12 Escape to Dry Land

[Veleda] As I stood up my small wood boat became unsteady, rocking a bit. I pushed off the boat, landing right next to a shipwreck. As I climbed up onto the deck, I got a few splinters from clinging to the rotting ships hull. When I reached the top I looked back at my boat, it had been shattered into pieces. I frowned in disappointment as I watched all my food and belongings sinking into the depths of the sea.

I needed to get to the land but I didn't see any clear path to get there. The creature in the water was already gliding through the depths, no doubt heading towards me and looking forward to a meal.

I looked around at the shipwrecks lying in the water. None had made it to the shore. There were a large assortment of ships in the water. The one I was on was wooden, it was a decade old ship made by the red surge. There were also old style metal ironclads and fancy ships with high tech boosters for extra speed.

The fanciest ships were the oldest and original ones. After waring started there weren't many resources to go around. This is why newer ships were ironclads or even wooden ships.

I jumped off the bow of the ship onto a lower ironclad as the creature tore another hole into the already damaged hull of the wooden ship. I hoped I would have more time as metal would be more difficult to rip through than the thin wood body of the boat I was on previously.

To have a higher chance of surviving I needed to find out where it's head, tail and/or legs were. I pulled out my M-8 pistol's drum and loaded explosive ammunition into all 8 openings. I looked for the ripple moving through the water, I didn't see it. Just then as I was looking over the side the whole boat shook.

Now unstable, the boat tipped slightly towards me. I ran up the boat deck as it was hit again, tipping even more. I finally reached the opposite side of the boat. Looking over the railing I could see the ripple in the water as the creature moved back and forth, ramming the ironclad. I aimed my pistol around the general area of the ripple and shot once at the ripple, then above, below, and to both sides.

I had three loaded bullets left. As the bullets hit the water, not much happened but, when the explosions went off the creature recoiled allowing it to be seen out of water. The creature had deep blue shaded scales running across it's large triangle head. It's head had no eyes, so I could assume that it see through other methods.

The creature opened its mouth and roared, showing a pit of teeth all around the inside of its mouth. The creature lunged forward again, but this time the ship started to sink. Luckily, the ship was only slowly sinking so I managed to jump onto another old wooden ship. Next I jumped from ship to ship until I was on the one closest to the water's edge. I had come up with a quick simple plan to get to the shore, it was only about ten meters left.

As the creature swam towards me I shot at it again, just a bit to the side, forcing it in front of the boat. Next I fired at its head and back, it reared back again. I didn't waste a second, I jumped first onto it's flat head, and next onto it's back. This allowed me to cover the ten meters. I grabbed the rock face as my feet slipped off the back of the creature. After I climbed up onto the ground and ran a few meters, I immediately collapsed as the pain from splinters became apparent as my adrenaline faded. I lay down to shut my eyes for sleep and recovery.