“Come on, Riggs,” Bailey challenged him. “We know less about the depths of this planet’s oceans than we do about space. What gives you the right to say these things shouldn’t exist? They’re no different than sharks or other predators.”
“I watched one of those things gnawing on Brandon’s face, Bailey,” Riggs snarled. “And I’ve seen how smart they can be. They’re more than just animals no matter how much you want to try to paint them that way.”
“That still doesn’t make them monsters,” Bailey said more quietly. “They’re only trying to survive just like we are.”
“If you love them that much, Bailey, I can stop this boat right now and let you join them out there,” Riggs told her. “How about it?”
The cabin fell silent. Larson looked from Riggs to Bailey. He could feel the tension between the two of them in his bones. Finally, he spoke, breaking the silence. “Look, we’re all humans in here, so let’s try to remember that, okay?”
The Hunter reached the battleship without incident. There was already a group of its crew waiting in place to help them aboard. A ladder was tossed down and Larson made sure that Cheryl was the first one up it. He remembered that she was not only a scientist but also the lady who supposed to have been in charge of the platform before the attack. That made her the most valuable person onboard the Hunter. Bailey went up next followed by Robbie. Riggs had to stay to keep the small yacht from losing its position due to the raging waves. Finally, when everyone was up and gone except for Riggs and himself, Larson asked, “You ready?”
Riggs nodded. “I’ve set her as best I can to hold her position so that we’ll have time to get off of her. With this storm though …”
Riggs and Larson left the Hunter’s cabin racing through the rain to the rope that dangled down from the side of the Braxton.
“After you,” Larson told Riggs, shoving the man at the rope. Riggs caught it and started to climb.
A chorus of shrieks arose of the noise of the wind and rain. Larson looked out at the water around the Hunter. Dozens of the squid creatures had risen from the waves and attached themselves to the sides of the small yacht. They were pulling themselves up onto it with their tentacles.
“Oh no you don’t, you mothers …” Larson shouted. He took aim at the closest of the squid creatures and popped off a three-round burst that blew chunks out of its central mass and sent the thing toppling back into the waves with a loud splash. Larson saw that were too many of the things to fight and made a break for the rope. Riggs was moving up it slowly. The wind and rain had grown in intensity, making it difficult to climb, even for folks with as much training as Larson and his squad had. Larson could see it was taking everything Riggs had to just to keep his grip on the rope. Those above them on the Braxton’s deck had begun to pull the rope up carrying Riggs along with it even as he tried to climb.
Larson ran and jumped, grabbing the end of the rising rope and catching hold of it. He swung wildly through the air as a squid creature that had leaped at him almost snagged his right leg with one of its primary tentacles. The movement of the rope though shook Riggs from it. Larson watched, cursing himself, as Riggs fell to the deck of the Hunter. Riggs crashed into it with a heavy thud and lay still in the pooling water gathering on the small yacht’s deck from the storm. Riggs’ fall was his fault. He knew he couldn’t let the man die alone. Larson waited until the swinging of the rope carried him back over the small yacht’s deck and let go, aiming his fall. His combat boots thudded onto the wood of the deck next to where Riggs lay. With the deck wet from the rain, his feet slid out from under him. He slammed into the deck, landing on his back as his breath was knocked from his lungs. Larson struggled to breathe as he rolled onto his side and saw one of the squid creatures, its tentacles hauling it along the deck towards him.
His unexpected fall had caused him to lose his rifle, jarring it from his grasp. In the dark and rain, he couldn’t see where it had landed and there was no time to hunt for it. Larson reached for his sidearm only to find it gone. He remembered too late he had given it to Riggs. The squid creature was on him before he had a chance to do anything else. The thing’s lesser tentacles wrapped themselves around his arms and legs. Larson struggled against them, trying to reach the knife he kept in his boot. They were too strong to break free of though. Larson opened his mouth not to scream but curse the squid creature. As he did so, the spear-like tip of one of its primary tentacles was thrust into his mouth. It ripped teeth from gums and sliced his tongue apart on its way through him. The tip of the tentacle erupted from the backside of his skull in an explosion of blood and flying bone fragments.
Riggs saw it all happening but couldn’t move to help Larson. His own fall had broken his neck. He couldn’t feel his body, much less move it. Blood had flowed up from inside him to leak over his lips from his mouth. Riggs tried to scream for help, but all that came out was a horrid gargling noise. There was no hope of anyone watching from the side of the Braxton above reaching him in time anyway. All his attempt at screaming did was draw the attention of the other squids to him where he lay. They gathered around him, slicing at him with their tentacles. Riggs watched entire chunks of his flesh torn away in their hungry mouths but still felt nothing. One of the squid creatures moved to place its mouth directly above his forehead. Riggs stared up into that maw helpless to do anything to drive it away from him. Then the squid dropped its mouth onto him. The last thing Riggs heard was the crunching sound of his own skull being broken as the squid creature’s teeth sunk into it.
Chuck had started to open fire on the monsters surrounding the bodies of Riggs and Larson on the deck of the Hunter, but Hyatt stopped him.
“No point in that, man,” Hyatt said. “They’re dead already and you know it. All you’ll do is draw their attention up here.”
“Robbie!” Hawks shouted. “Tell the Captain to get the Braxton underway!”
“Yes, sir!” Robbie answered, fiddling with his tablet.
Hyatt turned to the crewmen who had lowered rope and helped them all get up it. “All of you, stand ready! If those things start trying to climb up here, it’s up to us to stop them.”
“And not a shot before he says so!” Chuck added, stepping up to stand beside Hyatt.
The Braxton started moving. She was a large vessel and took time to build up speed. Hawks kept his eyes fixed on the squid creatures aboard the Hunter. They looked too busy enjoying their newly claimed meal of Larson and Riggs to care that the big ship was pulling away. Of course, Hawks knew that any other creatures who might be in the water around the Braxton might not be so inclined to let her escape. He was proud of Hyatt for how the big man had taken the initiative in warning the crewmen to be ready in case the squids did try to broad.
“There!” Chuck shouted, pointing toward the aft section of the Braxton’s hull. A group of four squids had slapped their tentacles onto the ship there and were beginning to climb up. Hyatt jerked up his automatic shotgun and blasted away at them. The closest of the squids heard his shots and flinched, but all of the creatures including it were too far out of range for Hyatt’s weapon to be effective.
“Get some people over there and stop them!” Hawks shouted at the crewmen who appeared to be in command of the others even as he sprinted in the direction of the squids himself. The rain drenching the Braxton’s deck made it hard from his to keep his footing as he ran. He tried to stop as he neared the edge of the ship above where the squid creatures were climbing up its hull but couldn’t. Hawks slid into the railing with a sharp grunt. He managed to keep his hold on his rifle though. Wincing from the pain where his ribs had struck the railing, he raised his rifle, angling it downwards at the squids. Hawks didn’t even try to aim. He snapped his rifle over to fully automatic and hosed the area the squids were clustered in until the weapon clicked empty. Black blood splattered into the air and mixed with the rain on the wind as his rounds hammered the more unlucky of the squid creatures. One of them wailed as it let go of the Braxton’s hull and went twisting end over end through the raging storm to splash into the waves below. Another of the squid’s lost two tentacles to the stream of fire Hawks had sent their way but somehow it managed to keep its hold on the ship. The two Hawks hadn’t hit scrambled upwards along the Braxton’s hull so fast they looked like nightmarish giant spiders running across their web to where their prey was trapped.