Eric Brown: The Kraken Rises

“The Kraken is slowing, sir!” Lancaster called out. “It’s still on course for us though.”

As crazy as the desperate plan that he, Smith, and Ennis had come up with was, Captain Weaver was really beginning to believe it just might work. “That’s right. Keep coming, you bastard,” he muttered under his breath. Smith had placed enough charges along the length of the ship to blow it into oblivion several times over, and that wasn’t even taking into account the ship’s ordnance, which would surely be set off by the explosion of those charges as well. The Kraken might think it was dragging them into the depths, but in truth, they’d be taking it to Hell with them.

“Impact in five!” Lancaster shouted.

“Brace for it,” Captain Weaver had just enough time to order before the Kraken slammed into the battleship’s starboard side. The impact nearly flung Captain Weaver from his seat. If he hadn’t braced himself by clutching the command chair’s arms, it would have. None of the rest of the bridge crew suffered anything worse than being jostled about either.

“Damage report!” Captain Weaver yelled.

“We’re taking on water, sir!” Ennis answered him. “The starboard side hull has been breached. Main power is still online but down by thirty-six percent.”

The report was a lot better than Captain Weaver had expected it to be. Thank God the great beast hadn’t hit any vital systems or they would be in a lot more trouble than they were.

Captain Weaver started to ask Lancaster and Ennis if the Kraken had taken their bait, but the bridge shook again as one of the monster’s impossibly long tentacles rose into the air only to fall back onto the Braxton. It coiled about the ship, wrapping over and under it. A second tentacle joined the first moment later. The Kraken was too close in now to use the main guns without them inflicting as much if not more damage to the ship herself if they fired at the creature. That didn’t matter though. Captain Weaver had the Kraken right where he wanted it.

Hawks, along with Robbie and Hyatt, had been tasked with making sure that Cheryl and Bailey made it safely away from the Braxton . A newbie soldier named Jeff had joined their squad for the effort. Hawks felt strange being in a command. It wasn’t something he had ever sought or wanted, but with Larson dead, it had fallen onto his shoulders. The four of them had rushed the two women through the burning bodies of the squid creatures on the Braxton ’s deck and onto a motorized lifeboat.

Hyatt and the newbie kept an eye out for more of the lesser squid creatures in the water as he sat in the boat’s center with the two women. Robbie had his tablet hooked up to the Braxton ’s systems and watched its screen intently, monitoring the situation behind them as the lifeboat bounced across the waves at its highest possible speed. The idea was to put as much distance between them and the battle that was about to take place as quickly as they could. All their hope lay in Captain Weaver being able to take out the Kraken and the lesser squids scattering in panic upon the great beast’s death.

Robbie had plotted them a course northward towards the closest high-traffic shipping lane. Hawks knew that Robbie hoped once the Kraken was dead that the EM interference with the long-range comm. gear would clear up, and he’d simply be able to radio for help. Failing that, the boat carried enough supplies for them to hold for a while and pray that another ship passing through the area would pick them up, assuming of course that the lesser squid creatures didn’t come after them. If they did, the boat had no weapons, and Hawks knew that the amount of time they’d be able to hold off the creatures would be a very short one. He and his men had loaded up on weapons and ammo before leaving the Braxton , but in the water, the squid creatures had the advantage. Even if they could keep the things from getting onto the small boat or being pulled from it by the things, the squid creatures could easily use their numbers to flip the boat over. If they did, that would be game over for them all.

Hawks knew how important Cheryl and Bailey were. Both of them were scientists, and Cheryl had been in charge of the platform crew that had discovered the Kraken. It was essential that they survived and made it home. If Captain Weaver failed to kill the Kraken, the powers that be would need every scrap of information that the two women could provide them with about the great beast. Even if Captain Weaver succeeded, there would still be the lesser squid creatures out there to be mopped up and dealt with. From what he had overheard the two doctors telling Robbie about the things, they weren’t as big of a threat as the Kraken itself was, but that wasn’t to say that the things couldn’t breed among themselves given time. Hawks understood that was the main fear. He didn’t even want to think about what would happen if the monsters were allowed to breed and took over the planet’s oceans, as they surely would with no modern-day predators to hold them in check. Humanity would find itself at war with the creatures for the control of the oceans, and Hawks didn’t think for a second that it would be a fair fight. All of mankind’s tech and weapons might give them an edge in the beginning, but if the squid creatures multiplied as quickly as Cheryl and Bailey claimed they might, the edge would be quickly lost. No shipping lane would be safe from the things. Worse, with how they were able to move about and breathe out of the water, most coastal cities and towns would likely find themselves being swarmed by the monsters once their numbers increased.

Shaking his head as if to clear his thoughts, Hawks looked over at Hyatt. “We clear?”

“So far.” Hyatt smiled at him.

“Stay sharp,” Hawks ordered Hyatt and Jeff.

“Yes, sir,” Jeff snapped at him.

Hawks had to suppress a grin at the young man’s over eagerness to come across as professional.

“Mr. Hawks,” Dr. Bailey said, “I hope you don’t believe your men will truly be able to spot the creatures if they don’t want to be seen.”

“We have to try, ma’am.” Hawks shrugged. “It’s our job. Our lives could all depend on spotting those things far enough out to pump some fire into them before they get close enough to be a threat.”

“If they truly want us, they’ll have us no matter you do,” Cheryl said.

“I would rather not think about that, ma’am,” Hawks replied.

The small boat’s motor roared as it continued to put distance between itself and the Braxton . Hawks had taken over guiding the boat from Cheryl once they were fully underway. The woman impressed him. Both of them did. These ladies were tough for being scientists and knew their way around boats and the water as well as himself or any of his men.

“We have just got to have faith that we’re going to make it home alive,” Hawks added.

Metal screamed as it bent inward and tore apart. The Kraken had a tight hold around the Braxton and had started the process of crushing the battleship. The bridge continued to shake as the Kraken vented its wrath upon the Braxton . Several small fires burned on stations that had shorted out from the damage the monster had done to the ship. The bridge stank of smoke and burning wires.

It still blew Captain Weaver’s mind that such a creature could exist as he watched it through the bridge’s shattered forward window. To think that any type of animal could go head to head with modern battleships and win was scary as hell. If he lived through this, Captain Weaver knew he would give up his command and walk away from his career. Even then, nightmares of the beast would haunt him for the rest of his life. Thankfully, he didn’t plan on living through this mess. He intended to go out in a blaze of glory, taking the monster with him. All of what was happening would likely be given the highest level of classification, but if the details of all that had happened here were released some distance time in the future, he couldn’t help but wonder what the history books would say about him. A smile crept over his lips as he thought, Captain Weaver, monster slayer .