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He changed direction and took us deeper.
The creature passed no more than a yard above my head. It displaced the water, sending a rolling underwater wave, knocking us off course.
Nighteko kept on swimming and I marveled at how he could hold his breath, swim, and carry me all at the same time.
The guy was a god.
He worked his muscles hard as he began to rise back up again. We breached the surface. I was surprised to find we were on the beach.
“Run!” Nighteko gasped.
“But we’re out of the water,” I said.
“Run!”
We took off up the beach, heading directly away from the shoreline. I had no idea why we were running. The creature was stuck in the water. I hadn’t noticed any legs earlier. I glanced over my shoulder.
Oh.
The creature threw itself bodily from the water, beaching itself. It brought its huge jaws around and snapped at us. I could have leaped forward, hoping the extra inches would give me the distance I needed, but I didn’t. I just kept on running.
There was an enormous crash as the creature’s jaws slammed shut, like banging the door on an empty steel container.
I didn’t stop, didn’t look back, not until Nighteko slumped to the sand on his hands and knees.
The powerful Titan was exhausted.
I rolled onto my back and perched on my elbows as my body fought to replenish its oxygen reserves. The giant creature shifted its enormous body side to side—not toward us, but back, back into the ocean from whence it came.
I slumped back, my head striking the sand.
“What a welcome,” I said.
Nighteko’s fever was back with a vengeance. He’d exhausted himself and the sickness was ready to take advantage.
I made him as comfortable as I could. The sun was warm and already doing a good job of drying our clothes. I gathered up firewood from the fringes of the jungle. I peered into the darkness and the thick vines and trees. Strange and alien sounds whooped and whistled and cawed.
A world of danger. An alien world.
Darkness descended quickly. I was glad I’d thought to gather up the firewood. Setting it ablaze, on the other hand, turned out to be a lot harder than I thought. It always looked so easy in the movies and documentaries I’d seen. I rubbed the sticks together for two hours but it was no good.
Not a single lousy spark.
The sun set and brought a chill in the air. I couldn’t wait any longer. I was cold and starving. I leaned over Nighteko to wake him.
He rolled over and muttered something about his father, about him going somewhere and leaving him behind…
Whatever happened to him in his youth, it couldn’t have been anything good.
I decided not to wake him. After all, I wouldn’t die from not eating for a few hours.
My stomach growled and Nighteko’s eyes shot open. He started awake and reached back for something. He was looking for his blade—the one buried in the wooden frame of his bed. When he didn’t find it, he was awake enough to realize he wasn’t in his quarters anymore.
His head flopped back on the soft sand. “I thought I woke up from a nightmare. But it happened, didn’t it? The Challenge, the escape pod, and the swim?”
“It did,” I said.
Nighteko got to his feet and stretched.
