Merman - Romance

Chapter 32

Ridec didn’t respond to the message, what Jessell was saying was true but how could he leave a kid like Pete to fend for himself?  It was clear that unless he went with Kent there was every possibility that they wouldn’t allow Pete into their safe haven.

“He’s just a kid,” Ridec said.

“I don’t call the shots at headquarters,” Kent countered.  “Maybe you can take him to your home at sea?”

“Home at sea?”  Kyle asked.  “I wouldn’t mind getting on board with that.  How do you find food and water?”

“Can we come?”  Mary put in.

“There is no home at sea,” Jessell said firmly.

“So why do you need to find a map that leads to the sea?”  Kent demanded.

“You need to try minding your own business.”

“If you have a safe haven you should share it with us,” Rea said and Ridec glanced at Jessell thoughtfully.  Rea was a clean, there was the risk associated with taking the medicine but at least she was a clean.  Maybe she would be willing to take the risk to escape from her world of horror.

“There’s no safe haven and I’m tired,” Jessell said walking off to the corner of the room where she made her bed.  The plan had never been to stay around the humans for so long; it was only a matter of time before they started to realize that there was something different about them.  It wasn’t that she blamed them, she understood their fear.  Life had taught them that there were only two types of people – the living and the monsters, if you weren’t among the regular living humans then you had to be some kind of monster and there was only one way to deal with monsters; kill them.

“You’re hiding something,” Mary insisted gripping Jessell by her arm and pulling her towards her.

“You have two seconds to release my arm; two.”

Before Jessell could say the number two Mary had dropped her arm and hustled away.

“Something’s not right with you two, you should have seen the way he looked when I first saw him,” Mary said.  “I’d never seen anyone more…beautiful, clean, perfect…”

“He’s still all those things,” Rea put in.

“He is but you should have seen him, not a mark, not a stain, not a scratch just perfect.”

“Ridec, it’s time to get to bed before one of those women maul you,” Jessell shouted.  She had a hint of laughter in her voice but Ridec could tell she was not amused.

“Ridec, I understand…” Rea started to say.

“I need to get some rest,” Ridec said hurrying over to where Jessell was laying on the ground and lowering himself to the floor beside her.

“Good night,” Jessell muttered.  “We leave here at first light tomorrow.”

Ridec nodded and then muttered, “of course.”

Jessell didn’t utter another word, it seemed like within seconds he could hear the soft rhythm of her breathing which said to him she had fallen asleep.  Ridec sighed, she was tired, the past few weeks had taken their toll and he had played his part in making them difficult for her.  He couldn’t help that he felt responsible to these humans for what his ancestors had done.  They had made the drug that had caused all this chaos and had slipped away from it all and rescued themselves without ever looking back, it wasn’t fair and now innocent kids like Pete and Rea had to suffer the consequences of their action.  Ridec inhaled a deep breath and released it slowly, who knew how many other kids had suffered before and how many more would suffer?  His ancestors had thought that the plague would have died out by itself after a few years but they had been wrong, these things didn’t die, they just lived on forever it seemed and with the human population continuing to enter into relationships and have children it seemed as if this struggle between the living and the creatures was destined to continue for many, many more years.