Whatever Noel and Caleb had expected to encounter on their quest to find help, it wasn’t anything remotely close to this. In fact, witnessing a monstrous underwater thing, however they should put it, eat up four whole people right before their eyes pretty much wiped everything clean from their minds and they could do nothing but just stand there with dumbfounded looks on their faces.

Then the moment was over. Noel couldn’t tell for how long they stood on the bridge looking over the railings at the water, but when both she and Caleb did come back to their senses, all they knew was that they now had a new objective in mind.

“Let’s get the hell out of here!”

Bolting back to their parked bikes, Noel and Caleb pedaled away like crazy through the way they took to get to the bridge – back through the empty abandoned streets and roads, all the way back to the apartment again, stopping at nothing and not even so much as slowing down to search for help like they had originally intended. All they wanted to do was put as much distance between them and whatever monster they’d just seen as possible. Maybe there were more like it out there also hungry for people, and in that case they had no intention whatsoever to come across them.

Noel and Caleb were back home in half the time it took for them to reach the bridge, and once indoors they slammed the front door shut and collapsed into the living room couches, out of breath and sweaty from head to toe. Once again they were too distracted minding their own business to notice the turtle staring intently from the tank in the corner, but even if they did, that was the least of their concerns right now. Aside from the help of other people who may or may not still be out there, all this time they’d been in need of any kind of new information regarding their current situation. But when they did get said new information it was the most horrifying thing imaginable.

After a while Noel felt her breathing slow down back to normal. Her heart however, was still pounding like crazy against her chest as if on an adrenaline rush. That said, she could at least compose herself enough to find her words and say to Caleb, “Do you think that’s why everyone was so hell bent on getting to the ocean?”

Caleb stared at her like the turtle still staring at them from the tank. “Do you think that monster we saw is somehow luring people into the water to eat them?”

Based on what they witnessed, that was the closest thing to a logical explanation they could come up with. Considering the unnervingly unnatural way people were trying to reach the closest body of water for no logical reason, they could only deduce that some weird force had gotten into their heads and made them do so. Normally they couldn’t have ever imagined such outlandish scenarios becoming a reality, but after seeing that monster from the bridge anything seemed possible, and so that was the conclusion they could come to for now. There was no denying it when they had seen the ghastly thing emerge from the depths to open its mouth just in time for the people they pulled out of the van to roll themselves off the bridge. Last but not least, assuming the idea of sea monsters sending some sort of signal into humans’ heads to make them come to any body of water where they resided was possible, then that also possibly meant they could be responsible for all the people turning into merfolk in the first place. Far-fetched, yes, but it was the only likely possibility.

“And if the same thing is happening all over the world…” Noel muttered, to which Caleb finished for her without meeting her eyes, “…then there’s gotta be more of them out there.”

Not since when all of this disaster had just started did Noel and Caleb feel like they were bombarded with more stuff than their minds could handle. At first they wanted to know what exactly was going on and what they were going to do about it, but now that they knew the half or so of what was happening it raised a whole new bunch of questions for them; whether there was anywhere safe from all this that they hadn’t heard of yet, or how long they’d be able to survive by hiding from the eyes of monsters like that shark-thing.

But the biggest question they seemed to have an answer to but at the same time wasn’t sure if they wanted answered was, could this be the end of humanity as they knew it?

* * *

There wasn’t anything else Noel and Caleb could think of doing afterwards other than showering themselves and getting a change of clothes as their sweaty bodies were starting to make them uncomfortable after a bit. When that was said and done however, there also came the realization that what happened to those four people they tried to help on the bridge might have – or even, must have – happened to their parents as well. They had tried calling them a few times more over the phone as a kind of last resort, and when they still didn’t pick up, both Noel and Caleb were forced to conclude that their parents could no longer be reached in any way.

This was the biggest pill they had to force themselves to swallow out of all the pills they had swallowed so far. At first they just felt a numb feeling inside them as if all the emotion had gone from their minds, and they found themselves just sitting in the living room in a weird kind of daze. The moment eventually passed, and then came the flood of tears as the first emotion to return to their heads was grief. Losing their families made them feel like they had also lost their last sense of hope they could hold on to, and now they were left behind here with nowhere to go as the world as they knew it fell to pieces around them. They were more than lost.

When they had cried so much and felt like they couldn’t do it any longer, Caleb stood up from where he was and slammed both hands against the sides of the window nearest to him with a mad kind of glint in his still streaming eyes. For a moment there Noel was scared to the bone over what she thought he might do, but then he just slid down to the floor onto his knees, resting his forehead against the wall below the window.

Noel stood up and carefully pulled Caleb away from the window. To her relief – if it was possible to feel such a thing at this point – Caleb didn’t stop her and just let her do what she was doing. He remained still all the way over to the bedroom, which was where Noel pulled him to, and when she finally stopped he stood up and pulled her into an embrace.

Noel didn’t have the time or energy in herself for this to properly register with her, but when Caleb quietly whispered into her ear, “I needed that…” she found herself returning the embrace to him. It was all she could think of doing in the situation, and a part of her felt like she needed it too just as much as Caleb did.

The tears not stopping, Noel whispered back into Caleb’s ear, “Please don’t do that, I don’t think I can survive this alone…” Now more than ever she was grateful to have Caleb by her side. She didn’t admit it to Caleb, but she felt like if she had gone through all this on her own, she wouldn’t have hesitated to do what she thought Caleb would have done just now.

“Don’t do what?” Caleb replied, but the uneasy quiver in his voice indicated he knew what Noel was saying and just didn’t choose to bring it up.

Noel breathed a relieved sigh – again she was startled by herself that she was feeling it even in the middle of all this – and hugged Caleb tighter, to which he responded by gently patting the back of her head and saying, “I’m not going anywhere so loosen your arms, you’re hurting my ribs.”

Noel did loosen her arms, but still didn’t let go as she whispered, “Sorry about that.”

Caleb continued to pat Noel on the head and asked her, “And you won’t go anywhere either, right?”

Noel shook her head and Caleb said, “Thanks again…”

The two of them continued to embrace each other for a rather long while until they felt like they were alright to let go, all while this sight was visible from the corner of the living room where the fish tank resided. And sure enough, all of this was watched by the turtle inside the tank, looking like it also wanted to cry along with Noel and Caleb if it could.

* * *

Eventually Noel and Caleb calmed themselves down enough to stop crying, but frankly it didn’t do them much good afterwards. They were unable to think of anything else they could do after such a cruel punch to the gut that their loss delivered. The only thing on their minds for the time being was to distract themselves from their own grief-driven numbness by any means possible, because the last thing they needed was for that heart-shattering feeling to send both of them into another emotional breakdown.

The first thing they did was to turn on the TV to see what was happening in other places. But that turned out to not work out as well as their expectations, as when they surfed through several channels they found almost all of them to not be showing anything at all. The one channel that did seem to still be working had on a news broadcast saying there were very few people trying to either reach out to others in any way or try figuring out what might be causing all of this and what they could do in response – that is, in areas that didn’t have their electricity and stuff cut off yet.

“Only day two of this and things have gone downhill much more than we could have thought?” Caleb muttered, and sighed deeply. “At least we may not be alone in this…”

“I’m surprised our area still has the electricity and water running for us to keep using.” Noel added. She took out her phone for no real reason and spoke shortly after, “…as well as the Internet.”

“They probably won’t be up for long judging by the state of things, so let’s make the most out of them now.” Caleb suggested. He glanced over Noel's shoulder to see what she was looking at on her phone screen. The vast minority of people who still had legs like Noel and Caleb were mostly posting messages seeking rescue, either due to lack of resources or electricity.

“Oh dear, more cities are having their power cut off as time passes…” Noel said to herself in alarm, reading a post by someone in Canada saying they were writing this with their phone plugged to a powerbank that wasn’t expected to last much longer.

In contrast, some others were writing about how they had left their homes and were moving from one place to another in search of more resources and electricity. One particular post saying just that came with a photo of someone in Poland seemingly camping out in a mall.

“Those seem like useful tips in this situation, we ought to follow suit if this apartment can’t act as sanctuary anymore.” Caleb wondered aloud, and Noel said, “Assuming the monsters like the one we saw stay in the water and can’t come up onto land.”

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“Probably too soon to assume, but if these monsters really do turn people’s legs into fish tailfins and then lure them into any body of water they’re in to eat them, it’s probably because they’re not capable of coming up onto land.” Said Caleb thoughtfully, just as Noel’s phone screen passed by a post written by someone suggesting this could be some sort of bizarre secret science experiment conducted by every government in the world gone horribly wrong. “Speaking of, do you think it’ll make a difference if these people know the truth of what’s happening? Because it doesn’t look like any of them were unfortunate enough to have an encounter with one of the monsters out there.”

Noel had no idea how to answer that. She felt like the few people still surviving did deserve to know the truth, but even if they did, what could anyone do about it? Fight back against the monsters when most likely none of the survivors out there didn’t have so much as military training experience or access to any decent weapons? Not to mention the fact that the exact number of monsters out at sea and some other things they might be capable of doing were completely unknown.

After a bit of thinking which included the thoughts mentioned above, Noel replied, “I guess it would somehow help to let them know – so they won’t go wading into the waters or anything.”

Caleb shrugged. “Don’t know how desperate people will be to resort to going out to sea for anything helpful, or if our assumption of what’s going on is remotely close to the truth, but I guess I can’t argue with that logic. Warning them of the dangers is at least something.”

“And let’s hope they believe us, because in their eyes it’ll be pretty hard to do so when there’s no other evidence to support it.” Noel added, but she went on to writing what they had to say on her social media as she said this.

Watching Noel type out what they thought was actually happening based on what they saw, Caleb thought to himself, “What a pity none of those people we’re reading about online are within a distance we can actually reach…” but he didn’t say it out loud, as he thought it sounded way too pessimistic, and the last thing he wanted Noel to hear from him was anything of that sort. He didn’t care if such thoughts occurred to him, but he couldn’t bear to so much as imagine how Noel would take in comments like that after the breakdown they had earlier. He really needed her to be with him throughout this ordeal, wherever it may lead them. It wasn’t until now he truly realized how much she meant to him just as much as how much he meant to her.

Not noticing Caleb blushing slightly and glancing at her out of the corner of his eye as these thoughts ran through his mind, Noel finished her typing and stood up, saying, “Be back soon Caleb, I gotta use the bathroom.” Before leaving the living room to do just that.

And speaking of the bathroom, Noel and Caleb found themselves facing a new problem midway through day three of the disaster. Noel was holding a cup under the bathroom sink to fill it with water when she turned on the tap and found no water running from it.

“Caleb,” She called to Caleb who was sitting in the kitchen, “The bathroom tap’s not working, how’s the kitchen sink?”

There was a moment’s pause, and Caleb’s voice replied, “No water here either, it’s been cut off.”

Noel sighed. “No way to get any drinkable water from inside the house, so you know what that means, right?”

Caleb nodded. “We’re going out again.”

That was how they ended up riding their bikes to the nearest convenience store to pick up several large bottles of water for them to bring back home. Once each of them securely strapped a six-pack of bottled water onto the backs of their bikes, they were good to go.

Wobbling slightly from the heavy weight they were carrying behind, Noel said to Caleb, “At least the electricity’s running longer than we anticipated, much to be thankful for.”

“We’ll be pretty sweaty carrying these big boys back home in this weather, though.” Caleb replied, looking up at the sunny sky. “How will we deal with that?”

“I don’t think it’ll hurt to sacrifice at least one bottle to empty onto our bodies once we arrive.” Noel suggested. “I’d hate to think of the kind of hygiene issues we’ll face if we intend to survive indoors without the water running.”

To make a long story short, that was exactly what they did upon coming back home. They didn’t bother using any shampoo or body wash as they felt like they ought to resort to that only if it was extremely necessary.

Once the water problem was partly solved, another one greeted them soon after. Noel tried getting herself online with her phone to see what else was new, only for the screen to show her there was no connection whatsoever.

“I knew this was inevitable, but man, this sucks.” Caleb muttered. “Now we’re really cut off from the rest of the world…”

They prepared and ate a bit of food next, and in a jiffy too, since neither of them could still cook up anything decent with what they had. And as per usual Noel went to feed the fish and the turtle.

Watching the animals eat, Noel muttered to them sarcastically, “Must be nice not having to worry about cooking your own food, I don’t have a clue as to how we’re gonna eat anything other than sandwiches and cup noodles if we want to survive.”

“This stuff you’re giving me doesn’t exactly taste the best, but I won’t complain – it’s all we got.”

Noel froze. She could have sworn she heard someone talk to her, and it definitely wasn’t Caleb, neither was it her unknowingly talking to herself. Was she already going mad from the pressure of the situation and starting to hear voices in her head?

“Did you hear something?” She cautiously asked, and Caleb replied in the same tone of voice, “That wasn’t any of us talking, was it?”

“So you heard it too?” Noel asked again. She slowly looked around the living room from where she stood, in search of something like a pair of eyes peeking out from behind a piece of furniture, anything that would explain the voice she and Caleb had heard. “Who’s there?”

“So you can finally understand me? That’s good, this means my strength is finally restored fully.”

“I heard it again!” Noel exclaimed, and so did Caleb. “Me too!”

Shivers ran down their spine. Could it be that an intruder had sneaked into the house while they were out getting water? And if so, what were they playing at by speaking to them out of sight?

“I could have sworn I locked the door on our way out…” Caleb muttered. “And you checked, right?”

“It’s me, inside this transparent thing you put me in for days. I get you must be very confused to suddenly hear me after days of silence, but I can explain, so please calm down and listen.”

Even after all the things they had deemed impossible so far happening to them, Noel and Caleb couldn’t believe what they were hearing. They sat together in front of the fish tank and stared at the silver turtle, which stared back at them and, to their astonishment, nodded its head.

“Are you the voice talking to us right now?” Caleb asked cautiously.

“If what I’m saying to you feels as if someone is talking to you vocally like what you’re doing to me right now, then yes. Rather, it has more to do with me sending signals to you and your brains receiving them in the form of whatever kind of speech you use and understand, and likewise the same signals translating your thoughts to me in a way I can understand.”

Now Noel felt like she was going mad for real. First almost every human on Earth got turned into merfolk, then monsters coming up from the sea to eat them, and now they were telepathically talking to a silver sea turtle she had saved from possible death several days ago. Caleb must’ve been thinking the same thing because he was seen leaning his back against the wall and rubbing his hands on his temples, his face blank with both shock and confusion.

“I know this is hard for you to take in, but I assure you, you’re not out of your minds. Once you hear what I have to say, everything will start to make sense, so please do calm down.”

Noel took a deep breath, sighed it out, and looked back at the turtle to say, “I don’t know what’s going on with this, or anything else for that matter, but seeing how we don’t have that many options left, we’re willing to hear it.”

Caleb nodded. “Maybe after hearing you out, we’ll be able to figure out some kind of solution to our situation, so what the hell. Why am I even surprised at a sea turtle talking to us when the whole world’s gone to shit over the last three days or so? Spit it out, we’re willing to take it.”

“First off, I do want to say I am extremely grateful for what you’ve done to me. Had you not found me and taken me to this small contained body of water, I would have dried out to my death.”

“Um… you’re welcome, I guess.” Noel replied. “It was the only thing I could think of doing for you.”

“You’re very kind, and so is your companion. That breaks my heart even more to think of everything that’s happening to the life forms on this planet. You don’t deserve this, and it’s not right what they’re doing to your species and your home. That’s why I’ve been protecting you two, and I want to help you. But for that you have to trust me and listen to me very carefully.”

“Who’s ‘they’?” Caleb asked. “The monsters that are eating people out at sea and shit?”

“I assume that word is what you’re using to describe my own species. They came to your world to make it theirs, and your kind, as the life forms who I assume used to be the dominant species of this planet, has a new enemy to fear.”

This explanation seemed to be raising more questions than it answered, but Noel and Caleb were willing to be patient and continue to hear everything out. Still, Noel did feel the need to ask the turtle, “They came from another world? So are you saying we’re facing some sort of alien invasion?”

The turtle nodded to that, and went on explaining further things about its kind, from its capabilities to the first time both worlds made contact many ages ago.

“Is any of this making any sense to you two?”

“I think it does in some way.” Caleb interrupted to think for a second and then said, “So if these body-warping, mind-controlling abilities do exist with these creatures, or should I say, your kind, is that what they’ve been doing to turn everyone’s legs into fish tailfins and lure them into the oceans and rivers?” To which the turtle nodded a third time.

“If only we could have foreseen our own future with those so-called ‘highly evolved brains’ of ours… We always preyed on life forms weaker than us, which is to say species whose brains weren’t as evolved and thus didn’t share the same abilities. And the more our kind evolved and became stronger, the more we hunted them down as easy food. That was how we caused the extinction of every other species of life on our planet. We became hungry and desperate, trying to find an alternative source of food now that we’ve run out. And that was when our kind thought of looking for it outside of our world. So recalling the one event from long ago in which we discovered another planet full of life, we formed a connection between it and ours through several rifts in space, before travelling through them all the way here.”

Noel and Caleb could guess what these “rifts in space” meant, which were most likely wormholes. They knew enough sci-fi mumbo-jumbo to know how wormholes worked and how they could make things travel long distances in a short amount of time. And considering that these creatures’ brains were presumably so powerful they could manipulate the physical and mental conditions of other life forms, Noel and Caleb supposed it shouldn’t be surprising to hear they were also capable of such advanced space travel, however far-fetched it may sound in earth life form standards.

“But for that to be possible, my kind needed strength. Creating the rifts was difficult for them in their extremely starved state, so they had to consume some sort of food to refuel themselves.”

And Noel could swear the turtle’s face very subtly twisted in a pained grimace as it continued its story, which was just as shocking as the truth behind this global-scale disaster.

“For that ‘food’ they turned to some of the smaller and weaker ones of my kind… ones like myself. Never did me and the others think they’d ever stoop so low, but their excuse was that survival of the fittest doesn’t care what we think and they must do it for the greater good. I don’t know how many were eaten just to fuel their power in creating more rifts… some of those killed even included my family – my mate, and my children! There was nothing I could do, they came after me next with no time to react… I escaped through one of the rifts they made, not realizing it was an incomplete rift leading to this planet… that’s how I ended up on land instead of in the water for you to find.”

Noel and Caleb could only sit still on the spot in silence. They’ve read about and seen in fiction how extreme hunger and desperation could make humans resort to things like cannibalism just to stay alive, but the way these alien creatures carried it out came across as nothing short of barbaric. Especially for life forms intelligent enough to be able to hold conversations with humans.

“Maybe that’s where my impulse to protect you two came from… I was powerless to protect my family and many more like myself that I used to know… so upon seeing other helpless beings in danger of becoming prey for my kind’s merciless consumption, I sort of felt obligated to at the very least protect them from meeting the same fate… particularly after one of them saved my life with no hesitation or asking for anything in return…”

And with that, the turtle once again stared solemnly at the two humans before it, its story finally having been told fully after all this time.