Reluctantly, goosebumps on my skin compelled me to exit the cold waters of the Pacific. I started moving my way back to the shoreline, letting the waves carry me on their crests gently to the beach. Trudging along with the incoming waves, I splayed across the sand, arms spread out like an eagle, the water licking at my bare feet. Just when my body started to relax, I heard what sounded like the soft purr of an engine.
Propping myself up on my elbows, I gazed out across the water to see a guy riding a watercraft that resembled a Jet Ski. Creasing my eyebrows, I pushed myself up to a standing position and sprinted over to where it seemed like the guy was heading.
Stumbling over rocks and slipping on slimy surfgrass, I made it over to the rocky outcroppings when the guy disembarked the watercraft. I watched him curiously, as he pulled the craft up beyond the reaches of the surf. He clearly hadn’t noticed me watching him yet, but when he did, he jumped with a start.
“Hey, who are you and what are you doing here?” he questioned, stomping up the sandy bank to where I stood next to a cluster of mussel encrusted rocks.
I stared incredulously at him. His outfit resembled a yellow space suit, minus the helmet. Blue outlines trailed the seams along with matching blue insignias on each arm. Dirty-blond hair hung shaggily past his slightly big ears and touched the tips of his mid-level cheekbones.
“Hey, why don’t you answer me? How did you get here? I didn’t see you when I left.” The boy looked at me with quizzical eyes, as if was trying to size me up; determine what kind of person I was.
“What are you talking about? What are you doing here?” I pushed back, staring him right back in his strikingly green irises, not letting him intimidate me. Although I had spoken with a solid tone, I had to admit to myself, I didn’t feel as confident as I pretended to be with my shabby appearance of wet, sandy clothes, and sand particles matted to my wet, black hair.
“I’m here to collect data like I always do.” The guy looked me up and down, examining me like I was a luxury hover car. “Where did you get those weird clothes?”
I glanced down at my light-colored jean shorts and aqua blue tank top. “What do you mean? I bought these online at a store.”
“Online?” the guy furrowed his brow. “What class are you in?”
“Huh?” Both my confusion and annoyance were growing.
“Where are you from in Oceania? Which school do you attend? I have exclusive access to this beach for my project. No one else is supposed to be here.”
“Oceania? What are you talking about?” I defiantly folded my arms across my chest. “Who are you? What’s your name?”
“My name is Dylan Baker. What’s your name?”
“Allie.”
“No last name?”
I raised a quizzical eyebrow at him. “I don’t know you and thus don’t want you looking me up on the HoloNet.”
“HoloNet?” Dylan mirrored my confused expression. “What is that?”
I gawked at him. “You don’t know what the HoloNet is? Everyone knows about the HoloNet!”
Dylan swiped his hand in the air and turned around. “Forget it, I have work to do.”
“Wait, no…tell me what’s going on!” I followed him, careful not to trip on any of the rocks scattered across the sand.
“No, you’ll just get in my way.” Dylan picked up a pen and tablet from the backseat of the watercraft, and proceeded up to the rockier portion of the beach.
“Look, I don’t understand why you’re so upset, but I want to know what you mean by this Oceania thing.”
Dylan paused and turned to face me with his pen and tablet frozen at chest level in his hands. At first, he peered at me in confusion, but then his face began to soften as he once again visually examined me from head to toe. “You aren’t from Oceania?”
“No,” I answered in exasperation. What was this guy’s problem? Had he escaped from a mental institution?
Both Dylan’s eyebrows disappeared under his shaggy hair, his eyes bulged, and his jaw dropped farther than I thought it could go. “Are you from land?”
“What?” I leaned forward slightly, my arms instinctively crossing again, while I enunciated as if talking to a two-year-old. “Of course I’m from on land. Who isn’t?”
The tablet and pen fell from Dylan’s grasp as he grabbed the sides of his head with both hands. I heard him murmur, “Oh, conch shell.” With his expression of surprise still unchanged, he bent over slightly then jumped into the air letting out a celebratory hoot.
I watched him as confused as can be, as he hopped around and continued screaming like he was a monkey or something. Eventually, he came back to me, grabbing my hand and jerking it free from my crossed arms.
“Allie, oh my gosh…are you the only one?”
“Only one of what?” I continued to let him hold onto my hand but prepared to yank it away at a moment’s notice.
“Only human survivor.”
I snatched back my hand. “What are you talking about?”
I started backing away when he reached out and gently grasped my arm. “Don’t be scared. I’m sorry…I’ve just always been told that every land-dwelling human had died out long ago. I didn’t think terrestrial humans still existed.”
I froze in place. I’d just met a lunatic. I continued to stare at his face, waiting for it to erupt into laughter, indicating that he was merely joking with me.
“Please, tell me. I’ve been working on this assignment to take observations of intertidal species for nearly two years now and
