Verank pulls the cord to the boat's motor and it roars to life in the heavy rain. Looking up on the horizon, there he is. Verank shouts over the rain, "Come on! We're going!" I drop into the boat with a couple guns and the old axe. The boat dips towards the back with him being so damn fat. On top of the stormy weather, the water's super choppy. Lucky we can still move without sinking. "Expect a deadly fight!" He shouts, "Of course- But why are we on this dingy little boat!?" I haven't a clue. "No idea!" A small black boat speeds from behind a building, "Stop, now!" We come to a stop as another speeds towards it. Then five in a fleet formation. Then the giant ship, the Onyx Explorer. "Who's all that!?" "Cornelius." He shouts, "You mean those bastards that took Jessica's arm!?" He speeds towards them and I shout, "What are you doing!?" "Rampage!" Oh shit! This isn't the plan. Get my brother and get out! Shit! On top of that, we're starting to take on water! As soon as I start grabbing a bucket, the boat sinks. Now we're both treading water. "Shit."
The second engine cuts off, Markus shouts, "She won't make it!" The dropship dips even more, Jack and Rose hold each other tight as Mama looks to me, "What?!" She looks down at her hands, "Comfort an old woman?!" Resting a hand on her leathery hands isn't too bad, I guess. Jean hugs me and I sit up straight, "I'm not everyone's comfort!" Jean nuzzles her face into my back, "If I'm dying, I'm hugging somebody!" The dropship cuts through the air, making a terrifying noise coming from outside. As if a bomb was falling from above, a deadly whirr. "Hold on!" Jean and I collapse to the floor and bang my arm. I grab at it as we skip on the water. It felt like a small eternity, how many skips we did. The feeling of dragging ourselves against concrete.
We come to a stop, Rose and Jack spring away from each other, She crosses her arms, "I only clung to you because I was going to die." Jack growls, "Same here!" Mama laughs as they both look away from each other. I quickly grab a rifle and open the doors, water sloshes inside by the gallons, "Shit!" Everyone rushes to my side as the rain hits us. Then a large ship shines a light at us, we all cover our ears as Mama shouts in pain, We Have You Surrounded! Come out! Hands up! I quickly shut the door. We all look to Mama, still buckled in. "We are floating, but we're outgunned and three of us can't swim." I raise my gun, "I'm fighting my way out!" She shouts at me, "There are things worse than what's above the water, if you don't die from the bullets from above. You wouldn't survive a couple minutes off this ship! The freezing cold, the-" Grabbing at my head, I shout, "I get it! I lose and my family dies! I can at least try!" As soon as I grab the door's sealed door and lean myt head against the door, she gets out her seat and walks over, "Before you go get yourself killed, here." She waddles over with her cane and pulls out an acorn tied to a string, drops it into my hand. "What is this junk?" She closes my hand and takes off her sunglasses, revealing her blind eyes, "This is from someone who has kept us all safe so far. He was saving people wherever he went! Don't you spit on his sacrifice!" She takes my gun and grabs my arm, "You won't be needing that. But you do have a choice. Go after your family or save us. I know one group you cannot save, at least right now. If we get out alive, I can help you find them." She shoves my arm towards my shoulder and I shout in pain. "Now run, they're busy boarding us. Last chance!"
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I open the door and rush out past the soldiers boarding and dive into the water. As I plunge, the fear burrows inside me. Even with training, you never get used to the cold watery depths, you forget how to hold your breath and those little air bubbles escape your grasp. The water pushing, waves crashing into you. At least then, you had your fellow navy recruits. The next hard part is opening your eyes. A shark with an orange glow swims towards me and I pull out my knife. The shark slowly swims towards me, opening it's mouth slightly, a crazy amount of bubbles continuously escape out. He then quickly moves his head at me. I jump at the warmth and sudden movement as it's head turns back and he swims away. What was that? Looking up, there's lights below the inflatable part of the dropship. Swimming up to one, my face breaks through the water and I gasp. "Ok. Ok." Something pokes from right above me. That's Mama, isn't it? Wait, bumps and then scrapes? God it's so cold. I have to get on that ship. With a big breath, I dive once more. There's that shark again, tearing someone up in a cloud of red mist. His diver kit sinks and I swim to it.
The captain shouts, "Stay put, Dirt! And if you disobey anyone's orders, it's a firing squad for you, this ain't the small leagues!" With a salute, he squints at me, then cringes, "Why does that Bullet even keep you around?" With one glare, he smiles wide, "A vicious dog as a pet, he always loved having a pet." I growl, "I am no pet." He smirks, "Sit." He tilts his head as I stare down at him, "Your commanding officer says sit, you sit. Steels are my dogs."
Just do it, Amber. With a roll of my shoulders, I sit down on the floor and stare up at him. He smiles and reaches out a hand, "I treat my dogs well." He shakes his hand and looks down at his hand, then back down at me. With a sigh, I take his hand and use all my own strength to stand up, so I don't pull him down.