Day 349

The ship had stalled nowhere near the island.
It was barely visible in the distance, over the light mist covering the sea.
Waves gently slapped the hull as the occupants began to panic.
They wondered how they would get aboard the island.
They wondered what was stopping them.

The engine was running normally but the propellers weren't.
Perhaps some sea creature had run into them and clogged the blades with its corpse?
Maybe it was seaweed or they'd hit a reef (unlikely but still possible).
It was decided that a team of three would dive and see what could be done.
They were grateful for it being daylight, though the ever-present mist made the light dull.

Two carried diving torches while the third held a toolkit as they descended to the base.
The water around them was murkier than seawater usually was, they seemed surrounded
by darkness which wasn't visible from the surface.
It was easy to forget just how large the propeller was compared to the three divers.
Each blade stood at seven feet long and four feet at the widest.

They quickly saw the problem and it was worse than they'd feared.
Some kind of whale had been gored by the blades, nearly torn in half.
The current made the large body sway, or was it still alive?
All three divers agreed to check out the head end, just in case.
It was so much bigger than they had thought, they were exhausted and nowhere near the head.

Swimming to the surface they found themselves surrounded by thick mist.
The ship wasn't in sight, their cries went unanswered.
Their joint decision was to keep going for the head, if it was floating they could rest there.
Swimming along the surface of the sea (their oxygen tanks were too low for anything else)
they saw a large dark shape in the distance and it seemed to be moving closer.

Whatever it was it wasn't a whale, that much was certain.
No kind of whale was as big as the thing they were swimming above.
The dark shape drew closer and closer as the three divers swam onwards.
It must be dead, they thought, or at least dying.
The mist began to clear and they found themselves floating in front of a giant eye.

It was as big as they were, the body seemed to stretch upwards for miles.
The water beneath them was pitch black, probably the rest of the body.
Judging by the sheer size and position of the creature, only its fin was caught in the propeller.
It certainly wasn't a whale though it had whale-like features.
As they debated the kind of being they had found, the sea level began to dip.

Slowly at first, they barely realised that the eye was rising above them.
By the time they realised and looked around them they saw that its mouth was wide open.
It was sucking them in, dragging them down and they were helpless against its current.
They screamed and tried their hardest but as they approached its jaw they gave in.
Their final cries were sharply cut off as its mouth closed and they drowned peacefully.