A Trail of Echoes(30)

Following the trail of dark blood the mermaid had left along the floor, I found her, to my surprise, curled up in a fetal position in a corner of an empty cabin. The fin at the end of her long tail was splayed out to cover her face. Her whole body trembled as she too had begun to make a wheezing sound.

I hurried back along the corridor to fetch the merman and dragged him into the cabin along with the female. I wasn’t sure what to do with them. I really didn’t want to kill them, but I also didn’t see the point in throwing them back in the water when they clearly didn’t want to be there. It seemed that they would rather die up here. Locking them both inside, I headed back to the control room to examine the broken screen.

I breathed out in frustration. Great. After all the trouble we’d undergone to find a submarine, now we were going to have to spend the rest of the journey above the waves.

I was about to go to River when something outside caught my eye. Bright blue lights. Flashing beneath the surface of the water. Grabbing a pair of goggles from one of the cabinets, I slid out through the hole in the glass and stood at the edge of the submarine. Staring down to the dark waters, I tried to make out what was causing the light. But the moonlight was reflecting too much over the surface.

Lowering myself into the sea, I put on the goggles and dipped down. Beneath the surface I looked toward the direction of where the light seemed to be coming from, and almost swallowed a mouthful of water in shock.

Perhaps a hundred merfolk darted in all directions as blue light shot toward them. Five black submarines were surrounded by dozens of divers in black suits, all armed with some kind of mini torpedo.

River and I needed to get far, far away from here.

I was about to haul myself back onto the submarine when a diver came into view about twenty feet beneath me. He was staring up at me, his head cocked to one side.

Hurrying out of the water and back into the control room, I just prayed that in the few seconds that diver saw me, he had not been able to detect that I was a vampire. I hoped he’d assume I was just a curious onlooker who happened to be passing this way.

I urged the vessel forward as fast as I could in the opposite direction.

“Ben?” River called. “What’s going on? Can I come out?”

“Just… stay where you are for now,” I replied.

The strong sea wind entered the control room as the sub sped faster and faster. I breathed in a scent that chilled me.

Human blood. Warm human blood. It was close. Too close.

I urged the vessel forward, but it was already going at maximum speed.

I pulled myself through the hole in the screen and looked round, trying to trace the source of the blood. Then I caught sight of two submarines above the surface, chasing after us.

No.

“Ben? What’s going on?” River’s voice again.

I didn’t answer her.

If those hunters catch up with us, this is the end of our journey. The end of us.

Navigating the submarine, I had been so focused on the two vessels behind me that I only noticed the one in front when its smooth surface emerged from the waves. It was a much larger submarine than ours and was positioned deliberately to block our path. I swerved to the right to avoid it, but the two submarines behind me were fast closing in. As all three worked together to trap us, it became clear to me that it was only a matter of time.

We had two options. Continue to try to skirt away from them in this vessel, the vessel that was much more outdated and slower than their own, or dive into the water.

My guess was that we would survive longer beneath the water than in such a big, clunky open target. Keeping the submarine speeding on autopilot, I left the control room and raced to River’s bedroom. As I opened the door, she looked at me in panic, a line of sweat on her brow.

“What is happening?” she gasped.

I just grabbed her and pulled her toward the ladder. Climbing up, I opened the hatch and raised my head slowly.

A shower of bullets fired at me the second my head came into view. I ducked just in time to avoid being hit by one square in the jaw. It’s too late. If we were to step out now, we’d be blown to bits within seconds.

I looked down at River. “Hunters. Change of plan,” I breathed through gritted teeth, closing the hatch again and pulling her back down the ladder.

As I moved back toward the control room, the sound of the window smashing filled my ears. I didn’t need to step inside to realize what must’ve just happened. The submarine that had been closing in from the front had caught up. As the scent of human blood grew stronger, and footsteps rang out near the nose of the submarine, I gripped River’s hand and dragged her toward the furthest room away from them. A small bedroom cabin. Locking the door behind me, I looked down at her.