Level 3 | Teen Ink

Level 3

March 28, 2017
By GeorgeH BRONZE, George Town , Other
GeorgeH BRONZE, George Town , Other
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

Chapter One, Jacob:


The air changed as Jacob stumbled down the long ladder. He had been down this plenty of times, and he still wasn’t used to the damp, frigid air. He heard the chatter of teeth from the two passengers above; Too bad for them, he thought with a little smirk. When he got down the rusted ladder and turned the dismal corridor, he grabbed the informational safety pamphlets from the control center:
WELCOME ABOARD THE ATLANTIS EXPRESS! THE BIGGEST SUBMARINE ON THE
PLANET!
THIS SUBMARINE TAKES YOU TO ATLANTIS IN ONLY 3 HOURS!
Jacob suddenly felt jealous, he had never been to Atlantis. He was stuck on this submarine with the only comforting noise being the slosh of the water when you hit the surface. You would think in 2502 there would be better transportation, he thought. Atlantis, he was told by Henry, the submarine captain, was an underground “city” at the bottom of the Marianas trench. It was just a research facility, but now it’s also a holiday site. It would be amazing to explore, he stated to himself.
He got out of the control room, and headed down to the second floor, the Passenger area. The second floor included the lounging area, and the Panic room. The Panic room was basically a pressurized human vault, but the crew used it to brief the passengers; otherwise it would be a waste of space. 
When Jacob got there, Captain Henry and Will the navigator were already starting the briefing.
“Dis is da only floor you are allowed on without permission from da crew— Jacob, you have got da right pamphlets for once.”
Jacob blushed as red as a cherry while hustling to hand out the pamphlets
One passenger asked hopefully, “What if there is an emergency, can we get off this floor without permission? Maybe to level 3?”
The captain went beserk, “ YOU WILL GO INTO DIS ROOM IN ANY EMERGENCY, BECAUSE DERE IS MORE DANGEROUS TINGS IN DAT LEVEL DAN YOU TINK!”
Silence. Everyone was frozen as if the military’s long range freeze ray hit the submarine. Jacob always knew about Henry’s temper, but it was never this terrible. Then the motors started, and the room defrosted.
Will said apologetically,“Sorry about thaat, this thing runs on some verry dangerous substances, that we rather none of our passengers have first hand experience with. Now, let's continue—”
“Jacob go check da engines,” ordered the captain.
Jacob closed the door gingerly, he didn’t want to anger the captain again. He was an extremely unnerving man that looked monster-like. He was a least 6 feet tall, with thick brown hair all over him, except for his face, which blended in with his hair. But there was one thing that made him look more terrifying; his eyes. His eyes were completely black. I do not want to meet his family, he thought. 
Jacob stumbled down the worn ladder to get to the engine room. The submarine was half a mile long, so it required two nuclear reactors to move quickly and to run other systems. Those reactors were Jacob’s responsibility to check and clean.
As he hobbled down the muggy corridor, he felt a chill down his spine. Hahaha!  He stopped. None of the crew laugh like that. No passengers were supposed to be here. Everyone was being briefed except for Eddie.
“Eddie? Eddie, are you there?
No answer.
Jacob limped as cautiously as possible and then stopped. The laugh didn’t echo.
That means that the laugh was in my head, he realized. He was about to go back, when he heard, Blink… Blink… Blink. He turned around and saw a diver. He didn’t see the shine of the diver’s oxygen tank through the dimly lit passage as he approached it in a daze. As he got nearer, the voice inside his head intensified, BLINK BLINK BLINK.
He realized the diver was rock, but it was too late; he blinked.

Chapter two, Will:


It had been an hour since they started looking for Jacob, and a an hour since the later disregarded laugh in his head was heard. He checked every room on the third floor except the reactor room. The rest of the crew were searching levels 1 and 2.  As he headed down, he saw something. Red hair.
“Eddie!”
He ran towards the red-haired body, and rushed down to check on him. Why is Eddie down ere, he thought, what happened to him? As Will reached to pick up the body to turn him over, he felt a warm trickle of liquid. He pulled his hands up in surprise, blood, he thought disturbingly. He immediately flipped the body over and screamed. The body wasn’t Eddie’s red hair, it was Jacob’s blonde hair soaked in blood. His face was completely ripped off, including his eyes.
Will went hysterical, and was about to radio until he suddenly heard BLINK BLINK BLINK BLINK continuously in his head. He turned his head in a panic and saw something, a statue. It was down the corridor, facing away with it’s head hunched. What is a statue doing here? He questioned. But as the light flickered, the statue moved towards him, fangs and claws showing. It was a statue of Jacob. Millions of emotions exploded inside of Will’s head, anxiety, shock, and the will to live.
Will ran down the corridor as fast as he could, screaming, “MONSTER!”; but it was cut short.
Luckily, his radio was on.

Chapter 3, Eddie:


Everyone heard the scream. But only Eddie heard the laugh. They were all on the 2nd level lounge waiting for Will to come back with Jacob, as all the other floors were clear.
Captain Henry said almost lethargically, “I never liked Jacob—he was too slow wid his knee to do anyting.” The captain turned off his radio.
“Jacob is a respectable man, and making sure the crew are safe is your responsibility, so put your radio back on,” Eddie shot back.
The captain turned his radio back on, and immediately heard, CHZZ… MON... CHZ… STER... CHZZ… coming from the radio. Everyone stared at each other in horror.
Then one of the passengers, James, stammered, “Dddooesss thaattt mmmean thattt Wwwwill and Jacccobb areee ddeadd?
“Dey will be if we just stand ear,” ordered the captain, “so let's move!”
Everyone ran quickly down to the 3rd level.
  when they got down the corridor, they split into groups of 2.
“Me and James will go to the bow, and Eddie and Clarice will go to the stern,” barked the captain. As Clarice and Eddie headed down the boat, they came across Jacob’s body. It haunted Eddie that the faceless body soaked in blood, used to walk, talk, and work with him. Eddie stared in disbelief as Clarice inspected him as if he were an animal, not a person.
“I am a scientist if you are wondering,” She said as if she read his mind, “But I have seen this before. If it was a monster, it’s definitely done by a Blink.”
“What is that?”
“It’s a creature that is found in Atlantis, and— TURN AROUND!”
Eddie spins around, and saw what Clarice calls, a Blink
Clarice and Eddie slowly edged back as the Blink turned to rock while trying to grab them.
“Keep your eyes on it, and whatever you do, DON’T blink.”
“Is that why they are called Blinks?”
“Yes. Also they will try and persuade you to Blink, so they can turn from calcium carbonate form, back into their normal form, which is invisible, to kill you.”
Suddenly Eddie goes rigid; the voice in his head started to say, Blink, Blink, BLINK, BLINK.
“NOOOO I DON’T WANT TO DIE!” Screamed Eddie. The voice then got louder and Eddie was forced into submission; to blink.

Chapter 4; Clarice:


The Blink ignored her, and instead prefered already dead prey. She wanted to help Eddie, but her will to survive overpowered it. He is already dead, she told herself in the only comforting way possible. She ran to find the others. A tear welled in her eye,  Eddie had died in vain.
She found the others in the corridor looking at Will’s body. He was obviously attacked from behind as his whole back was gone. The floor was stained crimson.
“ Dat must be one hungry monster,” Captain Henry said.
“  Where is—”
HAHAHAHA!
The voice sounded like it was in her head, but everyone seemed to hear it, as all their faces were ash-stricken.
Suddenly the lights flickered; and standing there were four Blinks.
We are going to die, She thought, What should we do?. There were four creatures and only 3 of them, and it is almost impossible to keep an eye on two creatures at once.The other two realized because James was mumbling, “Love you mum… Love you Dad.” Captain Henry was getting read to attack one of them.
“Is there anything we cannn do?” She asked while trying to swallow her fear.
“Wwwwee coouulld trryyy tttooo ruuunnn tttooo thhe paaannic rooomm,” James stammered.
“I tink dat was what Will tried,” the captain said solemnly.
Everyone thought of Will’s body as a look of unease passed around the group.
“ There is a way we might be able to get to the Panic room. ” said Clarice, her voice trembling.
She told the group what happened to Eddie, and how it only paid attention to him once he died.
“So one of us has got to sacrifice ourselves to save the others?” James asked with a look of shock on his face.
“Basically,” she replied
The group fell into silence, brains buzzing from the last conversation. Finally, someone broke the silence.
“I’ll do it,” the captain said.
“No I will,” Clarice ordered, thinking of Eddie.
“You have got a life to live, and I have already lived trough mine—NOW RUN!”
The captain blinked, and all the Blinks attracted to him like blood in water.
“We have got to run James!” Clarice said, half sobbing. That’s another person dying instead of me, she thought. She forgave him for when he shouted at her in the briefing; it was for her safety.
James unfroze and ran with Clarice to the nearest ladder. When they climbed the ladder, they sprinted down a rusted corridor to the Panic room.
As they saw the door, I sigh of relief went through both the passengers. We are going to live, they thought. So both of the passengers slowed down. But just on the edge of their consciousnesses they could hear the faintest voice in their head, Blink… Blink… Blink.

Chapter 5: Atlantis


“Sir, Atlantis Express is veering off course, and they are not answering their radio,” One of the men in the control tower said to their supervisor.
“Turn off their engines remotely, and send a party to check on them.”
The party came back to Atlantis, and then the murders began.


The author's comments:

I worked Extremely hard on this.


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