No one was quite sure what to make of it. So many questions and no lead to any of them. Caleb kept replaying the encounter in his head over and over again. Even as they walked back to the lab to finally shut it down he kept hearing that distorted voice screaming in his head.

He put the key card into a slot on the main controller and was granted full access.

The very first thing he did was shutting down the machines, the tanks stopped producing the mutants. Then it was just to make sure it never happened again.

Do you want to eliminate the birthers?’

Yes

No

Caleb pushed yes and the lights of the tanks shut down, the machine like roar inside the walls died down as the giant machinations died down.

It was over, the birthers were dead and therefore no more mutants attacking the town.

‘Those poor women finally have their peace.’ Juan commented, looking sadly at the floating remains.

‘I suppose...’

Caleb looked trough the files, most of it was just research data. As well as communication from something called station 5, must have been some old world military base.

It was just regulars reports about their progress, the final message was from station 5 stating that the war had began but they were to keep working no matter what happened and everything was under control.

It almost sounded like it came straight out of the Empire’s handbook in a way.

‘Lets go Caleb, we still have a sister lab to check.’ Jack said.

‘Ya...’ he logged out and they all left the silent lab behind.

On the way back it was clear he was more distant, the radio incident had disturbed him greatly.

‘Look Caleb, try not to let that freak get to you.We will figure this out and take out whoever was on the other line.’

‘You seem so sure captain.’

‘I have to be, being captain means having no room for doubt or weakness.’

‘I don’t know Jack, what even was that language? And how is she...it tied to the cube?’

‘I don’t know but a language is never spoken by just one person. After we’re done here the next step is finding someone to translate. We still have the recording.’

Once back in town Juan went back Sera who was still shaken up after the slaughter performed right on their border.

‘Why did you do it though? I wasn’t a fan of the them but to just kill them like that...’

‘They were responsible for the mutants.’

‘What?’

‘Roberto found the lab out the woods years ago, found the right key to activate it and send those things after you. They basically caught us and attacked.’

‘And what about Matilda?’

‘They tried to get to do the job first. We had to strike first.’

‘I don’t know what to make of any of this! I was scared of Matilda of course, we all were but....’

‘But now the town is scared of us instead...’

‘Ya....they want you out. And as soon as possible. We have been living under another persons boot for years now, always living suppressed and walking on thin ice constantly! We don’t want to just replace one tyrant for another you see.’

‘We have no interest in doing that.’

‘I know that, but the others don’t. They’re always asking why you’re still here when you got your fuel. Is the job really worth all this?’

‘Its more than that. The leviathan, the lab, its all connected to a much bigger mystery. I can’t tell you more than that. Besides can’t you explain the situation to the others?’

‘ They don’t listen to me, they’re to scared and paranoid.You better gather your clues soon cause the town is about ready to explode. And now we have all of Matilda’s guns, I won’t be able to stop them.’

‘We just have one last thing to do. You mentioned your father found something out in the ocean.’

‘Yes, an island with a lighthouse. But its so far away from the coast and we already have one here so it was strange to build one so far out.’

‘We need to go there, it could hold the final clues.’

‘I can’t help you there, I don’t know where it is and I have no experience sailing.’

‘Is there anyone who can help then?’

‘Just one, Graham. He’s the oldest sailor here and knows these waters better than anyone.’

‘Thank you Sera, just stay here and keep calm alright? It will all be over soon.’

He left the house, seeing the glares of the townsfolk. He was better off finding this Graham soon so they could finish up.

He tried asking but the folk avoided him like the plague, no one wanted to even stand close to the outsider right now.

When it started to feel hopeless he found Graham standing by the dock, smoking his pipe and looking out into the ocean.

‘Seems you know your stuff.’ he said as Juan approached. ‘You’re dangerous, I expected that. That’s why I hired ye to kill that damn thing. But how does this get ye any closer?’

‘We need to learn what we’re up against, and now we need your help with it.’

‘Is that so?’

‘Ya...there’s a lighthouse on a island further out to sea.’

‘Aye I know of that one. Used to warn ships of that little island I believe, back in the day. Why?’

‘We need to go there, and we need a guide.’

‘You’re barking at the wrong tree boy, I never flew anywhere in life and I don’t start planning to.’

‘What if I told you it gets us one step closer to killing it?’

‘Then I’d tell ye its to the slight north, mostly east of here. You should be able to spot it from pretty far in that flying machine of yours.’

‘Guess there’s nothing I can say then huh?’

‘No you can’t. I’m staying on the ground where I belong.’

He shrugged his shoulders and left, perhaps that info was good enough. Soon after the ship lifted off, back over the ocean and Kel opted to stay inside the ship this time.

It only took them a few minutes before they spotted it, like a pillar rising out of the ocean. As they got closer they noticed the island had a flat surface, large enough for them to land. It wasn’t much there expect for tall grass and the run down lighthouse, not capable of lighting up anymore.

The door was rusted shut and needed Rock to kick it open. From there it looked normal, nothing out of the ordinary.

‘65, where is the entrance to this lab?’ Caleb asked their new robot.

‘The entrance should be located in the living room.’

The place was filled with dust and most the furniture was broken, laying in piles of rotted wood.

Trough their flashlights they spotted a round metal door on the wall, in a much better shape than everything else.

The small panel next to it even lit up still. He just held the card in front of it and with a click the door opened, revealing a elevator.

It was large enough to fit five of them. Caleb, Jack, Kel, Juan and Doc went down.

Rock was simply to large to fit and stayed behind with 65. The elevator almost screeched as it slowly descended into the dark below.

It seemed to go on for ages, like it went to the very ocean bottom.

It suddenly stopped, the doors opened to a dark corridor with a foul, terrible air. Dust floating in front of their lights and covering the floor like light snow.

Further ahead the corridor turned from concrete to glass, showing the ocean outside. Fishes swam next and over them with no care in the world. Kel almost stumbled over the skeletal remains laying on the floor.

‘What an odd place to die.’ the skeletons laid spread across the floor, it was then Jack saw the cracks trough the dust.

‘It was a battle here. And looking at their matching uniforms I’d say it was a rebellion.’

‘Must have been a shitty workplace.’

They going further in, Kel wanting to get away from the glass areas as soon as possible. They followed the signs to the main control center, seeing more bodies and more bullet holes on the walls. Some of the lights still functioned, others gave out a long time ago, shrouding large sections of the lab in darkness. Their every step sounded like a thunder strike in contrast to the complete silence this was so accustomed to. Once a center of research and government activities was nothing more than a underwater tomb.

Finally they reached the center, a large glass dome with panels displayed in roves. The sunlight from the surface just barely reached them, giving the ocean a dark blue lighting with most the fish looking like swimming shadows.

They saw other parts of the facility, corridors leading to other domes. One of them was a ruin, its entire roof gone like it was blown off. Clearly something happened that made the facility go to hell.

Kel looked around nervously, her face pale and hands clenching hard. She obviously hated this, the memory of her last visit still fresh.

Juan wasn’t doing much better, on the verge of getting cold sweat and looking around as if expecting that thing to show up again any second.

‘Lets make this quick.’ Caleb approached the central control panel right in the middle of the room and inserted the card. Suddenly sounds travelled all over the room as the computers booted up to life, lights flickered on the panel and a computer generated voice suddenly spoke.

‘Welcome back Dr Greenwall.’ A glass screen rose from the floor in front of him, displaying all sorts of menus.

He began looking trough the research data, seeing that they to worked on the A-gene. But this strand was apparently a lot different, something about just a single individual displaying various mutations.

In the files, a series of videos was found. Simply titled video updates he opened the first one.

They were greeted by a man, looking like he was in his early 30’s, with red hair and freckles. He sat on a chair in a plain white room, and a voice from the other side of the camera asked him a series of questions.

‘What’s your name?’

‘Jacob Miller.’

‘Age?’

‘34.’

‘Previous occupation?’

‘Carpet salesman.’

‘Birthday?’

‘On August the 25ft.’

‘Do you know why you are here?’

‘Cause the government hired me for some sort of research test.’

‘What kind of test?’

‘Apparently I have a special gene that makes me immune to cancer and they wanna use it to find a cure.’

‘Are you uncomfortable Mr Miller?’

‘A bit nervous and confused but I trust the government has my best interest in heart.’

‘There’s no need to worry Mr Miller. You are perfectly safe here.’

‘Good to hear.’

‘First interview is over. We’ll do another one in about a month to check up on your progress.’ the video ended.

‘Perfectly safe my ass.’ Kel commented as Caleb brought up the second video.

In this one it was same, only Jacob was more pale and tired looking. Large bags hung under his eyes and it was clear he struggled to stay awake. He even looked sick almost.

‘How are you feeling Mr Miller?’

‘Tired...so very tired. And body is aching, I just wanna go to bed.’

‘You will soon Mr Miller. You just need to get trough this interview.

How did the tests go?’

‘They went well from what I can remember. They put all sorts of needles and stuff in me. Then scanned me and did all sorts of things with different machines and I had no idea what was going on.’

‘Did anyone explain anything to you?’

‘They did but I barely understood half of it.’

‘Second interview over. I’ll see you in another month.’ the video ended, clearly something was very wrong with him. They all knew it.

The third video started and now he looked even worse. His hair was loosing color and skin started to look transparent with dark spots growing randomly. His eyes had changed color drastically to black with little blue dots in the middle.

‘How are you feeling Mr Miller?’

‘Wha....what are you..doing to me?’ his voice was raspy, like he was loosing it.

‘Please answer the question Mr Miller.’ the voice coldly replied.

‘Cold...so...cold. Can’t...think straight... Can’t sleep...’

‘How did the tests go?’

‘Let me...go...let me out...I don’t...want to...anymore..’

‘Third interview over. We’ll check up on you in another months.’

‘Please no’ the video cut out before he finished that sentence.

‘The old world government was fucked up. What are they’re doing to that man?’ Juan asked.

‘Only one way to find out.’ Caleb started the fourth video.

This video was no interview though. It showed Jacob in a horrifying state. He was slumped back on a large medical chair, arms and legs strapped in. His skin took in a slimy brown and swollen to unnatural size, eyes empty blue and his hung over the side of the arm rest. Swollen and longer, they hung they boneless tentacles. He breathed heavily, the sound of it was awful. It didn’t sound human but more of a sea creatures choking to death on the surface.

‘Progress is being made. Subject is unable to answer any questions and interviews are therefore no longer conducted. A-gene is displaying growth to unlike anything we have ever seen before. DNA is not matching anything on earth and is changing faster than predicted. Must keep target under heavy security for risk of exposure could have unforeseen consequences.’

The video ended with a horrifying idea of where this were going.

The fifth video no longer showed a human being. On a large table sat just a mass of tentacles and two empty blue eyes. It was somewhat larger than a man, people in orange hazard suits went around the room, pointing all sorts of equipment at it.

‘DNA took yet another unexpected change. Target is no longer recognizable. He only eats raw fish and needs to be soaked in salt water for several hours of the day. Brain is no longer responding to command and shows a very different pattern. More tests is needed.’

The sixth video showed it floating in a large tank, having now grown to the size of great white shark, perhaps even bigger.

‘Target is showing animal like pattern now. Physical growth is showing no sign of slowing down, tank may not contain specimen 5 for much longer. More is needed with heightened security. Target is hostile towards researchers and security. Staff is reporting being greatly uncomfortable around it, saying it stares at them. Doesn’t help that two guards were killed trying to rescue one of the lab assistants when she got grabbed. All tests will be performed by robots using tasers from now on.’

‘So those fuckers created the leviathan! Of course they did! Everything that ever went wrong with this world is because of them!’ Kel angrily stated, clearly feeling disgusted by this. A feeling shared by all of them. They may be killers, thieves and overall bad people, but this....this was simply evil. Turning that poor man into a monster for “science”..

Th sixth video started to a broken tank, the room and its surrounding corridors were broken and blood splattered all over it. Crushed bodies and ripped off limps laid spread across the floor. The thing sat on the floor, waving its tentacles in the air.

‘Specimen 5 escaped its tank, its physical strength is growing even faster than we predicted. We lost a lot of employees to this break out, had to seal off the entire section.

Now in the following four days more and more have reported to the infirmary and requested leave off base due to headaches, anxiety and some even claim to be hearing voices. Telepathic abilities are suspected of this thing. Tests are becoming near impossible to perform. I suggest termination of project and eliminate out of control specimen before escaping into the ocean.’

Then it was one last video, the seventh..

This one however was far different, now instead they saw Dr Greenwall, looking at the camera. Standing were they did now and trembling in utter fear.

‘Final log....its to late....that thing got out. Somehow broke the wall and flooded the entire section....everyone on base has gone mad. They wouldn’t let us go, told me to put the lab under lockdown and they would send reinforcements...but they didn’t. I have been receiving reports of falling nukes, detonations all over the planet! They left us here....we’re going to die...if anyone finds this then....then run. Get away from the ocean as fast as you can...I don’t know how big that thing will get but its already at the size of a house! And its STILL FUCKING GROWING!!’ he stopped and breathed heavily.

‘Its....we created a monster....and it killed us....it killed us all...but I did discover this....despite it having the ability the telepathy didn’t come from that thing. It came from another specimen, this was just another puppet, it doesn’t have the brain to perform telepathic abilities this complex! Someone out there helped it escape!.....well who or whatever you are I hope you’re happy....hope it was worth it! Cause you just murdered all of us!...I can hear it now!.......God forgive me..’ he began panic sobbing and the video cut out as he stared out the window.

‘Old world science....so advanced yet so cruel.’ Doc said.

‘Telepathic abilities...fuck I thought that shit wasn’t real..’

‘Caleb, download everything else. We should not linger down here.’ he did was Jack said and hooked it up to a memory card, downloading all its research data. Meanwhile he started looking up a map of the facility.

‘What are you doing?’

‘This place still has power.’

‘Ya so?? We already know the way out and we should really fucking use it!’

‘What I mean it has its own private power generator! All of these old facilities do! And that means it can be overloaded...and rigged to explode.’

‘You’re going to use the entire fucking base to kill it?’

‘Do anyone have a better idea? If we leave it could move to a different coast! And the next, and the one after that! It could spell disaster for every single port town! If we kill it now then we, and everyone else, still travel by water without risking running into it.’

‘Well then we just don’t get close to the ocean then!’

‘Caleb’s right.’

‘Captain!!’

‘We were hired to do a job Kel! Lets at least try, I for one don’t wanna live in fear of the ocean forever.’

‘Not to mention a creature that size will destroy entire ecosystems, setting of a chain reaction leading to a extinction event.’ Doc said.

Kel sighted in defeat, she hated every single minute spent in this nightmare.

However it seemed to be some trouble. The reactor was in its own separate dome, and he was unable to access it from here. He had to overload it on sight. The data finished downloading and they headed for the reactor. Passing room after room filled with nothing but dust and bones. When the turned to the door to the final corridor it refused to open. The card proved useless, the steel door refused to budge. The panel next to it had a flashing text.

Warning. Area flooded. Emergency lockdown initiated.

‘Shit, if the area is flooded then how is it still making power?’

‘Could be that they have a second lockdown protecting it, in case flooding happened. For now there’s only one way to get it though.’

He turned to his crewmates, a feeling of dread rising in his stomach.

‘We have to do it from the outside.’

‘NO! NO FUCKING WAY! NAH NO NOT HAPPENING!!’

‘I’m with Kel on this one. Just seeing that thing once is one to many.’

‘And I can’t fit into any diver suit with these augmentations.’

‘Fine, its gonna be me or Caleb then. Where can we find some diver suits?’

‘If I remember the map right then it has several airlocks leading out. Probably....this way.’

‘You’re both fucking crazy!’

They walked further in until they found a vault like door with the sign airlock above. To their luck it indeed had lockers with diving suits, air tanks, diver scooters, javelin guns and headlights.

‘Ok me and Caleb are going out to head for the reactor. Hand us two C-4’s and maintain radio contact. We’ll be soon.’

Kel opened her bag and handed them the explosives, they got in their suits as the others stepped outside. Once the doors were sealed a small alarm sound played as water suddenly gushed in, filling the entire room and the second door opened. Right outside was a walkway along the walls of the facility. Suddenly the ocean seemed to gigantic as they stepped over past the door. It was almost otherworldly, and terrifying.

Fishes, sharks and everything swam in every direction all around them. In the distance was nothing but darkness. A sheer empty black void that was like looking into the end of the world.

Slowly, with greatly limited movement, they made their way around the dome to the other side, where the damage of the power cores dome was much more apparent.

The corridor they tried to get in trough was gone. The glass broken and filled with water. The dome itself looked had holes, giant ones like something had smashed it. Then they noticed other signs of destruction, like broken towers or antennas laying on the ocean floor.

With little else to do, now that the walkway was gone, they used their scooters to pull themselves over the edge and towards the dome. One of the larger holes punched right trough the thick exterior, revealing the pitch blackness within. Only a few blue flickering lights pierced the dark, the same kind of generator as the last base. Somehow it still worked despite being submerged.

They entered the utter darkness, the scooters headlights barely revealing anything. The water inside the dome was somewhat warmer, the temperature only rising as they got closer to the generator.

‘What the first step Caleb?’

‘Its gonna be harder than expected with all this water in the way. I might short circuit it instead if I try to open it.’

‘So we got with bombs instead. Where do place them?’

Caleb knew almost all power generator designs, old and new. He saw around it for a while, trying to find just the right spot. Then he saw the thinnest part near the top. The top made of a circle out of lead, sitting like a mushroom head upon the pillar. The water violently bubbled around it as the metal boiled it around its surface. How the hell it had stayed intact all this time was a mystery to him, truly humans knew how to build things to last back in the day. Then it hit him, the circle was humming loudly, tons of power travelled inside its metal shell before going back down again to be spread over the whole base via its cables. The power was generated near the middle via a long tube shaped plasma generator, then it travelled up to this to be directed correctly as attaching the cables directly would mean overloading them. The circle was built to withstand the mass of energy and heat generated,no wonder the water was so warm in there.  

But that almost mean by blowing up that one part the plasma would be instantly pushed, its container broken and the energy left to violently explode without its proper channel, thus leading to a full on plasma meltdown....and a explosion big enough to blow this place apart.

‘We may just need one up here.’ Jack handed him one of the C-4’s and he placed right below the channeling circle. Then it was a matter of setting the time, fifteen minutes was more than enough for them to head to surface and fly away before it went off. They needed to lure the Leviathan here somehow.

As they started brainstorming some ideas Caleb saw a pair blue floating orbs coming towards them.

‘Jack behind you!’ she turned and fired her javelin, piercing the creatures skull. It was one of the land mutants! The ones they had eliminated! Somehow this one had gotten past the town and reached the ocean. Then they heard a rumble outside. Jack signaled Caleb to stay put and she headed for the opening and peeked her head outside.

*

Kel phased back and forth, unable to calm down.

‘You know they will be back soon right?’

‘I know that!...but that thing is also out there...fuck it all...’

‘i know how horrifying it is, I was there to! But right now the best we can do’ he stopped when felt Calebs bag vibrating.

‘Great the one time I watch his stuff and something goes wrong.’ he opened it to see what was wrong. Something glowed brightly inside, it was the cube. It hummed wildly and the insides went so crazy it vibrated in his hand. Suddenly it burned his hand and he dropped it, the cube vibrating even more to the point of moving itself on the floor.

‘Just what fuck?...’

*

At first nothing, just empty ocean. The base was clear. Then she turned her head to the left, towards the empty ocean and her heart sank, stomach froze and mind shocked to the point of time seemed to freeze for a second.

There, looking right at her, coming from the darkness and right towards them. There was the Leviathan. Its empty, pupil less glowing eyes stared empty as the tentacles floated in its ghost like manner.

Its face tentacles, below its eyes moved aside revealing its giant, jagged teeth. A loud deep rumbling sounded as it opened its mouth and then...

A ear splitting roar..

The very water moved like a shockwave in front of it, pushing on her head. Jack dived back in and got away from the hole as fast as she could. Its tentacle smashed it way trough the hole, reaching all the way to the floor, wiggling and kicking in every direction, trying to get at its pray.

Its other arms smashed into the dome, shaking the roof. The sounds was like thunder as the steel trembled. They had no idea how long they had before it gave in.

‘KEL! JUAN!! WE’RE PINNED DOWN IN THE REACTOR ROOM, THE DOME WONT HOLD FOREVER!’

Kel started to panic, she had gone ghostly pale and hyperventilating as soon as the roar pretty much shook the whole place.

‘Ok stay alive, I got an idea.’ Doc answered as the other two was panicking.

‘Get a hold of yourselves! I’ll need your help with this.’

‘HOW THE FUCK CAN WE KILL SOMETHING LIKE THAT?’

‘We don’t have to, we just need its attention. Follow me!’

They sprinted down the corridors as Doc yelled over the radio.

‘Rock get the rocket launchers and fire them into the ocean, east of the island now!’

As they hurried Jack and Caleb struggled to even maintain distance from it. The tentacle reached far in trough the gap, pinning them to only one side of the dome. It looked like they were done for when Caleb had yet another idea. They did bring two C-4’s much to their luck. He set the timer for just two minutes and taped it around one of the javelins.

‘Ok now.’ Jack understood his plan and fired at the tentacle, right were hole was. The javelin barely pierced its skin, immediately starting to go loose and sink. Yet it barely got a few meters when the bomb went of. In a bright flash and loud boom, a large hole appeared in the beasts limp, black blood seeping out of it like a dark cloud. It roared in pain as the tentacle ripped out of the done.

They tried clutching their ears trough their helmets.

The creature stopped and looked at its wound. It hurt, badly. Like it never felt before. Nothing had ever challenged it like this, this kind of pain was alien to it. It was about to resume attack when sound of more explosions came. It looked to see bright flashes above it, splitting the water in random places. Distracted it swam upwards to this new threat.

Rock on the surface saw something coming towards him. He moved back from the edge and a series of tentacles rose from the surface, followed by the largest thing he had ever seen. Blue eyes and a giant mouth rose just above the waters surface. Rock fired at the tentacles, dodging and running to avoid it. When one grabbed him he took out his ogre knife, sword size by human standards, and jabbed it deep into the creatures flesh. The tentacle let go as the creatures let out another pained roar.

Doc, Juan and Kel finally stepped out of the elevator.

‘Ok you all know your parts!’ Kel quickly looked around the lighthouse.

‘Put one over there!’

Down below they noticed the creature had left, leaving them their one opening. Caleb planted the C-4 and they sped out of the dome, seeing the creatures underside high above them.

‘Jack, Caleb! Swim around the island the surface. The elevator is useless now!’

‘Why?’ then they heard another explosion from the surface and a shadow over the surface. Then a loud crashing noise, some thing huge had just fallen on top of the Leviathan, and now it all came sinking downwards. They sped to the side, avoiding collision. The monster landed on the floor, right next top the base, its tentacles resting on top of some of its domes and corridors. Knocked unconscious as blood spilled out of its headless torso.

Caleb and and Jack got up on the back of the island, seeing what their crew mates had done. The lighthouse was gone, broken off by bombs placed just right and then fallen right on top of the leviathan.

The crew helped them out of the water and prepared for take off, wanting to get away from this island as soon as possible.

Yet as they got off the ground another roar was heard. To their dreaded the thing had already woken up and rose from the ocean. Its tentacles reaching for the sky, the oil colored blood poured down from its open wound as it bared its frenzied, jagged teeth. The leviathan was angry, rampaging even. If they left now it would follow and escape the explosion!

Jack turned the ship, forward guns aiming down.

‘You may have the ocean Jacob, but I control the sky!’ thundering of its calibers broke the sky like lighting strikes. Its armor piercing shells piercing its flesh and ripping it apart. Some tentacles was blown clean off, falling into the water. A growing number of holes bursting open on its giant body, blood splattering over it. The creatures roars became ever louder and more agonized as it helplessly flayed, the ship just out of its reach. The Leviathan was forced down below the surface, letting its pray get away as a dark cloud blood followed it. The pain was unbearable, it grew weaker by the second as it lost more and more blood.

At sat down on bottom, resting growling in agony.

Up in the air the crew waited with baited breath for any sign of it. Was it dead? Was that enough? Did it swim away?

‘You did set the timer right?..

‘I....I think so? It might have slipped during all the chaos.’

‘Then lets not take any chances.’

She moved the ship and aimed the guns downward towards the base and fired into the water. It wasn’t that deep, the shells should reach the bottom easily. The problem was hitting the reactor from up there.

Which, amazingly enough, she did. They all staggered when suddenly a bright flash was seen, followed by the sound of a massive explosion, the water shot up from the surface and rings from the detonation site traveled outwards.

They then started seeing small, flesh bits floating onto the surface, and the water turning pure black....as in its blood. It was done...

The Leviathan was dead....