Stupid, but it got the job done. Cassidy’s bat-flailing gave Carly the opportunity to get to her feet and leap over the jumble of bodies crowded around the bed. Seeing the cannibals was a lot worse than not seeing them. Dressed in similar garb to the more peaceful natives, this group of people was infinitely more hostile.
That was about all the acknowledgement she gave to their attackers’ identity before she flipped the rifle around in her grip and cracked it against one’s skull. It freed Cassidy’s leg, at least, and by the sound of it, she’d done some damage. A concussion, maybe worse. Carly didn’t want to stop and contemplate how much damage she had and would do here.
Cowardice almost had her turning for the door, but she kept her ground, leaning towards and grasping for Cassidy’s arm instead of the exit. “Cass! Out that way!” The back exit was their safest option. Going out the front would surely have them running into more of this group.
Keeping hold of her gun, Carly made for the back doors, flinging them open and going for the swimming ladder. Kicking it up with her foot she threw it up and over, the last three rungs sinking into the ocean. This was more to get it out of the way than anything. Once it was, Carly jumped into the water and swam under the boardwalk. She wasn’t the strongest of swimmers, especially in the strong current, but she could manage. As long as she had a handhold on the wooden pillars.
“Which way should we go?” Carly asked, coughing up a bit of water as she turned to look at her friend. “Make for shore or try to get to the huts farther out? The people out there will have gotten more time to prepare and defend…” Right? Or had those people made a run for it already? That was the question and the risk.