Up From The Deep Vaughn Jackson (book club suggestions TXT) 📖

rest of the water from his lungs. More of it sprayed out with each cough.

“Don’t try and talk,” Ashleigh said, alternating between rubbing his back gently and thumping on it to get the water out. “Just take it easy. We’ll get where we need to go.”

She stood on wobbly legs and saluted the man on the boat. “Lieutenant Ashleigh Greenwood,” she introduced herself. “We need to get to Concord Base as soon as possible to report to General Adelaide MacPherson.”

“Seaman Greg Porter, ma’am. We’ll have you there in no time.”

#

True to his word the seaman delivered then to shore and gave them a full escort to the Naval Base. Ashleigh stopped the medic as she carted Raymond past.

“Will he be okay?” she asked.

“Conditions change fast,” the nurse said, “we need to get him to the infirmary now.”

Ashleigh was about to demand to go with him when she felt a hand squeeze her shoulder.

“I’ll go with him, you get where you need to go,” Chaplin said.

Ashleigh swallowed hard and gave a curt nod.

“Can I sit down somewhere?” Arnett asked.

“You’re with me. Need our eyewitness,” Ashleigh said. She turned her back on Raymond’s still body and listened as he was wheeled away. When she could no longer hear the sound, she made her way to the command center.

As she opened the door, General MacPherson shouted. She held an empty mug in one hand. “Are we just letting anybody in here now, Greenwood?”

Devonte and two people Ashleigh didn’t recognize, a silver haired man and a girl with bright red curls, turned in her direction. Devonte gave her a confused frown. A man in Marine Greens leaned against a wall and chuckled.

“I have a report, and this man is an eyewitness,” Ashleigh said, standing at attention.

MacPherson placed the mug on a table and crossed her arms. “At ease. What is it now?”

“There are two creatures.” The words hung in the air. She could feel their presence weighing on the mood in the room.

Devonte’s eyes widened. The marine cursed silently. If the general scowled any harder, Ashleigh worried she might tear a muscle in her face. Skylar looked absolutely giddy, something that caused both worry and intrigue to play across the grey-haired man’s face.

“Do you care to explain that statement, Lieutenant?” General MacPherson’s facial muscles pulled against the formation of every word that left her mouth. “We have no reports of a second creature here.”

“When we were in Hawaii, there was a disturbance. Captain Dehane, Officer Sanderson, and I went to investigate. The creature was the cause. But it was different from the one six months ago. Smaller, and a different color.”

“I can just barely believe in one giant sea dragon, and you expect me to believe that there are two of them stomping around?”

“Is it possible you misremembered the creature?” the grey-haired man asked. “Tempest only has a record of one monster as well.”

“I’m sorry, who are you?” Ashleigh asked.

The man straightened himself. “I’m Dr. Kurtis Wagner. A pleasure to meet you.”

“Well, Doctor, I know what I saw on both occasions.” She didn’t try to disguise the edge in her voice. “And the one in Hawaii crawled out of a volcano.”

Arnett jumped in. “Not to mention the fact that we engaged in combat with the second creature on the way here.”

The entire room seemed to perk up.

“You what?” MacPherson practically hissed the words.

Ashleigh winced. “The creature rose from the sea beneath us, seemingly on the same course we were. Towards the San Francisco Bay. I made the decision to engage in an attempt to deter the creature.”

MacPherson tapped her foot. “An interesting decision.”

“Ma’am,” Devonte said. “General MacPherson?”

“What is it, Rhodes?”

“I pulled up the satellite footage from Hawaii as well as the images of the creature you have on record.”

“You didn’t have permission to access those images.” She pinched the bridge of her nose. “Put them on the big screen.”

The differences between the two images were immediately obvious. Horns versus no-horns, no shell versus shell, blood red versus murk grey. Two separate creatures, one engulfed in the flames of a burning city, the other slicing its way through a blue-grey sea.

“I think this proves my point,” Ashleigh said, her voice an icy dagger.

MacPherson hurled the empty mug across the room. Her face twitched with rage. “Two,” she growled. “We have to deal with two.” The loss of composure only lasted a split second, replaced immediately with her normal professional air. “Were you successful in deterring the...original...creature?”

“We crashed, ma’am,” Ashleigh replied.

MacPherson stormed across the room. “Do you mean to tell me that one of those things could be here any minute?”

“It’s a possibility.”

MacPherson held Ashleigh’s gaze for the briefest of moments, looked her up and down, and said, “Go get cleaned up.” She turned to Arnett. “And do you plan on sticking around? Should I have my men prepare another cot?”

“Honestly,” he said, “I need time to get my head around this. I got family in the city. I’m gonna check on them, maybe move ‘em somewhere safe before shit hits the fan, but I want to help here. That thing burned my city. I can’t let that stand, so I’ll be back.”

MacPherson looked him up and down. “We’ll see, I suppose.”

“Yeah, you will,” Arnett said. He exited the room and called out to one of the passing soldiers. “My man, give me a lift?”

The soldier looked questioningly at the general, who nodded her approval.

MacPherson watched the man go before crossing the room to pick up the phone. She dialed a number and waited as it rang. The line clicked. “We’re on high alert,” she said, “send the tank squads to the shoreline near the bay.” A pause. “We’re going to set up a temporary command center on Angel Island.”

She held the phone away from her ear and Ashleigh could hear the voice on the other end of the line shouting. Some politician she guessed. The voice on the other end died down and MacPherson returned the phone to her ear.

“Yes, I know Alcatraz was just