Read Online The Raven (A Jane Harper Horror Novel) by Jeremy Bishop - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jeremy Bishop
Ads: Link
feel like a doofus—first for leaping out of the water like some kid pretending to be a dolphin, and second for not keeping my wits about me. Fleeing up? Where the hell is
up
going to get me?
As I surge beneath the water again, I’m pummeled by a strong current that spins me around.
The whale isn’t just alive. It’s mobile. The fluke pounds at the water, pushing the whale away from me.
I take the chance to flee. Horizontally. Toward the
Raven
.
“Jakob!” I shout. “Make sure Malik is waiting for me on the dive deck!”
The old captain either doesn’t hear me or just ignores me. Seems he’s got plans of his own. “Try to keep track of your distance to the whale,” he says. “Willem will try to harpoon the monster, but he can’t if you’re too close.”
Feeling a small measure of security knowing Willem is watching over me with a weapon that can destroy the Draugr whale’s brain, or remove its fluke, I look back so I can give a report.
But I see nothing.
“I don’t see it!”
That a creature so big, so close, could already be out of view seems impossible. “Jakob, I—”
“Beneath you!” Jakob shouts. “It’s beneath you!”
I glance down into the dark deep and see a vague circular shape rising up to swallow me whole. The shape emerges from the gloom as the whale’s wide-open maw. Capable of pulling in eighteen thousand gallons of seawater, the humpback has no trouble sucking me in.
Darkness surrounds me. The circle of sunlight above me begins to close. Near hysterics, I scream, “It swallowed me! Jakob! Oh my God!” I continue to scream as I slide deeper, thrust inward by water pressure. My body is jolted and beaten. My mask is nearly pulled from my face, but I manage to get a hand over it. I’m not sure why I bother. Drowning would be preferable to being digested or, morelikely, turned into a human Draugr. I may also find the belly full of parasite larvae, hungry for sustenance.
For a moment I’m stuck, clogged in the whale’s esophagus. But the water pressure behind me builds. I’m squeezed so tight I can’t breathe. I can hear Jakob shouting in my ear, but I can’t reply.
I’m going to die here. I’m going to die in the throat of a whale like a hunk of mozzarella in the throat of a fat man who doesn’t chew!
My chest feels like it’s going to implode. The pressure becomes unbearable. My mouth opens to scream, but without airflow, I can’t make a sound. Then I’m free, launched like a torpedo by the water pressure pushing from behind. I tumble through the water, limbs flailing for a moment before I’m snagged by what feels like soft, squishy ropes. But I’m not in its stomach. I can feel the water pushing past me.
While gulping in air, I twist and turn, trying to free myself. At first, I’m not sure why I’m struggling. It doesn’t really matter what part of the whale I’m lodged in. Sooner or later, the parasites will find me, if they haven’t already, or I’ll be melted by stomach acid or drowned. Then I see a flash of blue.
I turn toward the color again. Beams of sunlight ripple through the water.
I passed straight through the ruined, stomachless whale! But I’m still stuck. As I fight to free myself, I realize where I am—tangled in the beast’s intestines. I look for the knife in my hands. It’s gone. As is the sample jar. But the mesh bag of sheathed blades is still attached to my weight belt. Fighting against the loop of bowels wrapped around my arm, I reach for the pouch and dig inside. I can’t feel much with my gloved hands, but I find what I think is the thickest handle and pull it out.
After shaking the knife free of its sheath, I see the glint of a five-inch blade.
Ignoring the undulations of the gore in front of me, I twist the knife downward, against the pink intestines. The flesh resists the blade for a moment, but then gives in to the steel. The blade passes through the viscera, and it quickly unravels from around my arm. But in slicing
up
going to get me?
As I surge beneath the water again, I’m pummeled by a strong current that spins me around.
The whale isn’t just alive. It’s mobile. The fluke pounds at the water, pushing the whale away from me.
I take the chance to flee. Horizontally. Toward the
Raven
.
“Jakob!” I shout. “Make sure Malik is waiting for me on the dive deck!”
The old captain either doesn’t hear me or just ignores me. Seems he’s got plans of his own. “Try to keep track of your distance to the whale,” he says. “Willem will try to harpoon the monster, but he can’t if you’re too close.”
Feeling a small measure of security knowing Willem is watching over me with a weapon that can destroy the Draugr whale’s brain, or remove its fluke, I look back so I can give a report.
But I see nothing.
“I don’t see it!”
That a creature so big, so close, could already be out of view seems impossible. “Jakob, I—”
“Beneath you!” Jakob shouts. “It’s beneath you!”
I glance down into the dark deep and see a vague circular shape rising up to swallow me whole. The shape emerges from the gloom as the whale’s wide-open maw. Capable of pulling in eighteen thousand gallons of seawater, the humpback has no trouble sucking me in.
Darkness surrounds me. The circle of sunlight above me begins to close. Near hysterics, I scream, “It swallowed me! Jakob! Oh my God!” I continue to scream as I slide deeper, thrust inward by water pressure. My body is jolted and beaten. My mask is nearly pulled from my face, but I manage to get a hand over it. I’m not sure why I bother. Drowning would be preferable to being digested or, morelikely, turned into a human Draugr. I may also find the belly full of parasite larvae, hungry for sustenance.
For a moment I’m stuck, clogged in the whale’s esophagus. But the water pressure behind me builds. I’m squeezed so tight I can’t breathe. I can hear Jakob shouting in my ear, but I can’t reply.
I’m going to die here. I’m going to die in the throat of a whale like a hunk of mozzarella in the throat of a fat man who doesn’t chew!
My chest feels like it’s going to implode. The pressure becomes unbearable. My mouth opens to scream, but without airflow, I can’t make a sound. Then I’m free, launched like a torpedo by the water pressure pushing from behind. I tumble through the water, limbs flailing for a moment before I’m snagged by what feels like soft, squishy ropes. But I’m not in its stomach. I can feel the water pushing past me.
While gulping in air, I twist and turn, trying to free myself. At first, I’m not sure why I’m struggling. It doesn’t really matter what part of the whale I’m lodged in. Sooner or later, the parasites will find me, if they haven’t already, or I’ll be melted by stomach acid or drowned. Then I see a flash of blue.
I turn toward the color again. Beams of sunlight ripple through the water.
I passed straight through the ruined, stomachless whale! But I’m still stuck. As I fight to free myself, I realize where I am—tangled in the beast’s intestines. I look for the knife in my hands. It’s gone. As is the sample jar. But the mesh bag of sheathed blades is still attached to my weight belt. Fighting against the loop of bowels wrapped around my arm, I reach for the pouch and dig inside. I can’t feel much with my gloved hands, but I find what I think is the thickest handle and pull it out.
After shaking the knife free of its sheath, I see the glint of a five-inch blade.
Ignoring the undulations of the gore in front of me, I twist the knife downward, against the pink intestines. The flesh resists the blade for a moment, but then gives in to the steel. The blade passes through the viscera, and it quickly unravels from around my arm. But in slicing
Similar Books
