"Jayson!"
I knew he couldn't hear me over the roaring waves, but I couldn't help but scream as he was forced backward off of the dock and into the churning ocean. My heart was beating out of my chest when I watched him disappear beneath the surface. Normally he was a decent swimmer, but after an accident in high school playing football, he began to have problems with his leg. There was no way he would be able to fight the current. My gaze darted up toward the dock, meeting Callem's and the other mer's, then back to the water.
Well, if I die, at least it will be in the ocean that I love.
That thought made jumping off the worn wooden post and diving into the dark water a little easier. That's also when I realized that I couldn't see anything beneath the waves, even when I opened my eyes in the burning saltwater.
Darn it!
The current took hold of my body immediately, trying to drag me farther out. Instead of fighting it, I let it pull me for a minute before heading parallel to the shoreline. It took a lot of effort, but I managed to break free of the current and keep my head just barely above water. I chanced a look around then, noticing that I was a good ways from the dock, but when a blond head broke the surface a few yards away, I immediately zeroed in on it.
"Jay!"
He thankfully heard me and turned, a cocky smirk on his exhausted face. I could tell he was having trouble with his leg so I quickly swam over, ducking under the swelling waves a few times to keep from wasting energy riding atop them. When I came up a third time, we were right next to each other, panting heavily but thankfully still alive. The dock was pretty far away but possibly doable if we were careful and didn't try to race for it. But was going there a good idea with that aggressive Mer waiting for us?
"I-It's his brother," Jay panted, making me almost swallow a huge mouthful of water in sheer surprise.
"What?"
"T-Talk... later."
Oh, right. About to drown.
"Grab on."
He stared at me in disbelief, though I was pretty sure the unbelievable items were standing over on the dock right then.
"Just hold on, dammit! I know you can't swim back."
"Neither can you with me holding onto you."
"Too bad."
He looked like he was going to argue, but I shot him a death glare over my shoulder and he quickly grabbed onto my belt loops.
"Take a breath, going under."
After counting to three, I did just that and dove, pacing myself as best I could against the current. Every time I thought I was getting closer and surfaced to check and get a breath, we didn't seem to have moved more than a few feet, and I was seriously losing energy.
"Park, y-you're getting too tired."
Let's all state the obvious.
"I'm letting go."
My head snapped to the side, though I couldn't completely see him since he was floating right behind me.
"No, you aren't."
I began swimming again but immediately realized I felt much less of a pull from the water.
"Jay?"
Spinning in place, I noticed him drifting farther out with a cocky smile on his face.
"Jay! Come back."
I swam toward him but stopped when a loud engine revved nearby.
Oh thank god!
The crew from the approaching medium-sized white boat tossed out a white life preserver to me, then Jay, and we quickly began pulling ourselves closer. I didn't have the energy to pull myself completely on board, but thankfully several hands grabbed my shoulders and hauled me up. The landing was a bit rough, but when I looked up, I understood why. Guns, quite a few actually, were pointed at me from mere inches away. They all looked like high-power rifles or... dart guns?
"What the hell?"
They definitely weren't from the research center since ours were just black and labeled with our insigniaâa dolphin fin just above a line of water. No, these were gray and black with a different mark on the barrels.
"These aren't mers."
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"Dammit, so it's just the two on the dock."
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The man who was talking snapped his head toward the dock, his face skewing in fear.
"They're beginning to sing, Captain."
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The boat began moving again, picking up speed by the second as Jay and I stared down the guns pointed at us.
"Who are you guys?" I asked, honestly confused out of my mind. The man right in front of me, who was clad in a black sweater and dark blue jeans, lifted his gun and turned to begin aiming at the dock area.
"We're researchers from Cal-Waves."
"W-What? You're from the research center up north?"
"Yes, and you talk too much."
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I was about to question him again when he turned and I heard his dart gun go off, then felt a sharp sting in my right shoulder not a second later.
He just shot me with an animal tranquilizer?
"Captain, the song is getting louder, and the taller one just dove into the water."
The man who had shot me turned to look where his crewman was pointing as others began to move their guns from us and point them in the same direction.
"Aim for the injured one on the dock, he's the one we almost caught with our shark hook."
Those bastards. They are the ones responsible for Callem's injury? They almost killed him.
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"Sir, it's getting much louder. It must be the other mer coming close."
"Just have your guns ready when it surfaces."
The men nodded, but my vision began to swim, then blur in and out. I knew that wasn't Callem's song and I probably wasn't going to wake up from this, considering how aggressive the new mer seemed, but that was okay. I was worried for Jayson, but these men deserved what they got from Callem and his brother for what they had done to him.
That was my last thought as I was taken over by the drugs and pulled into complete darkness.
A hard thump against the rear of the boat had several sailors stumbling over themselves, stepping on the two unconscious people on the floor as they tried to keep from falling. Another hard hit rocked the boat, literally forcing one of the gunmen to stumble out the open side door, which had been used to pull the two humans they had saved on board.
The second the man hit the water, there were multiple harsh splashes, then nothing for a long minute.
"C-Captain... the siren stopped, but Will's not coming up."
Several men had their guns trained on the open space, waiting for the mer to surface, but when something finally did, it was just their colleague's corpse covered in claw and bite marks. Two people began to reach down so they could pull the body back on board, but the captain quickly shouted.
"Don't go near the water. This one isn't injured."
"Captain, the other just dove in."
The older man growled and cocked his gun, which was definitely not loaded with drugs.
"Get ready and turn on the fish radar. We need to see them coming in order to get any chance at a shot. Also, deploy the drift net. They might be aggressive, but they're stupid enough to get caught by a shark hook, so I'm pretty sure we can get them in the net."
Three men toward the back nodded and tossed out a large black net that was already fastened to two metal pieces on either side of the back of the boat.
"All set, Captain."
Not even a second after the man had shouted, the boat jerked sharply to the left, then began drifting backward at an accelerated pace.
"Wh-What the hell?" the captain shrieked from surprise.
"They've got the net," one of his crewman answered right before another shouted "Captain?"
The boat went airborne as it was forced to jump a wave, slamming down hard before there were two simultaneous splashes, and then the net disappeared beneath the surface.
"Oh shit. Get to the froâ"
The back slammed down once, throwing all the men off-balance as water splashed aboard.
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Another sharp pull on the net made the boat tip backward, the front rising out of the water several feet before smashing back down, crashing on the waves.
"It's starting to sing again," someone shouted frantically.
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One man had been thrown overboard by the abrupt force, and immediately two splashes appeared near where he'd landed in the water, then he suddenly vanished beneath the waves with a panicked scream.
"They're trying to get us overboard, then drag us down."
"Captain? What do we do?"
The older man jerked the side of his mouth up and suddenly grabbed the smaller man's shirt.
"Captain?"
With a sadistic grin, he shoved the man overboard, then hoisted his gun and aimed.
"Come on, you bastards. Come get the bait."
It didn't take long before there were two splashes on either side of the struggling man... and then the loud crack of a gunshot.
The water went silent, the attacked man floating on the surface, already dead.
"Hmm... They got away, but I'm pretty sure I hit one."
The last three crewmen were near the back of the boat, eyes wide and honestly terrified at what their captain had just done. The captain looked toward them and licked his lips. He couldn't haul one of the heavy mers onto the boat if he threw another overboard, so unfortunately, that was out of the question.
Claws scratched quietly as waves crashed around the drifting vessel. The three men near the back of the boat were the first to see it, but by that time, it was far too late to give any kind of useful warning. The reddish-brown haired mer let his gills flare open on his torso and neck as he took in a deep breath. By then the captain had noticed his crew's terrified faces and turned, but again, it was too late. The male mer perched on the bow of the boat paused for one second, lungs filled, then gave a literal ear-piercing screech.
The effect was immediate, and all of the humans tried to cover their ears to stop the painful sound. It might have worked if it was Callem, but this mer knew exactly what he was doing. The captain fell first, being the closest to him, but his men were quick to follow just like stunned fish in a school. When the last one dropped, the mer jumped to the wet floor of the boat and grabbed the captain by the throat. The mer's arm bled from having taken the bullet from the recent gunshot, but he did not seem to show any signs of pain as he tossed the human overboard. He ignored the two unconscious humans in the middle, walking past them to grab the remaining three of the crew and toss them over the side.
"Hmph. Worthless humans."
"Arf!"
Claws scratched along the floor, and the merman turned to see his little brother trying to scramble aboard.
"You never did like attacking vessels, even when you were starving and needed food."
Callem looked up with worried dark blue eyes and barked again, making his brother shake his head but walk over to offer a hand anyways.
"Come on, I know you want your human. I didn't kill him."
When he pulled his brother aboard, the smaller mer immediately scrambled to the unconscious black-haired man, pulling him into his lap like one might a doll before lapping at his wet hair eagerly. Ignoring his brother for the moment, the larger male walked calmly over to the other unconscious man, eyeing the bruise that was forming along his torso with nonchalance.
"I knew you weren't going to make it to him.You knew you weren't going to make it. You weren't kicking properly with your left leg, making you list in that direction and get caught in the current."
The mer glanced at his brother as he began to nudge the unconscious human with his foot. The younger mer was completely ignoring his words, one hundred percent focused on the human he was holding. Turning his full attention back to the human in front of him, the older mer chuckled and gave him a good kick, pushing him along the floor toward the small open latch-door.
"You lied. He does not speak, and he likely never will. As soon as he comes to his senses about that human, I will kill it, too."
He gave the body a few more nudges, smiling as the man's head fell over the edge and was splashed by the breaking waves.
"Goodbye, human."
"W...Wait."
~Parker
My throat hurt terribly as I tried to get the most important word of my life to leave my lips. Relief flooded through my system when the new mer turned to look at me and stopped kicking Jayson overboard.
"What, human? I have no use for this one, and soon, my brother will have no use for you."
I racked my brain for any reason I could give him to save my best friend, but with Callem nuzzling at my neck and the drug still strong in my blood, it was becoming more and more difficult.
"They will find... him again."
The mer's head tilted, and he turned to face me. Callem shifted his face away from my neck, turning his attention to his brother.
"How so?"
"Most times... when a scientist finds... something interesting that might... get away... they'll tag it."
"He has no such device on him. I am not stupid enough to leave such things on my brother."
"No... not that... version."
Man, it is getting hard to stay awake.
"Some groups use a spear. They inject a chip, or shoot a dart that does it. It tracks him."
His eyes narrowed, and he walked toward me, kneeling before grabbing my throat.
"Do not play with me, human. Where is the chip item?"
Everything about this new mer was terrifying, and I had no idea how he had managed to kill all the scientists formerly on board, but I wasn't quite interested enough to find out the hard way.
"You need to scan... him. I have something... at my house. It scans for the chip."
"Are you lying to me, human? I have no issue with letting your friend drown."
"I am not... lying. If he has the chip, it will show... it."
"And you can get it out of him?"
"No... but I know someone, a doctor... he's a good friend... he would... take it out."
"I don't trust you."
I had to smile at that and probably would have laughed if my throat wasn't so rough from the sea water I had accidentally swallowed a few times and he wasn't squeezing it slowly.
"Good. Don't trust... anyone. But I don't know... how they knew you... two were here, if they... hadn't chipped him."
I began to drift off as he said something else. Of course I wanted to know what it was, but with my last bit of consciousness, I said what was most important to me at that second.
"Please don't... kill Jay... I'll help your brother, so please don't... kill him."
Then everything went black again.
I awoke to the feeling of cold water splashing on my face. The sand against my cheek told me we were back on the beach, but I felt like someone had tied a bunch of bricks to my body, making me work to push myself into a partial sitting position, only to get splashed again.
"Arf!"
Looking to the right, I had to grin.
"Callem... having fun playing in the water?"
He barked again and ran over, dropping down next to me for a few licks and a nuzzle.
"Why do you call him that?"
My head turned and tilted up a bit so I could see Callem's brother standing a few feet away and...
"Thank you so much for not killing him."
The mer ignored my comment as he shifted Jay, who was hanging over his right shoulder. I quickly stammered an answer to his question so he wouldn't get annoyed.
"I-I just wanted to give him a name so I could try to communicate."
"Well... can you? Your friend said he could speak, but my brother has yet to say a word to you."
"Y-Yeah. We've talked several times, but he has trouble understanding. Why is that?"
I looked at Callem, but he seemed much more interested in licking my cheek than talking.
"That is not your business. You will take me to your home and get your friend. If anything bad happens or extra humans arrive, I will not hesitate to kill you both, and them."
I do not doubt that in the least.
Giving a tired nod, I fought to get to my feet. Callem barked at me before scooping my body into his arms a moment after I managed to get up. It was humiliating, but not having to walk over the shifting sand was a relief. I hadn't intended to bring one merman home only days ago, but perhaps having one that knows English will at least make things less... dangerous?
Hah. Right.
We're so dead.