One year previous: In the sea below
Leander folded his arms over his decorated uniform. He did not cherish the insignia though, for he did not feel it was deserved. His status came from oceanic research and not from actual combat, though being stationed on the Thalassic offered no opportunity to serve in the front lines. However, some may find that lucky, considering the current enemy was one without a known weakness. The disease or whatever the hell it was that assaulted humankind left even the strongest artillery to shame.
To his left, his friend and comrade Dio looked at the monitor displaying his wife, child, and mother. Dio’s family was in the submersible, heading down below the ocean to the Thalassic to escape the havoc of the coming Armageddon. However, Admiral Telphousian had come into the room and interrupted, placing the transmission on mute.
“I cannot allow this, Diomedes,” Telphousian said. Acting head of the undersea colony, she overtook command of the Thalassic naming herself Admiral while the true commander was stuck surface side. And with the quarantine in effect, who knew how long that would be. “No one in or out. It is the only way I can keep Thalassic safe from the disease.”
Dio did not say anything. He could not. Instead, Leander stepped between the two and pulled Telphousian to the side. “This is his family. They need to board; they cannot go back to the surface. We can place them in quarantine, contain them until it is certain that they are not a threat. And we can learn more from his mother. We can study what we are up against, for here we are in the dark. You cannot sentence them to death.”
“Stand down,” she said, the words dripping cruelly off her lips. She tugged her arm loose from Leander’s hold with one forceful backward movement as she turned her attention to Dio. “I will not allow them to board. Have them go back surface side, and I will ignore the fact that you abused the use of the submersible for your own means, Diomedes.”
“I cannot. They will not last,” Dio said. He looked from Telphousian to the screen displaying his family. Behind his wife and daughter was his mother. Placed in a container, tubes shoved in her nose, she laid tranquilized.
“My wife said she could not leave her; she had hoped the Thalassic could place her in hibernation until a cure is found,” Dio continued. “The tranquilizer they gave her will not last to make the trek back to the surface; they don’t have much time.”
Dio’s mother would awaken, a Chaot. She would kill his family if they remained in the submersible.
“Even more reason to deny your request, though even without her I would say the same,” Telphousian said, her voice cracked from the stern dictator to reveal tenderness beneath her fiery locks despite her words. She turned and left, leaving Dio alone with Leander, and alone with his impending hardship.
Before his friend succumbed to heartache, Leander stepped to Dio’s side and turned off the mute to open communication again. He spoke to Dio’s wife, his voice one in control, though he himself was well aware of the consequences. “Listen to me. Bring the sub to the east side of the Thalassic. The moon pool will be closed and secure, but I can get you in another way. Just wait for me.”
Dio’s hand came to his shoulder, though no thanks were spoken. Instead, so much more than that passed between them.
Leander left to prepare. Wetsuit. Breathing masks: his and three extra. Oxygen tanks. Fins. And a medic pack, complete with more tranquilizer. Dio could not come, he would be more a liability than help. Maybe Hector, Leander thought, but he quickly dismissed the new addition to the Thalassic. Hector was only supposed to be onboard to debrief the undersea colony about the situation on land. Though with the quarantine in place, Hector had to stay. His anger toward the Admiral upon hearing that he could not return to fight made Leander believe that Hector would help. However, even though Hector was the only one with experience facing the Chaots, he was not trained in diving. Leander had to do this by himself.
Dio soon came out from talking to his wife over the radio, a smile covering heavy eyes and a heavy soul.
“I should have known that I would be going out in the deep blue sooner or later,” he said, trying to ease the situation in his jest.
“I know how you feel about diving,” Leander responded, “and I need you with me like I need a hole in the head.”
That was only part of it though. Sure, Dio would slow him down for Leander was a faster and more experienced diver, but it was not that simple. What worried Leander was what would happen after they arrived at the submersible. He needed someone who could keep their head on straight in a tough situation, and when family was involved it added a whole new dimension to staying in control.
“Keep the communications and monitor off, or else the commander will put an end to our rescue.”
“Just bring back my family. And maybe I will give you a medal that actually bears importance,” Dio said in response, though Leander frowned as he remembered his thoughts and how naive they had been. Now he understood the price of meaningful medals, and the weight they truly carried. And the weight of the fate of Dio’s family that he now carried, praying he would succeed.
Dio reached over to the emergency hatch. He spun it open before reaching out for Leander’s arm to help lower him down. Leander reached back, having his hand rest on his shoulder for a moment longer than necessary, in reassurance that he would succeed in getting his family to safety. Dio closed the hatch behind him, sealing it shut.
Leander climbed down adjusting the pressure, allowing for the tube to be filled with water. As the water crawled up his legs, he adjusted the mask over his face, bracing himself for full submersion.
The water inched up to his chest; finally it submerged his head, and he positioned himself down, hands ready to twist the hatch. The water filled to the top of the tube, the green light flashed signaling the matched pressure of the outer limits. He rotated the handle of the secondary hatch. Soon he would be back in the sea he loved, however it was no longer love that he felt as the sea became more and more an obstacle in his rescue of Dio’s family.
He had to succeed. He did not know how he could return otherwise.
And through hell
The submersible came into view. It drifted, meandering in the tug and pull of the underwater current. It was off course, far from the east point of the Thalassic. Leander spent ten minutes longer than he had expected, not giving up on them in hopes of finding the sub.
Finally the sub’s headlights had come into sight, a beacon in the dark abyss. But now that he looked at the metal shell, he knew that he was too late. His heart sank, though he still pushed ahead through the sea. He had to continue for Dio. He could not give up for him.
He steadied himself, swimming along the enclosure, and looked in through the oval window. The wife sat. Face chewed off.
Pulling back, Leander turned to the blackness of the sea, closing his eyes, trying to steady his breath. Heart pounded as he turned back to the window. Dio’s mother bent over the chair where the wife sat, a metal rod stood erect through her torso. Both dead. Red streaked the dress, red soaked down to the floor. He tried to look beyond the sight, beyond the carnage. He needed to find Dio’s daughter, Cassie, needed to find her alive and bring her back to her father.
He saw something move. A shadow. That was all he needed to confirm that someone aboard survived. He climbed over the sub’s hull towards the hatch. The water lashed against him, the pressure of an entire ocean weighed him down. Leander emptied his mind of doubts, especially of the image that continually flashed in his head: Dio’s wife, Dio’s mother, forever in tragedy. What he did try to hold on to was hope; it was all he could do.
The outer control panel was positioned near the side hatch. He swam to it and input the code to commence the pressure adjustment: the entry room into the sub would fill with water to match the pressure outside the hull. Then, and only then, could he open the hatch to get inside and help Cassie. He knew that every second the girl was inside alone—watching her mother’s blood fall to the floor—was a second
filled with terror. He would have to be fast when the pressure aligns, granting him access to the entry tube that then connected with the main hull. Now he could only wait as it filled with water.
Swimming back toward the oval window, he looked in. Dio’s wife now hung, half off the seat.
It had to be the motion of the drifting submersible that had made her fall from her place.
Hair hanging down, the locks resting on Dio’s mother, she was so removed from the picture he had seen of her years ago. The picture of her smiling, full of life, deteriorated from his mind as if a fire had been set to the photograph. The flames scorched her image, replacing it with a faceless void. He forced his gaze away from her, looking for Cassie.
The little girl sat in the corner. She sat still even with the turbulence surrounding her. Leander placed his hand on the window, wishing he was there to console her and let her know this would soon be over. He thought of her as his family, though he had never met her. She was connected to him through his ties with Dio. He knew it would be a gamble going inside the sub, the chance of contamination high; but if he could save Cassie, nothing else mattered. She was worth the risk. He would give anything to save her, anything to bring her back to Dio’s arms.
The hand turned into a fist as Leander pounded once against the hull as if he could break through the steel. One last look to the girl, he damned himself for what he could not help. He swam back to the hatch, counting down the moments before he could break the release seal and go in.
Minutes passed before the beacon finally signaled ready. He opened the hatch and swam in, sealing it behind him. One last step: pressurize the tube to match the sub’s main compartment. Seconds stretched out, time forming a barrier to him. The water lowered, his feet pressed firmly on the ground, and finally the last beacon blinked, confirming safe entry.
He opened the interior hatch. Water sloshed out from around him, as he stumbled through and lifted the breathing mask from his face. He saw the girl hunched over in the corner, probably petrified in shock over what had occurred. Relief came to Leander—he would be able to get her back, he would be able to at least give Dio one shred of peace amidst the deaths of his wife and mother. He walked to the girl, hand out in a gesture of affinity.
“Don’t worry, Cassie. Your father sent me. He is waiting for you ... you will be away from here soon. You are safe now, with me.”
He took a step. She did not move. She hunched over herself, hunched over an object, but Leander could not make it out. It seemed she trembled in terror, understandably. But something was out of place—not right—though Leander chose to ignore it and focus on his rescue.
The light flickered above. On and off, the light switched. The power of the sub had been depleted.
The light went blank. Nothing. Blackness. Darkness.
The sea for the first time felt cold to Leander. Always had it been so, but for the first time as he looked to Cassie did he actually feel the cold, like a wrath tearing apart all warmth from his soul.
The emergency light flickered on. Before him sat Dio’s daughter, she held a piece of her mother’s hand, partially eaten. Skin covering muscle. Always would the vile be unearthed.
The little girl looked up. Blood stained her lips.
She stared at Leander. Her pupils were clouded. Skin ashen against the trail of red that fell from her mouth.
The future played before him of what could never be as he took another step toward Cassie. The future of things that would never occur in the face of the plague. It was too late to save the girl. Yet he could not give up, even when the situation confronting him offered only hopelessness.
“It’s okay, I’ll get you back. It will be okay.”
His words could only comfort himself, for she no longer understood.
The girl hissed in an unearthly reverberation. She threw the chewed hand down and ran toward him—hands out, looking to tear him limb from limb, despite his size and strength over her.
He caught her in mid-stride, turned her away from him and held her, making sure the biting teeth did not dig into his wetsuit.
“Don’t worry. I’ll bring you to Dio; I’ll bring you to your dad,” Leander comforted the child, not knowing what else to do. He could not kill her. A child. His friend’s child. He looked down at the curls, tossing and turning as the girl squirmed in his hands. Lost innocence, his first look at what had come to the world above. The first time he was face to face with what the ocean had shielded him—and all Thalassic—from.
I could tranquilize her, he thought, bring her to Thalassic and hope for an antidote to be found. But as he reached for the med pack, she rammed her head backwards into his, her resilience amplified from the adrenaline that pumped through her. He fell, his body knocking against the controls and activating emergency protocol for escape.
The sub lurched at the activation; Cassie fell back and away from her prey. The underwater grave began to fill with water to match the pressure and open the emergency hatch. Water poured on top of the girl as she struggled forward: her sights solely on her attack and not on the threat of being buried alive by the pounding water.
Leander opened the medic supplies, grabbing the tranquilizer shot. He needed to administer it on Cassie, get the breathing mask on her and get her back to Thalassic. His mind could not focus on the facts: she was a Chaot, she was already lost to them. There would be no antidote. No cure. But all he could focus on was getting her back to her father. He staggered toward her, trying to steady himself as the water came in.
Syringe pointed forward as the girl came to attack, he pushed it in her. The needle pierced her skin, but before he could press down and release the fluid to her system, she knocked it away. The syringe fell into the rushing water, lost to him, the tranquilizer disappearing in the current.
The water continued in. The waves of sea filled the sub, lifting the bodies, Leander and the girl in its girth. She was there, kicking, struggling against the incoming force of water, still trying to attack even as the air diminished. Leander placed his mask on knowing that it combined with the deep sea wet suit would provide the barrier needed against any contagions in the water. He then swam over, wanting to place the extra mask on the girl’s face. Avoiding her strikes to attack him, he grabbed her as the water rose to touch the ceiling.
She did not take a last breath of air, her intentions not of survival.
He moved quick, brought the mask over her face, securing it in order to empty the water from it. But the emergency hatch opened automatically as the pressure equalized to the outside, sending in a strong current that tore his grip from Cassie. Free from his hold, she tore the mask from her face. Despite the odds, despite the futility, he grabbed the mask again and swam toward the girl.
He could still get the mask over her mouth and bring her in. She kicked, she scratched in the water, eyes spread wide in a feral stare. He kept trying, even as the current swirled viciously around him as if alive. Cassie gasped; her mouth opening as water pushed itself into her lungs. Her movements lessened, enabling him to secure her mask. But as he purged the mask to allow air in, he saw her face. Death filled her open eyes.
He could still take her. Bring her lifeless body to Dio. Try to breathe life into her, and even if that succeeded, it would not be Dio’s little girl that came back but a Chaot. His action, however heartfelt, could lead to the death of those aboard the Thalassic.
Leander left without Cassie. He swam from the sub, hope sinking as the submersible plunged to the far depths behind him.
He would tell Dio he could not find the submersible. That way his comrade, his friend, could imagine his family had time to go back to the surface. He could imagine his family still lived.
Leander would carry the weight of what truly happened himself. The image of the girl, teeth sunk into her mother’s hand, ever-present.
Chapter Five
Solitude had come for Nyx as she ran through the town. She knew the soldiers would be not far behind and so she did not cease
running. Faster still, she fled not just the physical but the mental. Subconscious questions filled her head with uncertainty. Much had happened, much that she could not make sense of. The death that entrapped the city, the creatures spurned from hell dubbed Chaots, the soldiers rescuing her only to dart and bind her: all this dominated her thoughts. So she ran and as the scene grew distant, her spirit roused again.
The town’s organization hallmarked the usual northeast waterfront communities. Downtown, interspersed with residential areas, hugged the sloping hillsides. This tradition of living within walking distance to the downtown shops allowed city centers to once thrive. Quaint stores did not become replaced by strip malls, as walking rather than driving would still be the main transportation. The ocean appeared just over the tree tops; the constant breeze that once cooled the townsfolk found no rest even upon the eve of humanity’s end.
The charm of an old town, not eternal, but evanescent.
She ran along the streets that were empty with the exception of a few cars. On the eve of disaster, she imagined, the citizens must have driven away from their town in hopes to escape. But to where does one go to escape the inevitable? She pictured the cars that probably littered the highways outside of the seaside towns. Many cars may have been stopped along the way as their drivers became overwhelmed with the disease, causing traffic to come to a standstill. She thought about what had likely occurred: the uninfected rolling up their car windows, locking their doors. Frustrated attempts to stop the Chaots from coming inside, almost as if they could stop them in the same way that they could shun the rain from entering. Yet the Chaots would crash through the glass window-shields. Screams. The harbinger of death triumphs. She could only wonder where she had been to escape this fate.
She ran, ignoring the pain from her bare feet pounding along the cement. Ignoring the rancid scent that rose from the corpses in the summer’s heat. Not permitting herself to be lost in the black eyes of the dead, she avoided the corpses’ stares, lest they try to pull her under to Hades. Her gaze remained fixed on the trees in the distance. The massacre of long ago that played in her mind was only imagined tales of distant times. Fear should not inhibit her, and soon the trepidation passed.
Crashing Tides Page 4