Page 10 of Eat Me Alive
All hell breaks loose. It’s like a bad horror movie with ridiculous antagonists unfolding right before me. They mentioned thetwenty-foot waveslike it’s just a minor inconvenience. The additionalkeep smiling,stay pretty,tootsis clearly a dig at the women. It makes me slam my hands to Ingar’s chest again.
I’m not proud that I’m laying my hands on him, but this rage and fear needs to go somewhere.
Just then, a massive wave hits the ship. It creaks loudly as our center of gravity shifts. Everything is going sideways, objects falling from shelves, chairs sliding and slamming to the side. Everyone attempts to hold the closest grounded thing, some failing and just slipping, unable to do anything about it.
Ingar holds on to a pipe he could reach and grip my wrist tight, holding me still.
Thunder roared as the sky rips open, rain pouring down until I can barely see anything outside. It’s so loud that we have to scream at each other.
“What?!” He snarls.
“Did they send us out here to die?!” I snarl back.
“No.” Is the only thing he says.
My frustration grows as the screaming grows louder. All I can do is ride out my extreme fear of the ocean. The ceaseless groaning and creaking of wood, crashing waves, and thunder makes thinking clearly impossible.
Another woman, Laura, slips and slides to the other end of the ship. She claws the tilting floor in panic.
Heart pounding, I yell at Ingar, “Hold on to my leg!” as I dove toward Laura.
I barely hear him curse before his hand circles around my ankle. I catch her hand, but she’s slipping fast. She’s covered in some transparent goo that makes it harder to hold on. A window breaks open and water splashes our tense bodies.
“Please, please, don’t let me go.” Laura whimpers, tears forming in her dark eyes.
From behind her, an enormous figure hovers. I can only watch her as our hands slip farther and farther.
“Lin! Let go, we’re slipping!” Ingar bellows.
“No, no, no!” I scream as I attempt to claw after her. The shadow behind her rips her away from me. My breath is knocked out of me as Ingar reels me back in.
I watch in stark horror at the enormous glowing tentacle that has curled itself around Laura’s limp body. My teeth clack hard from the cold, and I realize we are all soaked in the same goo as Laura had been.
He rips his shirt off, making a knot that wraps both our wrists together. As long as Ingar holds on, I’m safe. Fear grips me by the back of my neck as—through my foggy glasses—I see the enormous hole that had been the mess room. The tentacle is colossal, its size beyond my comprehension. It slams the deck, and I can see its suckers with terrible circular rings of teeth bigger than cars. It collides with the ship one last time before slithering into the ocean.
“Oh my god, Laura…” I blubber. I can’t seem to form coherent words. I’m so cold, so scared, so…I don’t know. My hand’s numb, the circulation in my hand cut off as I hang from Ingar’s hold.
I can’t see the others, but I hear them. I hear the hysteria, the disbelief, the weight of our situation slamming down upon them. The giant waves gradually calmed. I can’t begin to wrap my head around what’s happening. One moment, it’s icy cold, then it’s bright and sunny, the rays of the sun stinging my eyes.
The heat’s dry and uncomfortable. Ingar’s instructing the staff who are sliding through the floor like they’ve done this so many times. They begin to pick the girls up, straightening them likeobjects. They act like there isn’t a humungous hole in the mess room.
He drags me with him and within a few seconds, we are on the ship’s broken deck. Approximately a hundred meters away, we can see a cluster of islands.
Not possible.
“Hello ladies and gents. Captain Moriarty again. The ship’s a little janky, but still functional. Worry not! Right in front of you is the Esoterran archipelago. A sprawling seven million square kilometers of water and land brimming with life. Sounds like the perfect island getaway, right? Now, you’d ask me, ‘but Captain, what’s wrong with Esoterra?’ Well, guess what, this island’s just in need of pretty girls like you. Please enjoy your stay for the rest of your lives. Again, this is Captain—”
A woman hacks the speakers into pieces with an axe, the anger in her palpable. I don’t blame her. This “Captain” is fucking obnoxious. God, he even has me swearing like a sailor.
“Seven million square kilometers…” I tremble in my boots. “That’s three times bigger than the Amazon rainforest. That’s not geographically possible. The map—”
“I wouldn’t trust the map.” Ingar slices his shirt off us and I can finally feel my hand again.
I massage my wrist as I notice him eagerly gaze on the island. He hides it well, but I can tell in his eyes—he can’t wait to step foot into Esoterra. The closer we get, the more women gather to stare at the islands. The biggest one is wrapped, protected by a wall of ten-foot mangroves. Front and center of it, I can only stare in amazement.
I swallow thickly.
“Holy shit!” I hear someone gasp.
