The only one who didn’t react to the sound was George, and that’s because George wasn’t there anymore.
His body had been sheared from below the waist, leaving his torso and head behind. As he flopped around the deck like a fish in an expanding pool of his own fluids, Thor stared at the thick gray ropes protruding from him until he realized what they were.
He leaned over and threw up.
* * *
Frank was the first to recover. He yelled George’s name, and would have gotten to the man if Apostolos hadn’t shoved him away hard enough to make him stagger.
“Don’t touch him,” the Greek bellowed, and his eyes were lifeless in the dying light. Thor saw no feeling in them—nothing human.
“Captain, we have to help him. He’s going to die if I don’t put pressure on that wound.”
None of us said what we were thinking—that George was already dead, even as he gasped and writhed on the deck.
Apostolos shoved Frank again, more roughly this time. “Do you want to die too? Have you forgotten what happened to Liam?”
Frank’s mouth worked as he fought to regain control of his emotions. “We can’t just leave him there. He’s suffering.”
“Tomkins, put on some gloves. I want you to toss him overboard,” Apostolos said to Archie, who couldn’t have looked more stunned if the big Greek had slapped him. “Now—move your ass. We don’t have much time before that shit starts eating through the planks. It’s probably happening already.”
Archie and Frank exchanged uneasy glances. The grunting noises from George were so awful Thor wanted to keep his hands over his ears. But now would be a bad time not to know what was happening. Flora stared at him, stricken. He motioned to her to stay put.
“Move your ass,” Apostolos said at full volume, making everyone flinch. Everyone but Frank, who was glowering at the captain much as George had moments before.
“I’m not going to do that, Captain. It’s murder.” Archie straightened his shoulders. No one had seen Archie stand up to anyone before, let alone the Greek, and Thor sure as shit didn’t want to see it now.
“Have you both lost your minds? Are you out of your fucking heads? He’s already dead. You’re prolonging his suffering by standing there like fools.”
A terrible gurgling came from George. Thor prayed for it to be over soon.
“The longer he lies on that deck, the more of that acid—or whatever it is—eats into the ship. Is that what you want? For everyone else to die, just so a doomed man can live out his last moments in extreme pain?”
When Archie and Frank refused to move, Apostolos lost it. He stormed across the deck and grabbed a pair of gloves, snapping the heavy black rubber over his wrists and forearms.
“Fucking useless bits of pussy,” the Greek growled. “There isn’t one of you on this ship that’s worth a goddamn thing.”
He seized George under the arms, careful to avoid the man’s gaping wound. Incredibly, George’s hands clutched at Apostolos’s sleeves. He shook his head while Flora sobbed and turned away.
But Apostolos didn’t hesitate. He hefted George’s body over the side like it was an anchor. Thor flinched at the resounding splash, longing to retreat into the oblivion of unconsciousness, but unwilling to leave Apostolos alone. It didn’t take a genius to see the captain was in danger.
Archie and Frank ran at him, but the big Greek rallied before they could touch him.
“What are you thinking? Going to throw me overboard maybe?” Apostolos spat on the deck at their feet. “I’d like to see you sail this fucking boat without me.”
“There are good sailors on this boat, Apostolos.” Frank sneered at him. “We don’t need you.”
“I just saved your worthless lives, you idiots.” The Greek hollered in their faces, but the men were unmoved. Grasping the side of the ship, Thor pulled himself upright. There was no way he could defend Apostolos from both Frank and Archie, but maybe together they could pose enough of a challenge to convince the men to back off.
As Thor took a few staggering steps, he realized his plan was laughable. He’d been hired for his brains, not his brawn. Frank could send him flying with one hand tied behind his back. The best he could do was use his intellect to reason with them, and they didn’t seem like they were in a reasonable mood.
“Look.”
It was Flora who stopped the mutiny before it began as the men turned to see what she was pointing at. George’s blood bubbled on the deck. Once everyone quit yelling for a minute, they heard the sound—a noxious sizzling that reminded Thor of Liam’s death. His stomach churned, and he staggered to the side of the ship to vomit.
“It’s dissolving the wood.” Flora’s voice had a hysterical edge, and her words were enough to spur the men into action. Buckets of seawater cleansed the deck, washing the last of George over the side.
When it was done, the five-member crew stood panting. Sweat trickled down Thor’s neck under the stifling wetsuit.
“We need to get down below,” Flora said, and this time, everyone listened to her. “It isn’t safe here.”
But before they could make it to the stairs, Apostolos raised his hand. “Wait. A moment of respect for Washington.”
Feeling the tears burn his eyes, Thor lowered his head. He’d never be able to erase the image of the big man’s terrible death from his mind. Archie took off his cap.
“They that go down to the sea in ships, and occupy their business on the great waters; these men see the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. For at his word, the stormy wind ariseth, which lifteth the waves thereof,” Apostolos said. Flora leaned against Thor’s shoulder, and he could feel her body shaking. Wrapping his arm around her, he pulled her close, seeking a comfort he feared he would never find.
“They are carried to the heaven, and down again to the deep—their soul melteth away because of the trouble. They reel to and fro, and stagger like a drunken man, and are at their wits’ end. So they cry unto the Lord in their trouble, and he delivereth them from their distress.
“For he maketh the storm to cease, so that the waves thereof are still. Then are they glad, because they are at rest; and so he bringeth them unto the haven where they would be. Amen.”
“Amen,” Thor whispered.
Chapter Nineteen
It was Frank who first mentioned it.
Flora never ceased to be amazed by the way men handled conflict. A short hour before, Frank and Archie had been prepared to throw Apostolos to his death, and now they acted as if an ugly word had never been exchanged. To his credit, Apostolos was going along with it. If their captain held a grudge, he was hiding it well.
“What are we going to do, Captain?” Archie asked.
“Obviously we can’t risk sleeping above deck anymore. We’ll have to avoid going topside as much as possible. It isn’t safe.” The big Greek ran a hand over his weary face, as exhausted as she’d ever seen him.
The chorus of groans and protests she’d expected never came.
Frank turned blurry eyes on her. “I thought it was safe at night. I thought the monster was at home, or in its lair, or wherever the fuck it sleeps. Isn’t that what you told us?”
Fear and guilt made her stiffen, but Apostolos responded before she could. “Let’s not start with that again. Duchovney is flying blind, same as the rest of us. None of us know what that creature is, so how in the hell can we predict how it’ll react?”
“She’s still responsible for another man’s death,” Frank muttered, and Flora clenched her bottle of beer, wondering if she’d be forced to use it as a weapon. If Frank attacked her, she’d go down fighting.
“She’s no more responsible than I am. Blame me if you need someone to pin this on. I’m the one who sent Anderssen to fix the ship, and I’m the one who called George for help. Duchovney had nothing to do with it.”
From the stubborn expression on his face, Frank clearly thought otherwise, but thankfully he kept his mouth shut. Flora wasn’t sure
how much longer she could listen to his misogynistic bullshit.
“Did anyone actually see a creature?” Archie asked. “I was too busy trying to protect my ears. And then suddenly George was…you know. I didn’t really get a look at the thing.”
Flora took a deep breath. “I did.”
Frank snorted. “Of course you did.”
“I’ve about had it with you, Hearne. Duchovney is a part of this crew, just like anyone else. You need to start paying her some respect,” Apostolos warned. His thick black brows came together in a frown that, for once, was not meant for her.
“But can’t you see what she’s doing? She’ll say anything to support her original theory,” Frank said, keeping his face averted as he gestured in her direction. “Of course she’s going to say she saw a creature. I want to hear from someone else who saw it.”
“I saw it too, Frank.”
Frank’s head swiveled in surprise until he saw the speaker was Thor. He made a big show of smacking his forehead. “Oh, that’s a shocker. Now the scientist’s little lover has seen it. Anyone else who isn’t completely biased?”
“Everyone felt something. And we definitely all heard something,” Apostolos said, indicating the trail of blood that had dried on his neck. Out of everyone on the crew, only Flora’s ears hadn’t bled. She wasn’t sure why, as the sound had been as painful for her as it had been for everyone else. “I don’t need to lay eyes on this thing myself in order to believe them. If there’s no creature, what do you think happened to George? Or do you think I hacked him in half when no one was looking?”
Flora’s chest tightened at the thought of the man’s mutilated body fighting to save itself. It was a horror she’d never be able to forget.
“I don’t know what to think,” Frank said. But the anger was gone from his voice.
Apostolos sighed. “None of us do. These creatures are the stuff of mythology. No one really believes they exist.” He focused on Flora, his eyes red-rimmed and unbearably sad. She realized how much the big man cared about his crew. “How would you describe it, Flora?”
She started when Apostolos used her given name, but recovered quickly. She wanted to talk about it—needed to talk about it. For the first time in a long while, she yearned for her scientific colleagues. “It had a long neck, almost like a snake’s. When it reared over the boat, it reminded me of a cobra. It had a narrow, flat head with a wide mouth—lots of sharp teeth.” She shuddered, remembering. Thankfully, she’d looked away before the creature bit George, but she’d still seen enough to give her nightmares for the rest of her life. “It—it sounds silly, but it resembled a dinosaur. What kind of dinosaur, I don’t know, but it was gigantic. We can’t possibly fight it.”
When she met Thor’s eyes across the table and he tilted his head at her in a slight nod, she sagged with relief. Her credibility had taken a beating in the past week, and the last thing she wanted was more accusations.
Their silent exchange didn’t go unnoticed. “Is that what you saw too, Anderssen?” Apostolos asked.
“Yeah, except it was bigger than any fossil I’ve ever seen. Its neck was so long and massive I didn’t get to see the rest of its body. It was a grayish-green, or at least that’s what it appeared like to me.”
“Why would it attack George?” Frank said. “He was just standing on deck. He should have been safe from that thing.”
Flora bit her lip. “I do have a theory, but it’s going to sound crazy.”
“Go ahead, Duchovney. I think we’re past the point of disbelief now,” Apostolos said.
“Well, these animals—whatever they are—appear to be fairly sensitive. I’m not sure how to explain how I know this—I just do.” Her voice sounded stronger than she felt. Maybe I’m finally getting some confidence again. Glancing around the table, she was relieved to see that even Archie and Frank were listening. “George was upset right before it happened, and all that yelling and fighting—I think it might have caused the creature to attack.”
“You’re saying George is to blame? Woman, have you no heart? Did you not see what happened to him?” Frank’s face flushed with anger, but she didn’t hold his reaction against him. Two members of their crew were gone, and there weren’t many left.
“Of course I did. But I think we should learn from this. I don’t know about you, but I’m not keen to see anyone else die.”
“What’s that supposed to mean? That I—”
Apostolos cleared his throat. “That’s enough. Duchovney’s right. We need to start working together, if for no other reason than this sniping and bickering is making my head hurt.”
“How can we possibly work together when we don’t trust her?” Frank pointed at Flora, who gritted her teeth in fury.
Apostolos pounded his fist on the table. “I said enough. We’ve had a rocky go of it, and I admit I haven’t helped. I was right pissed when the drill was destroyed, and I took it out on Duchovney. But we need to move past that. Lashay is dead. Washington is dead. And for whatever reason, Duchovney is the only one here who has some insight into why that creature reacts the way it does.”
“How do we know she’s not the reason the creature is here in the first place? Maybe she summoned it.”
If the situation hadn’t been so horrible, Flora would have laughed. “You can’t seriously think I can summon it. If I had that kind of power, I would have sent it away a long time ago.”
Frank glared at her. “For all we know, you want this ship for yourself, and you won’t be happy until the rest of us are dead.”
She slumped in her seat, clutching at her dark curls with both hands. If she couldn’t smack some sense into Frank, maybe she’d tear her own hair out instead. “All I want is to go home to my son. That’s it. I just want to go home.”
Her voice cracked on the word home, and she hid her face behind her curtain of hair.
Someone patted her hand, and she was shocked to see it was Archie. He gave her a weak smile, really nothing more than a slight twitch of the lips. “I believe you, Flora. I don’t think you had anything to do with any of it.”
“Thank you,” she whispered.
“Of course she didn’t have anything to do with it,” Thor said, the exasperation audible in his voice. “Frank, what are you thinking? You haven’t been making any sense since Liam died.”
The sailor’s chair screeched across the wood planking as he pushed himself away from the table. Without another word, he left the group.
“I hope he doesn’t go on deck,” Archie said.
“Wherever he goes, he needs to cool off. His temper is getting out of control.” Thor unclenched his fists, and Flora guessed she wasn’t the only one who’d wanted to hit the older man. “What’s his problem, anyway?”
Archie stared at his hands while he played with a butter knife left behind from lunch. “I think he blames himself for what happened to Liam. He was the one who was going to take care of the kid, and he stitched that leg. He told me afterward that he doesn’t understand why he didn’t notice anything was wrong. He thought the wound looked normal.”
“Did he cut the man’s leg? Did he pour that ghastly acid into him? What happened to Lashay is no one’s fault—at least no one on this ship.” Apostolos rose from the table. “I’ll go talk to him.”
“I wouldn’t, boss. Sometimes Frank needs to work things out for himself,” Archie said, rubbing a calloused thumb along the side of his nose. “I can tell when he wants to be left alone.”
They sat in silence for a few minutes, their thoughts weighing heavily on their minds. Flora’s eyelids drooped, but she wasn’t in a hurry to return to her cabin alone. What if the creature decided to destroy the ship while they slept? She had a good idea how big it was now, and it was certainly possible. It was capable of tearing apart a vessel ten times the size of The Cormorant.
“So what’s next?” Archie asked, startling her awake. “We can’t sit here waiting until that thing gets hungry again.”
They waited
for Apostolos’s command, but for once, the captain didn’t appear to have the answer. The Greek swiped sweat from his forehead with one of his thick-fingered hands, staring at the worn wooden table as if hoping it would tell him what to do. “Anderssen, can you get to work on that radio? See if you can fix it. We need to send out a distress signal.”
Thor nodded, but before he could say anything, Flora spoke up. “Are you sure it’s such a good idea to bring others out here?”
“I don’t see as how we have any choice. Our supplies won’t last forever. The ship ain’t running. We may need to be towed in.” As Apostolos assessed her, she had the uneasy feeling he could read her mind. She suspected the Greek was more intelligent than she’d given him credit for. “What are you thinking, Duchovney?”
Flora tucked her hands under her arms to warm them. “Everything was fine until we sent the drill down. That’s what triggered this. I did the surveys myself, and there was nothing down there. The area was clear.”
“There wasn’t anything on sonar,” Thor said.
“But our drill was destroyed—by something with large teeth. And then Liam was attacked—”
“Skip the recap. What’s your point?” Apostolos said.
“I think the creature is territorial. It’s attacking because we’re on its turf, and that’s why it destroyed the drill as well. It doesn’t want us here.”
A deep laugh rumbled from Apostolos’s chest, but there was little humor in it. “That’s been established.”
“If I’m right and the creature is territorial, bringing another ship into the area would be a disaster. We’d be sending the next crew to their deaths, not to mention putting ourselves in more jeopardy.”
“We have to try something. Tomkins is right—we can’t sit and wait until that monster is hungry again. I’m responsible for the lives of this crew.” Apostolos pointed at Thor. “I promised your mother I’d get you home in one piece, and I’m a man of my word.”
Thor reddened at the mention of his mother. “I can fix the cable, Captain. It’s been mangled to shit, but I know I can do it.”
Monsters In Our Wake Page 10
