After the trees, the seas | Neteyam

Chapter 15

"That's our chance, let's go!" I shouted to Neteyam.

He called his Ilu and jumped in the water, I followed him. He grabbed my hand and pulled me towards him, as I wrapped my arms around his chest. We swam until we got close enough from the ship. On my signal, we jump on the boat, he gestured me. We were getting pretty good with sign language. I nodded. Neteyam commanded his Ilu to swim fast towards the surface. The Ilu jumped out of the water as we both held on to the boat's rail. We climbed and got on the ship.

"Follow me" Neteyam said to me. I followed him, making sure to stay close to him. "Neteyam! Hayla!" Tuk exclaimed, smiling, as we rushed to them. They were cuffed to the rail of the boat. A smile formed on my lips when I saw that they were all okay. "Hey baby brother, need some help?" Neteyam teased Lo'ak. "Shut up, come on bro, cut us loose" the youngest brother said, smiling widely. I crouched next to Tuk, grabbed my knife and cut her handcuffs. "Are you okay Tuk?" I asked her, inspecting her body from any possible injuries. She nodded before taking refuge in my arms. I hugged her tightly before pulling her away. "You have to leave the ship, now" I said to her as I pointed the water.

Neteyam had already untied Tsireya. "Take her away" he asked the metkayina girl. She nodded and grabbed Tuk's hand. "And you?" she asked concerned, looking at me and then at her older brothers. "We'll catch up to you, don't worry Tuk" I said, kissing her forhead, before she left with Tsireya.

"Who's the mighty warrior, come on, say it" Neteyam said as he cut Lo'ak's handcuffs. He smiled to his brother. "Broo" Lo'ak answered. I chuckled at their teasing. Lo'ak then turned to me and smiled brightly. I took him in my arms, holding him tight. "Alright let's leave" I said to them both. "Yes come on let's go" Neteyam added as we turned around towards the exit. We soon noticed that Lo'ak had gone the other way. "Lo'ak!" his brother growled. I turned to look at him, he had grabbed a gun from one of the dead avatars. "Lo'ak not the time, what are you doing?" I hissed at him. "They have Spider, we've got to get him" Lo'ak said his gaze shifting between me and Neteyam. "Come on, we can't leave him" he added when he saw that we weren't convinced it was a good idea. Neteyam looked at the ground and growled in annoyance, meaning he had accepted to go get the boy.

"Alright then, let's go get Spider" I said. I started walking but I got stopped by a hand holding onto my arm. "No you're not coming" Neteyam said as he looked at me straight in the eyes. "What? Yes I'm coming with you two!" I retaliated. "Hayla please, I don't want you hurt" he said, this time he was almost begging me. "Neteyam I won't get hurt" I said to him, keeping my eyes locked with his. I smiled trying to reassure him. "Come on we are the three spotters, we always do things together" I added as I turned my head to look at Lo'ak. He smiled to me brightly. I turned back to Neteyam and noticed a small smile. "Fine, but be careful and no stupid thing, same for you too Lo'ak" the big brother warned us. "Promise" I said before giving him a small kiss. "Okay let's hurry" Lo'ak rushed us as we all ran towards the center of the ship.

We climbed on the structure of the boat, above all the ship crew. They were all evacuating the boat after Payakan turned it into pieces. We got further into the ship and climbed on some sort of machines. That's when we saw some humans closing in, holding Spider hostage. I got my knife out and stood ready for Neteyam's signal. I was ready to fight these demons with all the anger I had since the day they took me my parents.

Neteyam finally gave the signal and jumped off the structure. He stuck his knife in the back of one of the human and gave another a violent shoulder bump. Me and Lo'ak immediately joined him. Lo'ak had two of them while I stabbed one and kicked another as hard as I could with my foot. Neteyam finished the work by throwing him overboard. Spider helped out and punched one while Lo'ak threw the last one in the water. At the same time, I noticed a human on the ground who had managed to reach his gun and was about to point it at Lo'ak. My eyes went wide and I was about to warn Lo'ak but he had already turned around, aiming at him the gun he had taken earlier. He pulled the trigger as bullets came crashing in the demon's body. Lo'ak obviously didn't know how to control a gun because bullets then went flying into the air. Neteyam and Spider flinched at the sound of gunshot before realizing it was just Lo'ak.

"Bro come on" Spider yelled at Lo'ak whose brain was still processing. "Let's go" Neteyam said as he laid his hand on my back, leading me forwards. We jumped off a platform. "Thanks guys" Spider thanked us for saving him. I smiled to him but before any of us could speak, bullets came flying in our direction. Avatars. We all crouched instantly before running away to a safe place. "Follow me!" Spider shouted as we followed his steps, still crouched to avoid any bullets. As we were running away, I felt a little sting on my stomach but didn't give it more attention as the priority was to get to safety. "Give me that!" Neteyam said as he grabbed the gun from Lo'ak's hands and started to fire bullets at the avatars. "We have to move!" Spider screamed. Lo'ak pushed me in front of him and he grabbed his brother's arm. As I was running, I glanced back making sure they were behind us. Thankfully, the two brothers were in fact following us.

We then reached a safe place after we had managed to sow the avatars. Lo'ak and Spider were jumping in hapiness for our victory. "Bro that was close but it was insane!" Lo'ak said as he laughed and high-fived Spider. Neteyam laughed at their cheering. Meanwhile, the adrenaline in my body had dropped and that's when I started to feel the growing pain in my lower stomach. I looked down to notice a big amount of blood coming out from a small hole. I had been shot. Oh no, it looks pretty bad. I instinctively covered it with my hand, but blood kept flowing from the wound. "Shit" I whispered to myself but Neteyam had heard and turned to look at me. I looked at him. When he saw me wince, he looked down and saw the blood. His face expression changed immediately as I could see fear filling his eyes. "No, no, no! Hayla!" he let out as he rushed to me. "It's not that bad.." I tried to reassure him, but failed as I winced again at the pain. Lo'ak and Spider had stopped their cheering and were now standing in front of me, worry now filling both of their eyes. "Fuck" Lo'ak said when he saw how bad it was. Spider had his eyes wide open, in shock.

"Keep applying pressure Hayla!" Neteyam told me as he pressed his hand over mine, the one that was already covering my wound. I had never experienced such pain, it was awful. My hand was covered in red hot liquid as I started to feel dizzy. "I need to rest a little.." I said as my legs started to give out on me. Quickly, Neteyam took my arm and slid his head under it so I could hold on to him, he placed his other arm around my waist. He then carried me to the closest wall and helped me sat.

"We have to get her out of here!" Neteyam shouted to Lo'ak and Spider. Panic had gained him.