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

“You shouldn’t have done that,” Skylar’s voice said.

Devonte rolled his head and saw her sitting at the side of his bed. Her eyes were red and swollen. “Don’t tell me you were crying over me, D-Base,” he said.

“It’s my fault you got shot,” she said. “I taunted him.” Her voice cracked. “I trusted him.”

Devonte didn’t disagree, but said, “Nah, don’t worry about it. I had just upstaged his big moment. I was definitely getting shot either way.”

Skylar shook her head. “And after you went through all the trouble to rescue me.”

Devonte moved his one good arm to put a hand on the top of her head. “Hope this isn’t too weird, but, you’re my best friend, it’s okay,” he said. His smile felt stiff, but he hoped it looked as genuine as it was meant to be. “I will admit though,” he continued, “getting shot sucks all kinds of ass.”

Skylar couldn’t help but laugh with tears in her eyes.

“How bad is it?” he asked.

“The field nurse said it looks like just soft tissue damage. You’ll need some physical therapy and using it will not be comfortable for…probably a while, but you’ll recover fine.”

“Damn, and here I was hoping to get myself a robotic arm,” he said with a soft chuckle.

Skylar laughed with him, tears running down her cheeks.

“Where are we?” Devonte asked.

“Apparently, there are a lot of secret underground bases in San Francisco,” Skylar responded. “This is the second one I’ve been in and it’s only been a week.”

“Lucky. This is my first time,” Devonte chuckled. “Where is this one located?”

“Beneath Angel Island, I think,” she said. “They didn’t exactly want to divulge the exact location of the place but given the direction we went from where we were…that’s my guess.”

“Wait, did they blindfold you?”

She nodded. “You too, even though you were unconscious. Can’t be too careful, I guess.”

“Huh,” Devonte said, “thought that was only in movies.”

Outside the door, a voice said, “Sir, you can’t go in, he should only have one visitor at a time.”

Brannigan’s voice barked back, “Yeah, well she’s been in there all day, and I want my turn, so move aside.” The door swung open and Brannigan strode into the room. “You mean to tell me I go and get my ass kicked by a real-life Batman villain to protect your ass and you still end up getting shot?”

“Sorry?” Devonte said.

“You better be.” Brannigan went to punch him in the shoulder but stopped short as if suddenly realizing that punching a man with a gunshot wound might not be for the best. “Right, I’ll call it acceptable since you lived.” He rubbed the back of his head. “That being said, I come bearing stupid news: the general ordered that you be brought to command as soon as you woke up so,” he looked around, “let me go beat some clothes off of somebody.”

Devonte looked down, checked under the sheets and realized all he had on were his boxers. “Oh,” he said. He quirked an eyebrow at Skylar.

“Don’t get your hopes up,” she said, “I did not undress you.”

The two of them fell into a second shared fit of laughter as Brannigan re-entered with Devonte’s jeans and T-shirt with no trace of blood on it.

“What’d I miss?” he asked.

#

Raymond and MacPherson looked up as they entered the room.

Devonte gave a small wave with his good arm. The other rested in a sling. “Not dead yet.”

“That’s wonderful news,” Raymond said, “I’m afraid ours is not.”

Devonte looked back and forth between the two adults. “What happened?”

“Alcatraz,” MacPherson said through gritted teeth.

“It blew up, yeah, still feel bad about that.”

The general shook her head. “Inkanyamba you called it? It’s taken up residence on Alcatraz Island.”

“What?”

“How much do you remember?” Skylar asked.

Devonte frowned. “Kurtis…he activated the prototype.”

“And it worked,” Skylar said. “Really well.”

“What about the second creature?” Devonte asked.

“I have a name for it now,” Skylar said.

MacPherson rolled her eyes. “Do tell.”

“Vornax.” She paused. “A combination of volcano and Fornax, a Roman god of—”

“Ovens?” Brannigan said.

Skylar blinked in surprise.

“What? I’ve read books before.” He shrugged.

“Yes. Yeah, god of ovens. Look, it sounded cool okay, and I wanted to stick with Devonte’s mythological slant.”

“No judgment,” Brannigan said, “I think it’s badass.”

“That’s all very well and good,” MacPherson said, “but we don’t want this creature to be a badass. We want it dead.”

“It’s here too?” Devonte asked.

“Not yet,” Raymond said.

“Yet?”

“The sound dampeners on the base work exceptionally well,” MacPherson said. “Since taking up a position on the island the creature has been…calling out. Loudly.”

“How long was I out?”

“Two days, five hours, and thirty-two minutes,” Skylar said.

“Wanna throw the seconds in there as well,” Brannigan snarked.

Skylar’s face turned a deep shade of red.

“Can we see it?” Devonte asked.

The general motioned to one of the other uniformed soldiers who quickly typed something into his computer. An overhead monitor descended from the ceiling and the lights dimmed. An image flickered to life on the screen. Devonte’s breath caught in his throat.

The creature perched atop the island was massive. None of the videos or images he’d seen so far had done it justice. Part crocodilian, part turtle, part fantasy leviathan, it was beautiful in the worst sense of the word. It extended its neck and bellowed, a high keening cry that sent shivers down Devonte’s spine.

“Is it calling out a challenge?” he asked.

Skylar shook her head. “Tissue samples of the two from their previous attack sites indicate that they are actually from the same species, despite their vast differences. I personally think it’s—”

“A mating call,” Devonte finished. The air in the room was heavy with the information. “If we assume that they can be classified as reptiles…”

“We’re looking at a potential cluster of one hundred eggs,” Skylar said, “one hundred new kaiju.”

“That is unacceptable,” MacPherson growled. “We have to stop this thing.”

“At least before it gets fucked,” Brannigan chimed in.

The general’s jaw tightened in response, and Devonte thought he could see a vein bulge in her forehead. “Yes.”

“There’s also the problem of Tempest,” Skylar