Chapter 190
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 190
Chapter Title: Under the Black Water (8)
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The two of them fitted suppressors onto their firearms.
The Pequod was sinking fast. Even just ascending from the middle deck to the upper deck via the stairs was no easy task. The slope changed with every landing where the staircase turned. Half the steps had gradually flattened out, while the remaining half grew steeper, forcing them to climb like a ladder.
Kriiiing. The ship shook like a building hit by an earthquake. It wasn't an external impact. Once the vibrations subsided, the sound of rushing water grew fiercer than before. Somewhere below deck must have torn open under the pressure. Joanna, having reached the top of the stairs, said with concern.
“Big trouble. The watertight bulkheads must still be open. Not sure if we'll have time to search for survivors….”
Even if the double hull was breached, closing the bulkheads in time would drastically reduce the chance of sinking.
However, at this advanced stage of flooding, no one would have been at the breach site, and it seemed the situation room couldn't mount a proper response due to internal infection.
Winter and Joanna peered out from the cover of a corner, scouting the way ahead.
The upper deck wasn't quiet like below. Echoing down the corridor were the chaotic noises they had experienced many times before but hadn't heard in a while. Kyaaak, kyak! Bang bang bang! The ravenous things battered at doors in frantic hunger. The narrow passage was packed tight with howling corpses. Glimpses of faces revealed nothing but familiar ones.
Was someone trapped inside? Winter signaled to Joanna and pulled a frag grenade.
Tick. The delay fuse ignited. He didn't throw it right away but waited for the fuse to burn down. To gauge the time until detonation, he linked 「Crisis Detection」 and 「Survival Instinct」. How long could he hold it before death? At the moment the warning surged, Winter hurled it to explode a second later.
Over dozens of heads, it burst into thousands of fragments.
The savage blast swept through the narrow, elongated space, shattering the ceiling lights in its wake alone.
When the storm passed and he cautiously peeked out, not a single one stood intact. Only writhing bodies leaking blood remained. If he'd just tossed it or rolled it along the floor, the result would have been different. No matter how many fragments scattered, piercing a torso was nearly impossible.
“Excellent. Taking out that many with a single shot.”
Joanna said as she delivered finishing shots. She had solid skills to begin with, but now she was even faster and more precise. Even in exhaustion. How much practice had she put in? Probably to suppress her anxiety.
They now stood before the door the dead things had been pounding.
Was the trapped one a survivor? Bang bang bang. The knocks from inside toward the outside were hardly different from those of the starving horde outside.
“Anyone in there?”
A guttural reply came to the hesitant question shouted through the door. Kyak, kack!
The situation was easy to picture.
‘Locked themselves in, but already bitten before that.’
Suicide wasn't an easy choice. Even if turning into a monster was inevitable. If death was certain anyway, the desire to breathe for even one meaningless second longer. It was a psychology Winter didn't relate to, but he'd seen it enough times to understand. Sometimes, mere survival was life's meaning.
Joanna recovered ammo and grenades from the armed corpses and handed Winter his share.
“How about we just pass by?”
Despite her suggestion, Winter pressed against the wall beside the door.
“Could be Chadwick.”
The agent nodded in agreement. He was a man of many secrets. Plenty of chance he held clues linking to the patriots, or something else. As the operation lead for Fair Strike, he was last in the evacuation order.
If it couldn't open the door, the variant inside was likely a regular one.
Winter swapped weapons. He raised his pistol and turned the doorknob.
Clunk!
The impact slamming against the door as it cracked open was the weight of an adult body plus plague-enhanced strength. But a standard variant couldn't overcome Winter's hold. With Joanna adding her weight too. Kreaaak! Through the suppressor-width gap, only pale fingers clawed out. The variant clung to the crack like a starving man to fresh air, its bloodshot eyes bulging. But it wasn't the Chadwick they hoped for.
Even if the breathing corpse wore body armor, its face was exposed. Winter aimed between clashing teeth. Pop! The muffled gunshot was the plague victim's mercy kill.
No further monsters pushed forward. Unexpectedly, though, a human voice rang out.
“Good heavens! Lieutenant Han Gyeowol! Supervisor Gibson! Here to rescue us? Thank God!”
“...Agent Talbot?”
Oliver Talbot crawled out from under a desk in the cabin, along with another agent. Plus one more from a locker. Three survivors trapped in close quarters with monsters. Joanna, who had suggested passing by, asked in bewilderment.
“How long exactly have you been holed up there?”
“Four hours now. And you two—when did you get back? What about other reinforcements?”
“Get back? We never left this ship.”
Now Talbot looked flustered.
“What do you mean? I heard you were in the second evacuation wave.”
“Oh, really? Chadwick say that?”
True to his intel agency roots, Talbot caught on quick.
“What happened?”
“Long story. For now, seems you don't know his secrets, and I can't vouch for the other two. Hate leaving loose ends when we need to hustle.”
Even now, the sea swallowed the whaler. The deck tilted sharply enough that they had to crouch to keep balance.
At Joanna's sharp warning, the two reacted like frightened civilians. Nothing but head shakes claiming ignorance. Joanna stared them down before sighing and shaking her head.
“No choice but to trust them for now. What do you think, Winter?”
“Agreed. Suspicious or not, can't abandon the living. They don't seem like threats.”
Call it the limits of desk agents. Hiding from one variant showed no combat prowess worth fearing. Even if they turned hostile, suppressing them would be trivial. Their amateur frontal fire was far slower than Winter's rear guard.
Did they even think they could survive without him? They lacked the skill or guts to handle a comrade turning. Vigilance until safety would suffice.
“What are your names?”
Winter asked. Many in the ops center were unfamiliar faces. These two included.
“Sean Tucker.”
“Samantha G. Kelly.”
Winter nodded and gestured toward the corpses.
“Good. Agent Tucker, Agent Kelly. Arm up first.”
They each carried a pistol. But without ammo, no reason to be trapped. Must have expended it all fleeing here.
Plenty of strike team variant corpses meant ample weapons and ammo left after Joanna's grab. Including undamaged radios and NVGs.
Tucker and Kelly rushed to obey Winter's orders. But their hands were busy without results. Joanna, watching the passage, snapped harshly.
“Office drones. Touching doesn't transmit it! Hurry up! Wanna die of boredom?”
Their aversion to even touching was Bradley-level reeking.
Talbot fared better. He geared up at field-agent speed. But confidence was another matter. The gap of field experience no training could fill—that showed. None of the composure from past meetings remained.
“Agent Talbot. Tell us. How'd it come to this.”
Joanna interrogated amid the resumed movement. Winter had been about to ask the same.
“I don't know how the infection started. It was foggy, pitch black visibility. Heard distant screams, atmosphere turning sour, then sudden gunfire from the sub receiving the seventh evac wave. Something climbed aboard from there. We emergency evacuated inside, but somehow infectees appeared internally too.”
Agent Kelly added in a trembling stutter.
“It, it was over in seconds... Snapped to and I was alone. If I hadn't met Tucker, Talbot...!”
“Got it, so don't point that muzzle here. Voice down. Driving me nuts.”
Joanna's hushed retort stayed sharp. But holding tension despite exhaustion without cursing showed impressive restraint.
As they moved, the flickering lights went out completely. Joanna said.
“Using IR lights. Everyone, NVGs on.”
The remaining path was short. The shifting air told them that. Beyond the smell, rising humidity was fog pressing in from outside. So thick it choked breathing.
At the door to the outer deck, they shot the two guarding variants, and Winter let out a long sigh.
Frightened Tucker asked cautiously.
“Why? Were they friends?”
“No. Looks like the thing we'll face is a new special variant.”
“Huh?”
“Check the wounds on the bodies.”
The boy pointed to the two corpses. The infection wounds were unique. Two rows of teeth, top and bottom. The bite still reeked of potent fishiness.
‘Mutation code 「Melvillei」. Been uneasy, but didn't think it'd actually be...’
Of all places, fighting this monster in the sea city. Fog and ocean synergy created its ideal hunting ground. If only this ship, the Pequod, were intact for terrain and height advantage...
Boom! The Pequod lurched. Across the deck, beyond fog, red light smeared. A small boat must have collided and exploded. Not just that. Auditory chaos surged from all directions. Screams, shouts, survival howls, gunfire, cannon fire, blasts, crashes, and kreeeeeeak!
“Uh, just a freak mutation? Or maybe two different sizes bit the same spot...”
Joanna shot back at Tucker.
“Talk sense. Width alone's abnormal. Gaps too uniform for different biters.”
Bite mark over a handspan wide. Worse than a grumbl that swallowed whole, but proof of a bigger maw than a trickster. No mere freak.
Above all, Winter knew why inefficient freak variants didn't appear.
Curious at Winter's actions, Joanna sniffed the wound and grimaced.
“Fishy?”
“Too early to say for sure, but a special variant optimized for underwater ops.”
Best to put it like that for now. Only evidence was the smell. Winter couldn't reveal all he knew. Helpful short-term, but trouble later.
‘Never ends well being treated like a prophet or psychic.’
Thud thud. Kyaaaak! Ravenous things raced across the deck. Someone's scream. Sustained gunfire flashed like lightning through dark fog. Talbot bit his lip.
“Damn! If it's really a new special variant, what do we do?”
His eyes turned to Winter. Slayer of the first grumbl, handler of trickster with zero intel.
But what a pointless question.
“Variant or no, priority's escape. Anyone know when the nuke drops?”
Circumstances guaranteed final solution, but timing unknown. Higher-ups issued only evac orders.
Asked the intel agents just in case, but all shook heads. Kelly tentatively mentioned two.
“Team lead Chadwick or Agent Kowalski might. He's branch chief level, Kowalski handles comms security, vets all traffic.”
“Where are they?”
“...No idea.”
Panic dulled judgment. Useless info now.
Tilt neared 30 degrees. Bow-high ship looked ready to snap midships.
============================ Author's Notes ============================
#Event
I don't get why you're all so bummed about the signed books, but since you keep asking, fine.
I'll pick one commenter from this chapter and send a signed book.
Entry deadline: next Sunday, March 19th.
(Added notice March 11th 6:11 PM: Comments way more than expected, closing early.)
Unlike the pinned announcement event, this is for those who absolutely need a signed book, say to prop up their wobbly Tunguska vibes for tastier ramen. If you don't need the signature, please abstain.
But if recs don't outnumber comments, event canceled. :)