One Year Earlier
He sat quietly on his messy cot. All around him seemed still. He could hear no noise, he could see no movement. He couldn't even smell the sweat of the guard behind the mirrored wall. The air was even processed and vented into is prison. He'd been living this way since they scooped him out of the Bering Sea. They experimented on him in this facility hidden in the wilderness near the tiny town of Quinhagak, Alaska.
"How are you today Joe?" The intercom squealed.
"Same as always, Irene." Joe recognized the voice right away. Irene had helped him escape a couple of times. He was always caught before he could reach the Kanektok River. She had given up hope that any of the beasts they kept in these rooms could escape and refused to help him anymore. He resented her for that.
"You've got another test today. See you in an hour." The intercom clicked and Joe was alone again. He knew the routine. A full body search followed by hand and feet cuffs. He wouldn't tolerate it today. Today he would escape. The door clicked open and Joe fought off the first three guards. He made it down the hall and to the stair case before they started shooting. His head hit the step and all went black.
"Are you sure it's safe to operate without sedating him?" A gruff old voice pulled Joe out of his sleep. The CEO of Obelisk Research Company, Jacob Reed stood over him. Reed was a greedy, old man and Joe could only think about tearing him limb from limb. He was restrained and Dr. Samuel Dorian was pulling an array of bullets out of Joe. Dr. Dorian was the lead researcher of project Triton and Joe's personal satan.
"We haven't figured out the proper amount. Give him too much and he will die. You'd think we would have figured it out after sixteen years." Dr. Dorian chuckled briefly. "We need not tamper with these being Jacob. As I've said many a time-"
"As I've said many a time, no." Reed interrupted.
"At least they'd be able to handle him. I'm getting much too old for this." Dr. Dorian pulled the final bullet free from Joe's tough skin.
"Then train someone to take your place. No one else will make the billions I have. Particularly not the military, I'll make sure of it. Speaking of which, that new skin cream is selling like hot cakes." Reed looked down at Joe, "Did you hear that boy?"
"I'm not deaf old man." Joe said with a menacing look.
"I guess you'll have already read my mind. You'll already know the term s of your release then."
Dr. Dorian stared in bewilderment at his old friend.
"Yes. Another GPS tracker and a happy face." Joe bared his teeth in a mock smile.
"Another one? What's wrong with the one you already have?"
"Didn't you hear? Your sharp shooters hit it so many times its junk now."
"I won't replace it."Reed grunted, "You cost me too much money, leave."
Joe didn't hesitate after they took off his restraints. He ran up the many flights of stairs and flung open the doors. The fresh air lifted his mood and he all but yelled his joy. He continued all the way to the river and dove in the icy water. With any luck he would make it to Antarctica within a week. He would completely isolate himself from all human contact. Humans disgusted him. He had all the time in the world to plan his revenge. Not only for Jacob Reed but for any humans that crossed his path.
Present Day
Emma, Cleo and Rikki stood on the white sand beach of their secret alcove. They were moments away from stepping into the calm surf when they gazed upon a shark swimming restlessly near the beach. They knew sharks never came in this close to the shore at this time of day. They tried to get closer without getting wet. Cleo was the first to cry out in disbelief. She turned tail and ran toward the JuiceNet Café phone in hand.
"Okay, okay slow down. So it was a shark?" Lewis asked in a booth at the JuiceNet Café. Rikki and Emma sat across from him, Cleo was beside him.
"No," Rikki said exasperated, "It was too big. It had hands and fingers like a person but they were webbed. Eyes like a cat and it was kinda deformed."
"I think it was a merman." Cleo smiled from ear to ear at her epiphany.
"Right, a merman." Lewis was skeptical, "Those don't exist."
"You didn't think mermaids existed until a year ago." Emma reminded him.
"Then let's conduct an experiment. The next full moon I'll jump into the moon pool and see if I turn grey."
"No way." the girls said in unison.
"What? why?"
"You would give mermen a bad name. Work out some more and then we'll talk." Rikki poked him in the chest.
"What do you propose we do about this supposed merman." Lewis crossed his arms. "Nothing, as long as he doesn't cause any trouble." Emma said scooting out of the booth.
Down the beach Joe slowly pulled himself out of the water. All three meters of him struggled to get out of the water. His lungs were hardly large enough to keep him alive as he struggled up the sandy beach. That was when it hit him, the pains of the transformations. His spine was beginning to shrink, his gills disappeared, his lungs were now taking up a fairly large portion of his chest, his fin began to split, his skull shrank, but what hurt the most was when his eyes changed. Perhaps slightly more impressive than his external changes were the chemical changes in his body. His body was producing endorphins to stave off the pain, but too little effect, while his brain chemistry changed. His body's tolerance of certain hormones decreased dramatically, leaving him in a sense of blind anger.
As a human he looked almost kind, he appeared to be from Scandinavian decent, and was only a hair under six feet. With the exception of the skin tight suit he wore, he wouldn't have looked too far out of place in a Nazi propaganda poster. He kept his hair buzzed military style and his skin was tough from living in the cold waters of the Antarctic so long.
He waited until the early hours of the morning before attempting to leave the beach. He walked to the closest clothing store and climbed to the roof. He pulled off the cover of the vent and jumped in. Avoiding all alarms he walked around until he found a small room where the owner kept the security tapes. Joe ejected the tape from the VCR and destroyed it. He then proceeded to find the most inconspicuous clothing in the store and climbed back out the vent.
He changed clothes in the adjoining alley. Leaving his skin suit in the dumpster he calmly walked away. He needed to get familiar with the area before he started picking off its people. The girls that discovered him earlier that day crossed him mind. They were different and he couldn't figure out how. They had ran before he had the chance to read their minds. They would be his first targets he decided. He came to a small building and sat down against it to wait for morning.
Emma had to open the JuiceNet for Wilfred and arrived a couple hours early. She didn't see the guy sleeping at the front of the building. She normally let herself in the back door when it was this early in the morning. She finished setting up the store and unlocking the door she poked her head out.
"Excuse me." she said loudly, "You need to leave."
The boy looked to be about her age and she didn't have any tolerance for him already. He opened his eyes slowly and looked up at her. Emma saw a brief sparkle of recognition in his eye before a mask of indifference was put in place. He stood up and read the menu tacked on the wall in front of him.
"I want a juice." He had a Russian accent.
"Sorry we are not open yet. Come back later." She smiled and closed the door, locking it quickly.
"Yes, later." Emma watched him walk off and sighed with relief.
A/N: Dark Waters is the good dr.'s brain child I merely adopted it. He wrote the first two chapters and I rewrote them. I didn't change everything though. You will still find snippets from his original chapters. I've got great plans for this story. Before I wrap this note up I'm also working on something that hasn't been done me a message and I'll give you a link.
cheers
