Shadow Road: Book 1 of the Shadows Rising Trilogy

15. Keep Fighting

23rd of Uirra, Continued

It was impossible to tell which happened first, the Captain firing off another shot, or the incoming rounds striking the main deck.

For one heart-stopping split-second the very air seemed to be expanding, sucking itself out of my lungs. Then everything fell back to earth in thick, dead silence.

I opened my eyes, my vision blurring as I brought my head up and looked around. Things had gone slow and quiet, movements appearing in languid bits and pieces. Everything was muted except for a high, thin ringing in my ears.

There was a brand-new hole in the ceiling at the far end of the women's quarters, and a shaft of afternoon sunlight poured through it, piercing the thick smoke and dust. The makeshift privacy curtains were gone, and the rope that had been holding it up trailed from the walls like a streamer. Bits of burning canvas drifted gently down from above like fiery snow.

It was almost pretty.

Dazed, I blinked, then looked at the girl next to me. She was sobbing, her mouth moving, forming the same words over and over.

All I heard was that single-note whine.

I felt my heart start beating again, one throb, then another, pounding too hard. I blinked again. Tried to breathe only to find I had forgotten how. Tried again, and again, until I finally pulled in a sip of air. Reality began catching up with time, sounds realigning with what I saw.

The girl next to me was saying, "This'll all be over soon, it's just a bad dream, this'll all be over soon, it's just a bad dream." Her voice sounded faraway and indistinct, as if it were working its way through a thick layer of wool.

I touched my ears, then shook my head, trying to rid myself of that weird, tinny hiss that overrode everything else. It didn't go away, although as I flexed my jaw, I could hear a woman crying.

The girl next to me was fine. She was terrified, but she wasn't the one screaming. That was coming from somewhere off to my right.

I was able to move. I didn't think beyond that fact. I stood up, and made my feet carry me in the direction the screams seemed to be coming from. I felt like I was sleepwalking while awake. My limbs were clumsy, my movements sluggish. I stumbled as I picked my way between shattered lengths of decking that littered the floor like kindling.

One of the heavy ceiling beams had been sent flying out of its support brackets, and a girl was crouching beside it, horror contorting her mouth, keening sobs tearing from her throat.

A bare foot protruded from under the beam, a scrap of lace peeking out around the ankle. Mrs. Turragan lay buried beneath what had once been the deck above her head. It had to be her. No one else had a lacey pink nightgown like that.

I swallowed, but bile crawled up my throat anyway. I took hold of a plank near the top of the pile and lifted it off. Then another, and another, until I had uncovered her face. When I did, I stopped working. There wasn't much point continuing. It was already too late. Her eyes stared past me, her gaze locked forever on the brilliant blue sky beyond the hole in the ceiling. Trickles of scarlet were creeping down her mangled forehead.

The girl next to me leaned forward a little. "Is she gone?"

Her voice was distorted, but I could tell what her lips had said. I nodded, expecting the girl to start screaming again. She didn't. She sat there, still as a stone. Then she pushed herself to her feet, shuffling after me when I rose and turned to see if anyone else needed help.

The Captain was a few yards away, down on one knee next to a woman named Pellina. He had wrapped a length of cord around her right elbow and was yanking it tight enough to make her whimper. He tied it firmly, slowing the blood flowing from a ragged gash down the length of her forearm.

Dr. Turragan was there, too, bending over a girl with a splinter spearing all the way through her shoulder.

He didn't know about his wife yet. I hesitated, unable to find the words to tell him, when the Captain saw me standing upright, and his eyes found mine. He said something, obviously giving me an order, but his voice was only a deep, distant, raspy buzz. I had to focus on his mouth, watching his lips as they formed the words, "take this one," and "the galley." The rest was lost in a sudden lurch of the ship as another round hit the stern.

The Captain ducked like the rest of us, but recovered more quickly, pushing himself to his feet while everyone else was still grabbing at the wall or the floor. He headed for the stairs to the main deck, but paused briefly in front of me. He bent to bring his face level with mine. Speaking slowly, he shouted, "Take the wounded to the galley," and aimed a hand at the hallway. "Understand?"

I was shaking so hard I could barely nod, but the Captain didn't wait for more than a tiny dip of my head before he continued past me, running up the steps two-at-a-time to the main deck.

I looked around. Pellina was closer than anyone else, so I started with her.

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