Assassins Of The Earth - Book 1

Chapter 4

'Jay?'

'Hey, Kari. You're alright. I know it's scary but I'm here, OK?' He reached out and took my hand in his own. 'Try not to freak out. There's only a limited quantity of air in that thing, OK, we've gotta try and stretch it out as long as we can.'

I nodded, clenching my jaw hard and breathing slowly from the uncomfortable mask strapped to my face. 'OK?' he asked. I just nodded again.

Norin looked at me, cocking their head to the side, another oddly human gesture on an inhuman form. 'Are you finding this difficult, Megan?'

I held up a finger and thumb, pinched together, trying to say 'a little'. Norin was trying to get me used to breathing through the mask, like I'd apparently have to on the Kayre's ship because they didn't use oxygen for respiration like humans do, instead using another subject I honestly can't remember the name of.

But it wasn't easy or natural, and I hated it. Like breathing through some weird sort of straw - I had to create suction within the mask and then suddenly a gush of air would come rushing through. Jay squeezed my hand once more tightly, and I squeezed back, taking a deep breath from inside the mask.

'How long...so far?' I whispered.

'Fifty-five minutes,' Jay murmured. 'You've got enough in the tank to get you to an hour and fifteen but maybe just shoot for an hour, alright? Let's stop then.'

I nodded, gripping his good hand and taking as slow and as steady breaths as I could manage.

'You got it,' Jay mumbled, encouragingly. I gave him a weak smile and waited for the time to be up. The mask put a weird sort of pressure on my face, and I was back in the armour, though Jay wasn't. The armour was tight around my chest, so I was almost painfully aware of every single breath I took.

'Two minutes, Kari.'

'Why do you call her that?' Norin asked. 'You call her 'Kari' all the time. Her name is Megan.'

Jay chuckled a little, and slipped an arm around my shoulders. 'We met doing sports. Meg started later than me, and there was already another Megan in our group-' 'Cause the name's common as muck. I thought, mutinously. I'd never liked my name. '-so everyone called her by her last name - Kariamo. I shortened it to Kari as, like, a nickname for her, when we were kids. It stuck, after a while.'

'Can I call you Kari, Megan?'

'No.' I said, definitively.

'OK, Megan.'

I tightened my grip on Jay's hand, taking a heaving breath through the mask. The air dried out my throat, and it felt hard to swallow. I'd probably be sore afterwards.

'Five, four, three, two, one,' Jay said, glancing at the face of his watch. I pulled the mask off of my face as he said the final number, and took heaving, sort of gaspy breaths of the relatively nice (if kinda stale) air of the...wherever we were. Jay gripped my arm gently, rubbing my back with his bad hand in wide circles. 'It's over. It's finished, Kari, it's done.'

He tipped my chin up, and I met his eyes. Mine were watering, and he pulled me in close against his chest, softly, letting me gasp as much as I could, as much as I had to. He stroked the back of my head, running calloused fingers through the feathered tufts of my hair. 'Hey, hey, Kari, we're finished, it's done.'

'Is she alright, Jacob?'

Jay pulled away from me, cupping my face in his hand. He gave me a questioning look, which I answered with a small nod. 'Yeah, Norin, I think she's gonna be OK.'

'Good. I would have liked to do a practice run today. Do you think we will be able to do that?'

'What?' Jay asked, distractedly.