Page 100 of Treasure of the Abyss

She swam farther, banking to the right. Melaina wouldn’t have gone too far. The girl was young, but she wasintelligent.

More markers appeared on her left; she turned toward them and stopped when she saw something slide from between two rocks. A tentacle! A hand followed, and then ahead.

Melaina’s wide, frightened eyes fell on Macy. The girl shook her head frantically and pointedup.

A large marker was on the upper edge of the mask. Larger than any she’d seen sofar.

Macy tilted her head back, and the air fled her lungs. The massive, highlighted creature flowing through the water overhead was an image from hernightmares.

A razorback. And it was turning towardMacy.

She swam forward, putting herself between the monster and thechild.

“Go!” she screamed, and waved back toward theFacility.

Macy turned toward the razorback and waved her arms. It seemed to fixate on her; she moved away from Melaina, away from the Facility, and the beastfollowed.

She kicked her legs and used her hands to pull herself along the rocks on the bottom, much like Jax haddone.

“Irregular vital signs detected. Do you requireassistance?”

“What kind of assistance?” she asked, panting, arms already burning fromexertion.

“Would you like me to send a distresssignal?”

“That doesn’t do me any good now, Sam.” Macy looked behind her and her eyes widened. The razorback was gaining. “Can you track that thing’smovement?”

“Are you referring to the eighteen-meter-long sea creature behindyou?”

“Yes!”

The large arrow that marked the razorback changed to bright green, and a number appeared below it — 13.6M. Within the space of a heartbeat, it dropped to11.1M.

Macy searched the rocks ahead, but the shadows and irregularities made it difficult to determine whether any openings were large enough for her to squeezeinto.

“Sam, I need a spot tohide!”

“There is a crevice straight ahead, in eight-point-five meters.” The spot was suddenly highlighted inyellow.

Gritting her teeth, she pushed onward, driven by the deafening pounding of her heart. The distance between Macy and the crevice shrank rapidly; her lead on the razorback dwindledfaster.

Please!Please!

The crevice was just within reach when the water behind her shifted. Grasping the edges, she dove into theshelter.

Something powerful clamped down on her leg, and her momentum halted. Macy screamed as the pressure increased and searing pain lanced through hercalf.

“PDS exterior compromised. Energy field unstable,” Sam said far too calmly. “Redirecting power tocompensate.”

Macy clawed at the rock around her. For a moment, she held herself in place. When the razorback tugged, it felt as though her arms and leg would be torn from their sockets. She clenched her jaw to hold in her scream as a fresh wave of agony blasted throughher.

Her hold slipped, and the razorback dragged Macy out of the crevice. Water rushed around her. The beast snapped its head to the side, swinging her, shredding the muscles of hercalf.

Information and alerts appeared on the inside of the mask, and Sam was talking, but she couldn’t focus on any ofit.

She reached down to take hold of her wounded leg, hoping to alleviate some of the pressure, when her fingers brushed over the knife. Clenching her thigh, she stared at the razorback through the blood misting the water. The way it was moving, she’d never reach its head with theknife.

Thegun!

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