Reclamation (The Ravening 3)

My finger pushed it in and the top slid open. The wind drowned out all other noise as I turned to extend my hand to Jessica. She took hold of it and carefully slid down the side of the ship to join me. "Let's hope I don't end up hitting the sun," she said with a half hearted smile.

"You'll be ok," I assured her.

She settled into the driver's seat and I pushed the top shut for her. Craig took hold of my hand and helped pull me back into the doorway. Heat blasted from the small engines at the back of the oblong shaped object that Jessica sat in as the engine roared to life. I caught only a brief glimpse of her being thrown back against the seat before the small ship shot straight into the air. Craning my neck to look out the newly created doorway I watched it go until I couldn't see it beyond the wall of the ship.

Sliding back out of the doorway, I opened two more tops on the ships before rejoining Craig. "Go," I said to him.

He didn't have to be told twice as he scrambled out the door. I was reaching for the remaining two bombs when I saw his capsule shoot off the side of the ship. Lifting the lighter to the wick, I was about to ignite it when I felt something seize hold of my ankle. I went completely still as my gaze fell to the hand wrapped around me and the face and body that it belonged to.

Osiris's mouth was twisted into a ferocious snarl as he jerked on my ankle with enough force to twist it over. A loud popping sound rent the air as the joint was wrenched out of place and I was knocked on my ass. The Zippo tumbled out of my grasp and across the floor as Osiris jerked me toward the blown hole in the floor that he had pulled himself through.

A growl escaped him as he released my ankle and used his only hand to pull himself half out of the hole. Rage exploded through me and though my ankle felt as if it was only hanging on by a thread, I drew back both my feet and slammed them into his face. His nose twisted to the side with a loud crunch and a wave of blood poured forth.

A shout escaped him but he didn't lose his hold as he lurched forward and squeezed my dislocated ankle. Stars burst before my eyes, I was momentarily dizzy from the burst of pain I was fairly certain was going to shatter my skull. His hand scrabbled over my calf as he began to tug me toward the hole.

Reality returned as I jerked back and scrabbled for the lighter. My fingers brushing against it did nothing more than push it even further away from me. A sound of frustration escaped me as Osiris yanked me further into the hole. Spinning back around, I sent his head shooting back as I lashed out and drove my fist into his cheek.

His grip momentarily loosened on my leg and I flung myself backward in search of the lighter. A breath of relief escaped me when my hand finally wrapped around it. I didn't attempt to light the bomb again but brought it up to Osiris and fired it up underneath his chin, and against the collar of his shirt. A roar escaped him; he completely lost his hold on me as he beat at the small flame against his neck.

Drawing my feet back, I smashed them repeatedly into his face. My ankle screamed in protest, my body fought against the repeated action, but my rage and my desperation to see Bethany again drove me onward. Bones broke and crumpled beneath my feet but I didn't stop, and I didn't look as he slid backward in the hole.

Gasping for breath, I finally took the time to look at my father's crumpled face. A face that no longer held any resemblance to my own, or to any Tintagelian anymore. A sneer curved my lip, I felt no pity as I pulled my legs back again and drove my feet forward with every ounce of strength I had. His head twisted to the side as he finally lost his precarious grip he had managed to retain on the floor.

A startled shout escaped him before he tumbled backward. Crawling forward I peered into the hole to watch him bounce against the halls and doorways beneath me. He crashed onto a wall three floors below and lay unmoving. I wasn't convinced he was dead, but I was going to make sure that he was as I gathered the remaining bombs and the grenade before dragging myself toward the crystal doorway above the pods. The dislocated ankle would take a couple of hours to heal, but it would be fine if I survived long enough for my body to be able to start repairing it.

Propping myself in the exploded doorway, I took the lighter to both wicks and pulled the pin from the grenade. I tossed them all over my shoulder before rolling to the side and throwing myself out of the open doorway and onto the open pod waiting for me. The breath was knocked from me as I landed on the plastician, a Tintagelian material that was harder than steel and that formed the smaller ships. Sliding inside, I didn't even give the top enough time to close before I hit the evacuation button.

I was thrown back against the seat as the pod exploded off the side of the ship. My hands grasped the control stick, the only other thing within the small container with me as I fumbled to control it. I jerked the stick back as I shot straight into the air. The blistering wind burned my face and eyes before the top finally slid to a complete close. I was just getting control of the pod when a blast rocked through the ship and fire shot out the side of it. I had only a brief second to see the debris racing toward me before the pod spun out of control and my vision was filled with the ocean rushing up to meet me.

Chapter 24

Bethany,

The last of The Seekers coming at us tumbled to the ground with a thud that vibrated the earth beneath my feet. My arm limply fell to my side when flames shot from the side of the ship and a nightmarish grinding noise resonated through the day. I couldn't breathe; my heart was in my throat. Fire and ice seemed to flow through my veins in alternating waves that left me shaken. The already awkwardly tipped ship turned even more in the air as parts of it exploded into the sky and plummeted toward the ocean. I'd already seen the bodies spilling out of it, but even more fell out now as fresh holes appeared in the ship and it began a strange but gradual descent toward the sea.

"They did it," Darnell breathed as more flames erupted from the massive spaceship.

I could only watch in some sort of remote, frozen horror as the first part of the ship plunged into the ocean. "He's ok Bethany, I'm sure he got out. I'm sure he's ok," Bret said as he rested his hand on my shoulder.

"It's over. It has to be over now," Lloyd muttered. "Or nearly over. If they managed to take the ship down it has to be almost over."

For the first time in months I actually saw a glimmer of hope in the young soldier's eyes as he turned toward me. It was that hope that made me smile; that hope that helped to ease the ache in my chest. Hope, Cade had told me once in a dream to keep hold of it no matter what. I'd thought that had been one of the bleakest times of my life, but though I'd lost much more since then, the hope within Lloyd's eyes was something to try and hold onto as desolation and rage threatened to consume me.