Kraken - Rookie Burwick (latest ebook reader txt) 📗

underwater cave.

"Hey guys, do you see this?" he asked.

"Yeah! It's crazy!"

"Should we go in?" asked George.

"We're going to enter, yes. But carefully. Follow my lead," replied Matt.

And so they entered into the dark cave. Their lights pierced through the darkness and allowed them to look around. There were stalactites and stalagmites scattered here and there along the top and bottom walls of the cave.

"NLCS 26 do you read?"

"I read."

"We've have left the tunnels and have reached a wide-mouthed cave."

"What's inside?"

"Nothing besides a few stalactites. We will report if we find anything else."

"Alright. Proceed with caution."

Matt didn't reply, but continued to stare in wonder as he looked around the amazing little cave. At the opposite end of the entrance was another really wide opening that lead on through more tunnels. George turned and shined his light into it, and saw only rock.

"Doesn't look like much of a find to me," he said.

"You never know," Matt replied.

At that instant, George turned his light away from the opening and continued to scan the ceiling with it. He swept the light over towards the right, and saw the same thing he'd been seeing; rock. Nothing but smooth and perfectly rounded rock. Matt and Brid did the same with the same results.

"I think we should keep going. Maybe there's better stuff up ahead," George mumbled.

He turned back towards the opening that lead on, and saw the gaping tentacle reach for him. He had no time to gasp or gulp or even scream before it wrapped itself around his chest, and squeezed.

 

 

                                     *  *  *

 

Matt ran his hand along the rock wall to his right. To his surprise, a strange, cloudy dust came off and onto his palm. He stared at it for a moment, and then turned to Brid.

"Ready to move on?" he asked.

"Not yet. I haven't had a good look yet," Brid replied.

Matt chuckled at the kid's enthusiasm. It was a good thing to have, but it was funny how much of it he had. He flashed his light over at the biggest stalactite in the whole cave, and awed at its form and size. George didn't seem to find this interesting, but Matt did. He had found this whole thing interesting. From the moment he had hit the water and began to diver deeper, he loved it. This was truly an amazing discovery, and both he and Brid were enjoying it. But not George.

But then a thought hit him. Where was the guy anyway? He looked around for George's light, but didn't see it anywhere. Panic started to run through his veins.

"Brid, have you seen or heard from George?"

"Nope. Where is he?"

"That's what I'm wondering."

Matt swam over to the opposite wall, shining his light all around. He saw the walls, stalactites, and of course, stalagmites. But no George.

"See him?" Brid asked.

"Nope. He must have gone on without us," Matt replied.

"Why would he do that?"

"Don't ask me."

Matt turned and started swimming towards the opening, and kept the light on the tunnel beyond it. He lowered his head and began to swim inside. All he saw was darkness and more rock. But then he saw something move in the darkness. His eyes darted to that area, but it was gone. He scooted in a little further and shined the light up ahead. That's when he saw it. A long and scaly tentacle reaching for him.

He tried to scream but nothing came out. The tentacle wrapped around his neck and the long rows of suction cups latched on and pulled him into the darkness.

 

                                           *  *  *

 

Brid turned his head and peered over at the opposite cave wall, waving his light in the same direction. The only light that now flickered in the dark cave was his own. Everyone else was gone. He turned and shined his light on the opening, but he didn't see anything there, either.

"Yo, Matt? Do you read?" he asked into the radio.

No answer. "Matt, come in."

He waited a few seconds. But still, there was no answer. They must have gone on without him. He started swimming towards the opening, but then stopped. He pressed the button on his radio twice to switch channels.

"Come in NLCS 26, come in!" he said, panic now filling his voice.

"We read you Diver #3, report."

"We've been separated. I repeat we've been separated. Should I continue?"

"No. Fall back to the surface and report to Luchas."

Brid didn't say anything father. He immediately started for the exit of the cave. He was so close, he could reach out and touch it. . . but something pulled him back. Something thick and slimy wrapped around his leg, and yanked him back towards the center of the cave.

He looked behind him. The last thing he saw was the image of a mass of tentacles screaming towards him followed by one large beak.

 

                                            *  *  *

 

"Sir!"

Briche turned to face Silvia's desk and stared at her, waiting for her to continue.

"We just got contacted by Luchas. He's lost all communications with the divers!"

"All communications?"

"Yes, sir. He's waiting for your reply."

He stopped and thought for a moment. There wasn't much to do except wait for a possible response from the divers. But he didn't know if that would be happening. There was only one thing to do, and that was having him leave the area and send a search party down there.

"Tell him to get out of the area, and I'll send a search-and-rescue team out there right away."

Silvia nodded, and quickly passed the message on to Luchas. Briche turned back to the window and continued to stare out. But his mind was elsewhere. They had lost all communications with the divers. That could only mean a handful of things. There could have been a cave-in, and they were all crushed. Or maybe they were just so deep that their communication gear stopped working. Anything could have happened.

 

                                          *  *  *

 

Luchas was getting more and more impatient as he listened to his instructions. As the last of them came through the radio, a look of confusion swept over his face. He was supposed to just leave and let his divers stay down there, even if they were dead? What kind of a plan was that?

He began pacing back and forth, determining whether to follow the instructions, or do things his own way. Finally, after a few more paces, he turned to Wanda.

"You're sure all the cameras are down?" he asked.

"Yes, I'm positive," she replied, reflecting the worry in his eyes.

"Shoot."

His decision was made. He would follow the captain's orders and leave. He turned and grasped the steering wheel, but then hesitated. It wasn't like him to just leave behind good men. But he had to this time. He slipped his fingers down onto the key, and turned it. He listened to the engine run faintly, but then it stopped. He tried again with the exact same result. He tried another time. Same thing. The engine wasn't starting.

He sighed with frustration, and slammed the steering wheel with his hand. He tried turning the key again, but nothing happened. Jim looked up from the computer and watched him try again and again, turning the key with the engine failing each time.

"Come on you sorry, no good. . ."

Something hit the bottom of the boat. They all went flying to the floor, knocking Jim out cold. Luchas got up quickly and peered over the side of the boat. The dorsal fin would be circling back around any moment . . . but there was no fin. He didn't see anything. He watched closely, hoping he could catch a glimpse of what was out there. . .

The boat was hit again, harder this time. Luchas was thrown back against the opposite side of the boat. Wanda flew into the computer screens, and was knocked un-conscious. All the equipment went dead. Wanda died from a cut to the throat. All that was left was Luchas, who didn't dare move. His eyes were wild with fear and confusion as he stared out into the water. Still, no dorsal fin came by. There seemed to be no shark.

Then, the boat was hit again. The last thing Luchas saw was the horrifying image of a tentacle rising up out of the water, and wrapping itself around the boat. . .

 

                                          *  *  *

 

Briche snapped out of his deep thought at the sound of a computer beeping. He didn't bother turning around and finding out what it was about mainly because he didn't want to know. He figured that the sound meant something bad was happening, and he didn't need any more bad news at the moment. Instead, he continued to glaze out the window at the water beyond the deck that was now slightly roused for some odd reason that he didn't particularly care about.

He took in a deep breath and held it for a moment, then let it out. The odd tension that ran through his body made his hands shake just a bit, and that made him nervous. Something was making him worried, and he knew just what it was. The beeping sound ringed in his ear again, but he still didn't turn to address it. Then, another sound the he had heard when the beeping began sounded again.

"Sir! You need to hear this!"

At last, he turned to Silvia and glared at her, beckoning her to continue.

"Luchas' boat just disappeared from my radar, sir!"

Briche's face grew stern. "What do you mean?"

"I had him on my radar sir, but the dot that resembled his boat just disappeared sir."

"That's impossible."

"Well, sir, that's what it shows."

"Our radar equipment must be failing."

"I doubt that, sir."

Briche thought for a moment. "All right, get that search-and-rescue party out there as soon as possible."

"Right."

"And get me a sonar image of that area."

"But, it's nearly a mile away, sir. . ."

"At least try."

Silvia brought up the sonar detector and typed in the location.

"Go down 120 feet below the surface."

She followed his instructions and was soon watching everything going on near the place where the divers had gone down. As she watched, the image picked up a massive, moving object fleeing from the surface, and disappearing past the screen's limits.

"Sir, I think we have something."

"What is it?"

"The sonar equipment is picking up a massive moving object in the area of the crack, sir."

"Is it still there?"

"No."

"Could the computer identify it?"

"All it shows is that it's moving fast. And it is big."

Briche was silent for a moment. "Get that search-and-rescue party ready by tomorrow afternoon. I want them to go down to where those divers were and report anything they find to me. I don't know what happened or what's down there, but I have a feeling we're going to find out."

 

FIVE

The young man steered the fishing trawler a little more to the left, then a tiny bit back to the right, the straightened out. He kept his eyes on the distance, and watched for the spot he hoped to arrive at. He had gotten a free three-month boat rental coupon, and used it up quickly. Three months of fishing, he thought.

The loud engines below worked themselves as hard as they ever could, make the loudest of noises. The trawler