The Donzi

The day was bright and warm, a crisp, easy breeze flowing across the streamlined bow of Victor’s blue and white Donzi. It hopped across the water in strides, picking up speed and distance until it started into long leaps, hardly touching the water before it bounded off again. The smile on Victor’s face was brighter than the sun itself as his boat cleared a rough wave in a single leap, touched down, and continued on its way.1

Without warning, the boat slammed itself down to the surface of the Gulf. Its engine hesitated and the windshield barely sustained, while its driver was nearly knocked out of his tan leather seat. He slowed the speedboat down to a troll and stood to look for another boat. He was alone; the wake shouldn’t have been here. After a moment, he realized that the waves were only going one direction – behind him. He looked ahead at the Gordon Marina – or what used to be the Gordon Marina – and sped the boat up.2

The Donzi seemed to hesitate as Victor pulled it into its dock. He stepped out of it and tied it up by the bow. He was in too much of a hurry to tie it by the sides as well, so he sprinted the length of the boardwalk, slowing to a jog as he walked out onto the parking lot. It didn’t take long for him to stop completely. The breeze had quickly gone from carefree to haunting as he took in the impossible destruction. One of the five cars that had been there when he had left was on its roof, engine oddly still idling, while the rest were nearly destroyed and scattered all over the place. The check-in building was a wreck – its walls were mostly torn down, rubble was lying all around it, and a small dying fire was eating at all the wood that was left on the small fragment of a wall that was still standing. The boathouse seemed undamaged except for its large metal door, which was riddled with bullet holes. He flexed his shoulders and walked into the steel building, the wind still whispering a warning.3

The Donzi pulled on her tether. She only wished she could warn him...4

Inside, everything seemed untouched. The various watercraft stored there all looked innocent and safe, even though he was getting the strange feeling that something wasn’t right. As he slowly walked down the aisle, he realized that the silence was all too eerie. The only sounds he could hear were his soft footsteps as he prowled. Footsteps…footsteps…clink.5

Set on high alert, Victor glanced nervously around. After a few moments of listening for anything past the sound of his own uneasy breath, he continued. 'Now why would anyone want to terrorize Gordon Marina?' Victor thought to himself. 'The only stellar boat we have here is my Donzi, which was obviously out at the time of the attack. If they wanted anything else, I have no idea how they could –'6

Victor’s line of thought was interrupted when he nearly tripped over something in the dark. He took out his flashlight and shone it down on the object.7

“Oh my God…” he whispered, backing away from the cloaked corpse.8

He backed into someone much bigger than he and didn’t dare turn around.9

A shot rang out through the marina, and just like that, it was over.10

The Donzi heard it and sent out a distress call to the police force. They weren't going to be happy to hear the news about their best man.