"Untie me, would you?" I ask Chase, my head now incredibly clear for lack of fever. Chase makes quick work of cutting me free from the mast and I move to push myself up. However, three days of sitting cross-legged and tied to the mast leaves me almost paralyzed. Chase helps me to my feet and leads me to the side of the ship. A seemingly endless sea stretches before me, blue and glittering in the early morning light. I peer strangely at the horizon and muse aloud, "Is it just me, or does the edge of the sea appear to curve...upward, rather than downward, along the edges?" My legs sting with pins and needles as blood flow returns to my stiff limbs. I am suddenly aware that I am wearing strange clothing. I am dressed in a creamy white, sleeveless shirt, exposing my tanned arms. The mark of the Master Aqua stands out, blue against my skin. The unusually comfortable shirt sits tucked into a pair of high-waisted, loose-fitting brown pants that cinch around my ankles. My feet are clad in soft brown boots. I decide the change of garb is related to passing through the Gateway.
Chase does not answer immediately, so I turn to look at him. His face is uncommonly stern, his eyes filled with a whirlwind of thoughts. I choose not to push him, instead turning back to face the irregular shape of the sea on the horizon. It is a long two minutes before Chase sighs heavily. His voice bears a hesitant edge when he speaks. "I owe you an explanation." He glances over at me, just barely meeting my eyes. I can almost feel the apprehension radiating from him, like a breeze, sparking an apprehension of my own. "But I hardly know where to start." He turns and crosses his arms, leaning with his back against the edge of the ship. I roll my ankles and bend my knees, willing the fuzzy pain in my legs to go away, watching the water roll along the edge of the ship, spraying flecks of saltwater into my face. The mist should feel heavenly on my warm skin, but Chase's hesitation and my apprehension keep me from enjoyment.
Jerkily, Chase turns back to stand beside me, facing the ocean. He opens his mouth and closes it again. Still, I refrain from pushing him. Finally, he takes a long, deep, almost painful breath, and begins. "I was a part of the United States Armed Forces, just over three years ago. I didn't know I was an Elemental at the time, but I got lucky. After the first war against the virus, the military got a little slack in their background checks and blood tests, so I made it into the military without any questions. I received my training and was immediately stationed on the east front. I was the new guy, a nobody, but it didn't matter to me." Chase smiles, a movement exhibiting both nostalgia and pain. "I just wanted to help save my country." He pauses, taking a deep breath, and stares into the sea below us for a moment. "I saw more battle in six months than any ought to ever see in six lifetimes. I watched men die beside me. I put bullets in the heads of my comrades—no, my brothers—after they'd been bitten. I felt like a coward, finishing the lives of those I feared would turn and take my own." A myriad of emotions pas through Chase's cool blue eyes: regret, pain, sorrow, hatred. He closes his eyes and rubs his head with a heavy hand. "The soldiers who treated me like the scum of the earth on my first day on base became my brothers. Young as I was, I became an invaluable part of a team, a team that no longer exists, except for me and one other." Chase's expression turns steely and he struggles to continue. "It may seem that all my stories are the same, but there was a monotony that ensued after the virus struck."Chase takes a deep breath. "I fell asleep after a mission one day and woke up with a sick feeling in my stomach. I don't know what happened in the car, but the driver's livid glances at me were not encouraging. I tried to ask him what was wrong, but he refused to answer me. The doctor beside me also refused to say anything. Something happened while I was out. Within a day, I had a good guess as to what had happened. Somehow, that soldier managed to dig up my records and run a blood test, which showed that I was an Elemental. I had already been debriefed when three soldiers came armed to the teeth to take me. It all happened at once." Chase's gaze is glassy, as if he is reliving the moment. "I was getting ready to shower when that soldier came in with two other men. The first held up my records and the result of my blood test. I had just finished skimming it, heart pounding, when he raised a gun. A headache split my forehead and, at first, I thought I'd been shot. But when the three men before me dropped to the floor, I knew something was wrong. I packed up my belongings and left, still bloody from the mission." Why Chase tells me all this, I can only wonder, but it seems to be doing him some good to simply speak without interruption. I wonder how long he's been keeping these gruesome memories locked up. "I ran as far and as fast as I could, narrowly escaping the undead all the way. Hot-wiring old cars and hitching rides, I made it all the way to the west front. I dared not ask for help from the military, so I pressed on, exhausted as I was, until I came to the sea. I boarded an overcrowded ship and hoped against hope that no one would ask me questions. No one did. We had sailed for a week when a storm came up and wrecked the ship. I survived the wreckage to be washed up on that island. Fate had it decided that I should live, but why, I don't know." He looks over at me hopelessly. "Fate is a cruel thing, consigning us all to death in various ways. If only there was something else to believe in." I give him no answer, so he continues, looking up at Leandry, who stands at the helm. "I met Leandry on my first day at the island. Somehow, I learned that he was carting Elementals to a safer place than that island. The island was a death-sentence, where Elementals were worked to death for the 'good of the mainlanders.' But rather than join Leandry, I chose to stay on the island and be his source of information. For three years, I told Leandry who the strongest Elementals were, helped build up his disguise as an Easterner, told him the rumors I overheard from the Commander and his men. I even revolted against Leandry once, in attempt to keep my profile safe from those who might doubt me. I could not tell the people who I was or for whom I worked, because if people knew that Elementals were being taken to a safer place, they would overwhelm Leandry in their selfish desire to be taken to safety. As far as people knew, the unusual disappearances were simply unexplained deaths. I was one of the only Elementals to have lived on the island for more than a year. Many died every year and many were bitter against me for my will to live." Chase laughs a bitter laugh. "I was hated for my strength as an Aqua, for my attempts to encourage the islanders. That is, I was hated until I convinced the Commander to treat the Elementals more kindly. I convinced him that we could do our best work with better rations and more sleep. Amazingly, the Commander conceded and I was immediately popular. Quickly, however, I was forgotten, but I kept Leandry informed all the while. I gave him every detail I could find, except for the most important." Chase glances over at me with a gleam in his eye. "You. You showed up at the beginning of my third year on the island, injured and ill. The physicians nursed you back to health, revealing, not a weak and maimed Elemental, but the strongest, most resilient Aqua I'd ever seen. I kept this from Leandry for a year, watching you all the while. You helped the island thrive, so I decided not to tell Leandry who you were, for fear that the island would cease to flourish without you. It wasn't until the other night, when Leandry was taking his biggest load of Elementals back that I was forced to tell him who you were." He swallows hard. "It was out of curiosity that I let him infect you. I knew he was going to do it to someone, and I knew that he expected the islanders to take care of that someone after he left. He did it in attempt to exert his authority. He didn't expect you to have already been bitten by a jealous mainlander's attempt to wipe out an entire population of Elementals."
