[Danny]

wait and see...

please keep replying, people, i have 26 chapters written now, so that's [does quick mental arithmetic] 18 more to post!

i'm posting them 2 at a time, but i'm still way ahead of myself...

CHAPTER 9

I was the first to awake, probably because I had been the first to fall asleep. It was almost totally dark. I pushed one of the boxes aside to let myself out, and climbed out from our hiding-place. The Hold Doors had been closed, and by the movement of the floor beneath me, I could tell that we had set off. The feeling filled me with excitement. I was less afraid now. Granted, there was still the crew of the ship to avoid, but that was nothing compared to what we had to fear back in Cyrcit. I felt exhilarated, and happy for the first time I could remember. I suppose it was something to do with moving away from the place of Zell’s death. As we got further away, it was like a weight was being removed slowly from my shoulders.

The Hold Doors didn’t form a tight seal, so they let in enough light to see by. Looking up through the gaps, I could see daylight. I realised that I had no idea how long I’d slept for. All I knew was that I was hungry. I opened a couple of crates until I found one with food in. The food wasn’t top quality; it was all either dried, salted, or sugared to survive the journey. I didn’t care; I ate. As I ate, I thought of the others. Maybe they were awake, and hungry. I took an armful of the food, and made my way back to our hideout.

When I got there, Vint and Rixx were awake. They had found another crate with food in, closer than the one I’d found, and were already eating. When he saw me, Vint stood up.

“I wondered where you were.”

“I went to explore. This hold is huge. We could hide in here for years and never be found, assuming the food lasted that long.”

We sat down beside Rixx, who nodded a hello to me, his mouth full.

“Everyone still asleep?”

Vint nodded. “Let them sleep. I’m sure they need it. They can eat when they wake up.”

“There’s a lot of food. Should keep us going for a while.”

“I’m going to look around. Coming?”

“Sure.” I stood up. “Rixx, you stay and guard the others.”

“From what?”

I paused. Rixx was right, there wasn’t really anything to guard against here, unless the crew came to check on the cargo. Which they wouldn’t really do, this soon after leaving the dock. “Just… Watch out, okay?”

Vint climbed onto a crate beside me. I hadn’t really looked round before, I’d been looking in crates for food more than anything. The Hold didn’t look as big as it had last night [Was it last night that we’d come aboard? I’d lost track of time; I wasn’t sure.], but that was to be expected. After all, the Hold Doors were closed now, and we had got over the initial shock of seeing the size of the ship. The Hold still seemed enormous. I suddenly had an urge to explore, and I could sense that Vint had the same urge.

“You take the stern, I’ll go and explore the bow.”

Vint nodded, and set off. I started in the other direction, climbing boxes and leaping miniature crates. I was the happiest that I could ever remember being.

CHAPTER 10

I didn’t get around to exploring the whole bow end of the Hold, because I got hungry, and returned. The others all went on their own expeditions, but found nothing important, and returned. We stayed more or less in the same place for about three days, leaving on our own individual explorations. I changed my mind about exploring the bow end of the ship, and spent my spare time searching through the cargo crates, looking for things of value. I often found worthless things, like tea-cosies or something. Sometimes I found something useful, like food, blankets, or weapons. Only once, however, did I regret opening a crate, and wish I hadn’t.

The others were asleep, and I was happy. I had been exploring for an hour or two, on our second day, and had discovered a large crate of weapons, including machine guns and light explosives. I had left a marker there, so that we could find them again, when we needed them.

I was ambling along, climbing over crates and squeezing between them, when my eyes came to rest on one particular crate. It wasn’t especially large, and it wasn’t an unusual shape, but something made me approach it. A shiver of fear ran through me; I hadn’t felt this kind of compulsion since the night I… the night Zell died. I was just as powerless to resist it now. As I glanced between the wooden slats, I caught a steely metallic glint in the darkness. As if in a daze, I prised off the lid of the crate, and stared inside.

The Killer stared out at me. I thought I’d left him behind in Cyrcit, but apparently he’d followed me here. His Crimson eyes bored into my skull, making my head ache like it never had before. I closed my eyes, but that brought no respite from his red gaze, so I opened them, and faced him. With the greatest willpower I had ever shown, I held his gaze, while my hands clumsily replaced the lid of the crate.

The thrill of release I received as his glare was cut off from me was intense, but I didn’t appreciate it. I tried to walk away, but my legs collapsed from underneath me. Eventually, I managed to crawl away, and was able to stand up once I was far enough away.

I returned later with a light explosive from the weapons crate.

I was getting better. No Fragments this time...