The old diesel engine began to pick up pace, chugging loudly and coughing out fumes from the large chimney above the engine room as Midge brought the boat about. The captain winced and expected the big yellow eyes of the kraken to swivel onto his tiny vessel. Thankfully it didn’t, having not heard or not taking any interest. It seemed totally immersed in what it was doing.
“It’s getting bigger” shouted the boy and Furghan witnessed it for himself. Although he wouldn’t have said it was getting bigger, more like it was expanding as if huge lungs pushed against its sides as it sucked in air.
The tentacles flattened in that bell shape, the sides of each extending to meet the next and forming a tight seal. It was gearing up for something, but only itself and God knew what.
He gazed off the starboard bow and saw the flickering light from Flamborough Head’s lighthouse and wondered if they were witnessing what they were. Most probably not, the creature was a dark object against a dark backdrop. Only the lights of Whitby Harbour, further down the coastline could be seen sparkling on the water.
To the opposite side above the sea line, he watched the first appearances of dawn touching the sky with a deep blood-red hue. ‘Red sky in the morning, sailors warning’, went the old saying - damn, but that was true.
The bell shape that formed above the kraken widened as the squid-shaped monster drew it towards where its mouth would be. Then it drove it forwards, exhaling its sides with it; causing a deep grumbling noise that shook the boat and rattled every man down to the bone.
Pain ruptured from Furghan’s ears. He clamped his hands over them, crouching low to the deck and curling up, expecting the world to implode. As he opened his eyes the world appeared in a blurred vision, where everything vibrated with the creature’s sound waves. He spared a glance to his men, they were all doing the same save for Foss senior who lay face down on the deck, motionless.
All the lights on the trawler suddenly blinked out and the engine ceased its chugging. Furghan pulled his hands from his ears, they came away bloody as if his eardrums had popped. They hurt like hell, but he ignored the pain as he crawled towards Fossy.
“What’s up with him? Has he been knocked out?” shouted one of the crew who joined him. It was Derek, one of the older crew members. Furghan noticed that he too had blood dripping from his ears.
Together they rolled the man on his back and Furghan lay his face against his chest. Nothing.
“Heart attack. Fetch me the defibrillator and the first aid box,” he shouted as he began CPR. Derek ambled away while he began pumping pressure, hands laced together over Fossy’s heart. He spared a glance at the creature that was still bellowing into the sky as if singing, letting the world know it was there.
The rest of the crew gathered around, watching with shocked expressions. All except Fossy junior who knelt by his father’s head holding his hand.
Derek returned with Midge in tow.
“There’s no power Capt. No lights, no radio. Nothing. Even the bloody torches are flat, and I replaced the batteries myself last week,” Midge said as he stared down at the scene.
Derek dropped the defibrillator beside Fossy. “That thing’s flat too. Bloody useless.”
Junior stared down at his father, tears running down his face. “Wouldn’t have worked anyway. Dads got a pace-maker - thing would have fried it.”
Furghan stopped the CPR, sat back on his haunches and put a hand on young Fossy’s shoulder.
“I’m sorry lad. I wish I could do something more,” he said, the words sounding pathetic.
Junior nodded but didn’t look up. “Stay with him” he ordered Derek, who he knew would be more compassionate to the lad than the rest of the crew. Then turned to Midge. “Come on, we need to get that engine going again or we’ll go down with the kraken.”
No sooner had he spoken than a rogue wave washed over the boat, the force strong enough to knock every man off his feet and tip the vessel at such an angle that Furghan saw more sea than sky.
He slid into the wall and almost went overboard, only just managing to lock an arm around the rail and hold fast.
He craned his head around to check his crew, they were all on the deck, gripping ropes, sheeting or the steel supports. Thankfully no more injuries.
When his vision panned back to the monster, he saw that its tentacles had disassembled from the bell shape and were now curling about as the creature began to sink, slapping the water and causing massive waves that smashed his boat.
“Brace yourselves,” he bellowed, as a vertical wall of water rose out of the sea, blocking his vision.
He gripped tighter to the rail as it struck, rocking the boat a second time. The trawler let out a painful groan, then something smashed the hull and Furghan realised that he could hear water gushing into the boat from below.
The vessel never righted itself, instead it listed to the side. He counted his men once again. Then he shouted for Midge.
“Get the lifeboat in the water. We’re abandoning ship.” The dreaded words left his mouth, tasting salty and sour. Something a Captain hoped he had never need to command.
Midge nodded and crawled on hands and knees to the steel container box that contained the inflatable Zodiac. He grabbed Derek on the way and together they dragged the bright orange bag to the edge. He held the cord while Derek hauled the lifeboat overboard.
Midge glanced back at Furghan and nodded. The job done, the crew slid to the rope ladder and climbed down into the inflatable boat.
The kraken was going down faster now, the sea following in a great mass pulling the broken boat towards it. Furghan watched his men disembark until only junior and himself remained. He crawled over to the lad who still held his father’s hand.
“Come on son. We need to leave,” he said, as softly as he could under the extreme circumstances.
Junior wiped his wet face with the back of his sleeve. “I’m not leaving him.”
“We don’t have a choice. This boat’s going down and soon. We need to abandon ship.”
“No. You go, I’m staying.” The determined youth stared him in the face, jaw clenched.
Furghan put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed. “I’ve already got to tell your mother that she’s lost a husband. Do you think she wants to lose a son too?” Junior thought it over for a second then rose to his feet and let himself be led to the lifeboat.
Once in the Zodiac, they began to row. Six men, six ores. The outboard motor hadn’t started but that didn’t surprise Furghan. It appeared that whatever the creature screamed, it had knocked the life from everything electrical, including batteries - including Foss senior.
“Row lads, row. Our lives depend on how much water we get between us and that sea beast. Pull, pull. Come on stick your backs into it. Pull...” Furghan screamed the words over and over, willing his men on until faces were red with the strain.
They were several hundred meters away when the beast had fully submerged, taking the trawler with it. Leaving a dark empty sea, still and calm, the red dawn sky shimmering atop its surface and showing no sign of the monster that sank his livelihood with one of his crew.
He scanned the coast, searching out the lighthouse but saw no light, nor did he see the lights of Whitby Bay. The damage the kraken had done had spread to the mainland, he wondered how far it had gone.
Bray threw his mobile phone against a building in a flash of temper. Smashing on impact it fell to the ground in a thousand pieces.
