Kraken - Rookie Burwick (latest ebook reader txt) 📗

help but rounding another corner back a little ways and peering out a window. He couldn't see the main deck or the tentacles, so he hurried back to Jasper, who was now on his feet.

He pulled out a small handheld radio and pressed the button.

"Brent. Brent, come in."

He waited for a moment. "I'm here, over."

"Listen to me. I need you to use the blast-guns that are located on the deck and fire them at that thing's tentacles. You understand?"

"Locked and loaded, sir."

That ended the conversation. He turned to Jasper.

"Come on," he said.

They continued down the hallways, taking twists and turns until they reached a wood-polished door. Briche opened it quickly and pushed Jasper outside and onto a short bridge. The image of eye-blinding light filled their eyes. The guns that were placed all along the deck were firing off. Each orb of flaming bullets hit the tentacles with a perfect hit. The first hit went to a tentacle more towards the left that was just dispersing from the water. It quickly slithered back under. The second shot hit another tentacle that was attaching itself to a small portion of the stern with the same results. More were fired, each one hitting their targeted tentacle. But then, Briche's eyes widened as he watched another tentacle slither up the side of the ship and wrap around one of the guns and tore it off.

Then, another tentacle slither up the opposite side and tore another gun off. Then a third gun was tossed into the water, coming loose from the slime of the tentacle's suction cups. . . and then a fourth tentacle slithered up and torn two more guns off the deck. Another gun went off, and hit a tentacle that was revealing itself. Then, that gun was tore off by a fifth tentacle that wrapped itself around the tiny yet harmful weapon.

"Oh no, it's just too smart."

"What do you mean?"

"Can't you see what's going on?"

Jasper nodded as he watched a sixth tentacle tear off another gun. Now, there were only three guns left, two on the right and one on the left. One of them went off, but missed their target. It was ripped from the deck, and crushed by a seventh tentacle. Then, a duo of tentacles wrapped around the remaining weapons, and tore them off.

"We have to do something!" Jasper said.

"You see this machine?" he asked pointing to a small computer-like machine that sat in front of them.

"Yes, sir," Jasper replied.

"This machine can be used to target specific submarines or things under the water. You need to use this thing to navigate and fire at a more crucial part of that creature's body. Understand?"

 "Got it. . . but why me?"

"You're a fisherman, right?"

"Yes."

"Then you'll know what areas to hit."

"But, this is a squid, not a fish. . ."

"That doesn't matter. Sure, this thing is obviously not a kind of fish, but its still and underwater creature. Now do it."

Jasper nodded, and then watched Briche hurry back into the hallway. He turned to the computer and hit the small START button, and the screen lit up. He quickly figured out the main menu, then saw a sonar image of the ship. He saw the rest of the gigantic squid's body moving effortlessly as its tentacles destroyed the ship. He looked down at the thousands of tiny buttons, and raised an eyebrow. Computers had never been his thing, but this was necessary.

He finally figured out that the handles must be for aiming. He grasped them with his palms, then moved them around. The screen showed two little dots, representing the aiming point, moving around. He carefully moved them up to the squid's mantle, and then pressed two little buttons on each handle. Two shots were fired, and hit the squid with a perfect shot. At last, the massive creature was stunned, at least a little. He repeated the process, aiming at the squid's upper body, then firing.

Obviously, firing at the tentacles wasn't going to work. This just might. . . another shot. . . another direct hit. Like everything else, though, it wasn't working very well. The squid didn't seem to be taking the hits as hard as he would've liked, but it was stunning it. He fired again, and hit the beast with another good hit. . . then the thing strengthened its grip on the ship. The tentacles latched on to the deck, and gripped hard. . . and then the ship began to slowly turn. . .

 

                                      *  *  *

 

"Do you really trust Hutchision?" Brent leaned forward.

"I'm not sure, Brent. He's obviously willing to help which is a good sign."

"But what if it's a trap?"

"Trap? We found the poor guy adrift in the open sea. . ."

"Yes I know, but, what if he's a traitor?"

"Don't be ridiculous."

All of the sudden, the ship began turning towards the right. . .

"Sir, the squid is trying to pull us under!"

"How many missiles do we have left?!"

"Six, sir."

"Fire three of them!"

Brent hit the button just as his chair slid away from his station. He fell to the floor, and continued to slide towards the opposite wall. The three missiles hit the creature with great force. . . then the tentacles let go. . .

 

          

 

TEN

 "What happened? Did the missiles finally stop it?"

Briche stood up straight as the ship leaned back into position.

"No, it would appear it's pursuing something else, sir."

"Something else?"

"Yes, like another ship."

"There are no other. . ."

He looked out the window and saw it. It was a large Navy battleship, only half a yard away.

"Warn them! Contact them and warn them about. . ."

"Sir, don't you remember? The communications are down!"

"Oh no. . ."

It was only seconds later when the ship came into closer view, and Briche could see that it was much taller than them. It was so massive and, obviously being a battleship, it had much better weaponry. But then, it was hit. It lurched back for a moment, then reset it's course. That was it. Once that happened, it was all clarification that you were next. . .

Tentacles rose up from the water and began to shred off the metal that made up the bow. They dug into the upper area, and went down from there. A loud siren sounded off and echoed over the water. Briche could see men scampering around on deck, and he could also hear yelling. The tentacles tore a big hole in the bow, and then gripped inside of it, and pulled. He heard a loud creaking noise, then the screws began coming lose. . . Then, the entire front fell off. The screws went flying out into the water, and a small portion of the bow was tore open, revealing the inside. The tentacles rose up again and began tearing through the metal, knocking shipping containers out, and men.

The horrid creature was amazingly pulling it off. It's tentacles blast through the inside like a hammer, and tore up everything. They wrapped around helicopters and storage units, and also continued to widen the hole. Then, one of the tentacles rose up even higher and wrapped around the tip, and began to heave. The suckers tightened and expanded as the slimy arm used all its strength to tear it off. It finally gave, and fell down into the water, taking a few men with it.

"We should have a clear shot," he said silently.

He turned to Brent. "Fire the missiles!"

Brent hit the button after using the computer's software to aim carefully, and sent two more missiles straight towards the creature. They hit directly, and Brent let out a brief cry of victory. But that cry was short-lived. The missiles didn't seem to do any damage. He looked at Briche.

"One last missile sir. . ."

"Fire it!"

Brent hit the button, and the missile went sailing through the water and hit the creature with the same results.

"Nothing, sir. It's not taking any damage. Should we try the bombs?"

"No, not yet."

"Right."

He turned back to the window and saw the tentacles tearing off the battleship's radar panels and tossing them into the water. Their suckers latched onto the glass of the helm's window, and a cracking sound echoed through the ship's interior. When the tentacle pulled away, Briche couldn't make out any living souls inside. Then, something caught his eye, higher above the navigation room. A tentacle was wrapped around the navigational pole.

It slither farther and farther up, and was soon wrapped completely around it. It yanked it from its foundation, and dropped it down into the water. During the fall, the pole's top end crashed through more of the ship's railing before hitting the water. Then, a loud boom pierced Briche's ears. The ship's on board canons were firing at the creature's tentacles. They hit two with a perfect shot, but then missed a third tentacle. The missing shot went flying into the ocean, causing a large explosion of water to splash onto the deck of his ship.

The canons fired again. . . but then stopped dead in their tracks. Briche looked up at them and saw the tentacles wrapping around the canons, and squeezing. They came loose, and crashed into the deck. The tentacles then slithered over towards the left, and wrapped around the entire bow's frame. Then, the creature heaved to the left, taking the ship with it. It began to tip over towards the left as the tentacles began to crush the metal. Then, one of them wrapped around the cabin, and squeezed. It busted open, and more screws came out of its siding. The ship was gone, the tentacles pulled it under the surface, and it vanished.

"Sir! The ship is sunk!"

Briche ran up and looked at the screen and saw the squid pulling ship deeper and deeper into the depths. His face lit up with worry. If that thing could take down a battleship, it could take down them. But it was gone for the moment, which gave them an opportunity.

"Turn us around," he said suddenly.

"But sir. . ."

"I said turn us around! That thing has already sunk two ships in our DERSON and we need to go while it's occupied!"

"Right, I'll alert command central."

Briche didn't walk away this time, but stayed there, staring at the screen in disbelief. He had never seen anything like this before. It was a threat like none other. But surely a squid couldn't get the best of them. Surely an over-sized cephalopod couldn't be the death of the Navy. . .

Or could it?

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Jasper gulped as his eyes tried to move away from the area where the battleship had just been taken down. The battleship was one of the biggest ships on the ocean, and one of them had just been pulled down into the ocean's depths by a bloody squid. Or maybe that wasn't the word. More like monster or abomination or something like that.

He couldn't imagine what the crew of the massive ship were experiencing. Only God knew what horrors awaited them down there in the clutches of that. . . creature. He had given up on trying to name it. It was just simply a creature, and that was it. Sure, a name such as Kraken fit it, but that just seemed to calm and humble, considering the