The Library of Forbidden Books

Chapter 37

“Collect your thoughts,” Dr. Richard Philips told the bristling Gretchen who was readying to give him a second wallop for the danger he had dropped her and her friend into by summoning the very thing that was now attacking the Second World War submarine they were trapped in.

“You are insane!” she shouted.

“You did not think me insane when I delivered my theses on this very possibility, Gretchen,” he retorted calmly, although his brow was glistening with nervous perspiration. “You believed it was possible and you were fascinated by it!”

“I was fascinated by you, you idiot! Your genius and your ability to foresee the plausible and possible routes ahead of others was what attracted me to your lectures! Just because you know something can be done, does not mean you actually have to initiate it!” she fought back, only held from him by Nina’s firm hands. “You are actually bringing these fucking monsters out of other dimensions to have a free-for-all buffet with the population of this planet? Are you out of your fucking mind?”

“Come,” Nina coaxed her, tugging her away,” come and get us to a port, Gretch. This damned thing is getting closer again, and you are the only one who knows vaguely how to maneuver this submarine. Sam needs urgent medical attention, and he is going to die if you don’t get us out of the deep!” She grabbed Gretchen’s reddened face and cradled it in her palms. “Hey! Are you listening?”

“Yes, yes,” Gretchen moaned, shooting one more deadly look at Richard. “How are we going to get rid of this thing?”

“We are close to the Faroe Islands,” Nina jested. “Hey, we’ll lure the fucker up there and the Faroese will see it as a perfect time for some grindadráp action. They’ll make quick work of it.”

“Geez, wouldn’t want to eat that, though,” Gretch winked, a bit more like herself now. “It’s cool. They’ll give it to the Sea Shepherd tourists,” Nina laughed.

But before they could share a good laugh another devastating blow ripped through the tail end of the submarine. The lights flickered profusely as the women fell painfully against the levers and knobs of the panel.

“Gretchen, we have to do something! Can you radio?” Nina shouted, cringing in pain and fright.

“We have no radio contact, doll. We’re fucked!” her friend replied, scuttling up to check the bearings.

“Where are we now?” Nina panted, falling against Gretchen as the thing shrieked through the water again, shaking the vessel with such intense vibration that Sam woke from his unconsciousness.

“I think we are just past Cruden Bay!”

“Where the fuck is Cruden Bay?” Nina bellowed over the bludgeoning taking place at the bow around the companionway of the vessel.

“Just off the coast of Aberdeen, round about!” Gretchen reported.

The entire front of the submarine was being crushed like a discarded beer can and the clank of it was unlike anything the occupants had ever heard. It sounded like a plane crash right in front of them, sending panic through all four of them.

“Jesus Christ! We’re going to die!” Nina screamed, nearly falling, as she trudged her way to Sam. “Sam! Wake up! We have to bail, I don’t care how!”

“That is preposterous, Nina!” Richard shouted.

“The whole fucking boat is coming apart, Richard! Now, you are welcome to go Free Willy with your own bloody monster, but we are getting out of here before it crushes us to death and we drown!” she barked.

“And how are we going to get to the coast without being caught by the creature?” he asked, reminding Nina that it was hardly a stone’s throw from the deep sea to the coast.

“I’ll take my chances,” Nina said, helping Sam to sit up. “Sam! Sam, can you hear me?”

He nodded, but his skin was on fire from the fever, his brain burning with disorientation. Gretchen stumbled toward them, “Come! Aft!”

“Sam?” Nina said in his ear. “Are you strong enough to come with us? Can you walk?”

He nodded, and she was elated to feel his fingers locking over her forearm. With much trouble he blinked to stretch his eyes enough to guide him along with Nina and Gretchen.

“Richard! Are you coming?” Gretchen called back to him, as the three of them crossed the doorway into the passage to head to the back of the submarine.

“Leave him behind if he wants to stay,” Nina said. Gretchen shook her head, admitting that she had been wrong to trust him. She looked back through the door and saw the tall, thin man on his knees, gathering up the scattered books with unnatural patience, almost reverence, regardless of the peril he was in. Another growl echoed from all around the vessel, shaking the bolts and vibrating through the breaking vents.

“Oh, my God! It is everywhere now!” Gretchen cried.

“It is wrapped around us,” Sam muttered. “I can almost feel its breath on me.”

“No, Sam. That is your fever,” Gretchen soothed him. The two women exchanged looks as they made it to the mess room.

“I’m so hungry,” Sam remarked, as they traversed the mess hall and all its utensils strewn across the counters and floor. Nina ran her fingers through his wet, black hair.

“Me too, love,” she said softly, her words drowning in the next thunderous bellow of the freakish, squid-like colossus. The women screamed and instinctively bent their knees to cower with Sam in the middle.

“Where are we going?” Sam asked. All he could see was pipes and knobs and rails against old plating of iron and copper, gauges, and rust. He had no idea if he was awake or asleep, dead or alive. All he knew was that he had to bear forward, because that was where Nina’s sweet voice was beckoning from. His buckling legs made him heavier for the two girls flanking him, carrying him onward.

“We are going to the escape hatch, Sam. I just hope to God that we get there before this slippery Cthulu bitch mashes the back of the boat into our bodies,” Gretchen said. Behind them came a tapping sound that propelled them forward.

“What the hell is that?” Gretch gasped as they accelerated their pace.

“Something is tapping on the steel! For fuck’s sake, like we don’t have enough shit with this thing,” Nina puffed. The rhythmic tapping grew louder along with the mighty crack and subsequent hiss they heard in their wake. The two women looked at each other in terror at the sound.

“I think that is water rushing in,” Gretchen announced. “I can’t go any faster.”

“Ladies, let me try to test my legs and you can go ahead!” Sam told them, even among their protests to let him go. He unhooked his arms from them and pushed them forward with force, but he stumbled. As he went down, he was scooped up by the pale-faced Richard. His tapping footsteps came behind them all this time while he shouldered the sling bag. With it he had also collected their possessions.

“Richard! You are here!” Gretchen shouted, almost smiling.

“Thanks, Pasty,” Sam murmured.

“Don’t mention it, Mr. Cleave,” Dr. Philips answered with a crack of a smile. “I have managed to collect all our cell phones and IDs,” he reported as they approached the hatch. “They are secured in the plastic wrapping of the Purely Scottish six pack, so I hope that keeps them dry.”

“Thank you so much, Richard! You did us a hell of a job!” Nina cried out as the water thundered down the length of the submarine, catching up with them rapidly.

“Here! Here!” Gretchen shouted and stopped.

At their feet the water rose at an alarming rate, moving toward their knees and thighs. Sam whimpered at the freezing cold water on his scalded skin, as Nina struggled to loosen the hatch.

“It’s rusted, I think! It won’t budge!” she shouted back down to them. Without a moment’s hesitation Richard left Sam’s side to jolt up the ladder behind Nina, and, like the monster sea creature wrapped itself around the vessel, the tall man covered her small body entirely with his to reach up to the hatch.

“How close are we to the surface, Gretchen?” he asked.

“Close enough! About four meters from the hatch to the fresh air above,” she answered.

“I hope you’re right, Gretch. If that thing has not yet turned us topsy-turvy yet,” Nina worried. Both Sam and Gretch gave her a negative shake of the head.

“Please, don’t even go there, doll.”

The deafening clap of what sounded like cannons assaulted their ears. Stunned, the party looked at one another, shrugging, and frowning in hopeless perplexity at the rising, white foam of the salt water. Richard managed to unlock the hatch with a bit of toil, but he did not open it yet.

“Everyone ready? Hold on to something until you are completely submerged and then swim out,” he suggested and they all made ready to go under. Around the lid of the hatch the foaming water started to pour in, in a perfect waterfall circle. He nodded one last time as the immense clap of thunder sounded again, shaking the powerful body of steel as if it were a flimsy pencil case. Nina and Sam held hands, and with Gretchen holding on to Nina’s sling bag, they sucked in their last breath for the next few minutes, hopefully not their last ever.

The ice-cold North Sea swept into the small compartment where they stood, assaulting their bodies with frigid smothering liquid that fell hard on their heads and shoulders before swallowing them. Their feet began to lift off the floor as gravity gave way to the cool blue and slowly peeking out before leaving the vessel, they emerged one by one into the great and dangerous expanse. Escaping the submarine successfully without getting crushed was one success, but what bothered Nina most was laying eyes on the thing that was eating the boat. Her heart could not take such a vision, she knew, and her friends felt much the same. Another clap pulsed through the water, propelling the half-drowning bunch out of orbit. Much as they tried to stay together, there was chaos in the water.

Profusely paddling to go up to the bright sunrays that streaked though the surface, the group could all see one another. In their observation, they also could not ignore the strange massive bubbling spears of great force falling at the same trajectory around them. The slipstream of these white fizzing shafts challenged the group’s ability to stay their course upward, but their survival instinct was far stronger.

One by one, Sam, Nina, Gretchen, and Richard broke the surface, inhaling deeply at the relief of oxygen above the watery hell. Around them was a sight they would never have expected. On the water off the coast of Aberdeen several Navy vessels along with the Coastguard rode the swells. Above them, the Royal Naval Air Squadron Sea King Mk5 hovered over two Type 26 global combat ships, pumping an arsenal of Mk45 Mod 4 shells at the enemy vessel that showed up in local waters and would not return communication.

Only when their sonar picked up the obliterating sounds of the perceived vessel, did they realize that it was not a military assault, but something a little more alarming. From the radar readings, the thing moved immensely fast for its colossal size. They never even noticed the body of the HMS Trident that was crumpled and sinking quietly into the depths off the Aberdeen shoreline. Relieved beyond measure, Nina and Sam watched as the Coastguard rescue boat approached the four of them. Richard was paddling just behind them, casting a glance into the depth beneath him every now and then. Gretchen, a strong swimmer, had already reached the other rescue boat.

“Thank God, Sam, now you can get to a hospital,” Nina gasped over the lapping waves that crashed against her face. Sam felt his brain darkening from the exertion and put his head against Nina, “And not a moment too soon either.”