“I have a broken light on the starboard side,” Patterson whispered into his helmet mic.
“Nothing portside, so I’ll head towards you,” said Sawyer.
Patterson roamed the goggles around the deck bathed in the NVGs’ ghostly green light. The constant creaks of metal the ship and the containers emitted and the windblown snow and spray that howled around him made it difficult to hear and visualize everything clearly. With his senses on high alert and his eyes and weapon sweeping across every possible hiding place the monster might have concealed itself, he moved forward.
The Hunter ignored the cold spray that washed over it from below and blinked the snow from its one good eye as it watched the human pass by less than a yard away. It slowly climbed over the rail it hung from and stepped silently onto the deck. Two steps brought it behind the human. A claw reached over the man’s head, grabbed the helmet and yanked it back. The human’s exposed throat gushed blood when its claws raked deep gouges through the soft flesh.
As Patterson died, his finger squeezed the trigger.
Sawyer dived behind the forward anchor-winch housing to escape the bullets that sprayed around him. He peered out when they stopped and glimpsed movement in the shadows shrouding the deck. He flipped down his NVGs and saw Stedman’s motionless body and the rapidly cooling pool of blood around the man’s head, but no sign of the Hunter responsible for the slaughter.
He leaned into his mic and, keeping his emotions under control, whispered, “Patterson’s down. It’s on the starboard side.”
“Copy,” Miller replied. “I’m moving around to cut off its retreat. Hold your position and I’ll drive it towards you.”
Sawyer focused his weapon on the starboard side and waited.
Miller rushed back past the crashed helicopter and around the side of the starboard container stacks. As he moved along he sensed danger and looked up. Though he saw nothing, he was certain he had heard something moving along the top of the containers. It could only be the Hunter trying to get behind them.
Miller shouldered his rifle and informed Sawyer, “It’s moving along the top of the containers. I’m going up while you move to the back and cut it off.”
“Copy that,” replied Sawyer and rushed for the stern.
Miller climbed up to the top of the doubled-stacked containers and when he cautiously peered over the edge he came face-to-face with the snarling monster. Its evil gaping mouth darted at his head. Miller dodged to the side, slipped and fell. He landed awkwardly, twisting his ankle, and stumbled against the rail, pain shooting up his spine from the impact. He grabbed at his rifle when the monster landed beside him. The Hunter snarled menacingly and lashed out a claw that sent the weapon flying over the side into the sea. Miller instinctively reached for his pistol that wasn’t there as he had given it to Jack and grabbed for his knife instead. Pain rippled up his spine as he retreated from the advancing monster.
The Hunter glanced at the knife Miller held threateningly and seemed to smile as it held up a claw and flexed its talons. It had a handful of sharp blades.
Miller spoke into his mic, “Sawyer, I could do with your help here. I’ve lost my weapon.”
Sawyer increased his speed on hearing Miller’s plea that wouldn’t have been made if he wasn’t desperate. As he rushed through a gap between the containers and into an open area, he snapped his eyes closed as the ship’s main deck lights flooded the area. Increased in intensity by the NVGs still over his eyes, the light stabbed painfully into his retinas. He swiped the NVGs up, but temporarily blinded he failed to see the angled support beam of the quick-launch lifeboat structure pointed steeply over the side of the ship he ran towards. His head struck with such force his legs shot out from beneath him and he slammed to the deck.
Jack’s eyes constantly roamed the deck for signs of the one-eyed Hunter. When he glimpsed movement the weapon focused on it and he barely held his finger back from squeezing the trigger when he saw the soldier appear. As he relaxed, light flooded the deck and the man crashed to the ground. He and Jane rushed over and knelt beside him.
Sawyer, dazed from the blow, opened his eyes and looked at the face waving hazily in his blurred vision. “Miller’s in trouble…starboard side…lost his weapon.” He pushed Jack away. “Go help him.”
Worried about leaving her, Jack glanced at Jane.
Jane grabbed Sawyer’s rifle. “Go Jack, I’ll be fine.”
Though reluctant to leave Jane with the monster somewhere nearby, he figured she could handle herself and Miller might be in need of urgent assistance. He dashed away to find him.
Miller backed into a metal support column and held the knife ready to fend off his attacker. The Hunter rushed at the human and barely registered the pain from the slash along its arm from the human’s knife. It gripped the man’s knife hand and bent it back with a loud crack of bone. Miller groaned in pain and dropped the knife when his arm snapped like a twig from the monster’s strength. A hot wave of nausea swept over him as he staggered to the side and collapsed to the floor. He grabbed at his fallen knife with his good arm, but a kick from the monster sent it over the side. The Hunter moved in for the kill with its clawed limbs either side of his pain-wracked body. Its tongue slithered over teeth prepared to rip his flesh. Miller tried one last move and kicked his good foot as hard as he could into the monsters groin area. The Hunter howled and then snarled as it moved its angry snout closer. It stared straight into his eyes and sniffed his face before widening its jaws and moving its head back slightly. Miller knew it was all over.
Three shots rang out.
The Hunter jerked from each bullet that struck. It twisted around, snarled at the human responsible for the pain, and sprung towards him.
Jack forced aside the screaming urge to flee from the terrifying form of the Hunter rushing at him and aimed the gun at the monster’s ferocious face and repeatedly pulled the trigger until it ran out of bullets.
Though wounded the Hunter sprung from side-to-side and avoided all but two of the bullets. It landed on the deck when the weapon made a different sound and the bullets stopped. It loped with intended malice towards the defenseless human. Jack slowly backed away. The Hunter sprung with its claws outstretched to grasp its prey.
Gunshots rang out. Blood pumped from the row of bullet holes that peppered the Hunter’s side and sent it flying to the ground. The momentum of the fall sent it tumbling across the water-slick deck, stopping a few inches away from Jack with its back legs dangling over the edge. Jack placed a foot on its head and pushed. The monster stared at Jack as it slithered over the edge. Its claws failing to find purchase screeched along the metal deck until dropped from sight and splashed into the cold sea. Jack grabbed the rail for support as the adrenaline rush subsided and looked at Miller, who sat up and looked back at him. The two men nodded at each other. It was over.
Richard had regained consciousness to the sound of gunfire and had watched the Hunter’s demise. He looked at his arm bent at an impossible angle, the bloody splintered bone protruding from his leg, and even though shock barely dulled the pain, he smiled. He had survived.
“Are you okay, Jack?” enquired Jane, as she rushed over. She let Sawyer’s weapon clatter to the ground and held Jack’s arm.
Jack smiled at her. “Thanks to you I am. Will you marry me?”
Jane looked at him in shock. “What?”
“Will you marry me? I don’t have a ring yet, but I promise I’ll buy you a nice one.”
Jane glanced around the ship at the wounded and the carnage. “Your idea of a romantic setting needs some work, but yes, Jack, I will.”