Jon Merz - Raider X

“Probably not,” said Thatcher.

“At least you’re honest.” Cyra cast a glimpse next to Schwarzwalder’s body. “Such a shame that he turned out to be a traitor to the Reich. There were great things ahead for him if he had simply followed orders. But he let family love get in his way and as such, he had to be punished.”

Thatcher wondered how much time was left on the bundle of explosives in the engine room. How much time had elapsed since he and Schwarzwalder had fled and lowered the life boat? It couldn’t be that much longer, could it?

Cyra regarded him. “If I had my way, I might actually keep you alive for a little while.”

Thatcher cocked his head. “To what end? Your dream of procreation? It’s not gong to happen. There’s no way I’m going to sleep with you again.”

“I don’t need your penis to make a baby,” said Cyra. “Only what is contained within your seed. And there are plenty of ways to gather that then by simple copulation. Your involvement can be as pleasurable or as painful as you want it to be.”

“You want to do it right here? On deck? Right now?”

Cyra laughed which sounded like someone was choking on their own spit. “Don’t be foolish. For an experiment like that to be successful, it must be done under carefully controlled conditions. There’s no way it would work on a ship like this.”

“So what, we head for Poland?”

“Something like that. What do you say?”

Thatcher shook his head. “What in the world would you expect me to say? The idea is ludicrous and there’s no way you’re getting any of my sperm for your crazy experiments. The last thing I want is for any of my future children to look the way you do right now. Or do any of the horrible things you’ve done here tonight.”

“What horrible things?”

“You’ve slain the entire ship. Three hundred plus are dead because of you.”

Cyra seemed to frown although Thatcher couldn’t be sure if it was actually a frown or not given how twisted and misshapen her face now was. “That was a necessity. As I said, my appetite sometimes gets the better of me and it must be sated before I can regain any semblance of control over myself. Have you ever known such hunger before, Harrison? Or perhaps it would be better described as desire.”

“I thought you were pretty desirable before I knew your truth. Now I’m horrified at what you’ve become.”

“Only because you don’t understand the essence of what I am.” She paused. “But perhaps that can be changed if you take a journey with me. I would need to get it cleared first but the idea is an interesting one.”

“What idea?”

Cyra laughed again. “Perhaps you could become an instrument of the Reich as well. The two of us could work together wreaking fear and havoc upon the Allies and anyone who stands in the way of the Führer and his dreams world conquest. We would be unstoppable. There would be nothing that could kill us.”

“How so? A lot of people have guns.”

Cyra nodded. “Indeed, but bullets can be turned aside if you skin is altered and mine is. The benefit of dining on marrow is that it contains very base level cells that rapidly aid in healing me. Unless the damage is catastrophic, there is little that can kill me. And the same could be your truth if you just let it happen.”

Thatcher shook his head. “I rather like the way I look at the moment.”

“As do I,” said Cyra. “You were a rather delicious human for the time we spent together. It was a shame I couldn’t reveal my true self to you then because the experience would have shattered every vision of reality that you possess. And you would long for such a tryst again and again.”

“I don’t know if I agree with that assessment, but even still I’m not in any sort of hurry to transform myself into a creature I can’t even look at in the mirror. And I’m certainly not about to go to work for the Führer.”

“You don’t even know his grand plans yet, Harrison. What would be the problem with simply hearing him out?”

“Because I’ve seen what he’s capable of.”

At that moment, a deep boom sounded from within the bowels of the ship and it listed abruptly to one side. Thatcher felt his feet slip out from under him as he went down to the deck. Schwarzwalder’s body slid closer to Cyra who adroitly regained her balance and footing as if nothing had happened.

“I see the Captain has decided to scuttle the ship. Excellent.”

Thatcher got to his feet.

Cyra started to come toward him. “It’s time to go.”

“How are we getting out of here?” asked Thatcher.

Cyra pointed overboard. “We’ll jump. There’s a lifeboat down there and I imagine that the Gestapo unit currently in Tenerife will be more than happy to meet us once we get closer.”

Thatcher frowned. “How did you know about the Gestapo being there?”

Cyra smiled. “They’re there because of me. This was all planned from the start right down to the timeline. Schwarzwalder was foolish enough to believe that he was too clever for the German High Command. But once his communications with Adamson were intercepted, it became necessary to put a plan into action to destroy every part of the conspiracy.”

Another explosion sounded within the ship. This one sounded even more dire than the first and the ship listed in the other direction for a moment before again listing to the starboard side.

Cyra frowned. “We need to leave now. I can’t swim that well.”

Thatcher laughed out loud. “Are you joking? After everything those scientists did to you, you mean to tell me that you can’t swim? How utterly ridiculous is that? How come?”

“I don’t like the water,” said Cyra. She looked at the ocean which was now closer than it had been. “But a quick dunk should be fine and the life boat is still tied up to the side so I’ll be fine.”

Thatcher backed up. “I’m not going with you.”

Cyra frowned. “Don’t make me kill you, Harrison. We had some fun together. But the time to go is now. Your future is assured once you are safely off of this boat.”

Thatcher shook his head. “You’ll have to kill me.”

Cyra chuckled. “You don’t want that. You have no idea how much pain I could put you through. Stop being a fool.”

But Thatcher backed up even more trying to put space between them. Another explosion echoed up from below and the ship listed more. Now a hole opened up in the deck and Thatcher could see the sea water rushing into fill the void. There were seconds left to make his decision. It had to be now or never.

Which is when he saw Schwarzwalder use his one arm to drag himself up, first to his knees and then to a squat before finally standing. He had the grenade that he’d taken from Thatcher back in the engine room in his hand. He put it to his mouth and pulled the safety ring out, spat it on the deck and stumbled forward pressing the grenade into Cyra’s back. For a moment, she actually seemed surprised, but then her shock turned to rage.

“Jump!” Shouted Schwarzwalder. “Jump now!”

Thatcher didn’t hesitate, but turned to his right and leapt off the deck even as the grenade exploded and tore both Cyra and Schwarzwalder apart. Or at least that was how it looked in the split second of time that Thatcher had actually caught a glimpse of what was going on before he crashed into the sea.

He came out of the waves spitting and gasping. Above him, the whole starboard side of the ship was dangerously close to the sea. Thatcher swam for his life and made his way to the lifeboat. He had to untie the rope before it was all pulled under when the ship went down.

Thatcher managed to grab the side of the lifeboat and pulled himself aboard before stumbling forward to where the rope was tied. He studied the knot and tore into it but it was soaked from the seawater and didn’t want to budge.