Creatures From The Deep

[Published in the Dark Fantasy Newsletter #3]

(The following account is taken from the captain's logbook of the Russian merchant vessel Marinka, dated the 7 of January 1898, following a routine expedition upon the icy waters of the treacherous Galodni Sea)

I write this account with a shaking hand, for the incessant banging on the door fills me with an awesome dread. I fear for my very life, for beyond that door is an evil collection of ugly, rampant beasts, creatures that could only have surfaced from the terror-infested shores of that blood-red ocean of Hell. It is no
wonder that I tremble so as I begin this detailed report.
My comrades are all dead, savaged by that hideous throng. I feel that I ought to make that point at once, before this entrance crashes in and they begin their fatal assault on me. They yell in a strange tongue that I do not understand, yet I am able to detect an anger in their tone, and I know that they are eager for just one thing. My blood.
I only caught glimpses of them in the darkness of this evil night, but what I did observe will linger within the corners of my brain until my final breath is taken, a fate which I believe is imminent. Let me attempt to describe the fiends. They stand on two legs, just like us, but that is exactly where the similarity ends, for they are indeed a grotesque and horrendous bunch. Their eyes contain an awful devilment, an abundance of hair is evident on their bodies, their mouths form to reveal ghost-white teeth that threaten to chew and gnaw at my very being. And still they cry and shout my way. I am trapped in this small cabin. I am not long for this world.
I wish that I had never set foot upon this ghastly vessel. I witnessed the deaths of my fallen mates upon that upper deck, each of them gruesomely slaughtered by this bloodthirsty tribe. My escape was not simple. I raced into this cabin, and secured myself within these four walls, barely evading the lunging grasp of one of
them. Here I now sit, adopting the role of a sea scribe, of which I am not accustomed. My time is short. I must make the most of my final moments upon this earth.
Above the constant yelling I can barely hear the lapping waves outside the porthole. I think not of escape through that tiny orifice, for my body is much too large for such a feat. My hand still shakes as I write. I hope these words will be legible once this report is discovered, indeed if it ever will be. I trust that these terrible creatures will not destroy this handwritten evidence. There is no telling what actions they will take once they have submitted me to a horrible death. From what I have seen so far I take them to be entirely unpredictable.
I think there are six of them. I have not previously encountered such a race before. Their flesh is utterly repellent, their skin a hideous shade. They are of different shapes and sizes. What manner of demon could have spawned such a repulsive brood? Still they bang upon this door, and now I can see an impression being made. The wood is shattering, just a little. They will be inside soon. And I will die!
My last memory will be the image of those barbarous monsters beating my comrades with large implements, both blunt and sharp. How they suffered. How they cried out to the night! How can two species of creature be so different? We are a peaceful people, we mean no harm, not to anyone. We go about our business in a civilised fashion. Yet as soon as we encounter another living breed they turn upon us and administer an immediate punishment of death. Only the Devil himself could have sent these terrible creatures, for I believe they have indeed arrived from within those fiery pits.
Large splinters of wood are being ripped from this doorway as I continue this account. The cold waters of the Galodni Sea ripple violently beyond this cabin, and I detect a sinister, unnatural presence from beneath those grappling waves, as if the ocean itself is perhaps somehow responsible for this wild behaviour.
Dangerous hands appear just yards from my position, and I shudder. They are here!
The remains of the door fall into the room, and before me they stand, these peculiar creatures. I can almost smell the viciousness of these savages as they breathe fiercely, emitting a stinking, rotten odour. I fear death terribly. They approach. They are even more frightening than I previously imagined, and I

(The journal entry ends abruptly at this point. However, there follows a further account, written in an entirely different fashion. The report in question is as follows)

The last of the creatures has been located in the captain's cabin and destroyed by members of the crew. We feel we had no choice but to defend the vessel and ourselves, sensing a sudden danger immediately these sea-devils boarded the Marinka, emerging from these Galodni waters like ghosts of the ocean. I describe them thus -- they possess a greenish-grey covering of scales upon their bodies, three fingers on each hand with suckers upon each fingertip, no body hair whatsoever, three small eyes of a yellowish hue, and a weird collection of spikes upon their heads. They are indeed a frightful species, of which I personally do not wish to encounter a second time. During the course of its short sojourn in this room, it appears to have produced an entry in the captain's log, a strange collection of markings in an alien language, it seems. This will be passed on to the appropriate authorities for an attempted decipher, although I do not believe we will ever learn the true meaning of this account.
(Signed by) Captain Nikolai Kodolenko, January 7, 1898