Story updated on: - 06/12/2009
Chapter beta read by: akiqueen – More better than expected. Thanks

Note: - This chapter might be slightly scary for young people with good imaginations. Take care.


Chapter 4 (IT!)

Jake felt uneasy drifting down the dark, flickering aqua tunnel; any normal person doing this task would feel the same way. However, he had no choice, because getting to the control centre was the most important task to do in order to figure out what had happened and their current situation.

How badly damaged the boat was played on his mind; this thing cost a lot of money to build and it took a long time for his father's plans to be realised. It was his father who designed this class of submarine and it had been his vision to see it put to sea. However, he was killed before he had the chance to see his dream become reality.

The submarine didn't seem too badly damaged from the aqua tunnels. As Jake bobbed his head under the water from time to time, he could see that the general corridors were intact and no real damage could be seen. Swimming in the normal front stroke made his journey faster. However, not even the best swimmer could keep up the pace for a prolonged period of time.

Jake swam along the aqua tunnels almost three times a week and knew most of them by heart. More like a hobby, it's a way to get out of the hassles of commanding a boat this size. The advantage of swimming in the aqua tunnels as that no one in their right mind would bother to look for Jake or disturb him down there. There was no fear of getting trapped because there's always air above. The filters always cleaned the water and the systems attached to the aqua tunnels kept the water at a comfortable temperature, as this was a means to cool all of the systems.

However, the flashing lights and the sudden darkness kept disorienting Jake, causing him to loose his bearings.

The florescent lights kept on flashing all the way down the aqua tunnel because the power grid kept having power drops at intermittent times. The sound of clicking filled the air as the lights struggled to stay on.

The water stood very still; there wasn't a ripple of water except for the one caused by Jake slowly skimming through the tunnel. The saltwater smell gave the sense of a sea-dwelling place and normally a peace of mind.

The ripples bounced of the walls and reflected back towards him before travailing all the way down the aqua tunnel.

He kept coming across turns and junctions. The aqua tunnels were as big as the ship's corridors. Sometimes Jake would ponder, "Why did my farther make such big passages?" The answer would remain a mystery, and it died with him.

He glided along the top of the water with most of his body submerged as he used his feet to push himself along. He then thought about Hayami. "What's his problem? Why is he such a stubborn asshole?" His first impression of him was not good, his behaviour was not much to be desired, and his constant smoking put him off. Luckily, the water was able to dilute and cleanse the smell of cigarettes from his clothes and the fresh smell of the water made his nose clear up.

A burning sensation started to creep up on the back of his neck, something like 'eyes watching'.

Jake looked around behind himself, feeling a little spooked. The long corridor beside him got smaller and smaller the further down he looked. The flashing lights couldn't light up the cold darkness down at the farthest end of the aqua tunnel.

Jake stopped and made no sound. His breathing almost came to a complete stop; he could feel something watching him and his human intuition was eating at him. 'Something is down here with me!'

He looked very hard into the black, flashing distance as the grey, creamy walls all merged into one. The clicks and flashes offered no reassurance. However, his mind registered and knew what each sound belonged to. The clicking was the lights; the sound of ripples was the water moving as he moved his hands and body, the dark bellowing sound was the sound of the boat's systems.

He could hear the sound of his heart and feel its strong beating and the flow of air going into his lungs. The feeling of all his blood rushing through his body became almost adamant as he concentrated on his feeling of being watched.

Nothing could be seen; the water all the way down the passageway stood very still without the slightest ripple. This reassured Jake that everything seems to be okay and he decided to move on.

His stomach made a small rumble, which made him jump. "Easy there, Jake!" he reassured himself. "It's just me! No one here but me! You are OK! You swim these areas all the time. No monsters!"

He decided to glide through the aqua tunnels again after the burning sensation disappeared. "Man, why did I watch that movie 'Alien'?" Jake jokingly said to himself, a few flashbacks from the movie giving Jake a slight tremor in his legs.

He looked at the junction wall that displayed a few numbers on it. "Umm, Aqua tunnel X2 887, and Aqua tunnel X2 888; I wonder if I am going the right way?"

Suddenly, he felt the burning sensation again and this was not a good place to be in. Because before, he could look ahead and behind. When he looked behind on the first occasion, a corner offered a sense of security since nothing could sneak up on him and only the corridor in front needed to be watched. Now he's located at a cross section with three long passageways and one short one that he could clearly see.

The long passageways stretched as far as the eye could see and, to make matters worse, one of the passageways had lost all lighting at the very end. However, this was not the time for the captain to get scared; he's the captain, after all.

Again, the whole area was quiet and the only sounds he could hear were the clicking of florescent starters and the beating of his own heart. No other sound could be heard; not even the ship made any sound, which seemed a little bit strange.

He turned his flashlight on to see the dark area in one of the aqua tunnels. But the power of the torch was not strong enough to reach that far.

Jake looked and felt very small in a world of darkness. He jolted his leg slightly and took a step back, creating some soft movements that caused ripples in the water and that echoed a soft, splashing sound.

Jake watched as the ripples travelled down the three corridors. The ripples travelled down and disappeared into the corridor that had the failed lights right at the end.

Something went splash! He did not make it; nothing should be down there with him. What caused it?

His head quickly turned around to the direction of the splash; he knew exactly where the sound came from: the corridor with the failed lights at the end.

The sound put the fright of god into Jake, as he looked with his eyes wide open; he was not alone. What was in there with him?

His heart started to beat very fast and hard, the shear power of it caused small waves in the water. His mind went into overdrive, thinking what this could be. The splash was very faint and right at the end of the aqua tunnel in the darkness. What the hell was it?

He walked back from the creepy corridor and his ears listened for any sound that did not match the activities in the aqua tunnel. Perhaps he was dreaming the splash. No, wait, he didn't dream it; it was as clear as crystal.

Moving back, he couldn't see anything off in the distance of the dark corridor filled with water. And then the memory came back to him.

"Something has been eating the filters," he said to himself, getting even more frightened.

Slosh. It was very light, but the sound was clearly heard through the water and Jake's eyes nearly popped out of his head; that was it. Something IS in there with him; the lights flashed and disorientated him. He could swear that the sound was even closer.

For a moment, he was sure that he saw something blue in the darkness, 'like eyes watching'. This changed when there was a massive splash in a very close proximity to him; this was the point that the 'fight or flight' aspect in human survival came into action and, spotting something in the darkness, he panicked and jumped back into the water, covering his head. He was unable to regulate his breathing and he almost breathed in water and drowned. He got back up and began franticly swimming as fast as he could in any direction, trying to get away from it.

The sound of his own splashing made it harder for Jake to hear what was approaching. As he swam further, he stopped and tried to gain his bearings. He looked completely lost! Then it happened.

The florescent lights just went off! And they did not come back on. No clicking of the starters, no sounds of the ship, just the sound of his panicking heart.

Jake froze as he heard a very faint splash beside him, as if something had come out of the water.

It was beside him. And not only this; breathing could be heard. He could feel the air particles moving behind his neck. He damn well knew that something was beside him.

He could not help it. His human curiosity just could not resist the same old saying, "DON'T LOOK BACK!" Even this could not overcome the curiosity of what was behind him. The sweat started to drop off his face and his breathing became very erratic and fast. His head turned slowly to see it.

Nothing! It was too dark. Very dark! Not even his hand could be seen.

Then FLASH!

The electric junction box in the main corridor beside the aqua tunnel blew out, illuminating the whole area and the aqua tunnel with it. In the brief blue light he saw it.

It scared the hell out of him because he couldn't see much, just piercing blue eyes, razor sharp teeth, and the outline of a face with flowing hair. The creature saw Jake and grabbed him by the neck and threw him in the water. Jake struggled with it for a few moments before he tried to get away. He then felt a sharp pain on his chest as something bit him several times.

Jake leapt out of the water several times trying to get away from it, but it kept on attacking him. Another flash showed the razor sharp teeth coming for him again. Jake leapt so hard at the hatch he was under the whole thing snapped open, giving him the opportunity to escape. He leapt out through the hatch and fell through the ceiling and onto the metal plating in the main corridor.

Then the backup power generators came online, activating all the lights up in the passageways and aqua tunnels, but nothing was there.

Kino came out of her quarters to investigate the massive disturbance and discovered Jake sitting on the floor, pointing at the aqua tunnel hatch through the ceiling with a ghostly, white look in his face.

"There's something in there!" he said before moving slightly.

He sat up beside the bulkhead of the wall, attending to his bite marks, which had bled all down his white t-shirt.

All wet, he looked at the aqua tunnel window and in the direction of the broken ceiling, wondering what the hell it was. He was relieved that the lights came back on and the creature did not follow him.