April Mitchell left her apartment, armed with an assault rifle, as night had set. She hadn't heard from any of her team in months, since the crash and she was worried about them, one in particular. She began her night at a bar and continued from one to the next until she located her target
As she walked into her tenth bar for the night, she knew she'd reached the right one because she heard a fight. She walked further in and saw Mitch taking on some young guys.
"Break it up, boys," she said as she made her presence known, "All that noise is likely to attract some unwanted attention."
Mitch looked up at the sound of her voice, his face filled surprise, "April?" he asked, his vision clouded by all the alcohol he'd ingested.
"Scram you two," she instructed the young guys as she flashed her police badge.
"You're a cop now?" Mitch asked as he put his glasses back on and took a seat at the bar gesturing for her to join him.
April nodded, "There weren't a lot of opportunities for a marine biologist when we got back. Listen, is this what you're up to now?"
Mitch sighed at her instant judgement, "What else should I be doing?"
April shook her head, "Don't be like that. I just wanted to check on you because I haven't seen you since the night after the crash...in the hotel."
Mitch nodded, "I'm sorry about that. I was just processing everything. Do you want a drink?" he asked looking to the bartender.
April declined, "I'm not here for an apology, Mitch. I enjoyed our time as misguided as it might have been. I came to see you and I've done that so I will head out. Behave, ok?"
"Why are you in such a rush to leave?" he asked, suddenly realizing how lonely and dark his existence had become.
April shook her head, "I'm not at all. You just didn't look thrilled to see me so I thought I'd let you get back to your thing, here. If you want me to stay for a little while, I will. Do you have a place to live?" she asked, knowing it was a dangerous question given his state of mind but she was worried about him.
Mitch nodded, "Yeah but I don't go there very often, it's lonely. At least when I'm here, I have him," he said, pointing his glass to the bartender, "And this dog who for some reason isn't a rabid beast."
April scrunched her brow as she turned to look at the dog. She watched it carefully and realized that Mitch was right, "Do you know why this dog wasn't affected?"
Mitch shook his head, "If I did we might finally have an answer but our answers died with Jamie and the baby cheetah," he finished as he tipped back his drink.
"Do you have any food here?" April asked the bartender.
"I can make you anything without meat in it. What would you like?" he replied.
April thought for a moment before answering, "Do you have mozzarella sticks and a pickle spear to go with it? Oh and maybe a few fries?"
The bartender nodded as he disappeared leaving Mitch and April alone.
"I wish you weren't so drunk," April sighed as she looked at him as she spoke, "I wanted to talk to you tonight."
"I'm not drunk by any means. What did you want to talk about?" he asked, pulling his glasses off and pinching the bridge of his nose.
"That night that we had," she started, "Was that something you would want to happen again or was it just an accidental one time thing?" she asked, her heart sinking as she asked.
Mitch was about to reply when his cell phone rang, "Mitch Morgan," he answered.
April looked down as he took the phone call until her phone beeped to alert her of a text. As she read the text, her heart sank into the pit of her stomach, "We found Jamie and the cheetah. What's your location?" She looked at Mitch after he hung up and she'd read the text.
"Can we continue this conversation another time? Abe is on his way to get us."
April nodded as the bartender showed back up with her large and strange order, "I'll take that to go."
5 months earlier
April watched Jamie and Mitch kiss in the back of the plane but before she could process what she was seeing, the plane rocked before it started free falling toward the ocean. April braced herself for impact but the plane began tearing apart. She didn't know what would happen next until she felt a rush of cold water surround her lower half.
They'd crash landed in the ocean. April undid her seatbelt and located one of the flotation devices below the seats. She was quick to inflate it and climb on as she looked for the rest of her team. She noticed Abe was doing the same thing and he had Jackson.
April began looking for the others when her eyes spotted an unwelcome sight. Swimming in their direction, a fin rose above the ocean waves. April paddled faster until she reached Mitch. He was unconscious when she pulled him on the boat.
"Abe, I have Mitch. Do you see Jamie or the cheetah?" April shouted.
Abe shook his head at her question, "We need to get to shore."
April nodded as she began working toward that goal, keeping an eye out for other unwanted ocean visitors. What she found strange was the lack of sea life coming at them. Sharks were already aggressive so she figured with the mutation out there, they would swarm anything that touched the water's surface but it was the opposite.
Later the four reached the shore and Mitch came too, "What happened? Where's Jamie?" he asked, his voice in full panic.
"We couldn't find her after the plane went down. We need to get inside and get warm and report what's happened so search parties can go out and look," April replied watching as the information sunk in to Mitch's head.
By nightfall, they'd reached a hotel and the government had reserved them two rooms. Mitch and April took one and in a drunken haze, they'd slept together. It was partly from grief, partly from alcohol and some of it was from general attraction. After the team was picked up, they all went their separate ways but April had no idea how much that one night was going to change her life forever.