Chapter 3

Jordan woke moments after the crash to a dull ringing in his ears. Arlow was tinkering with the com system, "Come in 'Triton's Favor'. This is an SOS. Come in surface. Is anyone reading this dammit!?" He slammed the palm sized microphone on what remained of the dash. "Nothing seems to be working." Jordan rubbed his head as he turned to look towards the back of the sub. An unconscious Dr. Enwood's head was resting in Dr. Swanson's lap as she held a bandage to his wound. Keira just sat in the corner holding her legs and rocking back and forth.

Jordan, still rubbing his head, walked to the back of the sub. It tilted ever so slightly as the weight shifted. He knelt in front of Keira and placed his hands on her knees. "It's okay. It's okay. I took care of it, we're safe now." Keira replied to him with a shake of her head as tears rolled down her cheeks. "No, No, No," she said, "Someone tried to kill us… They might be coming for us." Arlow turned towards the team, "She's right. We gotta grab what we can and move far away from this wreck." Jordan replied with a stern nod. Blair just looked down at James as his breathing seemed to become more labored.

After much debate between Arlow and Blair it was decided that it was best to try to move James, despite his head injuries. Jordan helped Arlow piece together a make shift gurney from a couple of long pipes and the fabric from the subs seats. James' head was wrapped in a secure bandage by Dr. Swanson while Keira gathered anything in the sub that might be useful. Although she didn't seem to function to well with her eyes glazed over from tears, Keira managed to scrounge up the first-aid kit, two flash lights, and a small plastic case which contained emergency ration packs. As Blair and Arlow lifted James out of the sub, Jordan looked back one last time into the wreck. Something caught his eye. He reached under one of the back seats and took the case containing the flare gun.

The crew stepped out into their surroundings for the first time. Behind the wreck of the sub was a pool of water large enough for a much larger sub to surface. The room had an arched ceiling made of concrete that went over ten meters high at its crown. Opposite the pool of water was an enormous arched window consisting of a dozen panes of glass. Above the window was an engraving that read, "Neptune's Bounty: Dock 7". The only entrance in and out of the room appeared to be the large bulkhead that the sub had crashed into. The bulkhead itself appeared to be made of extremely thick steel and had engravings that had long since faded.

Arlow was in awe as he spun around examining the room. "This is amazing," he said, "To think they built it not only to withstand the pressure of the ocean at this depth but pressurized so perfectly to hold a surfacing bay!" "Ya, Ya," Jordan was not amused, "That's just groovy but do you think you know a way out?" Arlow scratched his chin as he studied the bulkhead, "I don't know. Doesn't seem to be any wheel's to turn and unlock it." His thoughts were interrupted by Keira, "What about this?" Before anyone could respond she pushed a green button that she found under some rubble. A sudden stir of machine sounds kicked in causing a low grinding and scraping noise to fill the room. The bulk head started to lift until after a large metal on metal BANG sounded. The bulkhead seized to a stop leaving only a foot and a half opening.

Blair was the last to crawl through the opening. She found the rest of the team standing in wait surveying the area. A neon sign that read "Neptune's Bounty" flickered and died in the distance. There were faint lights flickering on the ceiling that lit the massive room. The room itself was built on the ocean floor with a boardwalk that stood four feet up and wrapped around all sides. Various shacks had been built on the boardwalk and some stairs led to an upper level. On the far side of the room was another large bulkhead but it was already open. What lay beyond there could not be seen from this far. The team set out on the boardwalk towards the open bulkhead.

James stirred slightly, probably due to the bumping of the gurney as Arlow dragged it across the wooden planks. Jordan breathed a deep sigh of the dank air before saying, "How helpful, the one guy who knows anything about this is out like a vegetable." Jordan's comment caused Blair's face to turn red with anger, "Watch your tongue you little shit! He's going to pull through." Jordan replied with a hint of guilt, "Sorry, grandma. Let's hope so." Arlow tried to change the subject, "All in all we're really quite lucky. To even see a place like this exists." Jordan gave him a sideways glance, "Lucky? Are you for real?"

They reached the other side of the room and stood in the opening of another large bulkhead. The area was covered in metal grating and steel staircases lead in all sorts of directions. There were packing grates scattered about, all of which appeared to have been looted at one point or another. The lights flickered before going out briefly only to flash back on a moment later. Arlow observed that, "Whatever's keeping power in this place, it isn't doing a very good job. If the lights go out, we might be in very big trouble. I don't imagine there's much natural light 2500 meters below the surface."

After Jordan and Arlow lifted James up a flight of stairs the crew made their way down a long metal walled corridor. The hallway itself was dark but ahead was what appeared to be an office. A ceiling light appeared to be swinging inside. Suddenly the team heard a muttered scratchy voice, "The itch… the itch…" was all they could make out. Arlow looked to Jordan who just shook his head. Arlow decided to stay on the side of caution and turned to the girls with his index finger over his lips. He set the gurney down slowly and then made his way towards the office door way. Jordan followed slowly.

"The itch… Just won't come out… The itch… ADAM! ADAM! Where are you!?" The ravings of a madman seemed to be emanating from the office as the two approached. Arlow was the first to reach the doorway and slowly peek inside. His eyes went wide with traumatized fear. Standing in the back corner of the office was what appeared to be a man. He was mostly nude and his body and face appeared twisted in a terrible way. Arlow could only make out one eye, as the man's back was turned towards the doorway. The one eye was lidless and it watched as the lunatic scratched his own back repeatedly with what appeared to be a giant fish-hook. When Arlow saw that it appeared the man's hand had fused to the hook he turned away and pressed his hand to his mouth to stifle himself from screaming.

"What is it?" Jordan whispered before trying to take a look for himself. Arlow tried to stop him from looking but it was too late. At the sight Jordan burst out, "HOLY FUCK!" The lunatic's head shot up, "SCRATCH IT! SCRATCH IT!" The madman screamed as he turned to give chase after Arlow and Jordan.

They turned to the ladies and together they yelled, "RUN!" Blair looked at them curiously until she saw the monster that was after them. She tried to lift James but he was too much for her to lift alone. Keira had already made her way halfway down the stairs. Jordan when he reached James saw the case with the flare gun sitting where he had left it. Instead of helping Blair and Arlow try to lift the gurney Jordan decided to snap open the case. The madman was running full-bore towards them while Jordan struggled to load a flare into the gun. "What are you doing?!" Blair yelled as she strained to lift the foot end of the gurney.

"Itchy. Scratch, SCRATCH!" The menace continued to scream just as Jordan loaded the gun and leveled it on his target. Before he could pull the trigger the monsters toe suddenly got caught in a hole in the grate. He fell forward and in trying to catch himself his hook went clean through his head. "No… Itch…" he muttered before his body shut down. Jordan, still pointing the gun, stood in shock as did the other two. Blair was the first to realize, "Keira's gone!"

"Keira!" Dr. Swanson yelled as she ran down the stairs. Looking around desperately she could see no sign or trace of where Keira might have ran. There were stairs going to different levels in all directions and the bulkhead which led back to the boardwalk. "Shit," she cursed under her breath, "Where did you go girl? Keira!" Arlow stood at the top of the stairs, "Blair," he called to her, "You might want to take a look at this thing." She hesitated, "But Keira ran off…" Arlow replied, "She'll come back when she sees we aren't with her. No sense getting lost looking for her." Blair hesitated for one more moment before returning to the others.