text: Alessia followed me around the corner. “So you’re going to just follow that cable and...” She arrived next to me, staring straight down the barrel of the gun pointed at us. “Uh.” “How many more of you are there?” the woman holding the gun asked. “None. Just us,” I replied. “Let’s be clear. If you are telling the truth, the first bullet enters your skull. If you are lying, the first one enters your little toe, and I work my way up centimeter by centimeter, you understand? How many more of you are there?” “Just us,” I repeated. The woman nodded to the gun in my hand. “You dare even think of raising that thing, you will be dead.” “I know.” “What are you doing here?” “Trying to leave,” Alessia replied. “Answer the question.” Alessia rolled her eyes, some of her old attitude reemerging. Compared to the beasts from the forests and the frightened people fighting with spears and rocks, having a gun pointed at us felt like a step back to normal. The situation was dire, but it felt within the world we knew. “We landed here, were captured by some group of people, they took us to the river to be sacrificed to you, we jumped in, here we are.” “You met the islanders?” “Yes.” The woman looked to the others around her, all dressed in the same identical white smocks that draped across the floor. “Find out who they met. We’ll cleanse them.” “So that’s how you work then?” Alessia waited for the woman’s face to snap back before she continued. “Wait till someone imagines something other than your rules, and then murder them.” “We’re preserving nature,” the woman stated with a neutral tone. “Uh huh,” Alessia smirked. “Is that what you call all this? And that gun in your hand?” “We are not part of nature. We, the Leviathans, preserve it. We make the sacrifice so that the rest of the islanders can be one with the Earth.” “Yeah. I can see the sacrifice you're making.” Alessia's eyes glanced up to the building around us, and the lights hanging from the ceiling. “You are mistaken if you think this is not a sacrifice. Each one of us would rather be on the other side of the tunnel, being part of our world around us. No one can ever achieve peace and harmony, while surrounded by this depravity. We are corrupted by it. We will never be one. It is a sacrifice.” “Then why choose this?” I asked. “Why do you choose to be here rather than out there?” The woman shook her head, letting out a sigh. “We did not choose. We were chosen. Sent down by tribes, and offered to the Leviathans. Every Leviathan alive was born the other side of the tunnel. Tasted true freedom and beauty, and then was sent here. It’s our calling, to sacrifice our own lives so that they can be free from humanity’s mistakes.” I started trying to eye up my surroundings. I glanced at the electric lights above me, then to the windowless walls. My pupils flickered back and forth while I spoke, unsure if my words were a mere delaying tactic or a genuine attempt to understand. “So why not leave? Stop being Leviathans and return.” “Because civilization is like a vine on a tree. The tree is already perfect. Yet, left unchecked, a vine will always grow. It climbs up the bark, steals nutrients, and blocks the light, until the tree suffocates. Civilisation is a parasite. Only by cutting back the vine, stopping it before it grows, can the tree live. So when the island decided to seek nature, the Leviathans were chosen to always keep watch. To trim the vine.” “You... you really believe this, don’t you?” Alessia said, the smallest chuckle escaping her lips as she finished. “Why do you doubt it?” “Have you seen life on the other side of the tunnel?” Alessia’s shoulders twitched, but she forced her arms to remain still, aware of the gun still aimed at us. Instead, the emotion poured through her face. Her eyes filled with rage, her lips curled into a snarl, her cheeks flushed red. “People are murdering each other just to survive. I saw some creature twice the size of a dog, tear chunks off a man while he was still breathing. They’re not at peace. They’re dying.” “But it is natural. It is how the Earth is meant to be. It is the instinct of the wolf to seek meat. Instinct of any creature to seek sustenance from the Earth.” The woman raised her left hand, her eyes glancing to the heavens above. “The Earth will provide it to some, and in turn remain in balance and in harmony. But humans decided that they were above nature. Demanded to be more than part of a greater system, but to invent their own system - civilisation. And what about the sins of your world? Greed, corruption, murder. Did civilization cure those?” “No. But we learned how to share knowledge, how to treat injuries, how to live a life that was more than suffering-” “-All life that is with technology is suffering,” the woman interrupted, her sermonly tone replaced with venom. “All of it.” She jolted her arm with the gun forward, her fingers tensing around it. I looked to my right. There was a series of crates stacked in a random order, thin gaps between them. But, to my left, is where my eyes kept returning, back to that series of electrical circuits. That mess of wires beckoned me. “So to be clear. There is no chance you will let us leave peacefully?” “None,” the woman asked. “You are the vine. The weed. The parasite. And you will be eliminated.” “Okay,” I nodded. “Well, I hope you’ve never used that gun properly.” As the woman opened her mouth to speak, I turned and charged at Alessia, my arms outstretched. I wrapped them around her, grabbing her and tackling her to the ground. Two shots were fired, but I had no idea where they went. I rolled over and fired three shots at the circuits on the wall. The gun recoiled with each shot, flicking back in my unsteady hand. The first two bullets met wood, the sides of the building splintering as the metal tore through the plank. But the last found the circuitry, hitting the delicate web of wires. The room went black. I turned to find Alessia, grabbing a limb, and pulling her between two of the crates nearby. “Find them,” the woman barked. I reached down Alessia’s arm and found her hand. I held it. She squeezed back. I couldn’t see her. I dare not speak. But she was alive. I gently pulled her arm towards me as she got to her feet, crouching next to me. “Someone watch the door,” the woman ordered. “Don’t let them escape.” Footsteps entered the room, maybe only three of four metres from us. A gun fired. Crates shattered, wooden debris smacked into my side as I closed my eyes, praying the shots strayed no closer. The Leviathan let out a frustrated growl as they listened to the sounds of their bullets finding only wood. “Someone fix those lights.” A man screeched across the warehouse. I pulled on Alessia’s hand, and keeping low we began finding our way. My hand was held out in front of me as I retraced our steps back towards the rear of the warehouse. I tried to keep a mental picture of where we were. I listened to the Leviathans. The shuffling of shoes across the floor, or the irritated thuds of knees meeting errant crates. We turned the corner into the previous room, but as I did, my shoe slipped briefly against the concrete floor. A small squeak left my sole. A body turned. Shots were fired. More wood fractured. A glass bottle shattered. An empty box fell off a shelf, landing on my back, bouncing off me and onto the ground. Silence. Then more shots. One found metal, a pinging noise echoed through the building as the bullet ricocheted off. The second bounced off the floor inches away from me, and I could feel the small rush of wind as it passed by my thigh. I pulled on Alessia’s hand once more and we scrambled through to the next room, sneaking our way between the boxes until we reached that small backroom and the ditch to the outside. Now, in pure darkness, what little light the night provided summoned us out not in. I dove into the hole, wrestling my body against the space. I squirmed at every creak of the wood above me, at every scraping of the dirt by my torso. But after a few seconds, my hips made it past the thinnest points, and I could wrestle my body through to the other side. I stood up and turned as Alessia began making her way through. I watched as her arms and then head appeared through the small tight space. “I think I see one of them. Back here,” I heard a voice from the inside shout. Alessia’s head jolted up at me. Her eyes were solemn and glassy, her mouth opened, panting. I leaned down and grabbed her arm as a string of shots were fired, an entire clip emptied in seconds. But the shots didn’t sound as though they were only a metre or so away, but deeper, far within the building. As soon as Alessia was through I let go and turned to inspect her. Not a scratch. The bullets were meant for some other ghost in the darkness. “You okay?” I whispered. Alessia rolled over, looking up at me with a wide smile. “Never been better.” Getting to her feet, Alessia pointed to the gun in my hand. “I lost mine when you tackled me.” “Hopefully we won’t need this one anymore.” I rotated the awkward metal object in my hand. “Keep it. Just in case.” We began sneaking around the side of the building, the Leviathans hopefully still hunting for us in the blackness. We kept close to the wall, with our eyes pointed forward. I kept the gun in my hand, feeling the weight of it drag the limb down. But I primed the muscles in my arm, ready to lift it at a moment’s notice, the tendons slowly aching with tension. We reached the front of the warehouse and I looked out across the courtyard. It was empty. At the front of the building I could see the warehouse door, the bolt slid back into the open position. “Start heading to the boat,” I whispered. “Get it untied.” Alessia shook her head, biting back what she wanted to say. “Be quick.” As Alessia headed down to the boat I took a deep breath. I closed my eyes, preparing myself for the run. I visualized each pace, where my body would hit the metal door, where my arm would have to be to cleanly grab the bolt. With every moment pictured, I sprinted, charging with all my energy into the huge door. It swung around, smacking into the shut position, as I grabbed the bolt and slid it across. I turned back as angry shouts bellowed from the building. More bullets were fired, the wood breaking behind me, as metal whistled through the air. I ducked my head, holding my arms up as I sprinted along the front of the warehouse, and down towards the ocean. As I reached the boat, Alessia was just unfurling the sail, tying it to the rigging. The boat was small, no more than five metres long. It wouldn’t survive the ocean, but it might get us to the sea. “Untie the ropes,” Alessia said. I ran into the water, my legs kicking up splashes, as I waded in up to my thighs. I reached the front, untied the knot, and grabbed the hull, giving it the hardest tug I could, forcing it the first metre in the correct direction. I lifted myself out of the water as Alessia dragged me aboard, my clothes soaking once more. “Hey. Come back!” I looked over to the shore to see a man running down, the cassock billowing in the wind, but still showing no movement beneath the knees. It was the youngest of the Leviathans. The one who was still a boy, his face still morphing into adulthood. He stood at the shore, looking down at the ocean, unsure of how to go any further. Slowly, he raised his hand. His arm was shaking, as he fired the gun. The elbow bent with each shot, sending ammo off in wild and inaccurate directions Alessia pulled me down to the floor. I lay prone for a second, waiting for a break. Then I lifted myself up to my knees, pointed the gun back to the shore, and for the first time in my life, fired a gun with malice. The first two shots missed, but I got lucky with the third and fourth. Hitting him in the right arm and shoulder. The boy flew back to the ground. He let out an agonized scream as his body convulsed in pain. He was alive. But he didn’t return fire again. He merely lay there. Spasms of pain shooting through his body as he wept. I stared at the gun in my hand. Feeling disgust seep into my soul as the boy’s anguished screams echoed out across the ocean. The sensation grew too much, and I reflexively flung the gun off the side of the boat, watching it sink into the water. My body was free of a weight that threatened to crush it. Yet, inside, I could still feel that slow compression tightening around my chest. It didn’t go. It refused. Even as the man’s voice was drowned out by the sloshing of the tide against the hull, even as the village of the Leviathans was obscured by the cliffs, my heart felt like lead. The boat sailed out of a small cove and we navigated around the island, back to the beach where we had first landed. The incoming tides had pushed both boats over towards a series of rocks. The pirates’ vessel had been wedged upon them, but in turn had protected Alessia’s. We retrieved the stash of items from the forest and quickly headed back aboard Alessia’s boat, determined to leave as soon as we could. At last, Outer Fastanet was behind us. Alessia held the wheel in her hands, feeling the familiar sense of the boat at her palms. She held her head up, feeling the sea breeze push her hair. Her chest swelled as she took deep lungfuls of ocean air, recalibrating herself to what felt right. However, I couldn’t seem to find the same peace. I sat on the steps, my body twitching, and my eyes glancing around, unable to stay looking at one point for too long lest demons creep into view. “You okay?” Alessia said, leaning over the wheel. I turned to her. “I shot a man... a boy,” I corrected myself, a splutter of revulsion escaping in a laugh. “You got him in the shoulder. He’ll likely live.” “On that place? Without proper care?” I closed my eyes, shaking my head. “Don’t coddle me, Alessia.” She tied the small piece of rope around the wheel, and walked over to the steps, sitting down beside me. Alessia placed a hand on my back. “He was shooting at you. You were protecting yourself. And me.” “He was a kid. Younger than Cameron. Probably the same as Robin. And I shot him.” “I know.” Alessia looked out to sea. “Sometimes we do really shitty things because we have to. They’re right at the time, but they still feel bad. So, I’m not telling you to feel okay about it. Because that guilt is good, it’s what makes you a good person. But, just know, from me, what you did was right at the time.” I sniffed. Two small tears ran down my cheeks. “I know, it’s just...” I trailed off, as my eyes watered once more. “Ferdinand. What you did tonight... It was brave. And not something I’ve ever seen from you. You saved my life tonight. I hope - truly - that you never have to do that ever again. I hope we both don’t have to. But, *you* saved us.” I turned to face Alessia. She stared at me with a half-smile, her brow raised slightly. “Thank you,” I muttered. “I... I’m going to need to recover though...” Alessia chuckled. “Me too. That was the worst place I have ever been.” “You seem to be coping better than me.” I wiped away the damp on my cheek with my arm. “Different ways of coping,” Alessia said, tilting her head. “I still feel it.” “I need...” I struggled to find the words. “Can we... breathe for a while... I’m not ready for another adventure right now.” Alessia burst out laughing. “Oh, Ferdinand, how I’ve longed to hear you say that.” She stood up and turned to face me. “How’s this? We go to Talin Barier. We ask around. If we get word of Sannaz then we go find him. But, we stay there for a while. Maybe I pick up a couple of quick trading routes to pay our way every so often. But otherwise, for a little while, we stay put. If something comes up, we go. Otherwise... no adventuring.” I looked up at her with a smile brought about from a moment of certainty creepy across my face. “That sounds great.” Alessia reached out a hand, and pulled me up to my feet. “Onwards to the next... not an adventure then.