Panic spread like wildfire.
The captain rushed to the engine room, barking orders at his crew. "Try restarting it! Check the fuel lines! Hurry!" he shouted. Tools clanged. Wires sparked. But nothing worked. The engine groaned, coughed—and then gave out completely.
Smoke curled from the vents. The engine had been brutally damaged, as if something had torn into it from underneath.
"Radio the coast!" the captain yelled.
But the radio lines were dead. Static. Silence.
He turned pale. "We're cut off."
Above deck, chaos reigned. The lights on the ship flickered—buzzing and blinking—before plunging everything into complete darkness. Screams rose. People turned on their phone flashlights, but they were weak and flickering. It wasn't enough.
And yet, even through the darkness, a distant structure loomed ahead—until a crumbling sea tower came into view, an old research station left abandoned years ago, its rusted steel frame flickering faintly in the night. The boat had drifted close to it now, eerily on course.
Then—another hit.
BOOM.
The ship lurched to the side. People screamed and fell. Some were thrown against railings. A few dropped their phones. The weak lights rolled across the deck.
And then—she came.
The mermaid.
She rose from the black water like a nightmare given flesh. But she wasn't beautiful like legends say. She was monstrous.
Her skin was scaled and bloated, green-black with rot. Her long, seaweed-like hair dripped with blood and salt. Her arms were longer than human, ending in clawed webbed fingers. Her tail slammed against the metal side of the ship, denting it.
But it was her face—and her voice—that broke people's minds.
Her eyes were glowing, pale orbs with no pupils. Her mouth opened impossibly wide, revealing rows of sharp, uneven teeth. And from that mouth came a shriek—high-pitched and full of ancient rage. It wasn't just a scream—it pierced the brain.
People dropped to their knees, clutching their ears. Some vomited. Some ran.
She leapt onto the deck.
And began the slaughter.
She grabbed a man near the rail and sank her claws into his chest, lifting him off the ground as if he weighed nothing. With a jerk, she tossed him into the sea like trash.
Another woman tried to stab her with a broken bottle—but the mermaid caught her arm mid-swing and bit straight through it.
Blood sprayed. The woman fell, screaming.
More screams. More chaos.
Some people tried to hide behind benches, others under tables—but nothing stopped her. Her voice kept echoing, a siren's cry warped into something twisted.
People began to jump into the sea—choosing water over death.
"Swim to the tower!" someone shouted. "Maybe we can hide there!"
A few made it. Their bodies vanished into the waves, paddling toward the glowing sea tower. But not all were lucky. The mermaid slithered to the ship's edge, dived into the water—and moments later, a trail of red bloomed in the sea.
She was picking them off. One by one.
No one knew who would survive the night.
_________To be continued.....