Ex-Isle by Peter Clines (electronic reader TXT) 📕

and waved a casual hand at St. George. “I was trying to get them to talk. The stick had not worked. I attempted the carrot. I wanted to see if they would slip up and reveal who they were.”

“I see,” said Nautilus. “So you’re saying…I’m the bad cop.”

“The what?”

The shark smile spread across his face. “I’m joking, friend.” He set a webbed hand on Hussein’s shoulder. “Did they tell you anything useful?”

“Nothing. They still insist their story is true.”

Nautilus stared down at the heroes with his ink-black eyes. “I see.”

Hussein cleared his throat. “Is there…is there any chance they’re telling the truth?”

Eliza’s eyebrows went up.

“What?” The merman looked at him. “Of course not. Why would you think that?”

“It’s just…They’re so adamant about their story. It may be a lie, but I think they believe it is the truth.”

“You’re too trusting,” said Nautilus. “They’re not who they say they are. They can’t be.”

“We are,” said St. George.

The merman took another step toward the cage. Hussein stepped away and cleared a path. “I’m going to make you an offer,” Nautilus said. “Stop talking about Los Angeles, stop calling yourself the Mighty Dragon, and we’ll let you out of the cage. I can’t have you confusing people.”

“Can I call myself the Mighty Dragon?” asked Barry. “Because, to be honest, it’d be a lot easier. He’s not using it anymore, and everybody spells Zzzap wrong.”

Eliza scowled at him. “You still think this is a joke?”

“Yeah,” said St. George, “I do. I’m just trying to figure out the punchline.”

“Oh, that was good,” said Barry.

“Thanks.”

“The ‘punchline,’ ” Nautilus said, “is I’m willing to do anything to keep these people safe. I’m not going to give them false hope and see them get hurt.” His voice shifted tone and pitch as he talked, and he became the politician and showman who’d spoken the other day in the courtyard.

“Except this isn’t false hope,” said St. George. A wisp of smoke slipped from his lips as he shook his head. “Seriously, what happened out here that made you all so paranoid?”

“We’ve seen schemes like this before,” said the merman.

“Pirates and raiders stumble across us out here,” said Eliza. “They see what we’ve got, and they try all sorts of things to get it. They try to turn us against each other. Divide and conquer, right?”

“What you’ve got?” echoed St. George. He looked out at the rusty ship and foul-smelling garden beds.

“And now you’re here,” said Nautilus, “telling us blatant lies about who you are and where you’re from. Trying to convince us you’ve got some amazing film studio fortress in Los Angeles where everyone can be safe and live like they used to. What would you think, in our position?”

“I’d at least give people the choice of finding out,” Barry said.

Nautilus shook his head. “We’re living on the edge out here,” he said, waving his tattooed arm at the garden and the workers. “Not even a week’s worth of supplies to fall back on. We can’t have people daydreaming about a world that doesn’t exist anymore and abandoning their jobs. We depend on each other. All of us. If even a dozen people decided to leave, to see if you were telling the truth, so much of this would collapse.”

“So the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few,” said Barry.

“Of course they do,” Nautilus said. “They always have.”

St. George opened his mouth…and paused. He closed his lips. Trails of smoke streamed from his nostrils. It struck him that this was what Stealth felt like all the time. Being two steps ahead.

“You’re soooo missing the point of that quote,” Barry said. “Spock would be very upset with you right now.”

Nautilus shook his head. “Do you accept my offer,” he said, “or are you going to make us keep you in the cage? Make us keep these children in the cage?”

St. George stared at him.

“Well?”

“We never said the Mount used to be a film studio.”

The expression on Nautilus’s mouth froze, but his eyes widened. Just a bit. His words died on his lips.

The silence spread out across the deck.

“Yes, you did,” he said.

“No,” St. George said. “No, we didn’t.”

“Frak me,” said Barry. “You’ve known all along.”

The silence was replaced by low murmurs.

Nautilus took a breath, and his eyes calmed. “It came up during the examination. One of you mentioned it, and someone repeated it to me.”

“I didn’t mention it,” said Barry.

“Neither did I,” said St. George.

“Your pet ex, then.”

“You mean Madelyn, the girl you ripped in half?”

“She was a monster.”

“She was a teenager,” said St. George. “And I don’t think she was in a very talkative mood during her ‘examination.’ ” He let his eyes drift off Nautilus to settle on Mitchel.

Nautilus turned to stare at the man.

“What?” said the mustached man. “It’s not like I touched her or anything. Alice was in there, and so was—”

Nautilus smacked him.

Mitchel dropped like a sandbag. His shotgun clanged on the deck an instant before his shoulder and his head. He didn’t stop breathing, but he didn’t get back up, either.

“I apologize,” said Nautilus. “That should not have happened. We have laws out here. He’ll be punished for his—”

“You ripped her in half, but you’re upset some pervert watched her undress,” said St. George. “Very noble of you.”

“Noble attempt to change the subject,” muttered Barry.

“Did you know?” Hussein asked the merman.

“What?”

“Have you known all along that we could go to land? That there was shelter?”

“They’re lying,” said Nautilus. “That’s all they’ve done since they got here.”

“So you say. But then how did you know about their base?”

“Shut up, Hussein,” Eliza growled.

“They’re lying about it,” the merman said. “They’re trying to divide us.”

“A moment ago it was part of their story that slipped out,” said Hussein. “Now it’s a lie?”

“Their whole story is a lie!” roared Nautilus.

“Who are they?” Hussein demanded. “Where are they from? The man has all the powers of the Mighty Dragon. His friend has the powers of the electrical man, Zap.”

“Zzzap,” said Barry. “Let the Z buzz on your teeth