Allie's War Episodes 1-4(119)

Leaving me by the pulleys on one side of the segmented metal sheet, he jogged to the bottom of the ramp and hit a red button. I gripped a segment of wall in my hands and just watched as the massive door opened, gears grinding, with a rattle of rusted chains.
Churning ocean roared through the gap.
The opening sat low enough in the water that curls of spray shot up the sides of the ship, wetting the deck and me along with it. Wind and spray plastered my shirt to my skin. Pale light framed the clouds, illuminating edges.
Unbelievably, it was nearing dawn.
Eliah looked at his watch. He held one of the chains by the roll door, swaying slightly in the motion of the ship. He caught my eye, smiled reassuringly.
“You all right there, love? That knee looks like it smarts some.”
“Where’s Revik?” I said, loud enough to be heard over the wind.
He hesitated. Letting go of the chain, he walked over to me, digging a hand into the front pocket of his dark pants. Once he had whatever it was, he held out a hand, motioned for me to take what he held.
“Go on.” He motioned for me to hold out my hand until I did, palm up, under his.
Something cold fell into it.
I focused on the silver ring.
He didn’t have to tell me where he’d gotten it.
“I’m sorry, love,” he said again.
I stared at the ring, unable to make my mind react.
“He was ambushed. Five of them, at least. It looked like they tried to save his life after they shot him down...probably to bring him in alive. But he was dead when Chan and I finally broke through.”
When I didn’t speak, Eliah caught hold of my arm, his eyes serious.
“Allie...love. I know this is a shock. I know it. But I need you to focus right now. Put him out of your mind, love. Just for now, okay?” When I still didn’t answer, he shook my arm lightly, forcing my eyes up to his. “If it gets down to the wire, you and me, we might have to jump. Now I know you’re wounded, but you’re a seer, so that’s not as bad as it sounds. You’ll live, easy. But it’ll hurt. And that cold’ll be something you remember to your grave...”
I stumbled when he released me, catching hold of one of the hanging chains.
The wind tore at his words.
“There, now, love. I’m sorry, I truly am. But we can’t fall apart. Or we’ll end up like him. Then his sacrifice would be for nothing, right? You can hold it together for him, can’t you? Just a few minutes more. Then we’ll be in the clear.”
I stared over the side of the ship. The water churned, white foam and dark blue beneath an overcast sky. It looked like liquid ice.
Eliah blew on his hands, checked his watch again.
“We can’t wait much longer, love,” he said. “Why don’t you—”
The rhythmic thud-thud-thud-thud of helicopter blades erupted low over the water, making both of us jump. I heard Eliah curse as one set of propellers joined another, then another...until a fleet of dark gray Apaches was passing by and over the cruise ship, riding over the light of first dawn. The sight was so surreal that all I could do was stare, watching them go by like a fleet of metal hornets. Eliah grabbed my arm just as they were nearing, pulling me into shadow behind the lip of the square opening...
And I found myself with him, inside his mind.
...Flashes fill the Barrier sky.
Lightning cracks downward from overhead clouds. All over the ship, bursts of staccato charges fall, plummeting around military helicopters as they fly past in formation, shining with a faint silver light. The bursts don’t come from the helicopters, but from the metallic, cloud ceiling above, falling like bombs.
I’m still staring upwards as a light-bomb falls from almost straight overhead.
Eliah grabs me with hands of light, pulls me away to narrowly miss being hit by a second bomb I hadn’t seen...
A net, he tells me. They are looking for you, Allie. And for me.
Looking for you, I repeat numbly.
I wince from a sudden, sharp pain at the back of my neck.
Eliah stares at my hand clutching that pain, at my fingers rubbing my own neck in reflex. Then, unexpectedly, he grins, his eyes shining with moonstone light.
Well, he says. That’s good news, at least.
When I look down, I find I am gripping the silver ring so tightly it digs into the skin of my palm. Through the Barrier, I gaze down the length of the ship, no longer caring who sees me. I let myself fall deeper...
...and without warning, he is there.
Revik lies broken on a patterned carpet, his neck at an odd angle. A metal collar circles it, and the skin there twitches, dancing under a coarse electric charge. He is covered in blood. His chest isn’t moving...
We’re losing him! A doctor kneels beside him. Goddamn it! He really will kill us. Did you see his face when those eyes lit up—?