Chapter 6: A Miracle

Jumping into the ocean, Jake, followed by Owen, started swimming towards Life-pod 7, which was pretty close to the floating islands and Life-pod 19. On the way there, they encountered some strange fish that Jake had never seen before and some that he had.

No accidents happened and no sea creatures came to check what kind of creatures Jake and Owen were. However, that was only until they were about to leave the boundaries of the Grand Reef and enter the Crag Fields.

Strange vibrations could be felt in the water as two people swimming had a chill crawl up their bodies. Along with the vibrations was a high frequency sound that made Jake shiver in horror while memories came to the forefront of his mind from when he first found out what those sounds belonged to.

It was the sound that any avid explorer of Planet 4546B should be able to recognize since it could be found very easily if you swim in one direction for long enough. It was the sound of the Ghost Leviathan making it's presence known.

Turning to Owen, Jake knew he didn't have much time and wanted to have him go save the Aurora crew member in Life-pod 7. "If you continue swimming in the direction we have been then you will find another life-pod with someone or multiple people in it.

I had seen it on the way to the island when I first met you. Go and help them and bring any bottled or sealed medical supplies you can from in the life-pod. Head straight north after you have the crew from Life-pod 7 and you will reach Life-pod 5. Hurry! I will distract whatever is coming after us!"

Pushing Owen in the direction of Life-pod 7, Jake watched him as he swam away to help the man and possibly return to Life-pod 5 after saving him. After Owen was a hundred metres away did Jake finally remember about the Ghost Leviathan and how it considered him as prey.

Diving under water, he looked around to see if he could spot the Ghost Leviathan, and he did. Hurtling through the water towards him like a stone released from a slingshot, Jake barely had enough time to see it's entire body and wide open mouth before he was swallowed in one bite.

Once he was swallowed, Jake felt and saw himself sliding down a slippery chute before landing in a pool of liquid, but the liquid soon started to make his skin itchy. Looking at the stomach walls of the Ghost Leviathan, he realized that he could see ocean through the stomach walls.

Examining all of the things inside the stomach, he saw that there were some newer bones from the fish that it had eaten within the last few hours. Standing up from his prone position, Jake started scrounging around inside the stomach to see if he could find anything that could be used to escape.

Picking up the fish bones, Jake bent them a little bit to test the hardness, but he was the disappointed. Snapping them in half as easily as snapping a piece of kindling, he knew that they wouldn't be able to help him escape.

Blankly staring at the fish bones around, Jake realized that there was a high possibility that he would die in the stomach of a Ghost Leviathan. Refusing to give up, he tried punching the stomach walls to try and injury it however he can, but all it did was make the Leviathan Class creature tremble slightly.

Grabbing handfuls of bones, he tried using them like brass knuckles, but they barely did anything other than slightly deforming the flesh upon contact, unable to even penetrate the tender flesh of the stomach walls. Crouching down in defeat, Jake laughed mockingly at himself.

It was ironic that he was going to die to a Ghost Leviathan, a creature that he had killed thousands of times in the game. Shaking his head, he thought about how the story would now play out since there were other survivors of the Aurora crew and not just Ryley that were still alive.

Even if you had an unlimited amount of time before you were able to complete the story in game didn't mean that you had an unlimited amount of in reality. Even more so due to a fact that Jake had noticed quite a while ago.

The size of Planet 4546B was much larger than compared to in-game. The Aurora was still on the Crater's Edge and all the life-pods are in the same general area that they are in-game, but the point where the Ecological Dead Zone, also known as 'The Void', began in-game is no longer there.

Jake didn't know if that meant all of the research bases were in the same location as before or if they were moved due to the increased size of the planet, but he did know one thing. It would be one hell of an amazing journey to explore planet 4546B. A journey that he probably wouldn't be able to experience.

However there were some other things that he had to think about. If Ryley was somehow able to escape the planet and return to Human civilization like in the game, how was he going stop other people from coming to the planet and unleashing the Kharaa bacterium on Human civilization?

Because now that the gun at the island research base is deactivated, how can it shoot down any intruders or lifeforms leaving the planet that are infected with Kharaa? Maybe whatever kind of government the Human civilization currently has might take precautions, but that won't be enough.

Struggling to keep his eyes open, Jake realized that the drugs and medication he had taken were now wearing off and he was slowly losing consciousness. Feelings of regret and unwillingness started to come to the forefront of his mind.

He didn't ask to be transported here somehow. He didn't ask to try and be killed when he was on the plane. He didn't want to die at the age 16 without having even asked a girl out before. In the end, his struggles were useless as he slowly started crumpling to the acid filled stomach floor.

Closing his eyes, Jake lost consciousness and fell into eternal slumber... or so it seemed. If witnessed from an outside perspective, one could see that the Ghost Leviathan suddenly started to violently swim about in circles while twisting at weird angles less than a minute after Jake fell unconscious.

The water around the Ghost Leviathan was extremely turbulent while also seemingly getting slightly colder. Two minutes later, in the midst of it's thrashing about, the Ghost Leviathan stiffened as the glow coming from it's body dimmed slightly.

Starting to float to the surface, it had a journey of 200 metres to float up, but it started to ascend faster and faster. Going back to Owen, who was still in the area, had decided to stay and watch what would happen too the man known as Jake, and that was how he saw him be eaten.

Horror was stuck on his face while he watched Jake get swallowed, which appeared to be happening extremely slowly while he was watching. After Jake was swallowed, he thought that the sea creature would come after him, but it didn't for some reason.

Deciding to wait for Jake and see if he could somehow pull off a miracle, he saw that the water surface started to become agitated six minutes after Jake had been swallowed. Then he saw a sight that he would remember for the rest of his life.

Shooting out of the water as if it was a balloon, the incredibly large sea creature continued to shoot up to a height of 10 metres before started to fall back down. Landing with a splash, a large wave was created and started to approach Owen, who was watching in stunned silence.

Trying to swim out of the way of the wave, he was too late and was swallowed up by the large wave, but he wasn't carried very far since the wave wasn't as large as it could have been if the sea creature fell from higher up.

Surfacing from under the water, Owen saw that the sea creature wasn't moving and concluded that it was dead, but he didn't immediately swim over. Cautiously watching the creature, it was only after a minute that Owen swam towards the sea creature to find out if Jake could be saved.

Climbing inside the mouth of the creature, Owen crawled down into it's stomach and started looking for Jake, who should still be alive. When his hands came in contact with the stomach acid, he immediately recoiled in shock and pain.

Gently rubbing his hands, Owen examined the stomach acid, and that caused his hope of Jake still being alive to dwindle greatly. Gritting his teeth, Owen had just worked himself up to go in and find Jake when he saw an unconscious man floating towards him.

Gasping in surprise, Owen waited before Jake was close enough before immediately reaching in and pulling him out of the stomach acid. Checking Jake's pulse, Owen realized that the pulse was weak and Jake was barely breathing.

Knowing that he could never live with himself if someone died in front of him and that things wouldn't be good if Jake were to die, Owen started dragging him out of the creature. Because he was preoccupied with saving Jake there was something that Owen hadn't yet thought about.

Why did the creature suddenly die? However, Owen wouldn't think of that for quite a while. Once they were out, Owen struggled immensely and started swimming in the direction that Jake had said Life-pod 7 was.

He was actually surprised that Jake was as light as he was, he thought that he would been heavier judging on the appearance of his body. Even though was thinking of that, he knew that Jake was still fairly heavy even if he thought that he was lighter than he should be.

While swimming, Owen realized that it wasn't as easy to swim while carrying another person as he thought. Soon after though, something else pricked at his thoughts. To be able to save multiple people when it was this hard, not to mention the condition it was in, would take immense willpower.

After swimming for a just over a minute, Owen saw a large black and white object in the distance, excited because that was probably Life-pod 7 he started trying to swim faster, but failed. As he got closer, he saw that it was indeed Life-pod 7, but there was angry cursing coming from inside it.

It was of a man yelling with a thick accent that he couldn't quite place, although it did sound family, that didn't discourage him though since he needed to get medical treatment for Jake as soon as possible. Only when Owen reached the life-pod did he finally remember an important detail.

How was he supposed to get Jake inside of the life-pod? Being too heavy to bring up the ladder and not in the right condition to be put underwater, he had quite the dilemma.

Placing his right hand on lowest ladder rung while holding Jake up with his left arm, Owen felt his left arm nearly yank from his body with a sudden weight that appeared as soon as he had touched the ladder.

Shocked, he quickly looked to see if some kind of sea creature had attached itself to Jake or something was trying to drag him down, but there was nothing. Bewildered, he tried to pull Jake closer to himself, and that was when he realized that it was actually Jake himself that was heavier.

Logically thinking about how Jake suddenly got heavier, Owen concluded that Jake must have been barely conscious and was actually helping himself stay afloat, but he then fell completely unconscious when it was safe enough to do so.

The angry cursing had stopped after Owen had grasped the ladder. It would have been quite hard not to considering that Jake weighed almost 300 kilograms, which was definitely heavier enough to cause the life-pod to dip to the one side.

"Hello! I need help! I have another survivor here and he needs immediate medical attention!" Shouting out in hopes that the person inside could help him, Owen waited a few seconds before an incredulous shout answered him.

"Owen? Is that you?" Stunned, Owen took a moment to compose himself after hearing the voice. It was an all too familiar voice, one that he should recognize even in his dreams, and if he didn't then he should be ashamed of himself.

It was the voice of his father, who was one of the doctors on board the Aurora, and a man that he held great respect for. "Dad! Yes, it's me, Owen! I need help with this other survivor, but he is unconscious and to heavy for me to carry up by myself!"

Seconds after his reply came the sound of a hatch opening along with grunts of effort and a gasp of shock. Looking up, Owen saw that his father was looking down at him with a wide open mouth and eyes that nearly popped out of their sockets.

"You brought him here!? From where?" Checking behind him, Owen gauged the distance and estimated that it was in between 1-2 kilometres away. "I only swam for 1-2 kilometres. The man I'm carrying was conscious enough to barely help himself stay afloat while swimming here.

That is besides the point right now. We have to give him immediate medical attention. Do you have anything that could help him regain consciousness?" Anxiously awaiting his father's reply, Owen saw him think for a moment before climbing back into the life-pod and come back out a minute later.

In his hands were two syringes, none of which Owen knew of what they would do. "These are some adrenaline injections. I will give him both in his chest at the same time, close to his heart." Choosing both syringes in his left hand, Owen's father carefully climbed down the rungs of the ladder and injected Jake with the adrenaline.

(Chapter is done. Finally! If you have any questions about anything then just leave a comment on the chapter of particular paragraph. Also I wanted to thank everyone who had given me power stones. That was the first time in my over 1 year of writing on here that I broke more than 20 power stones, let alone reaching 30. I am happy that you are enjoying my work and I'm sorry that I don't give more chapters. The only excuse I have is that I end up getting distracted and watch YouTube or read other books, which is entirely my fault. Thank you once again.