Kronos

34

The Titan-Gulf of Maine

As Ray rocketed forward twenty feet below the ocean’s surface, Atticus kept his eyes locked forward. Some might call his current state of mind a throwback to earlier times, when men hunted and killed prey with their bare hands, as that had required such a fixated concentration. But most would believe those days, when men had savagely killed for food, were long past. But Atticus knew otherwise. He’d seen the savagery of man, and at times, had become its embodiment.

As now.

The recent emotional wounds buried so desperately over the past few days were allowed to reopen and fester. The enmity built within him, surging and billowing out like a mushroom cloud, eradicating his sensibilities and absorbing his hesitation. The rage channeled his core to a laser focus, beaming through the ocean, boiling it away.

As he closed the distance to his target, his adrenaline pumped with anticipation of a life-or-death struggle. He ground his teeth and focused his eyes on the distant blue. Then he saw it.

A wave of shadow moving through the water below.

He was already above it!

Without thought to the possible consequences of his actions, Atticus spun Ray upside down and plunged, nose first into the depths like a diving fighter jet. His thumbs jittered over the torpedo-launch button. He knew a single torpedo might have little effect, but Ray carried ten, and the cumulative effect might be enough.

The shadow emerged from the depths at two hundred feet down, just fifteen feet shy of the ocean shelf’s floor. Atticus caught his breath, and the sight of the thing nearly sapped his determination. The shadow he’d seen from a distance with Trevor and O’Shea appeared inconsequential compared to this. He was a crab attacking a great white, and just as the great white would ignore a crab, Kronos paid little attention to the approaching submersible.

Atticus continued his dive, intent on each torpedo hitting its mark. He cruised in toward the massive horse-shaped head, and was momentarily struck by the peaceful movement of the beast. Its rhythmic up-and-down undulations propelled it through the water, guided by long pectoral fins and very small lateral fins. Atticus realized Trevor’s comparison to the Kronosaurus wasn’t too far off. If only the creature’s torso were about one hundred feet shorter. Its mouth lolled slightly agape, revealing devilish teeth. And its eyes…Atticus stared at its eyes, haunted by the memories that returned with its gaze.

With a rage-filled scream, Atticus hit the yellow button, powering Ray toward Kronos at speeds that almost guaranteed a collision. Then, with quick flicks of his thumbs he launched all ten torpedoes, aiming straight for Kronos’s head. After launching the torpedoes, Atticus quickly realized that Ray was still accelerating and gaining on the torpedoes, just seconds away from detonation. He swung Ray low, beneath the torpedoes, and as Kronos’s body arced, he spun Ray between its body and the seafloor, zipping through the momentary arch just before it closed.

A second later, the ocean convulsed as ten explosions pulsed through it, each one sending a shock wave rolling out from the point of impact. Caught from behind, Ray flipped end over end. Atticus cut the engines and side-slipped to the bottom like a coin tossed in a wishing well. Ray landed on the seafloor with a jolt that sent up a plume of sand.

As the sand settled on top of Ray, Atticus heard a deep bellow reverberate through the waters. A death wallow? Had he succeeded?

The wail turned into a roar, angry and energetic. Kronos had taken ten torpedoes at close range and the only thing Atticus had achieved was to enrage the beast. He took some consolation in the fact that he was, like a real ray, concealed beneath the sand. But the fight was far from over. He thumbed the trigger for the electric-shock cables. They worked like stun guns, each locking onto the target by piercing or suction, then unleashing an electric current through insulated cables that kept the charge from being dissipated into the water. Unlike a stun gun, the charge unleashed was enough to kill a whale ten times over…or the entire crew of a U.S. Coast Guard cutter.

As the remaining cloud of silt settled, and the view cleared, Atticus found himself in a dire situation. No longer undulating, the whole mass of Kronos’s body slowly glided in a circle around Ray, propelled only by its four fins. It had located him instantly, and was apparently making up its mind as how best to kill him. He watched as the head moved past, following just behind the tail, its body forming a massive ring. One great eye glanced at Atticus. He was sure it could see him inside Ray.

Perhaps that’s why it had yet to attack? If the creature held any intelligence, like that of a whale or a dolphin, it might be curious as to how a creature could survive in the gut of another. As the body passed by again, its long front flippers pushed it forward and grazed the seafloor with every beat, casting sand into the waters around its sleek, black-topped, white-bellied body.

For an instant, Atticus saw the creature for what it was-not a freak of nature or killing machine, but a miraculous creation, unique in every way.

Then he thumbed the shock-cable trigger and waited for the head to pass again. A shot to the open eye should do the trick. The snout appeared from the right, then the eye again, still watching him. He waited as the head came into range, preparing to surge out of the sand and fire. He’d have a front row seat to watch the thing boil in its own skin.

Atticus held his breath. He could feel his heart beat behind his eyes.

With each beat he imagined faces of the living and the dead.

Giona.

Maria.

Andrea…

He blinked and realized the time had come. He accelerated out of the sand, exploding a cloud of silt from around Ray as he rose. Most denizens of the sea would have turned tail and fled at the sight of Ray rising off the seafloor, but Kronos turned toward the submersible and opened its maw, ready to snatch its prey.

Atticus fired the shock cables and rocketed forward. Their aim was true; each headed for Kronos’s eyes. It would be a fatal shot. Even a beast that large couldn’t survive a jolt straight to its brain.

But at the last possible moment, Kronos twisted its head and clamped its jaws shut on the cables, quickly severing them. The electric current meant for the target alone burst into the open ocean and hit Ray and Kronos alike.

The jolt coursed through the sub, striking Atticus and nearly knocking him unconscious. But just as soon as it had come, the shock was exhausted. Ray ’s internal electronics shorted and again the sub began fluttering back toward the seafloor.

As Atticus regained his wits and realized what had happened, he screamed as the sight that had been Giona’s last enveloped him. The dark, gaping mouth of Kronos opened wide and sucked Ray in. Ray ’s size kept Atticus from being swallowed whole, but he had no doubt the creature’s powerful jaws could crush Ray with ease. High-pitched squeaks tore through the cabin as Kronos’s teeth etched the glass above Atticus’s head. Ray ’s systems reset, and its external lights blinked back on, illuminating Kronos’s jaws. Atticus gazed at the spear-like teeth and wondered what kept them from piercing the glass and finishing the job.

Whatever the reason, he wouldn’t waste this last opportunity. Atticus prepped the small nuclear device, doing his best to not look up; any distraction might cost him the time he needed to type in the activation code Trevor had given him. His finger worked the number pad recessed in the armrest, ticking out the fifteen-digit code. Once complete, Atticus’s index finger hovered over the final key.

Then he looked up and paused.

He hadn’t noticed the slight motion of the submersible or the gentle shake as it was set down gently into the sand. But now, as the gaping jaws loosened around the sub’s hull and dim sunlight filtering down from above filled the cabin, Atticus realized what Kronos had done.

“What the hell?” Atticus moved his hand away from the activation keypad and gazed at Kronos as the creature backed away, its eyes locked onto his. Reaching a distance of twenty feet, it resumed its circular course around Ray. It was waiting for something, but what?

Atticus knew this behavior was completely unheard of in the animal kingdom. Its life had been threatened. It had been under attack, yet it didn’t fight or flee. It had defended itself, to be sure, but then it showed restraint. Perhaps even mercy.

Atticus shook his head at the last thought. He remembered Giona and the way she’d been so quickly eaten. If this creature was intelligent, it had eaten her on purpose, and toyed with him now. He reached over for the activation keypad, but froze before reaching the halfway point. The creature’s body, or something inside the creature, caught his attention.

Atticus focused on the anomaly.

A flashing from inside its body. Perhaps it was building up its own electric charge, like an electric eel? If that were true, the herring wouldn’t have been able to flee, and he and Giona would have been shocked. Then what the hell was it?

As though in answer to his unspoken question, Kronos brought his body closer, a mere ten feet from Ray. Its body filled the view. Moving out of instinct more than anything else, Atticus switched off the exterior lights, turning Kronos’s side into a dark canvas.

Then he saw it-a flash from inside the creature, emanating from a precise source. Then with a sudden brilliance, the flash repeated like a strobe light, and an image coalesced at the center of the light.

A silhouette of something at its source.

A form.

A body.

A shape that Atticus immediately recognized.

“Oh, God no…” Atticus leaned so far forward that he hit his head on the lexan glass bubble of Ray ’s eye socket viewing port, which separated him from the ocean. He didn’t even register the impact.

He knew the shape, however impossible. Sadness, then rage, took hold of him, shaking his body. The beast tormented him!

Before Atticus could act and destroy them both with a small thermonuclear device, the impossible happened. The silhouette moved amid the continuing flashes. He could see her arms. He watched her knees rise up to her chest.

Still alive.

Giona was alive-inside Kronos.

Hot tears came with a torrent of emotion. Atticus pushed against the glass bubble, willing himself to burst forth into the ocean, tear Kronos apart, and extract his still-living daughter from its gullet.

“Oh, baby, I’m here.” Atticus filled his lungs and screamed. “Giona! I’m here! I’m going to get you out! I won’t leave you! Giona!”

He was pounding on the glass now, beating his fists as his heart broke for the second time in five days. Then the flashing stopped, and she disappeared, hidden behind Kronos’s black skin. Kronos slowly backed away, his body sliding backwards as his massive face turned toward Ray. Atticus felt the intelligence behind the massive beast’s eyes once again, yet more clearly. It was conveying a message with its eyes-a look of consternation, of disapproval.

Atticus slumped in his chair. How was this possible? It wasn’t! His mind kept shouting it at him.

She’s dead!

Giona is dead!

No, damn it, she’s alive!

Atticus could sense the message coming from the beast. Its eyes, once frightening, now tranquil. It bore him no ill will. And then it let out a cry, a sound so peaceful that Atticus, despite the dire situation, felt comforted. In that moment, he realized that the creature had no intention of truly devouring Giona. She lay inside the creature, yet even after days inside, was still alive and undigested.

A single thought burrowed into Atticus’s mind. What kind of creature is this?