The Wolf and the Vulture

A dark hulk can been seen floating in a calm sea in darkness with a grey mist surrounding it. This hulk was once a proud ship of the U.S. Navy and it did its job as the subtender for the North Atlantic Fleet. That was before it all happened. On the bow can be seen the number 39 in white and on the stern in black the name Emory S. Land. Once 620 men and women crewed this ship but now rust was appearing under the grey paint of the ship, the flags are all hanging limp, and all appears dead.

Two miles away, an eye pops to the surface and proceeds to look all around. The eye begins creeping towards the hulk as if it has found a choice morsel. Slowly the eye begins rising up as a large black leviathan begins to show itself above the surface of the water. The leviathan continues the approach towards the hulk. As it gets closer, You can see that the leviathan is dwarfed by the rusting hulk. Like a wolf, the black predator circles the ship. The circling ends with a final approach at the rear of the ship. A large kicking up of water is seen as the black leviathan ends its approach alongside the ship.

On the side of the head of the leviathan can be seen the number 21. Around can be heard the sound of metal screeching as a hatch on the deck of the submarine is opening. One at a time, men begin climbing out of the innards of the submarine. They are wearing orange suits that appear to be fairly thick and are wearing black gloves and under the hoods can be seen black and grey gas masks. On several of the orange suits are the faded words U.S.S. Seawolf. This process continues until twenty men are on the deck. On the sail a very similar hatch can be seen opening and two men climb out.

Ropes are tossed and looped around the anchoring points built into the hull of the ship under the barking orders of the shorter man of the two that are on the sail. Under the carefully watching eyes of the bosunmate, the two ships are securely tied together. Then a man throws a grappling hook up to the side of the ship. He then proceeds to climb up to the main deck and makes his way to a set of large doors that are several decks down from were he climbed to that are used for the purpose of quicker movement of objects. He expertly climbs down from deck to deck in the darkness while stepping over an occasional body that are just at the stages of decomposition were they stop smelling. In one hand he is holding a large lantern and the other nervously pounding at his side were his pistol is at.

While he was traveling the spaces of the ship, tools are being handed to the men on the deck of the Seawolf. Axes, hammers, crowbars, and bolt cutters are all being handed up. After the final things are being handed up, two heavy automatic weapons and four grey boxes with handles, the group begins the wait for the doors to be opened.

After ten minutes of tense waiting, the large door is opening. Three of the men climbed up to the door by a rope that was just tossed down and push a ramp down to the submarine from the subtender. The people on the ship then anchored it to the ship and all sixteen men remaining on the deck of the sub climb up the ramp and enter the darkness.

They begin searching the ship space by space, picking up various tools and equipment that may be useful. As they gather items, the items are waved in front of the grey boxes some of the men are carrying. Whenever the boxes begin clicking, the item is discarded. Bodies are pushed out of way without regard for who they are and work is continued. The dry stores are raided with all the containers being carefully checked through. As time goes on the men are rotated back to the sub and other men take their place. Items of all descriptions are loaded onto the submarine as work progresses. Two days will pass, and then all the work will be completed.

All the ropes are untied and all the men slowly disappear back into their black home. The hatches clang shut and the black leviathan begins slowly submerging itself. After a few minutes, all that can be seen is the eye of it above the water and soon that is gone too. The wolf, that is now a vulture, is gone. Still floating in the quieted sea is the grey hulk, the final resting place of 620 lost souls. Eventually, it will be hit by an iceberg and be gone forever. The men and women that served on her will be forgotten at the bottom of the North Atlantic Ocean.


By Kitsune (E-Mail Kitsune).

Copyright © 1998, Kitsune. All rights reserved.


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