Depth Charge - illuminations

Chapter 15

The B90 cut along the waves as Ellen skilfully guided it towards Dean's Blue Hole on Long island. The haunting blue eyes of the alien played out in Bill's mind as he took another brief rest. Why, he thought? Why did they even take her, his beautiful daughter? Had they harmed her? The emotions stirred within Bill images of him taking violent action against the invaders. His fists clenched and heart rate rose as he thought of pulverizing the alien sea creature to a pulp. Just enough, he thought, to keep the creature conscious enough to ask one single question; why?

"We're here!" announced Ellen.

Bill and Veronica stirred to their feet. Gordon was standing at the rear of the boat, looking somewhat pale in the daylight. Looking over the edge of the boat, Bill and Veronica viewed what would normally be an exotic holiday destination. Vibrant shades of green and blue water covered an expanse of coral reefs that surrounded beautiful islands.

The low profile of the B90 made it ideal to navigate over the shallow reefs, although it appeared the sea levels had risen here as well. Water lapped the green vegetation on the edges of the islands, and the normally dry sandy beach sections were no longer visible. Ellen circled closer towards the location of Dean's Blue Hole on Long Island. The islands of the Bahamas were well known for their blue holes and underwater caves. They also had a reputation for sudden, violent whirlpools. When the tides came in, insane vortexes were created due to the caves, acting like giant bathtub drains that pulled down any unwary divers.

Circling a small fingernail of land on the edge of Long Island, Ellen guided the B90 into the protected cove that opened to Dean's Blue Hole. It seemed so small. If the sea levels weren't up, you could just hop out of the boat and walk waist deep in the cove till you reached the Hole. Ellen stopped the boat at the edge of the Hole and dropped anchor, ensuring it was holding fast to a chunk of reef. The environmentalists would have to take it up with her later, she thought.

The water was so calm. The sun was shining, with only some cloud building a fair distance behind them. It seemed so distant from the turbulent situations they had been in recently. It was quietly idyllic, but disturbing at the same time.

"Gordon." shouted Bill. Gordon slowly turned around from the rear of the boat, revealing a silly smirk on his face.

"Gordon!" demanded bill. "This better not be a dead end. Now what?"

"A dead end?" responded Gordon calmly. "Well, ah, now that I'm not sure of, but now we wait."

Bill had had enough. How could he possibly have believed Gordon? He never trusted him from the start. Sheer frustration and anger moved Bill to walk over and grip Gordon's neck with his hands. Veronica looked concerned as she watched Gordon gasping for air as Bill lifted him off the deck. Ellen didn't seem too bothered.

"Just wait? Wait for WHAT?" shouted Bill as he watched Gordon's eyes roll backwards into his head. Bill noticed the whites of his eyes turning blue. Bill's grip quickly loosened as he heard a deep rumbling and a sudden rushing of water emerging from within the Hole.

Gordon's body dropped to the metal deck of the boat as he gasped for air before answering Bill like a squawking parrot, "for THAT!" Seeing now that the attention of the others was firmly fixed on the rushing waters from the Hole, Gordon slunk over to the other side of the boat.

Bill and Veronica peered over the side to observe the bubbling water coming up from within the Blue Hole. Looking closer, they began to make out the shimmering lights of the alien creatures. Spinning and dashing, the lights began to take form as they neared closer to the surface. Squealing noises began to intensify from below.

"Looks like the holiday is over," remarked Ellen as she tossed a CCG towards Bill. "Here, catch!"

Bill caught the gun and slung it over his shoulder. No chance of a quiet entry for their mission here, he thought. If he was going to get to Selena, he would now have to fight his way through a thousand alien sea creatures. Anything for his daughter, he'd rather die trying. Although not used to weapons, Veronica took a CCG and some grenades. Ellen took her position behind the Browning machine guns affixed to the front of the B90.