Since her inception from the depths of the toxic spill of Fukushima, the Kraken has filled her belly with all sorts of dishes. Her skill as a hunter has improved to the point that there is no other like her. The thrill of the hunt is now almost routine. There is a sort of typical plot through it all.
And the Kraken has seen this played out many times. Most of her prey just gives in and lets her eat them. Some fight back. Most never escape her jaws of destruction. Why does this two-legged fish insist on making things difficult for itself?
She sees his pitiful effort to swim away from her. With her immense size, she just reaches over to him with one of her needle sharp tentacles. Once in her grasp, she wraps it tightly around its waist. She pulls the prey closer to her horrible mouth. Many do not realize that cephalopod mollusks have pleasure zones. Ever so close to her jaws, she will savor this catch. Oh, it will be just a palette cleanser. There is another two-legged fish not too far off. Ah, the pleasure in anticipating its flavor to her senses.
Then the prey reaches out and stabs her. Though just a flesh wound, she still feels its pain. Her central nervous system sends the message throughout her body. Angry, she lashes out at this creature. She pulls him under again. This thing does not seem to handle the water very well for being a fish.
And yet it fights back. It stabs her again. For a weak being, it sure is putting up much of a fuss. It lashes out once more. Her anger builds. This will be the last thing this two-legged fish will ever do.
****
As they bob to the surface, the Kraken still has a tight grip on Adam. He knows that the many lashes have not made much of a dent in her thick surface of her fin. He looks for any sort of vulnerabilities to her large frame.
However, he does notices something shiny right near her main part of her body. She is soft as a worm, like a sheath over the internal organs. Jensen did say that if one is lucky enough to kill the beast, one would have to stab it right underneath the mantle. This must it. He still has the knife in his hand. One good stab should do it. As he lunges forward, he feels his body being dragged upwards. Out of the water, he can breathe again. Oh, no… not again!
Then the squid goes in for the kill. She seems not to fool around. Adam knows the routine. As he gets closer to her beak, her head is exposed to him. Certainly if he stabs her head it would be where her brain is. Here goes nothing.
Adam hesitates. He still does not like to kill anything, even this man-eater. Now he is right up to the beak, ready to rip him apart. He closes his eyes and stabs the Tungsten steel knife. She squeals.
Being out of the water, he can have more momentum to make a deep cut. So, he stabs her head again. He notices that she loses her motor functions. It is working. He gives a few more deep cuts. The mantle quickly turns to a pure white color. Stabbing more in that area, the beast loses its color until the entire squid is limp.
The colossal squid lets go fully of Adam. As the Kraken's listless body dives down, only the tentacles of the beast remains in sight. It slowly sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Then she is gone. Never to be seen from again.
****
A calmness permeates the great body of oceanic liquid called the Pacific. It is finally living up to its name, Peaceful Ocean. Amongst the calm, still limitless waters, is thousands and thousands of miles of Neptune's play yard filled with the salty tears of the Almighty Himself.
It is dark and eerie. The quietness in this aquatic jungle of colorless water is freaky to Adam. Then a noise startles him. Is the beast back? If that did not kill her, then she is invincible. She most certainly will finish me off.
When he turns around. It is Ashley paddling the lifeboat. After battling the beast of Fukushima for what seemed like an entirety, Adam's energy is spent. His wife drags him into the boat. Ashley says to him, "Is she gone? Is the Kraken really dead?"
As she paddles to the shore, she tells Adam how in the distances, she saw him battle the great predator. She chokes up and cannot continue her narrative. With a lump her throat, "I am so glad you are safe."
Lying on the boat, he looks up at her, "Right back at 'ya." He is out of breath.
After a few moments, Adam regains his composure. He grabs an oar and helps Ashley paddle. As they get closer to the shore, day breaks as the sun slowly comes into view. They can hear the familiar sounds of the seals barking at each other.
Adam cracks a smile. "You know, that use to be annoying. But right now, it's sweet music." Ashley laughs.
As they pull into their community, the panoramic view is so different from the one they experience from their window. It almost seems like a completely different community. The parks, the coastal shops, and even the docks by their apartment seems to illuminate with the dusk of a new day.
They are startled when they hear a squawking sound. Flying through the sky as if he owns the place is a large bird. Ashley shouts out, "That's my heron!"
Adam watches the bird perch on a post on the dock. "Well, so it is."
She puts her arms around his neck and gives him a big kiss. "What is that for?" Adam asks.
"You have made Harbor Shores a safer place for all of the townspeople and their family."
With a somber look on his face, Adam says, "Not quite. There is still one beast I need to get rid of."
"No, Adam. Wilcox will eat you up."
"I think I finally know how to do it." He smiles with wide grin.
****
The east rising sun is dab smack into Adam and Ashley's face as they make it to the shore. Sweeping onto dry land through the fizz of foam, they can almost taste the salty air. The familiar sights of colorful beach towels laid out on the sand and giant umbrellas is welcome sight to their sore eyes. They can barely get out of the boat as wide-eyed beach goers greet them. Adam feels like they are some sort of Rock stars.
Snatches of questions carry on like the wind as they all talk on top of each other asking this and that about what happened. Things like if they were scared, what was it like? But most important, one person asked, "Is the Kraken really dead?"
"Well," Adam said, "The only proof I have is sitting at the bottom of the ocean."
One of the people in the crowd pulls out a camcorder. "We have the proof right here." They show a video of a distant shot of Adam struggling with the Kraken. The camera zooms in just when Adam makes the final kill. As the beast dies, she does a 180 and its triangle tail sticks out as it sinks into the water.
Watching the video, Adam gets goosebumps. It is as if it was someone else, not him. Ashely puts her arms around him. "My knight in shining armor." She gives him a long kiss. As if it was an applause cue, the small crowd claps.
Someone shouts out, "This should go viral."
"That's a good idea." The person with the video posts it on his social media page. With big old headlines, "Kraken bit the dust!" He presses send. The crowd pulls out their cellphones to check for themselves.
Adam drifts away from them. He lets out a sigh. Then looks into the early morning sky. With his right hand, he rubs the back of his neck. "Boy am I stiff." He rolls his head around a few times to take out the cramps. Then he walks towards the condos.
"Where are you going?" Ashley asks.
"I still have another beast to take down." He trots in the direction of a step of stairs that lead up into the Harbor Shores community. His gate is brisk as he runs up the steps. He walks right up to the condo construction area.
Despite going toe to toe with one of the most powerful beast in the ocean, now Adam has to purge one of the greatest threats on land. He still has to get rid of Edward Wilcox even though he has failed many times in the past.
Later that morning, in the offices of Silicon Beach Realty, Adam trots in unannounced. He walks right past Suzy and barges into Edward's office. Filling the air is the nauseating weight of that fancy expensive cologne that Wilcox wears is unmistakable. Adam just stands there in the center of the room as if waiting to be announced.
Wilcox looks up. He gives a disbelieving stare. He is just shocked to see Belfort alive. The real estate magnate lets out a bark of laughter.
"I see you're back," Wilcox says. "You must have chickened out." He goes back to what he was doing before Adam walked into the door. Spinning around in his exec chair, he shows Adam his back. "Now I will have to hire me a real expert who is not afraid of his own shadow."
Adam gives him a wide grin. "Oh, I am very much alive. You failed. Not only did I succeed alright, but the beast is now buried next to Davey Jones' locker."
Wilcox spins around in his chair. He lowers his head, narrows his eyes, and then stares at Adam. "Do you mean to tell me you have proof?" Jutting out his chin. "That was part of our agreement. I need to have the carcass strung up like a trophy so I can prove that it is finally killed."
Adam walks up to him. He shows Wilcox his cuts on his body from the barbs from the Kraken's tentacles. Dripping from the wounds is fresh blood that is still prevalent on his wet suit. "Is this proof enough?"
Wilcox rolls his eyes. A creak sound as his chair gives as he leans forward. He saunters over to his file cabinet. His fingers slides along the smooth sheets of paper as he leafs through the files. "Ah, here it is." He pulls out a stack of papers. Then shows Adam the loophole in the contract. "Without actual evidence of a kill, you get nothing." Very slowly, Wilcox crosses his arms. He cocks his head to the side and a sneer forms on his smug face.
"I don't remember any such clause." Adam rips it away from Wilcox. He mumbles as he skims through it. "I didn't sign this."
Wilcox points his index finger at Adam. "Oh, but you did my stupid friend."
Adam looks down at the paper and sure enough, there is his unique signature. He hooks the last part of his name around to the beginning of the name. He did this to prevent forgery and yet, here it is... a forged signature.
"You probably signed it without reading it." Wilcox waves his hand in dismissal.
"No," Adam replied, "I'm very careful and read everything. A good journalist never lets anything go unnoticed." It is not a photocopy, so it could not have been altered that way. He re-reads the contract and notices some odd wording. It is as if part of it was left blank and filled in later with an added clause. "Why you son-of-a-bitch!" Adam voice wavers.
"Do you think I would be dumb enough to leave anything to you?" Wilcox pitches the timbre of his voice projecting his voice across the room.
Once again, Edward Wilcox has the upper hand on Adam.
It never occurred to Adam that anyone would have been brazen enough to add words to a legal document. Spit builds in the corners of his mouth. Wilcox has more money than God and yet he can't part with any of it.
Whirling overheard is a fan, which does nothing to take away the heat that permeates inside of the office. However, the heat Adam feels is not from the humidity of the room, but his content for the man himself. Adam fumes as he thinks about how low someone like this piece of garbage can go. I suppose his hatred for me is that strong, he just could not stand me having any of his dough.
Pacing about Wilcox' office, Adam throws a dirty look over at him. Seeing that cocky expression makes Adam's face turns red as a strawberry. Then a fist forms in Adam's right hand. He has never resorted to physical violence. The fact that he killed a great oceanic predator is pretty big for him being that he has trouble even killing a bug. Now this loathsome insect standing before should be squashed. And yet he cannot bring himself to inflict harm on him. He quickly unclenches his fist and drops his arm to the side.
Thinking about how vile this man standing before him is, his hand instead moves up to the back of his neck and rubs it. Ah, there goes that pain again. He rolls the tension from his shoulders, but it does nothing to shake of his extreme frustration. A sheen of sweat forms on his cheeks, as his mind races. Then his mind goes blank.
His hands go limp to the side. As his head drops to his chest, Adam heaves a long, low sigh. He glances over at Wilcox. The dim light of the desk lamp frames his wide-open stance he has when he thinks he has won. Adam is silent and does not say a word. He can feel his pulse in his throat.
The gleam of the morning sun radiates through the office window. Adam orders himself to calm down. Relax. He clutches his arms around his lanky frame to convince himself to hold it together.
Finally, Adam finds his voice. "If you won't pay what you promised, then I will be forced to go to the press about the fraud you have committed on the community." Now it is Adam's turn to be cocky. He smiles a playful grin.
"PFFT! Whatever," Wilcox dismisses the idea. "Sure you are."
"I have all of the proof I need," Adam said.
"All talk." Wilcox walks over to the bar in his office. He opens a decanter, puts ice in a glass, and pours himself a drink but does not offer anything for Adam. "What do you have?" He takes a sip. "Every Conspiracy Theorist nut has already tried." Taking the glass and swirling it around, creating an annoying clink, clink sound. "Where's your proof?"
With a grin from ear to ear, Adam replies, "Oh, don't worry, I have it right--"
An assistant of Wilcox comes bursting into the room holding an iPad, "--Edward, turn on the social--" He sees Adam. "I guess you already know."
"Know what?" yells out Wilcox. He pull the iPad out of the assistant's hands. He looks it over. The smile on his face drops. His beady eyes drawn in even more. "No, this can't be good." He takes a few breaths to calm himself. Then he shakes his head. "This means nothing." Wilcox looks at Adam. "You can't even make out that it's you."
Adam walks right up to Wilcox and stares him right into his eyes. "I have witness that saw me afterwards. And that's not the only proof I have."
"What does that mean?"
Now Adam has the upper hand. He walks to the door, opens it, and then turns around. "You'll see." As he exits, he slams it behind him, rattling the glass on the door.