Blackwater Kraken (The Dystopian Sea Book 3)

by Sean Michael Argo

  With his slight injury and the extreme conditions, it took Vladimir longer than he expected to attach the explosives to the drill bit. If all went right, the blasting cap would explode under the pressure of the drill bit hitting the smallest entrance to the pit. Vladimir held his breath as he watched the explosives disappear beneath the ocean waves. Anxiety tightened Vlad’s chest as he thought of the possibility of the explosion wrecking the drilling rig and sending Vladimir to the worm-infested blackwater below.

  He felt the shudder of the drill bit striking its position. It should have detonated. Vladimir waited a full two minutes. He raised the drill bit a foot and tried dropping it once more. Nothing happened. With a heavy sigh of disappointment, Vlad raised the radio to his lips.

  “The explosives are not detonating. Send diving apparatus. I vill go. Over.”

  Bard was on the other end of the line. He looked around him. The ongoing battle fully involved d the entire crew. Drucilla still manned Riddle's arm, sending round after round into the bellies of man and beast alike. Kalak rushed back and forth across the deck, slamming his chainsaw into worms as they spilled out onto the deck. Abigail stood with the archers, shouting orders as she let the arrow after arrow reign down below from her fingertips. The two ships lent to the attack from the boating clan kept sending the acid projectiles at the various attackers. It was a pitched conflict, and no clear victor had yet to emerge.

  Bard answered Vladimir’s message. “Help is on the way. Hold fast, Vladimir. Over.”

  Drucilla must have noticed something was wrong. She paused her fire to assess the situation. More cultists flooded in over the horizon. It was nothing like the swarms they survived in the past, but it was enough to invoke fear in her heart. She could see them collecting around the base of the oil rig. The first ten had become closer to twenty, and they were making their presence known.

  From where Bard stood he could see her viewing the damage. He knew Drucilla would demand the ships to close in to protect the rig where Vladimir worked. There was a moment where Bard could have let everyone know what happened, where he could have passed the responsibility onto the other officers. He looked around and decided to abandon his post.

  It was his turn to be of use.

  27.

  It did not take Bard long to find the deep diving apparatus the Captain purchased on Sparta. He checked the tanks to ensure they were. It should give him up to four hours beneath the surface. Before the Captain had the chance to cut the line connecting the ship to the oil rig, he hit the zip line with the apparatus on his back, leaving the radio behind on the bench where Kalak stationed him.

  As Bard approached the oil rig, he counted six cultists climbing their way up the structure from the water’s surface.

  Vladimir was already waiting there. Bard could tell he was surprised to see him of all people. Vlad motioned for Bard to hand over the diving apparatus.

  “No, I’ll do it.”

  “V-vhat are you talking about? Your leg—do not play hero.”

  Bard pushed past Vlad and started setting up a line from the oil rig down to the water where the explosives were submerged. “There are six cultists scaling the side of the rig,” Bard yelled over the roar of the battle, "Everybody is a hero today."

  “Vhere?”

  “Three on the right flank, three on the left. There could be more on their way up. I figure your job will be harder.”

  “Are you sure you vant to do this? It is not your job.”

  “All I've done since I joined this crew is watch better sailors and sharkers than me get knocked down. It's about time I stood up,” Bard met his gaze and in that moment there was an understanding between them.

  “The blasting cap must be ignited manually; the primer must have slipped its casing. You, understand vhat this means, no?”

  “Yes,” Bard nodded solemnly.

  Vladimir nodded, “You are good man, Bard. Maybe a bit lazy, but good. It has been my pleasure to vork beside you.” He stretched out his hand to shake the harpooners.

  Vladimir’s last words echoed through Bard’s ears as the tinkerer disappeared to fight off the cultists enclosing them.

  The suit Bard pulled on was of a thick material. He prayed it was thick enough to withstand the black water until he was able to ignite the blasting cap. The descent towards the surface was dark and lonesome. In the distance, Bard could see the fire of battle illuminating the glorious Penny Dreadful. The only thing he regretted was not being able to say goodbye to Abigail. He knew they would have stopped him though if they knew what he intended.

  The water was cold, and the first few meters were thick inky black. The hair prickled at the nape of Bard’s neck as he wondered what surrounded him in the impenetrable, inky waters. The darkness eventually cleared to a murky dark green. His small light hardly penetrated ten feet around him. To his relief, it appeared as if most of the worms were distracted by the action on the surface. He kept spinning around, keeping an eye out, as he descended deeper and deeper below the surface.

  Out of nowhere the body of a worm snaked past one of the pylons nearby. It was faster beneath water. Bard hoped it would pass right by him, but it seemed to be more perceptive beneath the waves. The head turned on him in seconds. Bard waited until it was almost on top of him and then slammed his harpoon into its gaping mouth. The strike was as clean as it was deadly, and the worm collapsed, sinking down into the low visibility.

  Bard’s feet reached the drill bit. He found the blasting cap initially used and surveyed it as he cracked one of the bioluminescent tubes affixed to the belt of the diving apparatus. It looked as if it was easy to remove. Just as Bard was about to sever it from the pile of bombs, another worm burst up alongside him, knocking him back with the force of the water encircling it, causing him to drop his harpoon. He had barely enough time to withdraw a bowie knife from his suit’s belt. It was nothing compared to the massive form of the worm.

  Its head loomed far above him. Bard did not stop to wonder if it saw him at all. He took his chance to slice through the slimy, purple flesh of the beast. When it’s head looped down to attack him, he plunged his knife into the beast and let its own momentum eviscerate it before the creature fully realized what was happening. The creature fell and hit the drill bit with such force on its descent that Bard was knocked to his knees and had to hang on while it trembled.

  As soon as Bard regained balance, he set to work once more removing the old blasting cap. As he attached the new one, a deep rumbling resonated up from the pit below. Bard could feel the drill bit start to vibrate and feared the worse. Just as the explosives were ready to ignite, the kraken’s tentacles emerged from the pit, awakened by the worm crashing down. The back of the appendage knocked Bard off the drill bit, sending him flying through the murky waters. His chest hit one of the pylons. He held on tight and swung himself around to conceal his body from the monster. He'd picked up a few diving tricks from Croatoa, and they kept him alive now.

  Bard wondered how he would lure her back into her pit. From where he floated he could see her eyes just barely peeking from her lair. She kept her broken beak guarded beneath the drill bit as her long tentacles stretched out around. Bard could not tell whether she saw or heard him, but one of her limbs snaked over to where he was hiding. He climbed up the pylon and crossed one of the beams, grateful to notice she wasn’t following.

  Bard needed to get back down to the explosives to ignite them. He was without his harpoon, and all he had left was the single knife to defend himself. He turned his light down in case the sea beast could see it through the poor visibility and prayed no more worms would assault him as he attempted to sneak back down to the drill bit, right above where the kraken guarded her home.

  Bard took a moment, pressed against the old steel beams to assess the situation. Only three of her tentacles were outside of the pit and searching for what caused ruckus enough to awake her from her slumber. He knew if she caught him it would be over and all of this would be for noth
ing. All around Bard the pylons crossed one another. If he could stay concealed behind them and move slow enough, he could probably go unseen.

  Two of the tentacles wrapped around the beam closest to Bard. The decision was difficult to make. One direction would take him too long, having to move away from the drill bit and back around the other side. He looked at the snaking black tentacle curling around the beam feet away from him. Bard decided to make a dangerous move. He pushed from where he was, streamlined his body, and tried to dive for the safety of the opposite pylon, towering above the drill bit’s location.

  The monster must have seen him. Or maybe it was an accident. Either way, as Bard jetted through the open waters, he felt her massive limb smack him hard in the chest. The force of her blow sent him flying across the small stretch of water, right into an opposing pylon. Despite the pain meds, Bard could feel the impact and breaking of ribs. Pressure built in his head. His wound tingled and itched. If he wished to defeat her, he needed to move faster and end this.

  With a last deep breath to help calm his nerves, Bard started to crawl over the beam, away from the two snaking tentacles wrapped in the opposite direction. As he reached the point where it formed a ‘t’ with the central support, he started to descend, cautiously stepping in one divot after the other. Bard was getting close to where he needed to be when a rusted hunk of metal broke beneath his foot sending a clump of barnacles clattering down the rest of the beam.

  Bard snapped his head towards the kraken. He saw her eyes narrow and hone in on him. He moved to the other side of the beam in an attempt to conceal himself, hoping she couldn’t see him through the dirty waters. Her tentacles pawed and searched the pylons surrounding him. Bard peeked around. Her mantle arose further from the hole. She was leaving the pit entirely. His mind raced, and he felt disappointment swell up within him as he thought he failed. If she wasn’t in her lair, there was no point in wasting the explosives. It wasn’t enough to kill her outright.

  One of the tentacles grew dangerously close. He took a chance and dived down and followed another beam away from her, trying to get a better look at the situation. She was almost out of the pit, her beady eyes searching for her tiny prey. Her massive black body wrapped around the rusted pylons, tendrils spread out feeling for vibrations from the surrounding waters.

  Whatever Bard wished to do, he needed to go about it quickly.

  28.

  On the surface, the crews upon all three ships fought valiantly to stave off the oncoming attacks of worms and cultists. It was the cultists proving the most troublesome at this point, as more vessels bearing the Panzer warriors materialized out of the gloom. They continued to try and board the ship so that most of the ammunition went towards each vessel protecting the others from waves of intruders.

  Vladimir made it back to the Penny Dreadful before anyone noticed Bard was gone. Kalak saw him land on the upper decks and approached him.

  “What happened?” he asked.

  Drucilla spotted them. She ordered for a young man to take her position and fire at the cultists and protect the other two ships, though one was even now being overwhelmed with worms and likely all hands lost.

  “I didn’t hear anything go off,” she said and looked around. She picked up Bard’s walkie-talkie. “Where is Bard?”

  Vladimir looked between them awkwardly. His eyes fell on Abigail and then back on the diving rig.

  “What happened to Bard?” Drucilla pressed her face into Vlad’s, wringing at his shirt collar.

  “The blasting cap did not go off as planned,” Vlad unclasped her hands, “Bard make decision to ignite explosives himself.”

  “Without my permission?” Her brows crinkled her forehead in both surprise and anguish.

  “He makes decision to save all of us. You vould not let him if he asked.”

  Drucilla went into a rampage. She screamed at the heavens for the loss of yet another good crew member. Abigail was the last to catch on that anything was happening. It was a look from Kalak that caused her heart to sink. She stood up from the archers and approached Drucilla in slow strides.

  “What’s happening?” She looked around for Bard. No one said anything, “Tell me what’s going on now!”

  Drucilla rubbed her forehead, “Bard is manually igniting the explosives.”

  All of the blood drained from Abby’s face. She felt as if she was going to faint and instead ended up vomiting all over the deck. Sweat broke at her hairline as she thought of the loss of Bard. She picked herself up and wiped her mouth. The other officers looked at her, not knowing what to do or say. Abigail said nothing to them. She went back to the archers and rallied them to push on at a more intense pace.

  The fury of the battle intensified as news of Bard’s heroism reached the ranks. Drucilla shouted at them to push onward, reminding them that they were almost through the worst of it. Kalak helped Vladimir double the speed of the catapults tossing projectiles of all kinds at the worms wriggling on the water’s surface as they attacked the ships in waves.

  One of the cultists managed to clamber up the armored plates protecting the Penny Dreadful. Kalak met him his mace with his chainsaw. The two danced over the decks while the other crew members worked to prevent more from making it onto the ship. It started to rain making the surface of the vessel slick with water.

  Kalak slipped as the waves caused the Penny Dreadful to list temporarily. The cultist lifted his mace to bear down on the giant shark fighter. Kalak rolled away with the movement of the ship tilting with the storm. The cultist’s weapon struck the deck boards, creating a ragged hole. His mace was caught in the splintered boards, giving Kalak time to get back on his feet and reclaim his weapon.

  The Panzer Fish broke free just as Kalak reached him. Kalak swung the chainsaw to cut the head of the cultist off, but the cultist managed to squat down just in time. Kalak attacked again, and this time his blow was deflected with a mighty clang of metal on metal. The Panzer Fish kicked Kalak in the chest, breaking them apart. Kalak lifted the chainsaw over his head to deliver the deathblow as the cultist swung his mace. Kalak took a full blow to the chest and felt his ribs crack.

  Adrenaline pumped through Kalak’s body upon injury. He let out a war cry and brought his chainsaw down on the cultist, sawing the maniac in half from head to toe, not stopping until the man fell into two parts upon the rain-slick deck.

  29.

  Down below the murky waves, Bard continued the cat and mouse game with the deadly kraken. Her probing tentacles pushed him further away from the pit in order to remain invisible to her eyes and fearsome grip. He looked at the blasting cap and explosives down below. There was no way he could reach it without being caught. He thought about how he could swim down, but even if he did, there wouldn’t be enough time to ignite the batch of explosives before she destroyed Bard.

  It came to a point where Bard was stuck. Her tentacles wrapped around the pylons on either side of him. He hid in a corner just below her mantle. If she heard a single sound, if she felt a single odd displacement of water, he was dead, and all of this—all of the death—all of the sacrifices would be for nothing. Bard checked his air. There were still two of the four tanks full. Two hours of air.

  An idea came to mind. He wondered if it would work. Bard tried to get closer to the pit below without her noticing, letting his body slowly sink with his back to the pylon. He could see the slow curling of her tentacles just above him. Bard tried his best not to startle with the closeness of her presence. He could see the dark mass of the pit just below the explosives. Above him, her evil eyes scanned around the structure, looking for the miscreant threatening her abode.

  Bard tried to maneuver the tank silently as he detached it. He did not have much time to aim before he saw her gaze sweep towards him. Bard took another brief look down before turning his attention entirely on the sea beast. His hands trembled as he quickly turned the knob to release the air. The force of the jet stream pushed Bard back against the metal pylon. The tank whizz
ed straight down into the hole.

  In a violent surge, the dreadful monster forced a massive burst of water through her siphon, sending the creature plummeting down into the pit after the air tank. Bard knew he only had a few moments after her form swept past to get down to the explosives. He swam with all of his might. His bad leg was almost useless as he tried his best to kick down to where the bombs were ready.

  Abigail’s face consumed Bard’s thoughts as he triggered the explosives. Blinding light, searing pain, and a montage of snippets from his life raced through his brain. Bard’s body flew back from the impact of the blast. Blackness consumed his consciousness as he saw the rocks tumbling over the kraken’s hole. The last thing Bard heard was the hiss of his only remaining tank leaking air: punctured in the blast.

  Up above the ocean waves rolled and dawn was breaking. The cultists’ numbers dwindled down to almost nothing. The remaining crew members worked methodically, focused on picking off every last one of them.

  The explosion from the blasting cap sent a pillar of water twenty feet into the air. Chunks of worms and steel shrapnel rained down on the pair of ships surviving above the sea. Drucilla yelled for the crew to hold fast and take cover. Her voice was drowned out by the sounds of waves crashing back down into the sea and the last segments of worms hitting the decks and water all around them.

  Abigail let out a wail that defied description. The closest thing it could be compared to was a swan song combined with the mournful scream of a banshee as she watched the drill rig tremble and break apart. She rushed for the banister and hung there, gripping the rail, overtaken by heavy sobs as the Penny Dreadful rocked violently in the wake of the explosion.

  Drucilla intercepted her, afraid that Abigail would throw herself into the waves in a fit of madness. The Captain held her as Abigail mourned the loss of Bard.