Oceanic



The waves roared and crashed into the dock of the harbor in a rush as the sun just began to set. The load thunder like smack they created were capable of causing a headache to some. A few waves met the top of the dock, and hit the feet of those standing on it. Micheal Hitchman, Vinny Hinder, and Joshua Fedrick all complained about the water meeting their shoes and making their feet cold.

Joshua and Micheal carried the cloths and food supplies onto the Altenia 5913, an old fashioned fishing ship they came to board. The old fishing boat was capable of holding a decent amount of food in its hold, making it perfect for these long fishing trips. When the cargo was loaded, and the three finished their friendly banter, and checked if they had their walkie-talkies as they boarded the ship as well. Micheal Hitchman took the wheel, and Vinny started the engine. The boat took off from the harbor and headed straight for the open sea.

The ship raced away from the land and caused the water to move around it. These side waves caused a small amount of fish to surface, but the men did not fish. They had a special spot in mind in the deep blue ocean, away from the coast of Florida. Joshua went to the hold to get a snack to tide him over for the wait.

"You know, we have to keep the food for two weeks, right?" yelled Micheal from the ship's wheel. Joshua laughed and yelled back at Micheal. "Yeah, dumbass. Just a snack. I'll be back to watch you do your job in a minute. I'm going to put my Walkie-Talkie by my bed for the night, too". Micheal blurted out "Don't loose it" before falling silent.

Micheal laughed quietly and looked back in front of him, toward more water. The sharks began to surface to the left of the ship. The Black-tipped sharks kept together, being that there were three of them. Vinny walked to the left side of the ship and watched the Black-tipped sharks swim in a circle, hunting for fish or a scent of blood in the water.

The ocean was getting deeper and deeper as the boat went, the bottom now black with a lack of light. Yet, a seemingly dark void was with the Black-tips in the middle of their swarm. As it broke the surface, Vinny screamed with joy. "Would you look at the size of that son of a bitch?" He said with an excited tone to his voice. "That looks like something out of your slaughter books! Maybe write about that thing when we get back?" Micheal said, chuckling as he spoke. Vinny looked up the the ship's wheel, at Micheal. "It's called horror. It is more than just gore you know."

With a roll of his eyes, Micheal spoke back. "We can have this conversation later. I think we found the Megalodon's baby or something" he said, laughing out loud this time. "What would you call that? A hammer head?" Vinny got a bit confused at this question. "I wouldn't be so fast to agree with that. It's head crest is wrong for a hammer head. I have no clue what this would be! The sides are wrong. And when is the last time you heard of a hammer head near Florida?" Micheal also began to get confused. "I guess it could be a mu-" A voice could be heard from the hold. "Bullshit!" yelled Joshua.

Joshua ran up, attempting to catch a nice look at this huge shark, but just as he saw its fin, it was submersing underwater. Joshua sighed is disappointment, and the other two shared a huge laugh, until Micheal spoke up. "Welcome to the ocean, Joshua. Open, empty, boring water and some fish." Vinny, still excited at the sighting, saw that the sun had just met the horizon.

"If I am going to be up early for fishing, I better get sleep while I still can. Don't want to be up all night with you two." said Vinny, hardly loud enough for both of them to hear him. As Vinny went into the hold to reach his bunk, Joshua silently and disappointingly, went to finish his food before turning in. Micheal continued driving as they walked away. Joshua woke back up the the odd sound of buzzing and static. The room was pitch black, making it impossible to see. After a small struggle to find the lights he turned on the ceiling light.

Vinny stayed asleep, and Micheal was also visible. "I guess he can't even stand to stay awake before we start fishing" Joshua thought to himself. Locating the sound of the annoying sounds, he stood confused seeing his Walkie-Talkie had a green light, meaning it was picking up a message from one of the other ones. Looking to the left slowly, a red light came from Micheal's Walkie-Talkie, that he apparently took to sleep with him as well.

Joshua became very paranoid. He had to find the source. He slowly crept out of the bedroom section of the hold, leaving only two rooms in there. The food storage that was directly down the hall, to the right of the entrance, or the bathroom that was directly in front of the entrance. Walking at the same pace he turned his head, he reached the bathroom. He quickly opened the door, as if to startle whatever was using the Walkie-Talkie. The single room bathroom held no secrets. No Walkie-Talkie, and no intruder.

That left the food storage. Nearly tip-toeing, he approached the door. The circle shaped window allowed a sneak peak into the room lit by only a single light-bulb. Working up the nerves, he opened the door just like that last one. The cold air of the food storage surrounded him, making him shiver. With his right foot he stepped in, before continuing to the center of the room. The light-bulb over his head, the room was still hardly bright. A green light shined in his face, sitting on the right shelf next to the chopped, sealed meats.

Reaching for the Walkie-Talkie, He grabs it with both hands. Looking at it confused, he stared at the device. "How could you make those noises? The cold air?" he whispers, as if expecting a response from the Walkie-Talkie. The light turned red, meaning no signal was being sent or received. Turning to leave, Joshua noticed the sealed meats were open. Huge chunks missing from them with marks as if someone slashed at it with a butchers knife. Joshua got close and began to touch the edge of the missing, unsealed meat.

"What the he-" Green light. The buzzing and static could be heard again through the Walkie-Talkie. This time, it was receiving. The noise coming from another device. Before even thinking, he sprints back to the bunks. Upon reaching the bunks, he saw movement. He stood paralyzed before realizing-it was Vinny. Vinny sat up in his bunk, drawing a picture. Vinny looked up at Joshua. "Where were you, man?" Joshua stood there, quiet for a second.

"The Walkie-Talkie was making noises. I wanted to make sure that everything was OK." Vinny let out a giggle. "Are you some kind of idiot? You went to look for strange noises in the night with no weapon? I heard the static from your Walkie-Talkie just a second ago. Just let the noises be, man. Hopefully it is just an error in the device. If not, we need to go get a refund soon. It is annoying." Joshua hadn't considered that.

Vinny spoke again. "What if you did find something going bump in the night? Would you punch up and run, leading it back to were you thought I was sleeping?" Joshua started to realize his bad plan. "I didn't think of that. It was all instinctive." he said shyly. He sat down by Vinny, able to see his drawing.

The black and white pencil on paper drawing had a surprising amount of detail. What appeared as a starved old man with thinning hair, though all over his body was drawn. Sharp but small claws, and long, just as sharp teeth. It was standing over the body of a dead shark with its stomach opened. The shark had a strange hammer head like shape to it, though it was warped just like the one from earlier.

"What the hell are you drawing?" whispered Joshua, shocked. Vinny continued drawing. "When Micheal pointed out that the strange shark we saw was just like something from a horror book, it occurred to me. I could make a book based of the things we've seen. Joshua only got more confused.

"And you saw this freak of a creature eating it?" Vinny smiled a bit to this comment. "Not physically. You know, shapes out of the side of your eye. Common issue everything has. I just filled in the blanks. Everyone sees people out of the side of their eyes." answered Vinny reluctantly. Joshua silently went back down to sleep, though it takes him a long time to pass out when you are that scared.

"FISH!"

Micheal and Joshua both rose sluggishly to the sound of yelling. They both looked at each other, as if to make sure they both heard the same thing. Then, in a spring of energy, they both rushed out to the deck. Vinny sat there already fishing with one of the mounted poles. As Micheal and Joshua rushed to the non-mounted poles handing on the equipment rack, Micheal was pulling up fish at a startling pace.

The sun was at the point of rising that the sun was orange in color, and the ocean seemed bright because of it. Micheal was the first to cast, with Joshua soon after. The fish were slamming into the boat, some even killing themselves from head trauma. "They are really going crazy! I told you this was the spot!" Said Micheal on the top of his lungs. "What exactly are they doing? Killing themselves with our boat? They are taking the paint clean off!" Joshua asked. Vinny shouted back, excited. "I don't know, they just started! There was no fish, and now we have swarms!" When Vinny was finished talking, he looked to were Joshua claimed the paint was being torn off.

Eight long lines of paint-less metal stretched from the fishing deck to the water, as if something crawled its way out of the water with an ax. Joshua and Vinny met eyes, and Joshua shouted with a slight sense of freight. "Guys, did we hit a rock last night? The hull has scrapes on it. If this ends up like the Titanic, I call the door." Micheal looked to his right, at Joshua. "Who cares? More free fish for us!" Pound by pound, and body by body the fish pile got bigger and wider. All day, until nightfall.

The sun began to set as the sky grew crimson with the decent. A successful day fishing. "Alright. I'll steer us to the next spot for tomorrow. Vinny, Joshua, you stock the fish." Before allowing an answer, Micheal had already places his pole on the rack and stepped up the the ships wheel.

Vinny and Joshua sighed before using tarps to load fish unto. They carry the small tarps filled with 30-50 fish each with both hands do to the weight, and sometimes even dragging the tarps. They reach the entrance to the hold. Vinny opens the door with his left hand and grabs the bag again, keeping the door open for Joshua. "Thanks, Vinny." "Don't mention it. It has to happen about 50 more times for all these fish." Vinny replied jokingly."

They entered the food storage room and both shivered at the cold. The boxes to the left of the room, opposite the meat shelf suited the tarps of fish when they were tied like bags. "Hey, Vinny, come look a this for a second." Vinny walked to Joshua, and stared at the meat. "So you opened our food and cut it up like a novelty to the Black-tipped sharks here?" Vinny said angry. "No! When I came in for the Walkie-Talkie last night, these were like this!" declared Joshua.

Vinny sighed. "Well, you were the one down here all day yesterday. Whatever it is, I'm sure you braved through your fear and killed it like a man." said Vinny sarcastically, before leaving to get the other fish. Joshua slowly followed. Whispering to Vinny, who was gaining distance. "It was a rat. A big ass rat. I think they're called Woodrats or something... must've taken it a while to eat so much. But I stepped on it and threw it overboard." Joshua lied to calm Vinny.

Tarps filled the boxes over the coarse of a two hours, and the two men sweated so much they thought they may create the 8th sea. Loading the last two tarps into boxes, Joshua left as not to add to the tension between the two. Vinny was the last one in the room. The door closed, but Joshua was long gone. Vinny, still holding the fish, snapped to the door. He came to the conclusion it closed by itself, but that did not explain why it sounded like a slam. The light flickered on and off really fast, and the static sound from the Walkie-Talkie could be heard from his pocket.

He dropped the tarp on the floor and reached into his pocket, pulling out his phone. The screen was white and black with static, and the noise began to give him a headache. He threw the phone in fright, causing it to hit the wall and lean against it. In the darkness he began to panic, and decided he would put the fish in the box before he ran out of the door. As he opened the box and rose the fish, the phone's light flickered back on, pointing in the corner. He looked at the phone, and instantly back at the box. Where the light hit, an odd shape began to rise. This man-like shape arose and stood still in the corner of Vinny's eye.

Micheal stood at the ships wheel steering the boat, with Joshua at his side. "So there was a cut in the meat and you didn't think I would notice?" Joshua seemed offended by this. "I told Vinny the same thing! It was like that when I went in there last night!" Micheal sighed. "Well, I saw it this morning. I doubt Vinny did anything and you were down there all day. Be honest with me god damnit. You are of my fu-" A scream interrupted the two's conversation.

Micheal stared at Joshua with a horrified look on his face. He looked back at the wheel while Joshua sprinted to see if Vinny was alright. Micheal stood there in horror while the compass dial and gas counter began to turn in all sorts of directions very fast. North, South, West, East, West, North. The compass was maddening. "Get down here now!" Micheal heard from the hold. He snapped out of his trans and rushed to Joshua and Vinny.

Upon reaching them, he saw Joshua leaning over a body. "Don't die! Please no!" Micheal pushed Joshua on his side. Vinny lied on the ground, choking on his blood. He seemed to have a puncture wound above his stomach. The cut was not to big, as if done by a small knife, but went deep like it had plenty of force. There was a bite wound on his hand, taking his middle finger, ring finger, and pinky. Vinny coughed up his blood on his own face. Joshua turned pale.

"The meat! Whatever bit the meat!" He exclaimed. Micheal punched Joshua in the left arm. "You use whatever the hell you can to keep him alive. I'm going to call help right now! We have no time to throw away speaking!" Micheal raced to the communicator. He picked up the emergency phone and instantly began shouting. "This is the Fishing boat Altenia 5913. We have a sever injury and need help now!

The man will bleed out without immediate aid! We are about a two day boat ride at 35 miles per hour off the coast of Florida. We need immediate assistance!" He waited 20 seconds for a response. "God damnit I need aid!" An odd static noise began coming from the phone. Micheal hung up, throwing curse words out like a broken dam while sprinting back to the ships wheel. Without consulting Joshua, he turned the boat to the direction he assumed Florida was.

Two days later the Altenia 5913 docked at Florida. Records say Micheal Hitchman, "Vinny" Hinder, and Joshua Fedrick set out for sail August 6th 2008. The return date is August 10th 2008. Strange electronic phenomena and sightings blighted them on the entire trip. Vincent Hinder was found dead with a puncture wound to the stomach, and three fingers missing from a suspected shark bite.

The body seems to have been eaten from the bottom of the ribs on the right, to the right shoulder. Joshua Fedrick also seems to have suffered attacks by a bite, also suspected to be a shark attack. Right foot missing, cut off at the half way point of the shin. Micheal Hitchman sustains no injuries, but has been traumatized be the events. He claims a strange, skinny man with sharp teeth and short dagger-like claws assaulted the trio. Joshua will be questioned after he recovers.