Jack froze.
He couldn't make his brain or his heart understand what had just happened.
Nikki was dead. He knew it. His only link to her had gone and he still had absolutely no idea where she was. The next time he saw her, her body would be an empty shell, like the ones they worked with every day. He'd look into those once lively, laughing eyes and see nothing.
Those beautiful eyes.
The silence in his head from the shock of the situation he'd found himself in and the pain in his heart exploded all at once as he collapsed to the ground sobbing, the now, useless phone - well useless to him now Nikki's was dead, still clutched in his clammy hand.
On his knees, his head dropped into his hands, his body wracked with torment and heart-broken sobs, the noise of the otherwise happy atmosphere, crashing around his him like thunder.
He was broken.
Warm hands found his shoulders, as a comforting voice spoke sense
.
"Don't you give up now, don't give up."
The words he'd spoken to Nikki a mere 20 minutes ago, hit him hard.
"If Nikki had given up, I wouldn't be here. I heard you mention her air before the phone cut out." Luisa continued.
Air. She still had air. Suddenly, his mind began to clear
"She still had air." He exclaimed, desperately trying to stand up on his buckling legs
"So...?" Luisa questioned, trying to support the stumbling scientist and motioning to Gustavo to grab his other arm.
"So maybe she's not under the ground." he answered hopefully, now successfully on his feet. "Buried, but not underground." He stared at the blank faces looking at him, racking his brains."
"The mounds!" Ernesto broke the silence. "My mother cared about Nikki, she wouldn't have put her underground. She'd have put her somewhere you could find burial mounds I've been excavating on the coast."
"She said she could taste salt." Jack agreed, his heart in his mouth. "Show me where." He asked Ernesto, desperately.
His heart flooded with hope. He still had time.