Later that afternoon, when Adam gets back, he tells Ashley about him making extra money helping Conrad. "Do you think you can do?" she said.
"I have to be able to do it. I have no choice."
She seems content. Not over thrilled, but happy that at least some money will be coming in.
The next day Conrad let Adam know that they would be zinc lining the boat tomorrow morning. "Dress down, will 'ya?"
Adam looks at what he is wearing. "This is dressing down."
Conrad nods his head. "There is no hope for you."
Excited, Adam came to the docks extra early. Conrad was just getting up when he saw an eager Adam sitting there with a big smile on his face. They spent most of the morning setting up the equipment for lining the boat.
Then when it came time to go under, Adam notices only one scuba tank. Adam asks what's up with that. "I need you to mainly stay above and hand me the stuff," Conrad said. "It's very tricky coming up and out of the water every time I need something." Conrad walked over to get his gear.
The hair on the nape of Adam's neck stiffened. "Aren't I good enough to go under?" His voice wavered a bit.
Conrad stopped and let out a sigh. "It's not just that. Zinc lining is a very complex procedure. Trust me, I really need help with someone manning things from above."
Conrad stands in one spot as if frozen. "Well, no sense like the present. Trust me, after a day of doing this, you'll be glad you stayed up above." Conrad frisked himself to make sure he has everything. Ah, good… it's still there. The Saint Christopher.
Without saying a word, Adam handed Conrad what he needed. This awkwardness lasted for a few minutes, without either one saying anything. "Okay," Conrad said. "You will go under, but most of the duties will still be above the water.
Happy as a kid at Christmas, Adam beams. "You won't be sorry."
"You will have to put on your wetsuit."
"But, you are wearing mine," Adam said.
Conrad looks down. "I thought it fit me tight. Here all along I thought I was gaining weight." He looks up into the sky. "We don't want to start too late. Let's get going." He pulls off the flippers, but has trouble taking off the wetsuit, which is very tight on his body.
Frustrated, Conrad hangs his arms forward and touches his toes. He bends his upper torso side to side. Adam reaches over to pull the rubber around Conrad's body, but this only adds to the problem.
Conrad stops for a second. He takes a few quick breaths in and out. As he pulls the upper portion of the suit off, it clings so tight, his undershirt comes off with it. The shirt is stuck to the wetsuit as he peals it off. He tosses it on the dock. Frustrated, he picks up the undershirt and puts it back on.
Next comes the bottom half. Conrad pulls the rubber suit to his hips. It just will not come off. "Damn… how skinny are you?" It is more than snug, it feels like it's stuck.
A few of those on the docks walk by and hold in laughter as Conrad struggles with it.
Finally, the suit gives way and Conrad pushes it towards his ankles. Then pulls the feet out turning the wetsuit inside out. Frustrated, Conrad slumps to the box on top of the dock. He shakes his head, "We have to get going if we want to get done before dark."
Once he got his own suit, Conrad put it on. Then Adam did the same. Once all was set, Conrad jumps into the water. "Oh, Adam… can you hand me the light please." He motions him by the dock. "Over there. That's it. Sure is murky here. This is going to be more difficult than I thought."
Conrad goes under and flashes the light on so he can see. He comes back up and addresses Adam. "Once I can see how bad it is under there, I will have you jump in the water with me. You won't be going under, but I need someone to hand me stuff while in the water."
As Conrad searches around the bottom of the boat, Adam can see the light moving around. Then he does not. The water bubbles in a surreal image as if someone… or something… is about to pop up. It gets bigger as it ascends to the water surface.
Adam backs away not sure what it can be. Just as the bubbles reaches its apex, breaking free of the water is Conrad. Adam breathes a sigh of relief. Boy, can the mind play tricks on you when you are bored.
"It's worse than I thought. We might have to take a few days." Conrad hops on the deck. "But, I bet you won't mind. It means more money for you."
"I should get my cash up front in case you change your mind." They both laugh.
"Grab the snorkel and join me in the water."
They both jump into the harbor. After a few strokes, they both tread water. Adam turns away from Conrad for a second to look at the view. As he turns back, he hears a "whooshing sound". He has felt this before when a boat goes by. But, there is no boat in the harbor.
For a second, all is calm. Then Adam spins around and sees the Kraken. He is startled. He motions to Conrad, unable to speak. All that comes out is a cracking sound as if someone shut off his voice box.
Trying to get Conrad's attention, Adam splashes at him. Conrad turns around. "Holy shit. How is the squid so close to the harbor?"
The beast moves swiftly and is on a collision course for Adam. He glares back at Conrad, who yells out. "Swim for the boat."
Adam looks forward. With her sights set on the two of them, the giant beast swims full steam ahead towards their path. With the noon sun directly overhead, it glares off of her shiny skin.
"Swim! Swim! Swim!" Conrad yells as he moves towards the boat.
The Kraken's giant paired tail fin rises up in the salty sea air. Then it drops like a thud into the calm harbor waters. Disappearing in the murky waters. This causes a wave that catches Adam and Conrad off guard, stopping them from swimming. Then her nasty looking head surfaces as she is almost upon them.
Despite the fact that the beast seemed so far away, with her immense size, she was upon them in an instant. She goes after Adam. He moves his arms to freestyle towards the boat, but cannot match her speed. Within a split second, she is upon her prey.
She opens her mouth like a hungry hypo revealing her powerful beak. It comes ever close to Adam. Frozen in terror, he cannot move. Soon Adam will be lunch. She snaps at Adam, but Conrad swims in her way.
She catches a portion of Conrad's body. He resists, but is no match for this predator. She shakes his body from side to side. Adam is traumatized at what he sees. He reaches over to help. He looks right into the eyes of Conrad. The look of horror shoots right to Adam's soul like daggers.
Just as Adam reaches to grab Conrad's hand, the beast snatches his friend away so fast, Adam cannot get to him. With a firm grip on her prey, she proceeds to swallow him whole. She shreds his body with her tongue, which has file-like teeth. Finally swallows the meat down until it reaches her esophagus.
A stillness permeates the salty air. The only sound breaking through is a foghorn. Then splashing to the top is Conrad's wetsuit. Adam goes to grab it, but pulls back when he notices it empty. How in the hell?
Once the beast feasted on this morsel, she is hungry for more. She sets her sight on her next victim.
A frightened Adam dives under water. With the motion of a dolphin, he swims towards the peer. The beast has no problem catching up to him. She reaches out with her tentacles and snatches at his legs. But at the last second, Adam propels his body on the deck. He rolls around on top until he clears the water, not taking the chance whether she can reach out to grab him or not.
Lying on his back, Adam hyperventilates. He sees this gruesome scene played before him over and over in his head. He felt like he was part of nature's atrocious contest of survival. A game that was one sided as if the beast sought out its prey knowing that the outcome was not in doubt.
The fact that Adam is the one lying on the dock still basking in the vivacity of life startles him. That should have been me. However, it is not relief that Adam feels. A chill over takes his entire body. If it were not for him, Conrad would still be alive. Somehow, he should have swam faster or been able to stop the creature before it grabbed his friend.
But, she moved so fast. Before he knew it, Conrad was her next meal. He cannot get that image out of his head. Like a flash, he witnessed his friend being mauled by the squid. The look on Conrad's face is frozen in Adam's mind. The gruesome scene played out so fast.
Adam wished he could go back and change what happened. A lump in his belly the size of a basketball forms inside of his abdomen. Thinking about how easily Conrad met his death, set the hairs on the back of Adam's neck stand on edge. A killing machine that can consume a full-grown man in a blink of an eye.
And it has no remorse as it sought to eat Adam next. Does the beast have conscious thought? Does it feel pleasure in killing my best friend? Or does it just eat when it's hungry? Are they capable of perceiving things like humans do like pain? Can it know the terror it is causing by just swimming about?
As Adam sits up on the dock, his hands shake uncontrollably. The more he tries to stop them, the worse it gets. When he glances over at them, he notices his clammy hands. Hah. I never felt them getting moist.
His head spins and does not notice all of the people around the village converging at the sight of the attack. It is almost like an out of body experience happening to someone else. He walks away from the scene, but he almost just about passed out. Adam notices his legs muscles tighten. He braces himself against the wooden post on the dock. Holding it so tight, his knuckles turn white.
Wondering around the pier, Adam barely remembers people asking him what happened. It is as if his voice was taken from him like in the Little Mermaid. He wants to scream… to cry. But he is afraid if he does, he will not be able to stop the flow.
Adam plays the ugly scene repeatedly like a flash back in his head. Each time he sees the beast opens its mouth about to take a bite out of him, his heart races faster. Then the horror of watching his best friend being eaten up like an apple. The image of the empty wetsuit bobbing up and down on the harbor waters, haunts Adam to the core.
However, the most freighting moment that still has hairs on Adam's neck up on end, was the visual tableau of the creature coming at him once more. The mouth opens up. His heart races even faster. Again. Again. And again. His heart nearly exploding from his chest.
Light headed, Adam walks among the neighborhood of Harbor Shores. What once used to be so familiar, looks like somewhere so far away. So distant. He wants to flee. To hide. He does not even know what time it is. What day it is.
He is exhausted.
He bends over to grab the equipment. Ah, his wetsuit that he did not have enough time to put on. When he picks it up, something metallic clinks to the ground. Adam glances over to the sound. Shining in the midday sun is the St. Christopher. Conrad never had it on him. But, I saw him put it on. How did it? Ah, it must of came lose when he switched wetsuits.
Adam picks it up and stares at it. Quick flashbacks of the time he spent with his friend run through his mind. A shriek sound snaps him out of it. Running towards him is Ashley. He puts the cross into his pocket.
When Ashely sees Adam, she stops. The look of fear on her face shakes Adam to the core. She went from being frightened to relieved. Tears run down her face. Adam takes a few steps in her direction. She hugs him as her body heaves up and down as she cries the tears that he is currently feeling.
With her arms wrapped around him, she moves her head back a bit so she can talk. "I thought you—I mean… I feared that you—" she bursts into tears as she pulls him closer to her.
"It was horrible Ashley. I-I- cannot describe it." His head lies on her shoulder. Then he looks up. This time as he replays the movie in his head, his nostrils flare. The expression of his eyes tighten up.
In his mind he sees the beast cruelly feasting on human flesh. The image of those large eyes of the creature, so cold, so vicious as if there is no soul behind them. As he replays the image, his face turns red.
While still in Ashley's grip, his muscles quiver. She notices this as she let's go of her embrace. "Are you okay?" Her face is dumbfounded. "I mean… I know you are not okay. But I am worried about what you are going through."
"All I know is that something needs to be done, and it has to be now."
Adam avoids eye contact with her. He takes a few steps forward and looks down at his hands. They are not trembling anymore. They tighten up into a tight fist. He wants to fight the beast. He wants to stop her. But how?
"It must be stopped at any cost." His voice raises so all can hear. A crowd has gathered around him.
"Great," someone in the crowd shouts. "But how does one stop a creature that relies on pure instinct?"
"I don't know," Adam said, "But it must be done."
"We agree." Others say. "It must be eliminated."
Ashley turns around and see people that she knows lashing out. She turns to face Adam. "Look what you started."
"They are upset. Aren't you?"
"Of course I am. But who is going to be stupid enough to do it?" He turns away from her gaze. Since he started this coupe de ta, he is now silent. "Oh, no… don't say that you want to?"
"Someone has to."
He pulls her away from the crowd so they do not over hear their conversation. "How are you going to go up against this… this… thing… when you are afraid of animals."
"That's not true," Adam whispers. "I love dogs. And cats. Birds don't bother me."
"You are afraid if a bug crawls around the room."
"Most spiders are poisonous. What person would not be cautious of seeing one crawling near you?"
"I know you want to act tough. It's okay," Ashley says, "Admit it."
"You make it sound like I jump every time I see something. You choose two… maybe three times that I did that and make it sound like I do it every day. Sometimes it catches me off guard." He can tell that she is not paying attention to him.
"Snakes! You are also afraid of snakes."
"Now that I have to admit gives me the willies. God should have prevented them from entering Ark."
"My point is that you want to jump on your high horse like Don Quixote and fight the windmill that is the giant squid when you get creep out by such creatures. And what my dear husband of mine is the creepiest creature of all?"
Adam ignores her. He knows she is baiting him.
"…the Kraken," she said.
****
After her feast, the beast was perplexed by it all. The skin on this prey was foreign to her. It resembled the seal, but was not easy to penetrate. She has never faced anything like this before. At first it was difficult to swallow. But just like a parrot eating a sunflower seed, the Kraken used her sharp tongue to deshell her victim straight from that dense outer layer.
Once she got to the meat, it was nothing she has ever tasted. A novel flavor for her taste buds. The fresh blood was warm and oozed down her throat. It was so thrilling it made her want more. It was too bad that the other one got away. She is now hooked on this warm-blooded prey.
She surveys the harbor as master of her domain. She spots plenty of them above the water. Maybe they are like the seals after all. However, this group does not have that thick outer layer. This made her excited. The sounds of fear emanating from this new school of fish, intrigues her inner senses. She swims over to them.
Yes, they have two legs like the prey she just ate. Warm-blooded meat! So tantalizing. So invigorating. So tasty. Using her girth to her advantage, she moves along the waves of the water to get her closer faster. As she approaches, there is a major obstacle facing her. How to get them in the water. It is not as if she can reach out with her great tentacles and grab them. Why won't they go back into the water?
The beast uses her giant fluke tail to control her direction towards the fresh prey. She tilts her arrow shaped head towards the surface. Then she tips it down. Kicking her eight legs backwards, she propels towards her buffet of fresh meat. She repeats this action in a gliding motion forward stealth like. She goes unnoticed by the two-legged warm bloods.
She swims around under the water in circles hoping for one of them to return to the water. She notices that eventually, even the seals go back in. What goes out, must come in. Hungry, she watches them intently. She does not understand their need to stay above. How can they even breathe that long out of water? Her giant, saucer like eyes narrows as she gazes at them.
Impatient and angry, she leaves… for now.