Paolo Bacigalupi - Ship Breaker

“No!” Nailer shouted.

The world seemed to slow. Blue Eyes’s machete carved for Sadna’s throat. Nailer watched, horrified, expecting a flare of blood from Sadna’s neck. But Sadna wasn’t there. She ducked and tumbled on the dirt, crashing into Blue Eyes’s legs and knocking the other woman off her feet.

Again they rolled, entangled, a whirl of limbs and the machete’s blade. Nailer cast about for his knife, saw it lying in the leaves. He grabbed it as Blue Eyes came up on top of Sadna, her machete pressed against Sadna’s throat. Sadna’s own fists gripped the machete as well, fighting to keep the edge from pressing home. Her breath rasped raggedly under the blade. Blue Eyes increased the pressure.

Nailer slipped toward Blue Eyes, his knife slick in his hands. Sadna’s eyes widened as he came up behind. Blue Eyes, warned of the threat, started to turn.

Nailer leaped onto her back and rammed the knife into her neck. Hot blood poured over his hand. Blue Eyes screamed as his blade tore at the corded muscle of her neck. Just like killing a goat , Nailer thought inanely.

But Blue Eyes didn’t die. Instead she reared up, carrying him clinging on her back. He tried to yank out the knife and stab her again, but the blade was stuck. Blue Eyes flailed for him, trying to reach around and get hold of him, then bent forward sharply and tumbled him over her back. He clung desperately, but she hammered him off with the hilt of her machete. Light exploded in his head. He hit the ground.

Blue Eyes stood over him, one hand pressed against her gushing wound and the knife still embedded in her neck. She swung her machete at Nailer, a clumsy swing that nonetheless whistled through the air. Her gaze followed him, devil bright, determined to take him with her to whatever afterlife her cult promised. Curses bubbled out of her mouth and blood with it, thick. She lunged again for Nailer.

Nailer dodged, trying not pin himself up against a tree or allow himself to trip. Why didn’t she die? Why wouldn’t she just die? Superstitious fear shot through Nailer. Maybe she was actually a spirit, a zombie creature that could not be killed. Maybe the Life Cult had done something to her, made her immortal.

Blue Eyes slashed again, but as she lunged forward to follow up, she tripped and sprawled on the ground. Still she reached for him. Nailer stood frozen before her. Her hand touched his feet, clutched for his ankle. Her blood was black in the moonlight, a deep pool spreading. Nailer yanked his foot away from her twitching fingers. Blue Eyes stared up at him. Her lips moved, promising death, but no words came out.

Sadna pulled him away from the dying woman. “Come on. Let her go.”

Blue Eyes’s blood was all over him. The dying woman’s eyes followed him, hungry. Her fingers twitched.

Nailer shuddered. “Why won’t she die?”

Sadna glanced at the shuddering woman. “She’s dead enough.” She ran her hands over him. “Are you okay?”

Nailer nodded weakly. He couldn’t take his eyes off Blue Eyes. “Why won’t she die?” he whispered again.

Sadna pursed her lips. “Sometimes people have more will to live. Or you don’t hit them right and they don’t lose their blood fast enough. Sometimes they just don’t stop the way you want them to.” She glanced over at the woman. “Look, she’s gone now. Let her go.”

“She’s not.”

Sadna jerked his face around to look into her dark eyes. “Yes, she is. She’s gone. And you’re not. And I’m glad you were there when I needed you. You did good.”

Nailer nodded. He was shaking with adrenaline. Pima and Lucky Girl were freed and they ran over to where Sadna and Nailer squatted.

“Damn,” Pima said. “You’re as fast as your dad. Even with that bad arm of yours.”

Nailer glanced at her. A shiver of fear washed over him. He’d killed things before. Chickens. That goat. But this was different. He threw up. Pima and Lucky Girl backed off, exchanging glances.

“What’s his problem?” Pima asked.

Sadna shook her head. “Killing isn’t free. It takes something out of you every time you do it. You get their life; they get a piece of your soul. It’s always a trade.”

“No wonder his dad’s such a devil.”

Sadna shot her daughter a hard look and Pima fell silent. Other people from Sadna’s heavy crew were all around, cleaning up from the attack. It turned out that Richard had had more sentries posted than Nailer had guessed. Perimeter guards that he had never even seen. He felt doubly lucky that Sadna and her crew had arrived. He and Pima and Lucky Girl would never have gotten out on their own.

Suddenly Tool’s doglike face rose from the shadows.

“Watch out!” Nailer screamed.

Sadna spun, then relaxed at the sight of the half-man. She turned back to Nailer and patted his arm. “He’s fine. He’s the one who told us where to look for you. We’ve got good history, don’t we, Tool?”

Tool came over and stared down at the body of Blue Eyes, his expression flat. For a long time, he didn’t say anything. Finally he turned his dog gaze on Nailer. “A good kill,” he said. “As fast as your father.”

“I’m not my father.”

“Not as skilled.” Tool shrugged. “But the potential is there.” He nodded at the black puddle around Blue Eyes and smiled, showing his needle teeth. “Blood tells. You have good potential.”

Nailer shuddered at the thought of mirroring his father. “I’m not like him,” he said again.

Tool’s smile disappeared. “Don’t be too sorry for Blue Eyes,” the half-man rumbled. “It’s human nature to tear one another apart. Be glad you come from such a successful line of killers.”

“Leave him alone,” Pima said.

“Where’s Lucky Girl?” Nailer asked.

“The rich girl?” Sadna pointed. “She’s gone down to the beach. Her people are here, looking for her. A whole clipper ship of them showed up an hour ago.” She looked over at Tool. “Richard was trying to meet with them, looking to broker a deal.”

“Her people are here?” Nailer glanced at Pima, puzzled. “She told us no one knew where she was…” He trailed off, wondering if he’d been lied to again.

Nita burst back into the clearing. “It’s them!”

“Your people?” he asked skeptically.

She shook her head, gasping. “The ones who were chasing me. Pyce’s people. And he’s got half-men.”

Sadna studied her. “The ones on the beach… they’re your enemies?”

Nita could barely get a breath. “They want me, for leverage against my father.”

“Well, they know you’re here,” Sadna said. “Richard as much as claimed it when they came ashore.”

Lucky Girl’s face took on a shade of panic. “I can’t let them catch me. I need to hide.”

Sadna and Tool exchanged glances. “If you go into the jungle-”

Tool shook his head. “Lopez will know to hunt for her. How will you supply her with food? Who will stand for her if he catches her? Better for her to flee.”

Nailer spoke up. “We were planning on catching the salvage train to the Orleans. She says she’s got crew there who would protect her.”

Sadna frowned. “You can’t go into the loading yards. No one gets in there without Lucky Strike knowing. And Richard and Lucky Strike are tight now.”

“We can catch the train outside, once it’s moving.”

“Dangerous.”

“Not as dangerous as waiting around to see what kind of deal my dad cuts with the swanks.”

Tool looked thoughtful. “It could be done. If they are quick.”

“She says she’s fast,” Nailer said.

“If she isn’t, she could die.”

“No worse than she ends up otherwise.”

“What about you, Nailer? Is that a risk you want to take?”