Kraken by Rookie Burwick (novel books to read TXT) 📕

night sky would shine brightly onto the deck, hopefully through moonlight. He never liked it when the moon was just starting its course over, and the only light in the sky was stars. The trouble was, he obviously couldn't see the moon yet, so he had no idea.

The room had grown silent, with most of the people gone from their stations, most of which were on break, or just quitting for the night. Briche had ordered Brent to stay up as long as he did, just in case. The men on watch duty were, luckily, very tough and were fast at reporting any troubles, so that didn't really bother him. What did bother him though was the same thing that had been bothering him for half a day now. The same conversation with Hutchision, and his "Kraken" theory. There had been no sight of such a thing on the sonar, but the shoal of squids that trailed the ship were still at it. He turned to Brent.

"What's the shoal's speed?" he asked.

"They're keeping up really well, sir," Brent replied.

"As long as we're ahead," Briche turned back to the window.

As he continued to stare out the window, he heard an odd beeping noise. He spun around and glared at Brent.

"The shoal is approaching, sir! What missiles should I use?"

"Use the smallest ones. Those should do for a shoal that size."

"Right. Firing now!"              

The sonar image showed a small missile heading right for the large shoal of squids. Briche was the explosion take way followed by a gigantic splash of water landing on the deck. The explosion hit the shoal with a direct hit, and scattered them.

"Direct hit, sir!"                                                           

Briche smirked a little. "Perfect. Hit em' again."

The second missile blew away another big chunk of the squids right out of the water . . . literally. Chunks of slimy flesh went flying everywhere within the next big explosion of water.

"How many are left?"

"Not many sir. They're scattered real well."

"Excellent. That'll teach em'."

"But there's a problem sir."

"What's that?!"

"They started scattering before I fired the missile. They seem to be disturbed by something else."

Briche's face lit up with worry. The missile wasn't the thing that scattered them, then what was? It all seemed to be coming true. If the shoal hadn't been pursuing the ship, then they must have been running from something else. And that was what made him the most worried.

"Sir! There's a massive object heading straight towards us! It swimming through the shoal!"

Briche spun around and hurried down the stairs. He turned and stared at the computer screen. And sure enough, there it was.

"It looks like some kind of super-sized squid or something. . ." he heard Brent whisper.

And, true enough; the enormous creature was headed straight for them.

 

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Jasper had fallen asleep just six minutes after Silvia had left his room. He slept peacefully for a while, until now. He was dreaming. Of what, he couldn't quite tell, but the image of a squid reach out for him was the only thing he could see. It missed him every time, but it kept reaching out for him. Each time he would back away, and the squid would launch at him, pointing its sharp beak right towards his face. He rolled over onto his side, but it didn't help. The dream kept on playing, over and over again the multi-armed monster would reach for him in the dark water surrounding him, and he would try to get away as fast as he could.

He trembled now; sweat raining down his entire body. He began tossing and turning wildly as images of terrifying, man-eating squids hurled towards him while aboard an old, abandoned ship . . . he let out a faint moan, now on his back. Then, images of lightning and thunder pounded and blinded his dark vision. Tentacles outstretched from the ocean, and swallowed him, wrapping themselves around his body, and squeezing hard . . . then they pulled him down into a large beak, the beak of a creature so hideous that it should never had existed. . .

He awoke, and sat up, breathing heavily. He looked around the room, but saw only darkening light. The sun was finally setting. He stood up and stretched out his arms for a few seconds, and then peered out the window. Only three rays of sunlight were left. He sighed with frustration, and then took a seat on the bed again. He looked up at the card table and stared at the black metal siding that was reflecting the dim light. But then, the ship was hit. Something big hit the metal on the bottom of the ship, and sent it lurching forward. Jasper fell from the bed and went rolling across the floor. He slammed his head against the metal door, and moved onto his back. He glazed up at the wall until his vision became clear again, then he hurried to his feet.

It was too late. The creature had found them, and was attacking. It was the only thing big enough to ram a ship this size and make such a jolt like that. He peered out of the small port window that was latched onto the door, and saw men running back a forth, panicking.

Then, he heard an odd and soft rumbling. He spun around and hurried across the room, and peered out the window on the opposite wall. Then, he saw a single, gigantic tentacle rising up from the water along the railing of the ship. It was the biggest thing he'd ever seen, and his eyes couldn't leave it. It rose higher and higher out of the water, and its numerous rows of suckers made a sucking sound as water dripped from their centers. The tentacle rose up a little ways further, curled up its tip, then sunk back down, taking a small portion of the railing with it. He hurried towards the door, and stared out again. He had to get to the captain. He didn't know why, but he just had to talk with him. He looked down and watched as his hand turned the knob and the door creaked open.

He stepped out into the hallway, and made his way towards the main control room.

 

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Briche opened his eyes slowly, hoping it had all been a dream. He wished the earthquake hadn't happened and he had never sent those divers down there. He wished Hutchision had never told him those stories about the "Kraken". He wished none of it was true.

But, Hutchision had been right. The creature that had attacked that fishing trawler was real, and much bigger than he had ever imagined. He stood up on all fours, feeling around with his hands. A red light was glowing on and off somewhere in the distance, but he couldn't tell where. He felt something running from his nose. But that could wait. He stood up carefully, and took on one foot at a time. He was on both legs in no time. He reached up and felt around his nostril. Blood. It was running everywhere down his face. He pulled out his white handkerchief and wiped it away, and it seemed like pounds of it were coming off his skin. He sniffed a few times, and then looked around the room.

Brent was slumped over his computer's keyboard, knocked out cold. Everyone else that was still at their stations were now on the floor, pools of blood every few feet of floor. He heard yelling and commotion outside on deck. He hurried up to the window, and peered out. Then, he saw the un-believable. Gigantic, swarming tentacles lined with rows of powerful, slime-covered suckers were rising from the ocean, and causing havoc on the deck. One of them wrapped its scaly skin around a man that stood near the bow's edge, and pulled him down into the dark depths. Other tentacles wrapped themselves around various objects around the deck. They gabbed up mean, and squeezed hard. Blood and body parts went flying all over the concrete that made up the deceasing deck. Briche had never seen a more gruesome sight in his life. The creature was real. Hutchision hadn't been lying. That was clarified now. Everything he had said was true. The sinking fishing trawler was true. The lost cargo ship was true. The horrifying nightmare with tentacles was true. It was all true.

Briche turned around when he heard a slight whimper, and then a creak. It was Brent. He was waking up, coming too, and becoming conscious. He sat up, moaned a little, and rubbed his eyes.

"What happened?" he asked a bit sheepishly.

"Brent! Listen to me!"

"Yes sir?"

"Fire all missiles!"

Brent looked down at the computer and gulped.

"But sir, that creature's tentacles are blocking the storage unit!"

"Blocking it?! That's impossible!"

"That's what the sonar shows, sir."

"If we can't fire, then we're doomed!"

 

 

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Greg Marty had always loved the open sea. He had always love being in the Navy. But now, the horrid sight before him ruined all of that. Something big had hit the ship, and sent everyone flying to the ground. And now, gigantic, towering tentacles were destroying everything. He had no idea what they belonged to, but they were no doubt gigantic. Their massive suction cups allowed them to stick to anything, and destroy anything.

He had just seen two men squeezed to death, with their insides popped out. Now, his eyes were stuck on one particular tentacle that was wrapping its massive self around the communication poles at the end of the deck. It wrapped around it all the way to the top, curving around perfectly, and then pulled. He heard a loud crack, and then the pole came loose. The tentacle let go, and dropped it down into the water. But then it grabbed ahold of the cement stronghold that once supported the poles. It pulled with all its strength, and soon, the cement cracked. It all came loose, and was tossed back into the water.

Then, he spun around at the sound of metal snapping, and saw one of the tentacles pulling off the metal railing, and then sinking back down into the water. He heard a scream above him, and looked up to see another man being squeezed until he was purple. The tentacle holding him dropped him onto the ground, and splattered organic matter all over his feet. Then, he puked. It was all too much to bare. It was all too gruesome. He spat up everything in his stomach, and then slowed to a stop. He looked up to see more tentacles crushing the main broadcast tower atop the decoy system.

It pulled with all its strength, and the tower leaned over, and began breaking off. It fell from the decoy system, and crashed through the metal lining along the sides of the ship. It crushed a small portion of the dock, and slipped away into the water. Then, a tentacle crashed into the side of the railing, and erupted another part of the dock in the middle. But then, Greg felt his stomach tightening, and then he was lifted into the air. . . he let out a scream, but no one heard him. He looked down, and saw the rows of slimy suckers, and he knew. A tentacle had grabbed him. It was over.

It dragged him down into the water, and he shut his eyes. When he opened them again, he saw the creature itself. It looked like a mutated squid. It had two, gigantic and angry eyes that glared at him, and its red skin was reflecting off the last of the daylight. Then, Greg was engulfed in swirling tentacles, and then he saw the large and gaping beak. . .

 

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Briche shut his eyes tight and tried to breath. But the fear and confusion he felt inside of him was too over-barring, and he just couldn't keep calm. He let out a half-scared and half-angry sigh, and then opened