Takaashigani

by Justin Hunter

  Fred panicked. He shoved the girl’s body away from him, causing him to propel backwards into the mass of crabs behind him. These gentle creatures had instantly taken on a murderous intention and Fred thrashed them in all directions. The crabs clung to his suit. Fred lost his mouth grip on his oxygen mask. Water filled his mouth. Fred kicked hard toward the light. In his panic, there was still some logical sense left that if the girl was falling down, then beyond her was up. The light would be his salvation. Fred let the oxygen mask fall and propelled himself as fast as he could go upward. He felt the girl’s hand drift down his leg and lightly touch his toes as she sank to her last resting place.

  Fred was thankful that his mask stayed in place. If that had been knocked over and sea water poured in, stinging his eyes, he would have lost it completely and been just as dead as the girl whose body was now lying on a cave wall being picked clean by the teeming spider crabs. Fred reached the surface with a resounding splash of water. He flailed his arms until he got purchase on an edge of rock. He screamed as he felt himself being pulled, thinking the giant crab had seen him.

  “Shut up and stop struggling,” a harsh voice said. “You’re supposed to be the one saving us.” Fred tore his mask off and looked at the haggard, lined faces of the men before him. “Holy shit,” one of them said. “It’s our town's finest. How’s it going, Fred?”

  “Clive? Shiro? What the hell are you doing down here?” Fred looked beyond them to see Susan stabbed through the stomach and held in the water by the tip of a giant crab claw. Fred bit down the urge to vomit and turned back to Shiro. “Susan’s here as well. Not surprised to see her with you two. What’s going on?”

  “My sister is dead,” Shiro yelled, grabbing Fred roughly by the wet suit straps. “Claire is dead. Susan is being devoured right over there. There’s just us left in here. We’re trapped. Didn’t you come for us?”

  “No,” Fred said, shoving Shiro away from him. “I came for a missing diver. His safety line led up here. Is there anyone else here?”

  “No,” Shiro said, “and if he’s been in here then he’s dead too. That giant crab has been eating us one by one. How are we going to get out of here?”

  “I could try and swim you out one at a time,” Fred said, “But I’m not sure you could hold your breath that long. There’s an army of crabs down there and if they grab us, we’re through. I almost didn’t make it up here myself.”

  “You came up here to die,” Susan said, her eyes looked up at Fred crazily from her impalement perch.

  “Just ignore her,” Clive said. “Getting eaten has made her kind of loopy.” Fred looked around the cave for another way out, but didn’t see anything like the tunnels below them. He refused to look over at the large crab which was holding its current prey halfway into the water. The water bubbled under her. It didn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that she was being slowly eaten from below. This explained the fleshy skeleton that was dropped onto him from above. He tried to remember what the face looked like but couldn’t remember it well enough to know if it was Claire or Cindy.

  “Where’s that light coming from?” Fred asked.

  “There’s a foot wide hole in the rock at the top,” Clive said.

  “Help give me a lift up there,” Fred said. “We’ve got to send a signal out before that crab finishes with Susan. I don’t want to be next on the menu.”

  “Signal with what?” Shiro asked.

  “Oh, you’ll find out.”

  Chapter - 14

  “Do you see that?” Marty Bartelle pointed across the water toward the broad peak of the rock island that jutted above the surface of the water like a giant’s tooth. Billy and Duke moved to the side of the boat and looked beyond to where Marty was pointing. They saw it too. A low red flame was flickering on the edge of the rock outcropping. If it wasn’t for the small tendril of smoke rising to the clear sky, it would probably have been missed. There was no mistaking what it was.

  “That’s Fred’s signal flare,” Marty said. Billy nodded. Duke went to the rear of the boat and began to bring up the anchor. Billy began shouting orders.

  “Marty, keep your eye on that flame. Don’t look away or we’ll miss where it’s coming from and I don’t want to spend the whole day tramping around that rock looking for it. Duke, when you’re done getting that anchor raised, come over here and help me with the diver line. We’re going to have to troll on over to those rocks, and I want to keep this line from getting snapped. We’ll have to pull it aboard as we go.”

  “There must be a cave under that island,” Marty said. “He might have found the diver alive after all. If we’re going over there, we’ll have to take it slow or else we’re going to tear the boat up on the rocks and sink.”

  “We have all the faith in the world in you,” Billy said. Duke brought the anchor up on deck and went to help Billy with the diver cord. As soon as he put his hands on the line, Billy left him and went over to his brother. Duke didn’t let the fact that Billy was lazy bother him. If he was lazy, he was less dangerous to him.

  Marty babied the boat toward the direction of the rock island. The wind was low and the water held a gentle chop; easy to steer, but still hard to see very low beneath the water. Every now and then, Duke spied an outcropping of what had to be rock beneath the waves. He kept the diver’s line coming in, coiling it easily on deck. It would have been nice and peaceful if Billy didn’t keep the air filled with obscenities and cautions. The boat would grind over rock as it came closer to the large rock island. The sound, like screeching tires over blacktop, made the men hold their breath and pray that the hull would hold.

  “Do you still know where the flare was?” Billy asked.

  “I think I have a good bead on it,” Marty said, “but I don’t think we can get much closer than this or we’ll tear the boat apart.”

  “I see rock below us,” Duke said. “I think we can go over the side and walk from here. I don’t mind getting a little wet.”

  “Marty, you go with him,” Billy said. Marty didn’t argue. He got up from the driver’s seat and Billy took his place. Duke lifted his jeans leg and took a knife out of his boot and put it in his belt. Marty shoved a pistol in his own belt and filled his pockets with ammo. Duke let the anchor down slowly, where it clinked on the rock a mere two feet below the water. He went over the side, allowing his feet to lightly rest on the rocks below as he held onto the softly swaying boat.

  “It’s a bit slick, but I think we’ll be fine if we’re careful,” Duke said.

  “I’m in no hurry,” Marty said, sliding down over the side of the boat himself. Duke led the way, moving on all fours to keep his balance. He could see the rock below, but was uncomfortable with finding purchase on the algae slick rock surface. He was also afraid of stepping into some void in the rock and falling through. Drowning in a pitch black underwater cave didn’t appeal to him in the slightest. He was happy with leading up to the large island, Marty seemed a lot more reliable than his brother, but Duke wasn’t much of a follower. If someone was going to fuck something up, he wanted to be the one to do it.

  A moment later he found what he had feared. His hand groped forward and found nothing, he fell forward and sprawled. A high pitched squawk erupted from his lips without him meaning to. The slick rock threatened to allow him to fall down to his death, but a firm hand grabbed his belt from behind. Marty tugged him backwards and they both sat in the water, breathing heavily.

  “Thanks,” Duke said.

  “Don’t mention it.”

  “This diver really mean that much to you?” Duke asked.

  “He knows something we don’t,” Marty said. “Sometimes I think the whole town does. The diver doesn’t mean anything to me, but money does and I think we’re talking about a lot of it.”

  “Your diver doesn’t have any money,” Duke reasoned. “He’s in hock to his eyeballs to you.”

  “Yeah, but I think he uncovered something everyone else wanted to keep quiet. I want to know what
that is.”

  “Fair enough,” Duke said, and he leaned forward and began his awkward movements toward the island. He didn’t have far to go until he was comfortable with standing up. The rock rose to the surface of the water until it was only ankle deep. Duke marveled at the size of it. The caves below must be immense indeed. The rock under his feet was pitted and sharp. Ahead of him, where the rock rose above the water, it smoothed out, having been worn down by the lapping of the water over time. Several long cracks ran along the top of the rock island surface, but didn’t go very deep. Marty pulled up alongside of Duke and pointed ahead to where he thought the flare had come from and he moved quickly in front of Duke. Duke didn’t need Marty to point out where they were headed. The section of rock was scorched black from the heat of the flare, its sheen and luster gone, it stood out like a festering white pimple on the skin of a teenage African American male.

  Marty padded over to the scorched patch of rock and knelt down.

  “There’s an open crack in here,” Marty called over his shoulder to Duke. “I can see down into the cave.” He leaned his mouth to the crack and yelled. “Is there anyone down there?”

  “Hell yes!” Duke recognized Fred’s voice as he knelt next to Marty. A bloodshot eye surrounded by dirty skin looked up at them through the crack.

  “Can you swim back out to us?” Marty said.

  “No,” Fred said. “The way back is blocked and I found more than just the diver in here. There’s two other guys. They’re alive, but not for too much longer if you don’t free us.”

  “How are we going to do that?” Marty said.

  “You’ll have to blow a hole in the rock,” Fred said. Marty laughed. “Unless you have a better idea, you might want to lose that smile. Nobody is laughing in here. We have enough room to move away from the blast, you won’t hurt us, but you have to break us out of here.”

  “Back up,” Marty said. He stood up and took the pistol out of his belt. The gun was dripping with saltwater, but fired easily as Marty unloaded the weapon on the rock surface. Small chunks of rock flew around. Duke shielded his eyes. Marty put his hand on the surface and grimaced.

  “Didn’t make much of a dent,” he said.

  “If you’re done fucking around up there,” Fred said, “you might want to hit the rock with something that has a little more bang. I know you have an arsenal on board your boat. Get something and get us out of here.”

  “You’re not going to like it,” Marty said.

  “Whatever you’re going to do it won’t be worse than what we have to put up with down here,” Fred said. “Just let us know before you blast us so we can take cover.” Fred moved away from the crack in the rock. Duke and Marty could hear voices from inside. Marty rubbed his face. Duke wanted a smoke. He absently patted his shirt pocket, already knowing the comforting package of cigars was left on the boat.

  “Got anything to blow a hole in the rock?” Duke asked.

  “I think we can work something out,” Marty said. He stood up and motioned Duke to follow him, which he did. They walked back down the rock and back into the water. Marty lead and walked too quickly for Duke’s comfort, but he didn’t fall through into any abyss. Duke thanked God for the luck of the wicked and followed him back to the boat, where Billy was impatiently awaiting them.

  Chapter - 15

  “Oh, we have something that can blow a hole in that rock all right,” Billy said. “I have it right under here.” Billy went below and brought up a rocket launcher, complete with loaded rocket. The bomb was dull grey and scraped in several places. The launcher was clean, new, simple and very cheap looking.

  “I don’t even want to know where you picked up something like that,” Duke said.

  “I wasn’t offering the information,” Billy said. “We’ve had this little baby for a long time. Anything is out there for the taking, you just have to have the means of obtaining it.”

  “Do you even know how to fire it?”

  “I have a general idea. The rocket come out of that end and whatever you point it at dies.”

  “Billy has been wanting to shoot that thing for a while,” Marty said.

  “I guess,” Duke said.

  “We’ve been hauling that thing around since Bush Sr. was in office,” Marty said.

  “Shut up, Marty,” Duke said. He held the rocket launcher over his shoulder and looked over at the rock island. Marty had steered the boat much closer to the jutting piece of land, just as close as he dared. He wasn’t too sure he could navigate the boat out again, but that was a problem for later.

  “Can you hit it from here?” Marty asked.

  “Well, I’m not very well going to stand right over the damn crack and shoot the rocket between my legs, if that’s what you mean,” Billy said. Duke sat down on the bench seat and lit a cigar. He inhaled the acrid black smoke into his lungs and exhaled. A calming blissful feeling crept through his body. He never liked going very long without a smoke. If he was awake, he was smoking. Billy stood on the front of the boat and steadied the rocket launcher on his shoulder, pointing the rocket toward where he thought it would best hit the island.

  “Do you think they’ve gotten down behind cover?” Marty asked.

  “They had better be,” Billy said. “Get up here behind me Marty and steady me.” Marty went behind his brother and put his hands around his waist. Duke thought they looked a little like the two lovers aboard the Titanic, except with high-grade weaponry.

  “Fire in the hole,” Billy said. He depressed the trigger on the rocket launcher. The rocket blew out of the barrel, sending a bolt of fire out of the back end of the gun. It lit a fire in the middle of the boat, which Duke put out with the fire extinguisher. A loud explosion made him deaf for a moment and he knew the rocket had hit the target. Duke had to laugh. The whole thing seemed ridiculous. Billy and Marty were whooping it up on the front of the boat, not paying any attention to the fire they had caused. Small splashes spattered around them as chunks of rock sprayed in every direction. Billy dropped the smoking rocket launcher to the deck and crossed his arms, looking mighty pleased with himself.

  Marty ran back to Duke and slapped him on the shoulder.

  “Did you see that shit?” Marty said, his face beaming.

  “Let’s go see if anyone is still alive,” Duke said. Billy sat back down in the driver’s seat. Duke and Marty would again have to head out to the rock island by themselves. When they got to the crack, which was now a sizeable crater, they called below.

  “Anyone still alive?” Marty yelled.

  “Yeah, you assholes,” Fred said. “I asked you guys to warn us when you were going to fire.”

  “Don’t bitch,” Marty said. “You guys are alive.” Duke pulled Fred out of the hole in the rock and then pulled up two more men after him. They had dark circles under their eyes, which they shielded from the glare of the sunlight.

  “This is Shiro and Clive,” Fred said. “There were a couple girls with them, but they didn’t make it.”

  “Where’s the diver?” Marty asked.

  “Dead,” Clive said. “Just like we’re going to be if we don’t get the fuck out of here.”

  “What do you mean?” Duke asked. Then the island seemed to shift under his feet. A low roar erupted from the depths of the cave. The men fell to their knees on the slippery rock. Shiro almost fell back into the hole and down into the cave, but Duke grabbed him by the shirt and pulled him back.

  “What the fuck is that?” Marty yelled.

  “It’s the crab,” Clive said. “There’s a fucking monster down there and you just woke it up.”

  Chapter - 16

  The Flannery family had their eye on that beautiful piece of land ever since they had first set foot in the quaint small coastal town. The Flannerys, Harv and Ava, had been married for five years and had thought it was the perfect time for them to start planning on having some children. Ava worked as a grant writer and was exceptionally good at it. She was so talented that her employer, whe
n she told them of her husband Harv’s job relocation, asked her to stay on with them, but work remotely. She thought this would work out just fine. The only difference would be that she stared at a computer in her own home instead of in an office. The other nice thing about this was that her husband didn’t actually have to relocate for his job. He was going through a mid-life crisis and she was trying to keep her shit together while he went off the deep end.

  Harv worked at a well-respected brokerage after college and had been slowly moving up the ranks, making a large amount of money hand-over-fist. Ava met Harv while at school and they hit it off right away. She wouldn’t say that it was love at first sight. It was more like their career goals aligned in such a way that they wouldn’t hinder each other. Thinking back on it and remembering some of her friend’s cynical comments about them made Ava smile. She didn’t care about this at the time, but she did find out that a person could learn to love another over time. She liked Harv’s drive and passion and he did many things for Ava that showed he really paid attention to her. That is, until recently. As far as Ava was able to understand the situation, as far as Harv shared with her, he just up and quit his job. She found him at home after work, which was different because he usually came home a couple hours after her. He was sitting very straight on the couch as if he had been waiting for her. She put her bag down and sat down next to him. The story came disjointed, hot and fast, like he was high on speed. He was in the middle of a meeting and just got fed up with it all. He stood up and walked out. That was it.