Chapter 4 - Frank couldn't move.Twenty-six years.
Twenty-six years of funerals without a body.
Twenty-six years of anger.
Twenty-six years of believing his younger brother was dead.
And now Joseph stood ten feet away.
Older.
Scarred.
Alive.
Frank's hands trembled.
“No.”
Joseph stepped closer.
“Yes.”
Frank shook his head.
“You drowned.”
Joseph smiled bitterly.
“No.”
“You were dead.”
“No.”
“You're supposed to be dead.”
Joseph looked toward the fish.
“I was supposed to stay dead.”
Frank's eyes moved between them.
“What is this place?”
Joseph didn't answer.
Frank grabbed him by the shirt.
“What is this place?”
Joseph didn't fight.
Instead, he whispered:
“Turn around.”
Frank did.
On the wall behind him was a massive steel window.
Beyond it was a chamber filled with water.
Hundreds of enormous fish moved through the darkness.
Some were nearly twenty feet long.
Some had strange metal implants embedded beneath their skin.
Some had glowing red eyes.
Frank stepped backward.
“What the hell?”
Joseph lowered his voice.
“You were never supposed to see this.”
Frank turned.
“You're responsible for this?”
“No.”
“Then who is?”
Joseph looked toward the ceiling.
“The people who built it.”
Frank laughed nervously.
“There are no people here.”
Joseph's face became serious.
“They left.”
“Where?”
“They're gone.”
“Gone where?”
Joseph stared at him.
“Everywhere.”
Frank didn't understand.
Joseph walked to a control panel.
He activated a switch.
The chamber lights came on.
Frank saw the truth.
This wasn't a natural lake.
It was a testing facility.
A massive underwater laboratory had been constructed beneath the lake decades earlier.
The fish were experiments.
Genetically altered creatures designed to survive extreme pressure, darkness, low oxygen, and radiation.
Frank stared.
“That fish attacked me.”
Joseph looked at the creature.
“It recognized you.”
Frank frowned.
“How?”
“You were here before.”
“No.”
Joseph looked at him.
“You just don't remember.”
Frank stepped closer.
“Don't play games with me.”
Joseph's expression hardened.
“You were twenty-nine. You were injured. They brought you here after the accident.”
Frank froze.
“What accident?”
Joseph didn't answer.
Frank's memories came in pieces.
A car.
Rain.
Headlights.
A crash.
Then nothing.
Joseph continued.
“They erased your memory.”
Frank stared.
“Why?”
“Because you saw something.”
“What?”
Joseph looked at the fish.
“That.”
The creature stepped forward.
Its eyes glowed faintly.
Joseph touched the side of its head.
“Her name is Mina.”
Frank looked surprised.
“You named it?”
Joseph shook his head.
“She remembered the name herself.”
Frank stared.
“That's impossible.”
“She understands language.”
Frank glanced at the fish.
“Apparently.”
Mina opened her mouth.
Frank took a cautious step backward.
Joseph laughed softly.
“She's not going to eat you.”
“She slapped me twelve times.”
“She likes you.”
Frank stared at him.
“That is her liking me?”
Joseph shrugged.
“She has strange affection.”
Frank looked at Mina.
The fish stared back.
Frank pointed.
“You've got issues.”
Mina made a low clicking sound.
Joseph smiled.
“See?”
Frank rubbed his jaw.
“Why did she jump into my boat?”
Joseph's smile disappeared.
“Because something woke up.”
Frank looked around.
“What?”
Joseph didn't answer immediately.
Then the facility lights flickered.
Once.
Twice.
The entire structure shook.
Mina suddenly backed away.
Joseph's face changed.
“No.”
Frank noticed.
“What?”
Joseph ran toward the control panel.
“It's too early.”
“What is?”
Joseph typed rapidly.
Frank followed.
A screen showed a massive energy reading.
Red warnings filled the display.
Then a message appeared.
CONTAINMENT FAILURE
Frank swallowed.
“What did you build?”
Joseph looked at him.
“We didn't build it.”
A deep vibration moved through the floor.
The laboratory shook.
Water splashed against the glass.
Mina slammed her body against the door.
Joseph shouted:
“Get behind me!”
The glass cracked.
Frank stared.
“What is that?”
A giant shadow moved behind the glass.
It was larger than anything Frank had seen.
The creature struck the chamber wall.
BOOM!
The glass cracked again.
Mina screamed.
Joseph grabbed Frank.
“We have to leave.”
Frank resisted.
“No!”
“Frank!”
“You just came back from the dead. I'm not leaving until you tell me everything.”
Joseph's expression broke.
“Then you don't understand.”
He pointed at the giant creature.
“That isn't a fish.”
Frank stared.
The creature struck again.
The glass shattered.
Water exploded into the hallway.
Mina screamed.
Joseph shouted:
May you like
“RUN!”
And behind them, something enormous entered the laboratory.
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