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 Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 3:35 pm
Her head hurt.
Salt and sweat was encrusted on her face, and the woman huddled further into the bottom of the battered little dinghy as she coughed the last of the seawater that remained in her mouth away. The storm she had awoken to had been fast, violent, and completely unpredictable, and the last few hours had been filled with nothing but desperate fear and struggles against the thin lines of the sails. She'd had to cut the mainsail away, and was limping slowly along on the tattered jib; there was a crack in one of the planks in the stern, but a ripped off sleeve from her shirt was helping bind that tightly in.
Stumbling unsteadily to her feet, Caitlin looked around, wiping hair away from her stinging eyes. The sky was a mocking clear blue now, and she squinted across the horizon, turning slowly. Wait.... there? There, was that land? Perhaps Bermuda? The shipping lanes were quiet, but it was possible she'd been washed north? A piece of luck indeed! She'd lost her binoculars, but that certainly looked like a settlement on the side there, a smear of pale squares against the tree-lined slopes.
She splashed across to the tiller, unlashing it with sea-swollen fingers and determinedly changing the setting, twitching the jib sheet a bit more until the wind was taking her on a long tack past the settlement. God she could use a shower, she thought with relief, as the island came closer and closer.
But wait... there wasn't even a pier to come and tie up to?
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 3:48 pm
Sid was lying on the beach, working on a sunburn when he spotted something on the horizon. He pushed himself up to a sitting position, knocking away the empty bottle at his side the process. He raised one webbed hand to shield his eyes and still had to squint.
"No ********' way," he said, realizing it was a boat. He glanced looked around, but he was still alone. The boat, meanwhile, was only getting closer. Sighing heavily, Sid kicked off both his sandals. He carefully got to his feet and piled both the sandals and his cane on the long sleeved shirt that had been converted into a beach blanket.
He looked down at his jeans, which weren't exactly good for a little swim, but it wasn't that far out, he could probably make it. He limped into the water and quickly found swimming was a hell of a lot easier than walking, even with a t-shirt and jeans on. If he was lucky, the boat would be empty and he could simply loot whatever might be left in it. He hoped for that as he swam.
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 3:55 pm
It was a beach. There was a settlement, but no piers? Caitlin looked more nonplussed, and firmly stamped down on the idea that this was a hallucination. She knew she'd drunk nothing, eaten nothing, for days now, but basic training said it normally took longer than that...
Movement, on the shoreline. She looked at the tattered little sail, willing it to get her closer, trying all the tricks she knew to make the approach faster. She knew she was lucky to be alive at all, to be honest, but this..... this had better not be some trick.
She risked standing up again in the unsteady boat, hand going to the mast as she pulled her visor down further to shade her eyes. She tried to call out, but her throat emitted nothing but a strangled mewl, and she scowled in frustration.
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:00 pm
Meanwhile, red lights were flashing and intercom messages were being relayed in the labs. The "oil rigs" off the island had spotted the small boat on their radars, and now cameras were picking up the little sail boat. The bottom had taken more damage as it passed the "reefs" close to shore, and a single passenger was stepping onto the beach.
Sabin Duvert got the call on his communication device, and quickly began organizing a small group of guards to head out to the West beach.
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Sabin Duvert Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:04 pm
Sid took slow strokes toward the boat and, just as he thought, swimming in jeans cancelled out whatever help his hands and tail might have offered. Thankfully, when the girl on board stood up the lower half of his face wasn't all that visible, but he was having a lot of trouble not swallowing moutfuls of salt water along the way. He should have just waited, the boat would have washed ashore sooner or later. All he could do was silently curse himself as he caught up and grabbed on the side of the boat.
It just had to be occupied, and the occupant just had to be alive... How was he gonna explain things?
First thing's first, he had to haul himself up.
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:12 pm
Caitlin saw the person swimming for the boat, and looked even more confused. Why swim -towards- the ailing boat, when they were safe on land already?
"Hey, wait until I get ashore?" A faint squeak or whisper was all that could be heard, but as the man pulled his bizarrely shaped hands onto the side, she clapped a hand to her mouth. She didn't stumble backwards, or scream, which was her first instinct, because she'd been taught otherwise; but the disfigured face that bobbed above the water was something almost inhuman.
She could do nothing but stare, sitting down suddenly on the opposite gunwhale, eyes wide but no sound coming out.
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:23 pm
"Then you'd run," Sid said cooly. He glanced back and was a little surprised to see they weren't as far from shore as he'd thought. He blamed the booze and being out of shape. He glanced down, at the clear tropical waters allowed him to see far too much of what was at the bottom. He should have thought there'd be coral... at least, he hoped that was coral. Whatever it was, he could hear it scraping against the bottom of the boat, and his own feet suddenly seemed a bit too close.
"Thih... This is 'bout as close ah- as it gets."
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:30 pm
Caitlin kept staring. It, he, was talking? Or trying to talk from that mutated face. As he looked down, she also did a quick, frantic assessment of her situation. The poor skiff wasn't going to make it anywhere at this rate, if she got any closer she would beach the keel, if she even had any left.... The clear water revealed a sandy bottom a couple of feet down now, but she was unsteady and ill, and there was no doubt she was hallucinating now. Damn storm....
"Go away," she said faintly, trying to stand again. "You're a figmen' of my imagination, so stop capsizing my boat......"
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:38 pm
"If thas what ya wan'." Sid let go of the boat and drifted back in the water. Saying anything more probably wouldn't help. Even so, he swam close enough to keep an eye on the girl, until at last they were close enough to stand again. He wasn't sure if the boat would make it far. Hell, he was sure exactly what he'd set out to do in the first place... besides raid the boat before it sank, right. He could always say it was a rescue attempt.
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:43 pm
As he let go and the boat unbalanced again, Caitlin wobbled unceremoniously, before jumping out on purpose rather than falling in. Her sneakered foot hit rock, and she pushed at it, up to her neck in the water as she splashed a hand up to the gunwhale again. Tugging the boat as she tried to swim closer to shore, she suddenly had a rational thought. Perhaps the figment could tell her where she was?
"Hey," She tried to call hoarsely. "Hey, where is this place? Why... " Her mouth went below the water, and she spat weakly and shook her head again as she surfaced. "Why're there no piers?"
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:47 pm
"If I tol' ya you wouln'n believe me." Sid turned so he could face her. He turned and spat out more water. "Jus' leave the boat, you're in no ssshape..."
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:52 pm
Caitlin blinked. "But the boat... I need to send her back.... I need to... contact my captain...." She kicked at the water again, coming a little closer to the shore, spluttering slightly in the waves.
She was having a conversation with a man who's face was more and more resembling a fish.
There was something seriously wrong here.
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 4:55 pm
"Don' worry bout thah now." Sid turned and just barely kept himself from going over as he reached the waves. After a little flailing he let them carry him to the shore. He was too interested in getting his feet on the sand as soon as he was able to pay attention to anything more at the moment.
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:03 pm
"No, wait, don't go?" She stumbled as her feet hit the bottom proper, still obstinately tugged the boat with her. Her voice was getting a little more audible now with more use, and she tried to put her officer command tone into it. Some weird old mutant of her imagination was going to give her some damn answers. And by the sound of it, an American old mutant?
She dragged her feet through the water a little more, glad now she wasn't breathing sea water in the waves at every other step.
"I do worry about it! And why are you a fish monster?"
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Sabin Duvert Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Oct 19, 2006 5:06 pm
By this point, Sabin was in the passenger seat of a jeep, three other guards with him, and barreling down the western road towards the shore. An injection gun was on his lap filled with tranqs, and the guards carried their issued SMGs. Time was wasting, and according to the cameramen, she had already encountered one islander.
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