Henric backed away from the tube, still staring in shock. Noticing the maintenance room behind it, he walked around the tube, not taking his eyes off it. Reaching the door, he noticed something had already tried to break through it. It was dented and scratched up, almost broken through. Henric, mallet ready, turned the knob and was surprised it actually opened. Why was the door messed up if it was unlocked?

Opening the door he immediately see a big panel on the wall half shut. He opened it and looked at the switches. Instead of actual names there was numbers and letters for the rooms. The map was no help either, so Henric flipped every single one. The light in the room went out and came back on as he switched them. Just like every other computer, the one on the desktop was offline. Worthless. He picked up a flashlight and headed back out the room, staring at the tank again. It was just my mind playing tricks on me, right? There's nothing in that tube.

Henric didn't even believe himself. He cut on the flashlight which was way brighter than he expected it to be, and slid it against the glass. Unfortunately, he was right. He could see the silhouette of the mermaid in the glass. He didn't know why, but he felt sad for the mermaid. He didn't know her, he couldn't see her face, he didn't even know if she had a name. But seeing her, trapped in filth... A creature that amazing deserved better.

He could still help Eve though. When the power on, her filter should start back working. After that, he'd keep going and find his dad. Going back from where he came he saw how bad the state of the labs was. The whole place had been trashed. Papers, chairs and tables had been thrown all over the place. Henric saw shoes watches even a phone. He picked it up but it wouldn't turn on. Great, Henric thought, lunging it as far as he could. There's nothing here but broken machines and bizarre animals.

He made it back to Eve's tank and found her laying on her side, poking at the starfish resting on the glass. As soon as she saw him she sat upright and smiled. Then she looked at the filter and noticed it wasn't on. She frowned and pointed to the filter, which hadn't turned on.

Damn. What else do I need to do? Henric walked around the tank and looked at the wall, searching for an on switch. Turning around and seeing the ladder, he gazed up at top of the tank, which seemed like a very long way up.

"They made this for a reason, and I doubt they were you giving you fish food." he muttered as he began to climb. Eve watched him closely, slowly going up as he went up. He started to get tired halfway up the stairs and then he made the mistake of looking down.

"Holy crap!" He closed his eyes and held on for dear life. Why didn't just make an elevator? He thought. Or an escalator? How did anyone climb up this thing?

Eve watched him while he rested until something took her attention. She swam away from him right before he opened his eyes.

"I got this... I got this... I'll be a up there in a moment Eve." He opened his eyes and noticed she had swum away. He peered between the rungs and saw a bunch of fish swimming through Eve's tank. She had swam passed them and was holding onto something long and wide.

Oh my God it's a shark!

Eve was holding the shark's tail in her right hand and trying to grab the front of it with her left. It thrashed about angrily, trying to chomp off her hand as she wrestled with it. She finally got a hold of it with both hands, clamping its mouth shut. She raised it and and bit into it's back, right where the dorsal fin was. She left a huge chunk missing out of his back, causing a small spurt of blood to shoot out. The shark's tail moved feebly but it didn't resist anymore. Henric continued to climb up the ladder, not wanting to see what was going to happen to the rest of the shark. When he finally made it to the top, gasping for air, Eve was done, and she was watching him again.

There was way more space on top than he first thought. There was a long platform for him to stand on that went all around the tank. In front of him was a dock like area that extended out over the water. Henric looked across the water and Eve raised her head above it. Her skin was greyish and covered in little spots like freckles. Her irises were a pale blue, almost the color of her sclera. She gazed at him intently, unblinking, and he gazed back for what seemed to be an endless amount of time. Then he got to his feet and walked onto the dock. It didn't wobble like he expected, it was sturdy. He walked all the way to the end before she dipped back under the water.

"Wait! Come back up!" He yelled, putting his hand in the water and splashing furiously. Eve stuck her index finger up out of the water. Her finger alone was already longer than Henric's entire body. It wasn't pruned Henric reached out and rested his palm against her finger. He smiled. Her hand was cold as ice but he didn't care. Just to physically touch her... This was unbelievable.