles. “That’s why I shall leave you alive to tell the tale. Like my dear son, Leviathan, one shall survive to spread our wrath.”
“Lev—You mean you’re the mother to the creature that destroyed the old oil rig?”
“Leviathan acted on his own,” Jenna says, voice changing into something thicker. Almost gurgling. “Though he knew of my wishes. One was supposed to survive. One to plant that seed of doubt about their beliefs.”
Miles draws his pistol and the Jenna/serpent chuckles.
“You will kill your friend that way, but not me. Never me.”
“Oh,” Miles says, “I will kill you.”
“You cannot kill me. I am an immortal god.”
“You’re not a god,” Miles spits and all the seething rage he’s been holding back for the good of the team leaks out. “You’re nothing but a fucking has been demigod. Forgotten. And that’s how you’ll stay.”
For a second, Jenna’s face slackens. Her eyes widen the slightest bit. For a second, the serpent possessing her might actually be worried she picked on the wrong person. But then a long grin, so long Jenna’s lips split from the excessive stretching, spreads over her face.
“I suppose I don’t have to leave any of you alive. More will come for me and through them I shall plant my seed.”
Miles, heart whipping against his ribs, steps closer. “Not if I have anything to do with it, you vile bitch.” He lunges forward, slams his pistol alongside Jenna’s head.
But Jenna doesn’t drop like he hoped. Instead she merely staggers, catches her balance on the seat and bubbles dark laughter at him. Blood trickles down the side of her face, drips from her split lips.
The entire STAV trembles. Form the body of the vessel, someone cries out. Someone else shrieks.
“First, I drive them all mad,” a growly voice spews from Jenna’s bleeding mouth. “Then I watch them kill each other. Then…I devour.”
With a roar, Miles lunges again and brings the pistol down harder.
This time Jenna drops to the floor, not moving. The vile laughter e
choes for a few seconds before finally fading and leaving him in cold silence. Blood pools around his boots from Jenna’s head wounds.
He blinks, gasps and backs away from the blood. He glances at the pistol in his hand then at Jenna. She doesn’t appear to be breathing.
“No,” he mutters and falls to his knees beside her, checking for a pulse.
Nothing.
“No.” He shakes his head, tears welling in his eyes and streaming down his face.
Up until this moment, he’s held it together through sheer will. But now…now…
He turns Jenna over, wincing at all the blood smeared on her face.
“No, no, no.” He begins CPR, and despite the blood, tilts her head up, places his mouth over hers and blows. He pumps her chest with compressions, tears dripping onto her. Tears and blood everywhere.
This woman. The one person who always stood by him, even in the thickest shit. The one person who might’ve even loved him more than his own mother. More than a sister, more than a human, really. Her steadfast love and will to—
The STAV trembles again. This time more violently knocking the balance out of him. He falls onto his ass, gets up and goes back to CPR, even though he knows it’s a wasted effort.
I killed her. I hit her too hard. All I wanted to do is knock her out so the serpent would leave her and instead…I killed her. I…killed my best friend.
He’s so stuck in panic, he doesn’t hear the door open behind him. It’s not until a hand grips his shoulder when he realizes he’s not alone in the cockpit.
Miles rolls away, grabbing his pistol and bringing it up.
Ma holds up her hands. “Just me.”
Breathing in heavy bouts, Miles lowers the pistol.
Ma looks at Jenna, stoops, feels for a pulse and sighs. She carefully inspects Jenna’s head, frowns and shoots a bewildered expression at him. “What happened in here?”
“I…I…the creature possessed her.” He stands, holstering his pistol and runs shaky hands over his sweaty head.
Ma nods. “I had to shoot Mike.”
Miles blinks. “What? Why? Is he—”
“He’s alive. Shot him in the leg when he went after Emma and I.”
Miles never even heard the shot. Was he really that out of it? Shit…
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