TERROR KRAKENS
Eric S Brown
Copyright 2018 by Eric S Brown
TERROR KRAKENS
Derrick’s nerves were raw. His fingers fiddled with the small box hidden in the pocket of his pants. The night was warm but not overly hot. Like everything else about the night, except for himself, it seemed perfect. Samantha would be meeting him soon. They had agreed to meet up at what they thought of as their spot on the lower deck. The Princess Dream had only been at sea for a bit over a week but in that time they had spent hours here watching the waves after most everyone else aboard the cruise liner was asleep. It was just after 1 AM. Derrick looked up at the sky. The stars were out and the moon was well on its way to being full. This cruise had been his idea. He had saved up for months in order to pay for it. His job didn’t pay that much but he loved it. Teaching was his passion. It made him feel like he was making a real difference in the lives of the kids that came through his classroom and left his summer free for trips like this one. Samantha sure hadn’t expected him to surprise her with the cruise as a three-year anniversary gift. It had taken her completely off guard. She had been forced to call in a lot of favors at her own job to be able to come with him. Derrick felt bad about that and wished he had thought that part through a little better but he hoped Samantha thought it was all worth it. She sure seemed to be having the time of her life. This was new to both of them. Neither of them had ever taken a cruise before.
He and Samantha had spent the better part of the evening swimming in the pool on the main deck and she had wanted to go change and get cleaned up before their usual time alone on the lower deck. Derrick had to wonder if she suspected he had something planned and wanted to look her best for whatever was coming. He hoped not. Being romantic took a lot of effort for him. It wasn’t something that came natural to him. Heck, he wasn’t even sure that what he was about to do was romantic if the truth was told. But based on what he had seen in movies and on TV, it appeared to be. Before Samantha, Derrick had only dated three women and one of them seriously. He imagined that was pretty lame for a guy pushing thirty. Growing up, he had always been the brainy kid, the nerd in the front of the class who always made good grades. He had never been popular. When he was younger, his weight had been a factor too. When he turned thirty, Derrick had changed that and worked hard now to keep the pounds off. He would never be what most people thought of as handsome but he wasn’t ugly either. Spot-on average was a good way to describe him. A homely sort of gent that usually ended up in the friend zone. Samantha was his polar opposite in that regard. She was beautiful, her almost pale skin flaked with freckles, red hair that came down to her shoulders, and blue eyes that were as captivating as they were deep. She was two years younger than he was with a body that turned heads. How he had been blessed enough to end up with her was a mystery to Derrick and he didn’t intend to ever let her go if he could help it. Samantha was the center of his world. Like a fantasy come to life, she took his breath away and made his heart flutter inside his chest.
Derrick sucked in a breath as he saw Samantha coming along the deck toward where he stood. She had changed out of her bathing suit into a comfortable-looking, flowing red shirt and shorts that hugged her hips. Samantha smiled as she saw him and waved. He waved back, hoping that his nerves weren’t showing.
“Hey you,” Samantha said as she reached him and took his hand in hers.
“You…” Derrick found he almost couldn’t speak as he looked at her. “You’re beautiful.”
Samantha laughed and shook her head. “You say that all the time.”
“That doesn’t mean it isn’t true,” Derrick managed to answer.
She squeezed his hand in hers and led him closer to the railing that ran along the side of the deck.
“I never get tired of seeing that,” Samantha said, staring at the distant horizon where the waves met the night sky.
“And I never get tired of seeing you,” Derrick whispered.
“You’re pushing it,” she said, chuckling. “What are you up to?”
“Sorry,” Derrick said, frowning. “Sometimes I just can’t help myself, Sam. I hope you know that I mean everything I say though.”
Turning to look into his eyes, she answered, “I do.”
Derrick nearly melted from the look she gave him.
“Uh … Sam, we’ve been dating a pretty good while now,” Derrick started.
“Look!” Samantha said, suddenly pointing out into the water, stopping him before he could say anything more.
Derrick looked out in the direction she had indicated. He saw it too. There were things moving about in the water. At first, he thought they might be looking at a school of dolphins playing under the stars. They had seen that before but the shapes in the water were all wrong. Whatever was out there, they were larger than dolphins.
“They’re coming toward the Princess Dream,” Samantha said, sounding both excited and confused. It was certainly odd for any kind of sea life to come directly at a cruise ship the size of the one they were on. Approaching it was one thing but making a B-line straight for it was something else entirely.
“I can’t really see what they are, can you?” Derrick asked, shoving his glasses up higher on his nose closer to his eyes.
“I … I think they’re some kind of squids,” Samantha told him, all the excitement gone from her voice now.
As the creatures drew closer, Derrick could see why Samantha didn’t sound excited anymore. The things were nasty looking. Derrick could see that they weren’t squids at all. They looked more like octopus. He wasn’t sure but Derrick didn’t think octopus were supposed to gather in groups, and certainly not a group as large as what was approaching the Princess Dream. The things looked sick. There was no better word for it. Their bodies had a reddish hue like those of some squids. They didn’t move as fluidly as he thought an octopus should. Their tentacles seemed thicker somehow, more muscled. What creeped him out the most though was that the creatures’ eyes almost seemed to glow in the dim light of the stars. Whatever they were, the creatures were clearly moving with a purpose. They spread out as they drew even closer to the Princess Dream.
“What are they doing?” Samantha asked in a voice no more than a trembling whisper. Their nice evening had suddenly taken on a darker tone, the wonder and beauty of the night turning to not quite fear but certainly a troubling concern.
“I … I don’t know,” Derrick stammered.
“It’s like they’re trying to get right up to the side of the ship,” Samantha said.
“That’s crazy,” Derrick said. “Why would they do that?”
“We’re safe, right?” Samantha snuggled up to his chest, wrapping her arms around his waist.
That made Derrick laugh. He couldn’t help it. It was clear that Samantha had been insulted by him doing it.
“Yeah, of course we’re safe,” Derrick said, trying to sound apologetic and reassuring at the same time.
The group of octopus or whatever they were reached the hull of the Princess Dream where it met the water. Derrick let out an unintentional gasp as one of the octopus things raised two of its tentacles up and slapped them onto the ship’s hull. The creature hefted itself body out of the water, pulling itself upward as it began to climb up the side of the ship. The others around it followed.
“Derrick!” Samantha yelled.
“What the…?” Derrick’s eyes were wide. “That’s not possible.”
“It’s happening.” Samantha slapped his chest. “They’re coming up the side!”
The creatures gained speed with each slap of their tentacles upward. They moved up the ship’s hull like ice climbers. Derrick was still gawking at the things in disbelief as Samantha pulled away from him.
“We need to get help,” she said, taking off at a full-out run along the deck.
Derrick turned, watching her, still too stunned to do much more. He heard the slapping, wet sounds of the creatures on the ship’s hull behind him. Derrick didn’t see the tentacle of the first squid to reach the railing coming from him until it shot around his neck. Then he tried to scream but the tentacle had already contracted, squeezing his neck to the point of rendering him incapable of doing so. Derrick’s eyes bugged as he struggled to breath. His hands rose to grasp the tentacle and try to tear it loose from where it continued to tighten about his throat. The creature’s flesh was slimy. He fought to get a good grip on the tentacle as his lungs burned for air. Derrick felt a new pain in his neck as the barbs along the tentacle’s underside against his skin extended. They cut into him slashing deep grooves as the tentacle continued to twist around his throat. Blood poured over his chest, soaking his shirt. Derrick’s vision began to blur. The tentacle jerked even tighter and he heard the sound of his own neck breaking before the world went dark.
****
Samantha’s legs pumped beneath her as she ran for her life. The creatures she and Derrick had seen climbing the side of the Princess Dream hadn’t been the only ones. One of them tugged itself over the railing ahead of her and landed wetly on the deck directly in her path. Samantha screamed as the thing lifted itself upright on two very strong, leg-like tentacles. Its beak-like mouth opened. The screech noise that came out of it hurt her ears. Samantha stumbled backward, barely managing to stay on her feet. A door opened nearby. An elderly woman poked her head out of it, saw the monster standing on the deck, and slammed it back shut. Samantha ran for the door and threw herself against it. She pounded on it with clenched fists as the creature walked toward her on its two primary tentacles. The creature’s other tentacles whipped about wildly in the air around its body. Samantha realized that if she stayed where she was, she was dead. She turned, running back along the way she had come. There were creatures back that way—she could see them raising themselves up on their tentacles like the one after her had—but none were close enough to be an immediate threat. She came to a door and flung it open. It led into a corridor of passenger quarters.
“Help me!” Samantha shrieked at the top of her lungs. “Somebody please!”
Several doors swung inward as people were drawn out by her screams. They stumbled into the corridor, some still half asleep, others wide wake and terrified, not knowing what was happening. Samantha hadn’t closed the door leading into the corridor behind her. She was no longer the only one screaming as one of the creatures came bounding through it. This one moved on multiple tentacles, keeping its main body close to the floor. The thing flung itself onto a man who had emerged from a doorway behind where Samantha stood. The impact of the creature landing on him took the man down with the thing on top of him. He punched at its main body in mad desperation but his blows went unnoticed by the creature as it tore into him with its beak-like mouth. Blood splattered over the floor of the corridor as the creature opened up the man’s chest.
People were panicking now. They ran deeper into the ship. Those that had the bad luck of getting tripped up and falling were trampled by the others. Samantha found herself swept up in the crowd. More of the creatures were entering the corridor. One of the things leaped onto the ceiling, skittering along it to drop onto an overweight woman near the rear of the fleeing group of passengers. The fat woman’s screams echoed off the walls.
Samantha took the first chance she got to lose herself from the others. She spotted a stairwell door and veered toward it. Like most doors on the ship, it remained unlocked at all times. Throwing it open, she ran into the stairwell and started bounding up the steps to the deck above the one she was on. A man tried to enter the stairwell after her. She was halfway up to the steps when he opened the door and started for the stairs. One of the creatures burst through after him. Two of its lesser tentacles grabbed his ankles and yanked his feet from under him. The man smashed onto the floor of the stairwell with a loud thud, landing squarely on his face. As he rolled over, Samantha could see the red of blood leaking from his busted nose. He was screaming as the creature shambled onto him, pinning him where he lay. His screams grew even louder then.
Forcing herself to look away, Samantha continued up the steps and bolted out of the stairway onto the next deck. As she did, Samantha collided with a woman in a security uniform. The woman grunted as their impact sent her staggering backward. The barrel of the shotgun in her hands swung upward at Samantha.
“Don’t shoot!” Samantha wailed, raising her hands above her head.
Grumbling something under her breath that Samantha couldn’t make out, the woman lowered her shotgun.
“Get that door shut!” the security woman ordered her gruffly.
Samantha whirled about to slam the stairwell door. The woman moved by her, yanking a set of keys from her belt which she used to lock it.
“There are more people down there,” Samantha told her. “Should you really be locking that?”
The woman glared at her, snapping, “What’s your name?”
“Samantha,” she answered as the security woman removed her keys from the stairwell door.
“Well, Samantha, this entire ship is under attack,” the woman growled. “We’ve got seven, seven, security officers onboard and God only knows how many of those things are there. Last I heard, more of them were still coming out of the water onto the ship. I’d say we’re long passed the point of being able to save everyone.”
Taken aback by the woman’s cold directness, Samantha could only stare at her in horror.
“My name’s Maggie and you’ve got a choice to make, Samantha,” she said. “You can come with me and maybe have a shot of surviving this thing or make a run for it on your own and end up like him.”
Maggie pointed down farther along the corridor they stood in at the corpse of a man in a crew uniform. The white cloth of his shirt was soaked red with blood. It looked like something had tried to eat him but hadn’t been able to finish the job. There were savage holes torn into him all over his chest and stomach. Most of the left side of his face was mangled and the eye on that side was simply gone. Its empty socket was not much more than a mess of shredded meat.
“I’m with you,” Samantha answered without hesitation.
“Good,” Maggie said. “You know how to use a gun?”
Samantha shook her head.
Maggie was clearly displeased but drew the pistol holstered on her hip and readied the weapon, handing it to her. “You point this end at your target and pull the trigger when you want to fire. Just make damn sure whatever you’re aiming at isn’t human and especially not me.”
“Right.” Samantha nodded, accepting the pistol. Just how desperate did Maggie have to be if the woman was handing over a firearm to an untrained passenger? she wondered.
“This way,” Maggie said and started walking down the corridor at a brisk but clearly cautious pace.
“Where are we headed?” Samantha worked up the courage to ask.
“The bridge,” Maggie answered. “The captain should be there. If there’s anywhere left on this ship that’s safe, it’s there.”
Samantha didn’t argue. She kept pace with Maggie, keeping a few feet behind the security woman. Her knuckles were white from the grip she had on the pistol she had been given. She held it in a two-handed hold like she had seen cops do on TV.
****
It had been a long day and Ryan was ready to relax. The door to his quarters was locked so he didn’t give a crap about whatever all the alarm klaxons were for. Likely some idiot passenger had fallen overboard or something. Besides, his shift had ended an hour earlier and he had already rounded up his entertainment for the evening. Ryan had one singular passion in life and that was women. Lots of single ladies came on cruises like this one, either having a girls’ outing or searching for that someone special and a romantic encounter. He preyed on them. Literally. R
yan was just handsome and mysterious enough to be a player to the point where he could get their attention. From there, a bit of conversation could give him the chance to slip his special home brew knock-out shot in whatever glass they were drinking out of. He had perfected the formula perfectly to make them just loopy enough for him to talk them into letting his victim walk them to somewhere they could lay down for a bit. Of course, that was always his quarters where his bed was waiting for them. When they woke up the next day, the drug wiped their memories clean more than a night of hard drinking would. They would wake up in some random corridor of the ship with no idea how they got there. It was a beautiful routine that had worked well for Ryan the last few years. Not one had ever remembered enough to press charges and very few were even suspicious enough to come and accuse him privately. If that ever did happen, it would just be their word against his, as his drug was almost undetectable and certainly so by the time they could get checked for it, and the laws of the ocean were far different from those of the American mainland. It helped too that Nick, the ship’s doctor, was willing to back him up for the right amount of cash if things ever did hit the fan. Ryan had made sure of that before the first time he had ever had his fun.
Tonight’s victim was a young girl in her early twenties. Her hair was jet black and her skin fair. She was shapely in an athletic sort of way. Ryan had first spotted her working out in the ship’s gym and knew she had to be his. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember her name but that didn’t matter. He certainly didn’t need her remembering his when he was done with her. Ryan had already stripped her down to her bra and panties, a feat that hadn’t taken much effort as all else she had been wearing was a short, strapless, blue dress. It lay on the floor of his cabin next to his bed where he had tossed it after slipping it up over her head. Ryan sat on the edge of the bed next to her, drinking in how hot she looked with his lust-filled eyes. He slid a hand along the length of her inner thigh. Her skin was soft and smooth with well-toned muscles beneath it. Licking his lips, he leaned over to begin kissing his way up her stomach toward her mouth.
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