Unfit For Survival (Ark Fanfic.)

*Sneak Peek* Chapter 15: Dead Or Alive

"It stays with us. Iz did what you wanted and you checked it out. Keeping the thing wasn't even on the table so stop thinking you're going to get your way." Dom had her arms crossed as she glared at David.

"The deal that I reached with Isabella was that I would take a sample from whatever she brought aboard the ship. I have yet to remove even a fleck the artifact's material so she is still indebted to me for making the ship wait at the cave's entrance. The least she can do is allow me to hold on to the artifact until I have received what I desire from it." David was unfazed by the glares from my friends and spoke with his face directed at me.

I shook my head and replied, "It's been a week. We can't stay here any longer and you can't keep it. I'm sorry, but a week is all I'm able to wait."

"If you provide me two more days without any hassle, I will give you the location of another cave. If not, you can take your item and go find it yourself," he responded with a slightly raised brow as if he knew I couldn't say no to that offer.

"Two days. Then we leave." Benedetto fixed David with a dirty look and pulled me from the room by the arm. 

I was as eager to leave as my friends were but my reasons differed. None of us really knew a thing about the artifact but I at least knew where it would fit. Or should fit. I wanted to get it to the obelisks as soon as possible to see if it would actually fit or not. Helena's journals said that they would but of course she couldn't make a map of which obelisk the artifacts belonged to. Just once I wanted things to be easy for me. I felt that after all the shit I had gone through that I deserved easy. 

It was warmer outside now that we had moved away from the snowy area. That seemed to put everyone in a better mood. Yeah, we were still on the ship, but at least we had feeling in our toes again.

"We have the location of a few safe houses. You guys can go ahead and I'll follow once I get the artifact back." Helping Benedetto to sit on the wooden steps, I rubbed his back. He still wasn't faring very well with the swaying of the boat. He had moments of clarity in his gut but most of the time he was holding in a groan and angrily muttering under his breath.

"Send the guys ahead. Not like they're any help here anyway." Dom being Dom was rummaging through my pack where she pulled out my jerky. I had never met someone with such a hankering for meat as that woman. It was damn near impressive.

Benedetto gave her a dirty look and made an attempt to lunge at her but I managed to keep him on his butt.

"I say we just stick together as a team. You guys know what they say, right? Strength in numbers or some shit like that." Having been forced into my circle of friends by me, Nick spoke up. Like they normally did when he was on the deck, his dark eyes shifted towards the shore every so often. I didn't blame him for being on edge. He left the First Brothers again. They were after him now, just like they were with me. I didn't know who Friedrich was more pissed at now. But as Nick and I were in the same boat, figuratively and quite literally at the moment, I wasn't about to leave him behind.

The five of us were discussing our next move once we left the ship when a commotion turned our attention to the side of the ship. Curious as to why a number of the crew was staring and shouting out to the ocean, we followed them. I was small enough to squeeze through the bodies smelling of sweat and mildew. Clutching my hands against the smooth wooden railing, I saw what the others did.

I saw blood in the water and someone thrashing around on the surface of it. It was Charlie, the guy who gave me dry clothes when I first arrived on the ship. He was struggling to keep his head above the water while chunks of a dead megalodon floated around him. Quick ripples in the water moved past him and the chunks of flesh began to steadily disappear.