Nautical Moon

Chapter 3 - Tallis Conrad

"Daddy!" The small girl twirled around in circles as her cute, pink dress flowed around her. Her once neatly braided hair had fallen out into small ringlets as she spun around in circles, she was adorable. She finally stopped to face the man in front of her, then quickly jumped into his arms in a fit of giggles. "I love you dad!"

The scene changed to the young girl floating on a small pink surfboard, she was too far away from the shore. The man watched her in fear as the storming clouds grew closer, and lightning had struck from only a few miles away. "Daddy! Help!" Her cries were distant, but the man leaped into the salty waters in an attempt to reach her. As he stuck his head up for a breath of air, he saw that he was too late as a large wave crashed overhead. She was gone.

He shot up from his bed, panting for air while his eyes widened with horror as he remembered the old memory from years ago. Running his hands through his hair, Tallis rose to his feet while staring at the photo that sat on his desk and a small, sad smile crept upon his face.

I miss you. He turned away while slowly stretching his limbs and letting out a big yawn. While quickly changing into a pair of jeans and a loose T-shirt, he stared at himself in the mirror and noticed the dark circles under his eyes. His buzz-cut blond hair now appeared ashy, and he began to see some wrinkles creased around his eyes, casting a shadow against his tan skin. "I look like I've aged twenty years." He let out a small laugh as he pressed his hand against the doorknob, and exited out of his bedroom door.

The hallway had been lit up with pale yellow lights, and was surrounded by stoned-in, cemented walls, which was mainly for the Nauticals protection. It was full of doors to the higher-ups rooms which normally contained a bedroom, small living room and a bathroom. It wasn't much, but it was enough to aid people's private needs.

"Piss off!" A loud voice echoed through the hall, and a door slammed open. Two young men shoved each other into the cemented walls as they spat curses while throwing fists. They had silver dog-tags hanging from their necks, indicating that they were some of the Nautical's high-level soldiers. One of the men clenched his teeth before yelling: "Don't make me use it." then the other shoved him into the wall. Suddenly, the man's hands began to spark and electricity began to surge through his body, which is when Tallis decided to step in.

"Hey!" His voice boomed and he shot his arm outwards, which is when long black rods began to pulse around Tallis. His eyes began to sparkle a shimmering violet as the rods surrounded him, but with a flick of his finger they flew down the hallway and wrapped around the surging man and his electricity had immediately disappeared; the two stood in shock. Tallis slowly walked towards the two men with an angering force, he was frowning. "What do you think you two were doing? Could you be any more immature?" Now it was Tallis' voice that echoed through the halls. He was so loud that even a few doors had opened and a few people popped their heads out of their rooms to see what all the commotion was.

The man who had been using his ability bowed in front of Tallis while pushing the other soldiers head down as well. "I'm sorry sir! Please excuse us, sir!" Tallis' glare was sharp and stern.

"You weren't given those abilities for your own use, if you're a true member of the Nautical you would never use it against one of our own, unless it was for the better."

The men stood silently while nodding their heads, they listened to Tallis' lecture, and exited back into their rooms as he finished. Tallis pinched the bridge of his nose as he leaned against the cold wall. Why does this have to be so difficult. He let out an exhausted sigh, and continued on his way.

He walked through the empty halls which seemed to continue on forever. Turning corners, opening gates... The Nautical headquarters was practically a maze. Luckily Tallis knew his way around the place, he was one of the designers after all.

He finally reached his destination which was the Headquarters cafeteria; it was full of fresh foods grown from some of the scientists within the Nautical. As he opened the big steel doors, he faced many people of all ages chatting away and eating their food; however, a few heads had turned when their leader arrived. He walked towards the buffet without saying a word, but he quickly grabbed a tray and began to load his plate with food. The cooks smiled at him with a small "Good morning, sir," under their breaths and Tallis nodded in return. After receiving his large but healthy meal, he walked through the many tables to reach a small stairway which lead to the 'Higher-ups' eating area.

Before Tallis had even opened the door, he could already hear the loud voices of people bickering. Here goes nothing, he thought to himself while turning the door handle. As he entered he bright room, people began to quiet down. A few of the loud ones cleared their throats and continued to eat silently, while others greeted Tallis with kindness in their voices.

He took his seat next to an intimidating blond woman, who was in fact the Nautical's very own Deputy. Her dark green eyes pierced through her leader as she took a bite of a bagel. "Rough night?" she questioned with her mouth full of bread. Tallis let out a sigh before scooping some cereal into his mouth and eating it.

"Let's just say my sleeping will not improve no matter how many years pass." Rowena gave him a hard stare, obviously worried about her leader but not having much control over it.

Across the table sat an Australian Kelpie dog eating away at some sort of meat product on his tray. Tallis couldn't help but stare at him for a minute, which turned out to be a bad idea on his end after the dog lifted his head and let out a growl. "What? You see something interesting?" the Kelpie said in a sarcastic tone before continuing to munch away at his meal.

"Looks like I'm not the only one who woke up on the wrong side of the bed." Tallis looked at Rowena, then back towards the dog. "What had you been up to last night, Klein?" He stared at Klein for a moment before continuing to eat some fruit and other pieces of food on his tray.

Klein released a long sigh as he finished his meal. "The usual scouting," he replied curtly while hopping off his seat with the tray hanging from his jaws. Tallis couldn't help but feel annoyed with the sarcastic character, although it wasn't anything new. Therefore, he continued on with his meal without saying another word to the dog, who had now walked away.

But then, Tallis felt off. He didn't know why but something just didn't seem right. His eyes scanned the people around him, and a few people returned his gaze out of curiosity, but when Tallis' eyes fell upon an empty seat he quickly turned towards his deputy. "Have you seen Eris this morning?" she rose an eyebrow in response and looked towards the empty seat.

"I haven't, though I do know that he came back quite late last night. You think he's still sleeping?" Tallis shook his head in disappointment. He should know better. He rose to his feet with a few products left on his plate, and headed towards the door without a word.

"Let him know that there's target practice at noon today," Rowena called after him as he left the room.