The Aquarian

Chapter 21

I had envisioned the search to be a slow paced swim, taking our time to explore other routes.
But General Todulumus had a route to the miscellaneous bay that was much more scheduled then he let on.
We had been racing through the current, me and Jack, who had (most awkwardly for me) become 'buds', and I tried my best to not make myself seem to suspicious.
We where nearing the edge of the bay that I had known as home, and j could just see beyond the reeds to fish filled land.
Jack acknowledged it before me, however-
"Man, I'm going to have to pull out my spear if we want to now the layout of this bay." He said giddily.
I laughed in agreement, secretly hoping he was kidding, as I was already nervous enough without having tons of blood surrounding me.
"Save it for the next meal." I said as an after thought.
"Halt!" Jacks father called our abruptly.
"We've now reached the cliff towards the next bay. Remember, it was assumed that there wasn't any human life here, as a tsunami had reportedly wiped out this...city, as it was called. But keep caution." He warned, reminding us of our training and our knowledge of this area.
Then I shuffled my abnormally dark purple tail forward swishing powerfully as we crossed into the unknown.
*

We had found traces of jetsam surrounding the far side of the reef, but other than that there was nothing that could have potentially originated of human nature.
The reefs and fish had such a breathtaking variety, I wanted to just wander off and stare at the different types of coral.
As if a researcher could get away with that.
We all started going at a slower pace, and individually searched for any route that could lead to the Aquamarine cluster.
But we where running out of time, as the sun had almost complete its drop, and the darkness was making it even harder to see while maneuvering through such thing plants.
General Todulumus had just started calling us over, when I saw the dark shape wiz behind me.
I turned quickly, but couldn't see it again.
That's when I felt its presence just below me.
The presence of a killer whale, hence the killer part.
I was about to act out of fear and swim away, but something out of all the researcher training had kicked in, as I pulled out my spear and gave a pronounced warning call as I quickly prodded it between the eyes.
The blood gushed freely from the crevice I had made, and I wanted to flee, or puke.
But the creature had enough life I it to muster through its pain, and I fought it back just as Jabal and some other Researchers brought up their own spears from behind me.
The whale fell lifeless to the bottom of the ocean.
My heart still pounding, I was supposed to see General Todulumus smiling.
Although he was smiling and congratulating is on following our procedures.
Afterwards, we where all tired and frustrated that fighting off the killer whale had taken up so much precious time, time as precious as the stone itself.
So instead, we found camp in nestled cliff of coral, and the people who hadn't fought off the shark hunted fish and searched for seaweed.
They came back with a plentiful amount, and I sat beside Jack, who had been just as shocked to see the killer whale as I was, yet he still had other things on his mind.
"I know this is weird, but I just reminisced so many things about people who I missed, people who I wouldn't see again if the killer whale attacked sooner. This one girl in particular." He said under his breath.

"It's  pyschologically normal tendency to have neurons in your hypocalpus think about..." I began to ramble off, before I realized what he had said about 'this one girl in particular.'
"Pfff, you sound just like her!" He said.
Dang it.

I hadn't the slightest idea   what to do in this conversation.
"You calling me a girl?" Was all I could think of.
"She's not just 'a girl'. She's one of the most intelligent, lively, beautiful person I know, and I never even said goodby  properly, I just gave her one of my gear trinkets. After everything that's all I did, she did entranced by it.

but I still regret not spending more time with her, time I didn't have, but I. could have spent it telling her...well, you know, the sentimental clowder shit." He said, rambling off himself.

I'll admit it, I felt frustrated to be  in that form.   as in we had just seen the blink of our lives and yet I was yearning just to scream out "she's right here! She knows how much you cared! She feels absolutely the same, if not more!"
But I couldn't, as I wasn't supposed to know 'this girl' at all.
"From the way you talk about her, it seems like she cared a lot about you, to.  It's not like you screwed up, where still alive, still have potential to come back." I said, hoping that that was true, still shaken out of my mind from what had been lurking in the reeds.
"I really hope so man, I hope this works ."
We all do.