by Matt Betts
He was pulled back by Jakob, and they both hid themselves behind the backup generator for safety. Martin pulled his hands from his chest to see a trail of blood suddenly pouring from beneath his torn shirt. The look of concern on Jakob’s face somehow made the pain even worse.
With a wet gurgle, the thing stopped moving and Jakob approached it with his own gun drawn. He walked around it. He kicked it with the toe of his boot.
“Jesus, get something and stab it or something if you’re not sure if it’s dead, don’t poke at it,” Martin said.
Jakob backed up to a work bench and pulled a pry bar off. He lifted it over his head and brought it down on the mouth, causing a gross, but satisfying, crunch. For good measure he did it again, but the crunch was slightly wetter. He set the prybar down and returned to Martin. “How bad is it?”
Martin took a deep breath and assessed his condition. It hurt. “I’m going to be okay.”
“You’re losing a lot of blood.”
“I’m going to be okay.” It was a mantra now, more for himself than Jakob. “We just have to get me upstairs and get this wrapped up, that’s all. I’m going to be okay.” Jakob helped him stand. “What we need to do to get this fucking ship lit up again?”
Jakob helped Martin to one of the metal beams and pointed to the fat switch to his right. “Just push that up when I tell you and we should be able to change over to the generator. The additional wave collectors will deploy and help charge overnight.”
“Got it.”
“We were almost ready to go before we got interrupted, just give me a second.” Jakob disappeared, but Martin could still hear him tinkering. “Seriously, when we get home, I’ll give you the money to upgrade this ship. Even if I need to take out a loan.”
“I have money.”
Something clanged to the floor. “You don’t use it though. Christ some of these parts are decades old. It costs more to repair than buy a new one at this point.” Jakob stood back up, and wiped his hands.
“Always after me to buy new stuff. I like the old stuff.” Martin was getting a little dizzy as he spoke.
“Okay. On three?”
Martin nodded.
“One…”
Martin wondered why couldn’t just do it. He was afraid he might not make it to three.”
“Two…” Jakob put his hand on a similar switch on top of the generator. “Three…”
They both moved as one, and the emergency lighting flickered as the dual generators slowly creaked to life. The petrol-fueled portion would get the lights and whatnot working in a few minutes, while the secondary generator, would slowly gather energy by harnessing the tide and the currents as they flowed along beneath and next to the boat, which would build up a reserve.
“That’s got it. The damn thing’s moving again.” Jakob handed Martin his gun and picked up the pry bar. They carefully climbed the stairs, and when they got to the top, Jakob pulled a flannel shirt from the same place he took the head lamps. He took a moment to ball it up and hand it to Martin. “Keep pressure on it,” he said. “Isn’t that what they always tell you? Keep pressure on it to stop the bleeding?”
“Yeah. I think that’s what they say.” Martin did as his friend said. It hurt to do, but he hoped it would help in some way.
As they moved to the hatch, the sound of gunfire and shouting emanated from the corridor around the corner.
“Jesus. We can’t catch a break, can we?” Martin pressed harder on the shirt and hoped for the best.
25
In her room, Cass stared at the closet for a moment. “Fuck it,” she said. She opened the door and pulled out the gun and tucked it in the waist of her jeans. She pulled a jacket on to cover it. As she left, she remembered she had plugged her sat phone in on the bed to charge. She glanced and noticed it was still dead.
She left the cabin and moved toward the deck where nearly everyone else had gathered and lit candles for illumination. “Have Jakob and Martin come back yet?”
“Haven’t seen them,” Takis said. “And the beer is already warm.”
“You’re thinking about beer, now?” Cass walked over to the nearest chair and sat tentatively.
“There are other things that I’d rather not think about right now, so I’m thinking about beer. I’m actually trying to catalog beers in my head from best to worst,” Takis said. “You know, rather than thinking about whatever that was.”
Ozzie and Rina were lying on lounge chairs, reclined all the way back and looking up at stars. Between them, Rina’s music player was on a towel, and each of them had an earbud in one ear. As Cass neared, she could hear music emanating from them. “Wait, you have power for that thing? How?”
Rina raised her sunglasses and looked up at Cass. “I have a mini solar charger for it. It managed to catch some of the last rays of the day. It’ll probably conk out any second.”
Cass nearly drooled at the idea of having a power source, and kicked herself for not bringing a solar charger or planning ahead.
A sound on the deck above the control room drew Cass’s attention and when she looked up, she saw Ben negotiating his wheelchair around the thin walkway. He was practiced at it for sure, he’d been involved with the ship for years, but now he seemed to have difficulty. He was looking out to the sea and not at the area in front of him.
“How long’s he been up there?” She looked to Takis for an answer, but the sounds of gunfire below decks silenced him. “Martin?” Cass turned and ran for the corridor that led to the stairs down to the engine room, with the others right behind.
As they ran down the dimly lit hall, some movement ahead made Cass stop and hold the others up as well. The hatch to the lab was open and there was something lying in the doorframe, half in, half out.
“Caroline?” Rina ran forward to check on her, but was stopped by Ozzie.
“Jesus, stop. We don’t know where those things are,” Ozzie said.
They found out quickly as one of the creatures came skittering around the corner at the end of the hall. It rocked itself back and forth, swaying with the light roll of the ship on the waves. The long stalks on the top of the thing seemed to twitch as they pointed to Cass and the others. Cass thought about their surroundings and examined the group’s options; the lab door was open, they could jump in there, but they didn’t know where the second creature was; they could back out the way they came, but there was no telling if they’d make it, and that would probably send the creature down toward Martin and Jakob; Cass could pull her gun and see what happened.
She abruptly decided on the last idea when the creature began to run forward on its long boney legs, directly at the crew. With one hand, she yanked Takis behind her, and drew the gun with the other. She brought her hands together and fired two shots in rapid succession, both of which hit the thing in the center of the body and bounced off, ricocheting into the wall and then down the hall. The creature flinched and slowed.
“Shiiiit,” Takis said, though it was hard to tell if he was dismayed at the ineffectual shots, or shocked to see Cass pull a gun and shoot like she did.
The body resembled hardened lava at this point, but the crab-like legs were much thinner, so Cass aimed for one as the beast in front of her moved back and forth in a semi-circle, closing in a little more cautiously this time. When it paused, she aimed at one of the joints or knees on its six legs and fired again, this time her bullets shattered a part of the leg, causing it to fall over due to the sudden imbalance. It panicked and flailed trying to right itself, hitting against the bulkhead before standing again. It backed up to the doorway to the stairs. After shaking itself, it retracted its stalks and reared up, letting out a high-pitched screech that made Cass flinch.
“Let’s go, Cass,” Rina said.
Cass looked back quickly to see the others had already made it outside. The creature saw it too and began to charge as best as it could with the wounded leg. Ozzie and Takis yanked Cass out with them and slammed the portal shut and cranked the lock. A
second later, there was a clanging sound as the beast rammed the door. And then another, louder clang as it tried again.
Ozzie put his back to the door and slid down until his butt hit the deck.
“How do we get to Martin and Jakob? How do we help them?” Rina asked.
Cass checked her gun, making sure she’d controlled her shots and not wasted rounds with panic fire. “There has to be another way to get to them,” she said.
“No,” Takis said as he sat down next to his brother. There was another bash on the door and he leaned away, startled. “Fuck.”
26
Martin rested against the bulkhead where Jakob left him. The blood seemed to have slowed, but the shirt wrapped around his torso was nearly soaked. He was dizzy and wouldn’t be standing if it weren’t for the ship’s beam.
Jakob peered around the corner, still holding the long, heavy pry bar with both hands. He pulled back and nodded, indicating the other creature was in the corridor. Jakob came back and helped Martin along—holding him up with one arm, carrying the pry bar in the other. “Now’s our best chance. It’s distracted trying to get out, and once it loses interest in that, it’ll come back toward us again.”
“I can barely walk, and my gun is almost empty,” Martin said. “How do you expect me to help?”
“Well, I suppose you could be bait. That would be an immense help.”
They got to the corner just as the creature rammed itself into the closed door again. Martin could see part of a body sticking out of the door to the lab, but couldn’t make out who it was. He felt more lightheaded and slipped from Jakob’s grasp. “I can’t help you, we can’t do it.” He let himself slide to the floor.
“We have to.”
“No,” Martin said. “Let’s go back to the engine room and lock the door. We’ll be safe there until they figure this out. The others are okay as long as they don’t open the door. Please, let’s go.” His wound began to throb and he did his best not to cry out from the pain. He watched as Jakob grabbed the pry bar with both hands and looked around the corner again. When another thud came from the end of the hall, Jakob disappeared from view, running down the corridor.
There were several footsteps and Martin pulled himself along the wall to see what was happening. He got to the corner just as Jakob got the creature. It paused as it heard the approach of footfalls on the metal floor and turned just as Jakob came to a halt, sliding the heavy bar along the floor and under the screeching creature. He pushed the bar up and pinned the thing against the door as best he could, but he appeared stymied as to how to let go and grab his pistol from his waistband without freeing the monster. The long legs clawed for Jakob, the tentacles stretched to try and make him stop his assault.
Martin pulled his revolver and aimed toward Jakob and the trapped monster. His vision blurred and he could barely tell one of them from the other. He opted to aim high, maybe startling the creature and giving Jakob the upper hand somehow. Even as the strategy started to make sense to Martin, his eyes drooped shut and his muscles relaxed. Before he passed out, he heard two shots and wondered if he’d fired them or someone else had.
27
With Jakob’s help, they carefully carried Martin into the observation room and set him on a blanket on the conference table. Ozzie came in with the medical kit, and Takis brought a shitload of bandages. “The fuckin thing slashed across his chest pretty good.”
“Yeah, the cut’s not too deep, I can seal it up without any hand-stitching, I think. Staple gun will work just fine. He’s just lost a lot of blood,” Ozzie said. “We don’t really have anything to give him a transfusion with.” He wiped the wound with antiseptic and cleaned it as best he was able.
“What do you think?” Cass asked. “I mean, do we need to get him to a hospital?”
“That’s an exceedingly good idea. Though with our power cutting in and out I don’t know if anyone would come for us, or where we would go.”
“We managed to get the generators going, and the engine’s slowly powering up to ready.” Jakob washed his hands off in the bar sink and dried them on cocktail napkins. “We just won’t have much power yet.”
“Radio?” Cass asked.
“No idea yet. We got distracted with all of this just after the generator got chugging.”
“We better check.” Cass left the room and headed for her own cabin. If the phone was plugged in and charging, she might be able to phone Linden. He needed as much of a heads up on this as he could get. She turned the sat phone on and waited for it to power. She was thrilled to see the green light as it came on and started the login procedure. After a full ninety seconds, the earpiece was filled with ringing on the other line. There was a click and silence.
“Chaperone Delta-One calling Blind Date Citadel. Come in Citadel.”
The other end clicked again and Linden’s voice came back. “Chaperone Delta-One this is Blind Date Citadel. Good to hear your voice. Where have you been?”
“Long story. Things got out of hand here in a hurry. We have two crew member fatalities and Martin is injured.” Cass couldn’t remember being happier to hear a voice on the phone before.
“What? Pirates again? What’s the nature of the casualties?”
She took a breath and started telling the story, starting with the power outages and the communications difficulties. She continued to explain about finding the Cudgel and the aftermath. “Something escaped. It looked like the Cudgel had it trapped and somehow it got out when we arrived.”
“Wait. What got out? What do you mean something got out? Chaperone Delta One, please repeat,” Linden said.
“There was an enormous creature that burst from a crevice behind the Cudgel, knocking the Cudgel partially free. It was black and greyish, protuberances…”
“Protuberances?”
“Uh… tentacles. Its main means of locomotion seem to be tentacles that it uses like an octopus or squid.” Saying the whole thing out loud made Cass feel stupid, it sounded ridiculous, but it was what it was, and if anyone would believe her, it was Linden.
“I…” The line was overcome with static for a second. “I see.”
“Honestly Blind Date, I know what it sounds like…”
“You do? Good…” Linden paused and Cass was afraid the line had kicked them off. “Anything else?”
“There are these sort-of coral-covered smaller specimens that fell off of the larger creature. They sprout legs and smaller tentacles,” Cass said. “They’re responsible for the casualties to our crew.”
“I copy that.”
“Jakob and Martin discovered that they’re vulnerable on their undersides, in or near their mouths.”
“I copy that.”
It wasn’t common for Linden to be so short with his responses. Cass grew concerned. “Look, Blind Date. I know this is hard to believe. We’ve all struggled here. Believe me we have. But this creature was headed in the direction of the mainland when it left. You need to get some sort of defense going. You need some sort of plan happening. I’ll send you the rest of the data and pictures we have, but they’re all of the Cudgel and the smaller dead monsters here on board.”
“I’ll be waiting.”
“I’ll send some notes I jotted down about the encounter and my thoughts.”
“I’ll contact you with my analysis and thoughts ASAP.” Linden was curt again.
“Blind Date, if this thing was trapped by the Cudgel, it was likely during the war. You know that, right?”
“I know that, Chaperone. Blind Date Citadel out.” The line clicked and went dead.
It took a second for Cass to recover from the call. She couldn’t figure out if Linden was under pressure on his end, or if he really didn’t believe what she was saying. She clicked off the phone, went to put it away when she noticed she wasn’t alone. Rina was standing in the doorway, headphones around her neck, pistol in hand. “Rina, I didn’t see you there.”
“I guess you didn’t,” Rina said.
“
How much did you hear?”
“Enough to know you’re working for someone else, they don’t believe you, and they’re not sending help.” Rina left the room and ran down the hall.
Quick to grab her phone and gun, Cass followed. “Look, I’m doing whatever it takes to help Martin.”
Rina stopped. “Now you are. Now. What were you doing before? Who the hell are you?”
The hall was empty and quiet for a moment and Cass caught herself trying to think of lies and covers and stories. It wasn’t the time. “I… I’m an agent with the NIA. My section is tasked with finding the Cudgel and making sure it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.”
“Why are you with this particular ship? Why us?”
“There are other agents with each of the most promising teams of searchers out there: Kingsley, Murdock, Generro. They all have someone planted. I just got lucky, I guess.” Cass left and continued up the stairs toward the kitchen.
“Were you ever going to tell us?”
The answer was the same as she’d told herself time and again. “I kind of hoped we wouldn’t find it and I could leave as a friend, to be honest with you.” Now she had no choice. She had to tell them. And she had to explain the plan she’d thought of.
Jakob, Takis and Ozzie were sitting at the dining table, talking. Each looked beaten and exhausted. They mumbled low about options. Ozzie was the most experienced in medicine and surgery, and his tone was grave. “We won’t make it to the Aleutian Islands. Not even if the Adamant could make it to full steam the whole way. Just too far.”
“Any chance we could rig something up with one of the drones? They’re big enough to carry him,” Jakob said.
“Nah. Nice thought, but he wouldn’t survive that, and the drone would fly out of our control range.” Takis shook his head and drank some water. “We could set coordinates, but what if the thing went dead like the Adamant and our electronics? It would plunge into the sea with Martin onboard.”