Dagon Rising(2)

Richard retired as Director of the National Aquarium, but not before selecting Jennifer as his replacement. He and his wife adopted a child and moved to the mid-west, far away from either ocean.

Law and order were restored in the wake of President Tyler’s death, and the country moved on and slowly rebuilt itself. It was a national time of healing. Sure, there were various conspiracy theories—the most prominent being that Tyler had been assassinated by one of his own Secret Service agents, but the people saying that were the same people who spent their days posting on online message boards about how 9/11 was an inside job and that the Dark Ones were really just doing the bidding of the New World Order.

Colonel Livingston was convinced to run for President after a national straw poll showed him with a ninety-percent approval rating from the American public. He was elected in a historic landslide, and he and his cabinet immediately went to work on not only restoring the country’s infrastructure, economy, and psyche, but also ordering the military to hunt down the remaining colonies of Clickers and Dark Ones.

Jennifer wasn’t sure what happened to Tony Genova. He’d just sort of disappeared shortly after the crisis was over. This bothered her, but she wasn’t sure why. She barely knew him, after all. Their only time together had been during their last stand inside the Peachbottom nuclear power plant, and the debriefing that had followed. She didn’t know what became of him after that. Unlike herself, Richard, Rick, and Colonel Livingston, Tony made no public appearances. He didn’t show up on Larry King or Glenn Beck or The View. His picture wasn’t on the cover of Time or Newsweek or People magazine. In the aftermath, he remained what he’d been when they met him—an enigma. Even still, Jennifer had liked him. Tony had flirted with her, and she’d enjoyed the attention. At the time, she’d chalked her reaction up to adrenalin and what had seemed to be their impending doom. Now, she wasn’t so sure.

Another crab hurried up from the surf and scrabbled past her. Jennifer watched it go. Then she lay her head back on the sand, stretched out, and shut her eyes. What was she doing, mooning over a man she barely knew? Was she really so desperate? Was her love life that dead? Well, yes, she decided after a moment of introspection. It was. Even before the Clicker invasion, her social life had been less than exciting. Her last serious boyfriend, Stan, had broken up with her nine months before the Clickers came—after she’d balked at his suggestion to introduce other people to their lovemaking. After that, she’d thrown herself into her work. Then the Dark Ones and the Clickers attacked. And in the aftermath, she’d been appointed Director, which left no social life whatsoever. She’d barely had enough time to devote to her cat, Tucker, let alone a serious relationship with a man. That was one of the reasons she’d taken the sabbatical, and joined this research expedition to the South Pacific, taking on the role of project manager and lead researcher. To escape. To find herself. To do something fun again. Something she loved. The Director’s job had offered none of those things. Maybe she’d find them here, on Naranu. She’d certainly already relaxed, even though they’d only been on the island a week. Naranu was small compared to the surrounding Polynesian islands— covering just under nine miles—but it was peaceful. So far, Jennifer hadn’t been given the opportunity to utilize her specialty—studying how ecosystems were affected when non-native species were introduced to them. But at least she felt at peace. At least she wasn’t fielding interview requests from the media or strange emails from crazies. The only crazies here were the locals. She hated thinking of Naranu’s indigenous population that way, but it was hard not to. The entire tribe insisted they existed only as guardians of the island’s god, who supposedly slumbered deep beneath the phosphate rock that made up the landscape. While not openly friendly to the researchers, they weren’t hostile, either. They seemed to believe that their god would awaken soon, and would then wipe the intruders from his domain.

Her thoughts turned to Rick Sycheck. More than any of them, the former horror novelist had embraced the bright glare of the media spotlight, granting interviews to everyone from Rolling Stone to Rue Morgue magazine. More recently, he’d dropped out of circulation. His publicist reported that he was working on a new book, a follow-up to his bestselling personal account of his two encounters with the Clickers.

Good for us, Jennifer thought, her eyes still closed. We all went on with our lives when it was over. Richard and his wife adopted a child. Livingston got elected President. Tony went back to doing whatever