Maelstrom

This newly discovered mutation is the bane of the seas around Washington. The rumors about this shambler’s first appearance range back to 2042, when a large Father was said to have drowned in Chesapeake Bay. Unknown to the population at that time, the shambler did not need to breathe oxygen for survival and kept living on the bottom of the ocean, the abundance of fish the Father fed on soon growing him to abstruse size. After a submerged time of about twenty years, a Father fully evolves into what’s been called a Maelstrom by Washington’s seamen: a torso length of about nine meters as-is, adorned with seven main tentacles with a length of six more meters each. Atop each main tendril sits one of the Maelstrom’s fifteen “Heads”, which is sailor slang for the numerous growths acting as eyes and ears above the water surface while the main body of the Maelstrom stays submerged for safety.

Maelstroms usually feed on maritime animals once they reached their full growth, but will not hesitate to assault boats with survivors in them for a larger snack. Using one or multiple of their tendrils as periscopes to scout above the water surface, the Maelstrom then slings its main and supporting tentacles around the boat in question, attempting to crush the hull in order to sink it in a nightmarish, kraken-like assault. Maelstroms are confirmedly able to crush wooden boat hulls effortlessly, with metal or steel boat hulls taking them at least a few minutes.