Chapter 89-A bear-sized crab

Chapter 89: 89-A bear-sized crab

"Did you feel that?" Ambrose asked.

Noel didn’t answer immediately. He placed his bowl on the table and listened to every sound around him.

For a moment there was nothing but the steady rumble of the engines and the quiet movement of the waves and then the vibration came again. Stronger this time.

The table shuddered. A spoon slid off a bowl and clattered against the deck.

THUD.

The impact seemed to come from somewhere beneath the ship.

Ambrose rose so abruptly that his chair scraped backward. "Tell me that was the engine."

Noel was already standing. "It wasn’t."

The robot’s eyes changed from their usual soft blue to a piercing red. A mechanical voice rang across the deck as it informed.

[WARNING.]

[Abnormal underwater movement detected.]

[Unidentified object approaching from below.]

Noel’s hand moved instinctively toward the weapon at his waist. "How close?" 𝖿𝖗ⅇℴ𝑚

[Thirty meters.]

Ambrose stared at the robot as his heart picked up a bear.

"Thirty meters?" His earlier amusement vanished, replaced by the cold, immediate alertness of a man who had learned that hesitation could cost him his life. "Something is thirty meters away from our ship, and you’re only telling us now?"

"Detection confidence has increased to a critical threshold."

"That’s not an answer I like nor what I asked!"

"Ambrose," Noel snapped at him. It was already their fortune that they had the robot to aid and assist and Ambrose was acting spoilt, it didn’t look good.

His brother immediately fell silent. Noel kept his eyes on the water. "009, scan it. Identify its size, movement pattern, and possible weaknesses."

[Scanning...]

The pause that followed was agonizing. The ocean beside the ship began to bubble. It was not the gentle disturbance caused by ordinary waves.

The water churned in a tight, unnatural circle as though something enormous were stirring the depths with its body.

Bubbles rose faster and faster. A low, grinding sound drifted upward from beneath the hull.

Noel’s stomach tightened. Whatever was down there was large enough to make itself felt through the ship.

"Everyone move away from the railing," he ordered.

Ambrose backed toward the center of the deck, raising his rifle. "Tell me we’re not about to fight a shark?" He asked, scared.

He had watched sharks attacked ships on documentaries and he never liked the ending of those being attacked. And in his mind, sharks were the worst thing to encounter in an ocean.

009’s eyes flickered.

[Unknown mutated organism detected.]

[Threat level: HIGH.]

Ambrose closed his eyes for half a second. "Of course it’s threat level is high, the thing just... Wait, did you mutated organism?" His eyes widened and mouth fell wide open.

BOOOOOOM!

The ocean exploded as a gigantic claw burst through the waves, scattering water across the deck in a freezing torrent.

Noel threw up an arm to shield his face. The sudden impact of the water stole his breath, and his boots skidded across the wet metal.

Ambrose stumbled sideways, nearly dropping his rifle. "What the hell?!"

Another claw emerged and then a monstrous armored body rose from the ocean, dragging itself toward the ship with a sound like grinding steel.

The creature was a crab. At least, it resembled one but whatever nature had once created had been twisted into something that belonged in a nightmare.

Its body was roughly the size of a bear, its enormous shell covered in overlapping dark metallic plates. Sunlight slid across the armor without revealing much beneath it, making the creature look as though someone had forged a living weapon out of black steel.

Its eight legs were thick and heavily jointed, ending in pointed tips sharp enough to pierce the deck. Each time one struck the ship, the metal groaned beneath the impact.

Its claws were worse. The two massive pincers were large enough to crush a human torso or tear through a reinforced door. Jagged edges lined their inner surfaces, and dark fluid dripped from between the armored plates.

The creature hauled its entire body onto the ship with intention.

CLANG!

The deck buckled. Noel felt the impact through his knees and for one disorienting moment, he could only stare blankly at it.

His mind struggled to reconcile what his eyes were seeing with everything he had known about the world before the apocalypse.

Crabs belonged on beaches and beneath the sea. They did not climb aboard ships, they did not have armor that reflected sunlight like forged metal and they certainly did not look capable of crushing three opponents without slowing down.

Ambrose’s mouth fell open. "That’s a crab."

Noel turned to him with an incredulous look. "Thank you for the identification, brother."

"A bear-sized crab!"

"I noticed!" Noel answered in irritation.

"With metal armor for a body???"

"Ambrose!" He scolded. He was already frightened and his brother’s rumbling was only making it worse.

"What? I’m trying to process this!" Ambrose defended his actions. "Who would’ve known a crab would mutate in these waters?"

The creature suddenly raised its body. Its small, dark eyes fixed on them. A wet, rasping sound emerged from somewhere inside its armored shell and then it lifted one enormous claw.

Noel’s blood ran cold. "Move!"

The crab lunged.

CRASH!

Its claw smashed into the spot where Noel had been standing a heartbeat earlier. The impact shattered a section of the deck, sending fragments of metal flying through the air.

Noel threw himself sideways and rolled across the wet surface. Pain shot through his shoulder when he struck the railing, but he barely noticed.

He had come within inches of being crushed... another second, that was all it would have taken.

His heart slammed against his ribs. There was no time to wonder how a creature like this had come into existence. He had to survive it first.

"009!" he shouted.

[Combat mode activated.]

The robot stepped between the brothers and the creature. Its posture changed instantly. Panels slid open along its arms, exposing concealed weapons. Mechanical components shifted and locked into place with a series of sharp clicks. Its blue eyes turned a fierce, unwavering red.

[Hostile organism designated as primary threat.]

[Engaging combat protocols.]

Ambrose regained his footing and raised his rifle. "Let’s see how much that armor can take and what 009 is made of!"

009 fired without mercy at the mutant crab and didn’t hold back, targeting on critical points on the creature.

BANG! BANG! BANG!

The shots rang across the water. Bullets struck the crab’s shell, producing brief sparks before ricocheting into the darkness, the creature barely reacted or felt a thing.

Ambrose’s expression twisted. "Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me!"

Noel pushed himself upright, wincing as pain flared through his shoulder. "Stop wasting ammunition! Aim for its joints!"

Before Ambrose could respond, 009 charged. The robot crossed the distance in a blur of mechanical movement and drove its fist into the crab’s face.

BOOM!

The impact reverberated through the deck. The creature’s head jerked sideways and for a fleeting second, Noel felt a surge of hope.