Next Up

Track 4

"Hey, Zoe!" Kalimba called, running down the hallway after seeing Zoe pressed against the wall.

When he got closer, he skidded to a stop, hitting a wall of stench—like a rotting fish in the sun mixed with a sweet honey. "Oh, goodness!"

Zoe jumped to her feet, pointing into her room, "He's in there! Trapped! Something has him!"

"Wait, wh-"

"Mitani! The bathtub!"

Kalimba's eyes shot toward her open doorway. He stepped toward it, peering inside, and moved back. In a flash, he studied the entire room—the dim lamp on the bedside table, the perfectly made queen-sized bed, the light seeping through the gap in the bathroom door, and the splintered wood that covered the red carpeted floor.

Zoe turned, hearing a hum, one that overpowered the buzz of the engine below their feet.

A leafy green aura surrounded Kalimba as he walked into the room.

Zoe took a deep breath, steadying her breathing, blinking rapidly to steel herself. She stepped into the room after Kalimba, hearing what sounded like him talking to himself.

She cautiously stepped around the sharp splinters sticking up from the carpet, following him into the bathroom.

The smell was about ten times stronger in the bathroom, but besides Zoe and Kalimba, it was completely empty.

The tiles were slick and covered in about an inch of water.

"He was just here," she mumbled, looking at the bathtub. "I don't know where he went."

"Yeah," Kalimba said. "She said he was just here. Her door is broken, and there's some weird smell. Whatever is happening, it seems to have left moments before I got here."

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Oh, sorry," Kalimba said, "Was talking to Asher." He looked around the bathroom, studying the puddles of slime on the floor.

Zoe looked at him but didn't see any phone or any type of device in his hands or around his ears.

Yahd sat at the edge of the outside hot tub, his feet dangling into the hot water. The boat's slowly changing purple, yellow, orange, and red lights gave him an odd sense of calm, more than the warm salty ocean breeze or the light rocking of the boat could ever give him.

He looked up at the starry night sky—trying to connect all the different constellations in his head.

He felt the tickle of bubbles run along his feet. He glanced down, seeing the water churn and spin.

"Hm," he muttered. Watching as the hot water seemed to be almost boiling with the number of bubbles rising to the surface.

He watched, mouth agape, as something slowly materialized inside the hot tub. Reaching out with his foot, his toe rubbing against it. "Am I touching a jellyfish?" He thought aloud.

His voice caught in his throat, and all his hair stood on end. "Mitani!" He screamed, seeing the boy's face appear at the bottom of the tub, slowly rising out of the water. "What the-" he scooted back, getting to his feet. 'What the hell is surrounding him? Something is wrong!'

With one swift motion, he reached behind him, taking out a pink pistol from his waistband and aiming at the thing in front of him.

Mitani's face contorted as the bullet ripped through his forearm—an inaudible scream came from his mouth.

"Dang it!" He yelled. "Asher or Kalimba, I'm on the deck. I found Mitani!" he screamed.

He squinted, staring at the thing as it grew, taking up the hot tub. It was hard to tell in the colored light, but he could see it. A scorch mark the size of a bullet in its translucent skin.