Page 44 of When Eden Falls

C h a p t e rT h i r t e e n

I’m not sure how many times I pulled the trigger, but I hit true. The Igknamai screamed, stunting its movement for a brief second, but it didn’t retreat. It lurched at me again. I ducked down behind the pilot seat, pushing my body into the cramped footwell under the dashboard. I felt the breeze from the snap of its jaw. The smell of its breath was so rancid it was tempting me to pass out. Its head loomed closer, and I kicked at it, only for its fang to penetrate the tip of my boot.

Shit!

With all my strength, I kicked against its powerful jaws with my other foot. If I didn’t get my foot free, this beast was going to rip my leg off. I felt the grunts emanating from my lungs, my throat, as I jarred against the beast’s head. I wouldn’t let it win, I couldn’t.

With one final, bone crunching thud, the Igknamai halted for a millisecond. Long enough for me to snap my boot free.

It roared again, trying to inch forward into the confined space. It was getting closer, and I was running out of room to retreat into. How its large body could fit between the pilot chairs, let alone down here under the dashboard, I didn’t know. There was so much noise, so much blood pumping through my head, I was struggling to think.

A whimper escaped me as its jaws snapped, snagging my trouser leg. So close, it was too close. Nux, I was going to die!

I had no choice, I needed to get out of the tiny space of the footwell. I struggled to move, frightened by the frenzied beast fartoo close for comfort. One inch at a time, I shuffled to the outer edge of the chair, but the Igknamai had already tracked my movement. It jumped up onto the seat and roared down at me. Gloopy, rank saliva dripped into my hair, down my face. I felt sick.

My body tensed at the sound of the Igknamai growling, snapping its deadly jaws overhead. I looked down at the gun in my hand. The bullets hadn’t penetrated the beast’s skin whatsoever, it was useless. But it wouldn’t be useless against me, my body. I looked at the barrel, flinching at the Igknamai’s attempts to gain those last few inches to sink its teeth into me. I could end it. Take my own life. Surely that would be the lesser evil, if not the coward’s way out. Suicide had always felt like the coward’s way out. That’s what I’d always been told, even when I’d tried to justify what happened back…I didn’t want to think about that.

A tear slid down my cheek thinking of Rooke and everything he had done for me. How had it come to this?

“I love you, Rooke,” I whispered, placing the barrel against my temple.

As if the Igknamai knew what I was about to do, it suddenly screeched, followed by a heavy thrashing. And then there was silence. Silence that took me a while to register.

Lowering the gun, I slowly looked up from my hunched position and found the tip of a spear inches from my face. It was jutting out of the Igknamai’s head, directly between its two sets of eyes. Red blood trickled down from the wound. For some reason I imagined its blood would be yellow or green. Not red. Not like my own.

Dead. It was dead.

Relief and shock struck, causing my limbs to feel tingly and numb. My breath wavered as a figure emerged from the doorway—Dybgo.

He reached forward to offer me his hand. I looked down at the smooth, pale skin and stared. Not at his hand, but at the realisation of what had just happened. What was about to happen if he hadn’t….

“Are you hurt?” Dybgo’s voice was commanding yetcompassionate. My watery eyes looked up at him. He saved me. “Are you able to stand?”

Eventually, despite the pounding in my head, I nodded and took the hand he offered. It was warm, strong, comforting. After helping me to my feet, he guided me into the kitchen where we found Rooke, Kobe, and two Akquarians rushing through the doorway from the analysing room. Rooke stopped and looked at the metal door sitting at an odd angle. It had been pulled off its mechanical hinges. Dybgo must’ve ripped it open to get to me.

“What’s going on?” Rooke demanded, approaching us, eyeing Dybgo sceptically. “We heard gun shots.” He then cursed when he saw the dead Igknamai behind us. “What happened?”

Dybgo explained his side of the story. I couldn’t speak. I was too lost in my horrifying thoughts. I was so close to ending my life, so close.

Familiar, dark green eyes appeared directly in front of me, pulling me out of my trance. “Are you alright?” Rooke asked sternly.

I nodded, but I wasn’t. All I wanted was for Rooke to hold me. But instead, he barked demands at Dybgo to have the Igknamai removed fromhisship, then turned on his heel and headed back to the loading bay.

Another reluctant tear fell down my cheek. I wiped it away quickly. I felt weak. I felt…ashamed.

An hour later, we were back on the boat. I was in shock. I knew I was. I felt cold, detached from reality. Standing on the bow, I watched the sea lapping around us, welcoming the whooshing of the wind and the roaring of the waves.

A hand grabbed my elbow and I found Rooke standing beside me, a harsh look on his face.

“Why did you leave the analysing room?” He glanced over his shoulder, keeping his voice low.

“What?”

“Why did you leave Dybgo alone in the analysing room?”

“I…” I frowned. Why was he asking me this? He seemed angry.

He raised his eyebrows abruptly, waiting for my response.