Beneath the Waves

Saviors and Sand Dollars

"Go!" He demanded, Brock grabbing the metal weakly and forcing his muscles to haul him up. He got a few steps up before stopping, turning to look at his rescuer. He was gone, but Brock caught sight of a red and black shimmer in the distance before fading below the waves.

He shook his head and forced himself up the ladder, hearing his friends yelling. "Tyler!" He called weakly, coughing hard at the sound.

"Brock! He's over here!" Tyler yelled, Brock hauling himself onto the ship and laying flat on his back. Hands grabbed him, lifting him up and throwing his arms over two peoples shoulders.

Tyler and Jon quickly carried him inside, Chrissy following quickly. As soon as they were inside, storm doors bolted shut, Tyler and Jon set Brock on a couch as Chrissy rushed off for a first aid kit and a bottle of water.

"What happened? How'd you get back?" Tyler asked worriedly, handing Brock a towel as he rubbed his own hair dry.

"I don't know, I didn't think I'd survive. I broke surface once and got shoved back down, hit my head on one of the stilts holding the ship up. Knocked my breath out and I swallowed a lot of water. But just as I was going to give up, someone grabbed me and brought me to the ladder. I- I don't know who he was, but he had scales on his face and hands," he whispered, frowning as he rubbed the towel gingerly against the bump on his head.

"Scales? Did you hit your head a little too hard?" Tyler asked doubtfully and Brock shrugged. "I don't know, probably. But there is no way I would have gotten to the ladder on my own, someone grabbed me and brought me to it," he said and Jon hummed.

Chrissy returned, handing Brock the bottle of water to take a few drinks, a couple ibuprofen and a first aid kit. "You've got a pretty bad cut on your cheek, and your temple," she said, frowning as she soaked a rag with peroxide and dabbed it lightly against his face.

Brock made a face at the burn but kept his eyes on Tyler and Jon, who just gazed back. "We'll figure it out later Brock, for now we need to get you rehydrated after all that sea water and wait out this storm. Hopefully everything holds until this is over," Tyler said calmly and Brock nodded, waiting for Chrissy to put the bandage on his cheek.

It took nearly 3 hours for them to hit the eye of the storm and Brock and all his coworkers rushed out to do some quick maintenance and securing. Once the work was done, everyone started filing back inside for the next wave.

But Brock stood by the ladder, eyes on the waves below him. Tyler, Jon, Chrissy, John, Marcel and Lui joined him, the three men having told their friends what had happened to Brock.

"I know what I saw," Brock said quietly and Tyler sighed. "You hit your head really hard Brock, and it was dark. You could have just seen something strange," he said and Brock glared at him.

"Then how did I get to the ladder? There's no way in any chance I would have gotten there myself, someone brought me there," he insisted, turning his eyes back to the water.

He could feel his friends' eyes on him and he just shook his head, crossing his arms. "Come on, let's get back inside, it's starting to rain," Brock said quietly, turning and leading his friends back.

They followed quietly, Brock lost in his thoughts. He could still see the vividness of those blue eyes, shining in the darkness. He knew he'd seen scales on the man's skin, and the flash of red when he'd been on the ladder, what was that?

They all sat around riding out the storm, Brock leading planning as a senior member. He assigned teams of who would do what once the storm was over, knowing a lot of clean up and maintenance would be needed.

It took nearly 5 hours for the worst of the storm to pass, everyone getting their assignments and filing out once they got the green light. Brock took the time to direct everyone to their stations, waiting for everyone to get started before joining Tyler, Lui and John at the main drill to do maintenence.