Yarri was sitting in her cabin and waiting. Under normal circumstances, she was a very patient person – you cannot be a good hunter without the ability to remain still for long periods of time. But this was a different kind of waiting. Waiting for something that she couldn’t possibly influence. Waiting trapped in a small room on a small ship in the middle of nothing, nowhere to run or hide if things go sideways. Waiting for a possible death.

She growled angrily and for the millionth time swore to herself she would never go on another boat ever again. Shaela jumped up to her feet and hissed, sensing danger. Just a second later, Yarri could feel it too – the ship was going a bit up and shaking. There was a loud noise from all the water trying to tear the ship apart and then silence, followed by loud cheering. [i]‘Hmm, this wasn’t that bad,’[/i] Yarri thought, before glancing at Shaela.

The cougar was alerted, growling, her ears lying flat towards the back of her head and the fur on her back and tail bristled. Yarri froze. She didn’t remember seeing Shaela this horrified before. She quickly jumped up and collected her weapons, tying them closely together and then to a strap around her body. She rushed out of the cabin and then stood in the corridor, unsure of what to do.

The sea decided it for her – suddenly the floor jumped up, throwing her to the ceiling, then back down and then everything rotated around, sending her flying around like a ragged doll. When things finally stood still, Yarri got up on her shaky legs. There was a light blinking right beneath her feet. The ship really did turn upside down, which meant it would quickly start filling up with water. Suppressing the horrifying thought that the ship is already halfway to the bottom of the ocean, with just a few bubbles of air remaining below the deck, she turned around to look for Shaela.

The cougar jumped out of the cabin door, slightly bloodied from hitting something, but alive and without serious injuries. “Fuck this ship,” Yarri mumbled, remembering that the captain said to go to the escape hatches. Fortunately, there were glowing arrows to guide the way. “Fuck the ocean.” There were some bodies lying on the ground, one man clearly dead with his head hanging in a sharp angle, and a young woman, unconscious, but breathing. Yarri picked her up, muttering all the curses she knew, and continued to the escape hatch.

Finally getting to the hatch, she saw one of the crewmembers, helping people get out of the ship, giving them life jackets. There were a few small boats around the hatch and people were boarding them. “Did you check the B2 corridor?” the crewmember yelled at another one, who was coming to the hatch, supporting two bleeding and limping people.

The man just shook his head. “It is starting to fill with water, there is no time.”

“Which way is it?” Yarri shouted at the crewmembers.

“There is no time!”

“Just shut up and show me the way!”

The crewmember just shook his head and pointed to one of the corridors. “It is the second one to the left. We can’t wait much longer.”

“Then don’t. Take Shaela on a boat if there is space.” She handed the unconscious girl to him and sent the cougar out of the hatch. [i]‘Why the hell am I doing this?’[/i] she thought, running around the corridor and checking rooms. There were already few inches of cold water on the ground and its level seemed to be increasing faster than she would like. All of the rooms she had checked were empty. She kicked the door to the last cabin, finding two kids kneeling beside their father. The man had a badly broken leg, a piece of the bone was sticking out bellow his knew.

“Save my children,” he mumbled when he saw her.

“To hell with this.” She quickly grabbed him and put him over her shoulder, making him scream loudly when his injured leg moved. “Run by the arrows, I will help your father,” she told the kids. “NOW!” she yelled when they hesitated, making them dart out of the cabin.

Yarri was much slower now, the man wasn’t of the lightest and the fact that she had to wade knee-high water also didn’t help much. Grunting and panting heavily she made it to the escape hatch, relieved to see that the kids were entering the last boat. The man she was carrying was silent now, she hoped that he had only lost his consciousness. The crewmember to whom she talked before jumped back to the ship, helping her with the man. The hatch was now barely above the sea level and as Yarri jumped out of the ship, the water started pouring in.

They put the father into the boat and the crewmember jumped in, grabbing a paddle. “Come on!” he yelled at her, but Yarri, waist down in the water by then, suddenly felt a strong pull back. The ship started to sink fast, creating a swirling vortex of water currents. She didn’t have time to scream out or even take a deeper breath as she was pulled under water and dragged mercilessly back to the escape hatch.
Acting more from an instinct than some conscious thought, she took out a dagger and shoved it to the ship’s hull. She must have been lucky to hit some gap between the platings, because the dagger went in. She desperately held to it with both hands, the only thought on her mind being that if she would get sucked back into the ship, she would end up at the bottom of the sea with it.

When the crazy currents finally calmed down a little, Yarri faced a new problem – she was being dragged down with the ship now, already several meters deep. She bounced off the hull as hard as she could towards the light that signalized the water surface. Her lungs were burning already, her brain desperately ordering her mouth to open and breathe in.

[i]‘Well I could sure use the stupid life jacked now,’[/i] she thought as she finally pierced the water surface. Breathing heavily, she tried to keep her head above water. Looking around, she saw some wreckage from the ship, and, to her huge relief, a boat heading towards her. When they pulled her in, she could just lie there, coughing and panting.

She must have fallen asleep for a bit, because when she opened her eyes, the boat was already ashore, its passengers walking around, confused and shaken. The crewmembers were trying to organize things and to make sure that everyone’s injuries would be taken care of. She sighed with relief when she saw Shaela running towards her. She scratched her under the chin. “Let’s not do ‘that’ again.”

Yarri looked around. Under other circumstances the beach could be considered a beautiful place. Now, filled with people, boats, wreckage and also what seemed to be a line of dead bodies, you wouldn’t probably consider it a great vacation destination. The beach ended at the tree line and Yarri headed towards it. She wasn’t really sure of what to do – her conscience commanded her to stay here and help take care of the people, especially as it seemed that the nearest civilization is rather far away from here. But she rarely listened to her conscience. In fact, until a few hours ago, she didn’t even know she had one. The smart thing would be to just disappear. Especially since the hunters were on board, at she saw at least one of them survived.

Still hesitant, she examined the edge of the forest, looking for signs of danger. Or signs of potential food. Shaela followed her quietly, carefully sniffing every tree and every rock.