“Assassin!” Sharon and Michael blurted out together.

“What do you mean assassin? Like hitman for the mob?”

“You actually were paid…to kill people?”

“Like I’m not proud of it,” she mumbled as she awkwardly rubbed her arm while looking away. “But a girl has to like eat you know? Not too many good jobs out there for a girl with a bachelor’s in psychology and a minor in linguistics.”

“What are you talking about? I’m sure there’s plenty for that kind of stuff, even if it’s just translators.”

“Yes, Michael has…a good point…Surely decent paying work...would not be too…hard to find…as long as you…were not too picky.”

Carolyn sucked in air through her teeth. “Well, you see. There’s like another problem.”

“Do go on…dig your hole deeper…”

“Ignore her. Come on now. You can be open with us. We’re all stuck together now after all.”

“You see, I like kind of have a problem with totally letting it ride.”

“Huh?”

“As in gambling…at casinos?”

“Yeah. Totally got it in one Shar. I kinda owe like a ton of money in gambling debt. They just like kept giving me credit, and it was so fun. I just like couldn’t resist; you know?”

“So, this Sheldon guy who you thought sent me at first?”

“My contact or handler, whichever you prefer.”

Sharon sighed as she loosened her grip on the book. She somehow managed to tuck the massive thing under her arm by merely holding onto it near the middle of the worn cover. With certain steps she walked towards Carolyn, and gently placed her arm on the other girl’s shoulder.

“It is doubtful…they will hold you to…whatever contract you had…with the end of…humanity approaching…”

Carolyn giggled, but this time it almost sounded nervous. “Like, I wish, but if any of them survived, they wouldn’t let me just totally cut myself free.”

“I mean, I’d think their hands would be pretty full if they managed to survive.”

“I guess we’ll like cross that bridge when we get there, you know?”

“Do not worry…I will be the…first to…throw you to them…”

“Ha ha, like real funny Shar.”

Sharon merely smiled back as she pulled her arm away and put it back to the book.

“Only one mystery…left now…who were you…Mr. hero?”

Michael turned slightly red at being called a hero and coughed as he thanked the stars for how dark it was out. “I mean, there’s not much to tell really.”

“That’s like not fair. You come out and make these two beautiful girls like so vulnerable but won’t like share at all. Why that’s totally exploitative you meanie.”

“What no, I didn’t…” Michael stumbled over his words for a minute as they continued to badger him.

“It is not so…hard. Just say…who you were.”

“Yeah, like any girlfriends, or cute pets?”

“You can…be sparse in details…an overview would…be fine…”

“Uh, I guess, like that’d be better than nothing. Come on though, you totally have to give us girls a little peek!”

Finally, Michael grunted in frustration and brought a hand up to rub his temple. He took on a somber tone as he explained himself, “There honestly isn’t much to say. I had a dead-end job, was going nowhere fast, my family basically kicked me out and wanted nothing to do with me. I had a girlfriend, but she just dumped me. I had friends but ended up slowly isolating myself from them for no reason. I just stopped responding to them.”

Michael grumbled in frustration again and just let out a howl. “Look! I’m a loser, okay? A big fat loser where the best thing that happened to me was being left stranded in a dumb run-down duck boat!”

“The world hated me, and I hated it right back okay! I didn’t worry about any nukes because death would’ve been welcome at that point!”

Both girls had gone quiet, and Michael was left to fume on his own. He let out a disgruntled sigh and turned his back on them. “Look, it’s late. I’m going to head into the Lil Ducky and get some sleep. I still need to go through the supplies you brought and readjust everything for three people now.”

With that everyone grew silent, and Carolyn actually let it sit. It was an awkward time, but no one dared break it. The calm rocking of the waves was the only noise that night as they all drifted off to sleep.