The whole room fell silent. The world crashing in on them as they stared face to face with the man who had been tormenting them. Attempting to kill them.
The Black Crow himself.
Captain William Daly.
Daly smiled crookedly at the people standing before him, his body language changing. He had them right where he wanted them, and was only moments away from completing his mission. Ben noticed that something in him was different. His depressed and obsessive demeanor had been replaced with something dark, and borderline insane. Maybe even evil.
"Miss me Stone?" He asked with a nod of his head.
The Daly they once knew was gone.
The man that was in front of them now was psychotic, unstable.
Eagan was in and out of consciousness at his side. Gasping for breath, and mumbling softly. Daly jerked his face up for everyone to see. "Eagan Tehrani everybody! Didn't you miss him?" His tone was playful, brutal. A bit of remorse nowhere in sight. He attempted to grab Zeke's face too, but Zeke resisted, only causing Daly to get agitated. He punched him in the chest, his body contracting backwards in pain, and reeling in the aftermath.
"Zeke!" Mick cried, watching him hold onto his chest doubled over in pain. "Relax Stone. He's fine." Daly's voice gave her chills, just making her want to kill him more. But in her rage, she felt the reverberation of a calling pulsate through her veins. But this time, it was only a couple of words. "Stop him." Like a whisper through the chaos. "Stop him."
"How are you here? Your plane crashed!" Ben was the first person to speak up to Daly, everyone else was too shocked to talk. Their jaws hung wide, their guns still drawn… but aimlessly. If they shoot, they risk hurting Zeke and Eagan. They had to talk him down. They had to play it safe.
"That's where you're wrong Ben! Fiona and I woke up in a small town in Rhode Island 3 months ago."
Fiona. Ben's mind immediately went to the blonde scientist. Why hadn't they thought about her sooner? She had to be somewhere close too. But where?
"But it doesn't stop there." Daly went on. "We woke up in Maine 3 days later, then Connecticut 3 days after that."
How was this possible?
"How?" Mick asked, her gun still drawn in his direction. She kept herself leaning forward, the weight of her body in the balls of her feet. She was ready to pounce, ready for any move he might make. "Stop him." The voice of the boy in her calling was now clearer than ever. The urgency in his words continuing to build. "Stop him." Mick closed her eyes for a moment, opening them when the voice silenced. She couldn't let Daly find a weak spot. She had to stay strong.
She turned her head, seeing Zeke flinch. Those words were also being spoken in his head, but they kept on going like a prayer. The girls voice in sync with the boys like the melody of a song. "Stop him."
Daly felt Zeke move, and sharply elbowed him in the side to shut him up. "Dark lightning, that's how." He scoffed at Michalea's comment like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Their plane went missing as it flew into the storm, eventually to be shot down. They all knew that. But they thought it crashed, and that the phenomenon didn't replicate in the process. But they were wrong. And the kicker? This time it replicated differently.
"Unlike the passengers, we would disappear and wake up somewhere new every three days."
Drea stood silent, looking over at Mick. This was a different type of insane. Every three days? She thought. What about the Death Date? What about the callings? Questions came and went as her brain struggled to stay afloat.
"How is that possible?" Mick asked in confusion.
"Wormholes, the divine, a time loop, who knows?!" Daly yelled maniacally. Even he didn't have an explanation.
Welcome to the club.
"All I know is, I'm stuck in some sort of 72 hour loop, and I have 4 hours left."
"4 hours left... to do what exactly?" Drea asked. Most of the time, she felt like she didn't belong in things that involved the plane. Mick and Ben kept to themselves with callings in the beginning, but eventually included her. Despite their reassurance, she sometimes felt like she wasn't supposed to be there. Like she wasn't supposed to be helping, as she wasn't on the plane herself. But today, something was drawing her to stay. All those feelings came and went, and she couldn't wait to go on the next adventure with them.
"4 hours to complete my mission."
But what was his mission?
Suddenly, Jared spoke up. His question raising everyone's doubts, and changing the subject. "How did you even get those notes to us if you disappear every three days? How is that possible?" Ben stared over at him, not expecting to hear him talk. In situations like these, he did one of two things: Not shut his mouth, or stay silent. Guess he was choosing the first one today.
Daly laughed at Jared's question. The kind of laugh you give when someone offends you. "You underestimate me." Anger was building up inside of Daly, as he became more psychotic by the minute. "You underestimate me just like everyone else! Just like all the passengers, thinking we crashed! Just like the media blaming me for our disappearance!" He paused, the chaos fading from his face. Instead, a dark cloud pooled over him. But it wasn't regret.. it was some sort of realization.
"Just like Fiona before I killed her."
The room fell silent once more.
Shock riddled all of their faces, their lips sealed like an envelope. "You what?!" Ben screamed.
"She was an alien!" Daly yelled back as he pointed his hand, holding Eagan tighter in a headlock position. Daly was losing his mind. They weren't aliens. But Ben couldn't help wondering why he thought that.
"You all are!" Daly continued.
"Daly, what are you talking about?" Drea asked as she inched closer inside the circle of people. Daly was becoming even more erratic. Whatever he thought his mission was, was driving him mad. Flashbacks of the robbery with Frank and Logan Strickland filled Mick's mind. This behavior… this mania… it had to be caused by the callings.
"I didn't need Fiona anymore! Not when I realized my real mission."
His mission?
"And what is your mission exactly?" But Daly didn't reply, and Ben didn't want to ask again. It was like the world stopped in that moment, whispers between Drea and Jared were the only things to be heard.
"I'll be free once I'm out of this loop. I have to be free." He was muttering nonsense now, his words barely even making sense.
He continued to mutter as Ben tried to make sense of it. "What do you me-" But was suddenly cut off as Daly pulled out a gun, pointing it at him shakily. Ben raised his hands in surrender. "Whoa, whoa!" He panicked. "Think about this William." But his words went in one ear, and out the other.
He then whipped the gun over to Michaela. She raised her hands too, stepping back slowly. She swallowed hard, fear taking over.
Daly held Zeke and Eagan closer in a swift tugging motion, closing his eyes in the process. He shook the gun abruptly as he tried to explain himself.
"I have to get out of this loop. It's driving me crazy!" He was shaking his head now, tears falling down his face. Ben couldn't help but feel sympathy. Mania induced by the callings was a real thing... he felt some form of it every day. But whatever Daly was attempting to do with the mania, that was something he'd never understand.
"Do you know what it's like, to wake up somewhere new every 72 hours?!" He yelled. "I want my life back!"
That was when he pointed the gun to his head, tapping it against his temple. Gasps filled the room like a flood.
"Daly, don't do this!" Ben yelled. Daly had his eyes closed again. His breathing slowing down with each inhale. "You can reconcile, that's what Zeke did!"
Daly stared at him, the gun sliding against the tip of his forehead as he pointed it down at the ground. He kneed Zeke in the stomach, causing him to grunt. Mick curled her free fist, trying to hold back a scream. Then, Daly held the gun back up, causing everyone to jump into position. Mick, Drea, and Jared grabbed their guns in a moment of trying to prove their dominance, while simultaneously trying not to to be frantic in their approach.
They couldn't panic.
They couldn't panic.
"You think my mission is to kill myself?" His maniacal laughter pierced the atmosphere like a sudden crash of lightning. "Oh Stone, well you thought wrong!" He forced the gun up towards the ceiling, then set it on his target.
Michaela.
"No. I've been clear." He reasoned with everyone. "I'm killing you."
Mick inhaled sharply, trying to keep her confidence.
She wanted to run.
She wanted to grab Zeke and run out of there. But she knew she'd just get shot anyway. And that wasn't worth the risk.
Suddenly, Daly pointed the gun towards Ben.
"Both of you."
Ben put his hand in the air again, trying to understand his reasoning. "Why?! How would killing my sister and I benefit you?!"
"Because." He had no real reason, at least one he didn't care to explain.
"Because why?!" Ben yelled, like a child begging their parents for a reason in a fight.
"Because!" Daly's scream was deafening. Mick put her hands to her ears, reeling in the loud echo of his voice. "Because. I kill you both, the lifeboat gets torn apart."
Ben was aghast, not knowing how Daly knew about the connection between the passengers. "How do you know about the lifeboat?"
Daly scoffed, stomping his feet. "Take a wild guess."
Ben knew in an instant, softly voicing his theory out loud. "One of Fiona's theories." Daly perked up, like a breath of fresh air filled his lungs. Relief, pride. "Ha! Now you're getting it!" He shook the gun in his hands once more as he congratulated Ben for his guess. He was more than just unstable, he was dangerous. And whenever he spoke the gun was unsteady… and that was the most dangerous thing of all.
"I sink the lifeboat, and we all die. It'll bring balance."
"You think killing us will bring balance?" Mick asked. Daly whipped his head over to her, spinning his body along with it in one swift motion. The gun now pointed back at Mick.
"I told you!" Daly yelled again. "We're all aliens! I kill us all, the world will go back to normal!"
"But how will killing us do all of that?" Ben asked as he inched closer. He kept his hands out, attempting to let Daly know he was still in control of the situation, and that he was remaining surrendered.
"Without the Stones as leaders… it'll all fall apart." Daly mumbled. He seemed schizophrenic, unable to decipher between the different visions he was seeing, and voices he was hearing.
"How do you know that?!' Ben yelled.
"I just do!"
Ben was only making this worse, as Daly just sounded more confused and erratic in his responses.
"You're insane!" Michaela yelled, but Daly just cocked the gun, affirming his grip once more. Her hands shot up, her gun still gripped tightly in her right hand. She slowly knelt down to the floor, attempting to feel sturdy, secure.
'Don't hurt her Daly!" Zeke yelled back, attempting to get him to drop the weapon. It was almost as if he was startled by his own name. He turned his gaze to him for a second, wanting to just go for it and kill him. But instead he exhaled, turning his eyes back to Michaela.
"NO! I have to do this!" He closed his eyes, and Mick closed hers as well. She braced herself, waiting for the pain. Waiting for the black emptiness that was about to take her away from this earth. Waiting for the embrace of her mom.
But she felt nothing as a deafening shot rippled through the room.
She whipped her eyes open after the sound, staring at Daly. But his face was intent, as he wasn't even paying attention to her. She scanned the room, seeing Ben still standing behind her. She saw Zeke and Eagan, still in Daly's grip. But Daly stood there with his eyes open, his intent on a target that wasn't on Mick's radar. She turned to the other side of the room, only to see exactly where the bullet went.
She fell still in shock, praying that what she was seeing wasn't true.
"Drea!"
Oh nooo, sorry for the cliffhanger again lol. I had to split this up again and make a part III just because of the length. But don't worry, part III will be out right after this one! Let me know your predictions for the next chapter, there's even more waiting for you lol!
As always, let me know what you think here or via Twitter!
Love you all!
- The Color Gray
