Chapter 193
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Translator: 8uhl
Chapter: 193
Chapter Title: Under the Black Water (11)
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The waterway curved sharply. The obstacle was a cluster of separated living areas. Over a hundred large and small ships tethered around a cruise ship that served as the bustling hub. Even this detached section was so wide that its edges vanished into the fog, and sticking to the right side all the way gave the constant sense that time was running critically short.
Kyaaaah! Winter spotted a woman being mauled by a mutant. No one moved to help. Everyone was fleeing in every direction. But most were weakened by starvation. They ran with desperate faces, yet their speed was barely better than walking. Everywhere led to dead ends anyway.
Every visible thing was a ship, but they'd long run out of fuel. Sold at markets or burned for heat. So those being chased had no way to escape. Not without outside help.
That's right. It was pointless struggling. In the end, the heat from the nukes would boil the entire bay.
[How about docking with a boat, even just for a moment? We can't save everyone, but at least a few...]
Radio from the driver's seat. A subdued voice even amid the urgency.
"Don't stop!"
It was pandemonium on all sides, so Winter shouted. Kwa-kwa-kwang! Pressing the button trigger made the machine gun vibrate heavily. Three tracks approaching the speedboat from underwater scattered, dodging the bullet impacts.
Winter then aimed in a new direction. Kwa-kwa-kwang! Kwa-kik! The slashing diagonal lines pierced two layers of waves. Warning shots slanting into the surface. Two more coming from ahead veered off to the side. In that slowed moment, the accelerating speedboat broke through the disrupted tracks.
'Losing speed would be trouble. We'd be in immediate danger.'
Just moving fast drew their attention. Add the roaring engine noise, and for monsters that communicated via sound waves and identified targets that way, there'd be no more conspicuous target. They could even detect the sound of rowing a rubber boat from a hundred meters away.
More and more were targeting the boat now.
If it were a straight run, they'd have shaken them off long ago. But dodging obstacles kept forcing turns this way and that, while the sea monsters below always took the optimal pursuit path. Their instantaneous top speed neared 30 knots. That was why they only emerged from the most threatening angles.
And they were learning fast.
With each machine gun burst, their evasion radius kept shrinking. Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang! Chilik— Winter ejected the empty magazine and slammed in a full 50-round one in two seconds. In that gap, three white foam trails that had grazed past the impacts charged in rapidly.
By the time reloading finished, they'd be too close.
Pulling out the linked rounds halfway, Winter went ting— yanking a grenade pin. Accounting for the delay fuse, he hurled it full force. Even on the pitching deck, it was a precise 「Throw」.
Peureng! Rotten seawater erupted sky-high. But the underwater blast pressure concentrated vertically, so the effective radius was far smaller than in air.
Even so, the Melville pack took the hit. From the thunderous boom. For creatures sensitive to sound waves, the grenade's explosion was like a flashbang right in front of human eyes.
Chwaaak! One lost its bearings momentarily and breached in the wrong spot. A streamlined body tracing a parabola. That murky gleam. In the dim view, its swollen, distorted limbs resembled cephalopods more than anything. Winter fired his rifle swiftly. Dudududuk!
Kkiiiii— Wooowoowoo—
One hit, but the screeches returned as a chorus. High and low echoes. The lumpy flesh bulging across its body like a uvula was indeed a vocal organ. Pungdung! It reentered without fatal damage, then veered off at right angles to the boat's course.
Even now, new waves surged in. Every ripple in the fog and swell brought them visibly closer, moment by moment. Increasing steadily.
At least their twisted buoyancy kept them from diving deep. Small mercy.
Winter used the lull to rattle linked rounds into the chamber and close the cover. Chilik-chilik! Yanking the charging handle twice fast ejected one metal link from the ejection port. Aiming was done before reloading finished. Kwa-kwa-kwang! Kwa-kwang! Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang! Ten ripping bursts pierced exactly a handspan ahead of their heads. Three were grazing hits.
'Not yet, not yet— no direct hits.'
The pack growing bolder came from learning they hadn't been hit despite repeated fire.
But actually hitting would let them realize the reduced power of machine gun rounds in water. More threatening than rifle fire, sure, but nothing to fear. The moment that realization spread through the Melville herd, Winter would lose one check method.
So the machine gun rounds had to remain an unknown terror.
Deliberately missing, yet shooting close enough to nearly hit. A stunt that would have failed long ago if not for Winter.
Even so, others could learn from any angle.
Kwarung! Kwa-kwa-kwang!
A flash swept by, then heavy cannon fire chased the light. Distance by interval: 1,600 meters at 2 o'clock. Various calibers of military guns spewing shells madly. Chinese military? Or some other navy? Only low hit rate to hope for. Against monsters, point-and-shoot was all there was. How accurately could panicked soldiers fire?
Just a bit longer. Please no direct hits...
[Damn it! Road's blocked!]
Joanna's scream, laced with rage and despair. Looking back, she was wrenching the wheel desperately. A life-or-death starboard turn. The speedboat veered sharply. The boat heeled near-vertical, flinging machine gun links from the mag by inertia to dance in the air.
They barely skirted a massive chain-collision site. Ships from dozens to hundreds of meters smashing into each other, sinking by the kilometer in countless numbers.
Various hulls sucked in water, spawning big and small whirlpools. People in faded life vests or clinging to flotsam drifting the bubbling sea. Their numbers dwindled fast. Sea monsters snatching from below with teeth.
Winter scooped up the rounds with a big gesture, pointing direction.
"That way! Climb over the deck!"
He indicated a half-sunk freighter. Its deck, half-submerged diagonally under black water, seemed climbable against the speedboat's top speed.
[Jesus! To actually do this!]
Spitting it out in disgust, Joanna still spun the wheel. For now, away. Securing distance to accelerate. The speedboat arced wide toward the freighter and charged. Weeeyiiing— twin engines maxed out roaring. Monsters closed in relentlessly toward the bouncing hull. From port and starboard courses.
"Don't evade!"
Charge straight. Winter lobbed a grenade while suppressing the opposite side. Dozens of casings clattered. Kwarung! Close blast. Seawater from the grenade rained like a storm. But the deck was soaked already. Winter wiped water and sweat together.
[Impact coming! Brace for shock!]
No matter the slant, boarding impact wouldn't be light. Kkiiiii— Drdrdr— Fierce sparks flew from steel and aluminum grinding. No fire surely, and even if, no matter. Back in water soon anyway.
Amid the violent shaking, Winter's gripped machine gun held steady aim. Target: rail at deck's end. Sever before hull hit. Kwa-kwa-kwang! Kwa-kwa-kwa-kwang! Heavy rounds sheared chunks with each pass. Not perfect. Jagged stumps of fixed posts remained. Where the speedboat's keel would scrape.
Chilik! Hollow click from the chamber.
Too late to reload.
The scraping was shrill enough to pain even Winter.
It didn't drag long. Hull mass crushed the edged stumps.
But the snag's braking yanked the boat sideways.
Cresting the slope sideways, slowed from the climb, the speedboat now slid down the freighter's tilted outer wall. Mutants pursued, former crew of the sinking ship leaping railings in inhuman form.
Duduk! Dudududuk! Winter held rifle fire, skipping machine gun reload. Only those likely to reach before relaunch. Kkwiaek! Kyaaaak! Head-shot corpses tumbled, some overtaking the boat.
Clearing rear, Winter now aimed grenade launcher at approaching sea. Monsters circling, anticipating the capsize. Clever bastards. More orca-like than orcas maybe. Tuwoong! Tutututung! Emptied the launcher. Two were incendiary, useless underwater; rest high-explosive packed with burster.
The lined blasts' thunder crippled their 「search」 pattern.
Finally, the steel-on-steel slide ended. Sea surging felt underfoot.
[Water in the cabin!]
Winter snapped back at the radio scream.
"Tucker! Handle it from there! You've got controls too! And Anne! Get out quick! Monsters everywhere! Before they recover— hurry!"
Not critical flooding, he judged. 「Survival Instinct」 basis. No fatal alert yet. Automated pumps could manage.
As speed recovered, Winter tossed another grenade, swapped machine gun mag. Peureng! Underwater blast echoed.
Joanna hailed.
[Chasing that wake from now— okay?!]
Wake? Scanning wide ahead, Winter got it.
"Fine! The Mel... sea monsters— I'll handle checks!"
Near-slip from haste.
Joanna's wake fanned out hugely. Aftermath of a vastly larger ship. Split waters collided, lingering long. Torpedoes tracked them specially. Carriers traceable a day later.
This white wave was from something carrier-class or bigger.
Churned with smashed debris. Razed by immense force and mass.
Ahead like a straight highway then.
Problem: the wake itself. Spotting linear foam amid chop was tough. Joanna worried missing Melville approaches.
Winter reloaded launcher. Two grenades left.
Sense spiked mid-reload. Ducking flat— ashen silhouette breached overhead, limb nearly grazing his shoulder.
Tak takatak! Toward chattering teeth, Winter blind-aimed, fired launcher. Tuwoong! Stubby HE burst between tail-like legs.
Kwaaa— Kkyaeae— Bububul—
Multi-voice screams plunged subsurface. Nearby water darkened deeper. Blood-red under light. Winter hoped propulsion damaged.
Follow-ups continued. Dormant sense correction boiled only at breaches. Dodge margin barely a second. Weak spots sans water under skin hit just a few times.
For those bulging eyes above, Winter outside cabin was prime target.
'Way to smash them on deck?'
Minus tough flesh and muscle, land Melvilles worse than ghouls. They knew, so no frontal assaults.
Grab and slam? Slippery skin issue. Stab and twist? Worried inertia drag. Best just buy time like this? Drenched in fishy water passing them, Winter checked time.
Still margin. Until false dawn darkest.
Huge leg overhead. San Francisco-Oakland Bay Bridge. Severed ends long ago, yet mutants somehow leaping from below. Grumble-tossed? No real threat.
Low survival odds on wide decks. Broken legs lucky. Unarmed crew wouldn't go down easy. Why so many boats fled via mad speeding and collisions.
Many sharp like Joanna, so 「Crisis Detection」 pinged constantly. Her evasions half-radar, half-Winter. Lost count of near-misses.
Special mutant attacks dispersed some.
No cause for joy.
Winter stayed vigilant even in unwelcome lull.
Speedboat's path passed nuke-launched Treasure Island, threading notorious prison Alcatraz and Angel Island.
Joanna sighed sadly.
[Ahh... Fort McDowell fell.]
Angel Island U.S. base ablaze. Historic site closed half-century ago, reactivated post-apocalypse— black smoke billowed.
Sporadic gunfire from dispersed directions meant total defense line collapse. Winter knew a division garrisoned there. 10th Mountain Division. Set for future San Francisco recapture.
How many evacuated alive?
Ridge-blocked view, but north-end old immigration building likely gone too. And moored stateless subs. Their crews.
Speedboat overtook massive freighter's stern— just then.
Immense blast from freighter's bow direction.
============================ Author's Notes ============================
#Paper Book
I've already received my copy, but bookstores get stock around early April. Might need to wait a bit more.
#Q&A
Q. From Borei-nim: @Will the full story of this mission be revealed? Kinda like wiping out an evil secret organization.
A. Answering would spoil it. Think from the U.S. government perspective, and you'll get it. Look forward to serialization.
Q. svjk-nim: @Great read, leaving! You mentioned Melvilles don't swim to reach those speeds... With mutants evolving such bizarre propulsion, will more special variants appear later?? Suddenly curious about ecosystem. Like, how do top predators like lions or orcas relate to mutants?? If they affect catch rates, it'd be a big variable.
A. Special variants will keep appearing. Not all as strong as Grumbles, Tricksters, or Melvilles— just calling ones with special functions "special variants."
Even multiplied, Melvilles won't dent catch rates vs. effort. But effectively, catches drop. Sea ops got riskier.
Q. BlueCrystal-nim: @Checked, only ebooks, no paperback. Not out yet?
Yes. As above, bookstore stock pending.
Q. Suri-nim: @Your novel hooked me, sparking interest in this genre. Saw dystopia category, bought 1984 and Brave New World— fun but not what I expected ㅜㅜ Any books that inspired your writing?
A. Nothing specific. Basic inspiration hit when I encountered the TOM concept.
Q. OneChance-nim: @Always amazed by detailed research. This variant's jaw strength insane! Biting hull alloys ㄷㄷ Makes sense for ship threats, but how's a biological bite dent steel? Writer-nim's innocence power!
A. Steel hull? Impossible. 47FT MLB hull is aluminum.
Even so, Melville bite force is monstrous, true.