Chapter 4
Xiaoyu
“Shoot everything that tries to eat you.” Is his simple response as he pulls a gun off the wall. It’s made of something I can’t make sense of. It’s black but swirling with purple light.
“E-excuse me?” I squeak, my terror doubling.
“It’s an island filled with carnivorous plants. The bullets are meant to sedate, not harm them.” Ingar gives me a stony look that makes people afraid of him.
I stare at the larger-than-normal pistol he placed in my hands. Plants…flora… “How big are these plants, Ingar?”
He just shrugs, tightens all his belts and snaps his helmet off. I realize he’s not bald at all. He has a tuft of blond hair that blends too well with his skin color. It’s cushioned by sweat and when he runs his gloved fingers over them, the hairs magically scatter throughout his head.
“You’d benefit from looking over your papers again, Professor.”
The missing page. My breath stops. My worries aren’t unfounded at all. How many times do I have to tell myself to trust my instincts? Instincts over rational thinking? God damn it.
He opens a cabinet with my satchel inside and tosses it to me. I quickly flipped through my contract, to that missing page. I rubbed my forefinger and thumb over the two “misprint” pages. To my utter disbelief, it split and there came the hidden page six.
I hate being right. He has already walked out on me and I strode toward him, incensed. I slip into his path and put my hands on his chest. I’m aware of how aggressive I’m coming off, but I don’t care.
“Listen here, you giant freak, you just fucking scammed me into helping you. The least you can do is give me answers.”
I’m beginning to choke on my panic. Everybody around me feels the tension, and another woman digs through her bag.
I have the sinking feeling Moriarty kept us apart for a certain reason.
We were probably all duped. The women are stirring, uncomfortable.
My heart drops as I realize just how many women there are.
Where are they taking us?
“Umm, hey,” someone from behind me calls.
My head whips toward a woman who is holding up her own contract. It splits into more pages like mine. I can feel the blood slowly leaving my face as the others scramble for their own contracts.
My legs lead me to the woman as she reads her clause out loud:
I, Cora Mikelsen, hired language specialist, agrees to hold Moriarty, Inc. harmless for any and all claims, actions, suits and charges whatsoever brought for, or on account of injuries or death incurred during and/or after contracted work.
It is…not like mine. Mine is much longer and listed specific terms to ensure my safe trip back… My hands ball into fists, crumpling my papers.
The others read theirs, too, and I realize…they don’t have any option to go back home. I feel terrible. I feel like a traitor. A parasite.
“They didn’t even have the decency to give us an indemnity clause.” One woman says.
“What the hell does this even mean? What is that? Are you a lawyer?” The questions recklessly tumble out of my mouth.
She is young and pretty…too young to be a lawyer, though.
Shaking her head, she replies, “No, I used to work for a corporate attorney. I’m a waitress. Well, used to be.”
I have no idea why I thought we’re all botanists and biologists here. Do they even know what they’re getting into? Was Moriarty just randomly hiring girls to feed these supposed carnivorous plants? My theories run amok, wreaking havoc into the calm I force upon myself.
“What does this clause mean?” Another woman asks.
“It means they expect us to get injured or die here.” One chirped back.
My eyes find Ingar again, and I can just see he knows what’s on my clause.
What my conditions are. What am I supposed to do?
We are in the middle of the ocean on our way to this island teeming with things that are going to eat us.
It says in my clause if I do my job, I could go home. Just not the others.
The women start to fight the men, the employees. The chaos made me want to run back to the storage room and slam the door behind them. Despite my own anxiety, I jump up on a table and shout, “Okay, ladies, listen up!” It does not work. They still keep harassing the men, angry and terrified.
Ingar crosses his arms over his chest, watching me carefully. Daring me to reveal myself.
I sucked in a breath and bellow, “IF YOU WANT TO SURVIVE, LISTEN TO ME!” That did it. They look at me expectantly like I have all the answers. I hate this. Hate the responsibility brought upon me, by myself. I know I don’t have to, but…guilt eats at me.
I’m here for a job, but they’re sent here to die. The least I can do is teach them how to protect themselves, right?
“Hi,” I began shakily. “My name’s Lin Xiaoyu, thirty-two.
I was a professor in Whiterock University just a few months ago.
I taught botany and specialize in medicinal plants.
I was hired here by that fucker—” I point to Ingar.
“—to study the exotic flora.” I remove my glasses and wipe the sweat off my forehead.
My headache’s starting to pound in my temples incessantly.
“Can you please introduce yourselves one by one and state what Moriarity hired you for?” I continued.
The woman whose paper I had read steps in, speaking first. “My name’s Cora, twenty-seven. Moriarty hired me as a language specialist. I used to teach in North State.”
Why the fuck is a language specialist included on this expedition that only deals with plants and animals? I swallow back the questions and move to the next girl. I will have to ask her later.
“I’m Laura, thirty, and I used to work as a nurse in Louisiana. Moriarty popped out of nowhere and offered me a job that seemed too good to be true. I was in dire straits, so I took it.”
“What job was that?” Cora asks.
Laura chews on her lip nervously. “A…fish lure.”
I understand nothing of this. “The fuck is a fish lure?”
“It’s not a good thing…” She shrugs it off. “But yeah, I should have known better. I got drugged and just woke up here.”
The women stir, and from their faces, I see we probably experienced the same thing. Baited and switched. As everyone continues to introduce themselves, I count. Seventeen women, including me. All of them have one thing in common, they are all single and Moriarty had approached them first.
There are mixed reactions. Some are crying, others are blank-faced—the reality not sinking in yet. One girl named Sunny is comforting another sobbing girl.
I feel sick to my stomach as I speak again. “We’re going to an island with giant carnivorous plants. Let’s stay together. There’s safety in numbers.” As soon as I say it, the overwhelming feeling of inevitable dread chokes me.
I remember the pistol Ingar gave me…I can protect them with that, but I have no idea how to use it. And I’m only one person… I really need this giant freak to speak up, but I don’t want the ladies to start terrorizing the men again.
Suddenly, a bell rings, then a jolly voice sings, “Good day! Captain Moriarty speaking. Twenty-foot waves and thunderstorms ahead. Staff, please secure the sails and loose equipment. Passengers, stay in your designated safe areas or cabins, stay away from exterior doors and windows. And last but not the least, keep calm and keep smiling, stay pretty, toots.”
All hell breaks loose. It’s like a bad horror movie with ridiculous antagonists unfolding right before me.
They mentioned the twenty-foot waves like it’s just a minor inconvenience.
The additional keep smiling, stay pretty, toots is clearly a dig at the women.
It makes me slam my hands to Ingar’s chest again.
I’m not proud that I’m laying my hands on him, but this rage and fear needs to go somewhere.
Just then, a massive wave hits the ship.
It creaks loudly as our center of gravity shifts.
Everything is going sideways, objects falling from shelves, chairs sliding and slamming to the side.
Everyone attempts to hold the closest grounded thing, some failing and just slipping, unable to do anything about it.
Ingar holds on to a pipe he could reach and grip my wrist tight, holding me still.
Thunder roared as the sky rips open, rain pouring down until I can barely see anything outside. It’s so loud that we have to scream at each other.
“What?!” He snarls.
“Did they send us out here to die?!” I snarl back.
“No.” Is the only thing he says.
My frustration grows as the screaming grows louder. All I can do is ride out my extreme fear of the ocean. The ceaseless groaning and creaking of wood, crashing waves, and thunder makes thinking clearly impossible.
Another woman, Laura, slips and slides to the other end of the ship. She claws the tilting floor in panic.
Heart pounding, I yell at Ingar, “Hold on to my leg!” as I dove toward Laura.
I barely hear him curse before his hand circles around my ankle. I catch her hand, but she’s slipping fast. She’s covered in some transparent goo that makes it harder to hold on. A window breaks open and water splashes our tense bodies.
“Please, please, don’t let me go.” Laura whimpers, tears forming in her dark eyes.
From behind her, an enormous figure hovers. I can only watch her as our hands slip farther and farther.
“Lin! Let go, we’re slipping!” Ingar bellows.
“No, no, no!” I scream as I attempt to claw after her. The shadow behind her rips her away from me. My breath is knocked out of me as Ingar reels me back in.
I watch in stark horror at the enormous glowing tentacle that has curled itself around Laura’s limp body. My teeth clack hard from the cold, and I realize we are all soaked in the same goo as Laura had been.
He rips his shirt off, making a knot that wraps both our wrists together.
As long as Ingar holds on, I’m safe. Fear grips me by the back of my neck as—through my foggy glasses—I see the enormous hole that had been the mess room.
The tentacle is colossal, its size beyond my comprehension.
It slams the deck, and I can see its suckers with terrible circular rings of teeth bigger than cars.
It collides with the ship one last time before slithering into the ocean.
“Oh my god, Laura…” I blubber. I can’t seem to form coherent words. I’m so cold, so scared, so…I don’t know. My hand’s numb, the circulation in my hand cut off as I hang from Ingar’s hold.
I can’t see the others, but I hear them.
I hear the hysteria, the disbelief, the weight of our situation slamming down upon them.
The giant waves gradually calmed. I can’t begin to wrap my head around what’s happening.
One moment, it’s icy cold, then it’s bright and sunny, the rays of the sun stinging my eyes.
The heat’s dry and uncomfortable. Ingar’s instructing the staff who are sliding through the floor like they’ve done this so many times. They begin to pick the girls up, straightening them like objects. They act like there isn’t a humungous hole in the mess room.
He drags me with him and within a few seconds, we are on the ship’s broken deck. Approximately a hundred meters away, we can see a cluster of islands.
Not possible.
“Hello ladies and gents. Captain Moriarty again. The ship’s a little janky, but still functional.
Worry not! Right in front of you is the Esoterran archipelago.
A sprawling seven million square kilometers of water and land brimming with life.
Sounds like the perfect island getaway, right?
Now, you’d ask me, ‘but Captain, what’s wrong with Esoterra?
’ Well, guess what, this island’s just in need of pretty girls like you.
Please enjoy your stay for the rest of your lives. Again, this is Captain—”
A woman hacks the speakers into pieces with an axe, the anger in her palpable. I don’t blame her. This “Captain” is fucking obnoxious. God, he even has me swearing like a sailor.
“Seven million square kilometers…” I tremble in my boots. “That’s three times bigger than the rainforest. That’s not geographically possible. The map—”
“I wouldn’t trust the map.” Ingar slices his shirt off us and I can finally feel my hand again.
I massage my wrist as I notice him eagerly gaze on the island.
He hides it well, but I can tell in his eyes—he can’t wait to step foot into Esoterra.
The closer we get, the more women gather to stare at the islands.
The biggest one is wrapped, protected by a wall of ten-foot mangroves.
Front and center of it, I can only stare in amazement.
I swallow thickly.
“Holy shit!” I hear someone gasp.
There’s a set of teeth slowly—much like a shark’s jaw—opening to let us through. The smallest teeth are larger than the ship itself. I feel faint as I hold on to the closest wall. One of the girls holds me still.
I can’t get rid of the crippling terror that the jaw would just slam down on the ship and kill us all. But as we sail past and onto the shore, I release the breath I’d been holding.
It’s different inside. It’s both alien and familiar. I recognize the plants, every single thing…but they are entirely too wrong. Too big. They sucked in breaths like…real people.
We weren’t lied to, at least. Esoterra definitely isn’t filled with humans.
Fuck.