Black Hole Heartbeat

Elizabeth - 46

Elizabeth put her hand on the side of Ana's face and turned it subtly. There was a

figure, possibly Human, wading through the water. Its eye was pressed to the scope

of a sniper rifle.

"Three of us can take him out," Serpe said.

"He's got the range on us. Could pick us all off before we draw if we're not careful."

"I can take him out from here," Serpe said, raising her weapon.

Elizabeth immediately pushed the barrel down.

"We don't know this terrain. Say you take him out and he's got five friends hiding in

the jungle. What then? Our only option is to get by him undetected."

Elizabeth stepped slowly into the water. She lowered herself, keeping her eyes on

the Human as her face submerged. Water immediately flooded into her helmet. She

could feel the wet earth clinging to her face. It stank of salt and rotten weeds. She

coughed and rose up, collapsing on the mud of the bank.

"Elizabeth?" Ana said.

She fumbled with the latch of her helmet and tossed it aside. Water ran out from

her nose as she struggled for breath.

"The helmets aren't waterproof," she spluttered.

"What about the atmosphere?" Ana said.

"Prolonged exposure," Serpe said, "We should be fine if we move quickly."

The pair of them ditched their helmets while Elizabeth rolled over, still gasping. She

wiped her dirty hair out of her eyes and saw a cluster of hollow blue reeds poking

up from the water. She tore three reeds out and handed one to each of them.

"Yes... that might work," Serpe said, holding the reed up to one eye.

"Mm," Ana nodded. Elizabeth could tell she had no idea.

Elizabeth blew through her reed to make sure it was clear. She clamped the reed

gently between her teeth and slid into the water.

Elizabeth did her best to wave away the floating grime. She waded through the lake

until the water was too blurry to see through. She surfaced. They had crossed

maybe half of the lake, but the Human had not moved. He was waist deep. He

suspected something. Back and forth he moved his scope. Elizabeth sank

underwater again. They needed to distract him.

Submerged, Elizabeth pointed to the tree's sunken roots. Through the mistiness of

the lake they looked like twisted vipers, waiting to strike. Elizabeth swam over and

clawed her way up onto the small island. She reached into the water to heave Ana

up then rested back against the thick tree trunk. It was wide enough to hide the three

of them from view.

"What's the plan?" Serpe said.

"We need to distract him. We're going nowhere as long as he's standing there."