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

He glared at every person in the room, and they all nodded back at him. He turned right back to the window, and continued to watch on.

But, the silence was once again broken seconds later, but not by anyone in the room. Up from the depths of the ocean, Briche heard a deep and gristle rumbling that started in a low tone, and quickly became louder. He spun around to face Dave who seemed to be taking no notice of the sound. No one in the room seemed to be taking notice.

"Silvia, what's happening on the radar right now?"

She quickly checked, and looked back at him with an expression of shock, and utter terror.

"What is it?" Briche asked impatiently.

"I'm not . . . sure. . ."

He hurried down the steps and over to her station, and peered down at the small computer screen. What he saw was not a radar image, but a digital image of the same area where the ship had gone down just half an hour earlier. The waves beyond the ships' bow were now wild and rampant. Something was happening.

The image he saw showed a large crack that was spreading quickly along the rise of ground down a good 120 feet below the surface. It spread forward and soon went over the edge. But then, the rumbling noise grew even louder, and the image showed the crack busting open.

"I've never seen anything . . . like this," Silvia managed to say after a gasp.

"Neither have I, and I've been in the Navy for years," he said.

To a normal person, that would've sounded almost like a joke. But, like everything else Briche said, it was serious.

"How is this possible for us to see what's happening?"

"We have sensors in the area down there, sir."

"I see."

"The ground down there is like, separating, and opening up. . ." Silvia gulped.

"Yeah, it is," Briche replied, stun in his voice. "How wide is it opening?"

"So far, it's separated almost thirteen feet, sir."

Briche watched as the image showed the ship falling down into the crack, and falling a good distance.

"What the. . ."

"The crack seems to have come from behind the ship sir. Basically, the bottom of the ocean is splitting open."

"The ship just vanished."

Everyone in the room sat in silent shock as they watched the odd image displayed across their screens. Some of them sat their mouths hanging open in shock, while others just watched. Briche then heard yelling out on the deck, and scrambled to the window to see what the commotion was. He saw gigantic waves of water splash up onto the side railing of the deck, rising higher and higher each time they came up. Seagulls scattered up from the water, letting out cries of fear. The men on deck backed away rampantly as another giant wave washed onto the metal before them.

The rumbling noise grew louder, and Briche had to cover his ears to even stand it. But, as his hands filled his ears with nothing but silence, the rumbling ceased and died off. He took his palms from his ears, and listened. Then, he peered out the window and saw the water beyond the ship calming down.

"What just happened?" someone asked from behind him.

"I do believe we just experienced a small earthquake," Briche replied without turning. "Silvia, get Luchas on the phone. Tell him to get those divers out there. And tell that, when he does get out there, have them report everything to me."

"Right away sir."

Silvia reached for the phone, but then stopped.

"But sir, we don't know what's down there. . ."

"Oh please, Silvia. There can't be that much down there."

She only nodded in reply, then picked up the phone.

"And even if there is, it will not be a threat."

                                           *  *  *

Jasper didn't dare move as he listened to the odd noise, now ceasing off into silence. Something far below his feet that dangled in the water was beginning to shake violently. He could feel it, and it wasn't a good feeling, either. He couldn't help but wonder what was really going on, and he was tempted to stick his face into the water and see if he could figure it out. These noises had sounded off like a gunshot two times in a row now. Something was seriously wrong.

But he didn't really know what. Something was happening down deep, and he probably wouldn't be able to see what was really happening from the surface. The waves around him were now very violent and hateful, and their force tossed his legs around everywhere beneath the surface. He tightened his grip on the rock he leaned against as the water's force grew stronger. His mind was spinning with fear and confusion, asking only one question: what's happening?  He looked to his left, and saw the exact same thing he had been seeing for nearly an hour now, and that was water. Only this time, violent water. There was no noise, no rumbling or tingling, but the waves were still massive and wild.

He shut his eyes tight and listened to the water, occasionally getting splashed in the face with its salty linger. He waited a few more seconds before opening his eyes again. When he did, he saw the water was calming, and the waves were dying off. Whatever had just happened was now over, for the time being, anyways. He loosened his grip on the rock just a bit, but still clung to it in fear of yet another incident. The waves finally died down enough to where the water no longer whooshed up onto his chest area, but was now calm and silent. The wet form he was in made him tremble and shiver, but the hot afternoon sun quickly took care of that. But even when the sunlight dried him out, he still had a problem. His hunger.

Aside from the shock he felt from what had just happened, the pains only made him weaker. His mind still assisted him in wondering what he had just experienced was, but he just couldn't figure it out. It had happened so suddenly, and then died down so quickly, none of it made sense. He looked out onto the water, and stared for a moment. He watched, studied it, wondering if anything further would happen.

But then, he felt something cold and soft hit his cheek. He looked up into the sky. Dark clouds were gathering in. A storm was coming.

                                           *  *  *

The raindrops that landed on his face quickly grew in numbers every second now, and lightning occasionally flashed through the clouds. Thunder followed close behind, booming over the sea and echoing back up into the sky. Jasper now not only bobbed in the cold ocean water, but also trembled from the wet clothes he wore due to the rain. There a slight fog that had covered the surrounding area, and was closing in on him like a pack of hungry beasts. Only from the sea, and not from the forest or jungle.

He reached up and did his best to matten down his hair, but it was nothing but a mess now. He wiped water from his forehead and eyelids, but more trickled right back down. He scowled at the clouds as he looked up at them, and got a few raindrops in his eyes in return. He had let go of the rock and was now afloat in the open water. The rock formations were still in sight, but a little farther away than he appreciated. But the worse part of not having the deserted ship as shelter was the rain. It was so cold, and soaking. He was wet from head to toe, and scowled even harder because of it. The sun was only half an hour from setting, but still couldn't be seen through the thick grey color that compressed up against the sky.

He hoped, however, that the rain would continue to fall throughout the night to scare away any sharks or fish that could be of arm. He remembered a few details from an ocean survival class he'd taken years earlier, mainly because he was going to be a fisherman, and, had he known how difficult the ocean could be, he would've paid closer attention. But, he did remember something about staying adrift, and staying in one area as much as you could. But that was all he could recall from it. He was nineteen at the time, and had his visions set on going out on the water every day, and fishing his heart out. But then, as he grew older, he realized that fishing wasn't all there was to owning a guide service. There was bills to pay, taxes owed, and he also had to hire help. All that really drained his wallet and his bank account.

Another flash of lightning lit the sky above him, followed by more loud thunder seconds later. The sound of thunder reminded him of the odd conversion that had taken place before the storm had rolled in. It was the oddest thing he'd ever experienced in his life as far as he was concerned. It was just like an earth-quake, but smaller, safer maybe, but all the while, it was obviously different. Even though it hadn't seemed vary threatening, he still didn't want to go through it again. Like any odd or new sound, it was still frightening.  But it wasn't the way the water had acted during the incident that bothered him, but the noise that had echoed up from the depths. That was the worst part of the whole deal. 

Even now, the waves were violent with rage and jerked him endlessly from side to side. The feeling it gave him was a mixture of nausea and illusion. But most of all, nausea. He wasn't going to bother with sleep, mainly because he knew the storm wasn't going clear out any time soon, and night was coming. He needed to stay alert for as long as he could. But that would be hard, especially as the night wore on. When it was young, sure, he could keep his eyes open. He sniffed a few times at the coldness he felt all on him and around him began to engulf him in the form of the rouge waves.

He turned away best he could as another big wave splashed up against him. He accidentally took in some of it through his breath, and coughed a few times to get it back up. As he coughed and gagged, his muscles tensed, and began really hurting. He slowed down his coughing the best he could, but the pain didn't cease like it had before. It stuck to his muscles and bones, and lingered for several minutes. Another flash of lightening, and more thunder rolled through the sky and made him jump. Another wave washed towards him, and soaked his clothes even more. He tried to get the water out of his nostrils again, but then shut his eyes as more water came soaring towards him.

As he fought back the sea water, it swallowed him. He went under without any warning, inhaling the water as he did. He reached for the surface, but it was above him now. He was surrounded by the foggy and grey color of the underwater world, and he couldn't escape. As he began to panic, hoisting himself upwards the best he could, He caught a glimpse of something. It was a dark, reddish color with a little blur of gold mixed in. But the image vanished quickly as he finally shot above the surface, gasping for air, fighting to get the water out of his lungs. He coughed long and hard and got just enough out. He relaxed a little, now staying alert for any more on-coming waves. The waves themselves now moved in