Submarine Warriors: The Enemy Beneath (12 page)

Caroline stumbled over to Nick and began cutting off the gauze with her Swiss Army knife. He inhaled deeply as she cleared his mouth and nose of the obstruction.

“
Are you all right?” Caroline ripped the remaining gauze from his head.

“
I think so,” Nick replied.

“
There are burn marks all over your suit and that stream of white cloth coming out of his mouth was creepy,” said Caroline. “It reminded me of the Smoker Zombie from the Left 4 Dead video game. I swear it looked like he was turning you into a mummy.”

“
I guess it’s a good thing I’m wearing this thick deep sea diving suit instead of a t-shirt and shorts,” Nick said between coughs. “Remind me to bring a snorkel the next time some kind of freaky creature tries to mummify my head. Did you see the way he took off running and screaming when the flashlight shined on him?”

“
I guess that answers your question about the red lights,” Caroline said, looking at the red lights above her. “Whatever they are, they must not like our kind of light.”

“
Yeah, I suppose this infrared stuff is the only thing they can tolerate,” responded Nick. “Did you check out those creepy glowing eyes?”

Caroline switched on her flashlight and handed Nick’s to him as he got up off the floor.

“
I guess it’s a good thing we brought our low-tech light sabers,” Caroline said with a smile. “I bet these creatures didn’t know they were going up against a couple of Jedi warriors.”

“
You seem pretty okay considering we’re inside an underwater pyramid and I just got attacked by a life form unknown to mankind with glowing eyes, burning hands and the ability to turn people into mummies,” Nick commented.

“
I’ve never been so scared in my life,” admitted Caroline.

“
What now?” Nick asked.

“
Our fathers are being held in a room down this hallway.” Caroline pointed. “And don’t ask me how I know.”

The two walked down the corridor, shining their flashlights in every direction to create a protective perimeter around them. After a few minutes of slow-motion walking, they came upon a translucent wall. Behind the glass lay a horrific sight.

Five mummified bodies were suspended by thin wires from the ceiling. They were held in a horizontal position with clear tubes coming up from their mouths.

“
Caroline, those look like Egyptian mummies,” Nick spoke quietly. “I wonder who they are?”

Looking beneath one of the mummies, Caroline noticed the gold submariner dolphin pin worn by her father lying on the floor. “Dad!” Caroline pounded on the glass.

“
Look, Caroline!” Nick shouted. “I can see their bodies moving under the gauze. They’re alive! How do we get in there?”

“
There’s a control panel on the wall over there,” Caroline pointed at the panel. “I’m going to start pushing buttons until something happens.” She ran over to the panel and tapped on different parts of the screen searching for the right button. Unfortunately, tapping on all those buttons set off the intruder alarm. “No, no, no!” she screamed. Undeterred, she closed her eyes, tapped the particular a sequence of buttons she saw in here mind and the glass wall disappeared.

The two of them ran to their dads and Caroline began cutting away the gauze with her knife. The sound of Underworlders running toward them could be heard in the distance.

“
I think we’ve got company!” Nick looked down the corridor at dozens of glowing eyes heading their way.

“
Nick, try to hold them off with the flare gun while I cut the gauze off our dads!” Caroline shouted. “Just buy me some time.”

“
Will do,” replied Nick.

Caroline returned to cutting away gauze while Nick took out the flare gun and filled his pockets with extra shells. Leaving the containment room, he ran down the corridor toward the oncoming Underworlders.

“
It’s time for you to come into the light,” Nick yelled at the hoard of Underworlders. He fired the flare gun directly at them, sending a blinding ball of burning light. The fireball landed on the floor just in front of them, causing the Underworlders at the head of the pack to squeal and shriek in anguish. Not only did the light burn their skin, but Nick noticed that their ultraviolet eyes turned black and the fleeing creatures seemed to bump into walls and each other during their retreat.

“
Caroline,” Nick yelled back over his shoulder, “I think the light blinds them as well. The Underworlders closest to the light are all crashing into each other as they try to get away.”

“
Awesome,” Caroline replied. “I’m sensing their confusion.”

She continued to cut the gauze off of Petty Officer Timbers, after freeing Petty Officers Love and Grant.

“
I’m drained,” commented Petty Officer Love, as he crawled slowly on the ground.

“
Me, too,” echoed Petty Officer Grant. “I’ve got nothing in the tank.”

“
Just do the best you can. Crawl down that hall toward the open door which will lead you out of the pyramid,” Caroline told the freed crewmembers. “I’m almost done with Mike’s dad.”

Meanwhile, Nick had a grim look on his face as the light from the first flare died out. A second surge of Underworlders was approaching. Nick reached into his pocket to load another shell into his flare gun when an intense wave of heat forced him to drop the gun on the deck.

“
Ahhhhh!” Nick screamed in pain as he was enveloped in burning heat. One of the approaching Underworlders sent a blast of heat from her outstretched hand. Once she lowered her hand, the heat disappeared.

Nick quickly reached down to pick up the gun, but a stream of white gauze shot at him and wrapped around his wrist. He looked up to see multiple streams of gauze coming at him from the open mouths of the oncoming Underworlders. The gauze wrapped around each of his arms and legs and lifted him up in the air. The creatures halted their approach and began reeling him in.

“
Caroline, they’ve got me,” Nick called out as he struggled in mid-air.

Caroline had just freed Petty Officer Timbers and sent him on his way toward the pyramid exit.

“
I’m coming, Nick,” she yelled, leaving her mummified father and Lieutenant Wyatt behind. In her haste to grab Nick, she accidently stepped on the flare gun and slipped to the ground. Seeing a flare shell on the deck, she quickly grasped it and loaded it into the gun next to her. She rose to her knees and pointed the gun toward the Underworlders. Closing her eyes, she squeezed the trigger launching a fireball between Nick and the creatures.

The burning flare sliced through the multiple streams of gauze and Nick crashed to the ground. The gauze connected to the Underworlders caught fire and the flames quickly moved toward the creatures who had tried to capture Nick. They shrieked with fright as the fire raced up into their open mouths.

Caroline and Nick winced as the Underworlders’ heads smoldered and then turned to ash. The other Underworlders quickly backed off as they watched their comrades die before them. Nick handed Caroline the rest of the flare shells from his pockets and she repeatedly reloaded and fired the flare gun toward their new enemy. The fireballs and subsequent explosions looked like the grand finale from a Fourth of July fireworks show. The blinded and charred Underworlders were now in full retreat.

“
The Underworlders are on the run, but I don’t think it will be long before reinforcements return,” said Nick.

“
I agree,” Caroline replied. “The other crewmembers should be out of the pyramid by now, so let’s just drag our dads back to the Omaha Beach and get out of here.”

With that, they cut down their fathers from the wires and began to drag them through the corridor toward the exit. It was slow-going, getting Captain Connery and Lieutenant Wyatt through the umbilical tube and down the hatch into the DSRV. Caroline made quick work of cutting off their gauze cocoons once inside the sub.

“
We honestly didn’t expect to see you guys again,” Nick’s father exclaimed. His eyes began to tear up.

“
It’s not just us, we brought the USS Alaska,” replied Nick as he hugged his father tightly.

“
You came for me.” Captain Connery reached out and touched his daughter’s face. “I love you, Dad.” Caroline smiled at her father. “Of course I came for you. I’m a Connery. Uncle Charley risked his career and sent me a message telling me where you are.”

“
I’m sure the XO didn’t intend for you kids to come rescue us,” Captain Connery commented. “I would’ve expected SEALs.”

“
Commander Keller isn’t onboard,” Caroline said. “We brought Granddad, um, I mean Admiral Connery and all the rest of your kids. We kind of stole the Alaska. Those SEALs you were expecting to save you tried to kill us with a laser-guided bomb. To make matters worse, last we heard on the radio, the entire Pacific fleet is after us.”

“
You dragged my dad out of retirement for a suicide mission to come rescue us from these Underworlders?” Captain Connery looked incredulous.

“
Actually, it was the Admiral’s idea,” replied Nick. “He needed a crew, so that’s why we came along to help out.”

“
Like I said,” Caroline raised her voice, “The entire Pacific fleet is on our tail, so we really need to get out of here.”

“
Hey, the lights are back on,” Petty Officer Timbers remarked. “Some kind of tractor beam pulled us down here and disrupted our electrical systems.”

“
Yeah, but that disruption kept us from blowing ourselves up,” added Petty Officer Love.

“
No worries, we blew up their magnetic beam with one of Alaska’s Mark 48 torpedoes,” Admiral Connery proudly proclaimed as he emerged from the shadows.

“
Granddad, what are you doing here?” a surprised Caroline yelled out.

“
I figured you might need an extra deck hand,” replied Admiral Connery. “Of course, I had to muscle my way past a shark to get here, but that just makes for a better sea story. It’s time we get these engines fired up and close the forward hatch.”

“
Firing up the engines now,” the Lieutenant Wyatt responded.

A weary Captain Connery stumbled over to embrace his father. “Thanks for not giving up on us, Dad,” he whispered to the Admiral.

“
It was your kids who didn’t give up on you.” Admiral Connery looked into the Captain’s eyes. “They just needed an old bubblehead to teach ‘em things like how to drive a submarine, take risks, shoot first, and ask questions later. As it turns out, risk-taking already seems to be in their DNA.”

Meanwhile, Petty Officer Grant popped his head up through the forward hatch to see if the coast was still clear. It wasn’t. Three Underworlders were running straight for him through the red glowing tube.

“
We’ve got company!” Petty Officer Grant shouted to the crew below.

One of the Underworlders pointed his hand in Grant’s direction; the Petty Officer felt a wave of intense heat come over him, causing him to fall down through the hatch.

“
Gotcha,” Petty Officer Love said, catching his falling shipmate.

The Underworlder chasing Grant wasted no time in diving through the hatch in close pursuit. The creature crashed onto the deck of the control room and began shrieking and writhing in pain in the fluorescent light-filled compartment.

“
I guess nobody told this freak that the Omaha Beach got its power back.” Nick backed away from the Underworlder who was flipping around the deck like someone having a seizure. “FYI, Caroline and I found out that these creatures can’t stand our kind of light. Oh gross, it looks like its skin is sizzling.”

The crewmembers covered the shrieking Underworlder in dark blankets and locked him in the one of the staterooms.

Admiral Connery grabbed his sidearm and raced up the ladder, out through the hatch and into the glowing red tube. An Underworlder tackled him and the two struggled on the floor of the tube. The Admiral was protected from the heat of the creature’s hands since he was still wearing his deep-sea diving suit. He reached over and struck the Underworlder on the head with his gun and managed to break free. Admiral Connery crawled towards the hatch and stuck his head down through the opening.

“
Get this sub moving,” the Admiral shouted. “I’ll hold off these monsters so you can get away!”