Chapter VI: From The Depths
The nimble and sleek helicopter sails across the sky at a low and cruising altitude. The aircraft was on a routine training maneuver carrying two seasoned Coast Guard personnel, Lieutenant Commander Jack Humphries and his co-pilot, Lieutenant Junior Grade Daniel Hilton.
"We're getting low on fuel, Commander. Think we outta turn her around, head back to base?" asks Hilton.
"Aw c'mon Hil, I thought you enjoyed being out here? Nice cool ocean breeze, it's paradise." comments Humphries with a cheeky smirk on his face.
"Well with all the weird shit that's been happening as of late, I'm not quite as comfortable out here anymore." says Hilton.
"You talking about all the dead critters? Hey I just look at it as sea food I ain't gotta go out and catch."
Hilton gives his Commander a telling stare and Humphries lets out a long and winded stream of laughter, obviously enjoying teasing his subordinate "Alright, we'll fly out as far as Tucker's Sound and then head on back, we got enough fuel for that. That cool with you?"
"Yes sir." says Hilton as he half heartedly grins.
A little while later, as the helicopter approaches the outer edges of the span of ocean known as Tucker's Sound, an anomalous dark mass can be spotted floating on the surface of the water. Humphries removes his sun glasses as he squints to try and get a better view "What the hell is that?"
The two pilots fly in closer when a ghastly and unnerving sight greets them. A mass grave of rotting and decaying sea life of all kinds, carpets the surface of ocean for about two nautical miles.
"My God in heaven…" says Hilton in shock.
The helicopter circles the grotesque scene, the two men both looking on in stunned silence. On a second pass around, Humphries grabs some binoculars and focuses in on a clear patch of ocean in the middle of putrid mass grave "Looks like we got something else down there, look!"
The small helicopter hovers lower as a large complex of monolithic shadows can be seen no more than a few hundred feet below the waves "Call me crazy, but that looks like a goddamn pyramid in the center!" shouts Humphries "Just what in everything holy is going on?"
"Looks like we got something else Commander, few hundred feet, ten o'clock!" says Hilton with apprehension.
Humphries peers through his binoculars when he spots a moderate size ship floating off in the distance. The vessel seems to be floundering right in the middle of the mass of rotting carcasses. The Commander looks at his co-pilot with a mix of confusion and concern on his face "That's a fucking ship out there."
"I'll try to raise her." says Hilton as he grabs the radio receiver "Unidentified vessel, this Coast Guard Rescue 6014 currently flying over your ten o'clock, come in."
A few moments pass with no reply as Hilton tries again "Unidentified vessel, this is Coast Guard Rescue 6014, do you copy?"
When the second attempt is met with only static, Hilton shakes his head as he looks at Humphries.
"Fly over the deck, I gotta bad feeling about this." says Humphries as he swallows hard.
"Are you sure Commander, we're almost out of fuel and I…"
"Just do it Lieutenant." says Humphries sternly, cutting him off.
Offering up no more resistance, Hilton guides the aircraft towards the seemingly derelict ship until both pilots are hovering directly over the main open deck of the wayward ship. As they peer down, Hilton has to brace himself from vomiting as dozens of lifeless human corpses can be seen strewn about all over the top of the ship.
"Jesus Christ, we gotta get the fuck outta here!" shouts Hilton, still nauseated and struggling to hold back his own panic.
"Stay steady Lieutenant, that's an order!"
"Commander, what the fuck is going on? What happened down there!?"
"I don't know Lieutenant, but freaking out isn't gonna help anything! Now look, we got two choices. Our fuel is low and it may just be enough to get us back, but than again it may not. I'd say we got less than a fifty fifty shot."
"What do you mean, we can't stay out here!" exclaims Hilton, the fear rising in his voice.
"Look down Hilton, that ship below is clearly a tanker. We land, find the nearest fuel pump and book it outta here!"
"Are you crazy! Whatever got those guys is gonna get us if we land!"
"We don't know that Lieutenant and every second we spend here arguing, we waste more fuel! At this point you know as well as I do, what we have now isn't going to get us back!"
Hilton slumps back, banging his head against the chair's headrest in an almost childish display of frustration at the current situation, his face scrunched up in anguish.
"Look at me Lieutenant." says Humphries.
Hilton slowly turns his head to face his Commander, a few tears now welling up in his eyes.
"We're gonna be ok son, we gotta keep our cool here, alright. Now let's set her down."
The Commander's words seem to jolt Hilton back to composure as he nods and clears his throat. He and Humphries than commence to lower the chopper down onto the deck of the stricken oil tanker. After touching down, the pair disembark and are met with a scene of unimaginable carnage. Over a dozen cadavers lay mutilated and dismembered about the deck. Arms, legs, torsos and even heads all stare out in stark and silent horror. Hilton can no longer hold his composure as he falls to his knees and pukes, a full blown panic attack setting in. Humphries can barely hold it together himself as he begins to hyper ventilate. He works up the nerve to go and inspect one of the shredded bodies. He bends down and looks at the corpse of what seems to be a man, it's mouth agape in a frozen screaming expression. The body has both legs and one arm ripped off, trails of blood leading away from the torso. The eyes are open, but are nothing but hollow white orbs fixed into the sockets. The jaw is grossly detached with a slimy black glob of something embedded deep in the recess of the throat.
"This is what hell must be like." Humphries whispers to himself. He steadies himself as he rubs his face "Fuel, gotta get to the fuel!" he says as he runs back towards Hilton, who is still incapacitated near the chopper. "Hilton can you move, Hilton goddamit!"
His co-pilot just wipes his nose as emotional induced snot runs down his face "Everyone's dead Commander and we're next."
"No, now stop it! Look you stay put alright. I'm gonna find one of the on deck fuel tanks, maybe get a hose over to the chopper. I need you to try and raise Alameda and tell them what the situation is."
Hilton doesn't answer and continues with his subdued hysterics. This is prompts Humphries to bend down and shake him back to reality "Listen to me Hilton! I need you to get a grip here! Get on the radio, raise Alameda…can you do that?"
Hilton closes eyes is desperation but finally manages to nod in affirmation as Humphries taps him on the shoulder in assurance "Good man, now get on it!" he says as he starts to fast jog over to some on deck tanks.
Hilton reaches inside the chopper and grabs the radio "This is Coast Guard Rescue 6014, Alameda Timberwolf, come in" several seconds of silence "Alameda Timberwolf, this is Lieutenant Junior Grade Hilton with Coast Guard Rescue 6014, come in Timberwolf." The radio remains silent which causes Hilton to drop the mic piece in despair. As he clenches his fists he notices something out of the corner of his eye. The body that Humphries was inspecting a short while before is now convulsing. The black slimy glob in it's throat is starting to ooze out, tendrils are beginning to materialize and take shape. Hilton rushes over to get a better look and is horrified to see the blob morph into a creature strongly resembling a demonic looking squid now writhing on the deck just a few feet away. Panic again sets in and Hilton jumps back into the cockpit of the chopper, too frozen by fear to even yell for help. All goes quiet for a moment, before the chopper starts to lurch forward. The squid like creature has doubled in size and has crawled up onto the front glass of the helicopter. Three pairs of putrid black eyes with cat like irises stare at the terrified Lieutenant. The creature smashes through the front glass using it's tentacles and Hilton finally lets out a blood curdling scream. Over by one of the deck tanks, Humphries comes running only to see his co-pilot being attacked by the monster.
"Lieutenant!" he yells as he grabs a nearby piece of discarded pipe.
Inside the chopper, the creature has seized a hold of Hilton, it's tentacles mercilessly squeezing the man until blood erupts from his mouth. Humphries tries to attack the creature from behind, but more of it's tentacles halt his attack. One of the slimy tendrils wraps around the Commander's arms with such force, that it rips the limb clean off, resulting in Humphries screaming in agony as blood pours out of the catastrophic wound. As the screams of the dying men echo over the air, a tip of one of the underwater pyramids, bursts through the water just a few feet off the deck as the ruins of an entire sunken civilization…begin to bubble up from under the surface.