From the depths (THE DEPTHS TRILOGY Book 1)

by DAN MONTY

  The door to her hospital room swung open, and a strange, scary looking old woman walked into the room, limping along. She was dressed in white scrubs and her face was clinging to her bones. “Oh... “ Abby said, “I’m sorry I didn’t know you were... ” but the nurse finished her sentence for her, “... old? Go fuck yourself, teeny-bopper! I was nursing when you were itching your daddy's pants! Now what do you want?” she asked in a snappy tone. Abby gulped and shook it off, “...Um, does the doctor know what’s wrong with me? Am I okay?” she stuttered and the nurse's eyes narrowed. “You’ll live, kid. Don’t you worry yourself, you’ll be double clicking your mouth again in no time. Try to stay off the drugs though, eh?” she replied, and Abby shook her head, “No, there must be some mistake. I-I don’t take drugs! Wait... double click my mouth?” she asked confused.

  “What? You don’t masturbate either? Horseshit! Now get some rest. The doctor will see you in the morning!” she said. As she was about to leave, Abby called out one more time. “Wait! C-can I have some water? My mouth is really dry!” she pleaded and the nurse didn’t even turn around, saying, “I think you’ve had quite enough of that, miss!” She opened the door and left the room leaving a very confused Abby alone again.

  Abby fell back to her pillow thinking Fuck that bitch. Her mother was right. Why the hell didn’t she get private health insurance?

  ◇◇◇◇

  Bo stood on the dock smoking a Marlboro. He hadn’t seen Ray in some time and was wondering where he was. He was often floating around the docks but lately he hadn’t been. Perhaps he had been busy elsewhere on the island, who knew? But his absence was noticed and Bo made careful note of it.

  He was also thinking about Abby as he took long drags from his smoke, blowing smoke rings in the air. It was five am and the sun was waking up, a light rain kissing the trees as Bo looked out to sea. As close as the ocean was, it felt a million miles away. Bo was used to fishing off his boat and sailing against the wind, the salty air blowing through his sandy hair, the sun tanning his skin.

  The island felt oddly claustrophobic and strangely isolated. In fact, there were times when it didn’t feel like an island at all. Bo exhaled smoke smoothly, flicking the butt into the sea. There was something odd about this place. He couldn’t yet put his finger on it, but he also couldn’t help but wonder if Abby was right. Bo walked over towards the facility, walking down the staircase and opening the door below. He had to speak to Hans again. He wanted to know how Abby was feeling and what she had been babbling about.

  Hans was in the ocean room, sitting at the table eating a steak dinner. The meat was hardly cooked, as though he had told the chef to smack the cow on the arse and send it in. He ate like a gentleman, cutting off small bloody pieces and eating them one by one.

  Bo entered the room, again admiring the glowing jellyfish, mako sharks, and a large hammerhead shark seeming to dominate the tank. Hans smiled as Bo took a seat opposite him. He held up his fork, a bloody piece of steak dangling from the end of it.

  “Do you know, this is the finest piece of steak I have ever had? It’s true. I have lived on this island for some time and eaten just about every cut of steak they have had in the kitchen, but this is by far the most impressive,” he said, eating the bloody meat off the fork and smiling. Bo wasn’t overly interested in the steak, but he smiled anyway. “I haven’t eaten steak in three years. My former girlfriend was a vegan, so I guess it kind of stuck,” he replied. Hans shook his head in disagreement, “No. That is no way for a man to live. Do you know why, Bo? We are carnivores. Our natural state is to hunt and kill. Eat flesh. That is what we are. Like our friend the shark over there. Of course, man evolved and for the most part the hunter in us has become truly lost, but it’s still there under the surface. We can not deny what we are. It’s our primal instinct. Survival,” Hans added, eating another mouthful.

  “Vegans simply deny our basic nature. Our instincts. What’s troubling you?” Hans asked quietly, and Bo sighed, leaning forward, “This island,” Bo said in a quiet voice. “I see. And what makes you feel the need for concern regarding this island?” Hans asked, leaning closer across the table.

  Bo mirrored the movement, leaning closer to him, “Call it instinct," he said. Hans only laughed. “I don’t know what it is, Hans but something don’t feel right here. And here you are... sitting in your cosy seat, stuffing your face with bloody steak like some predator," Bo said calmly.

  “I see, and yet you and I are not all that different, yes? You hunt and kill sharks for money. You call me a predator, yet you are not a part of the solution, you are part of the problem. You slaughter beasts for cash, Mr Landers. I myself only eat what is on my plate. Now, do I kill the beast? No. Do I waste the meat? Absolutely not. From what I hear, Bo... you not only kill the beast, but you discard it like rubbish. It’s easy to point the finger Bo, but you are mistaken. I am not the predator here. You are.” Hans sliced himself another piece of bloody meat.

  “I must say, I’d rather be on my side of the table," he added. Bo reached over, picking meat off his plate and tossing it in his mouth. “You don’t know a thing about me!” he said, getting up and leaving the room. Hans sighed, wiping his chin with a napkin and shaking his head.

  Bo left the facility, spitting the vile red meat out of his mouth and cursing. He wasn’t a predator. Hans had cut him by saying that and he knew it. He watched as Jerry and Connor entered the facility. It was almost six and the boys were obviously invited to do more core sampling. He didn’t follow them, instead walking past the resort and into the jungle walking the very same path that Abby had.

  Jordan Reeves was also called to the facility, and as he left the resort he saw Bo walking the opposite way, however deciding that it was probably for a good reason.

  He was almost at the staircase leading down into the facility when he saw something by the dock. A man. It was the Jamaican man that had picked him up from the airport, only he seemed different. His hair was shaved, his skin turned a faint shade of blue. He also noticed another disturbing detail, which simply could not have been ignored. His lips were parted wide enough to allow a yellow sea snake to slither out of the gaping void. Blood curdling screams of terror escaped from Jordan’s lips – a horror he could not contain as Ray reached for him, his body oozing with wet, jellied flesh. He recoiled in disgust – paralysed by what he was seeing. Horrible oozing goo dripped from Ray’s lips as he moved toward Jordan who was frozen in fear. “Jordan! You have to help me! I’m sick! We’re all sick! There’s something in the water!” he said, but Jordan was far too terrified to respond. “W-what is wrong with you? What can I do?” he asked, Ray’s dripping, corpse-like body reaching him slowly, nauseating him. Something wriggled in Ray’s eye. He looked right into Jordan’s eyes, and grinned. “Die," he said, spewing a geyser of black goo right into Jordan’s face. Jordan screamed in terror.

  Jerry and Connor stood before the glass window looking out into the blue ocean beyond at the two great whites. Rachel and Scar seemed almost to leer in at them as Hans walked over to the guys while they toyed with a waterproof speaker.

  “You’re thinking of playing them... music?” Hans asked and Connor nodded. “Oh yeah, sharks totally dig music, man! I mean they don’t seem to get jazz at all, but heavy metal they love!” Jerry said. Hans raising his eyebrows didn’t quite believe them. “You’ve done this before, yes?” he asked and they both nodded like a couple of nerds. Hans, deciding to amuse them and smiled a wide grin. “Alright, gentlemen! If you insist, I don’t see how I could possibly refuse!” And he backed away from them, heading off to accompany Lucy.

  Jerry turned to Connor. “Dude, you’re sure about this right?” he asked. Connor nodded. “Hell yeah, we do it all the time!” he replied, Jerry turning back to the sharks behind the glass. Rachel was glaring right at him. “...Not with these sharks," Jerry responded worryingly. Connor looked at him with an expression of concern, yet talked like a man who was tough as stone. “Dude, we got this. Maybe we
can make Rachel here chill a little. Be easier to get DNA samples if she wasn’t such a bitch all the time, am I right?” he asked, thumping Jerry playfully. The two had been friends a long time and every time Jerry had doubts about anything, Connor was the one who would bounce him back. They shared a brotherly bond, and despite acting like fools all the time there was a mutual respect that they had for each other that couldn’t be shaken.

  Sharks are truly beautiful and remarkable creatures. They need to keep swimming or they will simply die - so all they really do is swim and eat. Constantly hunting, preying on fish and whales. A 20 foot shark like Rachel can easily be intimidating, but over time it is not impossible to earn its trust like any other creature.

  Connor and Jerry believed that wholeheartedly, but that belief had only come from years of swimming with these magnificent creatures of the sea. Despite all of this, to turn your back on a shark would be foolhardy. The two men got into the deep dive suits, and the cage was lowered over the open pool in the centre of the laboratory. “You! Shook me aaall niiight long... “ Jerry sang, looking around and seeing Hans shake his head. “No?” Jerry asked, and Connor grinned. “Maybe leave it for now, Jerry," he said to him. Jerry seemed wounded. “You used to like my singing, man! You’ve changed!” Jerry went on and they got into the shark cage.

  It was lowered into the pool and once again the boys prepared to face the two great whites. The dark water was eerie and cool as the cage was lowered into the water. Oxygen sounded as it passed through their high-tech deep dive suits, Terry looking out for sharks, as Connor fiddled with the stereo. “What if they hate AC/DC?” Terry asked but Connor shook his head, “No way man! All whites love AC/DC. These two are probably just pricks because they don’t get any," Connor replied coolly, flipping on the underwater stereo, You Shook Me All Night Long blasting away, as the two divers did their best to dance in the underwater cage.

  There was a long moment of virtual zero visibility in the darkness under the water. Jerry bounced away to the tune, far less concerned about the darkness of the abyss than he had been the first time. Music just made him feel good, his own way of explaining it would be, It just levels the tension and shit, which Connor always thought was funny.

  “Oh man I forgot to take a shit!” Jerry said as Scar, the smaller male great white shark rammed right into the side of the cage, causing it to swing in the darkness. Connor and Jerry slid trying to keep their balance. “FUCK! Okay, nope. I took one,” Jerry yelled, his voice clear in the microphone under his mask. “I told you! He hates it already!”

  Scar swam to the left of the cage, its body whooshing by them like a small submarine. “Are you okay? I think I’m okay... “ Connor said, his arm dangling from the side of the cage.

  He would never have seen it coming. He was discombobulated from the swinging cage and breathing quick rapid breaths in his mask. Rachel swam right for his arm - ripping it off with the force of a school bus. Blood spilling into the water as Connor screamed. “AAAGGHH! OH MY GOD! OH MY GOD!... “ Falling back into the cage – his heart racing, his breath more panicky than ever. Searing pain... agony, only irritated by the salt water, making him mumble and rave irrationally.

  The shark was gone, but it would be back, and as frozen as Jerry was from shock, he knew it to be true. “FUCK!! GET US OUT!! GET US OUT, HANS NOW!!!” and the cage began to rise from the crimsoned dark waters. There was blood in the water, and as the cage rose back to safety, Jerry knew that was never a good thing.

  The medics rushed to help the moaning Connor from the cage and out of his suit, also Hans rushing over to assist. Jerry grabbed Hans by the neck, and security pulled him off of him.

  Blood oozed from Connor’s wound, his right arm little but torn flesh. “What the fuck, man?! What the hell is wrong with those sharks??” Jerry begged, furiously. The medics wrapped Connor’s wound tightly, laying him on a stretcher that was standing by. Jerry was in shock. He could see the world spinning and people talking but no sound was to be heard. Jerry looked around, shocked, and sweating. His eyes closed as he blacked out.

  8

  Bo hadn’t walked to the pool where Abby had seen Chandice, instead he’d simply walked around the jungle aimlessly, taking off his shirt and walking bare chested through the trees.

  He didn’t want to face Hans right now. He couldn’t. He was worried he’d lose his cool and lose his temper, resorting to more primal instincts. He didn’t like Hans at all he had decided, the smug German bastard was wrong even when he was right. He hated people like that; mysterious and shady, yet happy and jolly. Fucker! Bo was calming down but he knew if he went back, it would be for answers not pleasantries.

  The guy was hiding something – probably more than he’d ever admit without a gun to his head. The scary thing was, if it ever came to that, Bo could and would hold that gun.

  The rain had stopped and the trees and leaves glistened with moisture from the rainfall. He sat on a rock in an opening in the trees, closing his eyes and drinking in the fresh, soothing air. He had to find Abby. He had to think. This place was starting to get on his nerves and he was starting to wish he’d never come.

  “Hello my friend," a familiar voice said and Bo spun around to see Ray, now bald and looking very thin – starved even - standing in the thickness of the green. His body was an odd blue colour and Bo was startled by his appearance. “Ray? Is that you?” Bo asked and the sick looking Jamaican took a seat on the rock beside him. “It is, man. I am not the same man I was though. That man is dead,” he added, his voice wheezy and his body weak.

  “What the hell man... are you sick?” He asked as Ray lowered his head as if ashamed. “Ya mun," he said in reply, but it is so much worse than you could imagine. “They... did something to me. Said they would make me strong and fast. Said I would live longer, but it was all a lie Bo. Terrible things happen here. This island? It’s a bad place! You and your friends are in great danger here. You have to get away while you can,” Ray said, emotion and fear in his eyes. “Here on this island... there are monsters you cannot stop. They will come for you. All of you. They will make you like me," he went on.

  Bo grabbed Ray by the arm and pulled him close. Ray was weak, likely dying. He offered Ray a drink from his water bottle, and Ray smacked it out of his hand. “NO! NO WATER!” he said, and Bo shook his head saying, “Why? What’s wrong with you?”

  Ray was growing weaker, his eyes like slits. “The water makes you see things. It’s bad. Eventually you get sick... hallucinate... You think you are hallucinating, but you are not. What you see is the world as it really is. They not be doing experiments just on sharks here, man they are experimenting on us all! When you get sick, they take you away. They put sea creature parts inside you and you change. Sometimes, it’s jellyfish so people glow. Sometimes it’s shark DNA and they bind it to your own. The water makes you see. When you see, they take you,” he said. “You think those sharks are normal? No man! Nothing is normal here!” he went on, Bo processing this, still not understanding. “But we were chosen to assist him... ” he said, Ray laughing and shaking his head. “You think he chose you to help him? No man. He chose you because you are all predators. You’re not his partners in experiments on sharks! You are the sharks in his experiment!” he said, coughing up some black goo and laying back against a tree.

  Bo comforted him as best as the could, but Ray’s flesh was becoming translucent, his body becoming jelly-like. “Ray? Where? Tell me where he does it!” Bo demanded - as life started to leave Ray’s body. “Level A at the facility. For me he called it a promotion. Ha! Look at me, man! I am a freak!” Ray spewed black, inky vomit, and Bo recoiled. “You have to get off this island, Bo. You all do!” and then he blacked out.

  Ray’s body began to change, slimy tentacles slithering out of his mouth as Bo watched in horror. The flesh of Ray turned completely gelatinous as he slowly fell apart, becoming a horrific squid-like creature.

  Bo was on his feet, and staring at the mess of a creature before him. I
t ate what was left of Ray’s body, tentacles wrapping around the corpse, crushing it. Bo had tears in his eyes as he lifted a large rock over his head, dropping it on the blue tentacle man-thing, and smashing it. Black ink oozed out from beneath the rock and Bo backed away gagging. The creature was killed from the impact - and as Bo rolled back the rock to be sure, he covered his mouth to prevent himself from being sick.

  Beneath the rock, there lay a mess of tentacles and black ink. Ray was dead and he realised that if he didn’t think fast, they would all share a similar fate. A horrible thought popped into his head that very instant... Abby! My God, he had to find Abby!

  ◇◇◇◇

  Jerry sat by Connor’s bedside. Connor had been unconscious for hours, the shock of the shark attack, and loss of blood, had ensured he went into a deep sleep. Jerry had watched as the doctors treated him. He had passed out in the lab just from watching his friend suffer, but had woken up and gone straight to visit Connor. He sat by his bedside talking to him, as though they were having their usual conversation.

  “Hey, you remember that time, when we were on the boat... and it was dark, and cold, and raining, and that massive whale bumped the bottom of the boat?” Jerry paused, laughing like a kid. Wiping tears from his eyes under his glasses, “... and you got so scared, because we were new to this. You said ‘dude it’s Jaws! It’s fucking Jaws!... ‘“ his laughter continuing. “I acted so macho, saying it was nothing and it’d just go away but... I always wanted to tell you... I was scared man. I thought we were gonna die that night. But we didn’t and every time we’ve gone into the water ever since... I want you to know I trusted you man. Every time. I always will. You’re my bro!” He wiped his eyes, as Connor snored quietly.

  He lay his head on his friend’s chest and Connor opened his eyes, grinning. ”Dude, are you crying? That’s so sweet," he said and laughed, and Jerry, embarrassed, bolted up in the chair, wiping his eyes. “What? No! Dude don’t be gay!” Jerry said, smiling, and added, “You had me worried as shit you fucker!” The two friends embraced. “Where are we?” Connor asked and Jerry shrugged. “Hospital I guess. I just woke up and came in to see you. You want some pain relief or anything?“ He asked. Connor shook his head. “I don’t know what they gave me for pain, but man but it’s pretty amaze-balls! I lost my jerk off arm, dude," he added, and Jerry laughed. “Well you’re on your own there, broseph! I’ve done enough gay stuff today," he replied, both of them cracking up.