(Recap)
“He …helped you?” I said remembering that he was in my vision… he kicked down the door to save her. He came through
“Yes… he helped me… helped us.” She said her voice fading out. “QUINN.” She called
My eyes closed because I no longer had the energy to keep them open but I refused to sleep when I was in this much danger. I needed to stay awake to protect not only myself but Alexis and Sammy too.
“Samantha, is that…” He trailed “What have they done to her?” He whispered.
“She’s been fighting for a while. I don’t think she rested since this thing started. She’s depleted; you’re going to have to carry her.” Sammy said
I felt myself being lifted up by a pair of strong arms and gently being held. I couldn’t even fight off the hold, let alone move my head. I felt another tingle indicating that I had mimicked another power, but … Quinn didn’t have a power… did he?
“We got you Snow, we’re getting out of here. We’re going to be free.” Sammy said and I passed out.
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Chapter 37
Sammy’s POV
“Quinn, this way.” I called over the cries of the people. I coughed as the choking dust blurred my vision.
We had to move quickly, Quinn had told me that we were in the South Pole and he said that the nights were shorter seen as it was summer here. I still didn’t believe him about the summer bit, there was snow everywhere and not to mention the extreme cold.
I shoved some people out of the way; Quinn was right at my back, so close I could feel his heat.
Alexis was to meet us at the gate as soon as she had the supplies, we decided to split up to save time and get the hell out of this place, the only problem was that we didn’t know where we would go.
“Over here. I see them.” Yelled a guard, Quinn shoved me behind him as he pulled out his gun that he took off a guard and shot them.
“Hold onto me.” He called over his shoulder as he readjusted his grip on Snow.
I grabbed hold of his jacket, and he led the way forward.
There were people pushing and yelling, everything had plummeted into chaos.
“We’re nearly there.” Quinn said over his shoulder at me.
We turned down a narrow corridor, out of the rushing crowd.
It was dark, the narrow corridor offering no light, and the further we went, the darker it got. I nearly tripped over the protruding metal from the floor from the hatch of the ship.
“Where are we going?” I whispered to Quinn.
“I know of another way out of here.” He said and then there was another huge explosion, shaking the metallic ship.
The floor began to tilt, making us slip across the floor. Luckily Quinn found a foot hold at the door. The ship we were in was like a naval ship with bits of metal surrounding the hatch like door.
“What’s happening?” I asked as the ship tilted even more.
“The ship is sinking. We’re going to have to prepare ourselves.” Quinn said opening a nearby hatch and settled Snow over his shoulder like she weighed less than a sack of potatoes, which wasn’t hard to believe from the treatment we had received from this hell hole.
The room was really tiny, if I stood with my arms out, I would be able to just about touch the walls on each side.
“Prepare ourselves for what?” I asked as he climbed through the door and settled Snow against the wall.
“For the shock of the frigid waters. Be careful.” He said helping me across just as the boat tilted a little bit more.
Quinn was behind me, holding me steady. We were nearly standing on the ceiling, as the ship continued to move. Items from the room, began to slid towards us, I had to dodge a freaking office chair.
“You need to hold her.”
“What? Where are you going?” I asked as he threw some clothing item that had fallen onto him onto the floor.
“The ship is sinking fast and soon we’ll be nose diving for the sea bed. The life jackets as well as the life raft are in front of this bed on the other side. I need to get them before it’s too late.” I nodded not believing how this thing was playing out. How the hell did it get this messed up?
“Samantha, look at me.” I focused on Quinn’s face, as he held onto mine.
“You can do this. You are stronger than you think.” He said then kissed me softly on the lips before he climbed up to stand on the side of the bed which was welded down to the wall and floor.
“Quinn.” I sputtered because I was still mad at him. Yeah he saved my life, but I wouldn’t have needed saving in the first place if it wasn’t for him. I still wasn’t sure why I was following him. I guess the enemy you know was better than the enemy you don’t.
I suppressed a shiver as I thought about that Alpha and the way he had looked at me.
“Samantha I’m really sorry. I-”
“Now’s not the time Quinn.” I said looking away. His betrayal hurt me more than what I’ve ever been hurt before and what hurt more was that I had seen it coming…literally and did nothing.
I heard screams as the ship tilted even more breaking the moment, I held onto snow, tying the belt of my jacket around us, to secure her to me as well as keep her warm.
Quinn jumped up onto the sides of the beds, realizing that we were running out of time.
He held onto the bed above his head for balance, while he carefully shimmied across to the other side.
The screams got louder as the boat dipped even more and soon people were falling past the hatch. I watched as a man went pass us, he was screaming until he hit his head really hard and then he was quiet. More people followed.
A guard caught hold of the open hatch door and tried to pull himself through it. When he saw us his eyes went wide and he looked to be reaching for his gun. I shoved Snow away from me, easily untying the belt of my jacket and jumping up to try to get the guy to let go of the door frame. Snow didn’t even stir as I pushed her off of me.
“Quinn.” I yelled as I grabbed a rubrics cube that was lying next to us.
“Hang on Sammy I’m coming.” Quinn called back, but I was already whacking the guy’s hands with the cube, but he just held on.
When he peeked in I hit him hard in the face with the cube breaking his nose and making him loose his grip and he let go, screaming as he plummeted.
“That a girl.” Quinn said giving me an encouraging smile before turning back around to get the jackets and raft. Quinn shuffled towards the back, he was really quick. He opened up a little compartment at the head of the beds and pulled out the jackets as well as a life raft.
“Catch.” He called as he tossed me the life jackets and raft.
While he made his way back towards us, I quickly put mine as well as Snow’s jacket on.
Quinn reached us just as I snapped the last clip into place on Snow’s jacket.
He strapped one of the jackets on to himself and turned towards me,
“You’re ready?” He asked and I nodded lifting Snow up as he climbed up to the hatch’s entrance.
“Pass her on.” He called down and I lifted Snow up. He grabbed a hold of her ruined top, tearing it a bit more nearly dropping her, but quickly snatched her up, tossing her over his shoulder.
“You’re next.’ He said about to crouch down to pull me up when I grabbed hold of the hatch frame and said, “I can do it myself.” I placed my foot on the light switch to give myself a foothold and hauled myself to the top.
Quinn gave me an encouraging smile but I glanced away, looking down at the water and finally saw the water level.
“Quinn, I can see the water and it’s rising really fast.” I said starting to panic just a tiny bit.
“Good.” He said hooking his arm through the raft bag’s handles and looking like he was getting ready to jump into it.
“Good? How is this good?” I asked glancing back at the water.
“It’s good because we’re going to hitch a ride up.”
“You mean you’re not going to open the raft inside the corridor?” I asked seeing the giant flaw in his plan.
“No, it’s too big to open in this tight space, and it won’t fit through the porthole.”
“We’re going to have to jump into that water? Do you know how cold that water is? We can go into shock and die in a matter of minutes.” I said already panicking.
“We’re Lykens, we can withstand the frigid waters of the South Pole. Unlike a human, we burn at a higher temperature. It’s why we prefer the colder regions.” He said winking at me, making me blush.
“Hold tight.” He said as we balanced on an exposed pipe. He turned and firmly closed the hatch.
“Ready?” He asked and I nodded, and took the leap with him into the water without really thinking about what exactly I was doing.
I took a few deep breathes to prepare myself for the icy cold waters but it didn’t help.
I gasped at the temperature, the cold choking my voice, causing me to make a strangled sound. It was so cold it felt like my bone where freezing over. I could feel my body heat leaving me as it was replaced with the cold.
There were bits of debris in the water. Bits of metal, wood, cloth and I had a feeling that just below me was a dead body… Block it out Sammy.
Snow stirred when we jumped into the water, muttering in delirium, but she wasn’t able to move much or even open her eyes. She was in pretty bad shape if she hadn’t woken up from this intense cold.
I began to shiver. “W-what d-d-do we do now?” I asked half expecting him to open up the raft for us to get it even though he said that he wouldn’t and we were already in the water.
“You see that porthole over th-there?” I looked in the direction he was pointing; just above us to the left was a round window large enough for us to fit through. I nodded to show that I understood, and he continued.
“When the waters get high enough, jump in and float with it to the t-top. You’re going to have to hold Snow while I try to open the portholes latch. Once we’re outside, the water will pull you down-“
“What?!” He didn’t just say that I would be…pulled down?
“As the ship sinks, it’ll pull you with it. Kick as hard as you can to get to the surface. Your life jacket should do most of the work, but you’re still going to have to swim to the surface, otherwise you might be under too long and drown. You got it?” He asked me while I numbly nodded my head. All I could think about was that I might drown in this frigid waters, end up like a Popsicle in the middle of nowhere. This wasn’t how I pictured myself dying, in fact drowning in a watery grave was never the way for me… not that I had seen my death or anything, it’s just that… I don’t want to die here… now, at the bottom of the world.
“Samantha, you can do this. Don’t panic, we’ll make it out of here, I promise.” Quinn said looking me straight in the eye. I wanted to trust him so badly, I wanted to believe in him so much, but his betrayal was still fresh and getting me to even follow him was a mission. I nodded numbly, seeing no other way out of this place. My mind was practically on auto pilot, just doing whatever Quinn said, fear and panic making me incapable of thinking for myself.
I began to shiver violently as the water pushed us further up, staying afloat was hard, because my limbs felt frozen in place.
“When we near the top, the water will flood the passageway. You’ll need to hold onto something so that you don’t get swept away. You’ll need to hold on really tight while I open the latch to the porthole, let me know immediately if you feel like you’re slipping or can’t hold on any longer. Understood?” Quinn said and I nodded. In the back of my mind I was wondering why he was so calm about this situation while I was freaking out.
Soon the water had pushed us to the top and I had to grabbed hold of an exposed pipe. Wrapping my arms around it and Snow as the water forced its way past us. The enormous force the water had rushed up and through the corridor and fighting it was like trying to fight a strong tide when your feet could barely touch the ground.
Quinn jumped up; trying to grab hold of a pipe line just above the porthole, but the current was so strong that it pushed him away making him miss the pipe.
“Quinn.” I yelled and he was swept away from the porthole.
He was thrown into a welded down bench, nearly nocking the breath out of him. He was pushed five feet away but with the strong current he might as well have been miles away.
“I’m okay, just hold on.” He called back as he slowly made his way back to the porthole. The boat was sinking fast and I was afraid that he wouldn’t get the latch open in time for all of us to get through and out of the immediate danger.
He got to the porthole and opened the latch after wiggling it a bit. I was first through the hole and then Snow.
“You’re next.” I called down after I set Snow aside.
“First the raft.” He said passing the raft to me.
As I grabbed hold of the raft, something that looked like a table went straight into Quinn, knocking him away from the porthole.
“QUINN NOOOO.” I called after him as I watched him being pulled down by the rushing water.
“Quinn.” I whispered and then the water was gushing out of the hole.
I grabbed hold of Snow as well as slipping the straps of the raft onto my shoulder and took a deep breath before we were sucked down with the ship.
It wasn’t long before the ship as well as Snow and myself, were being pulled under by the sinking ship.
I felt like a tiny fish being flushed down the toilet, the force that we were being pulled under was too much. I was struggling to hold onto Snow and the life raft. Holding on to that pipe while I was being slapped around by the south pole’s frigid waters in a sinking ship didn’t help my energy much.
I felt Snow slipping as her body jerked from lack of air. I had no choice but to let go of the life raft and hoped that we would find it when we surfaced. I watched as it floated to the top and got a better grip of Snow.
I kicked hard to fight the pulling force but it just kept pulling me down. I could feel the air leaving my lungs and Snow’s body jerking was lessening, which only made me freak out more.
Suddenly I felt something wrap around my waist, I kicked out and looked behind me to see Quinn. I had never been so happy to see anyone in my whole life as he held onto me and helped get me to the surface.
I pushed Snow up and a millisecond later I broke the surface with a sputtering cough. I turned to Snow, because I couldn’t hear a heart beat.
“Quinn, oh my god, oh my god. She’s not breathing, what do I do?” I said placing my ear to her chest to confirm my fears. Oh my god, Snow’s dead… Snow’s dead. I felt my eyes well up. I couldn’t save her.
Quinn pulled her out of my arms; I hadn’t even realized that he had swam over towards us. He pinched Snow’s nose close and began CPR. After a few failed attempts, she coughed up the water and began breathing normally, but she still didn’t wake up.
“Y-you did it. You saved her… Thank you.” I said reaching for her to hold her close to me.
“You’re welcome.” He said swimming to what I realized was the life raft. He pulled a cord and the raft inflated. He then flipped it over and helped us into the boat.
It was colder outside of the water now that we were wet and if we stayed in our wet clothes in this weather, we would be sure to freeze to death.
“H-here wr-r-rap Snow and y-yourself in this.” Quinn said handing over a space blanket.
“Thanks.” I said wasting no time in opening and then wrapping Snow and myself in the blanket. I was shivering so badly that it took me a few tries to get it right.
“W-what about you?” I asked noticing how violently Quinn was shaking.
“I’m f-fine. It’ll only g-get in the way.” He said as he looked around the raft.
I rubbed my arms to warm myself up and glanced around, a few of the ships were still standing and I could see the guards as well as some people milling on the other ships. A man spotted us and began pointing towards us. He pulled a spotlight on us and there was a huge commotion on that boat.
“We need to get out of here. We can loose them on shore.” Quinn said seeing the same man.
He found a paddle and began to row towards the shore.
“There’s an underground b-banker that has b-been abandoned for y-years. Hopefully no-one knows about it. We can make camp th-there tonight, heat up and then we get moving again in the m-morning.” Quinn said and I nodded looking back at the remaining boats. We were far out of danger, but at least we were free… well sort of, Snow and I still had our collars on and it looked like hers had reactivated as soon as we had left the arena. I hope this hidden bunker had a phone maybe a heater or something to warm us up.