Submarine Warriors: The Enemy Beneath by Rob Tiffany

inside matches the pressure outside, the escape hatch will open.”
    “ Roger that,” Caroline responded.
    A few minutes later, the escape hatch released, and Nick and Caroline left the sub. The weight of their suits prevented them from doing any actual swimming.
    “ Okay, this feels really weird.” Caroline talked to Nick via their inter-suit communications system. “I know we’re pretty far down, but I didn’t realize the water would be so dark. We better switch on the coal miner lights in our helmets.”
    They walked along the missile deck on top of the Alaska and then jumped off the side to begin their descent to the ocean floor.
    “ That’s one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” Nick quoted Neil Armstrong as he landed on the sandy seabed.
    “ Don’t forget about us girls,” Caroline remarked.
    “ Sorry.”
    “ Wow, forget what I said about the darkness. The bottom of the ocean seems to be glowing.” Caroline motioned over to a mass of bio-fluorescent coral.
    “ I’m seeing millions of tiny glowing dots in the water.” Nick waved his arms around.
    “ Hey! I see the Omaha Beach over there.” Caroline pointed towards the DSRV as she walked softly across the seabed.
    “ Whoa, what’s the giant pyramid thing behind the DSRV?” Nick asked.
    “ I don’t know, but it looks like there’s some kind of tube connecting the DSRV’s forward escape hatch to the pyramid,” Caroline remarked. “The tube looks transparent with a red glow inside.”
    “ That crystal pyramid looks transparent too, but I can’t quite see inside it,” Nick added. “Weird. Anyway, I guess we need to find a way to enter the Omaha Beach.”
    The two kids proceeded across the ocean floor, climbed on top of the DSRV, and searched the outer hull looking for a way in.
    “ Hey, this looks like the same kind of hatch we just exited from on the Alaska.” Caroline looked down at the metal steering wheel on the hull.
    As the two of them knelt down to turn the wheel, they noticed a shadow pass over them.
    “ Oh my God Nick, it’s a shark!” Caroline screamed as she watched the man-eater swim off into the distance.
    Caroline and Nick put all their strength into turning the stubborn wheel. It wouldn’t budge at first, but then it slowly started to move.
    Nick looked up and noticed the shark circling back toward them. “It’s coming back! We’ve got to try harder!”
    Normally, the pressure of the seawater, combined with an empty escape trunk, would make it next to impossible to open the hatch. The Omaha Beach came equipped with hydraulically assisted arms that helped Caroline and Nick open the lid as water came rushing in to fill the empty room below. The two of them were caught off guard and sucked in with the rest of the seawater.
    Dazed and disoriented, Nick stood up in the flooded escape truck and reached for the upper hatch to seal it shut. He recoiled in terror as the giant teeth, jaws and head of the shark came at him through the opening of the hatch.
    “ Get on the deck!” Caroline screamed as she pulled Nick downward to the floor of the escape trunk.
    The shark was too large to fit through the escape hatch, but gnashed its teeth at them and violently whipped its head from side to side.
    “ I don’t want to be eaten alive,” Caroline cried.
    “ I think he’s stuck.” Nick pointed upward. “He can’t get in past his fins, and he’s completely sealed the hatch opening. It doesn’t look like he can get out either. I guess they didn’t teach him how to go in reverse at shark driving school.” Nick managed some humor realizing that the immediate danger had passed. “We need to get the water drained out of here.”
    Looking across the room, Caroline noticed a clearly marked green button on the wall, and pushed it to force all the water out of the compartment. Once the escape trunk was empty, the shark began to suffocate since its gills were no longer moving through the water. The kids quickly took off