Poseidon Awakens (Chapter 3)

Chapter Three of a serialized novella
New chapters every Tuesday and Friday

When he woke, he was slumped against a wall, a jackhammer pounding inside his head. What the hell...where am I?

The diver surveyed the room. It looked like a massive, old World War 2 era bunker of some kind; the only windows were up high, near the 20-foot-tall ceiling. There was row upon row of shelving, stacked with boxes, and covered in a layer of dust.

One thing’s for sure...I ain’t on the ship anymore. But where am I...Malta? Spain? Sardinia? God knows...

Wherever he was, they sure needed to turn some lights on. He squinted. The dim light from an exit sign across the room glowed like a beacon, a gray, metal door beneath it. Bingo! Who cares about lights? It’s time to get out of here!

Oscar tugged hard, but the door wouldn’t budge. No surprise.

A row of light switches was his second option. It’s now or never. If anyone’s watching this place, or me, they’ll know I’m awake now.

A soft click, then a large row of LEDs sprang to life. The majority of them were positioned directly above a large glass containment tank filled with water.

It swallowed up nearly a quarter of the room.

How’d I miss that? Oscar peered into the tank but didn’t see anything. He shrugged. Doesn’t matter...maybe there’s something around here I can use to pry the door open.

As he searched, a strange, pungent combination of saltwater mixed with sulfur filled his nose.

Phew...where in the hell’s that coming from?

Oscar waved his hands in a futile attempt to push the nauseating stench aside, but it only grew stronger.

Of course...

Curious, Oscar traced the scent to the tank. What do they have in that tank? Is it dead? Why did it start stinking now?

Oscar looked inside the tank again. This time, he spotted something moving.

He jumped back. Damn!

It had to be the same inky black eye he’d seen on his last dive. The giant squid seemed to glare, as if it recognized him.

Oscar shivered, remembering the last time he saw this creature.

He’d been removing the last of the items from the temple when a massive tentacle wrapped itself around his leg, throwing him off balance. If it hadn’t been for the knife he always carried in his belt, he’d have been fish food.

He glanced at the squid. Could it live outside of the water? He didn’t know, and he wasn’t about to stick around and find out. He backed away from the tank and continued his search when he spotted the head of a hammer jutting from an old computer frame.

Finally...something!

The hammer felt like a Tinkertoy, but it was all he had.

He glanced towards the tank. The water was swirling around, like a whirlpool. He’s pissed...

He moved back towards the door. It was quicker to remove the pins, so he set to work. The first pin was surprisingly easy, but the second had more rust on it than the first.

This is taking too long.

After what felt like hours, but was only a few minutes, the third and final pin on the door started moving upward.

Finally!

Thwack!

Oscar paused, the hammer shaking in his hand.

The massive squid had slipped a tentacle through the steel mesh that lined the top of the tank. The creature appeared to be probing for something.

Is it trying to find a latch to open its enclosure?

Screw this! He turned and hammered faster until the last pin dropped to the floor.

Thank God! He pulled on the knob, trying to wiggle the door loose, but it wouldn’t budge.

If I can just get enough space for the hammer, I can wedge this damn door open far enough to fit through it! The door had just started to move when he heard something behind him.

Turning, he saw the behemoth ease one, and then two tentacles out of its enclosure. He’d once seen an octopus squeeze through a hole the size of a quarter. Could squids do that, too?

He didn’t plan to stick around and find out. But before he could push the door open, he heard muffled voices and footsteps in the hallway.

Glancing towards the tank, Oscar saw the squid pull its tentacles back into the enclosure.

He slipped behind a pallet of boxes seconds before the door opened. He didn’t recognize the man, but he heard a loud curse when the door slipped off the top hinge.

“Frank! I told you we shoulda tied him up! He’s done gone and messed up the door...and now we gotta find him!”

“I wonder if the...nah, well, I guess it coulda, but...”

The man walked towards the containment tank. “Hey, that squid looks wide awake to me. Do you have any more of that drugged fish?”

Frank peered over his glasses at his partner. “Do I look like a fishmonger? There’s some of that stuff around here somewhere...I think the professor said we’d find it in the crates.”

“Are you kidding me? There’s crates everywhere...where in the..”

“Well, instead of yelling at me, let’s look for them. They’re here somewhere. Wait...let me look...you’ve got to guard the door ...Oscar’s probably around here somewhere...we’re not supposed to let him get out.”

Traitorous bastard...what in the hell had he ever done to the man?

Oscar considered his options. If he were anywhere near the coast, he might be able to work his way close to the dive site. He had to find out what was going on.

Frank had started his search towards the other end of the building. The biologist opened a crate, cussed, and then opened another one.

Oscar smiled. Serves you right, asshole.

Another loud splash and another thwack on the floor told Oscar the squid hadn’t escaped its enclosure. Yet. He still had time, it seemed.

“Hey Frank...you hear that? I think it’s getting hungry!”

Getting nervous, are you? Good!”

“Mack...shut the hell up...I’m looking for the fish...just stay put, you hear?”

The man’s eyes made a circuit from the tank to the door to where Frank was digging through boxes. Oscar could almost see the wheels turning in the man’s head.

He was pacing back and forth, ever so slowly inching towards the door. Oscar quietly urged the man to run. Go ahead...run...now’s your chance.

The man yelled again. “Frank...come on man, this is giving me the creeps. Where’s that diver, anyway? I’m not gonna fix this door, I can tell you that...they don’t...”

“Shut up! Just keep an eye out, alright? He’s probably waiting for the chance to leave, so stay put...got it? If he escapes the professor will have our heads...or rather, Poseidon will.”

Mack’s eyes bulged. He scanned the room as if he expected the god to materialize any minute.

“Aha...got it! Hey Mack...how much did the professor say to give this thing?”

Mack glanced around the room again before joining Frank. “I don’t know...why don’t we just try one or two and...”

Now or never, man!

Oscar bolted for the door, not caring if they heard him. He had to get away from that room – and that evil beast. As he cleared the threshold, the men started to argue, something about how much to feed the creature.

The dim hallway was cluttered with bits and pieces of paper, boxes, chairs, and even assorted office supplies. It looked to Oscar like the occupants had left in a hurry.

Crash!

Oscar looked back. The squid! Did it break free?

“Run!”

Frank, eyes wide with fear, ran past Oscar, followed by Mack, his legs pumping hard to catch up. The little man stared at Oscar as he ran past, gasping for air, but he didn’t stop.

They flew through the door Oscar had planned to go through.

Now what? Get shot on sight? Nope, not gonna happen.

Oscar gripped the hammer and turned to face the squid. Maybe my chances will be better with this creature.

How fast can a squid move on land anyway?

Crash...crack! He had a feeling he was about to find out.

Malicious, orange-yellow eyes peered out from the massive black shape that now filled the hallway.

Maybe I should have taken my chances with Frank.

The diver froze in place, crossed himself, muttered a few prayers, and waited for a painful death.

“Too late for that, mortal.”

Oscar flinched, his heart pounding. He watched in horror and disbelief. Slowly, arms and legs replaced tentacles, followed by a head covered in wavy, jet-black hair.

The beast now stood before him, in human form.

Oscar crossed himself again and began praying the sinner’s prayer, the rosary, Our Father, and every other prayer he’d ever learned as a child.

“That’s enough of that nonsense! Besides it’s too late for prayers to your puny god. You and your kind have been on this planet long enough, you either evolve...or die.”

Oscar’s eyes watered as the smell of sulfur and rot washed over him. He stepped back, ready to fight with everything he had, but the entity held its hands up in mock surrender.

“If it were up to me, I’d kill all of you, but unfortunately...well, let’s just say there are certain parameters that have been agreed upon and until I’m running things, it has to be like this.”

“So...uh...what do...”

“What do we want with you? Ah, see that’s where you’ve got it wrong. I want nothing to do with you, or any other of Poseidon’s worthless pets.”

“But...”

“Enough!”

Smack! Bits of drywall and paint hit the floor. The shapeshifter’s tentacle slowly changed back into the shape of a human hand.

“Look, I’ve got things to do, and I don’t need you, or anyone else, getting in my way. Got it?”

Oscar nodded.

“Good...now where is he?”

“Uh, who...”

“Poseidon, idiot!”

“I, well...I don’t know. They, I mean...”

“Then what good are you? Stop wasting my time!” The entity shoved past him, and within seconds, he heard shouts, followed by a loud splash.

Oscar peeked outside. I know this place!

He was dockside on the island of Elafonisos, where he’d met up with Frank a few weeks before. He was still close to the dive site.

There was a small group of fishermen pointing towards the water and shouting, presumably about what they’d just seen dive into the water. He scanned the crowd, but Frank and his sidekick were nowhere to be seen.

From the little Oscar knew about ancient gods, they weren’t to be trusted. The professor must have promised something to the god in return for the energy source...but what?

All he knew was that if the god wasn’t put back to sleep, the world was finished. He’d bet money (if he hadn’t already promised himself no more gambling) that Frank and Mack were already back on the dive site, that is, if the Kraken hadn’t gotten to them first.

Oscar shivered. I don’t care what kind of an asshole he was; I can’t imagine going out like that.

So what now? Nobody’ll believe me if I tell them what I saw, so why try? Besides, there’s the not-so-little problem of getting jabbed with something, then left as a sacrifice, or whatever, for that thing.