The blow came out of nowhere.

Sam’s head spun. His eyes wouldn’t focus. The muscles in his limbs were all slack.

He’d been here before. It was just like when he’d fallen off his surfboard and it had come back and hit him. A corner of his mind knew what to do: avoid panic, take a few seconds to let his head clear.

Only this wasn’t a surfboard. A second impact hit just beside him, missing his head and hitting his collarbone.

The sharp pain helped Sam focus.

He saw Howard raise the long aluminum boathook for a third blow, and now Sam avoided it easily. As the boathook slapped the water, Sam lunged, bringing all his weight onto it.

Howard lost his balance, and Sam yanked. Howard let go of the boathook and slammed chest first onto one of the engines.

Again Sam turned toward the Whaler, but too late. Orc was on him now, and while one giant hand grabbed for a purchase on Sam’s neck, the other pounded at him.

Orc’s fist hit water before it hit Sam’s nose, so it was slowed down, but still the impact was shocking.

Sam curled into a ball and drove both his legs as hard as he could into Orc’s solar plexus. His blow, too, was slowed by the drag of the water, but it pushed Sam forward and Orc back.

Gone, Chapter 26