Megalodon by Rookie Burwick (free e novels .TXT) 📖

separate boats, and one of them has to be a little less crowded. We're bringing back some people with us, and we need to be as prepared as possible. Now, get the rafts set up. Two of them."

The men didn't reply, but went right to work. The rafts were set up within thirteen minutes, and everyone was inside of them three minutes after that. Ryan sat at the front end of the first raft, and Avon sat at the front of the second raft, along with only two other men. The door opened up, and the rafts were sent out into the waves, sending out a large splash behind it. The air was warm and crisp, and the sunlight shone brightly through the thin clouds. It was so much better compared to the foggy mist of the previous morning. He could see the USS Freedom clearly now, and he could tell something had happened. The windows that lined the bridge were all shattered, and the pace the ship moved at seemed to be more of a drift than anything.

"What the heck happened?" one man asked.

"I don't know, solider. Looks like we've got more of a mess to clean up then I thought."

The men began to scowl behind him. They all hated "cleaning up" stuff. They preferred making the messes. He lit up another cigarette, and took in a few more drags before removing it from his lips. The slight breeze that whiffed through blew the smoke that escaped his mouth around for a moment, then carried it away. It was then that he saw it, rising from the depths. The gigantic dorsal fin rose higher and higher into the air, stopping only seconds later. Then, it cut through the water, and headed right for the tiny little raft.

He tried to let out a scream, but nothing came out. His eyes were glued to the fin as it came closer and closer, getting bigger as it did. The other men saw it too, and he heard gasps. Those gasps then turned into screams as the fin hit the raft, sending them all into the water, except for Ryan. He couldn't take his eyes from the fin. It slowly began to circle around, and headed for the raft again. Blood began filling the water below. He watched as the shark began devouring his men, swallowing them whole. Then, it hit the raft again. This time, he plunged forward, and into the cold water. He opened his eyes, and water evaded in. Despite this, he could still see the massive shark swimming right for him. It's grey skin reflected the sunlight from above, and it's length was beyond measure.

The creature opened it massive jaws as it neared him. The last thing he saw as the thing's tail swooshing past him, and making its way towards the second raft.

 

                                              *  *  *

 

Avon couldn't believe what he had just seen. The large shark had just come out of nowhere, oddly un-detected despite its horrifying size. And now, it's dorsal fin was cutting through the water, headed straight for him.

"Turn back! Turn back!" he yelled out.

The men were just as frantic as he was, and immediately started the motor up, and began steering the boat in a circle. He was praying nonstop that the beast wouldn't follow them back to the USS Tulsa, only to cause even more havoc. He couldn't peel his eyes away from the dorsal fin. It slowed for a moment, which made him let out a relieved sigh. But that was far ahead of its time. The fin turned and began following them at a steady, rising pace.

A quick "Oh lord" raced through his brain as he began to panic. The shark was getting so close now, that even he could almost see the detail of its scaly skin. He turned to the men and opened his mouth to scream, but then thought it better to speak.

"Men, don't give up! Keep that engine pounding!" he said.

The only other men in the raft nodded in reply. He imagined that they were speechless, just as he almost was. He could feel the raft being pushed forward a little more, implying extra speed. The men had cranked it up to its full potential speed, and the fin was still gaining on them. By this time, he was as pale as a sheet. Multiple thoughts rushed through his head, all of them focused on the ship, and keeping it safe. The shark's body began to scootch underneath the raft, pushing its dorsal fin even closer to the raft.

Now, the fin was only inches away from hitting them. He shut his eyes, and prepared for the hit. It came moments later, knocking him and his two men two the floor of the raft. One of the men's elbows hit the steering rod, and turned the raft hard to the left, and the shark continued to follow. He stood up and saw the fin headed yet again for their tiny raft, but this time at a much faster speed. It was hardly a minute before the raft was hit again, and they all went flying into the water.

The men were the first to die. The shark swallowed them down in one whole bite per man. He watched the entire thing with sheer terror and amazement. He couldn't believe a shark this big would even be thought of to exist. But this thing did exist. That was for sure. After the shark swallowed the second man, it turned to him, and began swimming rapidly towards him. He looked up towards the surface, and looked for options of escape. All he saw was Ryan's body, floating face down in the water. He couldn't believe there was any of it even left. He didn't have time to look back down before the shark's mouth engulfed him, and everything went dark.

 

Chapter Five

 Marlin quickly slipped on his lab coat. It was getting late, and he needed to get started with Ian. He had slept in way past the ring of his alarm clock, and now he was regretting it. Every second he now spent fiddling with his sleeve was precious time he could be spending at the lab, designing weapons. But, the stupid sleeve just wouldn't work with his constant flipping of the wrist. A few curses came out of his mouth as he took of the coat, and retried. Still, it didn't work. He took it off again, and looked over the sleeve. There it was. The problem. A small piece of string hung from the edge of the sleeve, pulling it tight. Too tight to fit. He used his teeth to take it off, and then slipped the coat completely on. He sent up a prayer of thanks before turning to the door and opening it.

He stepped out into the hallway which, as usual, was empty and quiet. The door made a slightly squeeeeek as he shut it, but that didn't bother him. He was late, and nothing stopped him when he was late. He hurried around the first corner, and then sprinted down the hallway. He knew anyone watching him would giggle, but no one was watching, so he began to sprint even harder. It was a few minutes past ten, and he had planned to start over two hours earlier. But, like everything else, that hadn't worked. He shuddered to think how upset Ian must be, to wait that long inside that lab with nothing to do but hum some various tune. He rounded the second corner, hurried down another hallway, the minutes ticking by at the sound of his heartbeats.

He rounded one last corner, and finally arrived at the staircase. He trudged down as quickly as he could, and finally stepped up to the big, tan-colored doors. He straightened his tie and his hair before pushing them open and stepping inside. Then he turned around to find Ian smiling, but looking down.

"Good morning, Ian," he said in a rushed tone.

The crazy scientist didn't respond. He turned and eyed Ian, but still got no response.

"Ian?" he asked. "Hello? Mr. Mad Scientist?"

Ian looked up briefly and at last noticed he was even there. "Oh, morning Marlin. Please excuse that. I was deep in thought."

"Ah, I see. What are you staring at?"

"Oh, nothing. Just the table. How are ya this morning?"

"I'm okay. I stayed up really late last night looking through things."

"Good. Want some coffee?"

"Yes please, I really do need that."

"Just a moment."

Ian turned and hurried over to the corner of the table, and picked up a large, glass coffee pot that was full of delicious brown liquid that made both of their mouths water. He grabbed a glass from the table, and poured some into it, then handed to Marlin. He took a long sip, and let out a relieved sigh as he swallowed. He couldn't help but smile too.

"That's better. Now, shall we begin?"

"Not yet. The materials still haven't arrived, but I do have something for you to do."

"What's that?"

"I need you to use this computer over here to unlock the security pads on the deck weaponry."

"Right."

He hurried past Ian and around to the computer, opened up the lid, and hit the small POWER button. It took a few minutes to start up, but those minutes passed quickly. The sonar screen lit up and glowed onto his glary face as he tapped on the "ACTIONS" buttons. Now, another screen came up. It showed all of the weaponry on the deck. He tapped on the small button that said UNLOCK, and then waited. Moments passed before everything was unlocked.

"Got that done," he called out to Ian, and then returned to the main sonar screen.

"Alright, now cut the power to them," came the reply from the back room where the shark swam.

He turned it back to the "ACTIONS" page, and tapped on the little POWER icon, and waited a few more seconds. Then, the weapons powered down to a stop. The power levels lowered to 0% bars, and everything shut down. But then, a red light beamed over the screen. A sonar image of the ship reappeared, and showed a large object headed straight towards it. His face then lit up with worry.

"Ian! Come look!" he cried out.

"What is it?" Ian replied, rushing over to the computer.

"Look at this!"

They both stared down at the small screen, and saw the horrid giant shark that was gliding towards the ship.

"Oh my gosh! That's a big shark! Warn the captain!"

He picked up the radio and hit the button.

"Captain Dob, come in," they waited.

"This is Dob, report Marlin," the reply came at last.

"Check your sonar screens."

"What? Why?"

"Just do it."

"Now, Marlin, come on, what's going on?"

"Captain, check your sonar screens."

                                          

                                                  *  *  *

 

Liam let the small radio slip from his hands and clunk down on the computer station. The odd, short conversation he had just been through with Marlin worried him right to the bone. He stood there for a moment before turning to Jane.

"Jane, check the sonar. . ."

"Sorry to interrupt so suddenly, but the SEALs never made it!"

"What?!"

"Both rafts aren't anywhere around here!"

"Get a search party