by Jake Bible
“That’s one way to land,” Max said as he jumped from the helo and opened fire on anything that moved.
The rest of the Team followed him, rifles to their shoulders, ice in their veins.
***
“That ain’t good,” Popeye said as he watched the Wyrm crash land on the pirate ship. “That was my ride.”
“Come on!” a crew member shouted from the last lifeboat as Popeye was about to send it down to the water.
The vessel was about fifteen feet long and looked like a small pleasure craft that would be happy on any recreational lake in America, but it was completely enclosed and was built for safety, not fun or speed. Popeye could see desperate faces looking at him from the portholes in the side. He’d already jammed it over capacity and knew that even one more body could jeopardize the craft, though it was only going a dozen or so yards to the other ship.
“No! Go!” Popeye said as he waved off the crew member. “Close that hatch! I’m dropping in three, two, one!”
The hatch closed just as Popeye hit the release, sending the last lifeboat down to the water in a massive splash that sent water shooting up over the rail. Popeye wiped the seawater from his face and turned towards the bridge. He could see Lake looking across the water at the damaged Wyrm on the other ship. The Chief glanced down and locked eyes with Popeye. They knew the fix they were in.
***
“What the fuck are you two still doing down here?” Cougher shouted as he rushed into the lab. “You need to get your asses up on deck now! Do you see the fucking water at your feet?”
Both Ballantine and Gunnar looked down and seemed to realize for the first time they were standing in six inches of seawater.
“That was fast,” Mr. Ballantine said.
“Here!” Gunnar yelled, shoving cases and bags at Cougher. “Help me get these up top!”
Cougher just stared at Gunnar. “Are you fucking nuts? The Beowulf II is going down, man! It’s fucking sinking right now! You need to be worried about yourself, not some fish guts and hard drives!”
“If I don’t save this, then everything will have been for nothing!” Gunnar yelled. “And I can’t live with that!”
“You can’t live with half the ocean filling your fucking lungs either, dumbass!” Cougher yelled.
“Take what you can,” Mr. Ballantine said, as he grabbed two bags and slung them over his shoulders, then picked up two cases that were floating on the rising water. “At least make an effort.”
“Holy fuck,” Cougher said, “you two are nuts.”
He picked up a bag and two cases and turned towards the hatch, but was knocked off his feet as the ship shuddered and lurched to the side.
“What the fuck was that?” Cougher asked. “Did something hit us?”
Gunnar and Ballantine looked at each other.
“What exactly was the shark designed to do?” Gunnar asked. “You said it was enhanced, but never told me how.”
“Yes, about that,” Mr. Ballantine frowned, “it may have been designed for warfare. Specifically as a hunter killer.”
“Hunter killer?” Cougher asked as the ship shuddered once more. “Of what?”
“Oh, you know,” Mr. Ballantine said, “oil platforms, submarines, ships. That sort of thing.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me,” Cougher said. “You fucking people.”
“I didn’t design it,” Mr. Ballantine said, “and I resent that you’d think me so careless.”
“But your clients designed it,” Gunnar said, “and you knew what it was and didn’t tell us.”
“Yes, I’ll admit to that,” Mr. Ballantine said, “but we can have this discussion at a later date. I think our priority should be to get up above to whatever rescue is awaiting us.”
The ship rocked and shook again and again and then started to cant to starboard, sending the men reeling into the wall of the passageway as they hurried from the lab. The water at their feet rose faster and faster and by the time they reached the stairs, it was up to their knees.
***
“The B2 is going down fast!” Max shouted as he put two bullets into a man’s chest, then one in the head as the guy came at him with nothing but a steel pipe. “Lifeboats are in the water, but there’s still crew on deck!”
“I can see that!” Darren yelled as he blew the kneecaps off a pirate and then shot the man in the throat as he fell. “Get high and cover this deck! Kill anyone that comes up from above! Bobby and I will go drop whatever lifeboats this thing has and get over to the Beowulf II!”
“Down!” Thorne yelled and Darren hit the deck. He heard a bullet whiz past his ear. Thorne opened fire and dropped two pirates before spinning and taking out two more that were rushing at them from the bridge.
“Frag out!” Lucy yelled, as she tossed a grenade through a hatch and down into the deck below. She ducked to the side and covered her ears as the thing blew. Smoke and flame shot out of the hatch and she waited, but no shots came. “I’ll check below!”
“I have this deck!” Max shouted. “You take the bridge, Commander!”
Thorne didn’t wait. He took off up the stairs to the bridge, cutting down more men as he went. He saw their faces, saw the fear and desperation in their eyes, saw how young they were. But he didn’t stop. They held AK-47s and pointed them towards him. That meant they were old enough to die.
He got to the bridge hatch and threw in a flash bang. Anyone still inside would have been both deaf and blind for a while. His ears ringing, Thorne turned and rushed the bridge. A stunned man reached for a rifle, but Thorne put two bullets in his chest. Another man stumbled towards him, but appeared to be unarmed, so Thorne slammed the butt of his rifle into the man’s face. The man cried out, then fell to the floor, reaching for his leg and a long knife in his boot.
“Too bad,” Thorne said as he shot the man in the head, “I would have let you live, you idiot.”
The bridge secured, Thorne slammed and locked the hatch, then turned to the controls. It had been a while since he’d piloted a ship of that size, but he had no time to get familiar. He grabbed the wheel and spun it hard to port and pushed the engines to full in order to bring the ship closer to the sinking Beowulf II.
***
The engines began to groan and shriek as the pressure built. Jennings smiled as he realized someone on the bridge had pushed them to full. They were just hurrying up the inevitable. He took a breath and tried to stand, thinking that maybe, just maybe, he could make it up top. He was able to get to his feet and slowly lurched and stumbled his way to the hatch.
His ribs screamed at him, his face felt swollen and stiff, and he was pretty sure one of his legs were busted. But he couldn’t tell which one, since his whole body was nothing but a field of pain.
The engine room hatch was open, which Jennings was thankful for since he wasn’t sure he had the strength even to turn a wheel. He gripped the edge of the hatchway and slowly worked his way out into the passage. He rested his hand against the wall and concentrated on each step, putting one foot in front of the other as carefully as he could. He knew that if he fell, he didn’t have it in him to get back up.
“Let me see your hands, motherfucker!” Lucy screamed as she came around the corner, her rifle at her shoulder and pointed right at Jennings. “Holy fuck…Jennings?”
“Hey,” Jennings said, “how’s it going? What the fuck are you doing here?”
“We’re securing the ship,” Lucy said, “the B2 is going down. This ship is our only chance.”
Jennings’s already pale face went completely white and he leaned his back against the wall.
“That’s going to be a problem,” he said.
“Why? What’s wrong?” Lucy asked.
“I’ve got the engines set to blow,” he said, “the pressure is building right now.”
“What? Why?” Lucy yelled.
“Because I thought I was stopping pirates,” Jennings said. “I was going to be the sacrificial hero. People wou
ld write songs about me.”
“People don’t write those kinds of songs anymore, dipshit,” Lucy said. “Commander? Do you read me? Commander!”
“What?” Thorne replied over the com.
“Shut down the engines!” Lucy said. “They are damaged and going to explode! If you don’t power down we’ll lose this ship too!”
“Jesus!” Thorne yelled. “Roger that!”
The sounds from the engine room lessened, but it was still apparent that everything was not good in that room.
“Help me get back in there,” Jennings said, reaching for Lucy, “I’ll see if I can fix the mess I made.”
“Fuck, Jennings,” Lucy said, “you’re Second Officer, not an engineer.”
“Can’t hurt to try,” Jennings said, “it’s the only shot we have apparently.”
“Fuck,” Lucy snapped and shouldered her rifle. She draped Jennings’s arm over her shoulders and turned him back towards the engine room.
***
“What the hell is that?” Lake yelled as he rushed down the stairs from the bridge to the upper deck just as Gunnar, Cougher, and Ballantine came up from below. “What is ramming us?”
“Shark,” Cougher said, “that motherfucking shark.”
Lake blinked in disbelief. “Are you fucking joking?”
“No,” Gunnar said, “what’s the plan?”
“Yes, Chief, what is the plan?” Mr. Ballantine asked as he dropped the gear he was holding and looked across the water at the pirate ship. He saw the damaged Wyrm and frowned. “I do hope that wasn’t the plan.”
“Sure was,” Popeye said, “we’re stuck.”
“Looks like they’re dropping lifeboats,” Cougher said as he shielded his eyes from the sun and stared at the other ship. “I think that’s Darren and Bobby over there.”
“Well, I can certainly say that Team Grendel knows how to do their jobs when asked to,” Mr. Ballantine smiled.
The Beowulf II pitched further to the side, and the cases and bags the men had brought up top started to join loose equipment and slide across the deck.
“Grab that!” Gunnar yelled. “We can’t lose those cases!”
Lake grabbed Gunnar’s arm as the man started to dive for the sliding gear. “We can’t lose you, idiot!” he shouted. “Get a hold of yourself, Gunnar! Grab onto the rail and hang on! This ship is about to flip!”
“Do you feel that?” Cougher asked.
“What?” Popeye replied. “I don’t feel nothing.”
“Yeah,” Cougher said, “exactly. Nothing’s ramming us anymore.”
“The shark is gone?” Popeye asked.
“But where did it go?” Mr. Ballantine wondered.
The men, holding onto the rail as the Beowulf II slowly rolled, looked over the side and down to the water below.
“The lifeboats,” Gunnar said, “it’s going for the lifeboats!”
“Son of a bitch!” Lake yelled.
Chapter Ten: All Hell On Deck
The lifeboat was old, made of wood planks, and to Kinsey, it looked like it hadn’t been serviced in years. She guessed pirates didn’t have to deal with maritime inspections very often as she struggled to row the large boat by herself. With each stroke, she worried that the weathered oars would snap in half; they were already bending at angles she was not comfortable with.
She had heard the shooting and yelling from up above, and wondered what the source was, but it didn’t deter her from her mission of getting the lifeboat clear of the pirate ship and over to the Beowulf II.
“Hey,” Shane croaked as he opened his eyes, “wouldn’t happen to have any sweat pants or something, would you? My junk is taking a beating from this sun.”
Kinsey looked over at her cousin, and for the first time, really realized he was stark naked. In the heat of the rescue, she hadn’t even registered it. She frowned and shook her head.
“Just hold your hands over yourself,” she said, “it’ll give you a funny tan line, but will keep your nuts from frying.”
“Thanks for the effort,” Shane said. He rolled his head and saw Darby next to him. “What’s her story? She dead?”
“No,” Kinsey said, “but she wouldn’t cooperate. I had to choke her out.”
“Damn,” Shane said, “she’s gonna kill you when she wakes up.”
“Probably,” Kinsey said as she turned the boat around past the pirate ship’s stern.
“Oh…fuck,” Shane said, “I may have only one eye, but that doesn’t look good.”
Kinsey looked over her shoulder and stopped rowing. Behind her she saw the Beowulf II listing heavily to its side. In the water were the ship’s lifeboats, as well as two more from the pirate ship.
“What the fuck?” Kinsey asked. “How did that happen?”
“Guess we missed all the fun,” Shane said. “Leave it to Max to start the party without me.”
“Hey!” Max shouted from above them. Kinsey and Shane looked up and could see him peering over the stern rail. “Get to the lines! We’ll pull you up! Darren and Bobby are going for the others!”
“What happened?” Kinsey yelled.
“Shark met helo and went boom,” Max said.
“What the fuck are you babbling about?” Shane called.
“Dude!” Max yelled. “Why are you fucking naked?” He gaped. “Whoa…what’s wrong with your face?”
“Get us up there and I’ll regale you with my sordid tales of torture and despair,” Shane shouted.
“We’re coming around!” Kinsey said as she started rowing again. It was easier just to go to the other side of the ship than turn the boat around.
“What happened to the shark?” Shane yelled up to his brother. “Did you kill it like the last one?”
“No,” Max said, “it’s still down there.”
“Oh, fuck,” Kinsey whispered and looked at Darby. She gave a jump as she saw that the woman was conscious and staring right at her. “Hey. Sorry. You were trying to tell me, weren’t you?”
Darby just glared.
“I’ll take that as a yes,” Kinsey said, “fuck.”
***
The passengers on the first of the Beowulf II’s lifeboats all rushed to the portholes as the craft shuddered. Their eyes wide with panic, they watched as an unbelievably large shadow passed by under the surface of the water.
“Somebody do something!” a man shouted.
But none of them knew what to do except keep going towards the pirate ship in hopes of being taken aboard in time.
***
“Anyone else do the calculations?” Gunnar asked as the men held onto the rail and watched the shadow circle the lifeboat. “I’m really hoping I just went stupid and my math is wrong.”
“It’s almost four times the length of the lifeboat,” Lake said. “You may be stupid, but your math is right.”
“It’s gotta be thirty yards,” Popeye said, “that possible? Can something be that big?”
“It’s not natural,” Cougher said.
“You are correct there, Mr. Colfer,” Mr. Ballantine replied, “it is not natural. But there it is. In the water. Where we shall be shortly.”
“Fucking great,” Lake said.
“What are we going to do?” Popeye asked. “Hey, where’d it go?”
They all saw that the shadow was gone, no longer circling the lifeboat. They turned their attention to the other lifeboat, and the smaller boats that were being rowed by Darren and Bobby. There was no sign of the shark.
“Did it leave?” Popeye asked. “Maybe the ship is leaking something it didn’t like? Sharks are sensitive to smells, ya know.”
“That’s true,” Gunnar said, “but I don’t think that’s why it’s gone.”
“Why then?” Lake asked.
“It’s moving to attack,” Mr. Ballantine said.
“From below,” Gunnar added.
“I can’t watch this,” Cougher said, but didn’t turn away. None of them could.
“Get out of the water!�
�� Lake shouted to Darren and Bobby. “Go back, you idiots! GO BACK!”
***
Darren looked over his shoulder at the sinking Beowulf II. He could hear men shouting at him, but he was too far away to understand what they were saying. He looked to his side and saw Bobby pacing him, her arms digging hard to row the lifeboat to the Beowulf II. They didn’t need both lifeboats, but considering that his was already taking on water, he was glad they had a redundancy. Classic SEAL training was always to double up, never rely on just one of anything.
He turned back and concentrated on steering around the lifeboat that was motoring past him towards the pirate ship. He nodded to the men that stared out of the portholes at him. He heard them shouting and since he was only feet away, he could make out some of the words. His blood went cold.
“Shark!”
“Get out of the water!”
“Captain! Look out!”
Darren tensed and waited for the hit. He knew what the shark could do. He let the oars fall into the boat and grabbed up his M-4. If it came for him, he’d leap from the boat and start firing. It would probably do nothing, but he didn’t plan on dying without a fight.
But to his incredible shock and horror, the shark didn’t come for him. It came for the lifeboat next to him.
The craft shot into the air as massive jaws clamped around it. Even filled with pure terror, Darren still had the training to estimate the jaws at fifteen feet across. That was wide enough to grab the lifeboat, lift it into the air, and crush the middle.
“Holy fuck,” Darren whispered.
The lifeboat split and the front half fell back into the water while the shark came down and took the back half under with it. Men screamed, blood flowed, and a huge wave came right at Darren.
“Holy fuck!” No whisper that time.
The wave hit the lifeboat and flipped it over, sending Darren into the water. He caught an oar to the head, was momentarily stunned, and floated beneath the surface of the ocean, his head bleeding and his eyes trying to make sense of what he saw.
