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"KEEP YOUR HANDS ON IT!" Cheyne roared, pulling hi uselessly "DON&039;T LET IT SLIP!"

Moore held on, his arms about to rip froh the broken glass

"HOLD HER STEADY!" the Carib shouted

The wheelhouse door was suddenly torn fro Jana saw the huge for toward the Pride&039;s starboard, saw the waves churning at its prow "It&039;s co herself in the doorway "There! It&039;s co toward her He saw it approaching, could ihted their easy prey

It raced onward, parting the sea, the ru the wheelhouse Jana saw the dripping holes of the torpedo tubes as the subht for her sanity

In the far distance ca racket borne in by the wind, swiftly carried away The buoysJacob&039;s Teeth!

When the submarine was almost upon them Moore felt the rudder respond; he spun the wheel to port The Night Boat roared alongside, only feet away

Kip and Jana were shoved aside by the boat&039;s turning Cheyne, his broken arered along the bucking deck,The noise of the buoys was ht Boat shuddered, struck the Pride, and then was thrown back by a wave It ca the trawler&039;s hull Timbers shattered

And finally Cheyne had reached the bow; he grasped a thick line and pulled at it There was a crude twin-grappled anchor attached to the other end used foron reefs The thick, coarse line was coiled on the deck anddead ahead If he could lift the anchor, throw it, get it hooked into the sub it across the reefs and splitting that hull open With one ar; he couldn&039;t find strength enough to throw it The Night Boat again crashed against the starboard gunwale There was no ti off from the Teeth

Cheyne pulled the anchor with hiainst the superstructure, pain taking his breath away He began to slide down the iron, his feet scrabbling at vents With his good hand he sought to spike the anchor in, like a harpoon, but there was no place to hook it The sea pounded hi it catch into so

The rope snapped tight before his face and he clung to it, dragging in the water Beside him, the monster vibrated Hold! he commanded the bolts around the winch on deck Hold! "I&039;VE GOT YOU!" he shouted, his ht Boat swerved toward the Pride Cheyne was caught between, but still he held the anchor fir for breath

The two vessels crashed together; the entire starboard gunwale split open When the subain, Moore looked for Cheyne but saas gone

The rattling of the warning buoys rang through the wheelhouse and Moore saw one of the red cans pass to port They were in the danger zone He threw the throttles forward, the Pride&039;s diesels screarowths of coral; he turned directly for theainst the sub with the weight, pulled the Night Boat onward

There was a splitting noise, a snapping of coral; Moore heard iron being scraped and gouged as the Night Boat was dragged alongside Kip saw figures on the conning tower, the terrible things watching with greedy, flarim, jawless face

Moore continued on into the field of reefs, feeling the Pride being bitten and knifed by the coral Water strea hiht for the treacherous growths Kip and Jana, holding on at the doorway, saw the suban to fold back

And then, the diesels still racketing, the Pride was held firht Boat ca fro side by side, each doo to break the the shadows The oil lalass had cracked a single, weak finger of flaet off," he told Kip "Use that broken door as a raft Hurry!"

Kip stared, shook his head "No, David NO!"

Moore ducked down through the hatch into the cabin He reappeared ait as he backed up the steps "Get off, I said!" he shouted

"There&039;s time for all of us," Kip told him "Please!" He turned his head; a move down fro across the deck toward the Pride

"Take Jana!" Moore shouted "Go on!"

Kip grasped his ar with us!"

"If you don&039;t try to fight the sea you can o Two can make it on that door Three can&039;t" He cas were scurrying down the conning tower ladder One of them tried to pull the anchor free

Moore bent down and touched the fuse to the dying fla the plank flooring and toward the bow-section cabin

"DAVID!" Jana pulled at his arm "Please!"

"I can&039;t leave you," Kip said

"They need you on Coquina," Moore told hi to board the trawler If they find the fuse and put it out, they may be able to work their boat free of the shoals They&039;ll find someplace - maybe another Coquina - to repair it Go on! Get out of here!"

Kip paused There was so cold and resolute in Moore&039;s eyes; he had seen a vision beyond Kip&039;s sight There was nothing else to be said Kip grasped his good shoulder tightly, then took Jana&039;s hand and dragged her out over her shouted protests He hauled the battered slab of the door over to the port side The water was black and wild underneath, dotted with coral "Listen toon to my back There&039;ll be a shock e hit, but don&039;t let go!"

And then, gripping the door before hi to hi a solid hen they struck; water crashed over theh and then back down Kip pushed off froth, trying to catch his breath, hearing Jana cry out in pain as her leg brushed one of the Teeth&039;s needles The bulk of the door kept the to it with all the power he could e

Moore whirled around in the Pride&039;s wheelhouse as two of the zombies appeared in the doorway They crept forward, claws outstretched He backed away fro off the seconds One of therasped his arh the coers jabbed at his eyes; he kicked thelowed the eye of the fuse Others ca his throat He kept backing away, ? his brain shrieked His flesh was crawling HOW LONG?

With another few steps he twisted around to look The priher, separated into four fuses that snaked toward the crates There was a hiss of fetid breath in his ear; a spidery thing with gaping eye sockets leaped for hi to rip at his throat He threw it off, kicked at it, crawled away He found an odd piece of wood and stood up, brandishing it like a club The cabin was filled with the stench of s fuses undulated around theus, red eyes staring - and Moore sla into the others

"COME ON!" he dared the with his club "COME ON AFTER ME!"

They stopped suddenly, watching hi past to probe the bow shadows They saw; in the next instant they surged forward, flailing at hi fuses Moore sildly, felt the wood break beneath his grip, felt hith Only seconds now, the seconds breaking into fraground, blood streaht s that advanced upon hiainst brittle bone

And through the knot of living corpses canized: the tall, livid-eyed form of Wilhelm Korrin Moore saw the jawkss face illulow of the fuses Korrin stepped forward slowly, a er pointing toward Moore The hand beca The others weretheir commander

And then the hand stopped, inches fro fuse His head fell back slightly, the eyes closing, the lids blocking off that hellish gaze, as if in expectation of death&039;s final and merciful deliverance

An instant before the heat seared him Moore had a split-second sensation: the touch of soh a wall of ht was that he was staring toward the sea, that he had seen a beautiful boat in the distance and he nized the na for hih the churning waves, twisted around to look There was a yellow glare so fierce it hurt their eyes; jagged shards of wood flew through the sky, leaving fiery trails The bow section of the Pride had disappeared; beside the trawler the fist of a giant pounded the Night Boat, sla a tremendous rent in the iron just at the waterline The forward deck collapsed - cru toas almost ripped from the superstructure Iron plates spun into the air, up into blackness Bits of railing were thrown to all sides In another roar of flame the Pride&039;s wheelhouse vanished; the second blast deafened theh, and as they dropped back into the sea they exploded just over the surface, covering the subht Boat thrown free of the reef Its twisted, s bulk veered toward hi currents

And then ca away, the periscopes snapping off Kip felt the pull of the water at hi wildly A whirlpool had opened and the Night Boat began to whirl around the rie, black pit; as the submarine was sucked down, the bow peeled back, the noise of a dying beast screaony The ocean&039;s thunder drowned out the death cries

The boat was folding in on itself, its iron caving in, being ha, Kip realized, just as Boniface had tried to make it happen when he twisted that bit of wax cast in the subht Boat&039;s stern pitched high, dripping red flame; the bow vanished into the whirlpool There was a loud hissing as the sea swept over hot iron On the rising stern the screws glistened in the firelight

Water crashed over the them down; Kip clenched the door and pulled them back to the surface

And when his head broke free he saw the thing was gone

Though the plain of the sea was studded with fire, the whirlpool&039;s action was lessening A rush of bubbles exploded on the surface; then the whirlpool stopped, covering over the boat, its own deep grave

Kip and Jana clung to the platforedly Kip shook his head to clear it, shrugging off water Jana was limp, one hand still cla of her heart

On the horizon, silhouetted in a gash of orange sky, was a flatIt lay about twothe Danny Cay," he said hoarsely Beside hian to kick for it, slowly because the water was still rough Kip looked over his shoulder, trying to pinpoint the spot where the sub and there was no way to tell The creature was gone, and there was no cause to look back again Now he could only think of all he would have to do, because he was the law on Coquina and there were people he was responsible for, people who looked to hith he kneould find deep within hiht he saw so like a s into the sun with her sails filled and all the great expanse of the sky beyond it

His eyes filled with tears and, looking away, he kneould soon be out of sight