Cumberland (Not A Dream Book 1) Page 5

  “They need freed,” Olivia agreed with me.

  I looked at Mason trying to share the grief in my heart with my eyes. He looked at me with his big green eyes and nodded. I tried to muster a smile, but looking at the creatures saddened me.

  “How?” Mason asked.

  “That is something we need to think out, first,” Jack answered.

  “Are they all like this?” I asked.

  “In cages, yes. But only in the habitat in which they were captured,” Jack said.

  “The cages don’t seem to strong, let’s just bust them out through the top,” Olivia suggested.

  Jack sighed, “They have to be released in the water. If we trap them on this bridge, they could attack. This means we have to go take a swim.”

  “Okay. We can do that,” I enthusiastically exclaimed.

  Chapter Nine

  I stomped on the cages to test the sturdiness. They rocked and swayed beneath my feet, but did not budge. I stared at the ripples of water, as my foot splashed against its flat surface once more, to see it instantly bounce back to its original form. My reflection stared back at me. Despite my glowing red hair and big blue eyes, I knew how I felt.

  “I know what it is like to be trapped, and I promise I will set you little guys free,” I told the creatures cowering below my feet.

  I felt a soft hand press against my shoulder and knew it had to be Olivia. I looked up and she smiled, “We all will.”

  I asked Jack, “Where in the water would be a way to free them?”

  “About three feet down in the center of the sea,” he answered.

  I looked at Mason to see him staring at his handy work done on the gate. He shook his head and said, “Well, I guess we better get to swimming then.”

  I patted his shoulder and told him, “We may still need this entrance. Thank you.”

  He smiled as I placed a kiss upon his cheek. I looked at Olivia to see her roll her eyes with a small grin. I asked, “What?”

  “Nothing,” she replied while shrugging her shoulders.

  I heard a big splash and looked over to see Jack floating in the water. He hollered out, “Let’s go!”

  One after the other we all jumped in the water and swam to him. He directed us towards the center of the sea. Surprisingly, the currents of the water practically did the swimming for us.

  We followed Jack, for what was not a long time at all and finally reached the center of the gate bridge. He looked at us, while pointing straight down and said, “The lock that traps them all in is below. If opened, it will free them all.”

  We swam down to examine it. We reached a few feet below the water and noticed a lock that was just like any other lock placed on a gate. The key hole was meant for something star shaped.

  Jack and Olivia tugged at it hard, yet it did not budge. I watched all the creatures, big and small, look at us with excitement. As we failed to budge it open, the creatures turned in what seemed to be sadness.

  We floated back up top to catch our breaths. I gasped for air and asked Jack, “What do we do now?”

  He shook his head and answered, “I am not sure, Milly.”

  Olivia said, “We have to do something!”

  Mason heavily stayed afloat and exclaimed, “I have an idea!”

  He went back under the water drastically. I yelled out, “Mason!”

  By that time everyone followed him back down. I was hesitant to follow as well, but a good deep breath in made it possible.

  I swam to the lock, once more, and watched him retrieve a rock out of pocket and watched him beat it senseless. After about three hits the lock busted off, and the gates opened to all of the creatures.

  I watched as they all scattered out of their prisons. A few small shrimp-like creatures rubbed on my hand, and a couple of big eel-like ones just nodded and swam away. I could relate to the freedom.

  I looked around to smile at everyone, and realized I was starving for air. I raced to the top and met them with a gasp above water. Olivia grinned at me, but I could feel my face harden.

  Mason asked me, “What’s wrong? Is that not what you wanted?”

  I shook my head in worry of them getting recaptured, but before I could answer I felt a push on my back. I looked around to see who did it, but no one I saw was around. I heard a yelp come from Olivia’s direction and seen she too had shared my experience.

  Shortly after, we all felt the same push. I watched Mason swirl in two directions and yell, “Who did that?”

  Jack answered loudly, “It is the currents. They are getting stronger.”

  “We need to get out of here!” I demanded.

  I looked at Olivia and she quickly was immersed under water followed by a shriek of surprise. I shook my head and said, “I don’t think currents do that! Olivia! Can you hear me?”

  “We are under attack, Jack!” Mason yelled.

  I went under water and seen Olivia fight her way up. I swam next to her as fast as I could and grabbed onto her. Together we pushed up and reached above the water.

  She coughed up some water and mouthed, “Thank you.”

  Jack quickly swam by our side, and then Mason followed right behind him. Jack shakily said, “These currents had never got this bad before.”

  “Really?” I questioned with a shake in my voice as well.

  We floated by one another and tried to fight against the currents as much as possible. The water became more rapid, and pushed against us. Waves would come crashing down on us making us fall under its wrath.

  We held on tight so we could stay afloat together. We needed to keep swimming, and not give up. I looked around to see if there was calm water anywhere close. I noticed a patch of water a few feet away.

  I shook Mason’s shoulder and pointed towards the direction. He motioned Jack and Olivia and we began swimming that way. The currents tried to slow us down, but the strength of the sea was not going to back down the rush I was feeling.

  We inched closer, and could feel the currents weakening. We finally arrived to the safe part, and Jack looked at us and asked, “Are you okay?”

  We all nodded at the same time.

  I looked around and did not see land in sight. I asked Jack, “Where are we?”

  “Further back into the sea,” he answered.

  “I thought we were just in the middle of the sea?” Olivia asked.

  “No, that was the middle in between where the opposite ends of the land meets. This is the true middle,” Jack said.

  “Geez Louise, dad! What do we do now? Wait to fall asleep under the water?” she retaliated.

  He sighed heavily and demanded, “Everyone keep your head on straight. Everything will be okay, we just need to think.”

  “Hmmm, what is there to think about?” Olivia asked rhetorically. Then she continued, while holding a finger up, “Oh, I know! Water is the only thing I can think of to think about.”

  I rolled my eyes and told her, “Please, Olivia, we need better problem solving techniques here. For example, we could swim until we find land.”

  “That could take days,” Mason said.

  “Thank you,” Olivia stated.

  The water currents still had not subsided around us, except for a small path in which we were hovering. I looked at Jack and seen he was following my gaze.

  I told him, “We should follow this skinny path and see where it takes us.”

  He nodded, “You just read my mind. This path would take us East. That will lead us straight to land.”

  Mason and Olivia both agreed to the plan. I worried about the water patrol finding us, because we are humans swimming in the sea. I asked Jack, “What if we get caught?”

  “We will try not to,” is all he could say.

  We began swimming the path, staying in a line. I knew the path was too skinny, but as we linked arms, it did not seem as bad.

  Chapter Ten

  Treading through the waters became harder to continue. We made it passed the skinny path and back to the main wa
ter that did not contain a mean current.

  I looked around and seen land nearby. I looked across the sea and seen the gate bridge fall under the water. I couldn’t help but yell, “Whoa!” as the collapsing gate caused the water to ripple hard.

  Jack said, “The monsters must have been fearful of going back into their prisons.”

  “They tore it down!” Olivia exclaimed with excitement.

  I heard a boat engine and looked to my right and seen, passed Jack’s head, a water patrol boat. He looked in my direction and told Olivia, “Don’t get too excited. It looks like we have company.”

  “They must have seen the bridge collapse,” I said.

  The boat inched closer, and I was able to see two men in the same suits as the land patrol, but they were blue. Armed with guns, they pointed them at us.

  We all raised our hands in the air and I asked Jack, “What do we do?”

  “Follow me,” he answered.

  I watched him swim up to the boat and could hear the men say, “Stop the boat!”

  “Hello, gentlemen,” Jack said. He continued to say, “I am CIA Operative Jack Hall,” he reached in his pocket and pulled out his dripping badge, and then tosses it to them.

  They both paused to look at it and looked back at him, “This here says you have been retired for quite some time. What are you doing here with these outsiders?”

  “We were just taking a swim,” he joked.

  The tallest man pointed his gun and demanded, “In the boat now!”

  Jack looked at me and mouthed, “Swim away!”

  I nodded and pulled Olivia and Mason away right as the man fired a shot. We began to swim away with Jack trailing behind. As I heard the boat get closer, I looked back to see how much closer.

  As I turned around, I felt a strong hand pull me up by my hair. I looked ahead to see Mason and Olivia fleeing the scene and yelled out, “Help me!”

  I turned in surprise to hear Jack yell for help as well. They had him held down to the floor of the boat. I looked back to Mason and Olivia, and seen them start to swim back.

  I fought as the tall man held my arms behind my back. I could hear him fiddle with something metal. Then I realized they were hand cuffs as he tried to place one on my wrist.

  Mason jumped on the boat and I could see the man turn his head to see Mason. I took this opportunity to kick the man his groin, from him standing behind me. He fell to the ground in pain and I turned to kick him in the head.

  As the tall man fell flat on the floor I was able to see Olivia do a side kick up the other man’s nose, that sat on her dad. He fell on his back and Jack jumped on the man and knocked him out cold.

  Mason looked around with a suspicious look on his face. He looked up and pushed me down, “We forgot one!”

  He jumped up in midair and grabbed the third man’s hand that held a pistol, and snapped it off. The man fell to his knees and pleaded, “Please! No more!”

  Mason nodded and through the man overboard.

  I looked around to see the first two men lying on the floor twitching. I wondered if they would be okay, but I didn’t care too much. I watched Jack sit down in relief. I asked him, “What do we do now?”

  “Let’s relax for a bit,” he answered.

  I looked at Olivia, and out of nowhere one of the men came up and punched her in the face. She leaned on the edge of the boat and fell over.

  I screamed, “Olivia!”

  Mason growled and his face hardened. The man turned on him and pulled out his pistol. The man yelled, “Back down! I will shoot you!”

  Mason then grabbed the gun and made it crumble like a soda can. The gun fell to the floor and the man shuttered as Mason got closer to him. Mason grabbed him by the throat and squeezed until the man’s eyes bulged.

  The man twitched and fought, but did not succeed to become free. He stopped moving and a loud thud came shortly after his lifeless body slammed on the floor.

  I looked at Jack but had seen he had already begun his search under the water for Olivia. Minutes passed by and I told Mason, “I’m going in too.”

  Mason nodded and jumped in behind me. As we swam below a loud explosion caught my attention. I looked up to see the boat fall to pieces. He grabbed my arm and I turned to see Jack struggling to hold Olivia up on his shoulder.

  We swam down to meet Jack. Mason and I grabbed a side of Jack and pushed up. Olivia was knocked unconscious, and I kept looking at her pale face.

  I wanted to tell her, everything will be okay, but I could not talk under water. I hoped she could at least feel what I am thinking. I looked at Mason and could see he was focused on reaching for air.

  I caught Jack looking at me. Even though we were under water, I could tell he is crying. I could see the lining of the water get closer.

  We rushed above and instantly turned to Olivia as Jack held her close. He placed his ear to her face and said, “She is not breathing!”

  I held up her torso as Mason held up her head. Jack began pushing on her chest frantically. He placed his ear near her head again and shook his head side to side.

  He placed his mouth on her mouth and began to blow in it. He stopped and pressed on her chest again. Jack’s voice began to shake, “Come on! Breathe.”

  He continued to give her CPR and she did not respond. He held her close and screamed out into the open water. Jack was sobbing and then Olivia began to cough. Water spewed out of her mouth and she blinked her eyes several times.

  She squinted her eyes and asked, “What happened?”

  Jack answered, “You got punched and fell overboard.”

  She rubbed her temple, where a huge welt began to appear, and said, “Ouch. So where is the boat? I am sea sick now.”

  Jack shook his head, trying to hold back a smile at her joke, and answered, “The boat blew up.”

  “Why?” she asked.

  “Because it is a way to signal to headquarters something is wrong,” Jack answered.

  I gave Olivia a hug and said, “Thank goodness you are okay.”

  “Of course I am. But if what my dad said is true, then that means we better leave now,” she said while patting my back.

  We all agreed and continued to swim towards the land. As the adrenalin rush faded in my bones, my muscles were getting weak. My eyelids became heavy, and my strokes became paddles.

  I looked around to see the others slow as well. Olivia still hung unto Jack and Mason was resting his eyes while floating on his back. He was still doing small back strokes.

  I couldn’t keep up my strength anymore. I decided to just float on my back as well, and let the currents float me the rest of the way. I only remember being dragged across and being placed on a solid surface.

  Chapter Eleven

  What felt like several minutes later, I awoke feeling dazed and confused. The Sun blinded me as I opened my eyes. I felt around to determine where I was, and only felt sand between my fingers.

  I grabbed a handful of sand, and lifted it up to the sky. I watched as the sand slid between my folded fingers and swayed with the wind. I realized where I was.

  I exclaimed, “Land, we’re on land!”

  I heard a man’s voice chuckle. I turned my head and did not see anyone around. I sat up to shake my hair free of sand and saw a flash of movement to my right. I looked closer and saw a man’s chiseled torso and arms folded lying next to me.

  I jumped back a little in surprise to see a strange man staring at me. His green eyes were big, and his face was inviting. I did not feel the need to be scared.

  He smiled at me and said, “My name is Murphy the Nen.”

  I looked at his long fingers, as he held out his hand, and hesitated, “My name is Milly James. How did I get here on land?”

  He looked at me and answered, “I saw three bodies floating on the water and knew I had to help.”

  “Thank you,” I told him. I looked down at the sand and then back to him, “Why?”

  He smiled at me and answered, “You guys sa
ved us sea creatures.”

  I scrunched my eyebrows together, in confusion, and asked him, “Are you a sea creature?”

  He nodded, “Yes I am.”

  I looked back to see behind and saw that half of his body was the bottom half of a frog. The legs had fins, which I assumed helped him swim so fast. I exclaimed, “Oh! What are you?”

  “I already told you,” he said.

  I shook my head, “No. You said your name is Murphy the Nen.”

  “Oh, I see the confusion. Obviously you are not a man of some sort,” he laughed and continued, “In Cumberland; our last names are what we are. A Nen is a sea creature who is half frog and half man.”

  “Oh!” I said again.

  Feeling alone in my new discovery, I looked around for Mason, Jack, and Olivia. About three arm lengths away, I saw each of their bodies lying side by side. I looked at Murphy and tried to grimace at his enchanting smile.

  “Why are my friends not awake?” I asked him.

  He looked over, to where I was pointing, and shrugged his shoulders.

  I asked him frantically, “What is wrong with them?”

  He looked at me and said, “They almost drowned. Right now they are resting.”

  “For how long?” I asked while standing up and brushing the sand off of my jeans.

  “Couple hours,” he plainly said. He shrugged his shoulders again, and then he jumped up in a frog-like position.

  “No one rests for that long!” I exclaimed. Looking back at them, I noticed they were breathing faintly. I stood there trying to focus on them to see if they were going to move, but nothing happened.

  I ran over to them, trying to shake them awake. I grabbed hold of Mason’s shoulder and didn’t see him budge. Olivia and Jack did not seem to respond to me as well.

  I felt unsure about this sea creature. So I decided to get my shoulder bag that lied where I was lying. I checked it quickly, looking for my grandpa’s book. Soon after digging in the bottomless pit, I recovered the once hard back journal.

  I lifted it up to see the water had ruined the front and back cover. I opened to the pages, and found them to be a mess of blue and black ink smeared across every page. I threw the book down in disgust, and sighed heavily.