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

no subject line, and the email address simply read: [email protected]. Scoffing, he went to delete it, but the message caught his eye.

It read: I see you’re interested in monsters. What if I told you they were real?

Coincidence? Devonte thought. No. Targeted spam? Probably. He checked his messenger app. D-Base still registered as offline. A prank? No, he and D-Base both agreed monsters were real. Probably some internet troll who’d found some of his posts.

He responded to the message. The word scathing came to mind as he hit send. Basically, it boiled down to a hearty “fuck you, and fuck off”.

The reply came almost instantly. Check for yourself. Your results should be in -Tempest.

At that exact moment, a second email came through. The notification sound caused him to jump. It was his program. Finished. Devonte glanced back and forth between the two emails. They were received at almost the exact same time. He opened the program response and looked through the data. A single anomaly stood out. A huge one. And from just a few months ago too. Devonte looked at the timestamp and pulled up the correlated images on the data feed and saw...nothing. The surface of the ocean, the thermal images, and the tectonics all looked exactly the same as every other image. That shouldn’t be the case. “With that much seismic activity, the ocean should be rife with new activity. Unless …” He looked at the data again. The image was exactly the same as the image from the previous day. “That’s impossible,” he mumbled.

Devonte flipped back to the strange email.  “Tempest? What does that have to do with—”

A message from D-Base popped onto the screen. Figure it out yet????

“Somebody doctored the live feed,” Devonte whispered. Another thought came to him. He opened up the messenger app and searched for Tempest. One result. They were online. Devonte cracked his knuckles and sent them a message.

Why would someone change the image feed? And how did you know?

He waited for a minute. No response. He flipped back over to his chat with D-Base. He typed two words. Of course.

Tempest’s chat popped up. Should we include your friend?

The system printed a message. [User D-Base has been added to the conversation]

D-Base chatted, Who’s this? A new friend? Did you need help, KK?

Devonte rolled his eyes. They messaged me first. About the trench. Thought you were fucking with me.

When have I ever? ;)

Only all the goddamn time, Devonte thought.

D-Base changed back to the main topic. Seems like we share an interest though. Can we do the same with information?

Your friend was on to something, Tempest replied.

Devonte sighed. His stomach growled noisily. With some help from NASA, I learned that someone changed the image feed of the Mariana Trench on the day with the seismic anomaly.

As he texted, he felt his excitement grow. The chance, even the smallest chance, that the event might be tied to a real-life kaiju quickened his pulse.

D-Base responded, Really? Suspicious! My information just pointed to the fact that the seismic event that occurred is the greatest in recorded history. It would be an 11.5 on the RS.

Devonte rolled his eyes. An 11.5, and no one felt it? Impossible.

Check your data, picture boy!

Devonte turned back to his program. He scrolled through the information, frowning. He checked the data again. Then a third time.

He scoffed. “Well what do you know.”

Not only was the earthquake massive, but the shockwaves dissipated right near the epicenter. “So, no one would have felt it…”

Checks out, he replied. How does that happen?

Dunno, D-Base sent back. Hey Temp, you’ve been pretty quiet.

Devonte had almost forgotten about the stranger in their midst. Their icon displayed an ellipsis while they typed.

Turn around…

What? Devonte replied. He swiveled in his chair and looked around his room. No one but him. He looked back at the computer screen. Tempest appeared as offline, but D-Base still showed as green.

Is this joker trying to scare us, D?

KK, there’s someone at my door. They’re jiggling the knob.

Devonte rolled his eyes. Really? You’re not funny.

I’m not. I’m scared. I called the police but—

Devonte’s gaze locked on that part. He and D-Base got into some sketchy shit. Calling the police would be the ultimate last resort. The message went on.

— they’re banging now. Oh god they broke down the door. KK, I’m really scared.

Devonte froze. His eyes shot to the icon next to D-Base’s avatar. It went white. Offline. He slammed the power button on his desktop tower and ripped the cord from the outlet as soon as the lights went black. Jumping from his desk, he paced the floor.

“What am I going to do?” he kept repeating as he paced the floor. He eyed the door to his room. And listened. There was no sound except his footsteps. “I have to get out of here.”

He grabbed his laptop, a spare he kept hidden in the space between his desk and the wall, and hurriedly shoved it in his backpack. His desk was covered in unopened snack bars that he dropped on top of the laptop.

“What else?” He eyed his wardrobe.

Flinging it open, he dug through his clothes, stuffing some into the bag as he went, until he came to the bottom of the drawer. The gun he got from his father on his last visit, and a hand-sized Buck knife sat against the particle wood. He grabbed the gun and stuffed it into the waistband of his track pants, pulling his shirt down to cover it. The knife he slid into the side pocket of his backpack. A loud knock echoed through his apartment. Devonte froze. Stay quiet, make them think you already left.

“This is the FBI, open up.” The voice held all of the authority of a federal agent, but the accent sounded fake, like someone trying to do their best interpretation of a cowboy. “Now.”

Devonte looked around for anything else he might need, decided “fuck it, I can improvise”, and slid open the sliding glass door to his balcony. He surveyed the ground