The near-silent hum of the engine caught my attention, and I was surprised by how quietly it ran.All I could hear was the soft whir of small paddles spinning through the murk beneath us.Nokita expertly guided the sub clear of the bay, backing up farther before moving forward.
“Once we’re out of the yard, this baby can travel up to four knots,” he announced proudly.
Yippy.I could probably tie four knots in my boot faster than this thing could move, and that was if I knew how fast a knot was.
If I’d thought the water looked bad from above, I was wrong.This was far worse and well beyond creepy.
The sub’s light made it worse still.Moss hung from steel cables attached to the ships, rising from the water in slimy ropes that made my stomach churn.The rusted metal hulls of the ships loomed around us, jagged and decaying, and I couldn’t help but wonder how they hadn’t already sprung leaks and sunk to the ocean floor.
Nokita maneuvered us farther down, turning the sub’s front lights a bit brighter.The enhanced glow illuminated the ocean floor.A military boot jutted out of the silt, an eerie marker in the graveyard of nothingness.Here and there, I caught glimpses of a pot, a rifle, and then…
It took a moment to make sense of the next discovery.Skulls.
They rested in the silt at odd angles, their hollow eye sockets staring back at me.My stomach clenched as I realized what I was looking at.
When King had arrived on the island, the population was nearly decimated, with the survivors forced into hiding.The Cubans had fought the hellhounds long after their government ceased to function.The people who remained were a ragtag group, struggling to find enough food and medical supplies to stay alive.
Don’t get me wrong.Those who survived did so because of their strength and tenacity.But now, staring at the evidence of their valiant fight, the haunting remnants of their battle, it sent a chill through me that I couldn’t shake.
Nokita adjusted course, navigating us into open water.As the shipyard faded behind us, he filled the silence with an animated monologue about Baby Boot’s latest antics.His chatter, oddly comforting, helped distract me from the reality that we were submerged, entirely dependent on tanked oxygen and a thin metal hull.
Then, mid-sentence, Nokita stopped talking.The sub’s interior went deathly quiet.For a few seconds, none of us even breathed.What lay before us took every ounce of our mental processing power to comprehend.
“Those aren’t what I think they are, are they?”Nokita’s voice cracked, his usual calm replaced with something an octave higher.
As far as the sub’s lights reached, hellhounds floated eerily, suspended by weights roughly ten feet above the ocean floor.They writhed, claws swiping and fangs snapping, their grotesque movements forming a macabre dance of death.
“There are thousands,” King growled, his voice holding restrained horror in the cramped space.
A cold dread sank into my bones, rooting me in place.Even the hair on the back of my neck was trying to retreat.“We need to go back to shore.Now.”
King ignored me.“Do you see the red blinking lights on their collars?Take us closer.”
Nokita’s hand hovered over the steering lever, and he glanced at me.
“Don’t take us closer,” I blurted.My rational mind knew the fear was illogical, the hellhounds couldn’t touch us, the sub wasn’t going to spring a leak, and my boots weren’t about to get soaked.But none of that mattered.
King turned, his lips curving into that faint smirk of his, his eyes glinting with amusement.“Scared, baby?”
“I hate you,” I snapped, shutting my eyes tight.In my mind, I took Bertha apart piece by piece, focusing on the familiar motions to calm myself.After a long exhale, I opened my eyes and muttered, “Take us closer.”
The sub glided forward, dipping lower into the abyss.The water pressed against the hull with a muffled groan, as if the ocean itself resented our intrusion.Hellhounds thrashed as we passed, their grotesque limbs flailing, distorted by the murky depths.A claw scraped against one of the air tanks, emitting a screech that reverberated through the vessel, like nails on a chalkboard amplified in a cavern.I winced, every nerve in my body taut, the sound lingering like a phantom whisper.
Nokita maneuvered us farther down, the sub's lights flickering as shadows danced across the control panels.The red blinking lights affixed to the hellhounds' throats became clearer, casting eerie glows that pulsed in sync with the metallic devices embedded in a small box on each collar.Each pulse seemed to echo a heartbeat, not ours, but something alien and malevolent.
A sudden jolt rocked the sub as another claw struck the hull, the impact resonating like a death knell.I held my breath, the air thick with the stench of brine and fear, as the hellhounds' eyes glowed with a hunger that transcended the physical.
“They’re going to release the hellhounds electronically,” I said, my voice edged with fury.Rage boiled within me, and K-5 surged through my veins.I inhaled sharply, struggling to hold Ms.Beast back as her anger slammed into me like a sledgehammer.My chest tightened, and I couldn’t catch my breath.
“Marinah.”King’s voice floated into my consciousness, his warm hand skimming over the hot flesh of my arm.I swatted him away, irritated and unable to focus.Ms.Beast growled deep inside me, pacing the confines of her intangible cage.Behind her, the shadow pulsed, the vibration inside me growing louder until it spoke a single word.
Protect.
“Marinah.”King’s voice cut through the haze, louder this time.My eyes snapped open, and the fog began to clear.Blinking a few times, my surroundings stabilized.I realized I was leaning against the cold inner wall of the mini sub, King’s hand wrapped tightly around mine.If there had been room, I would likely have been in his lap.
“What happened?”I asked, my voice groggy as the last remnants of the fog lifted.
“Your K-5 spiked, and you nearly shifted,” King murmured, his gaze fixed on me.“Then you passed out.”
