Chapter 16
The Cataract
“Merciless and cruel picnic…” murmured Sharine.
Sharine glimpsed at the angry people that came back with their masters. They were fully armed and angrily shooting down at the stairs. Kevin fired at them back with his machine gun, leaning himself against the wall.
Sharine was shooting at them up, more were coming. They had to act quickly or they will be dead in seconds.
“Hold’em back!” said Sharine, firing upstairs with her pistol. The angry shouts became louder.
Sharine went back down to the room and reached for the one of the bats inside the cage. It screeched and bit her.
“You fuck!” Sharine shouted and punched the bat. The cage dropped. All bats went frenzy and went out, flying everywhere. Sharine grabbed one of them in the air and ran up the stairs.
There were awful yelling and shouting with the language they did not understand. Sharine hurriedly tied the bat a grenade. The bat screeched and tried to bite her, but Sharine managed to tie the grenade on the bat’s leg by wrapping around the string. Few bullets flew by and Sharine ducked. She glimpsed at the shrieking bat and released it. The bat flew, completely freaked out.
“Fly baby fly,” said Sharine.
Sharine grabbed Kevin and they laid flat on the stair. There was a loud explosion, it shook the cave. The utter silence followed. Sharine and Kevin looked up the stairs and saw the cloud of dust. They raised their gun and went up slowly. When they got up, they saw the pile of corpses. Sharine sighed in relief. Kevin was too shock to say anything.
“See? You are lucky to have me,” muttered Sharine, grabbing one of the machine gun the soldiers were holding and gave it to Kevin. “Now let’s go to this door.”
Sharine entered the stair on the left. They walked for a while. It was dark; Kevin’s torch lightened the way. They heard the sound of the running water. Few bats leered at them from the ceiling. Slowly they moved and saw the light from a distance; Kevin lowered the torch and set it on the ground. They moved quietly toward it. When they arrived, there was an old man dozing from his chair, snoring with his mouth drooling. He was grabbing a paddle on his right hand and the other paddle was on the floor. Next to him, there was a boat tied to the pillar. They tiptoed and got on the boat. The boat creaked and moved toward the stream. There was a rope connected to the other side, they grabbed it so that they won’t get sucked into the stream. The water was pretty rough.
“Look!” said Sharine, pointing at the pile of grain sack on the other side. Suddenly the old man started screaming from behind. They looked back and saw the creatures attacking an old man, devouring him.
They were shocked, and started paddling faster. But, before they could reach the other side, there were bunch of creatures swimming toward them. They snarled and bit the paddle and tried to climb up the boat. Kevin opened fire but they kept coming and coming. During the struggle, Sharine let go of the rope as one of them jumped into the boat and swung the whole thing. Sharine shot the creature in the head multiple times and kicked it; it squealed and fell back to the water. Kevin was shooting at the water and he shot the paddle on the way. It vibrated intensely and shattered into pieces.
“Shit,” said he. Sharine’s jaw dropped. Next moment they were gliding with the violent current. They screamed and grabbed the boat for their dear lives.
The stream was intense and fast. There was a blinding ray of sun, they were grabbing the rack. They felt like the ground disappeared. There were white sprinkles of water in the air. She gasped, couldn’t breathe, they fell from immense height and plunged into the water. The shivering water surrounded them. The mists were swooshing up from the white foam of water.
She was inside the water. She opened her eyes desperately, it was cold and freezing, every part of her muscles was screaming. She looked above, there were bubbles forming in spiral. The fragments of boat were floating; she looked around and saw Kevin whirling around like a doll. She swam, grabbed him and rose to the surface.
She breathed into the air, coughing; Kevin was unconscious. She felt intense dizziness but managed to swim toward the shallow water. She dragged him out, her strength was failing. She saw him not breathing, his face was pale. She dragged him out to the land and kneeled. She pushed his chest with her both hands few times. She felt as if the blood is being sucked out from her brain. She looked down, the vision blurred; she started punching Kevin’s chest, blew his mouth, and punched his chest again. She knew she is not doing it properly but she was desperate to carry it out. After few bashing, Kevin puked water in the air, and started screaming.
He pushed Sharine away and started coughing. Sharine sat, shuddering, and looked at Kevin. Sharine smiled in relief, seeing him alive, and she just passed out.
How much time it passed, she didn’t know. She had many dreams which she doesn’t quite remember clearly. There were bunch of feverish illusion. She remembers waking up, seeing the camp fire and falling asleep in the next moment. She dreamt about her past, all the horrible thing which happened to her, the blood and darkness, the torture and murder. She was crying in the dark alone. There were many men and women screaming. There were hideous laughter and delirious cheers. Sharine felt like she was slowly drowning. She choked and couldn’t breathe. She struggled and her body started shaking violently. And then she gasped, waking up. She had a throbbing headache, her forehead drenched with sweat. She grabbed her head and breathed deeply.
The vision blurred, she tried to see; she was covered in Kevin’s ripped, shabby jacket. She felt a cold pain over her stomach. She groaned; her body felt like stone, countless needles poking every part.
“Good God, you are alive,” said Kevin, startled by her sudden movement, approached her and calmed her down. Sharine sat, her hands on her forehead, breathing in and out. She sensed the warmth, protecting her from the cold air. She move to the side and crawled a little toward the side of the warmth. Something smelt good. She closed her eyes, and fell asleep.
She opened her eyes slowly, groaning. She pushed herself up and sat, covering her face with hands. A moment later Sharine sensed Kevin poking her back. A delicious smell traveled through the air; she turned around and looked at the fish on the flat rock. Without much of a thought she ate desperately; there were no bones as Kevin removed them all. Kevin took another bowl and gave it to her. She saw Kevin, half naked. He looked shallow and old.
“Did I sleep for few years? Dumbass, what’s up with your…” said Sharine, and stopped talking. She started trembling.
“What is that?” murmured Sharine, staring at Kevin’s leg.
A tear dropped from her eyes. His leg was gone, he looked like a skeleton. She was shaking. Kevin was leaning on the tree.
“What happened?” said Sharine, looking at his bony cheekbone.
“It’s nothing; it was dangling anyway when I woke up,” muttered Kevin, looking at the waterfall. “From the fall I guess,”
“And you just went out to catch a fish?” said Sharine, angrily. “Are you a mad?”
“You had the piece of wood sticking in your body, and you saved my life. What kind of man do you think I am? It is the least thing I can do,” Kevin chuckled,
Sharine lifted up her shirt, and saw Kevin’s T shirt wrapped around her waist, the sharp pain aroused.
“You are one tough fellow,” muttered Sharine. “Did you really cut your leg off?”
“I shot it, it was dangling anyway…” said Kevin, smiling, tapping his gun. “While I dozed for a while, some of the creatures went by and took my leg.”
“… Pathetic,” muttered Sharine, she grabbed his face and pulled it toward her, and she stared at his eyes for a moment, and she kissed him.