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  The Sea Ray hit a wave wrong, lurching the women forward roughly against their seat belts. Cindy folded completely in half, smashing her nose on her right knee. Blood gushed from the wound and she screamed, trying to ebb the flow of blood and shocked by the gore that pumped amply down the flat front of her t-shirt. Susan took the hit okay, but Claire hit her head on the side of the boat, stunning her. Clive smashed his nose as well and bled much the same as Shiro’s sister. He took the blow much calmer than she did, grunting and holding his shirt against his face. Shiro, who was buckled up as well, unhitched his belt and turned around.

  “Everyone okay? Shit!” Shiro got on the bow of the boat and leaned down over the side. “I think it’s okay. I don’t see a break.”

  “You drive like shit,” Clive said, his voice half-muffled by his shirt.

  “Shiro!” Cindy screamed, “My nose is broken!”

  “I didn’t mess up,” Shiro said. “I hit something. There’s no way that a wave could do that to us. Maybe it was a rock or something.”

  “Out here?” Clive said. “The water is too deep for that.”

  “I hit something,” Shiro said. “I felt it, but I didn’t see anything.” The boat shuddered in the water as if it were being dragged over gravel. Cindy cried out. Clive gripped the sides of the boat and swore.

  “What the hell is that?” Susan said. She reached over and touched her sister’s shoulder, Claire gripped her sister’s hand in her own. Something bumped the speedboat on the starboard side, sending it into a slight spin.

  The bow of the boat shot straight up almost vertical them slammed back down in the water. The passengers screamed as one from fright and hurt. Shiro turned the key in the ignition, sparking the speedboat back to life. Two gnarled, grey and spiked appendages rose from the water twenty feet in the air and clamped down on either side of the boat, smashing in the hull on either side. Shiro gunned the motor, but the boat was held fast.

  “What the fuck is that? What the fuck?” Clive screamed over and over. The women in the back were screaming as well, but whatever they were saying was inaudible amidst their shrieks. Shiro didn’t know what it was, but the thing that held them in its grip seemed like a giant claw.

  “I can’t get this thing to go,” Shiro said.

  “Do something,” Clive yelled. The claw ripped them downward with such force that the boat passengers didn’t have time to take a breath before they were torn beneath the waves. Panic seized them all. They thrashed at their belt buckles but couldn’t unlatch them. In the murky depth of the water, they saw that what was taking them. It moved with gentle grace through the ocean on telephone pole-sized legs, segmented and crawling like a spider. One eyestalk looked at them while they struggled. The black watery orb of the crab’s eye was a big as a mailbox. The other eye looked forward to where it was walking. Its body was grey and spiked, the armor was thick and strong. Its claw arms were nearly as long as its legs, the claws themselves were long and thin, not stout. The passengers, the ones that still kept their wits about them during the crisis, peered down into the watery blackness and couldn’t see the end of the crab’s legs.

  Shiro looked toward the back of the boat as he struggled to get at his knife, thinking to cut the belt in half and free himself before he drowned. Claire was slumped forward as if already dead. The other women were looking back at him in horror, mouthing words he couldn’t hear. The air bubbles dissipated and left. He watched his younger sister try to breathe and take in only water, her eyes glazed over.

  Shiro was able to remove his knife and saw his belt in half. He tried to swim upward but found his foot was caught in the crushed hull. He must not have noticed amidst all the turmoil of the moment. He kicked and pulled, but could not get free. Darkness clouded his vision and he passed out as water filled his lungs. He had always heard that drowning was a peaceful way to die. Right before he lost consciousness, he struggled to breathe, but could take in no air. He felt fear and loneliness, and far, very far from peace.

  The world came crashing back in a torrent of pain and confusion as he sputtered up water, coughing wretchedly and vomiting at the same time, his body racked, trying to take in life-giving air. Shiro looked up to see Clive kneeling close by, watching him. Shiro smiled and wiped away a stream of liquid vomit off his shirt.

  “You gave me mouth to mouth, didn’t you?”

  “I did,” Clive said, “but I waited to do you last. Got the girls back okay too. Saved all your fucking lives, but I wouldn’t thank me just yet for it. You might have wanted me to just let you die.” Shiro looked around. He way lying several feet away from a pool of salty water. The blue waves flickered light up against the rocky ceiling and walls. He realized that he was in an underwater cave. There was no telling how deep underground they were, but getting there by chance was out of the question. They had been brought there. That sea monster took them here, but why?

  “How long have I been out?” Shiro asked.

  “Not sure,” Clive said. “Your sister isn’t doing too well, you might want to check on her.” Shiro sat up, his head spun and he had to lay back down. He saw his sister sitting between the two townie women just as they had been on the boat. Her head was on Susan’s shoulder. She was breathing shallowly.

  “You okay, sis?” Shiro asked. Cindy nodded. Tears ran down her face. Susan gently wiped them away. Claire wasn’t paying attention to them. She was watching the water.

  “We have to figure out how to get out of here,” Clive said. “One of us is going to have to swim for it. You guys can’t hold your breath worth a shit so I guess it’s going to have to be me.”

  “You can’t swim out of here,” Shiro said. “There’s no telling how far under the water we are. You’ll drown for sure.”

  “That fucking giant crab put us here,” Clive said. “You weren’t awake for it. That thing pushed the boat up onto the ledge of this cave and let us go. There’s a reason that we are here and I don’t want to stay around long enough to find out what that reason is.”

  “Move guys!” Claire screamed. “Get away from the water!” Shiro turned to see the hazy blue turn to black as a myriad of scrabbling legs of the spider crabs floated to the surface. Their bodies filled the pool opening and clawed to get onto the surface. The cavern went dark as hundreds of the crabs tried to surface at once. A deep guttural howl shook the cave walls and stopped the crabs in their place. A long, tapered claw the size of a Volkswagen rose out of the water and darted at the women, spearing Cindy through the stomach and raising her in the air. She screamed and flailed her arms and legs in every direction as she was brought towards the water. The spider crabs scrambled anew, awaiting the meal to come. The others looked on helplessly as the giant crab dipped Cindy’s feet into the water. Claws snapped at her feet, slicing off tips of her toes and digging furrows into her flesh. She picked her feet up and held onto the monster’s appendage like a koala, cradling the claw that ran her through. The giant crab that lowered Cindy under her body was underwater up to her waist. She screamed and thrashed. The water pooled red under her body as the crabs feasted on her flesh. She cried, laying her head on the grey armor of the giant crab’s claw, whimpering for it to stop and let her go. It seemed to take her forever to pass out. She lay against the crab claw, her body jouncing this way and that as the crabs below slowly cut away her flesh.

  “Is she dead?” Susan asked, her voice almost inaudible among the scrabbling crustacean horde.

  “I don’t think so,” Clive said. “She’s still breathing.” Claire was holding Shiro in her arms, he was sobbing uncontrollably. For many hours, they sat in the semi-darkness of the cave, listening to the eating of the spider crabs as they devoured Cindy alive.

  Chapter – 5

  “Where are you from?” Marty Bartelle asked the non-expressive repo man, who had taken to leaning back on the bench, making himself comfortable for what he thought was going to be a long wait.

  “East a ways,” Duke said, eyeing the pair. He looked comfortable
on the outside, but he was tense as a garage spring, ready to smash the skull of the first man to raise his bat. Billy and Marty had him flanked on either side. Duke was sure that he was in for an ass kicking, but he would make damn sure to put the hurt to at least one of them before he was taken down.

  “We seem to be looking for the same guy,” Marty said. “Some fucking research diver, named Mark.”

  “Seems that way,” Duke said.

  “Is he into you for some money?”

  “Not me,” Duke said. “Someone else. I’m just here to pick up the boat. That’s it. I have no business with what you guys want with the guy.”

  “That’s fucking genius,” Billy said. “Smart man, but you’re not thinking this all the way through. I don’t know how much he owes whomever is paying you, but I can assure you that he’s in hock up to his balls with us. So why don’t you get back in your little tow truck and fuck off out of here.”

  “Or you’re going to do what?” Duke said, touching his hand lightly to his belt.

  “Do you think I’m scared of that little piece of shit gun you have stuffed in your jeans? I’ll crack your fucking head open before you have that thing half-way pulled out. I’ll make sure you’re still alive when I shove the barrel up your ass and pull the trigger.”

  “Take it easy, Billy,” Marty Bartelle said, smiling like he didn’t mean for his brother to take it easy at all. “I don’t think that this guy is going to be a problem.”

  “I’m not going to be a problem,” Duke said.

  “I thought so,” Marty said, patting Duke on the shoulder.

  “I’m just here for the boat.”

  “Fucking asshole,” Billy said. He swung the bat in a diagonal descent. Duke blocked the bat with his left forearm. The blow sent a piercing siren of pain through his arm, but Duke didn’t feel the bone crack. He pulled the gun and shot a couple rounds at Billy’s feet. Billy jumped back. Marty did the same. Duke stood up and rubbed his arm with the butt of his gun.

  “Next person who takes a swing,” Duke said, eyeing the two, “is going to get their dick shot off.”

  “Nobody is going to swing,” Marty said. This time he looked like he meant it.

  “I’m here for the boat. You two asshole’s can have the diver. Deal?”

  “Fuck that,” Billy said. Marty shoved his brother back with the tip of his bat.

  “Deal!” Marty said. “Don’t fucking shoot.” Duke sat back down on the bench and lit another cigarette. His last one. The Bartelle brothers stayed where they were.

  “You guys got a smoke?” Duke asked. Billy laughed.

  “Get a load of this fucking guy,” Billy said. “I’ve got smokes in the car. None of that shit. We’ve got some good stuff.” Billy watched Duke take a long drag that ate up a third of the cigarette and immediately decided that he liked the repo man. Marty had put on a stupid face like he didn’t know what the hell was going on. Billy tossed him the keys to the Escalade.

  “Get us some smokes,” Billy said.

  “Okay,” Marty said and went off toward the car. Billy held up the bat and raised his eyebrows.

  “Okay if I put this down and join you on the bench?” he asked.

  “It’s a free country,” Duke said, putting the gun back into his belt, and sliding over. Billy rested the bat against the wall and sat down heavily on the bench next to Duke. Marty returned with the smokes, three unbanded Churchill maduro cigars. He took a silver-plated cigar punch out of his pocket and clipped the smokes. Duke didn’t see the bat on him, he must have left it back at the car.

  “Look,” Billy said, flicking his Zippo lighter and rolling the end of the cigar over it, creating a char around the edges, “You can have the fucking boat. We don’t have much use for it. Boats aren’t much of a money maker for us. They take up too much room. Too fucking big.” Billy put the cigar in his mouth and inhaled the smoke into his mouth. The end of the cigar glowed orange as large plumes of grey smoke filled the air and collected under the office overhang. “But we want this guy. He’s fucked us over good.” Billy handed Duke his Zippo. Duke took it and lit the cigar with a quick harsh inhale. Marty had taken leave of the office and walked down toward the dock area to see if the diver had returned.

  “I just need the boat,” Duke said.

  “Maybe we can work out a deal,” Billy said. “I don’t see any sense in us getting in each other’s way. Seems like this guy fucked over a lot of people. You’re not from around here, so I’m going to assume this is government business.”

  “Federal,” Duke said.

  “No shit,” Billy said, blowing a huge plume of smoke into the overhang. “Look, we don’t want any feds sniffing around here, messing up business. We work together. Marty and I get the diver. You get the boat. We all leave happy.”

  “What do you suggest?”

  “I took the liberty of putting a GPS tracker on that boat of Mark’s not too long after he started doing business with us. Guys with boats can be a little unreliable. They get some money in their pockets and sail off into the sunset leaving us holding the bag. Turns out this guy didn’t own the items he took loans off of, meaning I can’t sell them.”

  “Do you have a boat?” Duke asked.

  “I do,” Billy said. “Just don’t know how to drive it. Got it off some guy who wanted fast cash to get out of town. We got the boat for next to nothing.” Duke looked thoughtfully at his cigar. The day was getting hot. He had expected to be long down the road with the boat in tow by this time.

  “I’ll take you out there,” Duke said.

  “Good man,” Billy said. “Marty, get the GPS out of the truck and meet us down by the boat. Bring your bat and maybe the .45’s out of the glove box too.” Marty went back to the Escalade muttering under his breath about having to ‘fetch’ everything his brother told him too.

  Chapter - 6

  Duke went back to his tow truck and took his 12 gauge shotgun out from behind the seats. He checked to make sure it was loaded, and it was. He kept five rounds of clay shooting rounds in the barrel, strong enough to put someone on their ass, but not going to blow through walls and kill anybody else. Along with the shells in the chamber, Duke took a box of shells out of the glove box and put them in his jeans pocket as well as what would fit in his front shirt pocket. The extra shells he took would put a hole through a brick wall and keep going strong. He trusted the Bartelle brothers about as much as he trusted his first ex-wife to ride his ass like a bothersome bitch for the rest of his life. If those pawn shop boys tried anything funny on the boat, he would neatly cut them in half with the shotgun, and go on with his day.

  Duke locked up the tow truck and walked back to the docks to meet up with Billy and Marty. He ignored the stares of people; he was walking around with a loaded shotgun after all. Duke wouldn’t care if any of them called the police on him. He would be far out onto the water before any officer showed up and he was certain that he could easily deal with any small-town law enforcement. Usually they let him go because he was obviously on business. If any of them gave him shit, he could buy them off or offer to take care of any business that the cop could use his tow truck for. Duke made his way over to the covered lots of the dock and easily found the Bartelle Brothers’ boat. It was an eighties speedboat with a pink and blue swath of paint on the side that reminded Duke of Zubaz pants.

  Billy walked to the edge of the boat, eyeing Duke’s shotgun. Duke was checking out the heat that Billy decided was necessary to bring aboard to take down a research scientist. Billy was holding two Diamondback assault rifles. He was smiling ruefully.

  “I see you’ve thought about coming prepared as well,” Billy said, “and this is just the tip of the iceberg.”

  “What’s with all the firepower?” Duke asked.

  “Just in case we find more than we bargained for on this little hunt of ours,” Billy said. “Included in all the gear that Mark sold us were a couple of underwater video cameras. Some of the footage was still inside them. Normally,
we wouldn’t give a shit about some researchers home movies, but we decided to take a peek when he went AWOL on payments and we found out the property had been stolen. Government research owned video is mostly boring, but to have this guy try and keep working even though the money was pulled piqued our interest. Marty thought that the guy might be trying to find something that would renew his money resource.”

  “Well,” Duke said, “what is it?”

  “Some kind of sea monster.”

  “Bullshit.”

  “No bullshit,” Billy said, unlatching and pulling up the backseat of the speedboat and putting the assault rifles inside. “Mostly it was just recordings of a bunch of crabs, ugly things, and pretty fucking large. Marty and I saw something on one of the tapes that made us take notice. Below the crabs was movement, something big. The crabs seemed to be crawling on the ocean floor, but we think they were actually on top of another crab. A giant one. We saw a glimpse of a huge eye and a section of leg, but that’s it. Nothing inconclusive, but we saw what we saw and we think the diver knows about it.”