There was a metallic squeal from behind him as the hatch wheel started to spin.
Goddamn you, Franks, Alex thought, his teeth grinding. He half turned. “Keep that hatch closed.”
Yang shot forward, passing right by Alex, and hitting the hatch door. The door, now unlocked, was pulled upward, dragging the huge form of Rhino with it. The expression of surprise on his face would have been humorous, if his appearance probably didn’t spell a horrible death.
Alex spun, fired at the eye again, and then dropped the gun. In one swift movement, he drew his pitiful blade and stabbed and slashed at the huge muscular limb. His razor sharp knife cut into the flesh, but it was like trying to sever something that was a combination of leather and rubber. More tentacles inched upward over the hull as the exposed Rhino was trying to keep the impossible figure of Yang from its sticky embrace with the hatch lid.
Alex felt the limb freeze beneath his hands, and he thought his mind was playing tricks as a haunting whistle sounded from ahead of him, behind him, all around him. A fist gripped tight inside his head, and he grimaced from the agony, as the sound stabbed deep into his brain. The tentacles stopped their movement, and hung in the air around the submarine like a huge flower with mottled green and black tentacles, blooming all around them. Alex looked over the side, only just able to stop his eyes crushing shut from the unbearable pain. He knew a hungry mouth the size of a truck was there, beneath the mantle of the creature, and just below the waterline.
Gradually the Kraken pulled back, and then silently slipped beneath the surface. The whistling stopped, and with it went the pain. Alex turned to the small figure on the far shoreline. She pointed at herself, then at Alex, and made a breaking motion. Alex could feel the thought slide easily into his tortured mind. You once freed me, and now I freed you — we are even.
The ghostly pale figure with the mask of tentacles turned and danced back over the huge tumbled boulders, skipping away and disappearing into one of the broken holes of the last refuge of the mighty city of Aztlan.
Rhino was lying on the deck panting, his hands covered in slime. “I came up to lend a hand, boss.”
Alex growled, and lifted the big man with one hand and shoved him towards the hatch. “If we live, remind me to kick your ass all the way back home.”
They slid down the ladder, and Rhino sealed them in. Alex sped straight for the bridge. “This is the only chance we might get. Fire up those engines and give me maximum reverse thrust.”
The sound of running boots on steel grating echoed in the steel corridors. Blake and Casey followed Alex to the bridge room, and headed to different consoles, while Rhino sprinted back down to the torpedo room.
Aimee tilted her head as Alex appeared in the bridge room. Their eyes locked — he could guess what she was thinking: another life used up. And he also knew then that they would need to have a long conversation about what the future may hold, for them, and for Joshua. If they survived.
She smiled and nodded to him, looking away and releasing him. When they survived, he thought.
“Hey, check this out.” Casey turned away from one of the screens that showed a camera view of the outside.
“Got it working. This would be an underwater view… if we were underwater.”
“Engines at full power, boss,” Blake said, his fingers dancing over the consoles.
“Okay, here goes.” Alex sucked in a breath, saying a silent prayer. “Full reverse, and let’s hope the prop still turns.”
“And we don’t just spin it to shit on the rocks,” Casey said.
“Think positive thoughts,” Cate replied.
Casey snorted. “You do the chanting, lady, we’ll do the driving.”
Alex turned to the group trying to see over the HAWCs. “Everyone else, sit down, strap in, or just wrap something around yourselves. This is going to be real rough.”
A throb went through the Sea Shadow, then a vibration they could all feel right down to the bones. Alex gripped the console edge, willing the vessel to move.
“Sixty percent turbine,” Blake said, pushing the small handle a little further forward. Bands of light on a panel illuminated another few bars up a scale. He pushed a little more, and the bars lit up towards the top. His voice was calm. “Seventy percent… seventy-five… eighty…”
The submarine lurched violently. Soong got down low, and wrapped both arms around a steel pole. Shenjung crouched beside her, hugging his arms around her and the pole together. Cate slipped and screamed, and Aimee reached out to grab her, while keeping one arm looped around a strut.
“Move, you sonofabitch,” Casey screamed as the entire submarine juddered again, but stayed in place.
“Ninety percent… red lining, boss,” Blake yelled. He spun. “She canna take anymore, Captain,” he said in his best Scottish accent, then grinned.
Alex laughed grimly, and held up a fist. “Then punch it, Scotty, we got nothing to stay here for.”
Blake pushed the lever all the way up, and the bars of light, once green, now changed to full red. There was a steady thrum, and then a smell of burning. Finally, there came another sound, and it was the sweetest they had heard in days — the sound of the metal hull grating on rock.
The submarine slid a few feet, juddered and bucked, and then slid a few more feet. As soon as the curved propeller hit the deeper water it could create more drag. Waves flowed up the bank as the props grabbed, and then threw water in great geysers over the submarine and onto the shoreline.
Suddenly, there was a grinding rush, as they slid backwards.
Aimee gripped the railing, bracing her legs as the Sea Shadow slid into deeper water.
“Ease down, Blake. Bring her about,” Alex said, moving from console to console.
Aimee continued to watch him — pride, love, desire, and joy near overwhelming her. But there was also something else underlying it all… a darker emotion. Fear… fear of the unknown. She knew he still harbored personal demons like no other man. Could she ever trust him? Inside him lurked a stranger, the Other, Alex called him, and she’d witnessed this being’s callous brutality in the past. He was a force that answered every question with violence, and his volatility was a threat to her safety, and perhaps even to Joshua’s.
Aimee sighed; thinking of Joshua was a shot in the arm to her spirits. Joshua too was different — stronger, faster, and smarter than normal — but she knew now he was constantly in danger. She vividly remembered the attack on her house, and Peter shot and unable to protect them. She realized that to defend against violence, maybe someone of strength and violence was what they needed. And who better to guide her son, and be a father to him, than someone exactly like him? She was torn.
“Okay?” Cate’s voice made her start.
“Huh?” Aimee smiled. “Yeah, or I will be, when I see the sun again.”
“I heard that. Let’s just hope it happens soon.” Cate turned to watch Alex as well.
“Okay, people,” Alex said. “This is what we’ve got. We’re currently in a small pond with a very large marine predator. It got the vessel in here, so we need to get it out. We will find a way out, or we will make one.”
“It had to have used the vortex,” Cate said. “My guess is it’s the far wall of this cavern that separates its lake from the greater underground ocean. We need to be out there.”
Alex nodded. “Makes sense to me.” He moved behind Blake. “Ping the wall; find me that hole. If not, find me a weak spot. And Franks, keep your eyes and ears open. That thing was enough trouble above the water.”