Gathered around the old bonfire, which was nothing more than a pile of glowing ashes by this point, the group stared back at Zahra.
"Get...in touch? W-With...Taylor?", stammered Diego, looking like he was just slapped in the face.
Zahra folded her arms and smiled even wider, clearly relishing her moment of superiority. "Yup."
"And how exactly do you propose we do that?", Aleister called out, his brief moment of surprise quickly giving way to scorn. "I miss him as much as the rest of you, but we must accept what has to be accepted. Taylor became one with the universe long ago."
Raj suddenly smiled, tilting his head back in thought. "Hey, that was me like three nights ago-"
"Oh, give it a rest, Raj", snapped Michelle. She turned to Zahra, skeptical. "So what do you know? What should we do first?" Despite her attempt at an air of confidence, her voice held a clear current of anxiety.
Zahra slowly uncrossed her arms. "'K, don't hate me for this, but it's pretty much all I got at this point", she said. "Look, the other reason I didn't want to tell you guys this sooner was because...I didn't want to get your hopes up."
She glanced miserably down at her sneakers. "Actually, it's not even concrete evidence. It's really just a rumor." She kicked a rock aside. "And a damn sketchy one at that".
Sean could feel his heart drop to the pit of his stomach. He glanced over at Quinn. Her eyes were filled with tears - hopeful or sad, he did not know. Upon catching his gaze, she tried her best to give him an encouraging, though ultimately empty, smile.
The moon was beginning to reach its full depth, casting a silvery glow onto the beach. Jake stepped forward, the tension in his jaw even more pronounced under the light.
"Boy Scout was always there for us", the pilot said resolutely. He scanned around him, nodding. "And we damn sure as hell will be there for him too".
Trying to gulp down the lump in his throat, Sean stepped forward.
"Please, Zahra." His hands began to flex again. Bad habits die hard, he supposed. "This is all we got. If there's any chance he's still out there, we have to take it. He needs us."
Jake chuckled and threw an arm around Sean, though he had to get on his tiptoes to reach Sean's massive height. "Spoken like a born leader."
Zahra hesitated, then nodded in resignation. "All right. But don't say I didn't warn you, so prepare to be disappointed."
She walked over to her bag and pulled out an overworn iPad, nearly defunct from years of use. She raised a hand, canceling their prospective questions, before opening up the software. It wasn't long before the iPad began beeping and flashing with lights.
"There!", she exclaimed. "Here's what I found."
Sean leaned forward with the rest of them, craning to see the title; SPATIAL ANOMALY DISCOVERED, SCIENTISTS IN WONDER
For a moment, Sean remained still, absolutely bewildered. From the silence blanketing their group, it was safe for him to assume the others were as well. At last, Aleister broke up the tension.
"And what, pray tell, are we to do with this exactly?" He rubbed his eyes, exhausted from the events of the night. "A tabloid conspiracy written by blind ignorance - not exactly groundbreaking."
Zahra whipped towards his direction with a glare. "This isn't just some generic news article, dumbass. Look at where the scientists made their 'big discovery'".
Raj chuckled at her air quotes before noticing Aleister's side eye, falling back into silence.
Grace leaned forward from her husband's side, making sure to read the article twice over. From a short distance away, Diego stretched and let out a yawn.
"Hey guys, maybe we should save this for tomorrow?", he inquired. "It's getting real late, so unless you guys wanna spend another night here at Jurassic Park, maybe we should start-"
His thought process was cut off by Grace, who jutted a finger at the screen. "Here!", she cried out. "Listen to this line. Reports of strange behavior has been recorded on local ship radars. It appears that there is some type of disturbance in the tachyon field near the island of La Huerta, an island with a rich history for being host to unknown occurrences. Scientists, though fascinated, know not what to make of the discovery…"
"Wait, that's IT?", Craig hollered out as Grace handed the tablet back to Zahra, her hands shaking. "I thought we were done with all the space mumbo-jumbo crap! How do we know this is really 'cause of La Huerta?" He shook his head in disbelief. "Shit, for all we know this could be about the damn Bermuda Triangle."
Michelle groaned. "Jesus Christ, Craig, we're not even anywhere near the Bermuda Triangle."
"So what?", he rebuked angrily. "You know my worst subject is geology."
"Uh, I think you meant geography", Diego mumbled, although his reply was overpowered by Michelle's rebuttal.
"No, Craig, your worst subject was always math. Don't you remember?", she asked, rolling her eyes. "You barely even passed calculus."
As the two began to bicker loudly, Sean and Jake stepped closer to Zahra's tablet. "You really think we got a chance here, Zahra?", asked Sean, trying to stop his voice from shaking. He didn't want to get his hopes up too soon. The idea of seeing Taylor again - holding him again, talking to him again, even just knowing he might still be out there - made his heart swell with both hope and pain.
"Dude, I honestly have no clue", she responded bluntly. Mincing words had never been her trademark. "This could be a tech malfunction for all we know. But it's better than nothing, right?"
Grace shook her head. "I…I don't understand", she murmured to herself. "We freed Vaanu. The time anomalies, the disruptions...they should be gone now. The world had been restored when we first left. How is anything like this still possible?"
Jake broke away from the group, glancing back at the island in thought. "If there's anything I learned about La Huerta, it's that you never know what to expect", he said.
He turned back to their circle, determined. "But we owe it to Taylor to try our best."
Sean nodded, though he was already frowning from worry. "We should at least see where this leads to. Whatever it takes."
Zahra shut off her iPad and stowed it back into her bag, scoffing. "You guys must be off your damn rockers to believe this crap." She released a heavy sigh. "Look, I'm down to help, but if shit starts getting dangerous then I'm out." Her eyes fall on Craig a short distance away. "I've got too much lying on the line for me now."
"Of course, Zahra", Sean said reassuredly.
The four share a common look, finding strength in each other despite the odds. Sean was more set on this journey than possibly anyone else, but he could still feel something poking at him from inside, a gnawing sense of uncertainty. Science and logic were not exactly the two things he associated first with La Huerta; who knew what would await them within the island? He still had his momma back home, waiting impatiently to hear about his reunion, the one he'd been hyping up for weeks. How could he put himself at risk again when he had family to look after?
As the others headed back, prepared to tell the news, Sean soon found himself sitting next to Michelle and Craig. The two seemed to have gotten over their argument and were now speaking in hushed tones, as if they were trying to conceal a secret.
"Meech, you really think we about to do something crazy again?", Craig asked, his voice trembling. "I mean like, don't get me wrong, you all are homies for life, but-"
"-But this is absolutely insane", finished Michelle, eyes darting away from his. Her finger traced a small symbol in the sand; her own Hadeon symbol, still fresh in her memory. "Craig, I just don't know. I really don't think I can do this again. I still have a future waiting for me."
Her eyes fell shut. More than a minute must have passed before she finally noticed Sean sitting next to her. She let out a yelp. "Jesus Christ, Sean! You scared the hell out of me."
After an unceremonious attempt to fix her hair, she scrutinized him up and down. "Are you…?"
"I'm fine", Sean said abruptly. Even after all these years, he still felt uncomfortable whenever others worried about him. It was his responsibility to look after the people he cared about, to shoulder their burden if he could.
Craig slapped Sean's back appreciatively. "Hell yeah!", he exclaimed. "Ain't nothing gonna slow my man Sean down."
Sean shook his head in wonder. "Glad to see you both haven't changed a bit", he said, smiling. "It'll be reassuring to know I've got you two by my side."
His words faded to no response. Michelle and Craig exchanged an uneasy glance, as if they knew something he didn't.
"Sean…", she said quietly. Her voice sounded strangely familiar to him, both gentle yet forceful. He realized with a start where it came from - it was the voice she fell into whenever she tried to convince someone else.
"About that, I...I don't know if we can do this again", Michelle said.
"I heard. And I understand." Sean could feel his pulse starting to race. "But we gotta do this for Taylor, and I'd really appreciate it if I had your guys's support. You two were some of my closest friends."
Michelle shook her head, despondent. "No, Sean. I can't. I don't-I don't think there's anything left to find."
Her eyes slowly traveled up to his, where he could see the uncertainty hiding within hers. The buildup of tension felt like a lead weight in his gut. He knew what was coming.
"At some point, you'll just have to let him go."
For what felt like an eternity, Sean stared back at her, thoroughly shaken. "Just let him go?", he stuttered, as if she were speaking a language he didn't understand.
"Sean...yes." Aware of how everyone was staring at them, at him, Michelle suddenly wished they were anywhere else. "I hate to be the one to say this, but this is fucking absurd. We're not heroes, Sean. The last time we were at La Huerta was five years ago, and we almost got killed. Many times."
Her fingers toyed with the stethoscope on her chest."I'm really sorry. I miss Taylor too. We all do. But he did what he did so we could get another chance to live our lives, and I'll be damned if I let that go to waste."
Her speech cut into Sean like a knife. He stumbled back, the world crashing down on his face all at once. The thought of Taylor still gone forever, completely out of reach, was rapidly burning his newfound hope into ashes.
His eyes traveled to Craig. "Dude, you too?", he asked desperately.
All of a sudden, Craig didn't know where to look. He shuffled his feet in the sand.
"Hey, you know I always got your back", he mumbled. "But this ain't really what I signed up for. You get what I mean, Sean. I don't think this is what Taylor would want." His voice trailed off as he brokenly stared down at his sneakers.
Sean could feel the fight slowly draining out of him. One of his hands reached into his pocket, holding the flower for some sensation of strength, hope, anything. What if they were right? What if he was chasing after a fantasy that didn't exist?
"He would've done this for us." His voice was broken, the words coming out in pieces. With some effort, he managed to choke back his tears. "He was...he was my husband. We can't just let him go like this."
Michelle propped herself up and reached for his hand, squeezing it affectionately. "I'm sorry, Sean", she whispered. "I'm so sorry".
Craig approached Sean, giving him another pat on the back. "I feel you, dude", he said quietly. He fell into an awkward silence while searching for something to say, though nothing immediately came to mind. "I, uh…"
He coughed mid-sentence. "I miss him a lot too. But, you know, we got our futures to look after. Can't let all our work go to nothin'."
But before he could continue, Sean broke apart from the two, shaking his head. Without another word, he began to walk away from camp. It didn't matter where he was going anymore, as long it was away from everything else. He could feel the weight of the world on his shoulders.
"Sean, where are you going?", Michelle called out after him.
When he turned back to her, his eyes were empty. "I just...I need some time alone, Meech". There were no further words as he continued in solitude.
