“Nobody told me I would be climbing things,” Gideon yelled. “I hate heights!”
“Don't think about it!” AJ said, panting now. “The height's not a problem!”
“Yeah,” Dutch said. “It's more the falling, really.”
“Just hurry up!”
The sound of the helicopter got louder. The S-70 circled around to their side of the platform, sputtering and coughing smoke. It was chewed to bits, metal and shrapnel dangling in pieces from the hull. There was blood spatter near the open door, the gunner—the cowboy, AJ thought — long departed.
“Oh shit…”
The chopper wobbled as it flew, bending and then twisting on a path straight towards them.
“Guys!” Dutch yelled.
“Move your ass!” AJ finished. He climbed down to the next girder and dropped the last few feet to the boat deck. “Jesus, it's going to crash! Hold onto something!”
A final bray of gunfire echoed from somewhere on deck, and then the chopper spiraled into the center of The Aeschylus, metal tearing and splitting with a deafening crack. One of The Carrion shapes was chopped in half right before the rotor hit a beam and sheered off. Something caught fire and exploded. Whether it was the chopper's fuel tank or something on deck, AJ didn't know.
They held on for dear life, the world around them quaking on a biblical scale. Something big splashed into the ocean behind AJ, and he heard someone scream. Looking up, he realized the clothes rope had torn.
5
AJ saw Gideon dangling from one of the support beams above him. Whatever had splashed into the water was long gone.
Beside him, Dutch cupped his hands to his mouth. “Get your feet back! You can do it!”
The surviving Carrion shapes were coming, and Gideon didn't have much time. Slowly, he swung his feet to a support beam and began shuffling down, his dirty boxers blowing in the wind. AJ was almost sure that he would slip, but he didn't. The doc's arms wrapped tightly around one beam, then the next.
A wave of heat drifted down the shaft, and AJ wondered how much time they had left before the whole thing collapsed. Not much, by the looks of things.
A moment later, the doc was hovering over the boat deck, scared to drop the last few feet.
“Come on!” AJ barked. “Drop!”
Gideon looked down, then clutched the beam even tighter. “I can't!”
“Yes, you can!”
“No!”
The Carrion were slithering down the shaft behind him.
“Come on, you idiot!” Dutch yelled. He reached up and grabbed the doc by the foot.
“Dutch, you better get that boat moving, buddy,” AJ said.
When Dutch saw the things coming, he gave up on the good doctor and started sprinting towards the boat.
Gideon cried out again. One of the blackened figures was pawing at his chest hair.
“Drop,” AJ said. “I'll catch you!”
“I hate heights!” Gideon repeated.
“Goddammit, Doc! If you don't let go, that thing is going to rip your bloody arm off!”
Gideon let go.
He fell with no coordination at all, like the blind partner in a trust exercise. For a moment, AJ thought the doc was going to fall wide, but he took a step forward and caught him like a cheerleader on a pyramid jump. If Gideon had been any heavier than a cheerleader, he reflected, the two of them would have toppled into the water. AJ turned and ran with the doctor still in his arms, peddling across the deck to the boat.
Dutch was pulling the ropes in. “You ready for the honeymoon cruise?”
“Shut up,” AJ said dropping Gideon into the boat. “I told you to get this thing started!” He scanned the upper decks for signs of Black Shadow survivors, but the smoke was too thick. High above them, a piece of the oil derrick suddenly collapsed and banged down the opposite side of The Aeschylus. The cacophony was immense. It created a terrific splash when it hit the water, sending a spray of ocean all of the way to the boat and beyond. Gideon put his hands to his ears and shuddered uncontrollably.
AJ shielded his eyes. “Dutch, get us the hell out of here!”
The boat's engine sputtered up, and suddenly they were lurching forward, the motor kicking into high gear.
“Hold onto your butt!”
They blasted through the support columns and into open water. AJ thought they were free and then heard a series of firecracker pops coming from the decks above. Two splashes, and then the shots were on the boat, kicking up sparks and splinters by his feet.
“Jesus!” Gideon yelled.
“Can't this piece of crap go any faster?”
“No, I figured I'd take things leisurely! You know, see the sights!” Dutch yelled.
AJ pushed him aside and took the wheel. Another spray of pops came from The Aeschylus, but the boat was too far now, and they didn't come close. The platform began to shrink, the boat heading further into the blue.
“We're not going west,” Dutch said. It was a statement, but AJ read the question in his eyes.
“You know why.”
“You think she's still alive?”
He looked at the hull, then back to his friend. “Doesn't matter. We'll never make it back to the mainland like this.”
Dutch nodded. He put a hand on AJ's shoulder, then went to see the doc. AJ heard him yelling at the guy to get off of the floor and make himself useful. Dutch was maybe the only real friend he'd ever had, but if they made it through this, he thought he might have two. Even three, if they were lucky.
If.
Either way, his days of living with regrets were over.
Chapter 16: Fulcrum
1
Richter stood gazing down at the path around the chasm. There were so many outcroppings, so many caves around its edge, he feared they would never be able to search them all.
“There's no sign of him, sir,” the young sergeant said. “Looks like he vanished.”
“Vanished? Oh no, I think he is here somewhere, Sergeant. The question is, where?”
The light was not making things any easier. It had been growing steadily darker these past few days, and inside of a week, the sky would be as black as the pit.
“My men have all checked in. They have nothing new to report, sir. The prisoners aren't talking either.”
Richter chewed on this. He refused to be a man who saw bad luck at every turn. Those who knew of the disappearance were already distraught, already blaming the things growing out of the deep. But if played correctly, perhaps this could be turned to opportunity.
The man who had disappeared had not been able to produce results, and so perhaps it was time to use a bit of leverage. His hand was being forced, true, but that might not be such a bad thing. He had warned Dietrich that efficiency was of prime concern. Richter himself did not intend to be on the island forever.
Best to make the cut and be done with it.
“Bring me the lieutenant.”
2
Harald was dreaming of the man who would kill him.
He lay rigid on the bunk, sweating. The green army blanket which had been wrapped about him lay discarded on the floor. His eyelids twitched, his mind seeing beyond the room, into…
…into the chasm.
He stood above it, suspended over the void. The blackness spread beneath him, as familiar as an old lover. The rocks around the edges were the same, but the things around them were not. They grew a little more every time Harald dreamed, as if time were passing within his subconscious.