Captain and the Creature - MLM

The moon was already hanging over the horizon when Dave, holding his mug, heard a sound that shook the ship. It wasn't the creaking of an old vessel or the roar of waves. It was a blow.
"What the hell?" Dave dropped his mug, sending it skidding across the deck. The ship tilted, and he grabbed the railings, trying to keep his balance.

He rushed to the wheelhouse. The huge searchlight on the mast roared to life, and a yellow-white beam cut through the blackness of the night sea.

• What the...

The water around the ship crashed against the side. And then Dave saw it. At first, he thought it was a hallucination—a huge silhouette gliding beneath the surface. A fin? No, more like a tail. Long, powerful, covered in strange, jagged growths. A tail like a shark's, only sharks like that didn't exist. The silhouette was unnaturally elongated, curved, and Dave suddenly realized he wasn't looking at a fish or a whale.

The moment the spotlight touched the tip of the tail, the creature froze. For a moment, silence reigned; even the waves seemed to subside.

The tail whipped up, its scales flashing, and dove down with such force that the resulting wave washed over the deck. The slap of its tail against the water sounded like a gunshot, shattering the silence of the night. The creature abruptly plunged into the depths, and Dave only managed to spot a pair of glowing points—two sparks that stared at him for a moment from the abyss.