Hatched

Chapter Twenty-Eight

July 1st, 2021

2100 hours

Robyn listened to the drone of the outboard motor and willed herself to stay alert. The soothing hum of the boat as it jetted over the waves synchronously was unexpectedly relaxing, and she found it hard not to simply drift off to sleep in time with the tide.

She shivered, despite the thick, heavy blanket covering her. Upon realizing that the doctor was boating back to the rig, she'd swiftly scrambled onto the deck and found the closest, most inconspicuous hiding place: the puffy quilt hid her slim form almost perfectly, the downside being that she had to tuck her legs up to her chest tightly. The position itself didn't bother her, for short periods of time. Robyn was a very avid yoga student, and in her spare time spent most of her days at the gym.

Regardless, the length of time she spent with her kneecaps nearly jammed up her nose, with the cold, damp night air chilling the sea-spray soaked blanket was unbearable.

Come on, she thought, goose bumps rising on her frigid skin. She could no longer feel her extremities and cursed aloud, directing her frustration at a particularly irritating agent.

Quinn had no right to expect this of her. She was an ordinary citizen, content to spend her days protecting one of God's last true creations. The most exciting thing she ever did was watch in awe as the baby turtles hatched, cheering words of encouragement at them as they struggled helplessly toward water while scavenging sea birds flocked around them. Every now and then, if one got too close to a hapless turtle, a hungry gull would get sideswiped harshly by her beach umbrella. It wasn't ethical: she figured that for all the good natural selection did, sometimes nature needed a bit of a push in the right direction. That was her attempt at undoing the wrong already unleashed upon the world by man.

Though at the moment she felt like one of those soft, struggling creatures. She was completely out of her element, without direction and hanging on to a thin semblance of purpose. The soft, pliable shell of protection she had placed around her was abruptly removed the moment that dark haired, sex magnet had entered her life. She had been completely content in her self-made reclusion: she poked lightly at the biosphere of solace surrounding her, the thrill of dangerous possibilities barely kept at bay. Robyn sometimes challenged her aura, teasing the thought of doing something rash and out of character. But always, at the last second, she pulled back.

Quinn ruptured that swaddling layer and exposed her like a raw nerve. Robyn supposed that Quinn didn't really know how to interact with others, neither did he seem considerate of her limitations, nor the fact that his expectations should reflect her capabilities instead of his. Metaphorically, Quinn seemed to be one who would pour gasoline on a burning building; Robyn wouldn't have been in the vicinity of the doomed structure in the first place.

She was angry at him for disrupting her charmed life. Of course, it was an illusion created to mask her deeply disturbed psyche. Her therapist was blatantly shocked that Robyn hadn't gone postal after her ordeal. Denial, he'd written on her chart, and scheduled her for weekly visits that lasted months after that initial meeting. She didn't attend. Robyn attributed her lack of attendance to the size of her wallet in comparison to the shrink's fees, but she knew the truth: she didn't want to face it. That admission would force her to live her life rather than paint a picture of sanity for those around her.

Now, she truly believed Quinn to be the insane one as she huddled her freezing extremities to her core, attempting to warm them in the salty, wet blanket. Her nose clogged with the moisture in the air, but she could still smell the moldy fabric, noting that it smelled slightly of fornication as well.

"God..." She groaned, voice inaudible over the roar of the sea.

She let out a sigh of relief as she felt the boat shudder and slow: she sensed, rather than heard, Dr. Urskin stopping the boat.