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I don’t even worry about making Shepherd bleed as my nails sink into his skin.
A startled bark erupts just as we start falling, and for a weird second, it’s almost like we’re floating in zero gravity.
Dear God.
Please be all right, Molly.
Please don’t let us die.
Please, please don’t let this be the end.
A desperate plea, a prayer for an end that’s coming way too fast as I’m tumbling in Shepherd’s arms, too dizzy to know if we’re still standing on the ground or completely airborne.
I just feel the bone-jarring crash a few seconds later and my vision shorts out.
Everything turns white and then instant black.
* * *
“Destiny? Dess, wake up!”Shepherd’s voice floats down from a mile away, but it only takes a second to become so much closer.
I blink my eyes open as he shakes me.
“Oh, fuck. Thank God.” He’s holding me while I shake off a numbness that feels like I’ve been sleeping on my arms and legs for ages.
I blink my eyes awake and sit up in his arms.
“Can you stand? Go slow, lady.”
“What happened? Are... are you okay?” There’s a dull ache behind my eyes, but I’m grateful I’m still breathing.
“Took a nasty fall. We can’t tell if the hull’s been breached and we’re taking on water.”
Yep, here we go.
It wasn’t just a terrible nightmare.
“Shepherd, is Molly—”
“She took less of a beating than you. Shit, if I hadn’t pulled you aside in time, I don’t want to think about it.”
I look past to where he’s staring and see a dent in the wall. Next to it, there’s a heavy chest on its side with equipment spilling out, the bungees that should’ve secured it broken.
It isn’t hard to see I would’ve been crushed.
“Stay with Molly,” he tells me, gesturing to the dog.
She’s standing up and looking at me, her tail curled and her ears perked, but mostly she seems relieved I’m on my feet again.
She’s not the only one.
I settle in next to her, rubbing a bruise on my leg, while Shepherd goes to work with Captain Juan, who has a nasty new gash across his head.
The instruments are still out, but we’ve got a few faint emergency lights back.
The men work furiously at the main controls, manual levers and a steering wheel which take their combined strength to turn.
The only thing we have left is pure muscle, forcing the rudder this way and that, steering this thing manually. At least that must mean they were able to pull up the anchor and save us from being stranded out here.
