Ben gasped for a minute, and once he caught his breath, he slowly looked up at Gentry and Emma, his face maroon and covered in sweat beads. “Cobb, he said he and Manuel saw a boat on the beach, right? Said some fucking fish was covered in barnacles and attacked the sheriff.”
Gentry nodded, but then frowned. “Um…I don’t get it.”
The wood on the Queen Nance creaked as something else rammed it from under the surface of the water. Gentry didn’t know how much longer the rickety ship could last before sinking into the maw of the sea, letting the creatures underneath rip them all to shreds.
Emma stayed quiet, kept her eyes looking past the window. Her grip tightened around Gentry’s hand and she pressed her body against his. In spite of everything that had happened, it felt good to feel her there.
“It’s this place, man. That boat…it came from here. It had t-to, right? Don’t you think we would’ve heard about those…barnacle things if this shit was w-widespread?” Ben winced again, wiped the sweat from his brow.
“And that boat…it floated to shore. That’s what Cobb said. They were walking on the beach when they saw it.” Gentry laughed, a glimmer of hope sparking in his chest.
“What…so we just float back? How long would that take?” Emma said.
Ben glared at her for a moment, and then forced himself to his feet, using his back to shimmy up the wall. Gentry thought he saw something move on Ben’s hand, a scuttling, but Ben must have seen him looking because he quickly covered it up, tucked it under the armpit on the opposite arm.
“What other choice do we have? We try and drive this f-fucking thing, we could be getting further away from home.”
More fish leapt out of the water, landed on deck, slapped the wood with their slippery, barnacle-ridden bodies.
“We have to pull up the anchor,” Ben said. “Then just w-wait it out.”
“You have any idea how to do that?” Gentry said, studying the controls for anything labeled anchor.
“I saw Uncle Pete…do it earlier. Lever…front of the boat.”
“Come on,” Gentry said and dashed toward the door, Ben groaning as he pushed himself off the wall and followed. Gentry stopped, turned toward Emma. “Stay here. Close this door behind us.”
“Gentry…” she said, taking a step toward him. “Be careful.”
Gentry nodded, then descended the stairs slowly, making sure not to leave Ben too far behind. Wet slaps and hard thumps sounded all around them as the fish on deck flopped around.
Gentry looked over his shoulder. “You doing okay—”
Ben dove on him, took him off his feet. The two of them stumbled down the stairs together, and by the time they hit the bottom, they were like a ball of limbs tied in a knot. For a second, Gentry thought Ben had turned into…whatever it was those barnacles turned people into. Then he saw the dolphin writhing on the stairs just above them, making gurgled chirping sounds as the tentacles exploded out from its rubbery body and flailed. It slid down the stairs, and Gentry grabbed hold of Ben and rolled them both out of the way.
Gentry groaned as he rose to his feet, rubbed the ache in his lower back. It hurt to breathe, and he wondered if he had broken a rib or something, but knew there was no time to dwell on it.
He quickly helped Ben to his feet, then yanked him away from the dolphin whose barnacles opened up and sprayed a cloud of white substance into the air. The dolphin’s flesh had been torn open from its collision with the wall and stairs, and dark blood oozed out from the rubbery gashes.
Gentry ran toward the front of the boat, jumping over tuna and red and snapper, their tentacles missing him by inches as he sprinted by them. A huge gray back domed out of the sea just beside him, sprayed water into air that rained back down, warm and salty.
Ben shrieked. Gentry slid to a halt, nearly lost his footing.
Ben gripped the rail at the edge of the boat, tentacles wrapped around his leg like a grape vine. The fish they were attached to flopped and bit into Ben’s leg, tearing the flesh away from his knee, its silver, scaled body flecked with blood.
“Ben!” Gentry ran for his friend.
“No!” Ben pried at the tentacles at his thigh, blood flowing down his leg. “Just…go!”
Gentry shook his head, clenched his fists.
“I’ll catch up! Hurry the fuck up! Go!”
A splash to Gentry’s right. All he saw was silver flashing in the light, coming at him like a cannonball. He dropped to his stomach, knocked the breath out of him. The fish sailed over him, hit the deck hard. Two tuna had been flopping there, and as the fish landed, their barnacles opened up and the tentacles slid out, ripped into the new fish.
Ben screamed again, and without looking back at him, Gentry hopped back to his feet and hauled ass toward the bow. He didn’t know what the hell he was supposed to be looking for, but he just hoped it would be obvious enough.
“Fuck!” He spun in a circle, but didn’t see anything initially.
When his eyes landed on the small lever toward the very tip of the nose, he gasped, dove for it. The second his hand wrapped around the metal lever, the head of a Great White emerged from the water. Its jaws opened wide, eyes a deep black. Barnacles clung to the creamy white flesh of its belly.
Gentry screamed, yanked his hand away as the shark’s mouth slammed shut. When the giant fish disappeared back under the green sea, Gentry quickly reached for the lever and pulled it.
A pulley began spinning, reeling in the thick chain. The water around the chain splashed violently as if the fish beneath the surface were attacking it.
The boat was pulled forward bit by bit as the anchor was pulled in. There were bumps and scrapes as animals collided with the underside.
Gentry backed away, was about to run back toward Ben. Do what he can to help his friend.
When he spun around, his face nearly collided with a plate of barnacles. The shells opened up, winked a few times. Clyde opened his mouth and groaned, wet and frothy.
Gentry knew what came next, tried to duck out of the way, but everything seemed to move in slow motion, and no matter how hard he willed his body to move, escape, fucking hurry, he could only watch as the barnacles on Clyde’s torso spat their poisonous goo.
Something hit Clyde from behind, spun him to the side. The barnacles misted the white fluid into the air with a loud whoosh sound, missing Gentry by maybe a foot.
Ben had his arms wrapped around his brother’s waist, kicking his legs, which were twisted up with countless tentacles now, dragging at least four large fish behind him, their rocky bodies clanking against the wooden planks of the deck.
The black appendages burst free from their shells on Clyde’s chest and stomach, frenzying at his throat as he was shoved forward, gurgling and groaning.
Gentry spun away from them, then tried to reach out and grab hold of Ben before he toppled over the side. Gentry’s fingertips hooked into Ben’s shirt collar, but the fabric tore as Ben shoved himself and his brother forward.
And then they were both gone with a loud splash.
“Ben! Noooo!”
Gentry wanted to run to the spot where his best friend just went over, wanted to reach out, regardless of how futile it would have been to do so.
But he never got the chance. The fish sliding across the deck whose tentacles were wrapped around Ben’s leg, swept one of Gentry’s feet out from under him. He stumbled backward, twirling his arms to catch his balance.
And then he was falling. A scream blasted from his throat, and he desperately clawed with his hands, hoping his fingers would catch something, anything, save him from the water churning with monsters and nightmares.
His fingers found metal, and his left hand instantly slipped off of it. His right held on, but just barely, losing their grip with each passing moment.
“Shiiiiit! Help me!”
Gentry looked over his shoulder just in time to see the slick, black back of a whale bubble out of the water, the barnacles on its back like an infected tatt
oo. Water sprayed into the air, and then a black tail hit the surface, made a sound like thunder clapping. Droplets rained down on Gentry, made his grip even more slippery.
Gentry shut his eyes, waiting to feel the monster’s teeth drive into him, mash down on him, pull him into the dark, wet hell beneath him.
But instead, he felt a hand grip his forearm, then another. His eyes burst open and he stared into Emma’s face, her teeth bared as she pulled back with all her weight, hauling Gentry up. She got him up just far enough so he could grip the rail with his other hand, and together, they pulled until Gentry’s back slammed to the deck.
Gentry had his head in Emma’s lap, gasping. That area of the deck was free of fish, though the wood was stained black and red. The dolphin that had nearly taken his head off trembled on the stairwell, its tail jammed between two steps, torn open and shredded from the constant thrashing.
Gentry didn’t realize he was crying until Emma lowered her mouth to his and kissed him, long and hard, massing his lips into his teeth. She pulled away, tears flowing from her own eyes, and all Gentry could do was turn, bury his face in her thigh, and weep.
The anchor!
It was in that moment that he heard the grinding, squealing sound coming from the front of the boat, tendrils of white smoke drifting into the briny air.
“What is that?” Emma said past trembling lips.
“The anchor,” Gentry said. He rose shakily to his feet, dashed toward the chain. “It’s jammed on something.”
Grabbing the lever, he pushed it forward, and then pulled it back again. The chain worked its way up, but slowly, jerkily. It stopped, making that squealing sound again, and then the chain started to unravel, slide back into the water little by little.
“Fuck me…”
It’s not stuck. Something’s fucking pulling on it!
“What is it?” Emma said, still in the same spot, but now on her feet.
Another fish leapt out of the water, flew right by Emma’s face, slammed into the wall. Emma shrieked and backpedaled away from it.
“The wheelhouse!” he screamed at her, already racing toward her. “Up the stairs, up the stairs!”
Emma screamed again as she hopped over the injured dolphin, the barnacles instantly extending their threads, the mammal choking on its own blood and cries as it tried to wiggle itself free.
Gentry backed up a step, got a running start, and leapt over the dolphin. One of the tentacles scraped across the bottom of his sneaker, ripped it right off his foot. He crashed into Emma who caught him with both arms, and then the two of them booked it up the stairs, Gentry slamming the door shut behind them. The lock was busted, but the door still fit snugly in the frame.
“What is it?” Emma said, her back up against the door, hugging herself.
“Something’s…pulling on the anchor. I thought we were stuck, but… How the fuck do you drive this thing!” Gentry ran his hands over the controls, not sure where to start or what to do.
Emma sprang forward, nudged him aside. “What about this?”
She turned the ignition and the boat roared to life. Her hand wrapped around the metal lever beside the wheel, pushed it forward. The motor hummed louder, seemed to be struggling.
“That’s it!” Gentry said.
Whatever held that anchor seemed to fight back for a moment, and then suddenly the boat lurched forward, throwing both of them backward. Emma collided with Gentry, and he managed to hold both of them up. They both laughed slightly, stared into each other’s eyes for a brief second. It was in that moment that Gentry realized she was shirtless, her bra clinging to her and soaked.
“Stop the boat,” Gentry said, his voice coming out a whisper.
“What?”
“The boat, stop the boat.”
Emma frowned but did as he said.
“I have to finish bringing up that anchor or we could get caught on something.”
“Gentry…”
“Just stay here, all right? Get ready to haul ass if we have to. I’ll be right back.”
Before she could say another word, he stormed out, took the stairs two at a time, leapt over the dolphin. When he landed, he tweaked the ankle on his shoeless foot, but didn’t let that slow him as he quickly limped his way toward the chain.
He grabbed the lever and pulled, and the chain reeled in with no resistance. Having no idea how long it was, standing there waiting was excruciating.
“Come on. Come on!”
Something pale in the water, just below him. Getting closer and closer as the chain was pulled in.
Gentry was about to push the lever forward, stop it before whatever the hell that was could get any closer. He squinted, stared.
“B-Ben?”
The chain reeled in, metallic clinking sounds ringing out as it was wrapped around the pulley.
Ben’s head broke the surface, his eyes blank, mouth opening and closing. His torso came next, covered in barnacles that clicked as they winked, the tentacles bursting out of the shells as soon as they got close enough to Gentry.
“Oh Jesus…” Gentry backed away slowly, shaking his head. “This…this isn’t happening. None of this is real…”
There was nothing left of Ben from the sternum down but broken bone and tattered strips of flesh and meat that hung like torn fabric. Gentry imagined that Ben had been holding onto the anchor, and some giant beast had a hold of him, pulling him backward. When Emma drove forward, it must have ripped Ben clean in half.
Ben’s eyes coasted up and landed on Gentry. He shrieked, spraying foam and blood from his throat.
“No! Nooo! Fuck you!”
Ben clung to the anchor, which was now flush against the bow.
Gentry just shook his head, scraping his nails across his scalp as he stared at what was left of his best friend.
Ttsssshhhh!
Water misted into the air just behind Ben like an aquatic mushroom cloud. There was a loud splash, and then a thump against the boat as the Killer Whale launched itself up and out of the water, clamping its mouth around Ben’s chest.
Ben hung on for a few seconds, the tentacles flailing, trying to cling to the anchor. But the whale was too powerful, and in an instant, there was nothing left but blood and bits of torn meat.
And Gentry’s best friend was gone.
–14–
They had been floating for hours, neither Gentry nor Emma saying a word. They held each other, fell in and out of sleep, but neither opened their mouth.
The water around them was calm. No fins or blowholes or barnacles or teeth around. Just the dancing surface of the water, the moonlight turning it bluish silver.
Gentry couldn’t help but expect something else to bump the boat from beneath, as if one of the whales or sharks had followed them. The infected fish on deck had stopped flopping around hours ago, but Gentry wasn’t ready to leave the wheelhouse just yet. Just as the thought entered Gentry’s head, Emma pulled away from him, looked into his face.
“You think that shit will spread?”
“Spread?” Gentry sat up straighter, stretched his back out.
“Those barnacle things. I mean…it seemed like it was all in that one area, right? How long before they spread out into the ocean, you know?”
“Shit, I never thought of that. Maybe they already have.”
She shook her head. “Something like that? I think we would have heard something about it, don’t you think?”
Gentry shrugged. “Yeah, I guess so.”
When he saw the lights twinkling in the distance, just ahead of them, he couldn’t help but smile. He grabbed Emma by the back of the head, pulled her toward him, and kissed her. Not hard like before, but soft, lovingly. She moaned slightly, her hand finding the back of his head, nails combing his hair.
He pulled away from her, let his forehead rest against hers for a second, then grabbed her by the shoulders, spun her around.
“Is…is that…?”
“We made it. I can’t believe we…
” Tears welled up in Gentry’s eyes. “I thought we were going to die out there. I really did.”
They both stared at the approaching shore, the lights flickering like candle flames. Again, they fell into silence.
My friends are all dead.
The last thing Ben did was save Gentry’s life. That’s what Gentry tried to force himself to remember. Not the monster that had clung to the anchor. That wasn’t his best friend.
It would be up to Gentry to talk to their families. He didn’t know Cobb or Manuel’s families well, but had met their parents a few times. It was something he dreaded, knew they would probably blame him, resent him for surviving when their sons didn’t.
But it was Cheri he dreaded the most. The woman he considered to be his second mother. The woman who had lost her entire family now.
Emma seemed to be deep in thought, and Gentry knew she was probably thinking about Clyde. He couldn’t blame her for that, and even if she needed her space for a while, time to get her thoughts together, collect herself, he would give her that. The more he thought about it, he might need the same thing.
Without saying a word, Emma stepped forward, started the boat’s engine, and drove them the rest of the way toward shore. They didn’t worry about trying to find a dock, just drove the boat straight toward the beach until it wedged itself into the sand.
“Palacios. Just yesterday I thought it was a dump that smelled like rotten fish. Now, I’m pretty sure it’s the most beautiful place I have ever seen.” Gentry shoved his hands into his pockets and chuckled softly.
“So…now what—”
A scream rang out. Then another. Something growled, wet and slobbery, but it was too dark for Gentry to see where it came from.
He squinted, stared out the window. He couldn’t be sure, but he thought he saw movement just head of them.
“What…what the fuck?”
Gentry ran out of the wheelhouse, Emma right behind him. Though the fish on deck looked dead, the barnacles on their bodies still clicked open and shut, and once Gentry and Emma ran by them, the tentacles burst free and reached.
Parasite Deep Page 15