‘Downwelling’ by D Marmara

Dark Waters

From Pulp Literature Issue 48, read an excerpt of ‘Downwelling’ by D Marmara, and discover what lurks in the dark in this unique and immersive war story. Want to know what happens next? Read the story in full in Issue 48, Autumn 2025!

Downwelling

by D Marmara

It was a German soldier who pulled Peter Corbin from the cold grip of the Atlantic. The U-boat had sunk the USS Valor in spectacular fashion, upending her stern to the Sargasso skies while the crew fled for the lifeboats. Peter wound up in a boat with his lieutenant, a man named Horace Radcliffe, and two privates. They’d taken to the oars to get clear of the wreckage as Radcliffe barked orders.

As the lifeboat turned west, Peter caught sight of the lurking, titan bulk of the U-boat where it wallowed in the seaweed-brown water like the grim Leviathan. In the changing light of the afternoon, he saw the glint of a periscope. Moments later, the guns struck the first of the lifeboats.

Pandemonium ensued. He heard the shouts and screams of the other men. Hulls shattered under ballistic fire. Radcliffe shouted something which was lost in the sound of the explosions, a bare moment before their boat was struck.

The concussive force sent Peter reeling. Light and sound, like the sun itself, screamed. The boat cracked like an egg, and they were in the water.

The cold ripped a gasp from him, and Peter wound up with a mouthful of seawater. He struck out, trying to get clear of the wreckage, to escape the tangles of sargassum. His life vest jerked him about the waves like a bobbing cork.

“Lieutenant!” he shouted, and received no answer.

Blood and bodies were in the water. Around him, limbs thrashed and drowning faces gaped in fishlike terror. The guns thundered, undercut by the screams of the dying and the silence of the dead. The ocean soaked his uniform, though he knew the good woollen fabric would stave off hypothermia. Though the water would surely destroy Cassie’s last letter in his pocket, the one he hadn’t had time to read.

The thought was agony, but he had no time to wallow in it. He swam. The current washed him in the direction of the U-boat, a mercy and a terror both. The arcing rainbows of gunfire were aimed well outward, but he feared he might be crushed against the menacing hull and sucked beneath it.

Figures stood on the deck, blurred impressionist paintings of German uniforms against the glaring sun. A man lifted a revolver. The crack of shot, and a projectile struck the water beside him. The soldiers spoke amongst themselves, then one man unhooked something from the deck and heaved it out into the waves.

It landed near Peter with an audible smack. A life preserver, attached to a rope. He stared at it, his veins iced with dread, as it bobbed in innocent fashion on the waves. What options did the Germans offer? Surrender and be taken prisoner? Escape the water to be granted the mercy of a bullet?

Find the full story in Pulp Literature Issue 48, Autumn 2025

D Marmara was born and reared in the midwestern USA and now lives in southern California. She has an affinity for science, horror, and the macabre. Her work can be found in Xanax Hamster, Cosmic Horror Monthly, and Arkham Institutions. A former researcher, she now works in laboratory safety.