Singing Parasite [On Hold]

3.4

Tyce spotted Rod at the bow of the ship. Rod had his rifle out. Tyce's eyes moved away from Rod and began searching for the strange, pink creature. He finally spotted it. The pink whale was pretty far away from the boat and was rounding the water, again preparing to charge towards the yacht. It must have been at least twenty feet away from the boat when Tyce heard gunshots. Rod had started spraying bullets into the water. The creature kept on charging. Tyce grabbed the nearest thing for support and braced himself for the impact. But nothing struck the boat.

The pink monster had now disappeared below the frothing grey water.

The sky had gotten dark and the water even darker. Tyce waited for the pink whale to reappear.

But it didn't.

Why did the words "Pink Whale" sound so familiar? Tyce didn't know. He racked his mind and suddenly remembered who had used these words.

Jane.

She had told him that she had seen a pink whale near the island. He had thought she had made up that stuff. But now he realized that Jane wasn't lying. She had told the truth.

Rod spun around and looked up at him. "Lower the speed. I think I injured it. I think I can kill it."

"That's a bad idea," Tyce hollered back. "We should go."

"Why do you always disagree?" Rod shouted back.

That pissed Tyce off. There are people who would always say 'yes' if you said 'no' and 'no' when you said 'yes'. But Tyce was not one of them.

"Okay," Tyce said reluctantly and ran back up to the bridge, his shoes clinking on the metal steps.

Tyce poked his head into the glass-walled room. "Slow the boat."

Duston was tightly gripping the helm. He slowly turned around. He had his red cap on. His eyes were ready to pop out and his brow was dotted with beads of sweat. "Oh-okay."

Tyce nodded and climbed down the stairs. He went around the side of the boat to the front. Rod was near one of the railings, peeking down in the water. He still had his gun with him.

"I think it's gone," Tyce said.

Rod didn't reply.

Tyce kept walking toward him.

Suddenly, the boat rocked forward, and Rod, being as tall as he was, flipped over the railing. Tyce thought he would fall into the water. But he didn't. He hung on the railing by his empty hand.

Rod tossed the gun on the deck and began pulling himself up with his both hands. Tyce ran toward him. Although he didn't know how he would help the huge man, he decided to give it a try.

Tyce was about to grab his hand when another jolt dipped the tip of the bow into the sea. Water, thick, cold and dark, splashed over Tyce, and he went rolling over to the windshield, bonking his head against the glass.

Dripping in salty water and feeling groggy, Tyce fumbled to his feet and stumbled towards the railing. Rod was nowhere in sight and Tyce knew what had happened. He went to the railing to his side and looked behind the slowly moving boat. The sky had gotten pretty dark, but he could still see a small figure bobbing in the water, getting smaller and smaller with every passing second.

We'll have to stop, Tyce thought and was about to run back to the bridge when he remembered about his radio watch.

He quickly searched Duston's name and called him.

"Mr. Ma--"

"Stop the boat," Tyce said in a breathless voice.

"What? Why?"

"Just do. Rod fell in the water. We need to rescue him."

"Shit. Shit. Shit."

Tyce hung up as he felt the boat stalling. He looked around, spotted the gun, picked it up, and began running towards the rear of the boat. He had just reached halfway to the rear of the boat when the pink whale resurfaced. When Tyce looked at the whale, his heart plummeted down to his feet. The creature was charging toward the small, dark figure.

"Damn it." Tyce gritted his teeth, raised the rifle and aimed. He had never fired a gun in his life. He didn't know if he could make good use of it.

No time for doubts, Tyce thought and pressed the trigger. The bullets rushed out the gun's muzzle, but instead of tearing into the creature's flesh, they flew toward the sky. Tyce didn't know why but the muzzle had automatically tilted upward. He had never imagined that a gun could recoil with this much power. Before he could realize, one of the handles slipped out of his wet palm and the top of riffle hit his nose with such force that blood began to stream out in an instant. Tyce dropped the weapon and clutched his nose with both hands. Red liquid was seeping out between his fingers, and the pain was greying his vision.

He looked in the direction of the small figure thrashing in the water and his heart lurched in his chest. A huge shadow had appeared right underneath the trashing man. And before Tyce could blink, two large jaws appeared on either side of the man, displacing a copious amount of water, and locked together. The jaws lowered back in the water and took the man with them.

Terror grabbed Tyce's heart, and he wilted to the floor, forgetting about the throbbing pain in his nose.

The monster reappeared after a second or two and again began charging towards the boat. Tyce groped for the gun in the darkening light, found it and raised it to his shoulders. He held it tightly this time. No way he can allow the recoil to overpower him.

The creature kept on approaching.

Tyce gritted his teeth, and with a finger that was shivering in the cold air, he pressed the trigger. The gun's muzzle began flashing, and bullet's shells clattered to his feet like coins in a coin machine. Gunshots boomed into he ears, so loud that he thought he would go deaf. But he kept on firing, and he somehow managed to keep the gun from aiming towards heaven.

And without any warning, the bullets stopped pouring out of the gun. Everything went quiet. Tyce pressed the trigger but only heard clicking noise. He lowered the smoking gun and tried to see what the monster was doing. But he could hardly see anything thanks to the floating amoeba-shaped black spots in his eyes that had been caused by the muzzle flashes.

His ears were still ringing, and he was surprised that he could hear his beeping watch.

"Mr. Mani? What happened? Is Rod back on the boat?"

Ignoring the taste of his coppery blood, Tyce said, "No. We lost him." Then he glanced back at the foamy water and added. "Make this thing move as fast as you can. Get us away from this place."

He didn't hear Duston's reply but felt the boat putting on speed. He shivered in the cool breeze that was sighing through his contours and soaked hair. Tyce looked at the spot where Rod had been floating just a few seconds ago. Slowly it dawned on him that the man who was supposed to protect them, who was supposed to keep them from dying, had just died.

The man had just been eaten alive by a creature that Tyce couldn't describe.