Up From The Deep by Vaughn Jackson (highly recommended books txt) 📕

the surface. She gasped for breath and opened her eyes, to see Eric’s terrified eyes looking over her shoulder.

Marleen heard a sound that made her skin crawl. An animalistic cry akin to a whale, but deeper and angrier, with a hyena’s cackle at the end. The air around them trembled with the force of the noise and the waves rose to terrible heights from the force of the sound.

She turned and saw the creature towering over the cruise ship. Part dragon, part turtle, its serpentine neck ending in a reptilian head a good ten meters above their cruise ship.

But that’s a fifty-meter ship…

Eric pulled her attention back to him. “Don’t look at it. We need to go.” The urgency in his eyes reactivated her conscious thought and brought with it the panic. A monster in the water. Her greatest fear, true. She began to flail and hyperventilate, plunging beneath the surface and bobbing back up. Salt-water poured into her mouth and she coughed as it stung her lungs.

“Marleen,” Eric said pulling her once more to the surface and holding her up as he treaded water for both of them. “Look at me.”

She managed to lock her focus on him, keeping her eyes from darting around in her skull. Fatigue crept over her already.

“There’s an island just over there,” he said. “We have to get away from the boat.” His voice came out in even, calm syllables. If Eric was afraid, he was putting on one hell of a good show for her, she thought.

Just over there was probably a whole football field away. Something about his calm demeanor made her think she could make it. Even as she heard the screams of the people on the ship. Even as she heard the groans and cracks when the creature bit down onto the cruise ship. She began to swim, just behind Eric. There were other people swimming for the island. Marleen could barely see them with all the salt in her eyes, but she could feel them. They all exuded the same panic, a mixture of confusion and pure terror.

She didn’t remember making it to the island, but she felt the sand against her skin. Eric pulled her to shore.

“You made it,” he said. He smiled, but the smile was worn out and poisoned with sadness.

Everyone else on the island was staring out to sea. She went to follow their gaze, but Eric held her head gently in his hands.

“Don’t.” He pulled her head to his shoulder and she began to cry. Deep heaving sobs. Her warm tears rolled down Eric’s chest as he looked out at what remained of the cruise ship.

He clutched Marleen even tighter. She never did look back, not until the ship completely sank from view and the sun began to start its slow descent. She checked Eric’s watch. The whole ordeal had only lasted an hour. To her it had felt like ages.

The creature was gone. It’d fled once it realized the ship wasn’t food, but not before taking out its frustration on the imposter. What was once a towering crown of the sea had now sunk slowly into the brine. Smoke plumed up to the sky as fires erupted from the remaining debris. A dark substance spread out from the wreckage. Marleen knew it was oil, but she couldn’t help but imagine that something fresh and organic had seeped in with the fuel after the attack. She could make out bodies too. Some of them were swimming towards the small island they now called home. Some just floated and bobbed with the motion of the waves.

Chapter 3

The door to the cell slid open, grinding and grating on rusted tracks. Bright light poured into the dark interior of the room. Skylar shielded her eyes as a wiry silhouette stepped into view.

“Are you ready to cooperate with us, Ms. O’Hara?”

“Please, just let me go.” Skylar forced her voice to remain calm.

“Now, that is not an answer to the question you were asked.” The woman walked into the cell and leaned in close, so her face was only inches away from Skylar’s. Her warm breath drifted across Skylar’s skin. It smelled like pineapples.

Skylar took a deep breath. “What do you want from me?”

“I told you that online,” the woman replied. “A real-life kaiju. Don’t you want to study it?”

“I want to not be kidnapped.” Skylar cursed the edge in her voice and hoped it wouldn’t get her in trouble.

The other woman let out a wild, mocking laugh. At the end she covered her mouth and the laugh subsided to a soft chuckle. “You weren’t kidnapped.”

“You expect me to believe that?”

“What do you believe, then?”

“You broke into my home, threw me in a van, and dragged me here.” Skylar’s temper flared. “Pretty sure I know that’s kidnapping.”

“Is it kidnapping if it’s your government bringing you in for crimes you committed?” the woman whispered. “Say, the FBI?”

“You’re not FBI,” Skylar protested. “There are rules you have to follow.”

The woman flashed a badge. “Agent Jia Ming. FBI. You and your friend were up to some naughty business.”

Skylar saw the badge, but she didn’t buy it. My best bet is to play along, she thought. Find a chance to...to what? Escape? They found me once before, but if I can work with KK...

“Where’s KK?” she asked. “Let me see him!”

The woman’s face soured. It made her look at least ten years older. “Your friend is on the run.”

New plan. Bide time. “I see,” Skylar said. “So... tell me about this supposed kaiju?”

“Get up.” Agent Ming smiled and motioned for the door. “It’s right this way.”

#

All kinds of people populated the open courtyard as Agent Ming guided Skylar on what felt like a museum tour without the endless stream of facts and commentary. None of them wore suits, appearing more like a crowd of visitors than federal agents. The whole thing made Ming seem out of place.

“This doesn’t look like a government facility,” Skylar said.

“Look around. Surely you know where we