Deluge: The Conqueror Worms II

CHAPTER 80

They sat in silence for a moment, pondering the ramifications of Simon’s dire pronouncement. Then, one by one, they turned to look at Sarah.

“Well,” Gail asked, “how do we defeat this thing?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah said. “I honestly don’t. When it attacked us in Baltimore, it left eventually.”

She recounted her encounter with Leviathan, beginning with the cult on the nearby rooftop, the arrival of the vampire-like mermaid, the ill-fated rescue mission that Kevin and the others had launched in an attempt to disrupt the cult’s sacrificial ceremony, how that – and the murder of the mermaid – had led to Leviathan’s emergence, the creature’s subsequent attack on their building, and how she, Salty, and Kevin had escaped.

“And it just left?” Novak asked. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

The others all began to talk at once, but Simon held up his hand, signaling silence.

“It makes perfect sense,” he said. “The girl, Lori, was a sacrifice. Leviathan held Kevin responsible for killing one of its brides—the mermaid. In retaliation, it took Kevin’s female. Sated, it then departed.”

Caterina frowned. “But why wouldn’t it kill the rest of them?”

“I’ve always wondered that myself,” Sarah muttered.

“It’s because we are insignificant to Leviathan,” Simon said. “Normally, humanity is beneath his attention, other than as bothersome insects who must be destroyed. But we as individuals? Leviathan could care less. When we come across a nest of wasps, do we have a stronger loathing for one particular wasp from the hive more so than the others? No. All we know is that we want to destroy the entire nest. That’s how Leviathan views us. He didn’t bother with Sarah and her two friends because he figured they’d die anyway, sooner or later, once his ultimate goal was achieved.”

“Then why is he after you?” Novak leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the table. “If we’re nothing more than gnats to this thing, why is he now focused on you?”

“Because I am a particularly bothersome wasp,” Simon said. “Leviathan senses my presence… and my power. He knows that I have abilities not shared by most of humanity. He thinks I have it in me to halt his destruction and reverse what has happened.”

“Do you?” Henry asked.

Simon shook his head. “No. As I said, all I can do at this point is save our lives. I can’t save our planet. But Leviathan doesn’t know that.”

Novak dropped his feet to the floor with a loud thud. His chair squeaked across the floor as he stood abruptly. “Then what the hell do we do, Simon?”

“Hope that we reach LeHorn’s Hollow before Leviathan reaches us.”

Novak opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly, the hull clanged like a bell, the sound deep and hollow and reverberating throughout the entire ship. The vessel lurched violently to one side, spilling the crew’s gear and belongings onto the deck. Screaming, they held on tight as the ship rocked again.

“I reckon maybe it’s too late,” Henry said.

“Did we hit something?” Gail asked.

“No,” said Novak, his face ashen. “Something hit us…”