“That’s not good,” Zeph grumbled.
Netto rushed out and found a loose towel, half soaked, and threw it over Rylie and Janet. “Stay here. Stay under it.”
“The glass is breaking, it’ll crush us,” Janet shouted. “We need to move!” A chunk fell and shattered at their feet.
Netto gritted his teeth as the ship plummeted back below the waterline. He shielded the girls from the water that rushed in. Glass continued to fall. He pressed a quick kiss to the top of Rylie’s head as he moved away and the ship popped back up.
“Not before you go overboard, sweetheart...” Zeph responded with dry humor.
“What’re you going to do?” Rylie called after him.
“Get us out of here.” Netto headed for the bow with Zeph close behind. They unlocked their gun cases and strapped up.
They were hit by another large tentacle from out of nowhere. Netto glanced up and frowned as a large streak of blood smeared over the top glass. It was the limb he had bitten through.That’s not possible.The ship picked up speed. The sound of a gun clip being rammed home filled his ears.
Netto picked up his own and called out to Montihan, “Open the front and turn the spotlight back on!”
A short time later the squelch of moving glass filled his ears. The panels slipped slowly into the sides but stopped halfway, halted to give them a barricade that was safer than the railing.
“I hope you know what you’re doing,” Zeph said.
Together, they climbed to the top and braced themselves on the ceiling of the bridge. Netto could just make out Montihan through the closed cracks below. He took a hold of the spotlight and spun it in a half-circle, squinting his eyes and peering through the murky gloom.
Zeph took aim at the beasts that moved within the illumination on either side of the ship. Netto ignored the small fry, festering in an endless frenzy, and searched for the leviathan: the serpent whose blood was still in his mouth and whose flesh between his teeth. It didn’t reappear, and as the seconds ticked by, the waters smoothed out and the watership stopped dipping.
They flew from the scene as the sun crested and the night fog shifted into a charcoal dawn.
“Oh, what the hell!” Zeph shouted. Netto looked away from the ocean and followed his partner’s gaze. He moved the light with him.
His fingers dug into the gun at his side.
A shadow eclipsed the early morning light.
Netto rose to his feet as his throat closed up at the sight before him. It was a behemoth. A giant. A creature he had never seen the likes of before and which he hoped to never see again. It came out of the mist with long spindly arms that drifted deep within the water around it. He had to look up and strain his neck to see the head of the beast.
“So that's what’s on the other side,” Zeph choked out next to him.
“Yes,” Netto said with awe.
“Could’ve given me a heads up.”
But the beast grew smaller as they made their escape.
“I didn't know,” he said. “I've never seen anything like this before.” He had seen giants in the water on Kepler, the leviathans that the locals spoke of. This was different; this was hellish. The wind blew around them but the constant spray of water kept him from getting dry.
“I think we should kill it,” Zeph laughed. “Kinda want to take back a trophy.” His partner jumped down before Netto could say anything and yelled out to Montihan below. “Stop the boat!”
“Are you serious? We just got away from the thing!” Janet's voice was shrill with terror. But the bow came to a stop anyway.
Netto ran his tongue across his teeth, releasing his blood, and jumped into the ocean, but not before he saw the sea behemoth flail out in a rage and the serpents fly around it in untempered fury. As the mist cleared, the ocean vanished and all that remained were the bodies of the aquatic life swimming atop each other.
Netto looked away to see Rylie standing below. He joined her on the bow.
“Are you okay?” Rylie gasped out with a shiver, her hair and clothes drenched around her slight frame.
“Yes, are you?”
He took her in his arms, hoping to warm her.
