The rain pounded against the windows of the station, while Grace sat at the desk looking through the blinding rain.

“Damn, it’s coming down hard,” she said, “The others should be in the research stations, so they should be fine.”

She focused back on the storm, angrily beating against the concrete building. She knew Hurricane Matthew was coming from the weather alert she got just an hour ago. She just didn’t expect it to find it’s way to the mostly secluded Avetoro, and for it to get so violent so fast.

“Jeez, this is boring. Maybe I can get some wifi to play something on my phone,” she thought, taking out her iPhone and started playing Crossy Road.

A few minutes went by, along with some highscores, and the station’s tablet suddenly got a notification.

PING

“What the- oh, it must be Darla.”

Grace gets out of the office chair and walks over to the opposite counter where the tablet sat. On the notification screen, she saw the app that tracks the other researchers had gone off.

“That’s weird, did a bird lose a chip?”

She checked the app, focusing on the bird trackers, but didn’t see any of the trackers offline or lost. But, one of the doctor’s trackers wasn't in a research station, and one of the trackers didn’t show. She could see her and Darla’s trackers were in two of the three stations, but Kelvin’s was out in the forest, unmoving.

Grace checked the notification, which was from one of the trackers getting wet.

“Probably the one that went offline from the storm,” she thought, “But why would it be out in the storm in the first place? It would be stupid to stay out during this.”

Grace looks out to the rain, still coming down fast, still blocking the view out into the forest. Looking back to the tablet, she saw that Kelvin’s tracker was between two of the stations, and it was only two miles away.

“I need to see what happened. They said we need to keep the trackers with us at all times, and there is no way that either of them decided to ditch 'em.”

Grace opens a locker next to the garage door, filled with essentials, and picks out an umbrella, keys to an ATV, and a raincoat.

“Wait, the Jeep is probably a better option,” she thought, and quickly replaced the ATV keys with keys to the Jeep.

Grace heads out to the Garage, gets in the 2018 Wrangler, and opens the garage door. She prepared for the thrust of the wind into the garage by stepping on the gas a small bit, which prevented the car from getting shoved back with the ATVs. She attempted to put on a country station, but it was no surprise that the radio got no signal. When she pulled her head back up to drive off, she almost instantly turned off the headlights and froze. Outside was… something.

The creature was not very visible, but it was visible enough to see that it had the rough frame of a bird, and it was scaly. It had several spikes on its body, along with a few adorning its head. Teeth could barely be seen through its barely open mouth.

In the distance, beneath the deafening sound of wind and raindrops flattening the earth, a roar could barely be heard, though it was more like a cassowary with the undertone of a crocodilian grumble. The creature outside looked to the sky and roared back, as well as a third elsewhere. It started walking towards the first sound, but it stopped. It jerked its powerful neck almost instantly and stared directly into the garage. It looked directly at Grace.

Grace froze, struggling to move, before suddenly hitting the button in the car to close the garage. The creature appeared to snarl before charging, and it was charging fast. The closer it got, the more memories were flashing in Grace’s mind. The door just barely closed in time, with a large dent appearing in it from the creature's head; A second, smaller dent shot into the door. Many more continued, & the desperate attempt for the creature to get to her kept continuing for what felt like an eternity.

Bang

The sound broke the creature’s focus, and the dents stopped.

BANG, BANG

It was clearly gunshots now, getting closer and closer. It roared out again, before slight thumps moved away into the jungle. Grace gets out of the car, pale white, and quickly runs back into the main station. From the window, she could hardly see its large, three toed prints going deeper into the forest. Towards where the first roar came from. Not even a minute after, a heavily armored team with massive rifles ran by. A few of the men stopped and looked into the station, and saw Grace inside with an expression that was a mix of shock and apprehensiveness.

“Miss, are you alright?” asked one of the men.

Grace stayed silent, and heard the echo of the roar again, only stopping when-

BOOM

Grace woke up from the dream, and saw she was still on the plane. She glanced out the small window to see dark clouds and rain hitting the window. She sighs, and walks to the bar.

“I’ll have a Twisted Tea,” she asks, to which the bartender gets a can from the fridge. Before she can take a sip, the captain comes over the comms.

“Attention, this is your captain speaking. We are experiencing slight turbulence from the storm, remain in your seats until we pass by it.”

“Sounds good, I could definitely remain at the bar,” she thought, as she drank.

“Hey, mind if I sit here?” The voice came from the right, and she saw the same guy that talked to her when she got on.

“I mean, as much as I want this trip to pass by,” she thought, “I need someone to talk to. What was his name? Aaron?”

“Didn’t the pilot tell us to stay in our seats?” Grace responded.

“I figured- and it’s captain not pilot, I figured I might as well get a drink before I stay seated.”

He sat in the stool next to her and asked the bartender for water.

“So, no one really explained to us why they wanted to bring you, just that you ‘knew the island well’ and you’ll help ‘find the missing person.’”

“Well, the short of it was- wait, did you say person?”

“Yeah, pretty sure they briefed you on it. We’re going to find a British scientist, Dr. Dean Gerning.”

“I was told that we were going to find out what happened to the missing people, as in multiple.”

“That’s really strange, the way they described the mission to us was just finding one person. Pretty sure something is going on here.”

“Oh you don’t say, what could have given that away?” Grace said sarcastically, “Couldn’t be the weird guys with guns or suits, could it? Except you, you're okay. Alan, was it?”

“Adam, but you got close.”

Grace finishes her tea before asking for another.

“I’ll pay for it if you want,” Adam requested. Grace looked at him weirdly, as if he had suddenly grown three eyes or if it was the first time a guy bought her a drink.

“I’m not interested,” she said in a flat tone, “I can buy my own drinks, just drink your fuckin’ water.”

“Oh, sorry! I didn’t mean it like that at all!” he said frantically.

“It’s fine, but really this whole thing is shifty as hell. How about you and me have each other’s backs, so if one of us finds something we report it to the other.”

“So if I see something, for example them killing someone who didn’t deserve it, I tell you and you’ll do the same?”

“Correct.”

“Alright, you have a deal.”

* * *

The plane touched down on the runway of Grand Bahama Airport, blowing palm trees and flying right above a beach. The storm had passed, though a light drizzle was still sprinkling. As soon as Grace walked into the tunnel, she immediately regretted wearing a long-sleeved black shirt.

“Damn, it’s probably humid as shit outside if it’s this hot in here,” she thought as she walked through it into the gate.

The airport was far more spacious than the BW Airport that Grace had come from, but it was quieter. The sound that was there came from the amenities, from the mixed-language conversation to the people talking in the bars.

Normally, Grace would have gotten lost easily and struggled to read signs, but the past experience of going through the exact same airport guided her. After making her way past the gates, security, and to the front lobby, she saw the team waiting outside.

Once outside, she knew she was right. The sun beat down on every part of the Bahamian earth, and it went especially hard on Grace. She looked over to the team, in which the suit men were assembled with Charles.

“Yes, we just arrived. No, not yet, it’ll arrive in about four hours,” he said. Grace got closer, and saw he was on the phone.

“I know that, but it will be later in the day. There’s a ban on going there.”

She tried to go even closer, but one of the men turned around.

“‘Scuse me miss, are you supposed to be ‘ere?” he said, with an even stronger English accent then Charles.

“Yes I am. I’m on your stupid suicide mission to a certain island,” Grace replied.

“Ah, Miss Bennet, I didn’t recognize you. The boat isn’t coming until 6pm, so until then just enjoy the wonders of-”

“‘The wonders of the Bahamas’ yeah I’ve heard it before,” she interrupts and walks away.

Strolling over to an occupied area of the sidewalk, she calls an Uber to a store she knows nearby. A few minutes later, an old green Chrysler pulls up.

“Hola señorita, ¿para dónde?” said the guy driving it. He looked to be in his late 30s, and was balding.

“Maho Pharmacy,” Grace responded, “Tu hablar en inglés? Yo no hablar en español.”

“Yes, I do speak English.”

“Oh thank god, that’s the only Spanish I know.”

She gets in and they start a short drive to the store.

“So, what are you here for senorita? Vacation, business, or something else?” he asks.

“I’m here on a research trip, I’m coming to study the birds,” Grace answered, echoing the same words she said two years ago.

“That’s nice, do you have any kind you like to watch?”

“Yes, I’m very knowledgeable in wading birds. Especially bitterns and- oh, you can stop here.”

The driver pulls over and Grace gets out, tipping him $2 in Euros.

“¡Gracias, señorita!” he said before he drove away.

Grace walks into the store and heads to an aisle with miscellaneous books. Magazines, novels, coloring books, all in Spanish. She looks around, and finds a little black sketch book, the same kind she bought two years ago to document bird behaviors. She picked it up and brought it to the checkout.

“Hopefully this can help with keeping track of everything. And it might give me a way to document… it.”

* * *

“Get on, quick! We only have a short window to do this!” shouted Charles, as the team loaded on a relatively large boat in militaristic fashion.

It was a commercial fishing boat, called the “Dientes Cocodrilo.” Grace gets on casually with her bag, now containing her little black sketch book. The indoor compartment is anything but one of a fishing boat, more like a small navy ship. The walls were lined with British Navy colors, gun racks, and lockers. The outside deck was aged wood, despite the boat itself being metal.

“Hey Grace!” said Adam, who came from the indoor barracks in a US military vest and a small pistol in his belt.

“Shouldn’t you be in the soldier room?” said Grace.

“Barracks, and do you answer every greeting with a question?”

“What do you- oh yeah the bar. So, do you know what we do when we get there?”

“Yeah, they’re sending a scout team of about a third of the guys here to evaluate the area. We’re docking in the Cala de Coral, or Coral Cove.”

“Wow, let me guess, it has coral reefs in there?”

“It used to, but I overheard someone say they broke over time. Now the boat can fit.”

“Great, now we can get even closer to death.”

“What?” he said, very confused.

“Nothing. Do you know how long it’s going to be before we set off?”

Before Adam could answer, Charles got on the boat with a megaphone and called the team.

“We’re setting off, men! Make sure to leave any electronic devices behind!”

“Right about now. It’s a bit weird, too, why would we leave our phones?” questioned Adam.

“Why are you asking me? Even if I knew, I’m not giving up my phone. And you should be smart enough to do the same.”

Grace pulled her phone out of her pocket and put it in a hidden compartment of her bag, before walking to the front of the boat and looking out at the ocean.

“Are you ready Adam?” asked Grace.

“For what?” he responded.

“There’s something on that island, which I saw two years ago. It tried to kill me. It probably killed everyone else on that island. And there’s a good chance we’re heading right to it.”

“So, we could die?”

Grace was silent, before answering in a whisper

“Yes, and it isn’t the only one.”