They wade on the sea floor, ancient, more aged than anything on land. Tall, love-craftian in appearance squid-like creatures. We call them the Dread.

They appeared five years ago during a failed expansion effort into the seabed, Excavation 31. The idea was to hollow out the space and stabilize it so it can become habitable. But while the teams began their dig, readings started coming back haywire, something was already there. When they finally broke through the ground it was too late for us. There are theories the Dread were purposely imprisoned so far below Earth by its last victims, we were never supposed to find them. The crews suffered multiple casualties, all equipment lost and only maybe a fraction of employees made it out with their lives. They soon began picking off any living human in the water, fishing boats, cruises, surfers, even in shallow waters they seemed to manage to snag us. Strange thing is, they left all wildlife alone.

So, we don't go into the ocean anymore. Beaches were closed, all ships docked, everything haulted. We suffered for a while, the economy fractured significantly overnight, no more imports, no more fishing, no more tourist travel. We depended on the sea more than we'd like to admit. It eventually stabilized however, things are still changing. Almost everything is by air travel now, but it's wrecked the environment. People still are starving or out of jobs. Speak of revolt is still brewing among the lower classes. We may not have to deal with the Dread on land, but they've hurt us regardless.

Two weeks ago a signal was caught. From the old crewsite, the Dreadprison. They thought it was a faulty old alarm or a falsified signal. But then someone started calling in, a voice warbled and distorted from deep below.

"Find me. Find me. Find me."

And takes us to the present. Me, decked out in divers gear, sitting in a debriefing room with six people. First is Captain Thrush who stands at the head the table ringleader of this operation, next to him is Dr. Nadian. She's got her long hair thrown up in a haphazard updo, her hands filing between stacks of paperwork and her laptop keyboard, aggressively typing something I'm sure is the science equivalent to 'we are all going to die here'. The rest are all divers, including myself, I'm leading the crew.

"Well? Doctor is everything in order?" Thrush's tone is sharp but lacks any true hostility. Maybe he's too tired tonight.

"I have run the hypotheticals through at least a hundred times. We'll be okay. Hopefully." Her brows are so furrowed they look like caterpillars moving across her forehead. I've liked her since the beginning, I hope I'll be alive to see her again tomorrow.

"Alright. Miss Juniper, ready to proceed?" The captain addresses me, snapping me from my thoughts. I nod slowly at him, then look back at the divers all suited up.

"Ready as I'll ever be, Cap." I gather the rest of my equipment and head to the drophole, the team set up next to me. Then one by one they hop into the sickly looking water. I pad up after the crew and with one last glance at Dr. Nadian, who gives me a sympathetic smile, I follow suit. The water is a cold embrace, knocking me into focus if I wasn't already, and ink-black. I smack my lighting setup till they turn on again, odd because they were working just fine before I hit the water.

I do a headcount of the team, relay our condition to up above and begin our descent. Down, down, down we go, to the gravesite of Excavation 31.