Chapter 19
Sharine, the Cast Away
Nina was reading the testimonies made by the escaped sex slaves who were protected by one of her undercover agents. Most of them were orphans, who escaped from Veron’s hand and managed to survive. When there was a war between drug cartels, sometimes they tend to escape during the conflict but when they were caught in the street, they were subject to the forced labor as they didn’t have a proper identification. As some of them work with the high ranked officers, they were sometimes rescued by Nina’s undercover agents, given their freedom and protection in an exchange of the information. But most of them were too young to have valuable information.
‘Veron tried to drug me, but it didn’t work, what I’ve heard about guards were saying what will happen to us is that we are going to be a food to some monsters in the underground biohazard laboratory. Well, they told us because many of us were afraid of being transferred to a laboratory, and some boy was talking about some superhero gimmicks where one gets super strength after they get injected with strange drugs. He hoped to cheer others up, but those soldiers just crushed and ruined that boy’s dream, saying that we are the food. I still remember that hideous laughing.’
Nina frowned. Even though this was typical in Cassandra, she couldn’t get used to it, she turned to the next page.
“I felt like my stomach coiled and filled with rotten trash. All of them… Looking at them make me want to throw up. My limbs are tired due to constant stress and their disgusting act by taking pleasures when they harm, discourage and mock others.
They cannot stand other’s happiness and they think that anything good has to come from them. They cannot see people who are under him rest, take pleasure, or having a good time.
They flatter one’s skill and use to their subordinate to do their job and blame him for the entire mistake he did. My heart aches as if I have inhaled poison. My eyesight failed to look well. My head stopped thinking. My neck and back hurts as if it’s about to break. All I think about now is how to kill them. I have filled my heart with hate. And hope for the best that, they would disappear from this world. Working eighteen hours a day, with no wages, but only cursing and beating… There is nothing I can do about it. I’m just waiting for help from above.”
Nina sighed, bitterly sipping her drink, coldly gazed down at the paper. She covered it with her hand and put it aside.
Paul was back in the room after patrolling, sitting next to Sarah who was sleeping in her desk. Suddenly, Michel, who was listening to the transmission in the ship, got pale.
“Admiral? We got something” Michel muttered, his eyes full of horror.
“What is wrong?” inquired Nina. Michel put off his headphone but utterly lost the words.
“Put it to the speaker, Michel.”
Michel pushed several button and adjusted a volume. The people at receiver’s tower were horrified at the screaming in agony and shouting and there was again, howling and growling of some kind. Nina’s eyes were barely blinking. Sarah was now fully awake, startled by the noise.
“What in the world is that?” murmured Nina.
A few minutes later, the sound stopped, and they’ve heard bunch of splashing sound. And there was a silence. Only the tides, the sound of wind blowing and the metal cluttering were heard. Captain Stein put his hand on Nina’s shoulder. The dead silence was in the room.
“Are they dead Sergeant?” said Nina, a moment later.
“We are still confirming the data, admiral,” gulped Michel, shifting the frequencies of the radio.
“Answer it Sergeant, all they all down!?” Nina yelled.
“I… I’m afraid yes, admiral, I’m sorry.” stuttered Michel. James sighed, his hand on his forehead. Nina stood up, looked to those in the room and shouted,
“It was my miscalculation that cost our lives! Until we find the source, how tough and long this dark tunnel is, we will endure it, and will achieve victory! From now on, until I command otherwise, we will dim down our activities and find out about what just hit us!” said Nina, and stormed out of the room. Stein followed her out. James, distressed, walked toward Michel and changed the frequency but there were no sign of life coming out from the radio.
Few minutes later, James came up to Michel, and sat on the table, turning off the radio. Michel looked at James.
“Amazingly cold isn’t she? Captain.” said Michel.
“Yeah… I don’t even want to know about her past,” said James.
“What can I say? She’s like princess to all, Nina the sweet tooth. My favorite person in the world,” smiled Michel.
“Hugh, don’t let your girlfriend hear that,” James scoffed.
“We will search the area and if there is any signal, we’ll let you know,” said Michel.
“Thank you Michel,” said James. “But for now, get some rest, will you?”
“Yes, Captain,” said Michel, looking at Paul and Sarah, who looked sad, stood up and went out of the room with him. James stayed there, sighing, drinking his cold coffee.
The storm raged intensely that night, ship rumbled, the tide got higher and higher, rocking the ship. Eventually, with a great massive tide, the ship fell and slowly sank to the bottom of the sea, never to rise to the surface. In the tower, looking at the news channel broadcasting about the storm, James shook his head hopelessly and left the tower.
The next day came and the next, the weather became much brighter and sunny. Near the crashed zone in the southern sea, there was an island with thick forests and beautiful waterfalls. It was almost a sunset; the sun became reddish under a clear sky, reflecting the orange rays of sunlight against the tide.
Sharine suddenly gasped, coughing, puking sea water. She had a horrible headache. She heard the sea hawks squeaking. Sharine felt the warm sand on her grip.
“What happened?” she groaned. “What is this place?”
She was lying on a beach, she barely remembers anything, and she gasped with a sudden pain rising from her shoulder. As if her skin suddenly spiked up, she grunted heavily. She looked at her shoulder. It was badly damaged; she felt the hook clutched inside of her flesh. She groaned painfully; dare not to pull it out for herself.
“Am I the only survivor…?” she murmured. She tried to stand up but stumbled; she grabbed the rock and pushed herself up. “I feel… dizzy. But must… go… on.”
Sharine looked around, but all she saw was a hill and the dark forest above. She tried to activate the cloaking device, but it was broken, she took it off and left it on the ground.
She saw a hill and looked at the trees. She had to find the water because she was extremely thirsty; she decided to climb. Any sign of life would be good. The sun was being slowly engulfed by the water; the pain from her shoulder became more painful as it got colder, the wound was beating with her heartbeat, she felt the metal clutching on her bone. And she saw the low laying branch. She grabbed it and start climbing, biting her lips as her arm was numbingly painful. She grabbed another and another.
“What kind of messed up bullet is this?” she complained. It was the stray bullet which got stuck into her arm. She felt dizzy; she lost the step and bumped into a rock, hitting her wounded arm against it. Sharine screamed in agony; the hook scratched bone inside her arm, she slipped a little but managed to hold her position.
She broke the branch next to her; she bit the branch hard to ease the pain. She started climbing the steep hill, went up to the tree living on the side of the hill. She saw a rock above her but it was out of her reach. She looked down, seeing that it was dizzyingly high. “Screw this, do I have to jump?” mumbled Sharine.
She gulped, tried not to look down. Her head was wringing with nervousness, her forehead was drenching down with sweat. The darkness was looming, the red sun slowly came down.
“The wind…” she murmured, took a deep breath and jumped.