Chapter 8 Aquatica Earth Reborn: The enemy

Disclaimer: Reader discretion is advised – This book may contain scenes of violence and content unsuitable for readers under 18 years old. Additionally, please note that this work is purely fictional and not based on any real people or events.

As Sarah steps into the cramped cabin, her heart sinks at the sight before her. Sam and Danny are delivering punishing blows to the captured Cleanser prisoners, their fists connecting with brutal force. The air is thick with tension and the sound of labored breathing as the men struggle against their restraints.

Jake stands against the wall, his expression firm as he attempts to coax information from the silent prisoner, his voice laced with authority. “Tell us everything you know,” he demands, his tone unwavering. “

“Are there others in the area? How far behind are the Cleansers? How many more of you are out there?”

The prisoners remain defiant, their lips sealed tight in stubborn silence. Sam’s frustration boils over, his anger palpable as he clenches his fists, ready to take matters into his own hands.

“Enough of this!” he growls, his eyes blazing with fury. “I say we end them now, before they have the chance to betray us.”

Jake’s hand shoots out to grasp Sam’s arm, his touch gentle yet firm as he pulls him aside.

“We can’t stoop to their level,” Jake murmurs, his voice a soothing balm to Sam’s rage. “Violence won’t solve anything.

We need to maintain our humanity, even in the face of adversity.” Sam’s features soften slightly at Jake’s words, his anger subsiding as he nods in reluctant agreement.

“I just… I can’t stand the thought of them getting away with what they’ve done.” says Sam. Jake with a reassuring smile before turning his attention back to the prisoners. “You’ll talk soon enough,” he says with a steely glint in his eye, his resolve unwavering.

“You are all going to die” says the younger prisoner as he looks down with at the ceiling. His hair all shabby and tossed covering his face.”

“Shut up Craig, just shut…the hell up says the huge prisoner.” Jake turns and looks at the younger prisoner. “So….are you ready to talk?”

He looks at Sam keep them in two separate rooms, lets see if they cave when they are not with each other.

As Danny and Sam escort the struggling huge Cleanser to another room, Sarah’s gaze lingers on the skinny younger man, his defiant words still echoing in her mind.

She meets his gaze for a brief moment, her expression unreadable, before Jake’s glance draws her attention away.

With a heavy sigh, Jake leaves the room to get some fresh air from this torture session, the weight of their situation weighing heavily on his shoulders. Sarah watches him go, a mixture of admiration and concern flickering in her eyes, before turning her attention back to the task at hand.

Sarah’s heart aches as she looks at Craig, his battered face a stark reminder of the brutality of their world. With gentle hands, she wipes away the blood from his face, with a piece of cloth that she rips from an old bed sheet in the cabin room.

Her touch tender despite the pain it must cause him. “So your name is Craig,” she murmurs softly, her voice filled with compassion. “We’re not bad people here. We’re just trying to survive, like you.”

Craig’s expression softens slightly as he meets Sarah’s gaze, a glimmer of curiosity sparking in his eyes. “Survive?” he repeats, his voice hoarse from disuse.

“Survive what, you don’t know pain. You and your people with your experiments destroying what we have.”

Sarah taken aback by his words of pain, “You think its was easy for us?”

Sarah takes a deep breath, steeling herself to share her story with this stranger. “I grew up in America,” she begins, her voice steady yet tinged with sadness.

“Raised by my father and older sister after my mother died during childbirth because of me.”

As Sarah recounts her past, memories of laughter and love mingling with the pain of loss, Craig listens intently, his eyes never leaving her face.

She tells him about their life on the old fishing boat, the simple joys they shared amidst the harshness of their existence. Her dad taught her fishing and her elder sister singing.

“One day my dad saw boats approaching in the horizon. He quickly told us to hide. My sister took me behind a bunch of piled fishing nets. “

“A group got on board our ship, Sarah’s voice trembles with emotion. They threw and pushed my dad around punching him from one sailor to another.”

Asking him questions about what he knew and if anyone was onboard apart from him. “My dad never told them about me and my sister.”  Said Sarah as she wiped the blood from Craig’s face.

“My dad tried to reason with them,” she continues, her voice barely above a whisper.”

“But they were relentless. They… they took everything from us.” Tears well up in Sarah’s eyes as she recalls the horror of that night, “the sound of my father’s screams…my fathers screams made my sister leave my side. She looked at me and said Sarah stay here and don’t come up no matter what.” I begged of her to not leave me but her love for my father kept pushing her to go up.

“The men caught her. I heard my father scream no don’t hurt her”.

“I heard my sister’s desperate pleas as she begged for my fathers life. I tried to help them but I was too scared to move,” she chokes out, her voice thick with grief.

“But I couldn’t save them. I couldn’t save anyone. Soon there was silence, I heard the boats leave and then a wave of heat entered the room like a bon fire nearby.”

“I came out from behind the nets, climbed up the stairs and there on the deck I saw my sister and my father’s boy lying still with blood on the deck.”

“Before I could take anytime to even grieve the boat was blazing on fire. I picked a float and jumped into the water. As I drifted away I watched my family, my home my life go up in flames.”

“I cried for hours and feel asleep of exhaustion floating. I was picked up by another ship which was once a container ship converted to a medical ship on the ocean for survivors.”

“The people on board did their best to survive. I learnt how to be a medical officer and volunteered on missions to help survivors. The people who did that to me are the same people you fight for.”

“The cleansers are ruthless and they only live for one purpose. Genocide” she says ending with a sigh the memories of the past begin to kindle in flashes.

Craig’s gaze softens with empathy as he listens to Sarah’s tale, his own pain momentarily forgotten in the face of her raw vulnerability.

As she finishes her story, Sarah looks at him with tear-filled eyes, a silent plea for understanding of pain passing between them.

For a moment, there is only the sound of her shared sorrow, the weight of their grief echoed in their shared humanity.

And as Sarah reaches out to touch Craig’s hand, offering him what little comfort she can. “We are not the enemy here, we all have seen so much of loss.” She moves towards the door to leave.

“I didn’t know”, says Craig, in a very subtle voice almost drowned by the air. Sarah stops and immediately turns her head and then her entire body facing Craig.

“Me…my family…The Big Apple, as he swallowed his words trying to breathe exhausted from being a punching bag.” To be contd