Chapter 1 – Just Tryin' to Make a Living

Twenty-five-year-old Colton Malta was having a horrible day. He'd been up since before dawn working at three part-time jobs just to pay the monstrous interest on a loan.

"Thanks, guys," Colton waved a hand at his boss from the convenience store. "I'll see you on Friday." While it was true that he'd finally earned enough to pay off the remainder of that interest, Colton still had living expenses to cover. "Hm, yep, I'll finally be free of debt." He checked the amount on the card, just in case.

When he reached the nearest ATM, Colton was going to withdraw the money and meet the sharks. "Dang, I was almost free of this crushing debt," he muttered.

Rustle!

Clang!

"What the...who're you guys!" Colton yelled in shock. He punched one of the muggers but was overwhelmed when others crowded him into a corner.

"We'll take that." Just when he'd managed to get enough to cover the entire amount. Someone hit him from behind. His money card was stolen, and Malta was caught in a nasty trap set by pirates and loan sharks.

"What the hell is going on?" Colton struggled angrily.

This was ridiculous. "Hey, Leo, I had the money to pay the remainder. Why are you doing this now?"

"Shut up!" Leo Ramos whacked him across the face. "Not my problem. You didn't earn it fast enough." He kicked Colton into a nearby wall.

Colton grunted in pain. He heard low moans and curses. A few sounded feminine and were crying softly. "Oh, good grief, what is this bullshit?" He muttered.

"We'd like to know that too." Another responded kindly.

His blood chilled when he thought he heard a familiar voice. Kellen Jaeger? Nah, it couldn't be. Colton shook his head and winced. He'd gone overseas or something like that when he was a kid.

"Hey, boss, they're about to get too rowdy for us to handle." It was Ramos Leo.

"Shut it, Ramos." Taltos snapped. "We've almost got the right number to dump at sea."

What the hell? Baffled, Colton wasn't sure what he was hearing.

"Why'd you grab us, man? It wasn't like we owed you debt or something." Another person complained.

"Shut up, or do you want me to break your jaw in addition to your nose?" Taltos threatened.

Creaking noises alerted Colton to a problematic situation. They were in some kind of vessel. "This isn't good." Where were the oars used to steer this thing? He looked around uneasily.

It turned out Colton wasn't the only one caught in their sweep. While he'd fought them when they dragged him to a small lifeboat nearby, Colton overheard some of their conversations. He learned they'd been very dismaying indeed.

"The pirates said there needed to be between six and eight people this time."

"Yeah, the monsters in the islands aren't satisfied with the smaller numbers."

"Tell Diango and Morte they need to find more sacrifices on their end." Taltos snapped.

"We're starting to get nosy police sniffing around cause too many of the homeless are disappearing," Ramos grunted. "So, we had to grab some of our debtors who hadn't paid up."

Colton couldn't believe what he was hearing.

"What are you guys, pagans?" A woman sneered, finally having gotten back some courage.

She had the worst timing possible.

"Shut up, bitch." Taltos glowered. "Look at it this way. You won't have to worry about your man cheating on you." He snickered at her horrified glare.

"What do you mean by that?" A second woman quivered.

"Well, you two have been cheating with each other's husbands." Taltos shrugged. "We kinda figured to give the men a break from harpies."

There was crude laughter from the other loan sharks.

Colton didn't appreciate what he was hearing at all. Those women weren't helping matters either.

He and the others were sacrifices.

"So why did you have to do this, not just the pirates?" Colton might find out the details.

The loan sharks shrugged. "Well, since you're going to become monster bait, I guess it won't hurt none to tell you," Taltos smirked.

Colton didn't say anything as he regarded Taltos with disgust.

"Yeah, the pirates were running out of stowaways and hostages." Leo shrugged. "Since we sometimes work with them..."

"They told us to start contributing if we wanted to continue working with them." Taltos sighed. "It was just your tough luck that you were in our territory today."

It turned out that loan sharks and pirates had reasons for grabbing people regardless of whether they were in debt or not.

"Unbelievable," Someone muttered. "So, we're just making numbers for some lazy-ass pirates who can't be bothered?"

"That's basically what it amounts to." Ramos shrugged.

Colton grimaced. He'd heard stories about some weird stuff going down in the oceans. So, did it have to do with those creatures of legend? He shook his head in disgust. "Did it ever occur to you that some of us had tracking devices implanted in us?"

Not that Colton had gone through the procedure. He was willing to bet that some of the others had.

Ramos laughed. It was an unpleasant sound. "You don't get it, kiddo." He regarded Colton with a cold stare. "It isn't going to matter. You're going to become fish food even if you manage to escape from those monsters." He shrugged indifferently.

"We've got seven," Taltos said into a small radio. "Hey, man, which was all we could get in the time you gave us," he snarled. "You want to grab more?" Taltos frowned at the lifeboat without oars or stern. He turned to face away from the people he'd grabbed. "Well, if that wasn't enough, go get them yourself from those dungeons filled to overflowing."

There were clicking and beeping sounds all around the small boat. The others kept talking about the fate that awaited him and the others.

"Yeah, frigging huge creatures that look like dinosaurs." Ramon was enjoying terrorizing the women with his graphic descriptions. "There are oversized cats. Even big pigs are hungry for human flesh."

Colton was annoyed. "Total bullshit and delusional fantasies." He muttered under his breath.

Someone else muttered. "Not fantasy, unfortunately."

Colton rolled his eyes. "It's not easy to reach those islands, though. You have to have expert sailors guiding the boats. We don't have any of that, do we?"

No response.

Yeah, that's what he thought. Colton closed his eyes briefly. He had a nasty headache.