Ethan stared downward as he paddled. “That’s… the turtle?”
“Frank,” I said.
The loudspeaker crackled overhead, cutting through the echo of the tank.
“Sloane!”
Callan’s voice. Strained. Urgent.
My heart seized.
“Sloane—swim for the ladder! Get the boat started!”
Behind his voice, I could hear other sounds bleeding through the PA system. Banging. Glass breaking. The distant shriek of something no longer human echoed through whatever corridor he stood in.
He wasn’t safe, either.
“I’m opening the tide gate, but I can’t release the holding tank until the boat clears the channel!”
Jeff already looked toward the far side of the tank where the maintenance ladder led down to the quarantine channel.
Then Callan’s voice came again. Quieter. The chaos behind him was still audible, but he spoke through it as if it didn’t exist—as if he’d decided this mattered more.
“I can’t leave Frank.”
My throat closed.
Of course he couldn’t.
I looked down at the old turtle gliding beneath us.
Of course, he couldn’t leave him.
I swallowed hard and forced myself to focus.
“This is going to go fast,” I said, looking between Jeff and Ethan.
They stared back at me, treading water, waiting.
“When he opens the hatch, the current will pull everything toward the quarantine channel.”
Jeff nodded grimly. “Undertow.”
“Exactly. When the water drops, hold your breath. Don’t fight the current—ride it through.”
Ethan swallowed. His face had gone white, but his jaw was set. “Okay.”
Above us, the pounding on the maintenance hatch intensified. A new sound joined it—the screech of metal bending. They were working on the hinges.
“We need to go now,” Jeff said, his voice low and deadly calm.
The PA crackled one last time. Somewhere deep in the building, machinery groaned to life—a low, shuddering vibration that traveled through the water.
The tank shifted.
A tug at my legs, subtle at first but becoming insistent, the water surged.
It roared through unseen below, and the level dropped so suddenly my stomach lurched into my throat. The surface tilted violently, currents colliding from every direction. The whole massive body of water reorganized itself around the gate opening beneath us, and the pull becamesavage—dragging at my legs, my torso, spinning me sideways.