Veral noted the longing look that Terri gave the room, no doubt wishing to scavenge for anything that captured her attention. If this had been a normal salvage job, he would have been pleased to watch the joy on her face.
“We do not have time to linger,” he said quietly at her side, his hand grazing her arm as he gently nudged her forward. It was perhaps unnecessary, but still it required saying for clarity sake. “I am sorry that I cannot give you more.”
A small sigh escaped from her, but she met his eyes and nodded. “I know. None of that went down the way it should have, but we have what’s most important. We’re both alive.”
“Let us not celebrate prematurely,” Azan interrupted dryly as she headed toward the doorway. “We have not escaped yet.”
There was nothing to say following that. Although they had survived to that point, events could follow which would tip fortune out of their favor. For that reason, instead of speaking further, Veral stepped out into the hall. He froze, his vibrissae whipping and vibrating around him as he stretched his senses to pick up any trace of 226 approaching. He could sense the smaller life forms in the water around them, but thankfully the creature was absent.
Half-turning, he gestured for his mate to follow him out. She hurried out of the royal cabin back into the corridor, the water rippling all around her as she rushed through it. Veral tensed, certain that the vibrations from the moving water would alert the creature. He still could not detect any sign of movement from it, but that did not mean it was unaware. Azan splashed after her, causing more disturbance. His muscles tightened, but he forced himself to temper the reaction, even as his systems went on high alert, increasing his surveillance of their surroundings.
The moment she joined them, he struck out ahead, half of his attention remaining on Terri to make sure she was not struggling to keep up as he plowed ahead to where the water broke. Terri stumbled at his side, ragged gasps for air escaping her as she labored to maintain his pace.
The water dragged at them, her worst of all, but gradually the waterline dropped, making their movement easier and faster. The dark floors rising from the water drew closer with their every effort to surge forward. His body tightened, triumph filling his blood with liquid fire as they drew closer.
They were close to dry ground when he felt it.
Veral stopped, the water splashing around him in broken crests as he turned to look back even as he pushed Terri forward. His mandibles clicked softly, a thoughtful sound just as he watched the monstrous fin break free from the water. The hunt had begun!
Hissing, he whipped back around and leaped forward, driving his body through the water with all of his strength. Reaching out, his fingers closed around Terri’s upper arm, dragging her with him. Azan’s startled exclamation rang out behind him as she too took note of the creature advancing on them. Panting breaths filled the air amid the dragging, splashing sounds all around them. Even the splashing, however, could not dull the ripples he felt race toward him, punctuated by the sonar shriek of the creature attempting to precisely locate them.
Spurred on by its rapid approach, Veral grabbed one of Azan’s muscled arms and yanked her forward with him as well. Together they raced as the creature barreled after them, water breaking around its girth as it began to surface.
A large wave rolled forward, knocking them all off their feet at the exact moment the creature’s girth rose through the water. Veral’s fingers curved, his claws extending to dig into the ship’s floor as he pulled himself forward, gaining his footing again. Azan sputtered but rose to her feet quickly as she pulled Garswal from the water, the young male coughing out fluid as he hunkered against her, his wet hair streaming rivulets all around him and over Azan’s shoulders. Terri choked, coughing as she rose from beneath the surface, but she stumbled forward determinedly. Veral grabbed her arm as she reached for him. A growl rose in his throat as they pushed forward again.
“Do not look back. Just run,” he commanded as he saw her turn her head.
“Oh, fuck—too late.Too late!I saw it! Oh my gods!” she cried out.
“Not looking!” Azan shouted as she surged forward, her legs kicking up higher as she made every attempt to increase her speed in the now thigh-deep water. “If Egbor was not already in the belly of that thing, I would kill him for this alone!”
Terri’s breath came out in rapid pants as she attempted to run faster. The water rippled around them violently as 226 raced toward them, its shrieks rippling and echoing through the cavernous corridor.
With a snarl, Veral turned and grabbed his mate around the hips, lifting her from the water as he vaulted her over it. Her scream was cut short with a loud breath as she hit the dry ground. Turning, he grabbed Azan next and ignored her snarl as he repeated the move, hurling her and Garswal as far as he could. The female pulled the male into her arms and curled around him midair. When they landed with a splash in the shallow water close to where Terri lay on the dry floor, the pirate had absorbed the full impact.
The water quaked everywhere, droplets bouncing from the surface at its approach. He was not going to be able to outrun it. His eyes fell on his mate as she pushed to her feet. Her hand cradled her ribs as she grimaced, but her expression turned to one of terror.
“Veral!” she screamed, grief trembling in her voice.
It was too late. He turned, slashing out with his claws, his vibrissae whipping out in defiance just as the large maw of the predator opened wide, a crest of water rushing over him. Metallic teeth descended just as a large metallic barb struck it. Veral felt a piercing pain scream through him. It was echoed by the terrible screams of pain from the creature as it thrashed behind him.
Despite the red-hot pain and alarm flashing through his systems, he turned away from the thing, racing forward again. The barb, possessing the same bio-organic signature of the symbiont, had bought him time. Azan grabbed him at the same time Terri did, both females helping to haul him to dry ground as he stumbled forward. Tattered remains of several vibrissae on the right side of his head attempted to writhe in their instinctive need for input, sending shooting pain through him.
He could already feel his nanos rushing to the spot in an attempt to heal it. It would take time, but they would mend. Until then, he felt off balance, the sudden loss of a part of his sensory receptors making him move with uncertainty, a large blind spot now at his right.
An Argurma with injured vibrissae was vulnerable. This was a hazardous place to be vulnerable, especially with his mate in danger.
She and his unborn offspring needed him.
Turning back, he glared at 226. Its body writhed and splashed, terrible shrieks still coming from it as it rolled in the shallow water. It was pushing away from them, flopping to push its girth back into deeper water. From one of its lower eyes, he could see the barb jutting out, dark blood spurting from the wound. Eventually, it would heal. It was not a killing shot any more than its bite, its aim disrupted, was a killing strike to Veral.
They were both left with injuries from their encounter, but they both would survive.
“Veral, thank the gods,” Terri whispered, her hands running over him in self-assurance. Her hand raised to the side of his head and she winced. “Your vibrissae…”
“Their loss is better than dead, or any greater damage. I will heal,” he murmured as he pulled her hand down and brought it to his lips. “You are safe. That is what is most important to me.”
She gently pulled her hand back and punched his shoulder. “Damn it, Veral! Stopping to throw us out of the water slowed you down. You nearly got yourself killed. You shouldn’t have done that. We could have made it!”