Damon grabbed the television remote, connecting the TV to his phone. He pointed at the screen. "That girl right there. You all are gonna rescue her."
The first thing Zoe noticed was that the girl was young—based on the younger kids around Crater, she guestimated her age to be seven or eight.
The picture was grainy. The photographer had taken the image from a ways away and had to zoom in to see any precise detail on the child's face. She stood around several men with assault rifles who wore nondescript military camo. Her eyes were closed, and her tiny fist gripped the back of one of the men's shirts.
Damon walked to the kitchen—it was a dark design with black marble walls and counters. He took out a massive blender, tossing several fresh fruits, juices, and powders into it. Afterward, looking at Paul, holding up a glass, he asked, "You want some?"
He shook his head, "I'm fine."
"What about your daughter over there," he nodded to Zheanni.
Paul nudged her. She looked up from her phone, "What?" He pointed to the blender. "No." She shook her head, going back to her phone.
"I'll have some," Yahd said, walking into the kitchen.
Zoe and Kalimba stood near the television, studying the picture on the screen.
"So it looks like she's in a desert or maybe on a beach," Kalimba noted, deep in thought. He turned to Zoe, who stood staring at the picture. He stuck out his hand, introducing himself once more.
She shook his hand. "Zoe," she said, returning to look at the girl on the screen.
"Do you know energy?"
Zoe whirled toward him, staring at him with wide eyes. She glanced around the room, but no one seemed to pay much mind.
"Yo, it's okay," he chuckled, "Everyone already knows about it here. We don't need to hide anything. I'm just trying to get a gauge on things."
"Oh, okay," Zoe breathed. "Sorry, I just…well, yeah, I can use it. I'm not sure how well I can comparatively. I have somewhat of a scattered experience. I don't have much to put it up against."
"That's okay. As long as you can use it reliably."
"Yeah," she nodded.
"Alrighty!" Damon walked back from the kitchen. He tapped his phone, and the picture on the TV changed to another. "This is where she's being held." To Zoe, it looked to be an abandoned military outpost. "A compound in the middle of nowhere. Originally, it was built for the production of drugs by some terrorist group some odd decades ago; abandoned for a bit, but now on to new management. So basically, you will infiltrate this place. Find her and bring her back to my yacht."
"That's it?" Asher asked skeptically.
"Hey!" Damon snapped, "I'm down over fifty million buying the coordinates and location of this girl, alright. Don't take this shit lightly!"
"Okay, okay," Asher held up his hands, "Just seemed too simple, is all."
Kalimba nodded, "Don't worry. I'll lay down my life for this girl."
Damon glanced at his diamond-encrusted watch. "Well, we should actually leave now." He looked at Paul and Zheanni. "You guys wanna come."
"Nah," Zheanni said. "I've gotta be somewhere in a few days."
The helicopter descended over the yacht.
"Two hundred feet long!" Damon yelled over the blades.
After they landed, they quickly departed into the open seas.
Several hours later, Damon pulled down his sunglasses, regarding the three kids that stood over him. "What?"
"For being so anal about how much you spent, you don't seem very invested in this," Asher noted, his arms crossed.
Damon reclined in a beach chair on the bow of his ship under a large umbrella. He wore an all-white button-up t-shirt and khaki shorts. "Why the rush?" he shrugged. "We have about three days on this thing before we even see the coastline. Y'know, there's no need to get all stressed. Just relax," he smiled, looking over at one of the four women he had brought with him.
She was tall and thick with short black hair, wearing nothing but a bathing suit. She sat on the edge of a nearby shaded table, her phone in one hand and a styrofoam cup in the other.
She smiled, noting how Yahd kept shooting glances at her from across the boat.
Kalimba, who stood next to Asher and Zoe, spoke up, "It'd be cool if we had details earlier. We can have more time to think of something."
"Alright, fine," Damon sighed. "Everyone, come here!"
Everyone huddled under the umbrella, avoiding the early afternoon heat, looking at the phone in Damon's hand. As he talked, he scrolled through hundreds of pictures. "Now, according to my sources, she's in some underground basement in this compound."
"As opposed to an aboveground basement?" Yahd asked.
Damon ignored him and kept talking, "The place is moderately guarded—fifteen to twenty guys in there."
"They have guns and stuff like that?" Mitani asked.
Damon nodded, "They aren't guarding the place with rocks and sticks."
"Uh," Asher mumbled. "I'm not a battle type, and I didn't bring any weapons…"
Damon smiled, "Don't worry. I've got everything you need. I'm assuming you all know how to use guns."
Everyone nodded but Zoe.
He pointed, "Not you?"
"No," she shook her head. "I never had the chance to."
"It's not too hard..." Damon's eyes scanned the ship as he patted his pockets. He got up, walking to a cabinet. Inside was a pile of guns and ammo. He rooted through it, picking out a sleek, bright pink pistol with a cartoon cat charm hanging off the side.
"Here," he tossed the pistol to Zoe, who awkwardly caught it, almost dropping the heavy thing.
Zoe stared at the gun with wide eyes, "Uh," she mumbled.
"What? You don't like the color? I thought girls like the color pink."
'I don't.' Zoe thought. "I don't know what you want me to do with it."
"You can practice. Just shoot at the water or birds for target practice."
"I-I don't know."
Damon shrugged, laying back on the beach chair, "I'm sure one of them will be thrilled to teach you." He yawned. "But that's all I got for today."
"I mean…I don't know, Zoe. Can I be honest?" Asher asked. "You're not gonna get mad at me or something?"
"I don't get offended at anything," Zoe said, lowering the gun.
"Are you at good any other combat skills?"
Zoe thought for a moment. They stood at the point of Damon's yacht. For the past several hours, they'd been attempting to teach her the basics of shooting. Pistols, shotguns, assault rifles…she didn't get the hang of any of it. The only weapon she was semi-competent at was the sniper rifle. "I have two knives I can use. I think I'm alright at it—better than the average person, maybe."
"What do you think, Kalimba?"
Kalimba leaned on the railing near them. He watched the fish hiding in the shadow of the ship. He listened intently to the sound of waves crashing against the yacht as it glided through the water. 'Something is weird about this,' he thought. "I don't want to seem paranoid to the others. Well, I've never been on any kind of ship before. Maybe I'm just nervous being hundreds of miles away from any landmass. That'd make anyone a bit wary, right?'
"Yo! Kalimba!"
"Huh? Oh, sorry, what was the question?"
"How does she fit into all of this?"
"I don't think we have a chance."
"What?" Asher scowled. "The hell is that supposed to mean?"
"Our best option would be to sneak in."
"I can be stealthy," Zoe offered. She took a deep breath, 'Even though I don't want to be here in the first place, I can't be deadweight and let them down.'
Several hours later, below deck, Kalimba walked into the dining room. Though it more resembled a saloon. Dim orange lights, wooden walls, and floors, with a bar on the opposite side of the room.
On the other side of the room, Yahd and Asher had found a video game system and had plugged it into a TV. The clicking of their controllers and the sound of gunfire almost overpowered the bass of the muffled rap music ebbing from Damon's room on the floor above.
"Have any of you guys seen Mitani?"
"Nope," Asher mumbled, distracted by the TV. "We've all been in here, and I haven't seen him for like an hour."
"I was going to ask Damon, but he seems…busy."
"Hold on," Yahd paused the game to the protest of Asher. He got to his feet, "You haven't seen him either?"
Kalimba shook his head, "No, I was going to ask him something, but he wasn't in his room or in any of the bathrooms. What about Zoe? Has she seen him?"
Asher glanced to where he had last seen her. She was sitting at a table by herself and had covered the tabletop with black and gold playing cards. Whenever she had left, she'd taken the cards with her. He looked at Yahd with a confused look, "When did she leave?"
"I dunno," he shrugged. "I was locked in."
On the other end of the ship, Zoe sat on the edge of the bathtub. She steadied herself, feeling the boat tilt heavily to one side before crashing back down.
She'd only been in the shower four minutes before the boat rocked and she'd almost cracked her head open on the wall.
She ran her hand through her hair, the gooey shampoo sticking to it.
She gulped, realizing what she had to do. Quickly, she put the plug into the drain and turned on the hot water faucet. Hearing a knock on her door, she wrapped herself in a towel and peeked through the peephole.
"Hey, Zoe!" Kalimba called out. Behind him, she saw Asher.
Zoe swung open the door. "Yes?"
"Oh! My bad," Kalimba adverted his eyes, "Uh, I was just wondering if you've seen Mitani." He looked over to Asher, seeing his wide eyes staring.
"I don't think I've seen him for a few hours. Why?"
"Us too. It's like he just disappeared."
"Wait," Asher said. "Maybe he fell overboard." He looked to Kalimba, "I didn't get a chance to connect to him, so I can't find him."
"Oh no," a shadow passed over Kalimba's face, "No. No, I'm sure that wouldn't happen. Uh, anyways," he glanced back to Zoe, "We'll leave you to your business."
Zoe watched as Kalimba grabbed Asher by the arm and pulled him away, walking down the hallway, glancing into every room they passed.
"Oh!" Zoe ran back into the bathroom, quickly shutting off the water before the tub overflowed.
She wiped the condensation off the mirror, staring into it. She cocked her head, staring at the corner of the mirror, wiping off what she thought was a smudge, but it was indelible. Behind her, a gurgling sound reminded Zoe of what Ivy's stomach sounded like when she was hungry. 'What the…' she turned, her eyes flicking to the edge of the tub.
A hand clutched the edge of the bathtub momentarily before swiftly retracting into the water, vanishing with a splash.
Zoe screamed, falling backward. She scrambled across the slippery tiled floor, clambering behind the sink. 'Was it my imagination, or was there energy surrounding the hand?'
She sat staring, unblinking. Slowly, she maneuvered from under the sink. Attempting to make as little noise as possible, Zoe crawled to the bathroom door. She held her breath as she moved toward the handle—though it was only a few feet away, it felt like miles.
She reached out, extending her arm toward the door, just inches away. Her hand gripped the doorknob; as she twisted, she turned, looking back at the tub—her breath caught in her throat.
Mitani stared at her with scared eyes; his face twisted with agony. A small layer of purple energy surrounded him.
Zoe reacted before she registered what had happened. A small splash and something large, slimy, and translucent shot from the water, grabbing where Zoe had been an instant prior.
"Mitani! Wha-" she stopped, her eyes focusing on what was surrounding him. It was almost invisible. It quivered, shuddered, and twisted. As it did so, Mitani opened his mouth in a silent scream.
'This isn't him. Someone or something has him trapped! My knives are on the bedside, and I can't open the door quickly because it swings inwards.'
The thing in the bathtub gurgled as a single eye-stock rose from the water. Its large emotionless black eye stared at her, blinking before submerging once more.
Seeing her chance, Zoe ripped open the door, running into her room, and slammed it. Behind her, a splash and a thud.
She unbuckled the holster of one of her knives—a small wavy silver blade with an odd number of curves.
The sound of wet slaps on marble tile came quickly. She whirled, seeing the eye-stock blink at her from under the door. Its dark eye was studying her as she cautiously stepped toward the door.
There was a loud snap as something slapped against the door, making it concave. Its outside splintering and shaking the frame.
Zoe fell into the hallway as the thing slapped the door once more, creating a large jagged hole.
She watched as a slimy translucent tube shot from the bathroom, just a few inches short of wrapping around her foot. The smell was a mix of spice and a slowly rotting fish market. A sound like someone sneezing came deep from within the tube, and a moment later, it shot a blue goo with red flecks, blasting Zoe in the face.
Unlike the earlier smell, this was sweet, almost saccharine.
It was feint, but she noticed a light blue energy surrounding the tube.
Just as quickly as it appeared, the tube receded back into the bathroom, and all was silent. The only sound was the engine's hum below her and her heavy breathing. Also, the sound of pounding footsteps rounding the corner down the hallway.