The Abyss Surrounds Us Read Online Free Page B

can do nothing but watch as Durga’s thick blood paints the sea.
    Now I’m sure it’s not just the smoke. Tears roll down my cheeks, and I go limp in the grip of whoever’s restrained me. They can kill me now. They can do whatever they like. Everything’s gone still, and even though I can hear the chaos of the pirates taking the Nereid behind me, it sounds like it’s on the other side of a glass wall.
    I’ve failed.
    The grip on me loosens, and I can finally twist around and look my captor in the face. She’s about my age. Her blonde hair is desperately trying to recover from a sideshave, and she’s got a feral grin on her lips. “Boss,” she says, and the woman with the rocket launcher turns. “I think we’re going to want to bring this one along.”

4
    The girl keeps my hands twisted behind my back as she hustles me toward the pirate ship, forcing me to step over the bodies that litter the hallways. Their uniforms mark them as the Nereid ’s crew, and the guns in their hands mark them as the ones who put up a fight.
    Her captain leads the way, the rocket launcher stowed in favor of a submachine gun that she cradles like a newborn child. In the early August heat, her brown skin is dappled with sweat, and she has her wildly curly hair bound back underneath her hat.
    I don’t know what’s going on. All I know is that yesterday I’d never seen death up close and now I’m surrounded by it.
    â€œLock her in one of the closets. We’ll deal with her later,” the captain says. Gunfire rings out from somewhere down the hall, and she rolls her eyes. “Sounds like this bucket’s putting up more of a fight than anticipated. I’ll go see what needs shooting.” She pivots and strides back into the depths of the ship, her coat flapping behind her.
    The girl shrugs, then pushes me forward again, gentler than when the captain was watching. We come to a ladder hooked onto one of the lower decks and she nudges me onto it ahead of her. Her hand drops to the pistol in her waistband, just in case I’m thinking of making a break through the gap between the two ships’ hulls.
    I’m not. I descend onto the pirate ship, my hands shaking on the cold metal rungs, and the girl follows me.
    â€œWhy?” I ask as my captor jumps from the ladder, landing slightly off-balance on the ship’s deck. She just grabs me by the wrist again and tugs me toward another hatch, another ladder. Once again, I go first.
    The ship’s interior is more well-lit than I expected. I’d call it homey if it weren’t for the bullet holes in the walls and the pirate girl marching me through it. Probably has something to do with the strips of wood plastered to the walls in a halfhearted attempt at paneling.
    We come to a heavy steel door at the end of the narrow corridor, which she twists open and shoves me through without another word. My head cracks against a low shelf and I yelp loud enough that she pauses. We make eye contact—her in her sleek body armor with a gun tucked in her pants, and me in my soaking wetsuit.
    â€œYou’re going to be useful,” she says, and no more than that. She slams the door behind her, leaving me with a throbbing head in what I’m just now realizing is a janitorial closet.
    And the pill is still in my collar.
    She didn’t bind my hands. I reach up with shaking fingers and tug the zipper, flaying open the hidden pocket. The little blue capsule tumbles into my palm, and I sink to my knees in the tangle of mops and cleaning solvents.
    My heart is thundering, and I feel as if every inch of my being is rearing away from the promise of death that sits nestled in my hand.
    Do it now. Do it fast.
    My whole arm is shaking.
    How can I know for sure that this pill is the only solution? What if I could escape? What if the pirates aren’t after trade secrets? My mind runs wild with possibilities, with options