Mystic Waters: Out of the blue

Chapter 4

           

     Pete's eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched tight as he looked around the commons. He sensed something was terribly wrong. Guilt nagged at him for spending too much time on land, neglecting the seriousness of the situation below the surface.

     He had repeatedly tried to contact the patrols out in the lake and no communication was returned. He paced back and forth trying to organize his thoughts before deciding to take what troops were available and go to the rift. His commander, Zane, had been patrolling the rift heavily since the gap had widened in the earth's crust. The centuries old rift was like an inactive volcano that had suddenly come alive.

     Pete suited up and with the few troops that were available, they dove into the lake.

      As soon as Pete was in the water Sal sensed his absence and her internal alarms went off making her skin prickle. She knew he had headed to the rift. Salmonia hadn't wanted to leave Zane hanging onto life, but she had to find Pete, it was her job to protect him.

      Sal sent Pete a message, "Where are you?" She waited momentarily for a response that never came. Her temper flared. He knew better. He should have guards with him at all times when he's out in the lake, and she should be one of them. After all, she was a highly skilled huntress and warrior.

      Sal gathered her weapons and tried to get a read on Pete, but her temper interfered with her senses and clouded her ability to communicate telepathically. Zane had been giving Pete updates about the trouble brewing at the rift, therefore, that would be the most logical place to start. With no reinforcements left in the compound, she swiftly departed armed with as many weapons as her body could support.

     Just as Sal had predicted, Pete had raced to the rift. After seeing the condition Zane was in, Sal knew the danger they were in. If something was able to do that much damage to Zane, a fierce warrior, the rest of them didn't have much of a chance. She felt like she had been punched in the gut thinking of Pete meeting the same fate.

     Salmonia hoped she wasn't too late. The bite marks on Zane's back flashed through her mind, as she tried to imagine what could have left such a large mark. Had something emerged from the rift?

      Sal smelled death before she saw it. The absence of life unnerved her long before she saw the scattered remains of the patrol. Salmonia's body shifted to high alert, as she cautiously descended to get a closer look. Terror shivered through her body. The men had the same large bite marks as Zane. Only they were gray, and their skin clung to their bones. They had been completely drained. 

     Other than Zane, there were no survivors; Sal calmed herself to try to get a read on Pete. She didn't see him amongst the dead, so she felt hopeful that she got there in time. In all her years, she had never seen anything of this magnitude. Mermen always stayed in pods and were telepathic, cutting the risk of injury or death in battle. She had witnessed fights in the oceans against two thousand pound sea demons, and the casualties were minimal.

     "Take cover!" Pete blasted through Salmonia's head.

      With her senses already on alert she torpedoed toward a crack in the mountainous rocks. Once hidden she instinctively changed her coloring to match her granite gray surroundings. She peered out of her hiding place not daring to move a muscle. The slightest movement in the water could disclose your location. She waited for further word from Pete. He was alive.

      A shadow darkened the entrance to her cavernous shelter and Sal held her breath remaining motionless. A snake-like serpent's head appeared in her view and she cowered farther back into the crevice, despite her hunter instincts to remain still. In her one hundred twenty-five years, she encountered dangerous marine life, but she was not prepared for this. Not here.