Fangtooth (14 page)

Summoning all his strength, he ploughed
through the waves, kicking furiously while his arms swept through the water. A
powerful swimmer in the local pool, he found swimming fully clothed in the sea
sapped his strength.

Caught in the swell, it was hard to see
much, and he couldn’t see the creature anywhere.

Jen was now about ten feet away, hanging
onto the lifebuoy, and Rocky looked as though he had given up on pulling her
anymore as he hung with his head over the side of the boat.

He heard the engines turning over, saw
Zander in the wheelhouse struggling to maintain the boat’s position – he knew
Zander wasn’t going to wait around forever.

When he reached Jen’s side, Jack said,
“You’ve got to swim.”

Jen looked at him with wide, fear-filled
eyes. “We’re going to die,” she wailed.

A wave washed over Jack, filling his
mouth with saltwater. He coughed and choked; bone weary, he struggled to tread
water. “Don’t think like that. Just swim for the boat.”

He looked around for the creature. Where
was the blasted thing? He tried not to think it could be directly under him, in
the dark expanse of water, but it was hard not to when his legs were dangling
below the surface. Something buffeted his side; he thought it was the creature
and panic washed through him. Even when he realised it was only a wave, he
couldn’t relax. They were sitting ducks out here – had to get aboard the boat
as fast as they could.

“Rocky,” Jack shouted, “goddamn it,
pull, you son of a bitch.”

Rocky raised his
head, and despite his sickly demeanour, Jack could see his words had elicited a
response, the set of his jaw now locked in anger. He looked about to respond,
when his expression changed. His eyes grew wider, his jaw going slack, frown
lines wrinkling his brow. He pointed, his hand shaking.

“There’s something in the water,” he
shouted.

Jack didn’t think Rocky would win medals
any time soon. He grimaced and battled to keep his and Jen’s heads above the
rolling waves before turning to look where Rocky indicated. And there it was,
less than eight feet away, its enormous jaw open to reveal the wicked curve of
its long, pointed teeth. Water rolled from its head, following the course of
the ridges that covered its surface. The light from the searchlight illuminated
the creature; its dark shell gleamed in the light.

The next minute, the creature ducked
below the surface. Absolute terror raced through Jack’s veins. He scanned the
water, but there was no sign of it. Any minute he expected to feel its teeth
attach themselves to his legs, to bite through skin, muscle, flesh and bone as
it dragged him down into the depths. Thinking he was drawing his last few
breaths, he embraced Jen, using the lifebuoy to keep him afloat.

Then, without warning, he was moving
through the water. He looked up to see Zander pulling on the rope. The tendons
on the skipper’s neck stood out, and the muscles in his forearms flexed. He
appeared to have braced himself against the side of the boat, and he gritted
his teeth and pulled for all he was worth, hauling hand over hand.

Jack and Jen helped by kicking with
their feet, but Jack didn’t feel they were moving fast enough. He could see
Zander was pulling as hard as he could, his face red with exertion, but he wasn’t
strong enough.

Rocky then appeared beside Zander and
grabbed the rope. With a brief nod of his head towards Jack and Jen, he started
to help.

At the back of his mind, Jack knew there
was no one at the helm, and that the boat was floating towards the rocks, but
he tried to dismiss the thought, the more pressing matter of the creature
paramount.

With Rocky’s help, they moved swiftly,
slicing through the waves until they reached the boat. Water sluiced through
wide gaps in the side of the boat, runoffs for the water on deck. The boat’s
masts and booms swayed as the boat lurched to one side. Jack felt a sick
feeling in his stomach as he thought the boat was about to capsize. Next
moment, the vessel righted itself, and Zander called out, “Heave.”

But they were too
heavy. He heard Zander cursing, but from his position in the water, he was
unable to see him. Realizing if they were to stand any chance of surviving, he
had to let go of the lifebuoy. Jack kissed Jen quickly on the cheek, tasting
the saltwater on her skin, and then let go. He immediately sank down into the
water, and without his added weight, he watched as Jen rose out of the sea.

Alone in the water, fear penetrated his
body, and he wondered why the hell he had let go. It was crazy.

The cold water was making his body go
numb, and he could no longer feel his fingers. He wondered if his mind would go
the same way, numb to the pain that would surely follow, and he closed his eyes
and waited.

“Grab hold, and be quick about it,”
Zander said.

Jack opened his eyes and looked up to
see the lifebuoy hanging above his head. He reached out and grabbed it, and a
sense of relief washed through him as he slipped one arm and his head through
the hole in the centre.

He heard a splash in the water behind
him, and his heart missed a beat. The creature was coming. He could feel his
temples pound, his breath coming in rapid little bursts. Then he was out of the
water, his free arm slamming into the side of the boat and sending a
nerve-jarring pain up to his shoulder.

Ignoring the pain, he lifted his legs
clear of the water and walked up the side of the vessel as the others pulled.

Seconds later, he lay on the deck,
panting. Sodden through to the skin, he felt cold and miserable. But at least
he was still alive.

Zander crouched down and grabbed Jack by
the scruff of his neck. “What the blazes was that thing, kid?”

Jack struggled to breathe. “I don’t
know,” he gasped.

“How many of them are there?”

“One, we’ve only seen one.”

“Make that two,” Jen said, pointing out
to sea. Zander dropped Jack on the deck.

“I count … three,” Rocky said as he
fought not to be sick.

Jack jumped to his feet and stared out
to sea. He counted quickly. “There’s four, no five. Hold on, there’s another
one. Jesus, there are loads of them.”

Zander bounded towards the wheelhouse.

Jack watched Zander disappear inside,
saw him buckle himself into the chair, and then he heard the engines roar and
the whole boat seemed to vibrate as they reversed away from the rocks.

Jack looked towards the shore, only then
realizing how close they were. Jagged rocks protruded a few feet from the bow.
He heard something scrape across the hull, felt the boat judder, the engines
splutter. They were going to run aground.

Jack clenched his teeth. Jen grabbed his
hand and he squeezed her fingers.

Loose buoys and rope slid across the
deck as the boat pitched to one side. Jack stumbled, just managing to stop
himself falling by grabbing hold of a winch arm. He held on tight to Jen, who
still had a hold of his other hand, and stopped her from falling, too. Rocky
wasn’t so lucky. He rolled across the deck and collided with the side of the
boat where he lay, unmoving.

The boat was still at a precarious
angle, and a fresh wave washed over the side. Jack held on tight. For a brief
moment, the wave was illuminated in the boat’s lights, made almost glass like.
And in that instant, Jack saw something dark contained within the wave,
something that rode the swell aboard the boat.

Next minute, the boat righted itself,
and the engines grumbled as Zander opened up the throttle, steering them out to
deeper water, away from the rocks.

Jack let go of the winch and stared back
towards the wheelhouse, and his jaw dropped open.

One of the creatures was on the boat. It
scuttled across the deck, snapping its jaws, eyes glinting with malevolence.

A hunter stalking its prey, the creature
advanced towards Jack and Jen.

Chapter 28

Jen squealed. Without even thinking,
Jack grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her out of the way so that all that
lay between him and the creature was empty deck.

The creature bounded along on its stubby
legs, its claw-tipped hands raking the air.

Jack knew he had to act quickly, so he
crouched down and grabbed the nearest thing at hand, a small red buoy attached
to a piece of rope. Standing up straight, he swung it around his head and
released it at the creature. But he was no David, and this was no Goliath, and
having misjudged the length of rope to let out, the buoy sailed past the
creature. Jack cursed under his breath, but the buoy continued in a semi arc
until the rope hit the creature’s body, wrapping around the creature’s torso,
and entangling the beast in the rope.

A grin cracked Jack’s face as the
entangled creature stumbled and fell to the deck.

But his joy was short-lived as the
monster severed the rope with its sharp claws. The buoy rolled away and
clattered into the side of the boat, next to where Rocky lay motionless. The
creature pushed itself back to its feet, opened its mouth and produced a
deep-throated roar.

The sound sent a shiver down Jack’s
spine. He stood rooted to the spot, trembling. Was this nightmare never going
to end?

Movement behind the creature caught
Jack’s eye, and he stared wide-eyed as Zander appeared, carrying a shotgun.

“This is my boat,
and I didn’t invite you on board,” Zander growled through gritted teeth. The
creature turned, but before it could respond, Zander opened fire, a flower of
flame bursting from the barrel. Lead shot pierced the creature’s abdomen, and
it let out a high-pitched squeal that filled the air. It raked its claws in the
air, and its feet skittered across the deck as it staggered back, tumbling over
the side and into the water.

A door burst open beneath the wheelhouse
and a giant ginger-haired man wearing blue overalls covered in oil rushed out
onto the deck. “What’s all the shooting about?” he shouted.

Zander turned towards the man. “Brad,
you’d better take a look for yourself.” He pointed towards the side of the
boat.

Brad strode across, braced his hands on
the rail and stared down. “Jesus H. Christ.”

Jack followed and looked down at the
sea, shocked to see the water bubble as a score of creatures attacked the
fallen creature. Bloodstained froth floated on the surface, giving some
indication of the ghastly feasting taking place.

“That’s the freakiest shit I’ve ever
seen,” Brad said. “What the hell are they?”

Sickened, Jack turned to see Jen
staggering towards him. He shook his head and ushered her away. “Believe me,
you don’t want to look,” he said as he led her to the steps to the wheelhouse,
where he sat her down.

He heard gunfire and looked back to see
Zander standing with his feet planted, firing indiscriminately into the water.
When Zander turned, his expression was resolute.

“I’ve seen hundreds of things dredged up
from the depths in my time, but what the blazes was that?” he bellowed.

Jack swallowed to clear his throat. “God
knows,” he said, “but we should get out of here.”

“It’s the Devil’s work,” Brad said,
making the sign of a cross across his broad chest.

Zander stood with the gun resting
against his shoulder, seemingly oblivious to the movement of the boat. He
glared at Jack. “And since when did you become skipper?”

Despite Zander’s threatening presence,
Jack didn’t waver. “Didn’t you see what those things just did? Jesus Christ, we
can’t stay here. There are hundreds of them in the water. We’ve got to warn
people.”

“Yes,” Jen said, “we’ve got to get the
hell out of here.”

Zander narrowed his eyes. “I’ve never
run from anything in my life.”

“They have a point, Skipper,” Brad said.

“We can’t stay here,” Jen squealed.

“Listen, just drop us off, then you can
do anything you like,” Jack said.

After a moment, Zander nodded. “Okay,
but I think you’d better help him.” He pointed at Rocky who sat rubbing his
head, then made his way towards the wheelhouse with Brad shadowing him.

Zander opened up the throttle, turned
the wheel and set a course for the harbour. He watched the kids on deck as they
helped Rocky to his feet. He had to give it to that lad, Jack, he had balls
standing up to him like that.

In the glare of the spotlights above the
wheelhouse, he saw movement in the water, the residual splash of things diving
below the surface to hide in the depths.

“Whatever the hell they are, there’s
loads of them,” Brad said.

Zander nodded. Like he had said to the
kid, he had seen many strange things brought up in the nets from the deep,
things with names just as horrific, such as black dragonfish, humpback black
devil and hammerjaw, but these, whatever they were, they were like nothing he
had seen before.

The vessel travelled along at an average
speed of fifteen knots, the quickest Zander dared push it. He followed the
coast, spotting the odd house light in the distance on the shore and the cliffs
above, the people in their homes unaware of the threat lurking in the waters
near their property.

The door to the wheelhouse banged open
and Jen staggered in, followed by Rocky and Jack.

“Take a seat, but just make sure you
don’t get in my way,” Zander said. “And whatever you do, don’t fucking touch
anything!”

Although he felt sure of himself, Zander
wasn’t stupid. He knew this state of affairs was bigger than he could handle on
his own. As he grabbed the microphone to radio in the situation, he could tell
this was going to be a long night.

Chapter 29

“So he’s safe,” Bruce said to the police
officer standing before him.

The officer whose nametag identified him
as Powell nodded, then after a moment, the lashes above his brown eyes bristled
with confusion and his boyish face took on a look of anxiety. “There’s been a
lot of strange reports coming from this area lately about things seen around
the coast.”

Bruce looked across at Erin, who was
sitting staring through the bar window. “Do you want to start?” he said,
knowing she had more knowledge of the situation than he did.

“Don’t listen to them. It’s all
poppycock,” Graham said before he took a swallow of his brandy.

“Miss?” Powell looked at Erin. “Do you
have any information that might be relevant?”

Erin turned to face the officer. She
rubbed her hands and folded her arms across her chest. “I can tell you what I
believe, but whether
you
believe me is another matter.”

“Go on.”

Erin told Powell about the creatures,
and her assumptions about over fishing, pollution and chemicals.

When she finished, Powell laughed.

“I told you,” Graham said, grinning.

“You didn’t see those things,” Bruce
spat. “If you had, then you might not be so quick to ridicule.”

“I can see all the monsters I want on
late night television,” Graham said, chuckling.

“And I suppose you’re an authority on
sea beasties?” Powell asked Erin.

“Actually, yes. I’m a marine biologist.”

Powell’s smirk faded and he licked his
lips. “Well, erm, can you substantiate your claims? I mean, fish can’t breathe
out of water.”

“Actually, there are some fish that can
breathe out of water for short periods. Like Mudskippers and Snakeheads.”

Graham snorted and wiggled his hand to
simulate downing an imaginary drink. “If you ask me, I think they’ve had one
too many, officer.”

Sara sat next to the bar, nursing a
glass of orange juice. Next to her sat Duncan. Both of them remained quiet
throughout the exchange. Neither of them had seen the Fangtooth, but at least
they had the good sense to listen.

Erin seemed oblivious to Graham’s
ridicule. “I need to contact the research vessel I’m stationed on,” she said.
“There’s equipment on there I might need, and I need to warn them of the
situation.”

Powell scratched his chin. “To be quite
honest, miss, I don’t know what to believe, but your story, well, it is a bit
farfetched. Mutated fish!”

“Yeah, this isn’t Sellafield, you know.”
Graham chortled.

“Believe me, I know how it sounds. But
if you don’t do something, radio it through, then it’ll be too late.”

“Too late? Why?”

“Because these creatures, whatever they
are, they’re hungry.” She exhaled slowly, as though composing herself. “If they
are a mutated form of Fangtooth, they’ll live in small shoals. In the day, they
stay in the depths, but at night, they rise to feed by starlight. They sense
their prey by using contact chemoreception; basically they taste their prey in
the water, relying on luck to bump into something edible. But I don’t know how
they react on the surface. Perhaps their eyesight has evolved, too, because the
one we saw certainly didn’t seem to have any problem locating us.”

“That man on holiday, he was attacked in
the day,” Bruce said.

Erin nodded. “That’s what concerns me.
If they have mutated, it’s not just in the physical sense, but in the—”

“I’m not going to listen to any more of
this rubbish,” Graham said.

“Just shut up,” Duncan snapped.

Graham turned his one good eye on Duncan
and scowled. “This is my bar, and I’ll say what the hell I like. I’ll certainly
not have these outsiders come in here telling fanciful tales. It’s hard enough
getting customers in as it is. Since the fishing fleets have been disbanded, I
hardly get anyone in. I never thought I’d miss those trawler men with all that
cash to throw around after being paid, but I do. So I’ll be damned if I’ll lose
what little livelihood I’ve got left.

“Officer, are you
going to stand there and let them carry on this ridiculous conversation?”
Graham asked. “Can’t you do something before I throw the lot of them out?”

“And what would you have me do, sir?
Arrest them?”

“That would be a start.”

“On what grounds? Storytelling?”

“Ah, so at least you agree it’s only a
story.” Graham grinned, an expression his one eye made appear sinister.

“I really don’t know what to believe,
but I’ll call through to have someone check the coast out.”

Graham rolled his eye and clucked
loudly. “They’ll have you believing in little green men next. I don’t know what
the world’s coming to when a man of the law can be made a fool of.”

Powell walked to the corner of the room
and started talking into his walkie-talkie. Bruce went and sat next to Erin.

“Are you okay?” he asked.

Erin forced a smile. “I’m glad your
son’s safe.”

Bruce couldn’t help wondering for how
long, though, if what Erin had said was true. “So am I. But these creatures,
are they really coming ashore to eat?”

“That would be my guess, yes.”

Bruce looked at the clock above the bar,
which read 9:30. He had never been truly afraid before, had not known what real
fear was, until he had seen Jack being terrorized by the creature. The feeling
hadn’t subsided. He needed to rescue his son, needed to wrap his arms around
him and hold him tight.

Powell returned to the middle of the
room. “Okay, the coast guard is going to send a patrol boat to check the area
out.”

“You’d be better sending the navy,”
Zander said as he stormed into the bar. “They have fuckin’ big guns.”

Jack walked in behind Zander, followed
by Jen and another young lad with a cut on his forehead.

“
Jack
!” Bruce jumped up, ran
across the room and embraced his son. Shazam jumped to her feet and bounded
across the room, barking excitedly.

Jack returned the hug, and then said,
“Okay, there’s no need to suffocate me.”

Bruce could see he was embarrassing
Jack, but he didn’t care. He was just glad that he was safe.

“I take it this is your son,” the
officer said.

Too choked to reply, Bruce nodded and
squeezed his son harder.

“Daaaad,” Jack wheezed.

Eventually, Bruce relaxed his hold. “I
thought I was going to lose you,” he said, his voice raw with emotion.

Jack stroked the dog’s head. “You can’t
get rid of me that easy.”

“And you are?” Powell asked Zander.

“Trent Zander, skipper of the
Storm
Bringer
. Graham, pour us a double whisky.” He stomped to the bar and leaned
against the counter.

“Well, I’m going to have to ask you a
few questions.”

“I’ve only come to drop these kids off,
so I haven’t got time.”

“Then you’ll make time. I need to know
what’s going on. So either we do it here, or I take you down to the station.”

Zander laughed. “It’ll take more than
one of you to stop me from leaving, and for your own good, I’d advise against
trying.”

Powell looked rankled, as though
unfamiliar with disobedience. “Mr. Zander, that wasn’t a request, it was an
order.”

“There’s not a man alive who can order
me to do anything,” Zander said. He accepted the whisky as Graham handed it to
him, and downed it.

“I need to know what’s happening.”

“I’ll tell you what’s happening. There’s
a fucking great shoal of killer fish out there, and by God, I’m going fishing.”

Before Powell
could stop him, Zander stood up straight, nodded at Jack, then ran out of the
bar.