Countermeasures, Pt. 7 of 25.

          While Cliff moved toward the beach, Jocelyn leisurely swam out away from the shore.  The bottom became much more rocky, which she ignored with her blurred vision, but her inability to see well hid aquatic alien predators from her view.  They could see her clearly from behind some boulders, as she relaxed in the warm water, and had intentions of abducting her, as they did with John's wife months ago.

          Jocelyn stopped swimming after moving out another thirty meters and treaded water.  She felt so stimulated and refreshed!  Looking toward the shore, she saw Cliff setting down his bulky camera and taking her mask.  He would soon be back in the water with her, and feeling the anticipation, she decided to do some more underwater swimming.  She took a deep breath and went under, to do two forward somersaults, before letting her body hang weightless in the water with her limbs extended.  Feeling herself bob upward, she began to steadily expel her air until she sank to the bottom.  There, she did a graceful backward somersault before kicking upward again.

          At the surface, she saw Cliff with her mask moving down the beach slowly with his fins and gear on and went back under to do more bobs.  With her lovely long legs straightened, she steadily expelled air through her nose while bringing her extended arms slowly above her head, and her form lost buoyancy and sank downward.  She loved the soothing water and sometimes wished she was born an amphibian.  While she slowly went down, she listened to and watched her gleaming small air bubbles rise rapidly from her nostrils and ascend upward in a thin column.  

          Shortly after kicking upward again and beginning her second bob, she felt a large pair of hands gently hold her torso just below her attractive firm breasts and pull her down.  She stopped exhaling then and felt another pair of hands seconds later hold her head steady, caressing her mouth and cheeks with its fingers.  She saw the blurry image of a nude woman in front of her close.  Her hands were so gentle, and with her body sensitized by the soothing water and Cliff's recent loving touches, she offered no initial resistance.

          The blurry female embraced and kissed her next.  It's mouth dominated and covered hers; the other pair of hands moved up and gently cupped themselves around her breasts.  Still, she kept her limbs extended but shook her head some negatively.  The sensually dominated woman was about two meters below the surface but was soon entranced by their touches again.  She did not know what was happening to her.  She could not resist them in their element, and closing her eyes, let them take control.  She even returned a hug with an arm to the one kissing her next.  It's skin felt so smooth and soft -- feminine.  Her legs felt heavy, and while submitting herself to them, she thought she faintly heard Cliff's muffled voice repeatedly shouting "no" in the back of her aloof mind.  

          Cliff's voice became louder and nearer; she suddenly expelled most of her air noisily and pushed the one in front of her backward.  It glared at her then, and she tried to kick upward but continued instead to slowly sink down.  It was then when she noticed her legs, abdomen, and much of her back covered thick with a green gel.  She also noticed the "woman" in front of her had a large fish-like tail and began panicking.  

          The mermaid behind her sharply pulled her head back by the hair, to force more air out of her lungs with the pain, and the one in front swiftly covered the rest of her struggling body with the gel, which it spewed in large amounts out of its mouth.  Soon, the three of them had her completely enveloped in it.  She uttered a desperate but greatly muffled cry for help before completely filling her aching lungs with it.  

          The gel prison bulged and stretched every way she did for the next few seconds, until she finally passed out and became limp within it.  The gel was life-sustaining though, being oxygen rich; it allowed them to take captives underwater and use them, such as with Ingrid, for whatever they wished.  

          Cliff watched them abduct Jocelyn and tried to get her attention before, but by the time he approached them, they were taking her away to deeper water just above the bottom.  From a distance of almost twenty meters, he saw that Jocelyn was still and unconscious within the strange green globule; he was determined to get her back.  

          The mermaid holding Jocelyn's encased legs above the pebbly rougher bottom turned and shot suddenly toward him.  It's attack was surprisingly fast and well-executed.  He was just able to draw his knife from its holster strapped to his leg before it was over him.  The aquatic alien quickly delivered a powerful snap of its strong tail, barely missing him.  However, the strong current of water following the blow flooded his mask completely and dislodged the knife from his hand to disarm him.  With its webbed hands, it forced him down and swiped the regulator out of his mouth, but he was lucky to hold his breath and forcefully shove it away.  Afterward, it swiftly turned for its second attack.

          When the mermaid was delivering its second assault, it expected him to clear his mask or put the regulator back to his mouth out of instinct, but he did not.  Cliff went for the knife instead, which was gleaming by his knee, and wildly lashed out at the blurry image of his attacking enemy nearby with it, offering no mercy.  He brought the blade up as it rapidly brought its tail down to strike him, and he slashed the alien from its lower abdomen down half the length of its muscular tail, to greatly injure it.  Before it was able to get clear of his reach, he was able to further deliver a horizontal slash and cut it again across its chest just under its right breast.  

          The mermaid closed its eyes and opened its mouth in shear pain, while retreating and leaving a distinct trail of blood behind.  As it did, Cliff put the regulator back to his mouth and cleared his mask in order to breathe and see clear again respectively.  Holding the knife firm in his right hand and seeing the blood clearly, he knew that he had to have inflicted wounds of substantial severity.  He quickly followed the blood trail to the others, to rescue Jocelyn, but feared dearly for her life now.  

          The other two mermaids held their ground and continued to carry her away with more difficulty, but when he swam fast toward them, they released her and went to the aid of their seriously wounded companion.  All of them moved to deeper water back to their cargo vessel, and within the next minute, were gone and out of sight in the blue, leaving him alone with her.  

          Cliff had resisted and fought them well to emerge the victor, but he still could not believe what he encountered or what they did to her.  He looked down and saw that she had regained consciousness, panic-stricken, within her gelatinous confinement and was reaching out toward him for help -- her moving mouth and eyes wide open.  She appeared to be trying to talk, but her message was obvious to him.  He scooped her into his arms and carried her up to the surface and toward the shore next.  

          He set her on his warm beach towel and removed his mask, fins, and breathing apparatus quickly.  He set her mask where it was and then noticed her strange trap was surrounded by a thin, transparent, and flexible membrane.  He easily cut through it with his knife, and the gel spilled out of the globule to release her at last.  

          The circumstances of her abduction and what he earlier recorded and experienced now just boggled his mind.  He did not know what to do.  He thought of what the authorities would think of him if he ever told them his "fish" story.  So, who would believe him?  He heard Jocelyn emit a gurgling sound, and when he looked at her, he saw the gel rapidly disappearing from her body in the hot sunlight and open air.  The substance seemed to sublime more so than evaporate.  As it released control of her strong lungs, she began to breathe normally again.  It sublimed from her lungs through her air passages and agape mouth.  "What is that strange stuff?" he thought with increasing curiosity.  "What the Hell is it for?"  

          Jocelyn gradually regained her senses, and after her lungs were clear, she coughed and began sobbing.  He embraced her then and held her in comfort and affection, while she buried her face in his chest.  He felt very relieved to have her back alive, and tears even formed in his eyes for that, as he looked out over the sparkling now-dangerous water.


Continued to Pt. 8.