Eva had not expected Phillip to work so fast. It was weird to show up to the park on her day off, and even weirder to meet him at the gate of the bridge to the research facility. She was dressed in casual clothes, pants, a T-shirt and a denim jacket. Her park ID looped around her neck.

The gate was in a staff-only section of the park near one of the plumbing faculties. A small guard house was operated by a bored-looking man. A car gate prevented anyone from simply driving over unless it was raised.

So maybe it wasn’t as fortified as a top-secret military base but from what she had glimpsed, the other side was far more secure. Tall chain-link walls rose from the perimeter of a small island. Beyond that concrete walls. The colourless sharp facility was an eerie sight despite the bright summer day. Even Alcatraz seemed friendlier than the gray, lifeless island.

Eva was nervous but that translates into both excitement and a little fear. There was a looming unease that she would kinda be stuck on the other side unless someone let her leave. It wasn’t a prison but it was still a secure remote building.

She sent a message to Phillip and kicked at a crack in the concrete while she waited. Soon after he arrived, hurrying across the bridge on foot, a large briefcase in his hand. He leaned over and spoke with the guard briefly before waving her over.

“Good morning, right this way,” Phillip smiled, motioning for her to cross. She stepped around the car barrier and let Phillip take the lead.

“Why is the bridge so big?” She asked. The research facility was too small to have parking so having a bridge meant for cars was strange.

“Deliveries,” he replied simply. “So how are things?”

“Not much different. Work still chaos?”

Phillip let out a long tired breath. “My… boss is not happy.”

“Yet they let you bring me?” Eva asked with confusion.

“I told him I was showing a potential hire around.”

Eva stopped walking to turn and look at him.

He laughed, “I’m just joking, I have my own discretion. But I do have some forms you need to sign.”

“Oh… uh sure.” Eva didn’t know how to feel about that. But she did trust Phillip, at least enough to trust he wouldn’t fuck her over with some contract.

As they reached the other side of the bridge a man approached who made the hairs on the back of Eva’s neck raise. He was tall and wearing all black. Jacket, pants, boots, baseball cap, neck gaiter, helmet, bulletproof vest. He pulled the chain fence, rolling the section which blocked the road, the effort making the rifle strapped to his chest bounce.

Eva glanced at Phillip who didn’t seem to bat an eye as he nodded at the man and motioned for her to follow. Another man, equally as armed, leaned against the wall on the other side of the entrance. Her initial gut feeling that this was like some top-secret military base has been uneasily accurate.

“They creep me out too,” Phillip whispered as they entered through a sliding glass door to the accrual building.

“Who are they?”

“Some paramilitary group Talbot has in his pocket.”

“The CEO of Ocean Land Talbot?” Eva hissed a little too loudly.

“Uh, yes,” Phillip replied. His face scrunched up in regret at what he had let slip.

The temperature dropped substantially as they entered a white and grey room. It felt almost like a hospital except for the emptiness and the two other armed guards at the door leading further into the facility. An older woman sat behind a desk, doing a bad job of hiding the game of solitaire she was playing.

“Mr. Marshall,” the woman behind the desk said, straightening up. It took Eva a moment to realize she was talking to Phillip.

“Good morning, Martha. This is my niece Eva. Eva, this is our receptionist Martha.”

Martha smiled at Eva kindly. She was an older woman with gray hair and large glasses. The kindly librarian energy she gave off was odd considering the coldness of this place. “Lovely to meet you. Got some papers for you to sign dearie,” she explained, pulling out a stack and letting it thump onto the desk in front of her along with a pen.

“It’s a non-disclosure agreement. Just says anything you witness in this facility must be kept confidential but in a bunch of legal jargon,” Phillip explained.

Eva nodded and flipped through the document. She had no legal knowledge but from her basic understanding, he had summarized it correctly. After a pause she sighed, she had come so far after all.

Reading on this site? This novel is published elsewhere. Support the author by seeking out the original.

It did mean she wouldn’t be able to tell Felisha and Mike about whatever she saw or risk going bankrupt with the amount of legal costs she would probably have from the resulting lawsuit.

“Is Mr. Talbot in?” Phillip asked.

“No no, you know how that man is,” Martha replied with a tut. Phillip looked like he wanted to say more but remained quiet.

With the contract signed, Martha scanned the document and gave her a copy to keep before Philip led her to the door. The two guards here looked far less friendly than the others, though that wasn’t saying much.

“Is there a problem gentlemen?” Phillip asked.

“Of course not, sir,” one man replied, spitting sir like an insult as he motioned them through.

Eva got the sense they only listened to Phillip because he oversaw this facility but they had no loyalty to him. They worked for Phillip’s boss, Trent Talbot. She still hadn’t quite processed that yet.

The facility continued with its eerie hospital look. Phillip led her down a long hallway that was too brightly lit to be comfortable before arriving at an office, his office.

“Damn,” Eva laughed nervously as they entered. The budget of the research facility was far higher than the rest of the park. A large mahogany desk sat in the room with the most comfortable office chair she had ever seen. Bookshelves lined the walls and whiteboards were covered with incoherent scribbling. It was a mess but it was a very expensive and cozy mess.

“My home away from home,” Phillip replied. “I do spend most of my time here.”

“I can tell,” Eva replied, looking at the books on the shelf. Some seemed to be notebooks, others were scientific volumes, many about cetaceans. A few Eva had read before.

“I’m gonna need your phone,” Phillip said, opening a locked drawer of his desk. “It's protocol,” he smiled apologetically.

“Really?” Eva frowned.

“I’m not even allowed a cell phone in the labs. It will be safe here until we get back.”

“Fine.” Eva handed him her cell phone reluctantly though she felt a little better when Phillip also put his phone in the drawer.

“You’ll also have to leave your bag, clothes and belongings here. Here is a uniform that should fit,” he continued pulling out a plastic-wrapped bundle of white.

Eva nodded. The more time she spent here the more uncomfortable she was. This facility was more secure than an airport which while scaring her also made her even more curious about what they had here. This place gave off bad vibes but she was curious enough to ignore them.

She slipped into the small bathroom attached to Phillip’s office and got changed. She changed her street clothes out for a lab coat, a plain shirt and pants and even rubber boots.

“What exactly are you gonna show me that warrants this amount of security?” Eva asked when she emerged.

Phillip stood and handed her an ID badge. “You won't believe me unless you see it yourself. Just… prepare yourself.”

“That's… unhelpful. How am I supposed to prepare myself for the unknown?” She slipped the ID over her head, noticing that it said employee rather than visitor, she guessed it had something to do with working at the park.

Phillip laughed. “Whatever you’re imagining, it's far more impressive.” His expression turned serious. “Just be careful and make sure you don't get too close. It’s not the most… friendly or behaved. I’m sure your mother would kill me if you got hurt.”

Eva didn't know what to make of that. With this much buildup, she couldn't even begin to guess what it was. The idea that the specimen was dangerous wasn’t filling her with confidence either. “Ok, I’ll keep that in mind,” she offered.

“Right then let's go,” he said, clapping his hands together with excitement, making Eva jump. He led her out of the office and around the corner. Two more guards were posted at this large steel door. A metal detector in front of the door providing even more security.

“As far as they need to know you've moved departments,” Phillip said. Before Eva could get clarification he walked up to the door with her scrambling after.

“Mr. Marshall,” one guard nodded. Phillip scanned his badge which made the door thunk unlocked as he pushed it open. Eva tried to follow only to be met with the sound of beeping from the metal detector.

Panic shot up Eva’s spine as the guards stopped her. One pulled out a handheld metal detector. “Arms out and legs apart,” he ordered, motioning her back. She complied, these guards weren't as armed as the ones outside but they were still armed and scary.

The guard waved the metal detector over her legs and around her back. She could see Phillip watching her nervously, and so was the other guard though he wasn't such a friendly face. She couldn't help but internally panic, what did she have that had set it off?

The handheld metal detector going off around her head was the answer as the guard roughly pulled out a hair clip from her hair making her wince.

“Hey, there's no need for that,” Phillip scolded.

The guard huffed, pocketed the hairclip and motioned for her to continue. She didn't bother to try and ask for it back. Taking a nervous breath she stepped through the metal detector again. The alarm sounded again. No, this was a different alarm. The blaring sirens made Phillip’s face pale and the guards glanced at each other.

“Fuck!” Phillip yelped first and took off, the guards right behind him. Eva, suddenly finding herself ignored, hurried after them.

What seemed like a sterile hospital became a top-of-the-line shiny laboratory on the other side of the door. Several people in lab coats raced around. One was trying to slip into a wetsuit as the alarm blared.

“Phillip!” a man yelled rushing over. “It's got another one!”

“The nets, get the nets!” Phillip yelled running through the room further into the facility and away from the observation window. This time Eva didn't follow. Her eyes were glued to the glass window which seemed to overlook an area that seemed like a zoo exhibit. A large deep pool surrounded by beach and rocks. Several people wearing lab coats and wetsuits rushed around a tall metal walkway with long poles. Others emerged from a doorway at ground level below her.

What caught her interest however was the pool, or what was in the pool. A man in a wetsuit, swimming for his life as something blurred through the water, its black and white colouring the only warning before he was yanked beneath the surface. The bubbles and turning water obscured her vision but the situation was clear. He was being attacked by whatever was in this cage.

Her blood ran cold, she had read about attacks by captive orcas but it was an entirely different situation to witness one. The man surfaced again, crying out for help as several people reached out to him with poles. Phillip emerged at ground level with the guard and a few other staff carrying nets.

A piercing whistle cut through the air as the man was pulled back down below the waves. This time Eva got a better look at the orca, at least enough of a look to realize how wrong it looked.

More people shouted as nets were tossed, Eva still was unable to move as she watched from the control room. Screens lit up showing video feed as the man was tossed around, blood looking black in the dark depths.

“Turn on the fucking lights!” someone yelled.

The screen suddenly burst into light illuminating the dark shapes for all to see clearly. An orca was holding this man, blood oozed from a large gash on his shoulder as his chest spasmed and he clawed at the orca’s grip. Eva couldn't make herself look away as the man’s urge to breathe took over and he sucked in water, his body slumping lifelessly as the light faded from his eyes. She had never seen someone die before, it was haunting.

Her mind wasn't able to focus on that for long as the orca drew her attention. The orca with hands. The orca floated there vertically, her two muscular arms holding onto the corpse as she glared at it with a familiar human look of annoyance but through entirely black eyes.

She was coloured like an orca, what should be her ventral side was white, her dorsal side black. A small dorsal fin emerged from her lower human looking back. Her large and powerful tail that sported a horizontal fluke kicked lazily in the water as her pectoral fins, which were really more pelvic fins considering their location, stabilized her.

The orca smiled, revealing a far too large mouth with sharp-cutting teeth as she released the corpse. She had no nose, instead two slits where a nose would be. She brushed long black and white hair out of her face revealing long pointed ears. Like a normal orca, her white eyespots distracted the gaze from her black eyes against her black skin.

Ocean Land has a fucking mermaid!