The Assemblage, Pt. 7 of 16.

         The ri watched Dorothy's motionless encased body disappear into the distance and then descended again to go after Samantha.  Her pounding on the inside of the hull that was barely detectable during the attack on Dorothy had attracted it again to finish its deadly work.  She was in a corner of the more slowly flooding room crouched down and crying after seeing the blond-haired woman's terrible demise when a loud thud jolted her senses back to reality.  Her life was the ri's next strongly desired objective, and she had to defy and defend herself as best she could.

         The persistent cryptozoan was using a piece of lightweight debris to strike the window, but its greater weightlessness still presented a frustrating disadvantage to it.  Samantha screamed loud in response to each of its efforts, shook her head, and yelled at the thing to go away.  Water began seeping in a little more from the perimeter of the round metal frame, but it continued its devious work relentlessly, intending to get what it wanted.  Larger air bubbles rose from her vital space into the external dangerous environment when the window cracked, and she was bracing for the worst when its aggressive efforts suddenly ceased.  

         The ri went upward a little and looked slowly about, as if searching for something again, or being called to a greater priority -- to investigate something even more important than her now.  What else did it detect?  She was the only person of the group still alive who knew of its true form but did not know if she would ever be able to tell the others of it.  The water was almost waist-deep in the room, and inevitably it or the lack of oxygen in the decreasing air pocket would provoke her to open the door and try as Dorothy did to reach the surface.  She more often wondered if she would suffer the same fate as her.  Outside and above, the aquatic creature looked down at her disappointed, discarded the debris fragment, and swam onward out of sight.  However, she was correct in assuming that it would not stay away.

         While Samantha prayed for her life in her perilous circumstance, Nadine finished her swim to the shore.  As she stood up, Jack took her hand and helped her out of the water.  He raised his dark thick eyebrows while seeing the long blue dress cling to her lovely body and said, "You swam more beautifully than I thought you could in that thing.  So, where is Bella?"  

         "W-what?  You mean, she never made it?"

         "We all didn't even see her swimming toward us.  Why?"

         "I . . . I gave her the same jug you gave me to hold onto unless . . . dear God.  I can't understand."

         "Me, neither.  Clara didn't even make it.  Now, I know we're gonna be lost without her.  So, don't feel bad.  Just look at Kathy," he replied.

         She did and saw her crying and being held by Hank.  The sensitive woman was still very frightened and trembling, hurt by the loss of her friend especially.  He let go of her on the narrow beach and then said, "Did you find anyone else during your dive?  I saw you go down before leaving your area out there."

         "I believe I saw Samantha down in the yacht in an air pocket.  Nobody else."

         "Was she still alive?"

         "I don't know.  There was no movement, but are you thinking what I am?"  

         "That we should find out for sure?  Forget it."

         "My god, Jack.  What if the poor girl's not dead in it?  I can't imagine -- "

         "You don't have to, Nadine.  Just think logically instead.  The boat's out there and down there, and we should have SCUBA gear to do anything for long if it could be found again.  Besides, any air pocket you saw would likely be gone by now anyway.  So, I can't imagine how bad it was for her too, but the accident has to be considered . . . an act of God," he said.  

         "Or an act of that careless grouchy captain.  He sure gave us a goofy warning and a 'lot' of time to brace ourselves before we hit that . . . whatever."

         "I don't think he saw it until it was too late.  It's so unfortunate seven people had to die during this whole weird . . . event."

         "You're right, Jack, but I still think two didn't have to perish for sure.  No one had to.  Damned fog!"

         "It's over, and it's best not to brood about it," he replied and patted her shoulder.  "Let's go see how those two are doing now."  

         Hank helped Kathy to her feet as they approached and said, "She's feeling a bit better, but I sure don't.  Whew!"

         "Why not?  Our abrupt dip in the sea and all else seems to have sobered us up well enough."  

         "It's not that, Jack," the smaller longer-haired man replied and extended his hand out.  "Look at this place.  The coast of Baja California where we were supposedly cruising off of is a desert, nothing like this.  There are no mountains in the background here, and it's already getting warm.  For all I know, we could be on the north coast of Australia or Brazil."

         "He's right.  This isn't the Baja at all, if even any of those places," Nadine added while looking about.  "I've never seen so many kinds of plants, not like these."

         "I'm telling you, this is not at all normal or hardly anywhere near civilization.  That strange fog is is still hiding the distant horizon and probably had something to do with getting us in this situation."

         "Or . . . we did," Kathy whimpered.  

         "This whole circumstance is really odd, but how do you explain the greenish light coming through these different trees and ferns?  That other woman we found had to come from someplace of human habitation around here."  

         "I . . . I don't know, but I think we should all do some exploring together and find out.  We can't stay in this steamy spot and wait days or even weeks for a rescue," he said with more emphasis.  

         "If there will ever be one," Nadine said while showing skepticism.  

         Kathy nodded slowly when he looked at her for approval and to check on her emotional status.  The confidence and appearance of the others encouraged him to agree, but he still had reservations about the suggestion.  He shook his head, while walking in a small circle and trying to decide, and said, "Shouldn't we go and salvage as much of the debris and useful materials starting to wash ashore first?  We don't know exactly what dangerous animals are in this . . . jungle."

         "We can come back for that stuff later, Jack, when all that's coming to shore will be here.  I doubt if any beachcombers will come around out of nowhere, literally, and take anything," Hank informed.  

         He breathed the muggy air in deep and finally said, "Okay.  Let's move in toward the glowing . . . guiding light.  We haven't much more to lose."  


Continued to Pt. 8.