In the lobby of the Celestial Hotel and Resort, the contest winners from Hartfeld University stood in a circle. No one moved, no one spoke. They simply stood still, slack-jawed, eyes glued on the shimmering projection of a blue woman standing before them.
"Error." Iris speaks in her pleasant, modulated voice. "Visual input is registering as frozen."
"No, Iris," Chris answered in a voice dull with exhaustion. "They're just... staring at you."
Everyone was gawking at the flickering hologram called Iris, which is emitted from the tiny, spherical drone floating from behind.
"So..." Quinn finally says. "this is the observatory's AI?"
"Not exactly. She's a backup copy Chris and Zahra restored. But she doesn't know what happened on the island."
"It remembers nothing?" Aleister groans.
"No," Iris confirms. "I apologize for the inconvenience."
On the couch nearby, Michelle is wrapping Craig's sprained wrist in an ace bandage she found in a first-aid kit. She snorts at Iris' remark.
"Sounds more like convenient to me."
"Ouch!" Craig yelps as she tugs hard on the bandage. "Easy, doc!"
"Pipe down, you big baby. You know ripping that pipe out of the wall didn't help this sprain." She shakes her head. "Anyway, I thought you were the toughest guy in school."
"You really think that, Meech?" Craig grinned.
"Shut up." She turned back to the crowd. "I'm just saying. How do we know if she's telling the truth?" She nods at Iris.
"You do not..." Iris replied. "I was not programmed to have any facial tics to signal deception."
"Thanks for making my point." She secures the bandage on Craig's wrist. "By the way, I'm shocked we didn't all get killed out there."
"We're fine, Michelle," Sean says. "We handled ourselves well."
Chris sighed and sank into a chair while putting his head in his hands, they had almost died three times on the trip. Perhaps it was luck, perhaps it was skill that got them through, but they did survive. But for how much longer, and how much more could they really take?
"We were lucky, Sean," He murmured. "We were tough too, but this island's getting crazier by the minute. There was a good chance a lot of us wouldn't be coming back."
"Thank you!" Michelle says. "At least Chris gets it!"
"Really, Chris?" Sean sounded disappointed. "Sure, we had some close calls, but look what we accomplished..."
"I'm not trying to undermine our accomplishments, Sean, I'm just trying to say we have to be careful, and not act recklessly. Calculated risk is one thing, foolhardiness is another."
"I suppose you are right about that, we can't be reckless."
"This is coming from a guy who played through a fractured tibia..." Muttered Michelle.
"What's important is that Michelle has a point." Estela turns her attention to Iris. "The machine can't be trusted. We should destroy it. Now."
Iris' lips curve into a frown, her holographic brow wrinkling.
"Please refrain."
"No way, dude!" Raj cries. He leaps in front of Iris as Estela moves toward the drone.
"Get out of the way, Raj!" Estela growls.
"No!"
"Estela!" Chris got up beside her. "He's got a point. Not too long ago, none of us trusted you either." Mentally, Chris smacked himself for his delivery.
"Exactly!" Raj nodded.
Estela only glared.
"That was a massive gamble on your part-"
"One that paid off," He answered firmly. "We wouldn't be alive if it weren't for you, right?"
"...Don't be too sure that it paid off just yet." Still, Estela backed down.
"Thank you, Christopher." Iris chimes.
"You can thank me by proving me right, Iris."
"Affirmative."
"You know..." Zahra quips. "If I could just get my hands on that golden snitch thing, I could get a look at what makes Iris tick."
She makes a grab for the projector drone, but it evades her fingers.
"I would prefer if you did not..." Said Iris.
Zahra makes another grab for it, and it evades her again.
"Just! Get! Over! Here!"
Zahra makes a few more attempts to grab the drone before she gets winded and sits back down on a couch.
"Chris..." Quinn says. "Those voices on the radio... are you sure that's what they were saying?"
"My god, it's... it's erupting...the volcano's erupting..."
They all stop dead, looking toward Iris. Her holographic lips were moving, but her voice was that of a panicked man. The same the group had heard at the observatory.
"Uh... what is she doing?" Diego asked.
"That's what we heard..." Grace replies grimly. "She must've recorded it."
"This is unbelievable..." Iris continued, this time in the woman's voice. "The La Huerta volcano is erupting, but... it's not like anything I've ever seen..." And then, the terrified whisper of the old man, "...God help us all..."
"...That's not creepy." Laughed Diego nervously. "That's not creepy at all..."
"Whatever," Craig frowns. "It's stupid! It makes no sense. The volcano hasn't erupted, obviously."
"Yet."
Everyone stops and looks at Grace.
"We might be hearing broadcasts that... that haven't happened yet."
"Grace..." Aleister begins. "What are you saying…?"
"I've been thinking, and… there's only one last explanation for all this. We've gotta face facts. Sabretooth tigers? Giant mutant crabs? A fox that breathes ice? The sun setting in the span of a few minutes? And now all this?"
Blizzard tips his head questioningly, trilling. Chris looked over at Jake, who met his gaze. Somehow, they could tell what the other was thinking, they were both remembering the strange atmospheric lights they had seen from the airstrip control tower when they first landed.
"Everyone's thinking it..." Grace continued. "I know it's scary, and we want to keep telling ourselves everything's okay, but we can't afford to do that anymore. So let's just say it out loud, okay? ...Time travel."
Everyone began talking all at once.
"That's just silly!" Lila shrieked.
"This isn't your fanfiction, Grace!" Michelle cried.
"Yeah, and I must have skipped the part in my evolution textbook about ice-breathing foxes!" Added Craig.
"I didn't say we were traveling in the past..." Grace sighs. "Just like the broadcasts, maybe some things... Just haven't happened yet." She gestures pointedly to Blizzard.
"Okay, I mean, let's say sure, it's got something to do with time. I admit it's the only explanation that accounts for everything we've seen, but..." Sean shakes his head. "What matters is, what do we do about it? I think the observatory proved one thing, and that's that no help is coming for us."
"...It's up to us, then," Chris murmured.
"Chris' right," Grace says. "It's just a problem, and every problem has a solution. We just have to find it."
"Yeah..." Jake grumbled. "Sure thing, Mulder. Good thing we've got a crack team of geniuses here to deal with the situation."
"You can't think that way," Said Quinn insistently. "I know what it's like to want to throw in the towel, but we're all counting on each other."
"Uh, guys...?" Raj speaks up. "There is one thing we found here at the resort while you were gone."
He reaches behind the bar and pulls out a photograph of a picturesque marina, filled with docked yachts and sailboats. Chris immediately recognized it. It was the one the people who remained at the hotel found when Chris found himself as a passenger in Raj's mind while he was asleep.
"Wait," Chris feigned confusion. "Is this… here?"
Estela shot Chris a look.
"Yup!" Raj stated proudly. "Just a few miles south!"
"It's Mr. Rourke's private marina," Lila explained. "Reserved for only the resort's most illustrious guests. Many kept their prized yachts there."
"And if there are any left..." A grin grew across Michelle's face.
Again, everyone stood in the hotel lobby, silent.
"We know what we have to do..." Sean finishes for Michelle. "Everyone get your things. We're getting off this rock."
"Oh, yes, certainly!" Aleister sneers, his voice dripping with sarcasm. "After only narrowly surviving our little jaunts to the shelter and the observatory, why not wander off again?!"
"Aleister!" Sean cries. "You can't seriously be suggesting we stay here after what we just talked about!"
"I am simply asking for a little more pattern recognition. We are extraordinarily fortunate to have survived this long."
"And we'll keep surviving!"
"So you insist." Aleister met Sean's gaze steadily, his expression grim. "But keep tempting fate, and we may face something we cannot survive so easily."
For a moment, a wave of cold dread crashed over Chris like a tsunami. From somewhere deep within him, I felt it rising to the top of his brain: the knowledge that Aleister is absolutely right.
Whether or not they were walking into certain death, the fact remains that the marina is their best hope of escaping La Huerta. In his suite, Chris gather my belongings into his suitcase, packing his clothes and belonging haphazardly. For a moment, he considered bringing the dossiers that he had hidden under his mattress, but he decided against it. If there is a usable vessel at the marina, and if it could get them off the island, he did not see much point in bringing them. Knowing that they wouldn't be of much use anywhere.
A knock at the door shook him from his thought, he returned the dossiers to the spot beneath his mattress and walked over to the door. Upon opening it to find Quinn standing outside. Smiling shyly.
"Hey..."
"Hey..."
The two stared at each other for a tense moment, before breaking into a hug.
"I missed you so much." Said Quinn, on the brink of tears.
"Same here, Quinn."
"I'm um..." She wiped the tears forming in her eyes. "I'm just really, really glad you're back. With the rest of us, I mean... I've been thinking about you."
"That so?"
"Yeah. I was actually pretty worried about you."
"Didn't think I could handle myself?"
"Oh, I have no doubt you could handle quite a bit." She moves to the window and gazes out over the island. "...I can't believe we're leaving. I know it's only been four days, but..."
The sunlight casts her reflection against the glass window. She appeared like a ghost, floating over the island peaks. Chris watched her raise a hand to touch the glass, her expression solemn.
"...But...?"
"...I feel as if I've known you forever." She turns to face me. "Do you think we'll still talk? When we get back home, I mean?"
"Of course, we'll still talk. I didn't know any of you except Diego before we got here, and no matter what happens, I feel like I made friends for life."
"Let's just hope that 'for life' is a long time."
"Amen to that."
She shifted awkwardly, rocking on her heels for a moment. For the first time, Chris realized that she was carrying a small department store bag.
"There... is another reason I stopped by. I found these really nice clothes in a suitcase a guest left behind in my suite. They must've been here for some mountain climbing. They'd be useful if things get dangerous out there. Besides that, I thought they would look really good on you."
She holds out the bag, and he accepted it, carrying it over to the bed. He pulled out a brown shirt, a white undershirt, a length of rope, cargo pants, hiking boots, and a light backpack with a knife holstered in one of the shoulder straps. He let out a long whistle.
"Woah!"
Quinn walked over to the bed and sat down next to him.
"I know," Quinn nodded. "You'd have all these tools, like the knife, the rope. There's a compass, a survival manual, and a first aid kit in the backpack too. So no matter what happens, you'd be prepared. So? What do you think?"
He gave her a big hug.
"It looks awesome, Quinny! You're the best!"
"Quinny?" She laughed.
"You hate it, don't you."
"No, as a matter of fact, I love it!" She smiled. "You really like it?"
"I'll put it on right now."
"Oh, okay." Her cheeks go slightly red. "I'll turn around."
She turns away while Chris shrugged off his current clothes, he stuffed them into his bag before changing.
"Alright," He smirked. "I'm decent now."
"...How does it feel?" Quinn asked.
Chris gazed at his reflection in the mirror, admiring the way the new outfit looked.
"As a matter of fact, it feels amazing." He laughed. "If only I had a fedora and a whip, then I'd look like Indiana Jones."
"It looks amazing, too." She meets my gaze in the mirror. "...Are you ready to go home?"
"Ready as I'll ever be... Let's go..."
The group took the path along the shoreline to the marina, leaving a wide trail of footprints in the sand. It would take longer than the path through the rainforest, but it was much safer. Chris look back over his shoulder, watching the Celestial's tower disappear behind the trees. He glanced back and noticed Zahra trailing her eyes up and down his body.
"Uh, Zahra?"
"Just digging the new look. That's a pretty nice knife you got there."
"Thanks."
Zahra flashes her own knife, a switchblade that she unsheathes with a practiced flick of her wrist. It glints in the sun.
"...Mine's bigger."
At the head of the group, Jake looks out over the horizon. Iris floats beside him.
"Got a weather report for us, Princess Leia?"
In the ensuing silence, Diego clears his throat.
"I think he's talking to you, Iris."
"My designation is not Princess Leia."
"It's 'cause you're a hologram, and she was a hologram in that one scene and..." Jake rubs a hand over his face. "Dammit, if you don't remember any references, nicknames are gonna be friggin' impossible."
"...Alias accepted. Princess Leia, now accessing weather scanners. High of: Ninety-one degrees. Precipitation: zero percent. Humidity: Seventy percent. Barometer: 30.1 inches mercury. Visibility: 6.2 miles."
Jake blinks in surprise, then smiles.
"Perfect weather for the trip."
"So, where exactly are we sailing once we get a boat?" I ask.
"Northeast. Santo Domingo's about 250 miles from here. Those big yachts in the marina definitely have the range to get us there."
"Hey, Jake," Diego begins. "So, you were in the military, right? What exactly is gonna happen to us when we get there? I mean, if this time travel crap is real, are we about to get quarantined?"
"Or thrown in the loony bin..." Zahra adds.
"What if we go back to like, World War II times, and we have to kill Hitler?" Craig suggests. "I always wanted to kill Hitler!"
"Relax," Jake says. "Most likely, it'll just be the local coast guard. They'll either let us go... or they'll throw us in jail for the rest of our lives."
Diego looks at Chris nervously.
"He's kidding. Right, Chris? Tell me he's kidding."
"He's just kidding, Diego."
"...Heh... I knew that."
Chris glared at Jake, who was shaking his head.
"Why are you always trying to scare people?" He hissed.
"Only when they should be scared..." Jake retorts. "You don't think every military on the planet is gonna wanna know what we saw? What we found? We gotta get our asses outta here, but that doesn't mean the danger's over."
Chris doesn't respond. Suddenly, he felt very glad he chose to leave those dossiers in his room. The group continued their walk in comfortable silence for a while, occasionally making small talk between each other.
Then, just behind Chris, Aleister starts muttering to himself.
"How could I have been so stupid?"
"What are you talking about?" Grace asks.
"I never should have come here!" He snapped. "Why did I do this to myself? Why did I think my life would somehow be better after coming here? What did I expect? I should have simply accepted things as they were..."
"Easier said than done, bro," Craig sighs.
"Maybe..." Quinn says. "But it's worth it the effort to find peace with yourself."
"I guess I kinda felt the same way," Grace says. "I wanted something else for myself, but I should've known not to rock the boat."
"Better to know your limits," Zahra agrees. "Taking risks just gets you on the FBI Watchlist."
"I just want to get back home and have everything exactly the way it was." Michelle adds.
"Come on, guys," Sean protests. "Look where we are! Look what we've faced! You telling me you haven't felt like you've grown in the last four days?"
"I've grown sick of the pep talks, Cap," Jake mutters.
"If you never try," Chris said. "How do you ever find out what you're capable of?"
"Famous last words..." Zahra snarks.
"That's completely preposterous!" Aleister sneers.
"I think Chris' right," Sean nods at him. "Life's a test. You have to keep pushing yourself. I don't know what you were looking for out here, Aleister, but it doesn't matter if you've found it. What matters is that you took the chance instead of not doing anything and just wondering what could have happened if you did."
"No," Estela speaks up. "What matters is that you succeed or die trying."
"Now there's a pep talk." Jake snickered.
"Look," Sean begins. "Coach always told me, whether it's an engineering class or a 260-pound linebacker, you've gotta look each and every challenge square in the eye and face it head-on."
"Was your coach around three feet tall and a motivational poster?"
"Hilarious..." Sean scowls. "Coming from a guy who takes his advice from Jose Cuervo."
"Speaking of Jose," Jake smirks. "If any of you kids find yourselves in Costa Rica, look me up. First round's on…" Jake trails off suddenly as they round the bend at the end of the shoreline, his face falling. When everyone sees what he was looking at, they all stop short, staring dumbly. "...me."
Smoke coils slowly in the air like black snakes. The crystal blue water of the marina laps against the charred wood and metal of the ships' shattered hulls. They've been destroyed. Every yacht. Every boat. Millions of dollars worth of exquisite luxury vessels. They are all in charred, smoking pieces of driftwood, floating in the marina, their shivers strewn over the docks. As if they were blown apart by bombs.
"...Lila?" Raj says weakly. "This... doesn't look like the photo."
Sean steps forward, his expression slack. He drops to his knees.
"...How...?" He whispers. "...Why...?"
"First my plane, now this?" Jake mutters.
"Someone is trying awfully hard to keep us here..." Estela says grimly.
"See?" Aleister cries. "This is what I'm talking about! This is what we get for trying!"
Grace whimpers, tears forming in her eyes. Michelle puts an arm around her.
"Will you shut up, Aleister?! You're scaring Grace!"
Seeing Grace's tears, Aleister suddenly looks stricken. He looks away contritely, murmuring an apology.
Chris walked forward to the closest boat that was still smoldering and picked up a charred piece of driftwood. Suddenly, he felt his temper flare. Chris looked back at Sean, slumped on his knees, gazing out at the devastation. All his pep talks, all his attitude, all his acting like the team captain, the leader, the hero, and suddenly it was too much? Suddenly, even he is ready to roll over and accept defeat? Rage bubbled up inside of Chris, and he couldn't swallow it, he further broke the driftwood over his knee and let out his Irish wrath.
"Get the hell up, Sean!" Chris snarled.
Sean looks back at him.
"Chris-"
"I'm not accepting defeat! Are you?!"
Jake puts a hand on Chris' shoulder.
"Maybe you should..."
Chris shrugs him off.
"LIKE HELL I AM! I am not going to roll over and die! This is NOT fun and games anymore, but that does not mean this damn island is going to keep me here! I'll fight! I'll fight until it cripples or kills me, and even THEN I won't give up! Are you gonna do any less than that, Sean Gayle?! Are you gonna be any less than that?!"
Almost to his surprise, Sean actually seems to be considering his words. To further his surprise, Sean sets his jaw and climbs to his feet.
"No. I'm not." He looks back at Chris. "...Thank you. I needed that."
Chris simply nods.
"Great talk and all..." Michelle says, "but what exactly are we supposed to do now?"
"I don't know," Sean admits. "But I know what we won't do, and that's give up. There are answers here. We've just gotta find them. Something will tell us what we're up against."
"You heard the man!" Craig says. "Split up!"
They all split up, and begin searching the marina, or rather what's left of it. Chris observes a piece of floating wreckage, and his mind moves into investigation mode. The fires had died down, but the smoke from each wreckage was still rising, and the charred wood was still smoldering. That being the case, the boats could not have been destroyed too long ago. Perhaps a day, at maximum a day and a half.
"Dammit, if only we noticed the marina sooner. We could have gotten off this damn island." Chris thought to himself.
He chose not to dwell on it, it was time to focus on the here and now.
He saw that the only pieces of the boats that were close to the docks are mostly the bigger chunks, still tied to the ropes. Smaller bits were floating close by, but they were drifting off fast. He figured they must have just broken off the bigger chunks if they're still close by. Meaning whatever was left of the boats was quickly falling apart.
He looked at the dock itself and saw the splinters of wood scattered around. There must have been quite an explosion when the boats' gas tanks got blown up. Looking over the whole scene, he felt like one of the sailors in the aftermath of the Pearl Harbor attack. Suddenly, he noticed Blizzard twining around his ankles like a cat, trilling a question at him. Chris picked him up.
"Where do you think we should start, fella?" Murphy yips. "Let's go help out our old buddy Diego, huh?"
"Your old buddy Diego who is literally ten feet away from you?" Diego quips, grinning at me. "But I could use a hand. I think I found something already."
Chris walked over to him and knelt down beside his friend on the dock, only to see that he was fiddling with a hefty, waterproof case covered in seaweed.
"A case?" Asked Chris.
"I guess." Replied Diego." It was floating in the water. Can't get it open, though. The latch is stuck." He shakes his head. "Every fiber of my being is telling me not to open the creepy box. That's like, Movies 101."
"Well, someone's gotta open it. Besides, it could be what was really in the suitcase in Pulp Fiction." Diego laughed.
"You open it since you look like Nathan Drake's double in that new outfit."
"Why don't we open it together? That way, we'll both take the blame for opening Pandora's box."
"Oh dude, please don't say that, this might just be it, or the Ark from Raiders with all the murderous ghosts that can melt our faces."
"In that case, keep your eyes closed, Marion." Chuckled Chris.
Chris took the knife from his shoulder sheath and used it to pry the latch open. Then, on the count of three, Diego and he lifted the lid together, their eyes closed. Upon opening them, they both recoil in shock.
Inside the case is another set of file folders, just like the ones Chris had found in Rourke's office, and in the observatory interrogation room. Pinned to the top of the folder was a picture of Quinn.
"...Uh... why is there a picture of Quinn in here?" Diego asks. "...Were they tracking us? I seriously doubt The Celestial runs background checks on every guest."
Chris did not immediately answer. He opened the files. Quinn's file was on top, followed by Craig and Michelle. He decided to open Quinn's first, with Diego reading along over his shoulder. There was another red symbol sigil stamp on the file, Quinn had a clear dolphin.
Target Analysis
Clearance: Epsilon
Surname: Kelly
First: Quinn
Middle: Erin
DOB: 1996 July 20
Birthplace: Boulder, CO
Background: Spent her whole childhood in a hospital battling Rotterdam's Syndrome (a rare autoimmune disease.) Costs bankrupted her parents, leading to their divorce.
Psychological Profile: Constant near-death experiences give her unabashed craving for experiences, marked by socialization and intimacy issues.
Threat Assessment: 0 (strong-willed survivor, but not a threat)
Next was Craig, whose red sigil had what appeared to be a bear paw.
Target Analysis
Clearance: Epsilon
Surname: Hsiao
First: Kuan-yu
Middle: Craig
DOB: 1995 Nov 17
Birthplace: Saginaw, MI
Background: Shy nerd turned big man on campus. Unlikely to be drafted into the pros. His star is fading fast, so he hangs onto the glory days. A grueling life has left him tough enough for any encounter.
Psychological Profile: Not very bright, but intense loyalty (particularly to his QB, Sean Gayle) prevents him from being manipulated.
Threat Assessment: 3
Finally, there was Michelle's, whose sigil symbol appeared to be that of a dainty peacock.
Clearance: Epsilon
Surname: Nguyen
First: Michelle
Middle: Thuy
DOB: 1995 Dec 31
Birthplace: Bellevue, WA
Background: Raised by a single mother, taught to work hard for what she wants, and she wants it all. Top of her class, will have her pick of med schools. (Stud QB boyfriend) is just the cherry on top.
Psychological Profile: As motivated and hardworking as they come. Hard to tell if she enjoys her status, or if it's all a means to an end.
Threat Assessment: 5
"This is insane!" Whispered Diego. "What's the point of all this? And what do those weird symbols mean? They all look like animals."
"I'm not sure. But it all has to add up to something." Chris stood quiet a moment, he tried to look as nonchalant as possible to make sure that no one was around that could hear them. "Diego, I need you to listen to me and not freak out. There are more of these files. I some in Rourke's office when we were searching the hotel, and I found more at the observatory. I've been hiding them under the mattress in my suite. ...Rourke's company has been tracking us, Diego."
"Shit! Chris, why didn't you tell me?!"
"I was waiting for the right time... When I was sure that even if they got mad at me for reading their files I could put any doubts of anyone else to rest before it became a problem. But then I got distracted..." He paused. "And I was scared... I didn't want to trust anyone else with the information just yet."
"Hey, I won't say anything. ...Who have you found?"
"...You. And Raj, Zahra, Grace, Sean, Jake, and Estela."
"...Dare I ask what it said about me?"
Impulsively, Chris threw his arms onto Diego's shoulders.
"...Nothing I didn't already know. Nothing you haven't already told me. But please... don't ask me to repeat it."
Diego then held Chris' shoulders.
"...Okay. Okay, Chris. I won't. ...But you'll let me read it, won't you?"
"Yeah, I owe you that much at least. When we get back to The Celestial, I'll show you yours, I'm assuming we'll be going back by tonight..."
"Probably." Diego patted Chris' back. "...Don't go to pieces on me now, Chris. You're supposed to be the brave one, remember?"
"...You're brave, too." Chris returned the pat. "Will you do me a favor?"
"What is it?"
"Will you hold onto these? I'm gonna look around a little more."
"Can do." Diego smiled softly.
Chris leaves him to it, wandering over to Craig, who was at the far end of the dock.
"Hey, Craig, any luck?"
"Actually, yeah. Check it." He gestured him over and pointed out a jet ski tethered to the dock, completely intact.
"Oh, wow! Good find!"
"Yeah... but it's almost out of gas. Nowhere near enough to get to the coast." He sighs and looks around at the smoke rising from the destroyed ships. "Guess we're still stuck here."
His words make sense, but his tone is easy, nonchalant, almost... cheerful.
"Craig... you still don't want to leave, do you? Even with all the monsters and the time travel, you want to stay."
"...Yeah." He admits. "Maybe I do. Maybe I like it here."
Chris stood there for a moment, he remained quiet. The details of his dossier were still fresh in his mind. Of his, and Diego's... He wondered what the people tracking them would have to say about him.
"...I have nothing to go home to, either." He confessed softly.
Craig freezes.
"...Really...?"
"Yeah... Nothing I'd really miss, anyway... The most important person in my life is already here."
Chris looked over at Diego, recalling the moment Diego had become his friend. Diego had found Chris with a cut hand and a broken window in their dorm room, Diego did not ask what had happened, he did not ask why the window was broken, and why shards of glass were in Chris' hand. He only took him to the Urgent Clinic, got him some stitches, and went out for pizza afterward. Then Chris began to open up about his past, why he had flown into a rage and punched the glass window...
"In some ways, this place feels like a fresh start..." He continued. "Maybe it's dangerous, maybe it's weird, but here I feel... important somehow, ya know?"
"...Yeah. Actually, I do."
"...Just remember you're not alone, okay?"
Chris laid a hand on Craig's arm. Craig nodded, trying to look nonchalant.
"...Yeah. I know. ...Thanks, dude."
"Comin' through!" Jake bounced past them, leaping from the pier to a splintered sailboat. He deftly maintains his balance on the slick deck.
"Careful there, Joker!"
Jake smirked at him.
"I ain't never been careful in my life." He begins rummaging through the sailboat's storage compartment, taking out maps and bits of paper. Then he gives a triumphant shout. "Ha! Come to papa! Hey, Boy Scout! Catch!"
He tossed him something small and orange. Chris managed to catch it.
"Hey, a flare gun! Nice!" Chris considered firing it, but looked around the sky and the horizon, and saw no ships or planes. "...No point in firing it now, when we don't know if anyone's around to see it."
"That's using some sense. We oughta wait until we see a plane or a ship in the distance."
He hopped back onto the pier. Chris looked past him and saw Lila on the deck of a massive yacht. The bow was mostly intact, but the ship was snapped in half, with the stern portion mostly submerged. Chris passed the flare gun back to Jake, and crossed the gangway to join Lila.
"Lila! Find anything over here?"
She shook her head, frowning. Her forehead is creased with concern.
"Not yet... It's just... weird..."
"What is?"
"I feel like I recognize this yacht."
She heads to the middle of the ship, where the deck ends in twisted, splintered steel. A cracked staircase leads down to the partly submerged deck below.
"Wait, you're not going down there, are you? It's flooded..."
"I have to check something."
"Not alone, I'll come with you."
"Really? Well... let's go then!"
They head down into the dark compartment. Lukewarm seawater rises quickly around them, lapping at their knees, then their thighs, then their hips as we wade further in.
"This must've been a storage compartment..." Lila murmurs.
Chris ducked under a hanging cargo net and found several cracked wooden boxes that have tumbled from their shelves.
"Be careful, okay? I've got a bad feeling this ship is gonna go completely under any minute now. What are you looking for, anyway?"
"Proof. Help me with this?" She gestured to a wooden crate, and Chris helped her lift it out of the water. Lila then began wiping the brine off the label. "...There it is. This vessel's name."
"...Daedalus?"
"I was right..." Lila says softly. "We're on Mr. Rourke's yacht."
"What does that mean? Why would he leave it here?" Lila doesn't respond. Tears gather in her dark eyes. Chris put a hand on her shoulder. "Lila, I'm sure he's okay somewhere."
"Thank you, Christopher. But I'm not so sure about that."
Before he could respond, a sudden crack shakes the floor beneath their feet. Lila screamed.
"The yacht! It's going under the-"
The water rushes in and closes over their heads, cutting them off. The stern of the ship breaks off from the bow and slips beneath the surface. And it was taking Chris and Lila with it. He swam desperately for an exit, but the path was blocked by the thick ropes of the cargo net. Fast as he could manage to move through saltwater, Chris ripped the knife at his shoulder from the sheath and began to saw through the ropes of the cargo net. When he had broken through, he grabbed Lila's hand and pulled her after him as he rushed for the surface.
They breached the surface and greedily gulped the air, reaching to grasp the edge of the pier as the others come running up towards them.
"Holy hell!" Jake grabs Chris' arms and pulled him onto the safety of the pier. "You guys okay?"
Chris nodded weakly, coughing up a little bit of seawater. Diego knelt beside him, rubbing his back.
"How'd you even make it out of there?" Sean asks.
"It's was Chris' quick thinking," Lila manages to gasp. "...I'd be dead now if it weren't for you."
"It's Quinn you should thank," He replied with a weak smile. "She gave me the knife."
"I'm just glad you're okay," Quinn walked up to him, looking like she wanted to punch him in the gut.
Instead, she hugged him.
"I'm glad you're all right, Chris," Sean says. "Way to keep your wits about you."
"Gotta admit, I'm impressed," Jake remarks. "I thought you were a goner for sure."
"Thanks for the vote of confidence..." He snarked.
"Don't mention it."
After a few moments, Chris and Lila were able to get everyone to stop fussing over them, and they all continued to search the marina. Suddenly, there was a shout from the other side of the marina that caught everyone's attention.
"Everybody!" Grace yells. "Come here quick!"
They pick themselves up, stop whatever they were previously doing, and hurry over to the pier where Grace is standing by something tied to the dock beneath a large tarp.
"What've you got for us?"
Grace yanks away the tarp, revealing a speedboat, completely intact.
"A high-performance runabout," Iris chimes. "Visual analysis indicates a Neptune-class model 2850."
"It almost looks brand new..." Grace observes. "Not sure why this one's okay when everything else is destroyed, but..."
"Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, Short Stuff," Jake chides.
"Pretty sure the Trojans would feel differently about that..." Diego muttered.
"Does it have keys?" Sean asks.
Grace shakes her head. Sean looks hopefully at Zahra, who raises an eyebrow.
"Are you telling me to hotwire it?"
"Noooo, I'm not telling you anything. You do exactly as you please."
"...You're goddamn right." She flicks out her knife and hops into the boat. After a few minutes of tinkering, the engine revs to life.
"Hell yeah! Nice work!" Jake gives Zahra a hand out of the boat. "What's the range, Blue Girl Group? Can it get to the Dominican Republic?"
"That's you again, Iris..." Diego says when the hologram doesn't respond.
"I see. Range is sufficient to reach the Dominican Republic on a full tank of gas."
Jake checks the gas gauge and winces.
"It's got gas, but it's not completely full. A little over three-quarters of a tank. She might make it. But she also might stall out in the middle of the Caribbean and we die."
"Who's 'we' in this situation?" Diego asks. "Because to fit everyone, we're gonna need a bigger boat."
"You're right," Chris conceded. "It's way too small. A couple of us should go and bring back help. But who? It's a gamble that it would even reach safe haven."
Everyone looks around, uncertain until Sean strips off his shirt and hops in.
"I'll go. I can be back with help before you know it."
"Easy, Magellan. You'd get lost within a mile." Jake strips off his shirt and hops in beside him. "I know the Caribbean. I'll play navigator."
"We've got room for a third. Anyone else wanna come?"
"...Chris should go," Diego declared.
"...What do you mean, I should go?"
"Chris, you've gotten clawed at, bruised, and knocked around more than anyone would be comfortable with in the past few days. And no offense to your skills, Michelle, but I'll feel better knowing Chris on his way to civilization and a fully-trained doctor."
"I agree with Diego," Quinn added.
"As do I," Estela chimmed in. "You have seemed to take the brunt of the abuse this island is keen to heap on us."
"Whaddya say, Boy Scout? Fancy a speedboat ride with me and Steve Rogers here?"
"Sure. I'll tag along. But for the record, I resent the fact that I've essentially been called the island's resident punching bag."
Chris jumps into the boat alongside Jake and Sean as everyone gathers to wish them a safe journey.
"Welp," Zahra says. "It was nice knowing ya."
"Zahra!" Lila chides and turns to the trio in the bat. "Here, take some extra water with you. We've got enough to spare."
"Watch yourself over there, okay? And… don't forget about us." Diego says, then smiles at me. "And Chris, you make those two dummies don't kill each other."
Chris smiled confidently at his best friend.
"Easier said than done. We'll be back soon. I promise."
Sean takes the throttle and guides the speed boat out of the inlet, and into the open ocean. He increased speed slightly and the island began to recede behind them, their friends on the shore shrinking down to pinpricks. Chris suddenly began to feel nervous, especially about leaving Diego and the others behind.
"...I hope they'll be alright until we get back..." He murmured.
"They'll be fine." Jake laid himself down on a seat and stretched out in the sunshine. "Sit back and relax awhile, Boy Scout. We've got about three hours of nothing but flat ocean ahead. ...I've got some sunscreen in my bag if you want it. You look like you burn easy."
"Thanks, I'll take it," Jake nods at him, handing Chris the plastic bottle.
He began applying it, rubbing it on my arms, and then on his face.
"Sure you don't need any help with that?" Jake waggled his eyebrows, Chris simply rolled his eyes.
"No, thanks. I'm a big boy, I can do it myself."
"Never said you couldn't."
"Neither of us are dumb enough to suggest that." Chimed Sean.
Chris finished applying the sunscreen to himself and began to savor the warmth of the sunlight on his face and the smell of seawater, he closed his eyes and relaxed. Suddenly, he feels a chill pass over him. He opened his eyes to find the shining blue sky that had shown brightly, suddenly had turned dark. He found that the sun had slipped behind a cloud. A huge, bruise-colored cloud, filled to bursting with rain, and there were even more moving in fast from behind it.
"Storm's rolling in fast..." Jake observes, his voice low and grim. "Surf's kicking up quick."
Almost to punctuate his words, a wave slams into the side of the boat, causing it to lurch sharply. Chris gripped hard on the guardrails. Chilly winds whip past his face, spraying him with raindrops.
"See that?" Sean says loudly above the noise of the wind. He points towards the sky. In the clouds overhead, Chris could make out the sparkle of orange lightning.
"I see it..." Jake says. "Just like what we saw from the plane."
"Guys!" Chris shrieked. "Look out!"
Dead ahead of them, a massive whirlpool had opened up in the ocean. Deep, dark water swirls at unbelievable speeds.
"Whirlpool!" Jake cried.
"There's something coming out of it!" Chris shouted.
All they could do was watch in horror as a massive creature breaches the surface and rises at least ten stories above them. It is serpentine, almost draconic. It towers over their little boat, the orange lightning reflecting off its blue-scaled body. The tops of leathery blue wings rest just above the water's surface. It has no eyes that they could see, only two curling horns where its eyes ought to be. But its open mouth reveals rows upon rows of sword-like teeth. Lightning crackles between the jagged dentata, leaping from tooth to tooth like they were clouds.
"...Sweet mother of God..." Sean whispers.
The creature lets out a howl that echoes across the marina. Chris' heart wedges in his throat. They hadn't gotten at all far from La Huerta. And their friends were still standing on the shoreline.
