On Her Majesty's Behalf by Joseph Nassise

Author:Joseph Nassise
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: HarperCollins
Published: 2014-11-30T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-one

Aboard the HMS RELIANT

The River Thames

ENSIGN LOWELL STARED at the group of shredders on the riverbank fifteen yards away and wondered if he should alert the captain to their presence. He counted six, maybe eight of them; it was hard to tell exactly, given the smog that hung about everywhere in the city and the fact that the shredders were constantly moving about, slipping in and out of view.

They hadn’t been there at the start of his watch, he was certain of that. What he wasn’t certain of was just when they had appeared. He’d been staring out into the afternoon haze, doing his best to stay awake during what was turning out to be a very long and boring watch, when the faintest of sounds caught his attention. It sounded like a large fish jumping out of the water and at first he looked for it eagerly, having loved to fish in the cold waters of the lake just outside the borders of his hometown in Wales while growing up. In the process, he’d seen movement on the bank, and a few moments later he realized there were several shredders stumbling about over there.

That they were aware of his presence was clear; he’d seen them stop and stare in his direction often enough that he was starting to doubt the briefing they’d received about the creatures’ allegedly poor eyesight. Seemed the buggers could see him just fine, thank you very much. Still, he kept as still as he could and didn’t make any loud noises that might serve to attract their attention more than he already had.

Lowell raised his rifle and pointed it at the shredders milling around on the bank. “Pow! Pow! Pow-­pow!” he muttered softly. He wasn’t a bad shot; a few minutes with his rifle and he could take care of those shredders right quick. And so what if the noise attracted more of them? They could sit out here all day and all night, picking off shredders until the sun came up. There wouldn’t be anything the shredders could do about it either; they were out here in the middle of the river and last he heard shredders couldn’t swim.

Unfortunately for Ensign Lowell, he was about to learn how wrong he was.

TWENTY FEET BELOW and fifty feet farther back from the conning tower, a shredder’s hand broke the surface of the water and slid upward along the steel hull of the submarine.

Its fingers grabbed hold of a slight metal protuberance jutting out from the side of the vessel and the shredder pulled, dragging its head above the waterline so it could take a look around. From that moment on, the minutes left in Ensign Lowell’s life were numbered.

Lowell was correct—­shredders couldn’t swim, not really—­but they could walk just fine and didn’t have to worry about something as petty as breathing. This particular creature had been roaming back and forth along the shoreline with its brethren, attracted by the nearness of living prey but unable

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.