(2014) Dead End

by Jack Parker

  "No."

  * * *

  Main Cabin

  Dom and John stood in patient alert and patiently before the pensive looking Salacia, who currently hung over the scattered map pieces. She had arranged them on the table in front of her once Dom gave her the duffle bag he was nearly inseparable with.

  She spent several minutes arranging and rearranging until the map was finally formed.

  "Only fitting that the treasure would be in the middle of all seven Wonders; on and uninhabited island right in the Mediterranean Sea," she commented, looking up at the two men standing before her; neither looking happy about her news.

  "I told you what it could do if handled by inexperienced hands and still you pursue it, ignoring all danger for your own greed," John voice was filled with disgust for the woman he had to obey, but still felt that he had the right to speak his mind under the circumstances.

  Salacia only shook her head at his ignorance. "Not my greed, John."

  "What do you m-"

  "Ma'am?" A soldier interrupted before either could speak. "The lady, Dara, wishes to speak with Dominic."

  Salacia nodded her head to allow the two to speak, causing Dom to rush out of the room.

  * * *

  Second Cabin

  Dara paced her cabin while awaiting Dom. She spent and hour trying to talk the guards of her cabin door into letting her speak to him until finally they gave in.

  Her cabin was small and contained a small chair, table, and oil lamp. The lamp produced little light, but at least she could see her surroundings well enough.

  After what had seemed like an hour, the door finally creaked open, revealing the still darkly clothed Dom.

  Dara stopped her pacing to face him. "Did they blackmail you? Bribe you? Did they threaten your life at least?" Dara still found his sudden cross in sides unfathomable.

  "I am sorry for what I am putting you through, but I am not sorry for the reasons I chose to work with the Dark Soldiers." His confession sounded sincere but something told her there was still something missing from his story.

  "Back to the simple one-worded question: why?"

  "Dara, it was so hard for me to deceive you all like I did, but my reasons are still my own."

  "Give me a reason!" she demanded; hating the way he kept dodging her questions.

  "They would have killed everything that I hold dear!" Dom blurted out. "Even you, Dara!"

  Hazel eyes were wide in shock. She couldn't even find her voice amongst all the emotions that now racked her body.

  "Sir, Salacia requests your presence," a soldier spoke through the door; voice slightly muffled.

  Pools of blue and hazel met in a quick glance of apprehension. Dom dug through a pocket on his black vest that all soldiers wore and handed her and item that she never thought he would ever have given her.

  Once the door closed behind Dom, Dara stared at the key in her shaky hands.

  * * *

  Outside of Second Cabin

  Dom released the rusted handle to the now unlocked door and stood before the two soldiers who were acting as guards to Dara's room.

  "If the meeting is what I think it is, she will want to speak to all of us." The two soldiers exchanged confused glances.

  "She only called for you," one protested.

  "And I say she called for us all," Dom replied. The soldiers exchanged one last glance until they nodded in agreement. "After you."

  They started up the small flight of stairs side by side with Dom right behind them; waiting for the perfect moment. Once at the door, Dom reached out and grabbed the right side of one soldier's face and the left of the other. There was a bone-cracking sound when Dom caused both heads to collide; knocking them both unconscious. They slumped on the stairs as Dom hurried back down and pounded on Dara's cabin door.

  Dara opened the door and peaked out before fully exiting her room.

  "Ash and Lari are being held in the cabin directly above you," Dom informed while handing her a knife for protection. "I will have the guards to their cabin called away while you free them."

  Dara made a move to the stairs but stopped suddenly and turned to face him. "You help them take us all hostage and now you are helping us."

  "I realized that what I was doing was wrong, even thought my reasons were good enough to betray my friends trust." He sounded believable and Dara felt all trust for him rushing back to her.

  "Thank you." It was rare to hear those words from a person such as Dara and Dom finally felt that he really was doing the right thing in helping her.

  "When you get to the cabins, hide in the first one to your left until I have the soldiers called away."

  Dara nodded in understanding before exiting through the door.

  "God I hope this works," Dom prayed and took off behind her.

  * * *

  Dara clung to the walls of the ship as she quietly made her way to the first cabin on the left. The door had rusty hinges and squeaked when she pulled it open. She froze and her breathing stopped while she waiting for a soldier to show who had heard the sound.

  Nearly a minute went by and no one came. Finally breathing and unfreezing her body, she squeezed through the partially open door. She didn't want to run the risk of opening it fully.

  Boot-clad feet stomped by and she distinctly heard the sound of him being hit by blunt object. Dom was following her, she knew.

  Squeezing back out into the hallway, she turned to the direction the soldier had just walked to and saw Dom standing there. He nodded to her to give her the OK before he walked away, out of site, dragging the unconscious body of the soldier behind him.

  Dara began knocking on doors since neither of them knew exactly what door they were in. She still had seven doors to check and in the pit of her stomach, she felt that she was running out of time to find them.

  * * *

  Cabin One

  "No?" Ash repeated with a shattered heart over such a simple word.

  "I have known you for almost as long as I can remember," she started. "And I love you from the first day we met; even if I was too blind to notice. And through all that time, I have never heard you be so negative. There is no if we make it out alive; we will."

  When finished, Ash had plastered the first happy smile to his face in years.

  "Now ask again," she demanded.

  "When we make it out alive, would you marry me?"

  She ran a hand over his stubbly cheek. "Yes."

  Just as they were about to kiss, a harsh pounding was heard at the door. "Lari? Ash?"

  "Yes! We are in here!" Lari called happily.

  The two heard the door unlock they way only a key could do.

  Lari jumped to her feet and helped Ash to his while Dara made her way through the door.

  "My faith in you just went off the charts!" Lari exclaimed.

  "I'll take that as a compliment. Now Dom is covering for us so we can make our escape."

  "Dom?" Ash questioned; wondering how Dom would be covering for them.

  "Long story but soldiers think he's one of them. Now let's go before we get caught!" Dara urged.

  "Wait, What?!" Lari only paid attention to the first part of her sentence.

  "We don't have enough time for me to explain but right now we need to get a move on before the soldiers catch on to Dom."

  Dara bolted out the door with Lari and Ash at her heels. They found that the only way to get to the deck was to go through the main cabin; the cabin that was currently occupied by Salacia, John, Dom and the remaining soldiers.

  The door to the main cabin was shut. This being the only entrance, they had to wait for a sign that the room was clear.

  * * *

  Inside the Main Cabin

  Dom was sitting in a chair to the table that had the map pieces and keys scattered on top. Salacia sat across from him with John standing beside her.

  "Did she have anything useful to say?" Salacia asked the unusually calm Dom.

  "Nothing that we
don't already know."

  "This is to go off perfectly. We are to have no problems with the three or anyone else."

  No one spoke after Salacia's last demand due to the raised voice of a soldier yelling 'freeze' right out side the door.

  Dom's eyes widened in unspeakable horror. "Crap!"

  "Freeze!" A soldier yelled from behind the three.

  They all turned slowly to face him; hands rose in surrender. Two more soldiers came up to back the soldier up; each one having been knocked out earlier by Dom.

  "Into the room!" He yelled again; gun raised and ready to fire down upon them. "Now!"

  Ash opened the unlocked door and walked into the room followed by Dara, Lari and then the three soldiers.

  Salacia stood from her chair and motioned to her last three soldiers to help guard the escapees.

  "What do we have here?" she asked with a devious smile. "You three are smarter than I thought."

  Two soldiers were guarding one of the three, making it almost impossible to escape.

  "Salacia," Dom spoke up. "Maybe since we have them in the room with us, we could question them with no problems. Find out anything that we may not know." Salacia thought on his suggestion before nodding in agreement.

  John stood behind Salacia and Dom and was as quiet as a mouse; not wanting to talk to or even face his son.

  Dom walked over the furious looking Ash, an unreadable smile across his pale lips. "I'm sure that if you knew anything, you would tell us."

  Dom motioned to a door on the opposite end of the room and Ash furrowed his eyebrows in confusion before Dom punched one of the soldiers holding Ash; breaking his nose in a single hit.

  With half his body free from the hold of the two soldiers, Ash kicked the inside of the other soldier's knee, causing him to fall to the ground in pain. He took the gun the soldier held and used the blunt end to hit him on the back of the head, knocking him out. Dom had already resorted to using a mop that was in the utility closet in the room and was using it like a staff.

  Once the girls had been freed as well, they made for the door, leaving the guys to fight off the remaining soldiers.

  Dara had made it first, pulling open the door and rushing out. Lari was right behind her but was forced to stop when Salacia grabbed a fistful of her auburn hair and yanked back.

  Lari screamed in surprise and fell back on the hard floor from the force Salacia had used on her. She scrambled to her feet and did a swift kick to Salacia's jaw.

  Salacia stumbled back and swiped at her with her hand, cutting Lari's cheek with her long fingernails; drawing a thin line of blood.

  Lari attempted a punch to Salacia's jaw but she blocked the attack and tried a punch of her own to Lari's face; hitting her near her eye and sending her back into the wall behind her.

  Momentarily, the breath was knocked out of her, making her gasp for air. Once she shook off the pain, she charged at Salacia, did one last roundhouse kick aimed for her head and it hit its mark; Salacia's left temple.

  Salacia fell to the ground, no longer conscious as the fights between Ash and Dom and the last soldiers continued on.

  Lari was about to assist the guys when the contents on the table in the center of the room caught her eye.

  "Lari! Come on!" Dara came back to the door, urging her to follow with rapid hand motions but Lari walked in the opposite direction.

  Lari threw Dom's black duffle bag onto the table from the floor and began to fill it with the keys, clues and any weapons she could find.

  "Lari!" Dara called again in annoyance.

  Lari then threw the bag to Dara, who caught it with little trouble before both were making their way to the deck of the ship.

  * * *

  Dom's mop had been broken in two when he had used it to block a kick to his abdomen by one of the soldiers. He much preferred to wield this smaller size of weapon and was currently using it like a bat and a soldier as his make-shift piñata.

  There was only one soldier left conscious and Ash took the liberty of knocking him out with a hard punch that hit the bridge of his nose. He shook out his right hand to rid it of the pain while casting a glance back in the direction of the back door and the fallen Salacia.

  "Looks like one of the girls gave Salacia a piece of their mind." he said, causing Dom to look in the direction he was facing. "Twenty bucks says it was Lari."

  Dom laughed and shook Ash's hand in agreement to the bet. "You're on."

  Jumping over the bodies of soldiers out cold, Ash and Dom made for the deck.

  * * *

  The Deck

  The frosty sea air hit them like a tidal wave and sent chills down their spines.

  Dara had been forced to lug around the duffle bag while Lari searched for some sort of lifeboat to get them off of the ship.

  She found something better than an inflatable lifeboat. What she found was a motorboat that was already floating in the water while attached to the port side of the ship.

  "Dara! I need something to cut the robes with once we are all in the boat."

  "Don't look at me I-" Dara suddenly remembered the knife Dom had given her not to long ago. "Wait, I have a knife."

  She struggled with the bag while she reached into her back pocket to retrieve Dom's knife and tossed it to Lari.

  Lari gave her an alarming look when she barely caught the knife on the handle, but Dara just shrugged.

  "Are we ready to make out grand escape?" Dom called from the small door that lead to the deck behind them.

  "Just about," Lari called back while taking the bag from Dara and lowering it into the motorboat.

  Soon, all four were situated inside the boat as Lari cut the last rope holding them to the soldiers' ship before they sped away.

  Salacia watched them as they made as much distance between the ship and their newly acquired boat as possible.

  She rubbed her aching jaw and couldn't help but smile when a thought of vengeance crossed her mind.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Sacrifice

  The black motorboat came to a slow stop as it ran up on the shore of an island. The sand and pebbles that occupied the shoreline brought it to a complete stop on the beach and was now anchored in the wet sand.

  "Are you sure this is the right island?" Lari asked while hopping out of the medium-sized motorboat.

  "This is where Salacia said it was," Dom replied. "We were talking about it before you three were caught. I practically handed you freedom on a silver platter."

  "And forgot to mention the only way to the deck was through that door," Dara pointed out with anger.

  "Oh…right."

  The island seemed dark and dangerous, even if it was around eight in the morning. Numerous trees of many kinds lined the beach along with small shrubs and few sparkling streams that lead to the open sea. It was a beautiful island untouched by the harsh hands of Man.

  Lari and Dara had set up the map Lari and stolen back on the front of the boat, it being the only flat and dry surface, and now looked over it, fully intact with the cardboard piece on top that was given to them along with the first clue weeks ago.

  "Well, according to the map, we are where we are supposed to be," Dom announced, tracing a faded, blood-red line on the broken paper.

  "And the place where we are supposed to find the so-called 'treasure' is to the South of this island."

  "And which part of the island are we on?" Dara questioned, obviously not knowing her directions.

  "We're on the North end of the island," Ash informed unhappily.

  "Ok, so all we do is walk to the opposite end of the island." Dara's words seemed to not even faze her three weary friends.

  "It may only be on the other end of the island, but we have no idea how big this island is. No one is here. It's completely deserted save for the few animals native here," Lari commented dryly.

  "Need I remind you all that we are a deadline?" Dom asked them; impatience drawn across his face. "Nice Dark Soldiers who aren't short on gu
ns are headed to this very island. Now we either beat them to the treasure or die trying."

  His speech was enough to move Ash, who immediately took the lead, heading into the forest that the sun seemed desperate to try to avoid.

  A number of vines hung from the pipe-like trees, all a deep emerald green. The humidity was high and Dara had to fan herself from moisture. The random animal calls made the atmosphere seem almost primitive.