Emilia

Thursday, April 21st, 2022 (30 days after the Shutdown)

A body surfaced on the water.

“PAPA!” Emilia wailed at the sight of her father’s unresponsive body. Ready to descend the side of the crater, Jefferson grabbed her arm before she could leave.

“Don’t do this. How many times have I warned you about blindly jumping into a situation? If fish have died from that water then how do you expect your father—”

“Shut up,” she glared at him with a mosaic of wounded feelings. “You keep telling me to watch, to wait, and that hasn’t helped at all!”

“Emilia…”

Pulling her arm free, she slid down the edge and jumped into the basin. Waves of polluted water swamped her and a prickling sensation radiated upward from the skin beneath her knees.

Ignoring the dull throb, she paddled over to her father. The further she swam, the effects of the water grew stronger. The air inside her lungs grew heavier as if her body was shutting down.

Fumes… the water is exuding fumes.

Her eyes moistened but she suffered through it, her objective floating inches away from her.

Grabbing her father, she kicked at the water but with the tide working against her, it was a losing battle.

Furiously blinking away her tears, a tightness took residence in her limbs making her movements more laborious. Her eyelids grew heavier.

A bit more… she begged of her body but the water had taxed it too much.

Something landed in the water and a strong pair of hands grabbed ahold of her and dragged her out. Laid out to dry on the side of the crater, through her blurry vision she saw Jefferson wade back in to save her father.

“Fools,” he muttered, hurriedly wiping his brow before the water could enter his eyes. “Two of the same…”

Unable to resist the urge to rest, the world turned hazy and she finally surrendered.

***

When she woke, the sun was still at its peak and the water was still tainted by the pollutants from her father. Kicking away a dead fish that had floated next to her, she turned to see Jefferson watching her from a nearby ledge.

“You’re an idiot. I hope you realize that,” he said, holding eye contact with her before he finally shook his head. “At least you recovered quicker than I expected. If it went on any longer, I was planning on dragging you both to the cottage.”

“... Thanks,” she glumly replied, looking to change the subject before he embarked on another one of his lectures. “What happened to him? Why isn’t he waking up?”

Jefferson shrugged and pointed to the water. “Could be he beat whatever devilry was in him… but I’ve never seen something so horrifying.”

Having bathed in the Sun’s warmth while he waited, Jefferson’s chocolate skin glowed as the last droplets of the ocean evaporated.

“Back to the ship, then?”

“How can we? We need to show something for today,” Jefferson reasoned as he got up to dust off the black ash that had collected on the back of his clothes. “Showin’ ‘em this crater ain’t going to do much good for us.”

True. They still don’t know about Papa’s hammer or why the Banshees have disappeared. A bunch of dead fish in a crater will scare them.

Pondering what to do, her father finally woke up. Frantically searching for an invisible enemy, he started chuckling when he saw them looking at him worriedly. His eyes had returned to their normal brown but there was a glint of madness within. Abruptly standing up, he flashed his teeth in a wide grin.

“What’s with the sulking faces? I just survived!” he exclaimed, looking at each of their bemused faces in turn. “Show a little excitement, people!”

Trading looks with Jefferson, she frowned at her father. “Are you not tired? You just… something just polluted the basin and you probably drank a lot of the water.”

It took him a second to process Emilia’s words.

"I'm fine."

"Of course you are," Jefferson said, wrapping his arm around Juan's shoulders. "Actually… you know what? I'm thinking we should head back to the ship and meet up with Katherine."

"No, I'm telling you guys I feel fine. How about we head north and see the rest of the island," he said, removing Jefferson's arm before walking up the slope. “I have a feeling there are more interesting things to find there.”

***

More of the same forest scenery followed them as they walked further along the coast. Weathered by eons of relentless waves, rugged cliffs stood as silent sentinels against the sea's relentless advance.

Further inland, the same gnarled trees grew thick and clustered, protecting each other from Pacific storms. Yet the idyllic landscape was marred by the ocean on her right.

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The contaminated water from the crater had leaked out and had gradually grown to form a band of murky brown.

In a few more hours, it’ll completely encircle the island.

Jefferson had the same concern, keeping one eye on the water and the other on his friend, whose behavior had grown progressively abnormal.

Juan was practically flying over the pitted cliffside. Trailing him from a distance, she and Jefferson had taken the slow and steady approach as their uphill trek grew more demanding.

Why are we still following him? We should’ve gone back to the ship and gotten him checked out.

“Maybe he still has a bunch of adrenaline? I wish I could have me some of that,” Jefferson whispered to her.

“Or… he’s still crazy and he’s about to lead us to our deaths by bludgeoning our heads,” she pointed out.

“Don’t say that Emilia. He’s still your father,” Jefferson protested.

Is he though? Jefferson hadn’t seen what she saw that morning. Red eyes and an abrupt change of behavior should’ve been enough to convince anyone but Emilia had held out hope that it was a temporary ailment.

The incident at the crater set off warning alarms blaring in her head. Gripping her pocket knife, she glared at the back of her father’s head. If push comes to shove… she thought to herself, before growing disturbed at her own thoughts.

“What even are you?” she muttered under her breath.

To her horror, Juan turned around at her words. His soft eyes had hardened and a nerve was working in his jaw, but he just put a finger to his lips.

“There are people beneath us,” he breathed, motioning for them to come closer to see.

Did he hear me? Her heart raced like a frenzied drum and for a second she feared he would hear its thunderous beat echoing in her chest but he showed no other indication that he’d heard.

Forcing herself to take a shallow breath, she lay down beside Jefferson whose attention was intently fixated on a conversation below.

Beneath the cliffs, there was a large opening similar to the one they’d run into on their first day on the island. And by coincidence, there were the same vile characters on the roster. Marcus, Jean Bain, and the remainder of their cronies who’d survived the Banshees’ assault on the first day were in a shouting match with the First Engineer, Atticus Chase.

Impressively, Atticus was holding his own against the larger men.

“We can’t—”

“The hell we can’t! You’ve seen it yourself, haven’t you? The cottage doesn’t have electricity meaning it’s not only the ship! It could the rest of the freakin’ world!” Marcus yelled, spittle flying from his mouth.

Wiping his face, Atticus raised an eyebrow, “We’re on a deserted island and you’re using that as your evidence?”

Marcus Noren stepped up to the shorter man and squeezed the Chief Engineer’s shoulders. A beetle settled on Atticus’ shoulders and delicately picking it up, Marcus brought it in front of Atticus’ face and crushed it.

“Don’t patronize me, Mr. Chase. There are only a few of us left and we have the captain on our side. There has never been a better time,” he hissed.

Standing his ground despite the other man’s threat, Atticus persisted. “We still don’t know everything. If you choose to act without understanding, do it without me.”

“I see… well, one more person missing won’t be missed.”

Probably an empty threat. From her position, Emilia held her breath as she cautiously observed the confrontation below. Just as it was on the first day of the Flare, Marcus was scheming.

“Juan, you idiot!” Jefferson seethed.

With a crazed war cry, a silhouette dropped from their ledge. Snapping his head up in time, Marcus’s face went through a whirlwind of emotions but before Juan’s hammer struck him, he pulled the Chief Engineer in front of him.

Unable to adjust his swing in time, the hammer cleaved through Atticus’ head like wet clay and the sound of flesh breaking echoed throughout the clearing.

Shock swept through the crowd of witnesses. Even with the tumultuous experiences up till now, no one had ever laid a hand on each other because they knew that would be the end of the delicate balance that existed among them.

But as the Chief Engineer wordlessly folded over, she saw a smile creeping across Marcus’ lips.

No… As the blood from the lifeless officer pooled around his feet, Juan’s bloodied hammer returned to its cross form. What have you done…

“You finally lost it, eh?” Marcus finally said as his group distanced themselves from Juan. “What now? You gonna attack us too?”

Looking down at his blood-soaked hand, a tremor traveled through Juan. With his head on a swivel, he glanced uncomprehendingly at the carnage around him before his eyes landed on Marcus.

"Is this your doing?" he accused Marcus, who in turn gaped at the bloodied man.

"You fucking with me here?! That was you! You tried to kill me, you fucking illegal, but your aim was so bad you killed Atticus."

"... W-What? Why would I…" he started before he finally looked down at his body. "No… nonono this… t-this can't be true…"

His knees gave out from under him and he stared at the blood-flecked cross in his hands. Right as Juan threw it away in haste, Marcus yelled out, "Grab him! He's unarmed!"

Taking advantage of Juan’s confusion, the 5 of them rushed forward and pinned him to the ground. Juan began hyperventilating as his face was forced beside Atticus' corpse and his eyes searched for someone to save him.

The rocks couldn't hide her as her father caught sight of her, his eyes conveying an unmistakable plea but before she could answer, one of the thug’s large body blocked him off. Finally subdued, guilt gnawed at her heart as she watched them carry him away.

Why didn’t I do something, stop them somehow?

Because you shouldn’t. He is unhinged, he turned, he murdered. There isn’t something you can do to help him, she told herself, but it didn’t placate the disgust she felt.

“H-He killed… holy cow, we’re screwed,” Jefferson said, looking at the bloodied remains of the Chief Engineer. In the summer heat, the smell of decay reached them quickly. “How are we supposed to brush this over? Marcus… oh why did it have to be him of all people? SHIT!”

“So do you think we should still observe him?” Emilia said somberly, her eyes following the stream of blood pooling into a crack.

“Not now!” Jefferson snapped. “I don’t need fucking lip from you!”

Was that him right now? The way he was panicking… it looked like he was normal but how can I be sure? If… the hammer has possessed him, what made him go back to normal? Shock? Pain?

Walking past Jefferson who was pacing back and forth, she looked out at the ocean. The band of brown had almost evenly covered the coast as far as she could see. Dread chilled the back of her neck, and the same question she’d been asking herself since she arrived on this island replayed in her head.

What is going on?