Panic. The surface loomed overhead like a rippling cold light at the end of a black tunnel. Body weak. Groans of a dying, broken machine called deep and loud through the water dragging it down to its tomb. Lungs on fire. All around equipment, supplies, clothes, refuse and corpses drifted in the currents slowly rising or sinking. Too far. A survivor broke the surface with a desperate gasp, wild splashing, and ragged coughing. Alive.

She floundered, stumbled and dragged herself up the beach, collapsing just out of reach of the lapping blue waves, and closed her eyes against the blinding sun. Sand and salt were already forming an uncomfortable crust in her hair and on her skin, but she didn't care. After the swim her limbs felt like heavy, detached slabs of meat, her wrists stung where the shackles had cut them, her throat and lungs felt like they were full of needles, her heart slammed against her bones with every pulse. Cursed ancient steam technology.

Vivid images played in her mind back and forth over and over again as she lay there catching her breath. The screaching and the flooding and the screaming. She saw the guard who freed her and the other prisoners she had left behind. Chaos when they rushed to escape. Darkness when the fires went out. Cold when the black waters overtook them. Were they all dead? Was she dead? Was this real?

Birds sang somewhere in the distance. Strange foreign songs she had never heard. A breeze rustled foliage and carried the fresh scent of the sea to mingle with the sweet earthy scents of sand, over growth and decay. It was all lulling her into an exhausted sleep. She forced her eyes open a little when she heard footsteps and rolled over to see who was there with her. Intense, tearing, pain. The man had her by the scalp before she got a look at him.

[b]"Ow! NO!"[/b] immediately she screamed out and clung to his hand struggling to stand as he drug her along.

"Get up!" he shouted, "You're coming with me."

[b]"LET GO!"[/b] she screamed again. This time she dug her nails deeply into his flesh, clawing and wrenching her body furiously.

He hissed, the skin being torn from his arm, and she was dropped. Still her limbs felt numb and unwieldy, but she scrambled away from him as fast as she could. It wasn't fast enough. In an instant he was on her with a tackle that knocked the wind from her chest. She threw an elbow that collided with his head. A firm hand clenched around her neck and forced her face into the sand before her body was flipped. Sand burned in her eyes but she could see the attacker on top of her.

"Listen, bitch!" he spat, "The more you fight the worse it--"

She managed to throw a punch into his teeth before he could finish but there wasn't enough power behind it. Another was following but he held her shoulders down and it went nowhere. He pinned both her hands down above her head and slammed a knee down on her thigh. She screamed again, this time in agony. He had her wrists in one of his fists. His free hand yanked the top of her pants downward. No. She clenched her teeth, rolling and wriggling with everything she had. Not strong enough. Her breath was catching when the disgusting creature touched her skin. [i]CRACK![/i] It was like weight loss and stress relief via sledgehammer.

He was gone. Something hot splattered across her cheek. She wasted no time bolting upright and blindly squirmed away several feet before stopping and trying to get the rest of the sand out of her eyes. Tears streamed down her face doing their best to carry the grains away. She blinked and tried to focus on the newcomer now in front of her. Another man. She looked around and saw her attacker, a crumpled pile of flesh and bones, an impossible distance away.

Should she run? Was he going to try to hurt her too? What next? Where should she go? What should she do? The shipwreck, nearly drowning, the attack, her surroundings, it was too much. She froze up. Sebastian. He was holding a hand out to her. Her head was swimming as she stared between his hand and his face in silence. No.

With bloodshot eyes she glared up and slid away from the man. Her teeth clenched. She watched him carefully. Ungainly, confused, scared, weak, but feirce she got to her feet with shaking knees on her own.

[b]"Don't touch me,"[/b] she muttered.

She took a couple wobbling steps back until she felt like the distance between them was more in her favor. Again she looked at the dead man down the beach...

[b]"I'm..."[/b] she faultered, [b]"How did... Don't... Thank you,"[/b] she finally managed.