Book One: Rise of the King

Chapter One

He woke as if he had been under the water too long, sitting up, gasping for air, dazed, disoriented. He felt nauseous, light-headed. There was a steady, loud, droning sound that seemed to reverbate through his skull. His eyes seemed unable to keep up with his head as he tried to look around. Straight down, very far down, was blackness. When he was able, he realized he was held in place only by a seatbelt. He closed his eyes, trying not to vomit. Good grief, was this vertigo? Was that the right word? Yeah, he was pretty sure it was. He opened his eyes again. They seemed to be working a little better.

He looked around, saw the inside of the command module and sunlight that shouldn't have been there. Holy shit, there was sunlight coming through the windows, some of which were broken. Below him was the main passage of the ship. He could see hoses and pipes and missing floor grates. There was a haze of smoke. It was an awful smell. Burning electrical wires and rubber and something else he was afraid to consider.

He shifted slowly, reaching into his pocket, pulling out the pocketknife. He opened it, frowned and made the first cut. He stopped, feeling his weight slip and shift. If he could hold onto the seatbelt and swing over to his right, he could land on the wall that was now a floor.

Sweet Jesus. He was gonna die.

He took a breath to calm his nerves and grabbed onto the right side of the belt with his left hand while he sawed through the right side of the belt. His right shoulder was killing him but he kept going. He had to get out of this.

"I really hope I didn't waste all that money." He grumbled to himself, thinking about Eddie, his personal trainer, and all the hours he'd spent working out and watching his diet.

Then suddenly the belt broke loose and he fell. His hand slipped a little but caught and he was hanging by his left arm. He looked down and out of the corner of his eye he saw the shard of glass. His eyes widened as he realized it was sticking out of his back at his right shoulder.

"Holy shit."

He closed his pocket knife, put it back in his pocket and reached up with his right arm, gritting his teeth against the pain, and grabbed the belt. He moved so that he could see the wall where he needed to jump. He began to swing himself and could hear the seatbelt begin to rip from the seat. He looked up, panicking. It wasn't that bad. One, two, three and he let go, landing in a crouching position on the wall. He looked down to see the seatbelt had come with him.

"Holy shit."

He looked over the edge and then at his shoulder.

"Hey. Gray, right?"

He raised his head. There was a woman hanging from a chair, just as he had been. From where he'd been sitting, he couldn't have seen her before. What was her name? God, he was so bad at names.

"You alright?" he asked, trying to find a way to get her down that wouldn't break both their necks.

"Yeah. I'm super but I was thinking I was having too much fun up here. Any way you think you might help me get down?"

He studied her position and, when he saw how it could work out, he nodded. There was an empty seat just beneath her. If she could hit the chair lock, she could lower herself and that would leave her with maybe a two or three feet drop.

"Can you reach the lock on that chair? It'll keep it from spinning. Undo your seatbelt, land on the chair. If you drop off of it, you'd only have a couple feet." He explained.

"I'm gonna die." She muttered, stretching her leg, angling her foot. She shifted, moved, finally reached the lock.

"Now undo your seatbelt. You're not that far above the chair."