The rain had subsided, leaving nothing but an eerie fog consuming the city.

My hands grasped the slick metal bars of the shoddy ladder as Bradley and I continued upward. “Not much longer.” He spoke.

Once I finally reached the top, I took in the surroundings. We had placed ourselves at the roof of a bank, as it was one of the few buildings in town that had a flat cover with places to keep ourselves concealed. In the distance, lights pierced through the fog. A shipyard was barely visible, with dock workers moving crates and securing vessels.

There were rumors that the harbor men kept themselves a portion of whatever was being moved from the river to the warehouses. It was Bradley and I’s directive to find out if that rumor were true. If it was, then they would have all the missing ingredients we needed.

Drugs were moved about the city so frequently that it would take far too long to try and procure the compounds we needed from every seller, not to mention the fact that buying ingredients and not the finished product was a difficult thing to do. Our greatest hope relied on acquiring the precursors at the beginning of their journey.

We settled in, preparing for a long night. I was somewhat glad to be tasked with watching the warehouses. I would not have been able to sleep anyways, and having company kept my mind from wandering to the growing shadows in the corner of my vision.

Keeping my distance from the multiple puddles that had formed on the roof, I found a place to sit. There was no way I could stand for the entirety of our time watching the warehouses, but I did intend to keep my clothes relatively clean. It was not often they were properly washed.

I took off my glasses and kept focus on the shipyard. I had become somewhat used to the monocles; Taking them off reminded me of how little I really saw with them on. “Looks like they have yet to finish with their regular work.”

Bradley moved beside me and laid on the ground, looking up at the cloudy sky as he dug in his pockets. “I wouldn’t worry about it, mate. We’ve got a long while before they do anything interesting, I’d bet.”

Sitting my elbow on the low brick wall on the edge of the roof, I shifted my weight until I was comfortable. “You’re probably right. It feels like it should be later than it is.”

Finally finding the pack of cigarettes in his dusty coat pocket, Bradley opened the cardboard box. The container already had multiple cigarettes smoked, and in their places Bradley had stuffed a few matches. “You’ve had a longer day than me, that’s for sure.” Beginning to light his cig, he continued. “How did that deal with Hughes go anyhow? I was talking to Price about all the things we needed to get, and he mentioned something about you two already covering some of it.”

“It went about as well as one would expect. I thought I had problems, but Hughes is within a different class of his own.” Bradley shook the cigarette package, to which I nodded, prompting him to retrieve another. “I feel bad for him, yet I cannot tolerate the grotesque torture he puts himself through. Especially when it nearly kills the both of us.”

Lighting my cigarette with the red bud of his own, Bradley handed it over and responded. “He’s got problems, that’s for sure… At least his money’s been helpful.”

I took a deep breath in, then spoke as I breathed out. “Very true. We would not have been able to succeed without his high society connections, either...”

“Yeah…” Bradley said, smoking and staring at the grey clouds above us. We continued in silence for a long while. The workers still did nothing but anchor ships and move obviously benign cargo back and forth.

Hughes was a difficult person, but at the very least his troublesomeness was at the forefront of his image. We all had things wrong with us, and the most taxing question on my mind is what brought the others to the help of Dr. Prescott. Hughes was simple enough to read from the cover. I had known Bradley for years. Emilia seemed good intentioned, and Price seemed reliable, but both had to have something beneath the surface I just couldn’t see. What happened to Emilia’s parents? Is ‘salvage’ the only illegitimate business Price has a hand in?

I spoke my mind to Bradley. “We have a strange team formulated, and I don’t know if I think anyone is fully sane. I still believe I see us for who we are though, which in the end is good people, don’t you think?” My words may have seemingly come from nowhere, but that sentiment had been on my mind for a long while. The things we did… it did not feel good. I had killed two men in the past two days. I had nearly died more than that… But what could I do? It was not like I chose to be burdened with my visions.

“I think you’re right…” Bradley said. Then, in little more than a whisper, Bradley spoke again. “Of course, you see them for who they really are. You’re the witness, after all.”

“I’m the… what?”

Unaware of the words he said, Bradley questioned me back. “What? I said I think you’re right.”

I shook my head and sighed. “Nothing… You were just saying things again.”

“Oh. Sorry…” Although sometimes confusing, I wished I had whatever condition plagued Bradley. He spoke without thinking, and it was always falsely cryptic. He had lost relationships, jobs, and his place at a university for it, but it was better than seeing things in the shadows.

I had no intention of delving deeper into the sentiments spoken by him, though. After all that had happened with Hughes, I wanted my brief respite.

A long moment passed before Bradley started a different subject. “You know… I’m sorry about the boat.”

I did not expect, nor want, to talk about the boat, but Bradley apologizing was enough to make me curious. “Hmm?”

Bradley sat up, eyes in the distance. “I don’t know… I feel like if I had tried to find another way to get in you wouldn’t have had to go through all that.”

Stoically, I shook my head. “There was nothing you could do. There was no entrance other than that one, and the metal couldn’t be bent.” I felt the bandaged wound on my back. It was a deep gash, one that would stay with me for a while. It’s scar even longer. The longest lasting scar, though, was what I saw and did in that place…

Yet I knew not to delve into such things. If my mind began the spiral of thought that was the maddening appearance of those abominations, it would consume all focus from me. I had already slightly begun to lapse into my disassociated state of mind when Bradley spoke. “Well, thanks.” He slowly lowered himself to laying down once more. “I can’t imagine having to swim in that choking black water.”

“I’d rather not discuss it.” And with that statement, we fell into silence. A few minutes of smoking would pass before we began to talk again, but it was only about trivial matters, such as stores closing and new ones opening. Which fish were finer quality to buy that week. Things that made me miss having a semi-normal existence.

About thirty minutes and six cigarettes later, most of the workers had finally begun to disperse. All that remained was a suspicious few, all circling around a single warehouse. I raised my head and called for Bradley, who groaned to his knees and looked with me. The workers unchained the large doors from one another and began pulling them open, revealing numerous wooden crates. All of them looked the same, but I was sure there had to be some way of telling them apart from one another. The only way to tell, though, was to get closer. “We have to go down…” I said.

Bradley flicked the cigarette between his fingers into a puddle whilst I extinguished it against the brick wall, then we both hurried down the ladder and quickened towards the shipyard.

After ducking through a short alley, we came across the large wooden fence that separated the streets from the warehouses. The main gate was chained and locked, but there was a side door. The door itself was also locked, but only from the inside, leading Bradley to clasp his hands together and squat. “C’mon then. No way you’re lifting me.”

I placed my foot in his hands and began to reach for the top of the fence. With Bradley’s help, I was easily able to grasp the wooden boards. Whether I was able to pull myself up was a completely different story, though. I had a tight grip, but there was no upper body strength available to lift me to the other side. Bradley had to grab the bottom of my dangling shoes and push, and with his help by bringing me I was barely able to straddle the wooden boards. Getting to my feet on the other side was much easier, and in a moment I had pulled the wooden hatch and opened the door for Bradley.

Bradley spoke as we began to move quietly forward. “Price should have his boat somewhere close by… All we need is a chance to get a good look at the things and just wait for them to leave.”

We continued through the courtyard and by several warehouses until we reached the one in question. Slowly approaching from the back, we could hear the dock workers talk. They went on with ambient ramblings about their homelife and interests. Nothing that would hint to the crates they kept secret.

Eventually a different sound rang out through the chatter. A bell, that of a ship.

I highly doubted Price would make such a foolish noise and let our presence be known, which meant that there had to be another boat. The shipyard was closed, though, leading to only one thing…

“Damn boxes are too heavy.” Said one worker.

“Yeah, but we either move it or lose it. We’re gettin’ too well known, and I’d rather move everything than have hoodlums take it.”

Shit. Soon it would not matter if we knew which boxes were which. We had visited the cartel on their moving day.

I looked back to Bradley, who looked panicked and out of ideas. We slowly moved to the back of the warehouse and began going through the alley between it and the fence. Carefully creeping closer to the docks, I could see the boat they planned to use. The ship was even smaller than Price’s, but it was large enough to be steam powered. Such speed meant there was no way Bradley or I could keep up with it from shore.

“What do we do?” Bradley said, looking about wildly.

I shook my head. “I’m not sure… We cannot just take a crate and run. We have to know what’s inside…”

The workers appeared in the light, causing us to retreat farther behind the warehouse wall we had been using as cover. Past the fog, I could see them pushing a large cluster of boxes in a wagon. They moved that cart on to their little boat and immediately retreated to the warehouse. I could hear the large doors being closed and locked tight once more. All the crates had been successfully moved in a single trip...

I looked to Bradley, and we shared a similar expression. We knew there was but only one option left…

We waited for the men to get back on the boat and secure the ramp they had used for moving the wagon on board. The secluded themselves in the cabin as the ship began to chug forward.

After a brief moment of heavy breathing and preparations, we both broke into a sprint. Before the ship had gotten far from the dock, we jumped to the wooden ledge. The two of us hadn’t enough speed to fully clear the ridge, and instead we were both left dangling on the side of the boat. Bradley was high enough to simply shift his weight, but I was completely extended.

I looked down at the brackish water below, fear brewing deep in my gut as my heart fluttered. My phobia of the water was still as potent as ever.

The deeply rooted desire of not wanting to touch the water was enough to bring me more strength.

My wet shoes squeaked on the wooden boat as I clambered higher with all the effort I could muster. The adrenaline I had conjured at the sight of the water was enough to bring me over the railing of the boat and on to the deck. Just as I began to catch my breath, the door to the cabin creaked open, leading me to jump for cover behind the wagon. I heard the men deliberating over what the noise of us jumping on board could have been, but ultimately deciding it was simply a crate that had toppled to one side and not to worry about it.

Bradley shuffled out from his hiding place under the wagon to beside me. We had successfully boarded the ship as stowaways, but there was just a single problem that rang out in the forefront of my mind…

What now?