Kraken - Rookie Burwick (latest ebook reader txt) 📗

his eyes. He stared out of the window, and, in the last rays of sunlight, he saw the tentacles still destroying everything. He couldn't just let this happen. He needed to do something, and do it fast. He turned to Brent, who was now fully awake and alert.

"Brent, is the storage unit still blocked?"

"Yes, sir."

He turned back to the window and growled faintly. He needed to do something. . . The ship was hit again. Briche went flying onto his back, and heard a crunch. He sat up as quickly as he could, pain shooting through his upper back. He stood up and looked out the window again and saw the tentacles slipping back into the water.

"Sir! The squid is now retreating!"

He spun around. "Really?"

"Yes, sir. It's headed towards the front of the ship!"

"What do you mean?"

"It's curving up towards the bow, sir!"

 Briche didn't reply for a moment as he thought. There wasn't much he could do except warn the guys in the back station, but that wouldn't do much good.

"Open fire," he said at last.

Brent went right to work, typing away. He heard the missile launchers take aim.

"Sir, the missile launcher is bent!"

 

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The front control station was the smallest one on the entire ship. It could only hold up to seven people, and all of them were very important. They were the people who steered the ship. The head of control for that particular section of the ship was a younger man named Liam Bronson. He had been in the Navy for over two years now, but not quite three years. 

And, right now, he was scowling at the odd commotion that was going on. The ship had been hit by someone, or something at least three times now, and it had really tossed them around. It made him wonder what on earth was happening, but he just guessed some sort of submarine attack. That's what they did now a days. There was an awful lot of yelling that had gone around on the back deck, and he had no idea what it was about. The bugged him to the point of his teeth clenching. He didn't like not knowing.

"Steady, now. We may be hit again," he said as calmly as possible.

No one responded, which was the way Bronson liked it. He hated the chit-chat way of things. As he stared out of the small, thin-lined window, his face grew with concern. He watched as the horrid, gigantic tentacle rose up, and wrapped itself around the railing . . . then, more tentacles rose up and joined in with the destruction.

"What on mother earth is this?!" he asked, half screaming. "Get some firearms out there, now!"

The men went right to work, aiming straight for the tentacles . . . but then, another tentacle wrapped itself around the canons, and heaved them from their foundations. The tentacle tossed the canons out into the water, and then slithered away. Bronson's mouth was hanging open as he watched, un-aware of the flashing red light behind him.

"What now, sir?" one man asked.

"I. . . I don’t . . . know," he could hardly speak. "I suppose we should . . . alert the captain. . ."

"I'm sure he already knows. He's been warning us to keep a lookout for something."

"Then I'm not sure what we can do except. . ."

Before he could finish, another tentacle slammed up against the window, cracking the glass. The shards went flying into the room. Bronson turned just into to feel a sudden jolt of pain shoot in his neck, and then he fell to the floor, dead. He let out one last breath before he died, the image of tentacles reaching through the window slowly fading away.

 

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Briche gulped as he watched the sonar screen. What it showed was just as horrifying as actually seeing it happen. The image showed tentacles ripping shreds of metal off of the bow, and letting them drop into the water. They were just too enormous to defeat. The problem was, the tentacles only made up half of the creature's body. And that presented a problem. A really big problem.

"What damage has the bow taken?" he asked.

"Let me, check," Brent replied.

The young sonar expert began scanning the bow of the ship, as well as the front deck.

"Oh no, the canons are gone!"

"Gone?!"

"Yes sir, gone! That thing must have ripped them off!"

 "Oh good grief, will this horror ever end?!"

He couldn't say that just yet. Mainly because they couldn't give up without at least somewhat of a fight, but also because the creature seemed to have just began. He could feel the vibration clear back here of the bow being ripped to shreds.

"What are we going to do, sir?"

"Contact Bronson, and tell him to get a few men out there with some serious firearms, but remind him to be careful."

"Yes, sir."

Brent picked up the small radio and began speaking into it. He couldn't hear what the man was saying because his words were drowned out by Briche's deep thought. There just was that much he could do except fire at the creature with explosive missiles, and hope that they would bring it down. But he didn't want to waste any ammo, not a drop of it. They needed to wait for a clearer shot, like when the beast was moving, but there was no time for waiting.

Everything was just timed so horribly. Brent's voice finally came through.

"Sir! I can't get response from Bronson!"

Briche turned to him with a look a pure horror. Now, not only had they lost connections with other boats, they were losing connections with people who were on board the same boat as him.

"Try again. Keep trying until you get him!"

Brent nodded, and then continued to try again. He tried numerous times, waiting at least two minutes between each try.

"Nothing, sir. They're gone."

". . . That can't be though, they can't be gone. . ."

"Well, there's no response."

Briche turned and slowly walked up the stairs. Once on the platform he began to pace. Just as he had hoped, the moon was almost full, and spread a nice, thick layer of light on the ship. The stars added to the brightness as well, and the water sparkled as it reflected the glamorous sight. Usually it was glamorous, anyways. Not tonight. Because tonight, he had things to worry about.

"I don't know what to do, except send a few men up there to check on them. Do that," he said at last.

Brent nodded in reply, and did as he was told.

"Attention to anyone on guard duty, attention. You are to report to the front control room immediately, and report back as to what you find. Over."

He lowered the radio from his mouth and slid it over its holder.

"What's the creature's position?"

Brent looked back to the computer screen. "It's retreating again sir, away from the bow!"

"Really?"

"Yes, sir! It heading back this way . . . it's passing right under us!"

"You mean it's gone?"

"Yes, it's retreating!"

"Alright. Speed us up to forty knots. Make this ship go as fast as it possibly can!"

"Yes sir."

Briche turned back to the window. Despite the good news, he wasn't smiling. There had to be a reason why that thing would just give up like that. Perhaps they had somehow scared it off up in front, or maybe something else scared it off. But he tried not to think that. If anything bigger than that thing attacked, and they would be toast.

Then, he heard the door open. He turned around to see Jasper entering in. He shut the door behind him, and looked up at Briche.

"Hutchision. It looks like you were right," he said.

"Yes, captain. But that doesn't matter now. We need to stop that thing before. . ."

"You think I don't know that?! I don't know how many men we lost, but it was way too many!" Briche narrowed his eyes. "I can't have that, Hutchision. I need those men!"

"Oh yes, I think you do, it's just, that thing is so much bigger than I remember."

"You're telling me that the thing that just attacked us was bigger than the thing you saw?!"

"That's right, chief. Much bigger."

"Surly it's the same thing. . ."

"I think it is, captain. Just bigger. I have a theory, want to hear it?"

"Whatever. I don't care."

"Here it is. Say, when this 'creature' first was awakened, it was much smaller, only about a size larger than your typical fifty-eight to sixty foot squid. But then it ate flesh. And it got bigger. It went on a killing spree, and with each bite of flesh it takes, it grows bigger. Following me?"

"Yeah, I am."

"This means, if it's true, that you half to keep it from attacking any more boats."

"I don't have that kind of control! Besides, the things gone."

"Gone?!"

"Yes, Hutchision, gone. It retreated for some reason, and now everything’s fine, for now."

"Oh no. If it gets any more food, it'll be unstoppable!"

Briche's face lit up with worry. "I see your concern. Thanks for the advice. Now, get back to your cabin, and stay there. I'll alert you if I need anything else."

"Alright, sir."

Jasper turned around and walked towards the door. He was just about to open it when he stopped.

"Sir, we have another moving ship in the area," Brent shouted.

"What distance?"

"It's about half a mile away, sir."

"Keep your eye on it and the sonar."

"Yes, sir."

Jasper quickly opened the door and stepped out into the hallway.

"Keep your eyes on every screen you have. I'm afraid you won't be getting to sleep any time soon. I need someone to watch for that thing, and you seem to have the energy. I'll be here with you."

Brent nodded and smiled. "No trouble, sir."

"Now, I need you to contact headquarters in Washington, and tell them to send help. Attack jets and rescue boats. We can't take any more attacks from that . . . thing."

"Right."

He began to type rapidly into the computer. Then, his face grew worried.

"Sir, all communications are down! I can't contact anyone!"

"All of them?!"

"Yes!"

Briche sighed. "That thing must have done more damage than I thought."

"And that moving ship we have here, it's another Navy ship. In fact, it's Combat Ship 27, sir."

"You sure?"

"Positive."

"Keep an eye on them like I said. I'm not sure what we'll do without our communication."

"Me neither, sir."

Briche gulped slightly. "We'll need everything we've got to get through this."

 

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Jasper took another step down the hallway then stopped. He listened for that same sound he'd heard so many times before. . . the sound of metal creaking. He didn't hear it, which calmed his nerves a little. He had gotten into that odd habit somehow, and he knew it wasn't going to be easy to break.

He continued walking down the well-lit hallway, keeping his focus on the floor in front of him and the conversation he had just listened to. They had lost all communications, and they have another Navy ship in the area, whatever that meant. All he knew and understood was the fact that the communications were down. That wasn't good at all. They needed to get a distress signal sent out somehow, maybe to that other ship. Being a Navy ship, the people aboard it could probably help with the situation, all though, he wasn't sure if anyone or anything could help with defeating a gigantic and horrid sea monster. But, if that was the case, the "Navy headquarters" couldn't help either. Nobody could.

As he neared his room, he couldn't help but pausing at the sound of whispering. He froze, and listened as silently as he could. The whispering was close, but not too close. It almost sounded like the doc's voice.

"I don't know what happened out there, but someone has to do something about it," one of them said.

"Let the captain deal with it. He's got the know-how," the other voice replied.

Jasper took a step, and the floor creaked.

"Shhh! Someone's coming!" The voices stopped.

"Hello?" he called out.

Then, seconds later, the doctor emerged from the shadows, wearing the