Shark Bite (Cyborg Shifters Book 3)

by Naomi Lucas

Something appeared in his bubble again. Netto flushed the module with power, draining his own personal resources, in hopes of completing it faster.

  If he had to pull away because something attacked him, or worse, attacked the scow above, he could potentially break the sensory device, and he and Zeph would be back to square one, but this time without the tools or the tech on hand.

  The pressure built until he powered down his hearing devices, he didn’t want his personal technology erupting from the sound.

  76% complete, 77% complete... Something thrashed nearby and it sent him and the tech flying back in the water. He strengthened his grip on the long, corded chains.

  ‘There’s something down here,’ he sent the message to Zeph, hoping it would reach him despite their almost non-existent connection.

  79%.

  ‘We know.’ The message popped up in his head. Netto held himself back from destroying the machine under his hands. He registered movement around him, frenetic movement, but he focused on Zeph’s words.

  A hundred things came to mind, a thousand ways to respond. ‘Is she okay?’

  84%. Zeph didn't answer immediately and every minute he remained down below was another minute out of his control.

  ‘Yes.’ He barely got the message, the wireless connection between them repeatedly losing and regaining signal. Netto agonized over every millisecond as his mind whirred through multiple worst-case scenarios. 90%.

  The surrounding area cleared before the module regained complete strength. The lesser creatures that flitted around the periphery moved farther away. Netto knew this break in the armored belt meant that creatures could have gone beyond the barrier. Some of those creatures were predators to the very marrow of their bones. 96%.

  At least he could stop any new ones from getting through. The sea monsters continued to flee.

  100%.

  Netto disengaged himself with one last feel of the tech, running his hands over the thick grooves along its outer casing. Whatever creature destroyed it wasn’t bothered by the powerful sonic waves and those waves even bothered Cyborgs. They could rattle everything loose, including his mind. The wires strummed as he focused on them.

  He made sure to memorize them. Once he had the image branded under his fingers and blueprinted in his head, he released some of the oxygen in his suit and shot to the surface.

  He had been down there for hours, first to adjust his system to the increased pressure, then to discover what had really happened to the tech. Netto kept his eyes closed as he swam out of the abyss and into the dark zone, constantly equalizing the pressure throughout his system.

  Serpents swam around him. He was still too deep to open his eyes. He had seen true blackness before and there was nothing comforting about it.

  The creatures that hadn't made it out of the signal circle before it connected were thrashing. The chaos built. Now, no matter which direction they swam, they were stuck within the sound where they would eventually die from the exertion or beach themselves to get out of the water.

  Netto shifted when he approached the surface, powering through the few yards that separated him from Rylie, and was met with the blaring echo of gunfire.

  He unsheathed his knife and gripped it between his teeth, pushing himself against the current toward the watership.

  “Netto, move your ass!” Zeph yelled at him somewhere off in the dark.

  Netto grabbed his knife and stuck it skyward as a limb crashed into him from above. The blade pierced through the slimy skin before he was knocked away. He took ahold of the incoming appendage and held on, sinking his teeth into it and tearing chunks of thick flesh away. He stabbed it from the other side.

  More gunfire pierced the air and into the creature to which he was attached.

  “Stop shooting! You’ll hit him!” Rylie screamed.

  Netto sucked in a breath before crushing through bones that splintered between his teeth. Nothing could withstand the sharp edges of his maw.

  He tore through it in under a minute. His ears filled with the sounds of crashing waves and the whip of the wind as the beast thrashed in an attempt to dislodge him. Scraps of flesh hung from the monster, the remnants of Netto’s grisly feast.

  The smell of fresh blood and rank fish filled his nose. He crashed into the water and let go of the creature.

  Netto swam to the ship, following the homing signal, and used the spotlight as a beacon. When he looked up, all he could see was a grey milky film that had just begun to curdle and rot.

  He grabbed the side of the watership and pulled himself up only to find that the shields had risen.

  The door flung open beside him and Zeph reached out. Netto grabbed his arm to drag himself onto the ship. The metal pack on his back ripped from him, too large for the small space, and fell back into the water. The boat rocked beneath him and ocean water dripped from his body, infused with blood.

  Something crashed overhead, sinking the ship under the surface, and Zeph whipped the door closed behind them, but not before a gush of water filled the boat. They were pushed below only to bob right back up. It happened again.

  Zeph grabbed Janet and clasped her into his chest. Netto held on as he looked frantically at Rylie, who struggled at the helm. Before he reached her she lunged and wrapped her arms around him. He pulled her close and re-sheathed his knife.

  “I'm glad you're okay,” she said, her voice high with fear. Everyone held on as they were hit again from the side, knocking them into the wall.

  “We need to get out of here!” Netto roared.

  Montihan yelled from the bridge, “I'm already on it. Everybody hold on.”

  Netto looked over to see Montihan buckled into his seat, pressing a series of buttons. Zeph buckled Janet into the seat next to her dad and Netto followed behind him after retrieving one of the guns.

  “It took you long enough to get back. Fuck, man, I thought we would be out of here hours ago. What happened?”

  Rylie had her head buried in her hands as Netto held her against him and burrowed his face into her hair. The water sluiced around their feet. He picked her up and fastened her into a nearby seat and looked her in the eye.

  “I heard your voice. Are you okay?” He felt the ship power to life and everything went dark for just a moment as the spotlight flickered off. Everything went black.

  “Yes,” she whispered.

  “Get us out of here, Montihan! What’s it going to take?”

  They were lifted into a void, the only sounds were the turbulent waves caused by the movement below. The interior lights flickered on.

  The ship shot forward before diving below the waves. It leapt upward as something jostled them again, but they had gotten out of the radius of the giant beast that had attacked them.

  “What the... look at the radar. What did you do down there?” Montihan yelled.

  “Watch out!” Netto bellowed too late as Montihan crashed into another monster. The ship rounded on its side.

  Creatures appeared and disappeared as they retreated from the barrier. They zigzagged through the chaos. Montihan maneuvered the watership, as well as any Cyborg could, a testament to their host’s talent, but it did not make a smooth ride.

  The glass overhead splintered and stopped everyone in their tracks. Even Montihan swiveled around and looked up.

  “That’s not good,” Zeph grumbled.

  Netto rushed out and found a loose towel, half soaked, and threw it over Rylie and Janet. “Stay here. Stay under it.”

  “The glass is breaking, it’ll crush us,” Janet shouted. “We need to move!” A chunk fell and shattered at their feet.

  Netto gritted his teeth as the ship plummeted back below the waterline. He shielded the girls from the water that rushed in. Glass continued to fall. He pressed a quick kiss to the top of Rylie’s head as he moved away and the ship popped back up.

  “Not before you go overboard, sweetheart...” Zeph responded with dry humor.

  “What’re you going to do?” Rylie called a
fter him.

  “Get us out of here.” Netto headed for the bow with Zeph close behind. They unlocked their gun cases and strapped up.

  They were hit by another large tentacle from out of nowhere. Netto glanced up and frowned as a large streak of blood smeared over the top glass. It was the limb he had bitten through. That’s not possible. The ship picked up speed. The sound of a gun clip being rammed home filled his ears.

  Netto picked up his own and called out to Montihan, “Open the front and turn the spotlight back on!”

  A short time later the squelch of moving glass filled his ears. The panels slipped slowly into the sides but stopped halfway, halted to give them a barricade that was safer than the railing.

  “I hope you know what you’re doing,” Zeph said.

  Together, they climbed to the top and braced themselves on the ceiling of the bridge. Netto could just make out Montihan through the closed cracks below. He took a hold of the spotlight and spun it in a half-circle, squinting his eyes and peering through the murky gloom.

  Zeph took aim at the beasts that moved within the illumination on either side of the ship. Netto ignored the small fry, festering in an endless frenzy, and searched for the leviathan: the serpent whose blood was still in his mouth and whose flesh between his teeth. It didn’t reappear, and as the seconds ticked by, the waters smoothed out and the watership stopped dipping.

  They flew from the scene as the sun crested and the night fog shifted into a charcoal dawn.

  “Oh, what the hell!” Zeph shouted. Netto looked away from the ocean and followed his partner’s gaze. He moved the light with him.

  His fingers dug into the gun at his side.

  A shadow eclipsed the early morning light.

  Netto rose to his feet as his throat closed up at the sight before him. It was a behemoth. A giant. A creature he had never seen the likes of before and which he hoped to never see again. It came out of the mist with long spindly arms that drifted deep within the water around it. He had to look up and strain his neck to see the head of the beast.

  “So that's what’s on the other side,” Zeph choked out next to him.

  “Yes,” Netto said with awe.

  “Could’ve given me a heads up.”

  But the beast grew smaller as they made their escape.

  “I didn't know,” he said. “I've never seen anything like this before.” He had seen giants in the water on Kepler, the leviathans that the locals spoke of. This was different; this was hellish. The wind blew around them but the constant spray of water kept him from getting dry.

  “I think we should kill it,” Zeph laughed. “Kinda want to take back a trophy.” His partner jumped down before Netto could say anything and yelled out to Montihan below. “Stop the boat!”

  “Are you serious? We just got away from the thing!” Janet's voice was shrill with terror. But the bow came to a stop anyway.

  Netto ran his tongue across his teeth, releasing his blood, and jumped into the ocean, but not before he saw the sea behemoth flail out in a rage and the serpents fly around it in untempered fury. As the mist cleared, the ocean vanished and all that remained were the bodies of the aquatic life swimming atop each other.

  Netto looked away to see Rylie standing below. He joined her on the bow.

  “Are you okay?” Rylie gasped out with a shiver, her hair and clothes drenched around her slight frame.

  “Yes, are you?”

  He took her in his arms, hoping to warm her.

  Zeph opened a case that housed one of their strongest weapons. Netto glanced over Rylie's head and watched his partner assemble the ion launcher.

  “I'm okay now,” she said. “You guys can't possibly take that thing out. You'll die trying.”

  “No shit!” Janet erupted, joining them. “We barely got away with our lives and if that thing hits the boat one more time—”

  “The glass shielding will shatter. We won't be able to replace it,” Rylie said, drawing out of his arms. Netto searched her face and saw her brave mask harden. “If we get attacked again we’d be at a disadvantage.”

  “Not to mention, for star's sake, the majority of people on this boat are not Cyborgs!”

  Netto bit down on his tongue as he looked at those around him, only to turn and face the large creature in the distance. He hadn’t been fully paying attention, but he was certain that it had come closer. He turned toward the stairwell and shouted down to Montihan.

  “Continue driving,” he roared, afraid for the module he had just fixed. “We need to lead it away.”

  He turned back as Zeph clamped the last part of the weapon together and they shared a grim look. The boat started up again underneath them. Out of the corner of his eye, Netto noticed Zeph giving Janet a lingering kiss.

  Netto prepared his own gun. He turned to Rylie who was climbing to the top of the boat and he grabbed her leg, stopping her. “What are you doing? It's not safe.”

  She tugged free of his hold. “Helping.”

  She held a link of bullets around her arm. He lifted up to join her. She popped open a panel on the roof and a mounted gun appeared.

  Her lip between her teeth, Rylie loaded the gun and aimed it at the beast.

  Its arm slammed into the water several yards away from them, knocking the bow on its side before it dipped back up. He went to grab Rylie only to find that she had belted herself to the gun.

  The creature followed and it was close, too close for his liking. Zeph joined them and let loose the ion.

  Netto chanted in his head over and over that Rylie was safe, she was flanked on either side by Cyborgs.

  The bomb landed with precision at the center of the beast and the sparkling blue fire of vengeance exploded across the horizon. It sucked up whatever was left of the fog, the heat of it flushed out across the ocean. It was a sight to behold, but it did not last long. Chunks of visceral sailed through the air and pieces landed on the ship. The leviathan roared but didn’t fall.

  Netto drew his own gun and shot red-hot beams at the monster. The constant hammering of the turret echoed his rhythm. Zeph ducked away and reloaded his weapon. Janet was behind them, still on the top deck, handing them whatever they needed.

  The watership continued to sail away. Montihan was keeping them right outside the beast’s reach.

  “I don't know why you have to do you this!” Janet screamed.

  “It's on the wrong side of the wall!” Rylie yelled back, letting her terror cool down before she sprayed the monster with another round of fire. “It can’t get back across without us dropping the whole grid. It’ll go mad on this side.”

  The creature roared. They all stopped. The sun had begun to ascend into the sky, haloing the monster with her bright white illumination. Zeph prepped the second ion bomb.

  A dozen massive arms lifted up and smashed on the water. It looked as if it was walking toward them—which he thought had to be impossible. If it were walking it would mean the beast was big enough to stand on the bottom of the abyss. Nothing was that big.

  Zeph shot the second bomb, and the whiz died in the wind as it hit the same place as the first one had.

  They watched with bated breath, hoping that it was enough to split the beast in half. The explosion gave off a huge shockwave. They had to turn away from the blinding light while getting showered with water. The bomb had also failed and only enraged the monster more. A tentacle smashed down from above, too quickly for them to drive out of its range.

  The remaining glass shattered under the pressure just as Netto covered Rylie. The ship sank under the water line only to reemerge a moment later. The wind filled with screams.

  Zeph was nowhere in sight. The ship continued to move away.

  Rylie sputtered water and Netto moved off her. She repositioned the turret and the barrage of gunfire once again filled his ears.

  She impressed him but he had little time to show it as he aimed his gun again and fired a few more shots. Netto looked around. Both Zeph and Janet were gone. />
  “You have to go after them!” she yelled over the rush of water. He turned to Rylie.

  She blinked and took a hold of his weapon in one hand, peeling it from his grip.

  “Bring them back alive!” she screamed without looking at him. Netto stared at her for a second longer, willing this moment to last, but he dove into the ocean, threading out his signal to realign itself with Zeph.

  The watership was gone within an instant of his landing. He registered the lack of its electricity before he was able to shift into a shark. All he knew was that Rylie was safe. The Montihans would provide cover fire and lead the behemoth away from the Cyborgs and Janet. He gritted his teeth and looked for Rylie’s sister.

  Chapter Thirteen

  Rylie focused on the beast before her, targeting the long-armed monstrosity with every bullet she had left. Her aim was good—great even—and she targeted the same spot Zeph had in hopes of cutting the monster in half, of seeing its flesh tear and rend, and its bones peeking through the gore.

  She heard Netto dive off the side and her fear grew as he vanished to go after her sister. She suddenly felt alone and Rylie let out a strangled screech as she faded out everything beyond her control, her eyes on the creature in the mist. Hundreds of bullets slithered over her arm as she overheated the turret under her hands.

  “Please die, die, die, die!”

  Rylie had tunnel vision. Her sister was in danger and that justified exacting revenge on the beast in the distance. Da focused on getting them out, piloting the watership with a finesse born of years on the water.

  The metal burned under her palms.

  Rylie blinked back the dew on her lashes. Her adrenaline ruled her and with little sleep the night before, she swore to the gods of Earth and the gods of Kepler that her loved ones would remain safe into this new day. A surge of energy coursed through her veins.

  The monster buckled forward, bowed over by the region of pain she gifted it. The watership was struck again and all she could do was hold on and close her eyes as it dipped below the waterline. Her nostrils burned when she unexpectedly breathed in the salt water.