by M H Ryan
The barrier between myself and the small shark seemed to stretch like a rubber sheet being pulled at the corners. It thinned, and I knew I was closer to breaking through. I grunted and pushed through the pain. Just a little closer, and I’d have it.
“Stop!” Emma yelled.
I ignored her.
“Jack, you’re bleeding!” Emma cried out, trying to pull her hands back.
I gripped her tighter and opened my eyes. She looked terrified, and I was squeezing her hands tightly. I broke the connection to the shark and Emma as I felt blood running over my lips. I wiped my nose and looked at the red smear on the back of my hand.
“You pushed it too far, Jack. You aren’t made like a John Deere. You’re human,” Emma said, with tears welling in her eyes.
Now the other girls were rushing to me.
“I’m okay,” I said, assuaging their fears.
They ignored my waving hands, and soon, Sherri, Cass, Emma, and Aubrey were all over me. I leaned to one side and stumbled to the right as a wave rolled past the boat.
“What did you do to him?” Cass said.
“I was just, you know, boosting him,” Emma spit out. “Simple as pecan pie. I’ve done it for all of you.”
“Jack?” Sherri said, holding my hands.
The world swayed, and I got that feeling just like when I banished all those watchers. I forced myself not to pass out. Not here. I needed to be stronger than this, for them.
I found my footing and let go of Sherri.
“I’m okay, really,” I said, sounding firmer than before.
The taste of blood swirled in my mouth.
“No more today,” Sherri said, pointing at my chest.
“We need you, Jack,” Aubrey said. “I need you.”
“Okay, I’ll take it easy for a bit,” I said, looking past them and the island we were approaching.
“I’m not boosting you for the rest of the day,” Emma said, hands on her chest. “You about scared my tits off.”
With a few narrowed looks and questioning eyebrows, they went back to the sails, closing them up as Luna glided near the shore of our island. Our home. I couldn’t wait to see the other girls, just to make sure they were okay and to show them what we found on the boat.
They were all going to lose their minds.
Chapter 3
They did, in fact, go crazy for what we salvaged from the ship. Once they saw it, all other projects were abandoned, and all hands went to building the new bathroom. With everyone working hard, a project I thought might take at least a couple of days. We finished in less than one.
“Jack, we did it,” Sherri said, tears in her eyes.
“We did.”
All of us stood at the entrance of our new bathroom. The sun was setting, but even in the twilight, the functioning bathroom looked like a dream come to life. We built a small room off the main house and then used Cass’s amazing ability to connect the waste pipe under the toilet and out into the ocean. We brought a few lines off the main water line and hooked them into the sink and toilet.
“You want the honors?” I asked Sherri.
“No, it should be Cass,” Sherri said, gesturing to her friend.
Cass moved forward in the crowded bathroom and got next to the toilet. “Well, I’ve never had so much fanfare over a toilet flush, but here it goes.”
She pushed the handle down, and the water tank emptied into the bowl, swirling the water around the steel bowl before dropping into the waste pipe below. Many of the girls leaned over, trying to watch the water disappear. Once the final chug of water left, they all cheered as loud as I’ve ever heard them.
I stumbled back, nearly falling out of the bathroom as they mauled each other with glee. The moment they settled down, they went to the sink and turned the valve, releasing water into the bowl. The jubilation erupted again, and I smiled, enjoying their happiness. We didn’t get a lot to get excited about these days, and it was nice to see them happy.
“We’ll get the tub set up next,” Sherri said.
“Oh my God,” Carmen said. “I used to live in my tub back home.”
“What’re the three shells for?” Aubrey asked, looking at the three shells hanging on the wall next to the toilet.
“What, you don’t know how to use the three shells?” Benji asked, looking downright giddy.
“Benji, what are you doing?” Aubrey asked, confused.
“She doesn’t know how to use the shells,” Benji said, looking back to us and chortling.
No one shared in this laughter, but we all shared in the confusion.
“Oh, come on, no one?” Benji asked, holding out her hands. “Demolition Man? Really, no one? I swear you people should have watched a lot more movies when you could. Demolition Man isn’t on my top list for plays to put on, but maybe one day. Anyways, it’s just some thing in the movie, and they make fun of Sly because he doesn’t know how to use them.”
“How do you use them?” Eliza asked.
“Oh,” Benji said, looking confused. “I don’t know, its just a joke from the movie.”
Aubrey groaned.
I’d seen the movie and now recalled the scene. Only Benji would bring up something so obscure and expect us all to get it. I felt kind of bad that I didn’t—I always enjoyed seeing the way she looked when I got her references.
“I’d like another play,” Eliza said as she grasped my hand. “The last one was the best thing I’d ever seen in my life. I think about it all the time.” She squeezed my hand tighter.
I put my arm around her, pulled her in tight against me, and kissed the top of her head. The memory of her naked, under me, sweating from our efforts, her perfect B cups pushing out with each heavy breath…My God, she was incredible. Unlike the rest of us, Eliza had been born on these islands. She’d never seen any movie in her entire life, and her only opportunity to understand pop culture was another Benji-produced play.
“I’d like to see another play as well,” I said.
“I was thinking for the next play, maybe Tommy Boy,” Benji said.
“Really, another goofy comedy?” Aubrey asked.
“Well, I’d love to do Nacho Libre as well,” Benji said.
“Why don’t we do a classic like The Notebook,” Cass said, holding onto herself with a look of joy.
“Gross,” Aubrey said. “If we’re trying to show classics to Eliza, then we should do something like Back to the Future, or Aliens.”
“This place is scary enough. We don’t need aliens jumping out of bodies,” Benji said.
“What’s an alien?” Eliza asked.
“Something from out of this world,” I said, still holding onto her.
“You guys are aliens to me,” Eliza said with a laugh.
“That we are! I hate to be the adult here, but we have a lot of work to do and some daylight left, so I suggest we get back to our assigned tasks and see what we can accomplish for the rest of the day,” I said.
“I agree,” Sherri said, clapping her hands together and looking around the room. “Being here is so awesome.”
A few of the girls groaned, but they were all moving toward the door.
A soft knock came from the front door.
We all froze, looking at the door that had once been on Eliza’s house back on the island she came from. We were all in here, so who—or what—the hell had just knocked?
The door opened, and Shaya stumbled past the doorway and fell to her knees.
Chapter 4
“Shaya?” I said, rushing to her side.
As I grasped her, she collapsed into my arms, panting heavy breaths. I searched her, looking over the gray, blue, and white gradients running over her body. I stared at her pretty face, with those large eyes that sparkled with what looked like glitter. I gazed down at her soft breasts that heaved with each breath, down to her slim, muscular stomach and along her amazing legs. She appeared to be perfect and not injured, from what I could see.
“Are you hurt?” I as
ked as some of the other girls gathered around us.
Some were going out to the balcony, weapons in hand.
Shaya shook her head, trying to catch her breath. Emma kneeled next to her and took Shaya’s hands in hers.
“I found her,” Shaya said. “Swam back as quickly as I could.”
“You found Hanna?” Sherri asked.
“Long, red hair, long socks, and similar clothes to you guys, but pink,” Shaya said.
“Thigh-high stockings…that’s her,” Kara said.
Shaya nodded as if agreeing.
I saw the strain on Emma’s face. I wasn’t sure how, but the king had a hold over the people of the sea. The Shultar, the Crultar, and some of the fish as well. If they spoke of the king or anything related to his activities, they would get great pain in their heads. If they spoke too much, then they’d die. We’d all watched Shaya’s dad succumb to this fate. After feeling that fish, I had an idea of how he did it, but I needed more time to study Shaya. I hoped that eventually, I could get rid of it altogether.
“We got to get to Hanna,” Aubrey said, looking excited and nervous.
“Where is she?” Emma asked.
“I can show you, on the map,” Shaya said, feeling up my arm slowly, reaching my shoulder and together, we stood.
“The sand map I made?” I asked.
She nodded and let go of Emma’s hands to put both on me. “Can you help me?”
“Sure,” I said.
With the girls hovering around us, Shaya and I walked out of the house and down to the sandy shoreline.
The circle I made while interrogating the remaining Crultar was gone, but the different stones were still there. One representing our island, Food Island, and a few others nearby. I stared at the stone that the fish-man had placed, representing where Hanna was.
“Is she there?” I asked.
Shaya shook her head and grabbed another stone near the water. She placed it a couple of feet away from the first stone. She then drew a long line in the sand just past the island. Then she drew another circle as I had before, encompassing all the stones that I had laid with the Crultar. I stared at the various rocks and the islands they represented.
Shaya reached for Emma, and they held hands.
“She is here,” Shaya said, pointing at the new stone she placed.
“They moved her?” I asked.
She nodded.
“Well, I say we go get her,” Emma said. “Nothing like the present, Jack.”
Shaya shook her head, looking terrified.
“They’re guarding her?” I asked.
Shaya looked away from me and out to the ocean. The sun was setting, and the thin clouds were spectacular colors of red and orange.
“She’s with them,” Shaya said.
“Bullshit,” Aubrey said.
Shaya turned to face Aubrey, looking hurt.
“She walks freely among them,” Shaya said.
Emma winced.
“She’s their prisoner,” Benji said. “Hanna might not know it, but they are holding her… for their king. Just as the Crultar threatened here.”
“They have taken her to the great divide,” Shaya said.
“What’s the great divide?” I asked.
Shaya, still holding Emma’s hand, went to the line she drew across the entire circle and patted it with her toes. She drew an arrow on our side of the line, and what I assumed was the great divide.
“The side we are on is good, or better. Other side is king’s. Nightmares are on the other side of this. It’s the only thing that separates the madness from us.”
Emma yanked her hand free from Shaya and bent over. She looked as if she might be sick.
“You okay?” I asked, putting my hand over Emma’s shoulder.
“I will be,” she said and got to an upright position. “Just hits me harder than a shot of bootleg moonshine.”
“How many days for us to get to her?” I asked.
Shaya held up two fingers as if she was giving a peace sign.
“Two days,” I said, rubbing my chin and thinking of the supplies we had.
“We’ll need to do a food run,” Benji said as if reading my mind. “We might have enough for three days but we’d be pushing it after that.”
“Food Island trip then?” Kara asked. “I’d like to see that island.”
“Yeah, but it’s too late tonight. No way do I want to deal with the monsters on that island in the dark.”
“Tomorrow, then,” Benji said. “Good. I needed some fresh mangos, and I think I’m narrowing in on the perfect meal for you, Jack.”
“Oh yeah?” I said.
Benji believed that most situations and people had a meal that was just right for them. She had prided herself on being able to create the perfect meal for the right situation. I had seen her do this a few times with the girls. If someone was down, she usually made them something sweet and salty, and if they were excited about the day, she’d make something meatier and heavy in sauce. She said she had made a specific meal for every one of her sisters, but she said she hadn’t quite cracked the perfect meal for me. Whatever she had in mind, I knew I would love it, and if I didn’t, I better say I did.
I stared at Benji for a moment, taking in her beauty, her ridiculous yellow bikini, and her toned body. She spotted me looking and rubbed the tattoo on her hand—a symbol she shared with Eliza, Aubrey, Sherri, and Kara. My initials, JS. In this way, she saw herself as one of my wives.
While Benji and I had done many things, we hadn’t gotten to home plate, something I wanted to change, and soon. She had been with me in this world almost since I’d woken up on the beach.
“Eliza, what’s your gut saying about this trip?” I asked the pint-sized foreseer.
She bit her bottom lip and looked away from me.
“What?” I knew that look. She had something terrible to tell us.
“From the second I saw Shaya, I knew that we needed to leave tonight…sorry.”
“Tonight?” Cass said, some of that old attitude creeping in.
“Um, I haven’t even left this island yet,” Carmen said. “I’m not sure I’m ready for this.”
Shit, I was hoping Eliza had different news. One thing I knew was that we shouldn’t ignore her gut feelings. They had saved our lives and guided us as much as a North Star.
The girls all looked to me, because while we were a group of independent people and respected opinions, the ultimate decisions rested on me.
“How much time do we have?” I asked.
Eliza shook her head, tugging on the long, single braid the girls had done for her. “A few hours, five at the most. And it just isn’t Hanna—we’ve got something just as or more important to do on the way there.”
“Of course we do,” Aubrey said. “Probably rescuing a freaking turtle from a six pack’s plastic wrap thingy.”
“No, it’s something important…I just don’t know what yet. It’s on another island on the way to Hanna.”
“I can put some pepper on that sauce for ya,” Emma said, gesturing to Eliza.
“What?” Eliza asked.
“She can boost you,” Kara said.
“It doesn’t seem to work with me that well,” Eliza said, looking embarrassed.
“Yeah, me either,” Kara said. “Or we’re just not doing it right.”
Emma shrugged but looked grateful.
“So, what are we going to do, Jack?” Cass asked, steering the conversation back on point.
After a deep breath, I said, “We’ll leave tonight. Everyone get on your assigned tasks and load the ship.”
Chapter 5
I assigned Carmen to help me with loading the weapons we’d been making around the nightly campfire. The spears were a mixture of hardened, charred ends and stone tips. The axes were getting sharper than before, and I made sure Carmen handled them with care.
I choose her to work with me because I hadn’t spent any alone time with her. She had been quiet since we fou
nd her on that raft, but she also was apt to work hard and help the group. It was evident she was struggling with this new reality. They took her and used her as a weapon against us. That would be enough to mess with the strongest person.
Since I took the stone from her hand, she hadn’t been able to summon her power of suppression. Her gift made me nervous, and it felt as if it could spark at any moment and cancel out all of our abilities, but if we could get her to control her ability, it could help us greatly in battle. In a world like this, we needed every advantage we could get.
She brushed back her near-black hair, sunlight bouncing off it, giving me a hint of brown in it. The straight hair reached down to her chest, and she currently had it tied off into a large ponytail behind her that sometimes shifted over her shoulder.
She was a Latina, and one of the few things I caught from fireside conversations was that her dad owned a Mexican food restaurant chain. Occasionally she spoke in Spanish with a lovely accent, but most of the time, she spoke in a valley-girl kind of accent, using many likes and ums.
Like all the girls, she was an athlete—a soccer player. Not as ripped as Aubrey or Sherri, but she was slender, with a bit of softness that worked well with her, and her darker skin had a sheen to it that made every muscle and curve on her look all the more amazing. She wore a dark purple bikini that, much like her hair, looked black in the shade. While she didn’t smile often, when she did, it lit up her whole face and showed brilliantly white, perfect teeth. I loved her smiles and aimed to get more of them from her.
A sadness covered her expression most of the time—an understandable sadness coming from the realization that the world she once knew was gone. At least for the foreseeable future.
“You getting settled in?” I asked.
“Yeah,” she said with a laugh. “This is like the craziest shit ever, though.” She set a spear on the growing pile of spears on Luna.
“It is,” I said with a big smile. “But kind of awesome as well.”
