Love in the Midst of Chaos

Fiery

After finishing up our business in Paris, we head to Boston. Apparently a fisherman saw hundreds of rats swimming to shore and when they investigated the boat they came off of, the crew was dead and eaten. The ships cargo includes grains manufactured by, you guessed it, Reiden Global. While I'm not exactly happy about us traveling in and out of the country with Jamie being on the FBI's most wanted list, we can't exactly leave her by herself. As we get ready to board the fiery that will take us to the island, Jamie is trying to get Mitch to let her stay with him, "I'm just saying, all five of us don't need to go. I could come with you. Or I could stay in a motel and go through the Reiden documents from Paris, and you can go and talk all things Mother Cell with your friend at Harvard."

I stop and turn to the pair, after hearing Jamie offer to stay out of sight at the motel, "that's not a bad idea, actually. The less time she spends out in the open around cameras the better."

"She needs to stay with you and the others," Mitch sighs. "A day on the island is a good way to stay under the radar. And if anyone is looking into Ben Shafer's death, more people you have watching your back, the better."

"Yeah, alright," Jamie nods, walking onto the boat with the others, while I stay with Mitch for a moment.

"You know, if you keep saying things like that, people are gonna start to think you care," I chuckle.

"Yeah, well, there are a few people I care about," Mitch shrugs as he looks around.

"Who are you going to see again? I remember going to Harvard to met a couple of your friends."

"New Harvard friend," Mitch shakes his head, "actually another old student, couple years before you."

"Got it," I smile up to him, "well, have fun and be safe."

"You too, and keep an eye on Jamie, please, the last thing we need is for everyone to be arrested for assisting a criminal."

"Don't worry," I lean up and give Mitch a kiss on the cheek, "I will." I laugh softly as I walk away from a stunned and confused Mitch. When I get onto the fiery Abe is waiting for me, "what?"

"I saw that." Abe smirks, "don't tell me you're falling for dear old professor."

"Of course not," I get a little flustered.

"And here I thought you and I would be together forever," Abe jokes as he puts an arm around me and we find the others.

We head up to the bow of the boat, looking out over the sea. It doesn't take long for Jamie to ask a question that I'm sure has been eating at all of us, "how did a few rats become thousands on the course of a trip across the Atlantic?"

"Well, if Mitch and I are right and the Mother Cell is an accelerant," I take a deep breath, "it may be, by being exposed to it in a contained environment, it accelerated the reproductive nature of the rats?"

"Or," Abe adds, "we could be seeing it in rats first because they have a short gestation period."

I shake my head, "what if this is just the beginning? We could be facing a massive population explosion in the entire animal kingdom."

"A swarm of rats is on thing, but a swarm of lions, tigers, alligators," Jackson shakes his head.

"How would we even begin to fight back against something like that?" Jamie looks between the three of us.

I chuckle, "we wouldn't. We'd be, in a polite term, royally fucked."

"First things first," Jackson shakes his head, "we have to warn the people of Pender Island."

"I'm pretty sure they'd be aware," Jamie puts her hands in her pockets.

Chloe shakes her head, "aside from a fisherman, no one has reported any rats at all."

"None? That doesn't make any sense."

"To be fair," I shrug, "what has made sense since this whole thing began?"

"We need to capture a male and a female," Chloe possets, changing her position against the rail. "It's the only way to see how the Mother Cell affects their reproductive behavior."

"So we're going on a rat hunt," I lean over the edge of the boat a bit, trying not to get sick.

"Are you okay?" I feel Jackson's hand on my back.

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Sea sick?"

"That and thinking about those men on that cargo ship." I shake my head, "they were eaten by rats." I take a deep breath and clear my throat, "and it's been proven that rats that have tasted human blood begin to crave it."

"Well, that's just awesome," Jamie states, sarcastically. "I think I may be sick now, too."

Jamie, Chloe and Abe go find somewhere to sit, but I'm worried that if I move I'll end up getting sick anyway, but Jackson stays with me, "sorry, the bow probably wasn't the best idea."

"It's fine, I mean, we probably shouldn't talk about all this stuff around people who are going to the island to have a day of fun, so where else could we go."

"You know, I used to vacation on the island when I was a kid."

"Really?"

"Yeah, before my dad got bad. He'd rent a shack on the beach every summer on the side of the island that hadn't been built up yet. Have a big clambake, invite all the neighbors."

"It's nice that you have some good memories of your father and I'm sorry about everything that happened."

"Yeah, some of the best memories are on that island though. And now it appears to have been overrun with bloodthirsty rats."

"Yeah, I'm sorry about that, too." I can't hold it back anymore and throw up over the edge of the ship, "and that," I cough.

I feel Jackson gently move my hair out of my face, "it's alright, you're just giving me an excuse to show you the best food on the island."

"What so I can puke it up on the way back?"

"That's what leftovers are for," Jackson chuckles as he rubs my back.