Megalodon - Rookie Burwick (book recommendations for young adults TXT) 📗

Chapter Nine

 

The metal that lined the bridge began to snap and curve. The doors flew of their hinges. The window shattered into thousands of tiny shards of glass. Liam ducked back down onto the floor once again to cover himself from the burst of death. Marlin and Jane also lay on the floor, hands on the back of their heads, hopefully ready for anything.

Liam could feel the ship moving down, towards the water. He didn't know about the others, but he felt threatened greatly. He looked up and threw the open doorway, and all he saw was blue. He couldn't hold on anymore. He slid right out the doorway, but was caught by the railing. He looked over to his right, and saw the monster shark, its dorsal fin high above the surface. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. It had looked so small on the radar screen, but now that he laid eyes on it, the thing looked as big as an iceberg, or maybe bigger.

The shark circled around the ship numerous times, then suddenly stopped. It heaved itself towards the falling deck, and wrapped it's aw around the siding. Gigantic bits of rocks, cement, and railing came off, and floated into the depths. The shark then grabbed ahold of the corner, and tore off even more debris. But, by now, the ship was almost completely underwater. It was only a few minutes before Liam would be drowning, gasping for breath. Reaching for the surface. He would die, lungs full of water, and inside the monstrous beast. Now, he knew what to call this shark. There was only one name for it. A name that it had been known by for years. The Greek word for hell, he imagined. It truly was a living hell on earth.

Megalodon.

Chapter Ten

 Captain Charles A. Brogh was sitting in his command chair, biting his nails. Commotion was happening, and he didn't like it. For the last nineteen minutes, he and his entire crew had been hearing the most horrid of sounds. It sounded like metal creaking and snapping, but he wasn't sure. The radar and sonar screens were going nuts with beeps and blabs. Something was seriously wrong.

A fog was starting to roll in, and the crew on deck couldn't see the other ships. They had lost contact with the USS Freedom earlier, and he had been shaking with worry ever since. It wasn't normal for Skith to just not reply. Something was afoot there as well. 

"Sir!" His XO, Eric, said, making him jump.

"What?! What is it?" he asked.

"We've lost contact with the USS Tulsa!" Eric came back.

He couldn't reply. He couldn't even speak. They had lost contact with both ships now, and that was not good. Enough was enough. He had to try once more to contact Dob, just to calm himself a bit.

"Eric, try again to contact them!" he called out from his corders.

"I have sir, many times now, with no response!" came the reply.

The inside of the USS Billings was much like the inside of the other shoreline patrol combat ships in the DESRON. Just across the hall from his corders was the main control room, and from then on was nothing but a maze of hallways. It drove Brogh nuts, but it was the ship. But, right now, his mind was on other things. The communication problems were just a small slither of the things he was worried about. He knew what crazy scientific happenings were taking place aboard the USS Tulsa. He knew about the Megalodon those scientists had in their hidden tank, and he knew that was a possible threat.

But how could that monstrosity possibly have escaped? Surely they didn't build some kind of doors leading to the depths right underneath it? He knew something was out there for sure, but he wasn't sure what. They had seen something large on both their sonar and radar screens, but it seemed to be larger than the shark that they supposedly had in the tank.

"Sir!" Eric blurted out.

Brogh jumped to his feet.

"What is it now?!" He screamed.

"The USS Tulsa is no longer on the radar screen!"

"What about the sonar screen?" he asked.

"Actually, it is on the sonar screen, but. . ."

"Why would it be on the sonar, and not the radar?!" Brogh interrupted his XO

"Well, sir, it's sinking right now, that's why."

His XO could barely speak as he said the horrid words, and now Brogh himself couldn't speak. His throat went dry, his lips went numb. What on earth happened had happened? Sure, not malfunction was normal. Computers no longer working properly was normal. But such a catastrophe that was bad enough to sink the bloody ship? That wasn't normal. Now, his worry was at its worst.

"T-t-try to c-c-contact. . .S-Skith. . ." he managed to blurt out.

"Yes sir."

His mind blocked out his XO's worried voice for a long moment. What was out there in that salty water? And was it headed for them? The answer came soon enough. A loud beeping sound pounded into the room. Sirens and red lights swarmed the hallways. Something was coming straight towards them.

He flew into the main control room, and peered out the window that lined the dash. His mouth hung open. His eyes widened. A gigantic dorsal fin was circling them, and it was moving fast. His XO stopped talking at the sight of it.

He could only muster up to say one word; "Shark!"

Chapter Eleven

The monster shark came right at them suddenly, veering off to the side, and smashed into the corner of the hull. Pieces of broken metal shards flew into the roaring waves below, having been stirred up by the beast. Both Brogh and Eric flew to the floor, as well as nearly everyone else on board. 

The shark circled around again, and repeated the process, making more damage as he went. Brogh didn't waste time. He jumped to his feet, and ejected small missiles toward the shark. It veered away from them, and a huge explosion summited up the water a little ways ahead of the ship. Brogh didn't give up. He sent the larger missiles towards the shark, with the same results. Then, the shark turned towards the last missile, and crushed in it's jaws. The small rumble from the explosion made the floor of the ship vibrate. By this time, Brogh was wide-eyed and sitting like a hot hamburger. He sent the last of the missiles towards the shark, and they hit something, but it wasn't the shark.

There was something else out there in the water, but it was a bit smaller than the shark. He glared down at the sonar screens, and saw another shark on it. There were two large sharks out there. But one was smaller than the other. He couldn't believe what he was seeing. He ran out onto the railing, and flew down the stairs. Moments later, he was on deck. He ran a little further before stopping. Gigantic waves were splashing onto the deck, and beneath the waves, a war was going on. He could now see both sharks clearly. The larger one smashed into the other shark's side, and sent it swaying the water.

Now, the clashed. They bit into each other's skin. Blood began filling the water. The two sharks fought for a moment, the separated. Both of them smashed into the ship's hull, their dorsal fins rising high above the surface. Now, they both circled around again, surrounding the innocent ship. Brogh was now as pale as a ghost. The sharks met up again, and bit into each other some more. The blood churned red with water.

The larger alpha shark grabbed the smaller shark in its jaws, and shook. He imagined the smaller shark would be dead after this blow, but it swam away, barley moving its tail, but moving. The alpha shark followed it close, and soon opened it jaws wide. It grabbed the tail, and tore it clear it off. Brogh couldn't help but heaving after witnessing that. It was such a gruesome sight.

The two sharks clashed again, and this time, the alpha finished the smaller shark off. Its lifeless body floated down into the depths. Brogh turned and ran back towards the bridge, but he was too late. The shark rammed into the ship, and knocked him down. He heard a crack, then the world beyond the deck became dark.

Chapter Twelve

The shark glided through the water for a few moments, then spun around, and headed for the ship again, at full force. It rammed into the side, and bits of cement and railing came crashing down. Then, the shark repeated the process. This time, the ship rocked over towards the side a bit. Everyone inside the ship flew to the floor. 

The shark rammed the ship again, this time rocking it to the side even more. The shark prepared again to ram the ship, but something else rammed into it first. This thing was bigger, much bigger. The shark flew off course a few feet, then turned to meet its gigantic enemy.

It was another shark, but it was huge. Its dorsal fin was taller than a skyscraper. It glared down at the shark with its beady, black eyes. Its jaws opened, it lunged forward, and it bit into the shark. This was the real alpha. This was the real Megalodon. Everyone on board the ship was dead now, but the shark didn't care. It tore into the other shark, shaking it, killing