It was bad enough that Kris had to fund his violinist's stay at Atlantis, let alone that he had to spend his day now cooped up in the same room as her thanks to some stupid quarantine. No more than two hours could have passed since the island was put on lockdown, and he was all ready to pull his primped bleach-blond hair out to get away from her. Thank god the resort had an indoor pool; lounging beside it was the only thing keeping the young rap "star" sane as he tried—to no avail whatsoever—to tune out the doofy country bumpkin's incessant prattling from over at the bar.

"Well, golly gee, I sure do hope this flu business clears up mighty quick," he overheard Minnie Su bore the barkeep and rolled his eyes. "I heard this poor old man died the other day, bless his heart. It sure does remind me of this one time back home on my farm when all the pigs started gettin' the flu, and then all the farmhands started gettin' the flu from the pigs, too! My daddy had to take them all 'round behind the barn and put them down easy with his shotgun, bless their souls..."

And no, Kris wasn't imagining that; she really did talk like she walked straight off the set of the Beverly Hillbillies. Personally, he couldn't care less about the flu that had been sweeping over Esla Key as of late. People died in Africa every day. That was the cost of not setting aside funding for proper medical care. All he knew was that his cocktail glass was empty and he was going to need a lot more to make it through the next twenty-four hours.

Kris reclined against the lounge chair he had claimed, soaking up the tiny traces of afternoon sun seeping through the window (as if he really needed more of a tan, anyway). From the bar, the chatter continued, and he listened on merely out of having nothing better to do.

"It sure is mighty strange, though, that the military got involved, don't you think, Mister Bartender?"

He opened one eye to peek at the bar, immediately finding that the tall, thin man behind it had taken to wiping the counter down with a rag like in some old-timey movie. Minnie Su's stumpy legs dangled high above the ground from her perch on a tall stool, and one glance was all it took for Kris to ascertain that her hair was still a frizzy mess, her cotton dress was still dowdy, and she was halfway through chugging a tall glass of milk. Who the hell drank milk at a tropical bar?

"I just hope it doesn't spread like the swine flu," the bartender agreed. "My mom's come down with something, and Dad says she's been getting worse. He had to take her to the hospital yesterday. Haven't heard from them since, I hope it's not the flu."

"Oh, bless her heart," Minnie Su sighed, clutching a hand to her chest.

Kris would have given his left arm to get back out to the beach bungalow he'd been lodging in up until a couple hours ago. (Hell, he was planning on storming down to the front desk to demand a refund or some sort of compensation as soon as he was done sun tanning.) He heaved himself up from his lounge chair only to turn it facing the window—the shoreline was a much prettier sight than Minnie Su and her buck teeth—and proceeded to stare sullenly out at the deserted huts lining the beach. Dozens upon dozens of footprints lined the white sand, all abandoning the bungalows for the main hotel he and other paying customers had been forced to board up in once lockdown had been implemented.

To see the once bustling beach completely vacated of life was almost surreal. Where were all the bikini babes?

As if on cue, a movement out of the corner of his eye suddenly caught Kris's attention, and he crooked his neck for a better look. Not two hundred feet further inland, almost obscured by a cluster of trees and ferns, appeared the figures of two young albeit fully clothed brunettes lugging what appeared to be—

Was that a corpse? Kris cocked an eyebrow. Barely, just barely, he could make out tiny details of the body carried between the girls; it looked to be a bony, motionless old man with discolored, almost grey skin. But no sooner had he spotted the trio than it vanished into the trees once more, apparently heading toward the shabby, ramshackle hotel just down the beach. Three Seasons, was it?

Kris almost chuckled as he reclined against his lounge chair again. Two girls carrying a dead guy down the beach... He needed another drink.

Author's Note!

( NEW AUTHOR'S NOTE JUNE 5 ) WOOPS, SORRY GUYS. I totally meant to leave an extra couple of chapters up so I wouldn't have to bump this story in your updated subscriptions, but I totally forgot to and deleted them all! ;_; Hence, had to add a new chapter to repost this prologue, so I apologize for the false flag in your story updates. While I'm here, if anyone's actually reading this, I figured I'd update you on the status of this fic! I've finished choosing apps and chose a total of six—one more than I originally promised! I actually wanted to choose a couple more, too, but I just couldn't work out the partner and personality overlaps. OTL

I'm going to be revealing the chosen characters 2 at a time over the course of the first 3 chapters. I've got most of chapter 1 written up, so expect it to come out sometime tomorrow hopefully! You may notice I fixed the layout up and made a poster for the fic! Minnie Su is the only character featured right now, but I'll be adding more ladies and gentlemen to it as they're revealed. I'm sorry if it's low quality or anything; I used my laptop to make it since I don't have my main computer at the moment and the screen isn't exactly the best for distinguishing low quality photos from high, lol.