27

The first of the Tremblers lunged into light, the torn face out of place attached to the body in a captain’s uniform. He flailed his blue arms, jaw snapping. More followed, four of them, their moans coalescing into a horrid shriek that knifed through me. Hands to my ears, I fought the answering screech bubbling in my throat. Ragged men, their arms at odd angles, dragging broken legs as they crawled and staggered toward me. Stumbling back against the control panel, I gasped for breath, panicked.

Blue spider veins snaked up their necks and down their arms. They were infected with the new strain, and I flashed on the women on the frigate. Bowing in unison, they rocked as the others had, their screams full of rage. They closed in, their need for heat spiking in my mind, twisting my heart until I felt the cold fury build. “Stop,” I panted. “Stop this.”

Shaking my head, trying to clear my thoughts, I side stepped, looking for a way out. No weapon. No armor. Not even boots. Heart ramping up, pulse in my ears, the device at my spine flared. Power moved through me in a wave of glacial pain. My mind clicked into focus, muscles coiled. The captain shrieked, flew at me with his arms out, teeth gnashing.

I leapt away, arms going up as I landed. Silvery flashes flew out of the devices on my hands. The energy lashed to the Trembler, and he tumbled back, wailing with his palms at his head. The others advanced, running at incredible speed in the small area, their slick skin sliding against my face, tangling in my hair. I ran for the water-lock, yanking the heavy door open and tumbling inside. I crawled backward, horrified as they followed, falling onto each other, dragging their ruined limbs to get to me.

I screamed, letting out another burst of power as the mechanica at my temples pulsed white-hot. A shrill tone filled the chamber, echoing off the metal, building to a deafening throb. They writhed away, convulsing on the floor next to me.

I staggered to my feet, bursts from the mechanica flashing bright in the darkened vessel like lightning. Scrambling over them, I climbed the mass of bodies, broken bones giving under me as I lunged for the chamber door.

Move, Blackburn. Quickly, girl! No time for fear! My father’s voice in my head spurred me faster.

Grabbing onto the side of the door, I pulled myself back into the helm and rammed my shoulder into the metal door, trying to close it on the Tremblers. Fingers reached in the doorway caught between the door and the frame as I pushed. The captain’s scream pulled a desperate sob from me as I threw myself against the door again, feeling its pain sear across my thoughts. The hand disappeared back into the water-lock, and I slammed it shut. I fell against the wheel, turning it frantically, locking them inside. A bloody hand smeared across the window in the door, and I roiled backward my heart ramming.

Residual power set off the mechanica on my limbs, and I struggled to reel in the fury, the need to fight. They flew against the door, pummeling their own bodies to get to me, their screams reverberating in the chamber. I took in a shaking breath, my gaze going to the control panel for the water-lock. I slid my palm over the button, fighting to still the tremors wracking my body.

“I am so sorry,” I breathed. Then I opened the flood gates. Through the door’s window, I watched Tremblers flail in the rising water. Knocked down by the torrent of sea filling the chamber, their gurgling screams tore at my soul. A tattered face floated past the glass as the sound of the Atlantic filling the room turned my stomach. “Please forgive me.”

I crumpled to my knees, my hands over my face. I had to do it. I had to. Was I to transport them back to the facility to infect and attack the others? Stomach roiling, I knelt on the floor of the helm, the cold of the sea seeping into my bones.

You have to move, Charlotte. You cannot stay here and freeze to death. Shivering with the sea water leaching what little warmth my body possessed, I held up my arms, watching the drips fall to the floor. I had to get out of the wet diving skin.

Eyeing the dark hallway, I stood and headed toward the rest of the ship. Hunley had mentioned six people aboard. Only five had attacked. That meant there was one left. I could feel him. Keep vigilant. Moving cautiously, I searched the vessel. I activated a dial on the wall and incandescents flickered alight, bathing the corridor in a warm glow. The first few spaces held equipment for diving, brass pieces much like the chest armor I wore. Another type of garment lined the far wall. A uniform with webbing connecting the arms to the torso like fish fins. Unusually designed weapons, brass and copper, hung next to the fish suit—similar to the crossbows the Reapers used, however this was longer, with elongated metal wings along the shaft as if it meant to slice through more than air. Water, perhaps?

Backing out, I ventured further and opened a third door. I stopped, staring. An open capsule the shape of a revolver bullet, yet large enough to encase a man, stood in the center of the storage compartment. A hose hung from the inside and snaked along the molded padding contoured to cradle a human form. Reaching out, I swung the hinged front of the capsule down. Lined with gum rubber, it appeared to be waterproof. I scratched my head, nose wrinkling as I took a turn around the strange contraption. Spurred to move by a spate of shivers, I left the room and continued to explore the vessel.

I found the galley by smell alone. The deeper into the submersible, the worse the smell. Hand over my mouth and nose, I pushed through the barracks, looked under the beds and inside storage closets.

Erratic thumping behind a door sent my insides crawling and I steeled myself, ready to fight as I approached it. The growing connection pulled at my mind, addling it with fear and rage. I shook my head, panting. Daring to peek through the door’s window, I let out a relieved breath.

The last crewmember was locked in a maintenance compartment. I stared at his broken body through the window in the door. He was lashed to pipes like a prisoner in a dungeon, and I realized he must have been the first one to show symptoms. Restrained as he was, his head lolled to the side, teeth snapping violently. I tapped on the glass window in the door, and his black eyes locked onto mine. He shook violently, moaning with pain. My stomach knotted, the need to join him rising, until shocks from the devices quelled my tremors.

A final room held uniforms and smocks. Pants and other clothing hung on hooks in the walls. I wiggled out of the remaining suit armor and shrugged off the diving skin. My shivering stilled with the Solenium shocks. I moved slowly and with difficulty in the cold. My arms and fingers looked blue in the dim lighting of the small room. I checked my face in the mirror and saw the ring of black around my pale blue iris. Whereas the Solenium from Arecibo seemed to turn back the progress of the Trembling Sickness symptoms, Hunley’s did not do the same. I wondered what else would be different. Still, I felt no dissipation of strength as I had before and was grateful or that.

There were several knives and some arm guards, which I grabbed. Searching through the clothing, I found a pair of smaller outlander pants with a leather belt that hung low on the hip. It had an attached utility pouch that I used to store the things I had found. A tunic of a curious stretching material appeared to be for a child, but I realized as I pulled it over my head, that it fit the wearer. Black, with a satin finish, it provided immediate warmth. Donning the leather arm guards, I padded on bare feet back to the helm. An indicator light flashed red, and I tapped it. Not remembering it from before, I searched the controls and my heart sank.

Low oxygen alarm.

Out of the helm’s window, in the distance, the floodlight flashed on and off in a pattern. It was Ashton or Hunley, signaling me from the facility. Finding the outside light dials, I lowered and brightened them in response. A flurry of flashes came back, and I clung to the hope that I was not alone. They knew I was alive and they were trying to help.

I sent back a message.

“Help me. Need air.”

Dark stillness from the facility’s porthole made my heart stop until the Morse code blinked back.

“Do this…”