The worst thing was the vertical slit that started from the bridge of its nose all the way down to the drooping chin, vaguely resembling a swollen, diseased purple vulva, with rows of serrated teeth along its sides. The half-blind yellow eyes were equipped with nictitating membranes yet had no eyelids, and it wasn’t enough to protect its vision against the harsh brightness of the floodlights.
Proteus had begun to slink back into the water, but Quentin managed to recover first, aiming and firing several shots at it. The bullets tore into the creature’s pale sharkskin hide, and it let out a pained bellow before crashing down sideways onto the water’s edge.
Quentin kept firing, the deafening noises of gunfire ringing in his ears, until the slide of the Glock recoiled backwards and would no longer cycle. The pistol was empty. Holding his breath, he stared at the thing lying on the sand, silently wondering what else he could do if the creature still wasn’t dead.
It didn’t move.
56
WHEN SCOTT DIRKSE WAS able to turn the lights back on to full power, the system also activated the live video feed inside the aquarium, just in time for him to witness the creature knocking his father into the black waters surrounding the enclosure.
The boy nearly fell off the chair. “Dad!”
He saw Quentin point the gun at the creature and fire the weapon, the noise echoing all the way up to the top of the winding corridor. Less than a minute later the creature was lying face down on the sand.
Scott’s entire body shook as he frantically looked for any signs of his parents. He switched to different camera views, including the subsurface ones, but the water had become so opaque that he couldn’t see anything.
There was a microphone sitting on the desk, and the small red light beside it had somehow turned on. Scott leaned over and spoke into it. “Can anybody hear me?”
His booming voice was heard over the entire enclosure. He saw Quentin looking up at him on the video feed.
“My dad,” Scott said nervously into the microphone. “He fell into the far side, near the boxy thing by the wall.”
QUENTIN HEARD THE BOY’s voice over the loudspeakers, and he dropped the empty gun while turning to where Scott had indicated. In less than a second, he saw a face bobbing on the surface of the water.
“Nick!” Quentin shouted as he ran to the water’s edge and dived in.
Nick’s chest hurt so much that even breathing had become a chore for him. All he remembered was something hitting him across his body, and the next thing he knew he was underwater, swallowing several mouthfuls of the putrid black saltwater of the aquarium. He had managed to regain his senses while slowly floating up and inhaling much needed air back into his lungs. His right hand held onto what seemed to be the side of the wall, and there was a slightly submerged platform just underneath him.
Quentin swam closer to him. “Are you alright?”
Nick was coughing for a long minute before he could answer. “My… chest. It feels like an elephant is sitting on it.”
“Can you hang on?”
Nick nodded slowly.
“Alright,” Quentin said. “I’m going to dive down and try to look for Cathy.”
“Please.”
QUENTIN TOOK A DEEP breath before pushing his head under the water’s surface and began swimming downwards. The muddy liquid had a slight ammonia smell to it, and had a very thick, sticky consistency. He tried to use his hands to feel his way, and it seemed he kept bumping into all sorts of things.
He was able to grasp something semi-solid and kicked his legs forward, bringing him back to the surface. Just as he lifted it up to take a look, the rotten skin from the decomposing head he had just pulled up sloughed off, revealing bloated gray musculature and leering eyes staring back at him.
Quentin cursed as he let go and swam closer to the shoreline, right at the place where Cathy was pulled under. Holding his breath once more, he closed his eyes and dove back underneath the water’s surface.
His hands continued to feel through the waterlogged bodies of the dead. It was clear the reason why the water had become so clouded was due to all the decomposing remains deposited on its unimaginable bottom. Quentin continued his blind swim, hoping to grasp something solid rather than rotten.
A part of him figured that Cathy was already dead, yet he kept searching anyway, hoping a miracle might still happen. He surfaced a third time in order to catch more air before going down, this time to a spot near where the creature’s body lay.
Quentin kept on searching until his lungs ached, and then he swam up to the surface again. He turned his head and locked eyes with Nick before shaking his head.
Nick sobbed. Tears began streaming down his cheeks. “Cathy. Oh god.”
INSIDE THE SECURITY room, Scott’s attention was drawn to a virtual diagram that he had been able to access using the computer’s command interface. The map showed a series of interconnected tubing from the same place where his father was. Blinking red lights indicated there was a breach that led out into the ocean.
The boy quickly stabbed the microphone button again while reading the automated security logs. “There’s like a big pipe underneath you, Dad. It broke through and escaped into the water about a week ago.”
QUENTIN KEPT LOOKING at the other man as he floated in the water. “So that’s how it got out. It must have broken through the aquarium’s filtration pump.”
But all Nick could think about was his wife and daughter as the tears continued to flow from his irritated eyes. “Cathy… Kim.”
Scott’s voice came over the loudspeakers once again, only this time it was strained with fright. “Look out!”
Quentin turned to look up at the ceiling. “What?”
“It got up and went back into the water!”
Quentin stared at the now empty beach and let out another curse. The creature’s body was gone. He pointed it out to Nick. “Look out, it’s still alive!”
Nick blinked his tears away as Quentin started swimming towards him. Just as the tabloid reporter reached out with his hand, something tugged at his ankle, pulling Quentin underneath the water.
“No!” Nick said, trying to grab hold of Quentin’s outstretched hand, but failing to grasp it.
“Quentin!” he screamed, waving his hand along the liquid’s black surface, hoping for a sign, but all he could see was a slight undulation on the brackish top.
Within seconds, a roar of water pushed a screaming Quentin several meters into the air, as the creature tore into his body from just below the surface. Nick’s face contorted in dismay as he saw Quentin struggling violently with Proteus. The monster continued to tear and bite into the reporter’s body, torrents of blood gushing from his wounds.
Their eyes locked once more, and Nick knew what Quentin was trying to say to him, just before the reporter’s head slid back into the water once again, disappearing from the blood and salty foam on the surface. At that moment, his mind cleared, and Nick knew what he had to do.
Nick looked up at the cameras in the ceiling. “Open the pipe!”
SCOTT HEARD HIS FATHER’s commanding voice. His trembling fingers clicked on the graphic icon displayed on the computer screen.
A blinking indicator came over the screen: EMERGENCY PURGE COMMENCING.