Once Upon A Warrior Bond by N.D. SHAR & Natalie Debrabandere

Author:N.D. SHAR & Natalie Debrabandere [SHAR, N.D. & Debrabandere, Natalie]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-09-27T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

The engineers did a good job with the improvised dive hatch. Sure, it’s on the small side, and previously, we went in one at a time. Now, we cram inside like a pack of desperate sardines. It is well-known that life-and-death situations of this kind stimulate a particular sense of humor. Toruk demonstrates.

“How’s the view down there?” he asks me.

I’ve had to fold and twist in a peculiar way to fit in, and now find myself at eye level with his crotch.

“Tiny,” I grunt and make him snort.

Once pressure is equalized, we step back into the flooded complex. It’s still as dark and oppressive in these dark corridors, but at least the facility remains standing. Also, the tremors seem to subside a little.

“Almost there,” Toruk encourages when Maltese stumbles.

We make it back to the sub to find Harris waiting. The look he sends me through his visor is viscerally hateful. Obviously, he did not enjoy being locked out of the shuttle on my orders. He also appears to be on his own.

“Where’s Amiel?” Maltese inquires.

“I don’t know.”

“What?”

“He was behind me until he wasn’t,” Harris barks.

“Are you saying he got lost and you didn’t try to find him?” I prompt.

The man glares with fury in his eyes. He refuses to answer, but that’s clearly what he’s intimating. Jesus! I assume there is a good reason Maltese hired these buffoons for security, but right now, I cannot even begin to guess what it might be. Meanwhile, one look at Maltese’s face, while Toruk helps him into the deco chamber, tells me he’s starting to fade. His head injury must be severe.

“Give me ten minutes,” I tell Toruk.

“No, I’ll go back,” he snaps. “Amiel is on my team.”

“Yes, but I don’t trust Harris.” I have no qualms saying this to him, and though his face tightens, he doesn’t argue. “I’ll get him, Toruk. You stay and make sure the sub is still here when I return.”

“We won’t leave without you,” he assures me.

“Better not, or I’ll kill you very slowly.”

“Go,” he nods.

Eric is right: sometimes, it sucks to be me. I know Amiel wouldn’t go back to look for me if the roles were reversed… but I would have to be dead not to do it for him. Like with Azrya the other day, he doesn’t answer when I try to raise him on the comms. But then I hear him muttering:

“Harris? Harris, I’m lost. Help me, man! Fuck, it’s dark in here! Harris? Please, buddy…”

His voice is thin, and he’s begging. The guy sounds like he’s hovering on the edge of hysteria.

“Amiel, it’s Redfield,” I let him know. “Stay where you are; I’ll be right with you.”

“Redfield? What?” he answers, confused and scared.

“I’m coming to find you and take you back to the sub.”

“I’m going to run out of gas and drown.” It sounds like he’s already decided that, and now he’s crying. “We’re all going to die. They left without us.”

“No, they didn’t. Cheer up, for god’s sake!”

I can’t help but feel a little disgusted at his reaction.

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