The Drowned
Nobody inside the underground ward spoke for several seconds after Elias said the word feeding.
The lantern light flickered softly across the old hospital room while thunder rolled faintly above the island. Water dripped steadily somewhere inside the walls, echoing through the silence like a clock slowly counting down.
Nora Vale stared at Elias carefully.
He didn’t look insane.
Exhausted, yes.
Terrified, definitely.
But not crazy.
And honestly?
That scared her more.
Kai Mercer slowly lowered himself onto one of the old medical beds.
“Okay,” he whispered carefully. “I’m gonna need literally all the context immediately.”
Elias rubbed a shaking hand across his beard before glancing toward the hallway outside again like he expected something to appear there at any second.
“You shouldn’t have come here,” he murmured softly.
“Trust me,” Selene answered quickly, “that part’s becoming extremely clear.”
Another deep rumble echoed beneath the floor.
Not thunder.
Something underground.
The entire room vibrated faintly.
Nora physically felt fear tighten through her chest again.
Because whatever lived beneath the island sounded enormous.
Elias noticed their reactions immediately.
“That thing under the island…” He swallowed hard. “That’s what started all of this.”
Jace stepped forward carefully.
“What IS this place?”
The older man looked around the ruined underground ward slowly before answering.
“This used to be a quarantine hospital.”
Silence.
Kai blinked once.
“I’m sorry WHAT?”
Elias exhaled heavily.
“Forty years ago, the island wasn’t a resort. It was a research station.” His voice lowered slightly. “The government brought sick people here after fishing boats started disappearing near Blackwater Reef.”
Nora frowned immediately.
“Disappearing how?”
“They came back wrong.”
God.
The sentence settled heavily into the room.
Elias walked toward one of the old filing cabinets nearby and pulled open a rusted drawer. Inside sat stacks of water-damaged papers and medical files covered in mold.
“The fishermen said something lived beneath the reef,” he whispered. “Something ancient buried under the ocean floor.” His eyes darkened slightly. “Then people started hearing voices from the water.”
Kai looked deeply uncomfortable now.
“I officially hate this story.”
Elias ignored him.
“At first it was only nightmares.” He flipped through several soaked documents. “Then sleepwalking. Then people walking into the ocean by themselves at night.”
Selene’s face slowly lost color.
“And after that?”
Elias finally looked directly at her.
“They came back.”
Nobody breathed.
Because deep down…
they already knew.
The pale things on the ferry.
The creatures in the water.
The woman upstairs.
Drowned.
God.
Nora suddenly understood why they constantly leaked seawater.
Elias continued quietly:
“The infected changed slowly at first. Their bodies twisted. Bones broke and healed wrong.” He hesitated briefly. “Then they stopped acting human altogether.”
Thunder exploded above the island again.
The lantern light flickered violently.
And somewhere far beyond the hospital room—
something screamed through the underground hallways.
Selene physically flinched.
“That was close.”
Elias immediately moved toward the steel doors and locked them tighter.
“They hunt more aggressively after midnight.”
Kai stared at him carefully.
“You keep saying midnight like something specific happens.”
The older man went silent.
Too silent.
Then quietly:
“The island wakes up.”
God.
Nobody liked the sound of that.
Nora stepped closer slowly.
“What does that mean?”
Elias looked toward the floor beneath them.
And for the first time since meeting him…
Nora saw genuine hopelessness enter his face.
“There’s something buried beneath Blackwater Island,” he whispered softly. “Something old enough that even the ocean is scared of it.”
Silence swallowed the room again.
Then suddenly—
a loud metallic bang echoed directly outside the ward doors.
Everyone jumped instantly.
Another bang followed.
Harder this time.
BOOM.
BOOM.
Selene grabbed Nora’s arm tightly.
“Oh my God.”
Elias immediately raised the shotgun again.
“Lights off.”
Nobody argued.
The lanterns were extinguished instantly.
Darkness swallowed the room except for faint red emergency lights leaking beneath the steel doors.
Outside the hallway—
something dragged slowly across the floor.
SCRAAAAAPE.
SCRAAAAAPE.
Nora’s heartbeat pounded painfully loud now.
Because whatever stood outside sounded huge.
Not one of the smaller drowned.
Something bigger.
The dragging stopped directly outside the ward.
Silence followed.
Heavy silence.
Then came breathing.
Wet breathing.
Deep.
Like something standing inches beyond the doors inhaled slowly through flooded lungs.
Kai covered his mouth immediately.
Nobody moved.
Then softly—
a woman’s voice whispered through the steel doors.
“Elias…”
The older man visibly went pale.
God.
He recognized that voice.
“Please let me in.”
The voice sounded weak.
Sad.
Almost human.
Then came another voice.
A child’s voice.
“Dad…”
Elias’s hands started shaking around the shotgun.
Nora looked toward him carefully.
Those weren’t random voices.
The drowned were mimicking people he knew.
God.
The realization physically chilled her.
Another whisper came through the doors.
“You left us in the water.”
Selene looked horrified now.
Outside, the breathing grew heavier.
More voices slowly joined the darkness beyond the hallway.
Whispering.
Crying.
Begging softly through the steel doors.
Dozens of voices.
Some children.
Some adults.
All sounding painfully human.
Kai’s face had completely drained of color.
“That’s not okay.”
Then suddenly—
something slammed violently against the steel doors.
BOOM.
The entire ward shook.
Another impact followed instantly.
BOOM.
Dust fell from the ceiling overhead.
Elias tightened his grip on the shotgun hard enough that his knuckles whitened.
“They found us early.”
Another slam hit the doors.
This time hard enough to bend the metal inward slightly.
Selene whispered shakily:
“How many are out there?”
Elias didn’t answer.
He only stared toward the bending steel doors while terror spread slowly across his face.
Then softly—
almost like he was afraid to say it aloud—
he whispered:
“Too many.”