James Patterson - Max

But what was attacking us? The thing that had hit me had turned back toward the others with startling speed. I immediately shot after it, keeping my wings tight against my back, reminding myself to breathe.

The creatures were bizarrely agile and fast, whipping through the water like snakes or eels. And they came in sizes, ranging from Volkswagen bug to Boeing 747. I suspected they were what had attacked the fishing boats and the navy sub, but even this close, I couldn’t identify what they were.

I jumped onto one’s back, trying to hold on as I pummeled it as hard as I could. Its skin was bumpy and rough – and this close much of it looked melted and raw, with enormous, festering wounds that turned my stomach. I tried to find eyes to punch or poke, tried to see some vulnerable underside, but it was just – all muddled up. There was no pattern or symmetry.

The thing bucked and threw me off, and I swirled fast and shot over to where Fang was entangled with one that had flippers. I leaned back and kicked it as hard as I could, and this time I saw a small red eye on one side. Just the one eye.

A quick glance revealed that John and Dr. Akana were already panicked and nearing exhaustion, thrashing around in the water, unsuccessfully trying to fend off blows. We’d been steadily climbing to the surface and now could see pretty clearly, but there was no sign of the boat above us. I had no idea where the heck we were or how I could summon help.

Even Angel seemed to be under attack, and I wondered if these creatures were completely beyond any kind of communication.

Max. Get out of there now! the Voice suddenly commanded. Get the others, and get out of there now!

I grabbed Angel’s shoulder and shoved her up toward the surface, meanwhile kicking the sea monster that surged after her.

I gave a two-handed karate chop across the snout of another creature, freeing John, then pushed him up until he caught on. Fang had finally kicked himself free of his beast, though it was circling to come after him again. Together he and I punched and chopped and kicked the one that had almost knocked Dr. Akana unconscious.

I heard a thin, sharp whistling sound and looked around to see a slim, dark, long thing coming right at us. Not an animal but even more deadly: a torpedo. The navy had arrived.

“Up!” I yelled at Fang, bubbles leaving my mouth. “Now!!”

We spun away from the sea monsters, grabbed Dr. Akana, and kicked as hard as we could toward the surface. Some of them started to come after us, and Fang grabbed my other hand, using his strength to pull me up with him. We put about thirty feet between us and the creatures, feeling our ears pop painfully as the water pressure lessened.

We almost managed to get out of range but not quite. Below us, the torpedo hit the pod of creatures, creating a tremendous explosion that blasted me and Fang right out of the water and about twenty feet into the air. I cried out, holding my ears, then realized I was airborne. I quickly extended my wings and shook the water off.

Fang did the same, and we kept ourselves aloft high above the ocean, watching as big chunks of monster bobbed to the surface. The sub that had launched the torpedo was too far away to see.

I could barely hear anything and felt like someone had hammered an ice pick through my eardrums. It hurt so much that tears came to my eyes – even swallowing hurt.

Less than a quarter mile away, the boat was cranking its engines. Fang and I flew over to it and landed on the deck. We were both covered with scrapes and bruises, I’d swallowed a bunch of water, and my head was spinning from the pain in my ears. All in all, I felt like crap, though maybe not as bad as Dr. Akana, who had been fished out of the water and was now strapped to a body board.

Panting, I leaned against the side of the boat and looked at Fang.

“So the navy stepped up after all,” I said, my voice sounding muffled and far away to me. “Humans actually saved us. In a messy, stupid way, but still.”

This was a new concept, and it took us a moment to digest it. But we had a much more important question: what the heck were those things, and where had they come from?

“WELCOME BACK,” said Captain Perry. He was – I swear – trying not to smirk at me.

I snarled as I went past him, took a deep breath, and started down the submarine’s ladder.

Yes. Back on a submarine. A much smaller sub but again one of the navy’s and again commanded by Captain Joshua Perry.

Turned out only one of my eardrums was busted. It would heal pretty quickly, but in the meantime I was staggering around like a deaf, drunk monkey.

Dr. Akana had a broken arm and collarbone, and bruises covered almost half her body. She’d been airlifted back to the marine research station. John Abate was also beat up and bruised but was still with us, determined to see this thing through to the end, determined to save my mom. I was starting to wonder if maybe he had feelings for her, I mean, more than just a friend and co-worker.

There was a lot of that going around.

We’d spent the night at the marine research station, going over everything we had learned so far, which could be summed up in like two sentences: (1) these things were ginormously gol dang big, and (2) we had no idea what the heck they were.

I’d managed to get most of my lecture in with Angel, but my words slid right off her like rain off a road slick. I was going to ask Fang to try talking to her.

Gazzy, Iggy, and Nudge had all tried to see if they had gills, out in the warm, clear water of the bay. That’s another body of water you’ll never catch me swimming in again. Turns out none of them were turning fishy yet.

Total had elected to stay at the research station with Akila. He hated subs – no one’s blaming him there – and hated water and had no gills and needed some catch-up time with his lady friend, as he put it. He was still wrestling with the whole marriage question.

The submarine crew was no doubt used to top-secret missions where they just did as ordered without asking questions – another thing the military seemed big on – but, all the same, when they saw that their new passengers were six kids and two scientists, their eyes got a little bigger.

Now, hours later, we all huddled over a lit map-table in a small room in the midsection of the sub. This sub was so small that it held only about thirty people and actually had a few thick windows. It was still armed with torpedoes, though, which made me feel better.

“The monster attacks occurred here, here, and here,” said Captain Perry, showing us red dots on the maps. “All within a twenty-mile radius. Today we’re going to cruise this area, crisscrossing it until we see something.”

“I still think these creatures were caused by radiation poisoning,” said Brigid. “We definitely get high radiation levels around here, but it’s been mysteriously difficult to pinpoint.”

“Could I go outside and just hang on to one of the sub’s fins?” Angel asked. “Then I could really see stuff.”

“No,” Captain Perry, John, and I all said at the same time.

Angel frowned.

“The ones I saw up close had wounds all over their skin,” I said. “They were like building-sized pickles, except their pickley skin was all messed up, raw and bleeding and oozing. It was horrible.”

“Did you pick up on anything from them, Angel?” Brigid asked. “The first time, you felt their rage and their desire to kill. Did you get anything different yesterday?”

“Uh-huh,” said Angel. “They were still mad and wanted to kill us, but they’re also in pain. And they’re smart. They can communicate with each other and make plans, work together to attack us in a group. They’re kind of neat – more understandable than whales or dolphins.”