Imperialist: The Voyage

Chapter Twenty-one; Slaughter on the Beach

As Moutassim ran and practically dragged Tigrita and Sahelia along with him, fear gripped his throat like never before. Fear for himself, but particularly the fear of losing his beloved Elia. That fear pumped adrenaline through his body and spurred him on, even as the monster's heavy footfalls behind him got louder with each bound.

He stole a glance over his shoulder and saw that in his haste to escape he had overtaken several stumbling crew members, who now separated them from the creature. With the impatience with which one swats a fly, the creature roared and smashed the back of its hand into the head of one screaming crew member, instantly breaking his neck and crushing his skull. It grabbed another fleeing crew member by the arm, seemingly ripping it out of the socket and threw the screaming man into the air.

Moutassim saw Hebron as he struggled to his feet while clutching his groin and attempted to run. The monster saw Hebron too and with one leap closed the distance between it and the captain. Hebron screamed and in his haste to change direction, twisted his ankle and fell. The monster was on top of Hebron the next second and pounded him into the ground with two blows of its massive fists, spraying blood into the air.

"We're almost there!" Moutassim panted when he looked around and saw the longboat on the edge of the beach as it grew nearer. He also saw that several crew members were in the boat and fighting each other. 

"They're pulling away!" Tigrita screamed. He saw that she was right. One crew member was in the process of pushing off from the beach, until he was felled by a roundhouse hook from another crewmember.

"You coward! We wait for the emperor!" the man who threw the punch, a burly man with an afro, shouted down at his colleague.

From somewhere deep within, Moutassim dug and found the extra power needed to reach the boat, even as the heavy footfalls from behind told him that the monster had resumed the chase. 

"We're here, we're here!" the Emperor shouted, as he splashed into the shallow water next to the boat and pushed Tigrita inside. The man with the afro helped her up. Moutassim turned around for Sahelia.

But Sahelia wasn't there. She stood several steps behind him, still on the water's edge. In the dim light of the dawn sky, he saw tears streaming down her face as she stared into his eyes and her breasts heaved with every breath she took.

Behind her, he saw a chilling sight. The monster was rapidly getting closer. With each bound it took, Moutassim could see its scarred, blackened face. Its bared fangs. It's reddened, enraged eyes. Its massive shoulders and huge fists, more clearly. It was almost upon them.

"Elia, what the hell are you doing! Get over here!" Moutassim shouted, uncomprehending.

Sahelia moved quickly, punching upwards. A massive block of sand and earth shot up in front of Moutassim, knocking the air out his lungs as it struck him in his solar plexus and dumped him back into the longboat.

Moutassim struggled to raise up, grabbing the edge of the rocking boat and wheezing for air. As he tried to pull himself out of the boat, he saw Sahelia make a complicated motion. The creature uttered an ear-splitting roar, as it stopped short just feet from Sahelia. He saw that its fists and feet were being held to the earth. But it couldn't hold. Already, the earth was cracking.

Sahelia spun around and pushed out her hands towards the boat. The boat bucked, catching Moutassim, who had half his body over the edge of the boat, off guard. He fell back heavily against the floor of the boat and when he raised his head, his heart plummeted.

He realized that Sahelia was manipulating the water, pushing the boat away from the shore. Away from her. He stared into Sahelia's face as it grew smaller and then the bellowing monster behind her finally broke free and she turned to face it.