WebNovels

Chapter 38 - Beyond This World

On the escape boat,

One of the escapees is still being held hostage by Catherina. Everybody stands still, no one wanting to move and put the man's life in danger.

'What's wrong, Quin? Don't you like this place? I could give you everything you could want—women, status, power. People will bow to you. No one would dare lay a finger on you because you belong to me.'

Catherina tries to persuade Quin, but he doesn't budge. 'Is it because I said I was going to kill your lover? Fine, I won't kill her. She can live as your servant. That's enough, right? Now come back with me.'

Anna flinches at the mention of lover.

Quin, still not close to budging, explains his reasoning.

'It's not because of that. It's because of the way you people behave. I don't like the way you people do things. I don't like the way you treat other people, the way you look at human lives like they are disposable. I could never be happy in a place like this.'

While Quin is speaking Anna begins sensing something strange, and she looks up. To her, it looks like the clouds are parting.

Catherina, after hearing Quin's words, feels hurt. Then she begins speaking to him in a sombre tone.

'Okay, then I'll change.' She stretches one hand towards him. 'Just please come back with me.'

Zane, hiding his gun with the aim lined up, is about to shoot when Anna cuts through the atmosphere with an ear-splitting scream.

'RUUUN!!'

Quin turns to check on her. 'Anna, what's wrong?'

But she just keeps looking up into the sky and yelling.

'Run! Run! I said run!!'

Before anyone can react, Anna pushes herself and Quin into the water.

Zane and Sid, well aware of Anna's special abilities, decide to follow her lead and jump into the water. They are followed by the blonde-haired escapee, who has been following their lead up until this moment.

One paranoid escapee remains hidden in the cabin, along with Catherina and her hostage.

Catherina walks up to the edge of the boat and speaks over the water.

'You can't escape through the water, Quin. The shore is too far away. You'll drown before reaching it. Just come back.'

Under the water, the group of five sink lower as Anna doesn't relent in swimming deeper, her instincts guiding her to a safer place.

Anna finally stops moving, and the group settles about fifteen feet from the water's surface.

Sid tries going up for air, but Anna stops her.

Right then, they feel a disturbance in the water coming from behind them.

They turn around to see what it is, and behind them is a pyramid formed from countless Ravagers and Creepers, extending all the way to the bottom of the ship.

Even along the seabed, there are more, all still moving perfectly well and heading in the direction of the ship.

The sight is otherworldly, and Sid lets out all the air in her lungs from shock. Seeing this, Quin holds her and begins pulling her up to the surface. Anna doesn't stop them this time.

So, the entire group begins moving up, apart from Anna, who remains mesmerised by the patterns she sees and hears.

As though her vision and hearing have merged, she sees wave-like patterns dancing along the seabed, all the way up the pyramid of creatures and into the heavens.

But eventually, the heavens shut, and she snaps out of it, then begins swimming up with the rest of them.

They all eventually make it back to the surface of the water and climb back into the boat.

When they do, Catherina is nowhere to be seen, and her gun is just lying on the ground. In fact, the entire boat is empty.

With the help of the blonde woman and Quin, they are able to perform CPR on Sid. She coughs up all the water in her lungs and begins breathing again.

'Fuuckk!' Sid screams, regaining her consciousness. She directs it at Anna. 'What were you thinking, pulling me back down?! I could have died!'

Anna doesn't respond to her.

Quin looks around the boat in confusion.

'Where is Catherina, and where is her hostage? Did she come in after us, or maybe she went back to the ship?'

He looks up, but there is no one.

While they are all questioning their circumstances, they hear a rocking sound coming from the grey boat beside them.

They all turn to see what it was and spot a Ravager trying to reach into their boat.

'Drive!' Sid yells out.

Zane is already on top of it in the cabin, ready to get the boat out of there. He turns on the engine and steps on the pedals, getting as far away from there as he possibly can.

The Ravager leaps from the boat, trying to get them, but they are already too far away, and it lands in the water. It can't swim, so it sinks straight to the bottom.

On their escape, Sid, Anna, and Quin look back towards the ship, which has now caught aflame.

'What? No, no, no!' Sid screams out in panic, still worried about what would happen to the gang despite escaping it.

She remains glued to the sight, hoping to see any sign of survivors escaping on boats as well.

Soon after, a black boat begins speeding away from the burning ship, the same one Sid and Anna spotted coming a while ago. It's much faster than their boat, so it catches up in no time.

Rather than escaping gangsters on the boat, Sid sees men in black robes with a red haired woman standing at the forefront of the ship. These people don't even bat an eye at the sight of Sid's group trying to escape.

Sid doesn't know who they are or what happened, but she is sure of one thing: these people are responsible for what is happening to the ship.

The two ships' paths begin to diverge, but before that, Stella, who is standing at the front of the ship, and Zane glance at each other.

In that moment, fear and shock wash over Zane's face, while Stella looks at him with crazy eyes. an unusual place to see a familiar face.

Nothing eventually comes of their confrontation as their two boats diverge.

After a few more minutes of sailing, Anna's group finally makes it to shore.

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