The fog lay heavy on the water, a thick grey curtain that swallowed the horizon. On deck, the crew moved cautiously, eyes scanning the waves for any sign of the unknown predator. Nightfall had brought a chill that cut through even the thickest coats, and the wind carried a faint, metallic tang that set nerves on edge.Halvorsen leaned over the railing, peering into the inky depths. “It’s too quiet,” he muttered. “Predators this size don’t move like this unless they’re hunting.”
Elena joined him, her hands gripping the rail. “Or waiting.”
From the bridge, the sonar operator’s voice crackled urgently. “Movement! Bearing two-seven-zero. Massive… too massive for a whale. Approaching fast.”
The crew gathered, tense. The sonar display showed a single blip—giant, irregular, moving with a speed that defied reason. Every man and woman on deck held their breath as the blip grew larger, sweeping closer.
Then it broke the surface.
A fin, jagged and enormous, sliced through the black water, cutting an arc that sent spray over the bow. Gasps echoed along the deck. A shadow followed, darker than the night, stretching impossibly long beneath the surface.
Elena’s stomach knotted. Memories of the island surged: the ground shaking with each step of the monsters, the smell of blood and fear, the screams. Only this time, the threat was not confined to an island. It roamed the open ocean.
“Harpoons ready!” Rourke barked, slamming a lever that sent the cannon swivelling toward the creature. “Do not underestimate it!”
The beast breached fully for a heartbeat—a titanic head, glistening with wet scales, eyes like molten amber. Teeth, jagged and cruel, glinted even in the dim light. It let out a roar that seemed to shake the very air, a sound that carried over the waves like rolling thunder.
The sonar operator stammered, “It… it’s circling the ship!”
Halvorsen’s hand went to his journal, tracing diagrams of jaws and limbs. “It’s hunting,” he said, voice tight. “And we’re on the menu.”
The crew scrambled, harpoons firing, nets swinging. The creature dove, sending a wave crashing across the deck. Screams mingled with the roar of engines and the growl of the cannons. For minutes that felt like hours, the Argonaut danced a perilous ballet with the predator, narrowly avoiding its crushing tail and snapping jaws.
Finally, it retreated, vanishing into the darkness with a swish that left the deck shaking. Water poured from shattered railings, nets torn, alarms blaring.
Breathing hard, Elena clutched the railing. “It knows we’re here,” she said.
Rourke’s jaw tightened. “And now it’s deciding if we’re worth chasing.”
Halvorsen stared at the dark horizon. “This is only the beginning. It isn’t alone… and it’s teaching the rest of its kind to hunt.”
The ocean lay deceptively calm again, hiding a predator that was both intelligent and immense. From the shadows below, the deep hunger waited.
And it was coming back.
Source: Some or all of the content was generated using an AI language model
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