The Relic: Deadly Liaisons at Sea

Chapter IV: Falling to Pieces

If there was one thing that was known, it was this one simple fact: the Division was demolished. The small wood chunks and pieces that decorated the port beach of the deserted isles was an indication that they had been very lucky to have made it alive. Somehow, the majority of the crew and staff, less a few people, had made it to the same littered sands.

Tyler Marklin, with cracked glasses on his nose, was checking the majority of the crew who were slowly coming awake. Anna Anderson, a girl with a full head of blond and one strip of pink hair, was counting the supply boxes that had drifted ashore with them. Sarah Moreno was sitting on a makeshift wall near the shoreline, staring out into the ocean with a vacant look. And the two clowns, Leo and Jakob, were doing their best to gather any pieces of wood they could find. After all, they had to find ways to make shelter and build a fire for the night.

"Xavier." The man turned to see the extremely exhausted Damien Drummond carrying a waterlogged and unconscious Markus on his shoulder. There were a couple of gashes along his arm, and an afflicted wound upon the brow of his eye, probably from getting hit with debris from within the monstrous waves. Damien supported the same sorts of affiliations on his own body, but the limp in his left leg left an impression that there was an injury there.

"No luck finding Aden and Lottie then?"

Damien shook his head. He was fortunate to find Markus with the impeding darkness of night, but with the sun gone, they would have to cease their search. Xavier purposely set a time limit so that they could see who had miraculously survived, but Damien was not about to give up.

"Look, Xav, give me another two hours. I will find Aden and the Lionsheart girl. They couldn't have drifted far off." Xavier pointed at Damien's gimp leg. "You think you can continue pushing your luck on that leg? As your older brother, I say no. Tonight, we all rest and then gather our strength. Besides, you should know better than I do that Aden is strong and Lottie has a fiery spirit within her. They may even be together."

"That is one thing I'm afraid of," Damien muttered before shaking his head from the incoming headache. It was at this time that Tyler had run over.

"Xavier, sir, everyone here seems to be okay for the most part. The ocean took a toll on all of us." He then turned his interest to Damien and Markus. "Let me assist you with Markus." He went to support Markus and ushered both to go toward the makeshift palm leaf-bed-styled surface.

Turning his attention back to the blond gentleman, Tyler gasped at the way Damien was limping. "Damien, you should remain off your leg. At least, until we can determine whether or not it is broken or not."

Damien grunted as he helped lay down Markus onto the surface of the leaves. The leg of his was still shaking despite the weight being lifted off his side. "I don't give a damn about my leg; just let me continue searching for my younger brother. He would have done the same for any one of us without any thought to his health!"

Xavier merely grasped Damien's shoulder and stopped him from taking a step back into the direction he appeared with Markus. "Damien, please don't. I know you're worried. I am too, but Aden would not want you to risk your entire leg for him. It would drive him mad with guilt, so as temporary captain, I order you to stay and have Tyler take a look at your injuries."

Blue eyes blazed in defiance, but before he could do something about it, Sarah shrieked in surprise. Anna who stood next to her reacted accordingly. She was scared that something had jump out of the sea. Everyone on that beach shifted their attention to the direction of Sarah pointing to the ocean. Out in the water was a body hanging over a piece of driftwood. The raven hair bobbed up and down in the water as the waters lulled him toward the shore.