by Ramona Gray
Rose stepped toward him and tried to smile. “Thank you. We-we appreciate your help. I’m Rose, by the way.” She held out her hand and the man stared at it for a moment before shaking it.
“I’m Teagan.” He pointed to the second man with the gun. “This is Wallace, the guy cooking is Davis and that’s Brian.” Brian nodded to them and set his spear on the ground. He grabbed a mug and dipped it into a bucket. He drank the water in three large swallows before wiping the mug with a rag and setting it next to the bucket. He dipped more mugs into the bucket and handed them out as Rose and the others sat down on the logs. Rose took Solomon’s hand and he gave her a distracted smile. Marissa was sitting on the other side of him, and he didn’t object when she took his other hand.
“Are any of you hurt?” Teagan asked.
“Rose banged her head when we came through the portal,” Brody said. “She’s bleeding.”
“It’s fine now.” Rose took the mug of water from Brian. “Thank you.” She took a cautious sip of the water. It was cold despite the hot mugginess of the air. She drank it down eagerly as Solomon sniffed suspiciously at his.
“Should this be boiled first?”
“Doesn’t need to be.” Wallace sat down on the log next to Peter. “Trust me, we’ve been drinking the water without boiling it for months.”
Teagan had crossed the clearing to disappear into one of the huts. He was gone only a few minutes before he reappeared with another man. This man was smaller, although Rose supposed that most men looked small compared to Teagan. Teagan wasn’t as big as Vida, but he had to be at least 6’4”, maybe taller.
“Hey, Doc. We got visitors and they’re almost human.” Wallace stretched his legs out and cracked his neck.
Brody was sitting on the other side of her and she heard his sharp inhale when the man named Doc moved closer. She didn’t blame him. Doc was good looking with his shaggy blond hair and light blue eyes. His t-shirt hugged his muscular torso and Brody made another sharp inhale when he squatted in front of Rose.
“This is Rose. She hit her head coming through the orb,” Teagan said.
“Hi, Rose. I’m Doc.”
“It’s nice to meet you.” She shook his hand. “So, you’re a doctor?”
“Mostly.” He gave her an easy grin. “I’m what they call a SOCM.”
“What does that mean?” Brody leaned forward and Doc studied him silently for a moment. Brody flushed and held out his hand. “I’m Brody.”
Doc shook his hand. The two men stared at each other. Rose wondered if she was the only one who felt the tension between them. Doc pulled his hand free and cleared his throat.
“Special Operations Combat Medic.”
“So, you’re in the military?” Peter said.
“Obviously,” Daryl snorted.
“We’re Navy SEALs,” Wallace said.
“Oh, thank God,” Peter breathed.
“You got the SEALs on your world?”
Peter nodded. “Yeah. Semper fi, right?”
“Careful now,” Wallace said with another grin. “That’s the Marine’s motto.”
“The what?” Peter asked.
“You don’t have the Marine Corps in your world?”
“Never heard of them,” Peter said.
“Huh, fucking bizarre.” Wallace took the mug of water from Brian. “Thanks, dickhead.”
“Fuck you,” Brian said without malice. He sat next to Wallace and pulled his boots off. He poured the sand out of them and grimaced. “Fucking sand gets everywhere.”
“It’s in my crack right now.” Wallace grinned at Peter. “You get used to it. I like to think of it as a natural exfoliator.”
“Can you bend your head?” Doc said to her.
She bent her head and tried not to flinch when Doc pressed on the goose egg. He pressed around it before turning her head to the right and then the left. “Follow my finger with just your eyes, please.”
She followed his finger as he stared at her. “Good. How do you feel? Any nausea or dizziness?”
“A little at first,” Rose said. “Not now. I do have a headache though.”
“Well, you might have a mild concussion, but I don’t think it’s anything too damaging. If you start to feel sick to your stomach and your headache gets worse, let me know. Okay?”
“Okay.”
Doc stood and stared at the others. “Anyone else hurt?”
“My neck hurts,” Brody said.
Doc hesitated before squatting in front of him. His voice was professional, but there was a tremor in his hand when he cupped Brody’s neck. “Turn it to the right. Good. Now left. Where does it hurt the most?”
“Uh, right here.” Brody touched just below his jaw. Doc pressed on it with his fingers and Brody made a low gasp.
“Sorry, did that hurt?”
“Uh, not too bad.” Brody was staring at Doc’s mouth and Rose watched as Doc leaned in a little closer. He probed at Brody’s neck but now he was staring at Brody’s mouth and she could see red creeping up both men’s necks.
“How’s this?” Doc rubbed his thumb over the spot just below Brody’s jaw. “Painful?”
“No,” Brody said in a low voice that only Rose and Doc could hear. “No, it feels good.”
“Yeah?” Doc studied his mouth as he continued to rub slow circles with his thumb.
“Yes.” Brody’s voice was almost a moan. “Really good.”
“Doc.” Teagan’s low voice spoke right behind Rose and she jumped a little.
Doc twitched all over and yanked his hand away before standing. He stared at Teagan who said, “Maybe you should help Davis with the cooking.”
Doc nodded and walked away.
“The food will be ready soon,” Teagan said.
“I’m not hungry.” Marissa leaned her head against Solomon’s shoulder.
“You need to eat,” Teagan replied. “You need to keep your strength up.”
Marissa ignored him, and Solomon squeezed her hand. “He’s right, Marissa.”
“Whatever,” she said.
Teagan sat down next to Brody. “Tell me how you got sucked into the orb and then I’ll tell you about this world.”
“We’re scientists,” Brody said.
“No, I’m a scientist.” Solomon gave him a look of disdain. “The rest of you are lab monkeys.”
“Fuck you, Solomon,” Brody said.
Solomon’s mouth dropped open. “I’m your goddamn boss, and you’d better not forget that.”
Brody barked harsh laughter. “My boss? We’re not on our world anymore, you asshole. You fucking mean nothing to me.”
“How dare you -”
“Enough.” Teagan’s voice was calm, but Solomon closed his mouth with a snap.
“Anyway,” Brody said, “on our world, we know about the portals. The Eternity Corporation has facilities all across the world built just to contain them. They’ve been studying the portals, trying to understand how they work for the past five years.”
“Have they figured it out?” Brian asked.
“No, not really. At least, they haven’t told us if they have,” Brody replied. “We work in the lab. We study whatever comes out of the orbs, do tests on them, find out about their world, that sort of thing.”
“Then what happens to them?” Teagan asked.
Brody glanced at Solomon who shrugged. “I’m given three months to do testing and then the Eternity Corporation takes them.”
“Takes them where?”
“I don’t know. I’ve never asked,” Solomon said. “When we know something’s coming through the orb, we -”
“You know when it’s one that spits something out instead of sucking you in?” Wallace sat up and leaned forward eagerly. “How do you know?”
“Well, I don’t know personally,” Solomon said. “The Eternity Corporation tells me.”
“But how do they know?” Wallace persisted.
“I don’t know.”
“You’re a fucking scien
tist,” Wallace said. “You’re telling me you’ve been studying these orbs for five fucking goddamn years, and you still don’t know how they work?”
“I’m in charge of what comes out of it,” Solomon said. “It’s not my job to know if it’s a give or take one, okay?”
“Well, fuck me sideways,” Wallace spat.
“Wallace.” Teagan gave him a warning look, and the man muttered another curse before sitting back.
“This could have been our chance, Teag,” he said.
“Chance for what?” Daryl asked.
“To get off this fucking rock,” Wallace replied. “If we knew that it’s an orb that sucks, then we could leave.”
“It won’t take you back to your world,” Solomon said.
“No shit, Sherlock.” Wallace rolled his eyes before nudging Brian who had sat down beside him. “Can you believe this fucking douchebag?”
“Why don’t you just go to the orb when it appears and see what happens?” Rose said. “Either it sucks you in like you want, or it doesn’t.”
“Told you, the pinkies have been waiting lately every time an orb shows up. You think I want my fucking face sucked off?” Wallace said. “Besides, not everything that comes out of there is friendly. What if it’s one that’s just spitting something out and whatever it spits out isn’t friendly?”
“You’re in the military,” Daryl said with a frown. “Aren’t you supposed to be tough?”
Wallace gave him a withering look. “We are tough. You have no fucking idea. But you also have no fucking idea what it’s like to live here. So keep your mouth shut.”
“Enough, Wallace.” Teagan glanced at the others. “He’s right. It’s too dangerous to approach the orb without knowing what it’s going to do. Six months ago, it spit out this – this thing. It was the size of a dinosaur and it tore up half the island. It ate a bunch of the animals, and it killed and ate some of the locals before -”
“Locals?” Rose said.
“I’ll explain in a minute,” Teagan replied. “Anyway, this thing was running wild across the island until the pinkies took it down.”
“Only fucking good thing those pink bastards have done,” Wallace said.
“How many of the pinkies are there?” Peter suddenly asked.
“Only five but they are fucking dangerous,” Wallace replied. “Teag wasn’t kidding when he said that thing was the size of a dinosaur.” He paused. “You guys have dinosaurs on your world?”
“Yeah, but they went extinct a long time ago,” Peter said.
“Us too. Anyway, this fucking thing was huge and somehow the five pinkies took it down. They killed it and feasted on it for days. They didn’t try to go after us for weeks after that. Too goddamn full to want human dinner. It was actually pretty fucking nice, now that I think about it.”
“Keep going,” Teagan said to Brody.
“There isn’t much more to tell. We study whatever comes out of the orb until the Eternity Corporation takes it from us.”
“How did all of you get sucked into the orb?” Teagan asked.
Brody grimaced. “A month ago, the portal spit out this big blue alien guy. We’ve been testing him for the last month and -”
“Torturing is more like it,” Rose said.
Solomon frowned at her. “That blue guy wasn’t human, Rose. He needed to be studied and -”
“His name is Vida and you were torturing him! You were letting him dry up like a damn fish for no reason. His organs were starting to shut down and you were putting him in incredible pain for what? Your damn research?” Rose could hear her voice rising and she tried to reign it in.
“Research that you destroyed when you poured water all over him!” Solomon glared at her. “I’ve made my decision by the way - you’re fired.”
“Have you lost your damn mind?” Rose said. “Do you think I care about my job? We are never going to see our world again, Solomon. Ever.”
She stopped, dragging in ragged breaths of air as the others stared silently at them. After a long moment, Brody cleared his throat. “Vida escaped, took Rose as a hostage and made her take him to the orb. He wanted to try and get back to his world. It was getting ready to cycle up and he locked all of us in with it. We got sucked through.”
“Where is this Vida now?” Teagan asked.
“He jumped off the cliff before the pink guys even showed up,” Brody said. “He looks like a human, mostly. He’s gotta be close to seven feet and he has blue skin and,” he hooked his fingers by his temples, “small black horns and fangs. He breathes air like us humans, but he also has gills. He can breathe underwater and he needs water to live. He saved Rose from the alligator thing -”
“Sharkgator,” Wallace said.
“I’m sorry?”
“It’s a sharkgator. I named it. I’m excellent at naming shit around here.”
“Uh, okay,” Brody said. “Anyway, Vida saved Rose and then took off into the jungle.”
“Why didn’t he stay with you?” Teagan said.
“Because we tortured him!” Rose said heatedly. “He didn’t want to be around the people who almost killed him.”
“Well, he’ll be dead soon anyway,” Wallace said.
“What do you mean?” Marissa asked.
“Sweetheart, a human can’t survive on this rock by themselves,” Wallace drawled. “Forgetting about the pinkies, there are other animals that can kill you. Hell, even the plant life is dangerous in this place. Not to mention, the locals fucking hate us and try and murder us if they even catch a glimpse of us.”
“Why?” Rose asked.
Wallace shrugged. “No idea. We think the ones who were here before us caused some bad blood.”
“Before you?” Rose said.
“We didn’t build any of this.” Teagan leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “Two years ago, our team was on a mission.”
“What kind of mission?”
“Find and retrieve,” Teagan said. “Before we could even get to our target, the orb opened up right in front of us and sucked all ten of us in.”
“There are ten of you?”
“There was. Four of us have died since coming to the island.”
“How did they…” Rose stopped. “I’m sorry. That’s none of my business.”
“Three of them were killed by the pinkies before we figured out how fucking dangerous they were,” Teagan said. “The fourth, Garrett, died from an infection.”
“What kind of infection?” Brody asked.
Teagan glanced at Doc. The man’s face had paled, and he swallowed compulsively before nodding.
“Garrett had appendicitis,” Teagan said. “It was really bad. Luckily Doc had his med pack when we were sucked in. He operated on him the best he could with what he had in his pack. He got the appendix out and sewed Garrett back up, but two days later infection set in. Without antibiotics, there wasn’t anything we could do.”
“I’m sorry,” Rose said. “That’s awful.”
“No.” Wallace’s cheerful attitude had disappeared completely. “What was awful was listening to him scream when Doc cut into him without anesthetic or pain meds.”
“Holy shit.” Brody was staring at Doc. “How the hell did he even survive the surgery?”
“Garrett was a tough bastard. He was the head of our unit and the best man I knew,” Wallace said.
“The best man all of us knew,” Brian said.
There was silence for a few moments before Rose turned to Teagan. “So, now you’re in charge?”
Teagan shook his head and glanced at one of the huts. “Patrick was second-in-command. He’s in charge now. Anyway, we landed on this rock two years ago and we’ve been here ever since.”
“How big is the island?” Rose asked.
“It would take about three days to walk from one side to the other. But trust me, you want to stay away from the north side of the island.”
“Why’s that?” Brody asked.
“The pinkies liv
e on the north side. We’re on the south side and the locals are on the west end. It’s better, safer, to stay on the south and east side of the island. Definitely don’t go anywhere alone. We operate on the buddy system here.” Teagan said.
“Were there any humans here when you first arrived?” Rose asked.
“No, just these huts and some tools and utensils, shit like that,” Wallace replied.
“Why do the locals want to kill you?”
“No idea. We tried to make contact with them a few times, but each time there was aggression,” Teagan said.
“A lot of aggression.” Wallace rubbed at the scar visible on his neck. “They’re damn quick with their spears and knives.”
“Have you tried talking with them?” Solomon asked.
Wallace gave him such a look of disdain that Solomon flushed. “No, we tried interpretive dance. Ya think talking might be a better idea?”
When Solomon didn’t say anything, Wallace snorted. “They don’t speak English.”
“So, it’s just the six of you?” Peter asked.
“Nope. There’s Talla, she got spit out about three months ago. Duncan up there,” Wallace pointed to the man in the tree, “got spit out, eh, a couple weeks after us, maybe? And then there’s Arden. I have no fucking idea how long that fucking fairy has been living on this rock.”
Rose glanced at Doc. He had moved the animal to the stone slab table and was carefully cutting off chunks of meat from it. He had to have heard what Wallace said but he didn’t seem upset by it.
She thought it was strange that the SEALs would throw around homophobic slurs when one of their own was gay. But, she mused, maybe they didn’t know.
“Where is Arden anyway?” Brian asked.
“Who the fuck knows.” Wallace cracked his neck again. “Probably off in the fucking jungle, petting his own damn willy again.”
“I thought you said no one should go in the jungle alone,” Rose said.
“Arden does what he wants,” Teagan said. “He was living here in the huts when we stumbled onto them, and he seems to have an uncanny ability to avoid being eaten by the pinkies.”
“I told you, it’s because he’s a fucking fairy.” Wallace tapped his temple. “They got some kind of fucking radar that tells them when the pinkies are close. Remember when they attacked us at the falls? Arden fucking disappeared five minutes before the pinkies showed up.”
