Chapter 491 - Lurking In The Lake...

Inside the lake, Tamia could barely see anything... Perhaps she should've had Afton make her some goggles? Regardless, she could kind of make out some shapes underwater, which would help in actually finding the bomber.

The only plus to this was the cold, refreshing water surrounding her. It isn't often you can escape the hot Mojave climate, nor did most people in the Mojave even know how to swim. She slowly drifts down to the bottom of the lake, allowing the weight of the ballasts she was carrying to move her deeper.​​

She swims around the bottom of the lake for a minute or so until she eventually finds the large, dark shape that resembled an aeroplane she'd seen depicted in past records and photos... She swims up and starts sticking the magnetic sides of the ballasts to the bomber according to how Loyal had explained.

She needed to make sure nothing was misplaced, otherwise the bomber would simply break up and sink to the bottom of the lake in many pieces, something that'd be incredibly difficult to fix. She quickly places all the ballasts from the first bag and heads back, collecting the 2nd and doing the same with that.

However, once she returns to the bomber with the third and final bag, she makes a mistake... She was underneath the bomber and carefully pushing off of the floor to properly attach the ballast when she feels something crush underfoot... She looks down and spots a heavily damaged egg that's leaking all of its insides into the lake...

"Shit." her muffled curse can be heard through her rebreather. She had no idea what creature the egg belonged to, but whatever it was, it'd most certainly be pissed.

*SHOOK!*

Something quickly passes by her position, disturbing the surrounding water but not allowing her to get a glimpse of it. She readies her boot knife in response but knows that most creatures wouldn't even flinch at being stabbed with it...

*SHOOOK!*

Again, Tamia spins around, but still only barely spots some kind of blue-green foot that disappears into the distance...

*SHOOK!*

Ready for it this time, she spins and intercepts the creature as it attempts to claw her, unfortunately, her knife simply slides off of its slimy skin, the tip barely penetrating. It's claw springs out and lightly stabs into her shoulder, drawing blood. She holds in her pained groan, not wanting to accidentally spit out her rebreather and doom herself.

She glares at it , now able to identify her attacker. It was a 7ft humanoid with slimy blue-green skin, a scary bald head with glowing red-orange eyes, and menacing claws attached to each arm. Honestly, this was her first time running into a Lakelurk, but all that meant was she was inexperienced in dealing with it.

All she had were a few anecdotes from soldiers who'd fought them on land in the past... Unfortunately, everyone who'd tried to fight one underwater never returned. Most likely having been eaten.

The Lakelurk viciously glares at Tamia, the scent of its destroyed egg still heavy in the water as its lifeforce bleeds out. This is where Tamia made her first mistake, in forgetting that a Lakelurk's claws were its secondary weapon...

The Lakelurk opens its mouth and lets out a screech that only seems to be amplified by being underwater,

*SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!*

Tamia struggles to not spit out her rebreather as the sonic attack hits her, almost bursting her eardrums entirely as she holds her head in an attempt to stifle the attack at least slightly. While she's disorientated, the Lakelurk thrusts itself forwards, stabbing a claw into Tamia's stomach.

Tamia, having just been stabbed, spits out her rebreather in response but instinctively lashes out with her knife, managing to stab it in the eye, causing it to retreat momentarily.

She looks down at her wound that's heavily bleeding but ignores it to find her rebreather... She finds it nearby floating towards the surface and quickly grabs it, all the while pulling a stimpack from the pouch she'd brought.

She stabs it into herself which allows the body to quickly seal the wound via a burst of platelets, but the threat of the Lakelurk is still around... She looks to the surface, wondering if fighting it there would be easier but quickly ignores this thought, the surface would probably be more dangerous than where she was now...

*SHOOK!*

Tamia scowls as readies the knife again, this time prepared for a potential sonic attack...

*SHOOOK!*

She quickly turns and intercepts the claw strike, barely dodging it but not managing to cut into its annoyingly resistant skin. It tries to bite down on her neck but she kicks her legs, forcing herself backwards... The creature follows though, clamping its jaws onto her shoulder and tearing a good chunk of flesh out.

Tamia gives a muffled roar through her rebreather and furiously stabs at it in retaliation, but the restrictive water and skin of the creature would basically nullify any damage she might do.

'Fuck!' she thinks to herself, she's literally being eaten alive down here and has no chance of escape... If she tried to swim away the thing would claw the fuck outta her...

The Lakelurk swims away after getting some meat, but it'd be back very soon for another bite... Tamia quickly looks around the area for something that might save her, when her eyes lock onto the last ballast she had to place...

Her pained expression becomes one of determination as she picks up the ballast and approaches the bomber... She doesn't place it however, instead, waiting for the Lakelurk to approach again...

*SHOOK!*

She has her back to the metal chassis of the bomber and can see the creature approaching, once it's near enough she avoids a stabbing claw by kicking off of the bomber, positioning herself so the bomber is behind the Lakelurk before thrusting the ballast into it...

Its strength is incredible, but it isn't just Tamia working against the creature... The magnet of the ballast was pushing towards the bomber!