After Us (The Abyss Book Three) by Nathan Hystad

Author:Nathan Hystad [Hystad, Nathan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Woodbridge Press
Published: 2023-11-06T16:00:00+00:00

10

“She should not try contacting Garner,” Alan complained.

“Let it go. Clarke’s your brother, and he’s nonresponsive, so Karla should check on him.” Blaze checked the gauges. They were nearing six thousand feet below the surface.

“Yes, you’re right, Blaze. As usual,” he said.

Thor and Karla stayed with Mark on shore, while the pair of them descended toward the Rings site. The tentacled beast had all but decimated the facility, sending the remaining pieces to the bottom.

“Two thousand more feet, and we’re there,” Alan said. The submersible was crowded, and the idea of being this far underwater had Blaze’s nerves on edge. He sweated in his armpits, and down his back, with the thought of how much pressure shoved against the hull of their vehicle.

Blaze softly closed his eyes and remembered better days. Playing baseball with Luke at the Gossler diamonds. Riley would bring a book, catching up on her reading, as she called it. She’d wear a sun hat, cross her legs on third plate, and devour a hundred pages of a mystery-thriller while Blaze and Luke threw a ball, and occasionally took turns whacking the baseball with a wooden bat. When they finished, they’d walk into town for ice cream. Riley always had rocky road. Luke opted for something different every time, and Blaze would get mocked for being so boring and ordering vanilla.

“Blaze?”

“I’m awake.”

It was pitch black in the depths, and even their powerful lights seemed to fade much too soon. He watched through the window as they approached a large section of the facility. It was a couple of stories of prefabricated hallways, rooms, and stairs, all still intact. He tried to picture the Nu-En lab from the newsfeed, and couldn’t recall many details.

“Where’s the part we’re searching for?” Blaze asked.

“It should be connected to this section.” Alan guided the submersible lower and almost touched down on the silty seabed. Their momentum caused a few bottom-dwelling fish to scatter. Aquatic plants drifted with the waves their arrival created, and Alan switched to a handheld control, shooting a drone from the rear of their vessel. Air bubbled from the thrusters, and it moved forward, then up. “We have visual.”

The drone’s camera feed doubled on the screen, making it easier to navigate.

“Karla downloaded the schematics for me. It was in subsection five, room 1-C.”

That meant nothing to Blaze, but he kept his eyes open for any kind of marking along the halls of torn bulkheads. Debris rose from behind the sunken station, making it difficult to see through the drone. “What’s that?” Blaze checked the submersible’s window, seeing a lengthy limb lashing out. “Incoming!”

Alan attempted to react, but he was too late. The tentacle bashed into their hull, sending them flying.

Somehow, the beast from the abyss had survived in a post-Mud world, and Blaze realized there might be more of them in the oceans, since Mud hadn’t reacted with the water as it did on land. They weren’t dying off so quickly in the depths.

Before he could contemplate any more, a second tentacle thrashed through the station, tossing a section of the facility aside.

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