“That the last of them?” Stuart said loudly over the racket of the chopper.

“Yeah, it is.” Steve replied. The SEAL quickly half carried a wounded passenger off the bow of the ship and into the evacuation chopper. Stuart helped both of them on board. On the opposite side of the boat, another chopper was flying back to the main command ship.

Steve got the wounded man strapped in before getting in himself. Stuart remained standing, grasping a support grip as the helicopter took off. As they rose, the acrid black smoke of the burning ship ascended into the after sun.

As a Navy SEAL, Stuart Pike’s job ranged widely. His assignments included all manner of operations, such as rescue and seek-and-destroy. Today, it was a rescue mission. Half an hour ago, the Naval ship USS Krueger had received a distress signal from the fishing ship Sunbeam. Sunbeam’s engine had caught aflame and was slowly spreading over the ship. Luckily, the Krueger had picked it up in time, and sent a team of SEALS to get the fishermen out. No one had died.

Stuart Pike watched as the burning ship faded into the distance. He grasped his M4 Carbine by its handle. Though unneeded, he never went anywhere without it. In the hold of chopper, Steve Burrows was applying a bandage to the wounded man’s arm. Besides Stuart and those two, the chopper had six more occupants, two of which were SEALs, Arty Jenkins and Bob Cross. The other four were rescue fishermen from the Sunbeam.

Stuart looked towards the pilot, pushed his headset mic close to his mouth, and spoke.

“What’s the status on Bird two?” He asked.

A sound of static was heard. “…roger that. Bird two reports all safe and secure. Am returning to Krueger.”

Stuart nodded. They’d be home soon.

***

The two choppers landed on the flight deck of the Krueger. They were the only two flight craft here. At the same time, medical personnel poured onto the deck with stretchers. The SEALs in the choppers began off loading the passengers.

As Stuart was getting off his chopper, his commanding officer, Commander Brent Sommers, came over to him. The large black man had a commanding air to him.

“Good work today, Pike. I expect you will keep up the good work.”

Stuart saluted. “Yes, sir, Commander Brent.”

Brent was about to say more when two people caught his eye. A man in a long rain coat and cotton vest with balding black hair approached the active landing site with a shorter man in a red shirt with a large camera.

“Oh no.” Brent said. Stuart turned in time to see the balding man whip out a portable microphone.

“Stuart, go take care of these two, will you?” Brent ordered.

Stuart politely obeyed. He approached the two men.

“Here we see yet another tragedy made better by the SEALs.” The balding man said. “Jim, get a close up of this one.”

Before Jim could zoom in on a badly wounded fisherman, Stuart grasped the camera.

“Hey, hey, hey!” The reporter exclaimed. “Get your hands off my cameraman!”

“Larry, how many goddamn times are we going to have to remove you from our business?” Stuart said. Larry Blenkinshop, an opportunistic reporter for FOX 5, and his cameraman, Jim Barry, had been tagging along on the Krueger for close to a month now, trying to get good stories. All they had achieved was being a nuisance.

“Mr. Pike, please, just let us get this one thing on film? We need something to send back.”

“Sorry, Larry, but I’m going to have to get rid of you. Again. Brad!”

Brad and another SEAL from the opposite chopper came over.

“Show Mr. Blenkinshop and his friend back to their cabin.”

Brad just nodded, as he and the other man tugged the bantering Larry away. Stuart followed in suit, but was headed for his own cabin. He went into one of the many doors into the bridge and headed for his cabin on the third level, in the crew quarters. Finally, after about five minutes of walking, he got to his room. He shared it with his fellow SEAL, Steve.

Stuart leaned his M4 against the wall. He took off his belt and tossed it on a chair, leaving the SOCOM pistol still in the holster. He took off his body armor and jacket, so that his Navy SEAL emblazoned t-shirt showed.

He sat down on the edge of his bed and removed the beanie hat he always wore. He ran his hand threw his brown hair. It was coarse and in need of a wash. He himself stank of body odor.

But right now, Stuart was too tired to clean himself up. He lay down on the bed and closed his eyes. He thought to himself. At least I don’t have a wife and kids to worry about. At 27, he did not need that. What he needed was some sleep.

***

The Krueger began to move. With the choppers secured and all the passengers safely aboard, the ship began its trek back to the States. The closest Naval base was in Florida and it would be about a days trip to there.

The captain of the ship, Lance Walden, stood in the main bridge. He was short, about 5’7”, but well kept. His mustache had grayed over the years, like his hair, but at least it was not balding. In his past twenty years in the Navy, he had seen a lot.

Today caught him by surprise, though.

“Sir, what is that?” The ensign said to him.

“What?” Lance responded.

“There, off port bow.”

Lance raised a pair of binoculars to his eyes. He looked off in the direction the ensign had said.

“My God.” Lance said. Threw his scope, he viewed a smoking oil rig.

“Ensign, rally the SEALs. We’re going aboard.”

***

The alarm blared throughout the ship. Stuart went tumbling out of his bed and hit the hard metal floor.

“What the hell is going on?” He said.

As if in response, the speaker system went off. “All Navy SEAL personnel report to the flight deck in gear.”

In a second, Stuart was up and gearing up. Within 10 seconds he had his armor, belt, everything on. His M4 and SOCOM were loaded, he had extra clips, and he also grabbed his combat knife.

As Stuart exited to the hallway, he caught Steve running by.

“The hell is going on?” Stuart asked.

“A burning oil rig was sighted off port bow. We’re being sent in.” Steve replied.

“Aw, Christ, the whole thing could go up.” Stuart said, joining Steve in the run to the surface. Stuart’s legs ached as he ran up the flights of stairs. Finally, they got to the deck.

The light outside was blinding. Stuart and Steve both covered their eyes as their barreled toward the gathering troops of SEALs. A group of 14 was gathering. Commander Brent was at the front. Stuart and Steve took their place in the group.

“Five minutes ago, we received word that there is an oil rig possibly on fire. You can see it from here.”

Brent pointed. It was clear that the rig was smoking profusely.

“Since we are the closest unit, the SEALs have been ordered to conduct a search and rescue mission. Since the choppers are low on fuel from that last escapade, we are to approach by boat. We will divide into two teams. Pike, you lead Alpha Team. Morrison, you lead Bravo. Move!”

The two teams, each one comprising of seven men, including the leaders, went for the edge, and began climbing down to the boats. Stuart, now Alpha’s team leader, went first, and soon he and his team were in a boat. The other team, led by Alan Morrison, piled into their boat. The oil rig was about a mile away, so they had to move quickly.

Stuart’s boat was started by a SEAL. The vehicle jolted, and sped off with the other boat.

***

The oil rig looked just like any other rig Stuart had seen. It was held up by four “legs”, each of which had a ladder going up to the rig’s deck. The rig deck had two large buildings on it, one containing oil processing machinery, one containing offices and living quarters. A small building connected them both. Outside on the deck, all manner of equipment was present. With the addition of the smoke billowing out, it would be a tough job.

Stuart ordered the pilot to stop at one of the ladders. It was a long way up, at least 230 feet.

“All right, men. We go up from here. Make sure all your equipment is secured.” All of the SEALs were packing either M4 carbines with scopes, or MP5s, in addition to rescue equipment or other items, like walkie-talkies.

Stuart’s Alpha team began their ascent up the ladder. One after another they followed. The last man tied the boat to the last ladder rut. On the leg next to them, the second team, Bravo team, did the same.

Around the halfway mark of the climb up, Steve spoke up to Stuart.

“Did you find it strange at all that nobody acknowledged our approach? I mean, I didn’t even see one worker come out to us.”

Stuart agreed. Nobody had noticed them. “Perhaps they couldn’t get a clear view from the smoke.”

The rest of the ascent went without a word. The climb was achieved in roughly ten minutes. Stuart climbed over edge. Oddly enough, the structure itself was not that badly damaged.

From his position, on the western part of the rig, it seemed like the smoke was emanating from the main processing plant building. That could spell disaster, for if the flames reached the oil, the whole station would go up in flames. And all the while, Stuart still could not help but notice the total lack of people here. Absolutely no one was present outside, and not a trace could be found.

“Alpha Team, form up! We are proceeding into the main processing plant to extinguish the fire. Morrison?”

Morrison spoke up. “We’ll do a sweep of the living quarters, then check out the rest of the station.”

“Roger that.” Stuart said. “Move out.”

***

“Heat is coming from this way, Commander.” One of Stuart’s men, Grant, a young African-American, said. Stuart followed his man down the hallway. Grant grabbed the door handle at the end. It led up to a monitoring station. The room was situated near the top of the building.

As they opened it, a sudden rush of smoke shot out. Grant and Stuart covered their eyes with their arms.

“Everyone, apply masks now!” Stuart ordered. The SEALs quickly put on their gas masks. The smoke was still thick, though.

“Proceed.” Stuart ordered again. Inside, he and Grant found the source. A large fire burned from a row of machinery on the far side.

“Douse it, now.” Stuart said. Two other SEALs rushed in with fire extinguishers. They combated the flames with a barrage of coolant spray. After going at it for a few blistering moments, the fire began to die down. The two SEALs kept at it, controlling it.

Stuart watched them. Fire was controlled to one area, not even near the oil.

Grant, meanwhile had gone ahead. With the fire down, he was scouting ahead.

“Sir, I think I found the problem.” He said. Stuart walked over to him. Grant stood over a body. An axe rested in his open palm. Aside from the fact he was dead, he had no wounds on him.

“Search him, see if you find anything.” Stuart ordered. As Grant began to search the body, Stuart did his own searching. Looking up, he saw that there was a hole in one of the many pipes above him. A slight drip of oil came from it.

“Well, I know how the fire was started. The axe point on the back got jammed in here, let the oil flow.” He pointed up to the hole in the pipe, then followed it down. He found a scratch mark on the grating below.

“The axe must have scraped here and sent a spark onto the oil.”

A radio crackled. One of Stuart’s squad mates answered it. “Sir, Bravo team reports that a similar fire on their end has also been extinguished.”

Stuart nodded. “Now, why was that guy wielding an axe?”

“Sir, I found something.” Stuart went back to Grant and the body. Grant pointed to an entry wound near the man’s stomach.

“Entry wound. Not from a bullet though. He was stabbed. My guess is that he died of blood loss.”

“I don’t see what anyone would want here.” Stuart said. “And even if they did, they didn’t do any remote damage to the rig to make it known. Come on, let’s continue our…”

Stuart trailed off as he saw something on the ground nearby. He stepped towards it. Lifting it off the ground, he saw it was some sort of leg. An insect leg. Only it was about 10 inches long.

Grant looked to him. “That’d have to be one big roach.”

As if to add the oddity, the oil rig suddenly shifted. The team was thrown off balance, but the minor tremor ceased after a moment.

“The ground beneath this thing may have become unstable over the years.” Steve said. “Maybe that’s what caused the fire.”

Stuart just nodded. He tossed the limb back on the ground. He rallied up his SEAL team and they proceeded to exit the building. Upon nearing the exit door, Stuart heard faint words.

“…keep quiet, they might know we are here. Maybe this was not such a good idea after all…”

Stuart hand signaled his SEALs to hold back and keep quiet. He grasped the door handle. In a flash, he thrust it open, grabbed an unknown man by the collar and tossed him to the ground, M4 pointed at his face.

“Jesus Christ!” The man exclaimed.

Stuart held his fire. “Larry? Larry, what the hell are you doing here?!”

Larry Blenkinshop breathed rapidly and heavily. “Well, ya see, me and Jim were just gonna leave and we decided to maybe stop by-“

“You just want a goddamn story. If I wasn’t a SEAL, I’d have shot you by now.” Stuart stepped back. He spoke into his radio.

“Bravo Team, come in. Morrison you there?”

“Roger, Stu, what’s up?”

“The reporter thought it would be a good idea to come along for the trip. What is your status?”

“Everything is clear, which is, to me, a bad sign. We have not found a single survivor. Just lots and lots of blood and scratch marks on the walls. Something went down here, Stu. What exactly is beyond me.”

Stuart sighed. “Copy. Look, bring your team up from your current position.”

“Alright, we will. Just give us a few….Holy Shit!”

A burst of automatic fire broke the silence. Stuart could even hear it from where they were without the radio.

“Jesus Christ, Stuart, we’re under attack. Martinez just got taken out by….something! Help us!”

“Morrison, what’s attacking?!”

“I don’t know, I-“

A blood curdling scream was heard through the radio, a final burst of fire, and then silence. The radio died. Sporadic bursts of fire could still be heard from the other team’s location. Stuart had a truly shocked look on his face…just like everyone else. The gun fire continued.

“Lock and load, we’re going in. Ditch the rescue equipment here.” Stuart ordered. His squad readied their weapons, M4s and MP5s alike, and dropped anything that was burdening them. They began to hurry off in the direction of the supposed attack, only to stop when Stuart realized Larry was tailing them.

“Don’t get in our way.” Was all he said to the reporter and his cameraman, who was starting to record.

Stuart led his squad and the two civilians rapidly to the living quarters. They burst through a door marked “Lounge”. Inside, several recliner chairs were set up, with a small bar nearby, some tables set up, and a TV. It was empty.

“Eyes open. Stay frosty.” Stuart said. The SEALs slowly made their way through the area. Nothing seemed unkempt. They gradually made their way to a door that lead to other parts of the facility. Stuart took notice of the absence of gun fire. Stuart stopped at the door. He slowly turned the handle. A hallway opened before them.

“I got your back, Stu.” Steve said from behind him. Stuart nodded in response as he lead his team down the hallway. As they walked down the hallway, they heard a noise. Scuttling. It sounded like something puttering along the metal grating. Stuart signaled for the team to halt. Larry and Jim also did so. They waited.

Then, Stuart saw something dart past him near the bend of the hallway, going left. It moved too fast for him to make it out.

Steve had seen it as well, apparently. “The hell was that?”

“I don’t know.” Stuart replied. Then the scuttling returned. This time from above….

“Shit!” Steve exclaimed. Stuart looked up at the ceiling. Scuttling down it towards them was a giant sea louse. The thing had to be at least three feet long. It looked like one giant, black dot flying at them. Without warning, Stuart raised his M4 and let loose a burst of fire. The bullets hit the louse. Milky fluid erupted from the holes and it squealed in pain. The creature fell to the ground, its legs rapidly moving as it lay on its back. Stuart finished it off with another burst.

“What the hell is that?” Exclaimed Steve.

“Sea louse…albeit a big one.” Stuart commented.

“I’ve never seen one so large in my life.” Larry piped in. “Come to think of it, I don’t I have ever actually seen one.”

Stuart bent down and inspected the thing. Its exoskeleton was hard, but not enough to stop a bullet. Beneath, its body was soft. But he took note of set of large pincers and a long spike protruding from its mouth area. Stuart rose.

“Form on me, we’re going in.”

The SEAL team continued down the hallway. With their weapons raised, they turned the corner. In turning the corner, they found the second SEAL team.

At least three were missing limbs.

The walls of the corridor were bathed in blood and the milky insect fluids. Amongst the carcasses of humans were also numerous dead sea louse.

“Before us, we can see a scene of true carnage. What appear to be sea louse that have grown to epic proportions have seemingly battled and killed an entire navy SEALs squad.”

Steve grabbed Larry by the collar. “I swear to God-“

“Steve let him go.” Stuart ordered.

“Sir?” Steve said, releasing Larry.

“We’re gonna need some proof. No way anyone would believe this without proof.”

Finishing his statement, Stuart and his men began identifying all the SEALs. They all had stab wounds near their throats. Upon closer inspection, it was also found that most were missing their internal organs and blood. Sucked dry. One of them had a large piece of his side missing.

Grant proceeded to puke off to the side. As his stopped hurling, he opened his eyes. Below him, in a hole in the metal floor, something chirped. Then, Grant’s vision was consumed by darkness.

“Oh my God!”

Steve began trying to pinpoint a shot as the sea louse clamped around Grant’s face. To his horror, the sea louse jabbed its mouth spike directly into Grant’s head. Blood trickled out and Grant began screaming from behind it.

Steve could not take the shot. As he stared on at Grant, a sudden pain jolted up his leg. Steve looked down to see a sea louse biting into his lower leg. Releasing a yelp of pain, he shoved his MP5 into its face and fired away. The creature’s head splattered with a disgusting pop and goo was sent all over.

Then, a thudding began. Stuart looked to the ground. The gratings below began to bulge outward. He could see sea louse beneath them. As that happened, others began coming out of the already made hole.

“Open fire!” Stuart yelled. The SEAls began pouring fire onto the sea louse. It seemed as though a current of them were just erupting at them. Stuart trained his M4 on one. He fired, and splattered. He turned around just in time to see three louse attack one his SEALs. The soldier screamed in horror as he was stabbed and bitten.

Suddenly, Larry appeared in front of Stuart.

“We need to leave now!”

Stuart would have argued, had he not just seen another man go down under a wave of the sea louse out of the corner of his eye.

“Steve! SEALs! We are leaving!”

Steve hobbled away from the louse he was engaging and did his best to keep up. Stuart, Steve, Larry, Jimmy, and the two other SEALs began bolting farther down the hallway to evade the sea louse. The creatures had blocked their original exit, so they were going for another. The SEALs continued to attack by firing their weapons blindly behind them.

Stuart spotted a door at the end of hallway. Reaching it, he got everyone in it, and then jumped through the doorway. It lead small storage room for equipment. He locked it, but jumped back as something slammed into it. Then there was continuous slamming.

“That won’t hold for long.” Steve said as a SEAL applied a quick fix to his wound.

Stuart was horrified. This whole event seemed impossible. What next?

“Stuart…” A faint voice said.

Stuart turned to see Alan Morrison sprawled against the wall. A pool of blood had formed beneath him and his right leg was mangled. He still clutched an MP5 and a combat knife.

“Alan! What happened?” Stuart said, rushing to him.

“Those things…just came out of nowhere. They killed my entire team. Too fast for us.”

Stuart placed a hand on his shoulder. “We’re gonna get you out of here. There’s another door right there to the outside.”

“I’m not gonna make it…..vision is fading. I can’t move in this condition.”

He grabbed Stuart’s hand.

“You have to go….now.”

“Alan?”

“There’s something else here! Beneath us! One of the sea louse had a huge piece of….I don’t know what. A scale!”

“A scale? Like a lizard scale?” Steve asked.

“Yes…that tremor….this is not bad ground…there’s something else….”

As if on cue, a low, resonating rumble was heard. The platform shifted again, this time it was violent. Everyone was sent flying.

“Stuart, let’s go!” Steve said, running for the door.

“But Alan….” He turned and saw Alan had a motionless stare on his face. Dead. Stuart swallowed heavy, then ran for the door as well.

“Jimmy, keep rolling.” He heard Larry say. As they ran outside, Stuart realized he had forgotten about the sea lice. With the rumbling over, the pounding began again. This time, the door gave way.

“Run! Head for the ladder’s!” Stuart called. The sea live poured out of the open door and began scuttling after the SEALs. Stuart pulled his M4’s trigger to fire blindly, but it clicked dry. He tossed it, removing his SOCOM pistol. He fired at the insect, but it was useless. Two more took a dead one’s place. He continued sprinting for the ladder. He looked to his left, saw the sea lice overpower on of his teammates.

Stuart did his best to ignore it. He arrived at the ladder. Now it was just him, Steve, Larry, Jimmy, and the other SEAL. Steve arrived at the one as he did. Larry, Jimmy, and the other SEAL were at another leg. With no order, they began climbing down as rapidly as they could.

Stuart huffed and puffed as he tried to get down without sliding off. Then, the oil rig shifted again. The violent tremor shook the platform. On the other ladder, he saw the other SEAL get knocked off and plummet to the sea below. Stuart and Steve did their best to hang. Suddenly, they heard a loud explosion. Another tremor shook the platform, but it was not from below. This time, the explosion caused it. A good number of sea lice were seen going flying off the edge of platform, sent flying by the explosion. With the rig truly on fire now, they had to leave ASAP.

Stuart continued down. He had only about 40 feet to go when another particularly strong tremor rocked the rig. Stuart lost his grip and plummeted downward. Steve followed in suite. The two SEALs struck the water so hard, it knocked the air out of them. They quickly swam for the surface. Luckily, they had landed close by to the boat. Stuart pushed Steve aboard, then climbed in himself. He looked up at the other ladder. Larry and Jimmy were still on it, about 70 feet up. Clearly, fear was overwhelming them.

Steve gunned the engine and began guiding the boat away from the rig’s leg, but also over to the other leg. Then, above the roaring of the flames above, Stuart and Steve heard a low, resonating rumble. It sounded like some creature roaring. After a few seconds, Stuart looked up to see one of the oil rig’s farther legs suddenly bend inward. The leg was torn off completely. The rig shifted once more. Stuart looked to Larry and Jimmy, who was still filming. They hadn’t moved an inch since last time. But this sudden action caused to both of them to go flying off the ladder. Stuart saw their bodies hit the water with an accompanying smack.

He was about to yell, but suddenly, the other leg on the far side of the rig gave way. Stuart watched before him as the oil rig fall to the ocean. As he followed it down, he noticed a ungodly massive shape begin to rise up from the depths of the ocean. The giant black form rose faster and faster. Suddenly, whatever it was, it burst from the water. A massive torrent of water was sent over Stuart and Steve and an accompanying wave over turned their boat.

As Stuart and Steve plunged into the depths, they heard whatever it was crash into the oil rig. Stuart swam back up to the surface once more. He looked up in time to see that the rig was being pushed over one side. But his main focus was on the other thing that had risen up from the depths. It was retreating back into the depths of the ocean, but whatever it was, it was gargantuan. Stuart saw rows of spikes running down its back and a huge, snaking tail splash down into the water. The tail sent out another wave, which rose Stuart along with it. Before slipping back under the water, Stuart heard it release a final noise.

SSSKKRREEEEEOOONNNKKKK!!!!!!

With that, it disappeared beneath the waves. Stuart floated in absolute awe. He jolted suddenly as something grabbed his shoulder. It was Steve. He had the same look on his face.

“What….” Steve stammered.

“I don’t know.” Stuart replied.

Stuart tried to shake off the horror. While doing so, he saw something floating towards them. A body. He paddled over to it. It was Jimmy, the cameraman. Larry was nowhere to be found.

Jimmy was dead, but he still clutched the camera.

“Even to the end.” Stuart said to himself. He removed the camera from his grasp. He flicked it to Play. He rewound a bit. Apparently, Jimmy had kept rolling. He had footage of that thing rising out of the deep. Stuart could not make much more out from the film, but at least he had proof of what had gone down.

“Now what?” Steve asked.

“How’s the leg?”

“Not that bad. Still hurts, but its not bleeding.”

Stuart nodded. He motioned for the overturned boat. “We swim for it. Get back to the Krueger. No doubt they saw something as well.”

Steve nodded as well. “Right.”

The two carefully made their way to the boat. They heaved it over and hopped in. Stuart gunned the engine and they began speeding off.

“It must have been resting beneath it. But what was it?”

Stuart shook his head. “I don’t know. But I think America is about to find out.”