Kraken - Rookie Burwick (latest ebook reader txt) 📗

situation. At last, he took a step back, still watching the conversing water beyond the stern closely. But then, he ran. He just ran and ran through the hallways. His footsteps echoed off the now empty walls. As he passed, his eyes caught sight of a few dead bodies. Men who had been killed with major head trauma after the creature hit the ship.

He rounded one more corner, and he was there. He slowed down a bit as he neared the door, urging to open it. At last he did, and came barricading into the room. Briche looked up at him and tried to smile, but couldn't. He couldn't blame the old captain, because right now was not the time to smile.

"Captain, did you see what happened?" he asked.

"Yes, I saw it. And it worries me much more than anything else," replied Briche.

"We need to get out of here!"

"I'm turning the ship around now."

"Good. These waters are beyond hell!"

"Don't tell me about it. I've seen things in the last five hours that would make a nervous man lose function."

"Sorry, sir. . ."

"No need to apologize. I just want less talk and more action."

"Yes sir, I'm sure you do."

Briche turned to the red-haired man seated next to him. "Bent, have we gotten fully turned around?"

"I'm not sure, have a look," the man pointed toward the window.

 He watched as Briche hurried up the steps and looked out the window.

"Good, we're turning around."

"How quickly can we be out of this area?"

"If the ship is put at full speed, then not long. Seven or eight minutes at the least."

"Least?"

"Yes, the least."

"And the most?"

"Probably eleven minutes."

"What does it show on the radar?"

"Nothing now. That thing pulled it pretty far down."

The conversation was interrupted by a loud beeping sound. They both turned to the computer.

"What the. . .?!"

"The squid is re-approaching sir!"

"Already?!"

The screen showed a moving squid-shaped figure trailing the ship. . . only it was much bigger than last time.

"Good gravy, that's not the same creature!"

"I think is captain. Remember my theory?"

"Whatever that is, whether it's the same thing or not, we can't defeat a monster of that size!"

"Can't we pick up speed?"

"This ship is at full speed, Hutchison."

There was a pause for a moment. "Why isn't it hitting us?" Brent broke the silence.

"Good question," Briche said in a slight whisper. "It seems to just be following us. . ."

"It won't be long though," he interrupted.

The squid didn't move, but kept moving forward and was now the same length as the ship. Its massive tentacles could do much more damage than before. It would already take months before they could repair the damages it had already taken.

"You think it really is the same creature?" Briche asked.

"I think so. Like I said, it's been feeding off of human flesh. After it took down that ship, it fed again on its crew, and now it's grown even bigger."

". . . It must have grown three or four sizes bigger! Look at it!"

"And that's just what the sonar shows. It could be even bigger than we think."

"We're toast either way. If that thing attacks this time, we might as well surrender."

They all continued to watch the screen, and kept their eyes glued to the massive creature as it quietly followed them. It didn't seem to rise or descend, but just keep at a steady pace, scurrying gently through the water. Briche walked back towards the window.

"Alert me if that thing moves, but fire at it first," he said.

"Yes, sir."

"And, if that thing should hit us. . . God help us."

 

                                         *  *  *

Silvia pulled open the door to her room and leaned out. She looked around for a moment, then stepped fully into the hallway. Her hair was still tied up in a bun, and she still hadn't switched clothes. She had hardly slept do to the sudden jolts and commotion. She strode slowly down the hallway and rounded the corner, passing a few. . . dead bodies as she went.

She tried her best to ignore them and went on. She rounded another corner, then walked more friskily down that hallway, then rounded another corner, and repeated the process.  As she rounded the next corner, her eyes caught sight of the ship's doctor, lying on the floor.

"Doc," she blurted out as she bent down to help him.

He was unconscious, and blood trickled down his face. She patted him on the shoulder, but got no response.

"Wake up!" the old man didn't move.  "Come one, doc."

She waited a few more moments, then stood back up. The guy was dead. Nearly everyone on board was dead. She walked on down that hallway, fear-stricken by what she had just seen. She rounded another corner, and started down another hallway. But then she stopped again. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw something move.

She looked in the movement's direction but saw nothing. She stared for a moment, then kept going. It was only seconds later before it happened again. But there was nothing in the inch of flooring where the movement had taken place. This time she stared longer, hoping to catch another wisp.  .  . Another glimpse. . . but everything was still and silent. She shrugged and kept on going, feeling more and more like she was being followed. By she just walked that feeling off as best she could. There couldn't have been anything following her. . . then she heard something.

She spun around and saw it at last. Its horrid image didn't last long, but it was enough to make her scream. It had the body of a small squid, and moved like a menacing predator. She turned around and ran for the door, bursting into the command room. Briche, Jasper and Brent all looked at her with slight stun. But that soon vanished, except from her.

"Captain, there's something out there!" she managed to say.

"What do you mean? The Kraken?" Briche asked.

"No, but something like it. . . only smaller."

"Smaller?"

"Yes!"

Jasper stood up and eyed her. "What did it look like? A squid?"

"Well, sort of. . ."

"Sort of? Did it or what?"

"Alright, it. . . it did, OK?"

"Just calm down, I'm sure everything's all. . ."

Jasper's mouth clamped shut at the sound of metal breaking somewhere down the hall. Silvia quickly shut the door behind her.

"Perhaps we do have something running around.  .  ."

"Sir!" Brent cut in. "We have a problem!"

Jasper spun around and peered down at the screen. The gigantic Kraken in the waves below was rising quickly. . . towards the ship.

 

ELEVEN

It was so sudden, no one in the room had to time to brace themselves. The hit was much harder than any of the previous hits. The creature smashed into the metal plating of the bottom, and sent them to the floor. . . only this time, people died. Brent flew into the computer, electrocuting his face. Blood splattered onto the keyboard. Briche fell to the floor, hitting his head hard on the metal guard. Jasper and Silvia flew to the ground.

But, Jasper awoke moments later. Was he dead? Had the horrid terror from the deep finally killed him? Or was he still alive? He blinked a few times, and his vision became clear. He sat up and looked at Silvia, who lay about six feet away from him. He didn't see any blood, but with the lights knocked out, he wasn't sure if he was seeing things correctly. He carefully stood up on his legs and limped over to the window and peered out. He saw the now overly-enormous tentacles digging into the deck, and ripping chunks of the hard gravel from its surface. One tentacle wrapped around the left corner, and pulled it completely off.

He spun around and hurried back to find a computer that was still working. He found one just across from Brent's station, and took a seat in the leather chair placed in front of it. He saw multiple security cameras recording all of the chaos. One tentacle was wrapped around the entire top edge of the bow while another was breaking off more communication poles and snapping their wires. Trying to focus, he grabbed ahold of the mouse, and clicked around until he came to a sonar image of the ship. He hit a few keys, and then he saw two dots representing bomb launchers appear on the screen. He hit another key and the moved onto the squid's mantle, and then he hit another key, but nothing happened. He began pressing key after key until, finally, a bomb was launched into the creature.

But nothing happened. It still didn't seem to take any effect on that thing. He repeated the process, trying his best to hit the same keys he had before. He sent another bomb into the creature's lower mantle with the same result. A little icon at the bottom right corner read; 1 bomb left. He sent the last bomb and it exploded in the same area where the previous ones had. There was no more weapons left. The bombs might have had an effect on it before it had taken down the battleship, but not now. Now, it was far too big to harm in any way. Now, that thing was going to destroy them.

He stood up and hurried over to Silvia, and felt all around her head. She wasn’t dead, her heart was still beating and she still had a pulse.

"Silvia! Please, wake up. We have to get out of here!" he said.

But she didn't respond. The room went silent again, and the air became cold. "Wake up," he ran his fingers through her hair as he looked around for something to do, some way of helping. . . But then, something smashed up against the slither of glass that lined the top of the door. Jasper saw a small, gaping beak, and thousands of small suction cups, latching themselves onto the door. Then, Silvia's eyes opened, and she sat up.

"What's going on?" she asked.

"That thing hit us again," he replied.

She turned to him. "You mean that. . . oversized monster squid?"

"Yes, the one in the water, not on the ship."

He jumped to his feet and looked around. Only now, he was looking for a weapon, something to kill that small menace with. There wasn't anything, except. . . he spun around and saw the gleaming handle of Brent's pocket knife. He rushed over, and grabbed it out of the now dead man's pocket, and hurried back to the door. Silvia backed away just in time to escape the shattering of glass.

He ran towards the door, making sure he didn't step on Silvia, and opened up the pocket knife. He raised it in the air like a savage head-hunter with a spear, and face the small squid's beak. He shoved the blade into its soft skin, and blood oozed from its entire body. Moments later, it dropped down to the floor, and died. He quickly lifted Silvia to her feet, and opened the door. They both raced out, with Silvia following him.

"What are we doing? There could be more of those things!" she said.

"I doubt it. We would have seen them by now," he said. "Follow me."

"Where are we going?"

"You'll see."

They ran through hallway after hallway, their hearts pounding