A lot of plot explaining here. The creatures were researched on the internet and I am not an expert. There may be some mistakes in their description, so humor me. Also, I'm having trouble finding places to split the chapters. I apologize; it ends in a bad place.
1237 words
Chapter Eight
Finally, Jess exclaimed, "Yes!"
"You found something?" asked Lester, leading the others as they ran over.
She nodded. "I hate to brag, but I'm brilliant," she said with a big grin. "I gave up trying to find information on the chaotic Norwegian channels and broadened my search. This footage, coming in now is from a Japanese film crew. They're broadcasting live."
"Why?" asked Abby. "How does a Japanese film crew end up in Norway?"
Jess, still smiling, punched some buttons. "Hang on. Let me run it through some translating software. Now let me back it up a few minutes. Here."
The reporter spoke in Japanese and prompts appeared on the monitor, translating. The reporter, standing on a ship, said, "We're quite fortunate to be here filming these amazing events," he said. "We're here documenting the Norwegian fish industry, hoping to educate the Japanese public about fish from this region and increase sales."
The ship lunged and the reporter was tossed about. Visibly shaking, he said, "We got a bit more than we intended."
The footage went on to show the boat lurching more.
"It's like its being hit," said Matt.
"Yeah," said Jess. "It is. I'll move the footage forward. Hold on."
"Jess, how long ago was all this?" asked Lester.
"Just a few minutes I lucked out and found it just as the attacks began."
"What's attacking them?" asked Connor.
"Hold on," said Jess. "There! See the gray shapes in the water?"
The team nodded and watched as the camera focused on a large gray mass as it head-butted the boat. The whole boat shuddered and shook from the impact.
"It's not big enough to be megalodon," said Connor.
"It's big enough to do damage," said Abby. "Ooh, there's a good shot of its teeth. It's definitely a predator."
"And there's more than one," said Jess. The footage now showed other boats in the water being attacked by other gray masses.
"Holy…" began Connor. "One…two….three, four…how many are there?"
"I don't know," said Jess, "there's only the one camera. The view is from just this part of the island. Oh, we've caught up. This is all live now."
The attacks went on but the boats stood up pretty well.
"They've got some excellent boat commanders," said Lester. "Where are the ARC forces?"
"I don't know. There's been no sign."
Lester scoffed. "Seems a bit unprofessional. If this was my jurisdiction, I guarantee that you would all be right in the middle."
"Thanks," said Connor. He shook his head no at Abby.
They watched silently as the gray shapes kept running into boats.
"They need to do something," said Matt. "Just running from them or tying to bear out the brunt won't last forever."
They watched a while longer. Suddenly there was a disturbing creaking noise over the screen. The Japanese reporter began to shout.
"What's happening?" asked Jess.
"What I was afraid of," said Matt. "The boat is giving way."
Sure enough, pieces of the boat broke off. Jess gasped as the reporter was knocked over board. Then a crew member. Then another.
"Oh, no!" cried Jess.
A gray shape was filmed turning from the ship and heading toward the people in the sea.
"The camera man is still on board," said Connor. "I guess this is news."
"He can't film this!" cried Jess. "It's live!"
"I agree," said Lester. "It hardly seems appropriate." He winced at a loud bone crunching sound.
Jess shuddered and covered her mouth with disgust.
"At least the camera veered off that poor person," said Abby, "before it got graphic."
"Yeah, but the water turning red was disturbing," said Connor softly.
"It's still wrong," said Jess, covering her ears as screams filled the monitor.
The camera kept on the water, avoiding the actual attacks, but the amount of red water kept growing. At one point, Emily said to Jess, "Do not look."
"No. I'm Ok. I have to…keep trying to find a way…to communicate."
"Did anyone survive being tossed in?" asked Connor.
"Yes, look someone is swimming away," said Lester.
"Is it me, or is the gray mass kind of slow?" asked Abby.
"The water there is freezing," said Matt. "I doubt it's suitable for anything prehistoric."
"Good," said Jess. "Maybe that swimmer can get away."
"That may be a clue to its identity," said Connor. "It might be a slow clunky predator."
There were suddenly more screams and the footage was unsteady as the camera man moved. He found the source of commotion. Another boat had splintered. More people were in the sea.
"Oh, God!" cried Jess.
They watched another boat capsize as a boat, frantically trying to escape the creatures, crashed into it.
"They are becoming dangers to each other," said Emily.
"Why isn't anyone helping?" asked Jess. "They could rescue them!"
"They're scared, Jess," said Abby.
They watched as more water turned red.
"What are they doing?" asked Jess
Three gray masses hit eat other. The team watched with horror as one of them began to chew on the other.
"That is an aggressive fish," said Emily.
"Or…they're cannibalistic," said Connor. "I think I know what they are: Dunkleosteus, a smaller, slower predatory placoderm."
"A what?" asked Lester.
"An extinct class of prehistoric armored fish," said Connor. "Scientists are still debating their physiology and behavior."
"You said it was small," said Jess. "Those things are huge!"
"I said it was smaller than megalodon. Dunkleosteus could reach 10 meters."
They watched as the bitten dunkleosteus pulled away from its attacker and targeted a small group of three survivors. They didn't survive long.
"I'm going to be ill," said Jess.
"I can't believe this is still airing," said Matt.
"I told you," said Jess, "the communications are crazy there."
"Jeez, the incursion had to happen in a fishing community," said Connor. "All those boats are sitting ducks."
Jess began to cry as more ships capsized. "It's awful," she said with sobs.
Then, incredibly, a boat sailed straight for the destruction and carnage.
"What's this joker doing?" asked Connor
"It is moving very fast," said Emily.
It sailed straight into the chaos. As it got closer small launches left the ship and sailed into the mass of people.
"They're picking them up!" cried Jess.
"Finally, some good news," said Matt.
They watched people lean out of the small boats and pull survivors up.
"This is dangerous," said Abby. Just as she spoke, a gray mass turned toward a rescue ship.
"Those boats have a weaker structure," said Lester . "They'll collapse like matchsticks."
Jess braced herself as the gray mass moved in. It was about to hit when a shot of electricity hit it.
"Was that?" asked Connor.
Matt smiled. "That was an EMD."
Another blast and another and the mass fell away from the boat. The camera man followed the zaps to another small boat. Inside were men holding EMDS. At the front was a handsome man in black.
"Becker!" cried Jess.
The camera closed in on him as he gave orders. There were four to five men with him. Some were hanging over the boat shooting while others were pulling people to safety.
"He's alright!" cried Jess, clapping happily and collapsing against the back of her chair. "He's alright," she whispered.
"Yeah," said Matt with a smile, "and right in the thick of it."
"That's our good Captain," said Lester, smiling. "Good man."
End of Chapter Eight
