On the forty-third day of unrelenting rain, the shelter's lower levels were completely submerged.
Elaine pressed her face against the polycarbonate window of their isolation pod, watching the watery shadows shift five meters below. Three corpses floated in the murk—two Beta types and an elderly man who hadn't survived initial transformation. She noted the Beta's scales were blackening at visible speed.
"Seventeen more died today." Lisa wiped Margaret's rotting tail fin with alcohol, her fingers trembling. "The medics say necrosis is progressing three times faster than projected."
Mark suddenly coughed violently, expelling a clump of mucus laced with silver particles. Elaine checked his gill slits—the tissues that should've been healthy pink were turning slate gray.
"Surface radiation." She held one of her father's shed scales under the emergency light. "The morning broadcast said Chernobyl and Fukushima's underwater barriers collapsed."
The tablet lit up with an emergency alert:
[ATTENTION: Manhattan zone will be fully submerged in 12 hours. Alpha types report to rooftop extraction. Beta types may obtain decompression meds for migration]
"Decompression meds?" Lisa held up an empty syringe with a bitter laugh. "They ran out yesterday."
A crash echoed from the corridor, followed by screams. Elaine peeked through the door seam to see five figures in modified wetsuits raiding the supply station. The leader—a woman with a fully transformed octopus tentacle for a right arm—had a medic in a chokehold.
"Deep Hunters collecting 'protection fees,'" the old sailor in the next pod whispered. "They target Betas with medical value..."
The tentacle woman suddenly turned, her heterochromatic eyes (one gold, one green) locking onto Elaine's gaze. She drew a finger across her throat, her tentacle tip oozing ink-like fluid.
Elaine slammed the door, back pressed against the metal as she panted. Her fingers found the diving knife at her waist—the last thing her father bought with his military backpay on the black market.
"We must leave." Margaret's eyes flew open, her voice eerily clear. "To the Florida Keys. The Harper ancestral home's basement has radiation inhibitors."
"In our condition?" Mark slapped his diseased tail fin with a bitter laugh. "We can't swim fifty meters..."
Elaine unfolded the waterproof chart. "950 miles straight-line distance, through at least three naval blockades." Her finger paused at a marked "Blue Hole" zone. "Unless...we take the Abyssal Corridor."
The sound of shattering glass interrupted them. Through the door seam, Elaine saw Deep Hunters methodically searching pods. The tentacle woman ripped open a neighboring pod, dragging out a screaming girl whose scales shimmered with rare pearlescence.
"Ready to run." Elaine stuffed the map into a waterproof pouch, suddenly noticing her wrist scales were emitting faint blue light. She recalled the bioluminescence phenomenon from her master's thesis...
The corridor lights died. In the final flicker, Elaine saw three figures in biomechanical armor storm in from the fire exit. The leader wielded a sonic weapon that instantly dropped two Hunters.
During the chaotic escape, Elaine collided with the strange fighter. His visor revealed half-human features and half a face covered in silver scales, gill slits at his collarbone flaring rapidly.
"Betas stay down!" He pushed her aside with a mechanical arm, then froze at the sight of her glowing wrist. "Wait...Harper bloodline?"
A harpoon grazed them, embedding in the wall. Cursing, the man activated his wrist device, flooding the corridor with disabling infrasound. As Hunters collapsed, he shoved a waterproof chip into Elaine's hand. "Find Dr. Qi. Say 'the Luminous One is in Blue Hole.'"
Before Elaine could question him, he charged back into combat. She turned to see her parents carrying Margaret toward her, pursued by the recovering tentacle woman.
"Window! Now!" Elaine shattered the emergency exit glass, plunging into the churning black water below.
Cold stabbed between her scales like steel needles. She flapped her half-formed tail fin desperately, watching her family jump after. Worst was Margaret—the moment the elder hit water, her rotting tail began disintegrating, leaving a blood trail.
The tentacle woman appeared at the window. Elaine grabbed her parents' hands, dragging them toward the nearest subway tunnel. In the dark, her wrist glow intensified, illuminating gigantic claw marks on the walls—definitely not human-made.
When they finally hauled onto a dry platform to breathe, Lisa screamed. Margaret's tail had rotted to the spine, exposing bone laced with crystalline blue growths.
With trembling fingers, Elaine activated the stranger's chip. A holographic seabed map appeared, a red dot pulsing urgently. Tiny text flashed at the edge:
[Luminous One gene match 91% - Project Neptune final-phase candidate]
Engine sounds approached through the flooded tunnels. Elaine clenched the chip between her teeth, dousing her glow. She finally understood why the Hunters pursued them—the Harper bloodline held the key to this transformation catastrophe.
And the tentacle woman had clearly caught the scent of her prey.