To Be A Killer

Chapter 52: I Crush Everything

"What the..." I mutter, stumbling over towards the door and the person pounding against the other side of it. I open the door, seeing a familiar pair of blue eyes. "Ed? What's going on? Why's the ship rocking so much?"

"Oh, you think that was bad? You should see-never mind. You'll see it in a minute. Just come with me. This'll take every pair of hands we can get."

My hair is everywhere, I'm in some borrowed nightclothes and I'm barefoot, but I follow along outside, my sleepiness replaced with sudden worry. Out on deck, it's pouring down raining, making everything around us a blur of shadows and darkness. It's cold, the droplets hitting my skin so hard I think they might actually leave welts.

I reach up to turn on my headset, and feel nothing there but wet, tangled hair. That's when I remember I didn't fall asleep with it on my head. I let Caleb borrow it so he could talk to the kids. My eyes go wide.

Wait a minute...

Where's Caleb?

"I can see it!" A woman cries, pointing up ahead. The boat that's tethered to this one is rocking back and forth widely, but not because of the waves. No, if it were the waves, it would cause the whole fleet to rock like this.

"Get more people!" Ed commands to the two of us, and an additional man who I haven't met. Of course I haven't. These people actually have all of their appendages and limbs. "Move! Move! What ship is that?"

"It's the Fangeers!" The man replies as he helps two middle aged men, both who are missing a leg, across to this ship.

"What is she? A tug? Anything we can't afford to lose?"

"I don't know," The woman replies, trying to pull her stringy black hair out of her face. "Why is it tossin' about like that? Is it a tsunami?"

I blink... Is she serious? She must be someone who was mind controlled onto this ship, because I have a hard time believe someone from Comansys would say something that stupid, right?

"A tsunami would hit all the ships, dimwit," The man replies, and I blink again. They also realize a tsunami would've killed us all already, right?

"They may have all PhDs, but there's not a lick of common sense between them," Ed says. "At least I know I've got you at my back, Five. God, there's so much I want to ask ya. Molly... later." He looks at the other two. "Listen, that ship is tethered to this one. If it goes down, it'll drag this deck under, so we need to get over there and detach it. You with me?"

"Let's go!" I reply, while the other two only give a half hearted response, causing the taller man to clench his jaw.

"Come on, guys! We can do this! Let's get movin'!"

We rush off, the raindrops hitting the deck so hard, the sound drowns out our footsteps. The two nameless Comansys workers have trouble keeping up, and they keep losing their footing on the wet deck. I ignore their little yelps when they lose their balance. I mean, at least they have shoes on right now.

My gaze stays on the Fangeers. The water around it is choppy and harsh, and the ship is rocking side to side, sometimes rocking so violently it jerks against the ships tethered to it.

That must be why I was knocked out of bed.

The metal walkways are only a few feet away, but Ed stops and turns around before we reach it. His black hair is drenched and sticking to his forehead, and he wipes the water out of his eyes before he starts talking.

"There are grapples attached to the far side of the ship connecting that ship to this one. Myself and Runner Five will cross to the Fangeers and release them. When we do that, the walkway will collapse."