by David Tyne
All humans, in fact... The ones who had stripped away my entire being, replaced my non-essential organs with unwanted muscle, desecrated my humanity out of sheer scientific curiosity.
To this creature, we were the real monsters.
34 | Nephilim
I’d barely begun to move when the giant formed its massive fingers around my waist. Somehow, it plucked me from the ground with only one hand.
"Daniel!!" Serah screamed in my direction, but it was more obvious to her than anyone; there was nothing that could be plausibly done, no way I could escape from this Nephilim unharmed.
Instead of slamming me into the ocean, I was thrown across the entire yacht, straight through the open bar area and into the opposing wall. As my back made contact with the metal surface, a single throb reverberated through my entire body, the pain snaking its way from the bottom of my spine to the centre of my shoulder-blades.
"Ggg... gah!!" I managed to cough out, along with a mouthful of blood. I shook my blind head to try and recompose myself. Once I was able to see, I gazed back up to find the Nephilim's skinless face inches from my own.
"Get down!!" Millie bawled from behind the bar, both her and Serah arming themselves with a handful of beer bottles. Ducking under the monster's parted legs, I narrowly avoided another crushing blow as its fist sunk into the metal wall, leaving it open for the two girls to attack.
Bottle after bottle, they both threw their entire stock at the vulnerable Nephilim — each time, the glass smashed into shards against its hardened body, not leaving a scratch.
Once they ran out of their arsenal, the beer-soaked creature slowly turned towards them with fire in its eyes, sizing them up. Hopping over the counter, the girls immediately fled the bar.
"W-What the hell is that thing made of?! It's going to kill all of us!!" Millie barked, for once her pessimism actually holding ground. I dragged myself to my feet, now alone with the tyrant-like creation.
I tried to picture anything on this ship that I could use to at least defend myself, never mind to attack with. I was already convinced that Telos had spared no expense on this particular test subject, perfecting its brutality to be on-par with its ridiculous strength.
Our best bet was to knock it off of the yacht and into the water below, but even if that was feasible, I had no doubt that it could swim back up to us with those insane arms. That, and I wouldn't trust it anywhere near the bottom of our boat.
I saw that beast take down a militarised helicopter, with a single fist in mid-air. God only knew what it could do to the hull of a mid-sized party yacht.
It took one terrifying step in my direction before cocking its head to the side, as though sensing danger. I leaned over in my injured state, hoping to catch a glance behind the creature.
To my shock and awe, Harry stood vacantly on the other end of the bar, worse for wear with his sweaty hair and wobbling knees.
He still looked sick, barely able to stand on his own two feet as he glared at the Nephilim — almost attempting to rival its inner turmoil. "...That... That thing... How did... I'll—" He couldn't finish a single sentence, grabbing the edge of the doorway for support as he started to hyperventilate.
"Harry... Get the fuck out of here!! You're not well, remember?! You can’t fight this thing!!"
Shaking his head took far too much effort, his panting only increasing as he ventured a small step in the creature's direction. Picking up one of the chairs, Harry fell into a struggled sprint as he brought it over his head, smacking it directly into the Nephilim's muscular neck.
It didn't even flinch. Insulted by Harry's feeble attempt, the beast cast him flying into the metal doorway, ripping a horrific gash across his right arm. The redness splattered to the ground, gushing out of him along with a coarse wail.
"H-Harry, you idiot! Stay out of this, we don’t stand a chance—" I was interrupted as the Nephilim rammed its massive fist into my stomach, brutally pushing my insides against my bruised back.
I nearly hit the ceiling, landing once more beside the broken glass to choke out another pained groan. We couldn't do a damn thing about it...This monster was swatting us down like flies, tossing my broken body around like a ragdoll.
Apparently responding to the noise of my heaving, I saw Grumpy dive through the bar's smashed window. His alert eyes flipped towards the bleeding-out Harry that lay against the doorway, with a mid-sized pool of gore forming around his open wound.
The beast must’ve had something against intruders, as it immediately bounded towards the newcomer. Giving chase to the former O-Saint, it followed him out onto the deck in a stomping fit of rage.
As it trampled past Harry, splashing into his blood during the chase, I winced with pain and rolled onto my feet. No matter what, I had to take the Nephilim off of Grumpy's trail. "Stop!! Out there is...!" I bellowed after them, planting one foot down at a time.
Beth and Jamie are right downstairs. We’ve gotta keep this fucker contained, at all costs.
Grumpy seemed to be leading the creature in a circle around the deck, dodging each of its swipes as though the wind carrying each one pushed him further out of the way. As skilled as he was, I could tell that even the dark horse of martial arts was out of his depth.
Helping Harry up to lean against the wall, I moved on to brave the outside. Even with our own predicament, I couldn't help but glance over at the submarine, wondering how Tomás was getting along.
He must’ve seen the pod being destroyed, and decided to keep his group safe by moving ahead. It wasn't an easy decision to make, but I didn't hold anything against him for choosing the safer option. We were all probably going to die up here.
Tired from his dash around the deck, Grumpy took his eyes off of the creature for one second to note my presence. That was more than enough for a mighty elbow to smash against his side, sending him flying into me as we both landed against the outside wall of the bar.
I was getting tired of being slung around like a yoyo, that deflated feeling inside of me only amplified by the weight of an incapacitated Grumpy laying across my chest.
Amidst our pathetic struggle, two familiar voices arose from the staircase. I couldn't place them, until I heard her calling out.
"Jamie... No!! Miss Millie told us to stay inside! Jaaay-meee!!" Beth cried after the boy, now reaching the top of the deck. The two children were confronted with the Nephilim, face-to-face as it bucked its head menacingly.
"Tch, so that’s what you look like,” Jamie sneered with visible trepidation. “I'm not afraid of you, freak! I ain't gonna hide away, I ain't gonna cry like last time! You dead shits can’t push me around anymore!!"
Poised with his letter-opener shakily in front of him, Jamie charged towards the monster with the intention of remaining fearless. The boy had a death wish.
"Jamie, don't...! Stay away from it!!" My hoarse voice couldn’t reach him, or most likely, he wasn’t listening at all. I threw Grumpy’s limp body to the side and gunned after the determined teen.
Almost as effortlessly as it had dispatched the three of us, the Nephilim lifted Jamie right off the ground, and raised him high above itself towards the sky.
The boy stabbed and stabbed at the creature's enclosed fingers, but not even his blade could pierce the rough skin that ran all over the test subject's body.
As its fingers closed in tighter, the poor victim's limbs constricted together with an audible crack, causing him to choke in agony. Their eyes met, almost communicating over about what was to come... and Jamie's mouth opened to scream.
The sound only began to register as his body hit the concrete water, around twenty yards from the boat. The Nephilim launched Jamie, discarded him into the most distant, unforgiving place — the freezing depths of the ocean, far out of our reach.
35 | The Raid
Millie pulled herself over the railing, planting one foot on top of the metal before throwing her head directly towards me.
"I'll get Jamie!! Make sure that thing isn't her
e when we get back, got it?! Good luck!!" With that, she propelled herself through the air and dove into the uncertain waters below.
My eyes panned over the area where Jamie had landed; there was no sign of any struggle, other than the ripples caused from his initial impact. I prayed that he was still conscious enough to swim in Millie's direction.
Distracted, I became very aware that the creature had been standing patiently behind me this entire time. I whipped myself around, Grumpy recovering to my side as we confronted the Nephilim once more. Something seemed wrong, the way it apparently resisted the urge to attack us while our backs were turned.
That strange fact, along with the pained look in its eyes, my attention was brought down to its curled-up foot. At first I thought that it may have stubbed a toe somehow, but then a faint wisp of steam rose from the swollen area. It gave the impression that hot air was emitting from the wound itself, almost corroding its flesh.
As the blood dripped onto the deck from one of its deformed toes, the thought imploded within my head, nearly knocking me over. I glanced backwards at Harry, who was trying to stand up with little success. His arm continued to drip blood into the deep-red pool he'd created, right in the middle of the doorway... exactly where the creature’s footprint tracked through.
Could it be..?
"The blood!!" I shouted coarsely. Grumpy shot me a strange look, and then widened his eyes as he also checked out the puddle growing from the bar area.
"N-No way! Really?!" Almost without hesitation, Grumpy rushed past myself and the monster. I had no idea what he was doing, until I saw him pick up Jamie's discarded letter-opener.
Not even thinking twice about whether I was wrong, he drove the blade into his chalk-white hand. Not even a wince, although his brow crinkled slightly. We didn't have much time — the Nephilim was on the move once again, as though it knew that we'd discovered its weakness.
Taking a moment to decide where to strike, Grumpy went all-in and slammed his open-palmed fist against the creature's face. He let his own blood mix in with the whites of the Nephilim’s eyes, tainting the creature.
It immediately clobbered Grumpy backwards; luckily, I managed to catch him just in time before we could both fall over the metal railing.
While I was there, I cast my eyes over the dark water to see Millie just beginning to swim back, with Jamie in tow. He didn't look responsive.
Before I could give it any more thought, I was abruptly jerked to the side by my bleeding companion. Narrowly avoiding another beat-down, we continued our injured sprint around the deck as the monster blindly charged after us.
Like with its foot, the blood was somewhat of a delayed reaction. Thankfully, Grumpy’s assault had slowed it down as the Nephilim's eyes closed and opened rapidly. It let out another roar as an audible sizzle alerted us to the nature of its Achilles heel; the blood had somehow dissolved the majority of the beast's eyes and surrounding skin, much like a corrosive acid.
These creatures were so foreign, so inhumane that mere contact with pure, natural blood could cause their biological structure to fall apart.
I thought back to when Jermaine was bitten by the Harpy, how it was able to drink his blood. Nothing had damaged the monster then, and it also proved that these beasts had the same hunger as the Lost.
However, not once did any of the creatures attempt to bite an O-Negative person. It couldn't be a coincidence, that all of these test subjects were 'selected' because of that same blood type.
When I was wrestling with the Harpy in that hotel, it could have easily tried to devour me... and yet it resisted. It could sense my lethal blood type, repelled by the taste... No wonder it was so easy for me to escape.
Now completely blind, the Nephilim bashed its heavy fists against the floor of the deck. Even though it couldn’t see, it must’ve hoped to instill some fear into us, to keep its attackers at bay.
"...Get... down..."
I turned around to see Harry standing by the bar’s door, armed with a flaming device.
Scrambling to the side, I realised that while we had been impairing the beast, Harry had dragged himself into the bar and apparently made himself a molotov cocktail.
The burning rag stuck out of his bottle of rum, threatening to explode right in the middle of our party yacht. The Nephilim was too busy rubbing its eyes from the corrosive blood, it never even saw it coming as the bottle collided with its jaw.
Bursting into flames, a horrific shriek filled the entire deck as the beast thrashed wildly against the licking embers, clinging to its very flesh. The wooden panels were also on fire, but in that moment, our first priority was making sure that this thing stayed dead.
I stood aside and watched it slowly burn. The nameless organism descended from hysterical cries to pathetic whimpers, crawling in circles.
Dragging its charred corpse along to the bow of the ship, it almost leaned over the edge as it cast its final gaze back towards me, much like when it had first appeared. However, the only emotion that now registered behind its obliterated eyes was regret. Not for what it had been forced to do... but for being captured, being used by Telos in the first place.
I tried to think of something profound to say, but couldn't manage any soothing words. Instead, I mouthed an insincere apology to the burning body. This man or woman went limp, falling lifelessly into the sea with a tremendous splash.
It was finally over.
----
While Grumpy and I threw buckets of water over the now-dwindling flames, I couldn't help but notice that the scorched deck was looking rather empty without the skinless abomination to fill the space.
Millie climbed up the ladder with Jamie heaved over her shoulders, Serah helping them both into the cabin’s privacy. They lay him on the floor beside Beth, who looked about as catatonic as expected.
After the girls had cleared some room for the boy, a deafening crash echoed somewhere nearby. Scanning in every direction, I felt dumb for not realising that it was coming from the interior of the submarine.
Harry glanced at the sub and back over to Millie, who he hadn't laid eyes on since last night. There was only one guess at what her boyfriend was thinking. She had to physically strap on her smile, with two hands running across her cheeks.
"...Go on,” she gave a tired laugh. “That's what you came here to do, right? Go get them, for Ian. Just... get them for me, too."
I almost forgot what Harry's grin looked like. Not particularly trusting his state of mind, I followed after him as he leapt across to invade the Telos branch.
"Forgetting someone?" Grumpy’s voice filtered into my ear, hugging close behind. “I want to pay those bastards back, for attacking us on a whim.”
As we disappeared down the open metal hatch, the last thing I saw was Serah hunched over a soaking-wet Jamie. In her mindful eyes, I could only register visible concern.
Climbing down that ladder, it was like tumbling down the rabbit hole to Wonderland. It seemed as though we'd entered a whole other world inside that sub, where every surface radiated an eerie cold-grey, almost aquatic feeling.
Landing at the bottom, the constricting corridor split into two directions. Having no idea which way Tomás went, we didn't have to ponder for long as the yells and shouts echoed from our right.
I rushed along the metallic environment with my two companions, being careful not to brush against one of the many blinking lights and switches that encapsulated our pathway. Who knew what could happen — one false move, and I might send a torpedo straight into our own yacht parked outside.
On the way through, I was taken aback by the lack of people in this supposed base. We did run into a group of panicked escapees; fortunately, I recognised them from the crew of our ship.
"W-We're outta here!” One of the girls threw down her weaponised glass bottle, pushing past us. “This just too much... That guitarist is gonna get himself killed!"
I didn't blame them for not realising the gravity of our situation — although I di
dn't approve of how they abandoned Tomás in the heart of enemy territory. With a bad feeling in my gut, I forced myself further into the featureless submarine, praying that we weren’t lost.
Eventually, the corridor we'd been following came out into a control room of sorts, which seemed to double as a prison. Over the central console, various screens and sonar images were displayed across many monitors.
Seven tiny glass compartments encircled the perimeter, lit with an eerie silver light; inside each one was an individual Lost, wearing some kind of naval uniform.
The undead glared at us with intense desperation, clawing at the thick glass which kept them trapped. The 'cells' didn't seem to fit in with the purpose of the area at all, but I was in no mood to criticize the architecture of an undersea war machine.
Tomás stood with his back against the wall, hands raised as an official-looking man pointed a shaking revolver at his chest. The Telos insignia, a fanciful ‘T’ embroidered itself across his lapel.
"T-Tell me! Are you with James Burkley?!" With a frightful click of his firearm, we knew that he was scared shitless enough to use it.
Another officer lay comatose at his feet — obviously knocked unconscious, judging by the reddened line that ran over his forehead. Once again, that guitar case packed quite a punch.
Grumpy edged closer to Tomás, possibly trying to switch places. He made the wrong choice as the submarine's navigator whirled around, alarmed by the sudden movement.
It didn't matter whether our enemy meant to or not. The former O-Saint’s head hit the metal below, writhing in agony. Two searing bullets drove right into his gut, the enclosed gunshot disabling us all.
36 | Transmission
"You... You bastard!!" Harry used the man's obvious state of shock to knock the firearm out of his hand, flipping it around to point right back at him. The navigator nearly fell over the swivel chair behind him, trying to put some distance between the furious Harry and himself.
