‘Get ready,’ said Soldier John, looking over towards the boat. He put his hand up in the air. For a moment, all was silent, apart from the wind. We kept our eyes fixed on him.

Then he shouted. ‘Choir, go!’

We started to sing, loudly, and tunelessly.

‘More!’ he shouted again.

We started to scream, and shout. No longer words, just utterances. Lana was red in the face with the effort, and several people were shaking their heads as though it would make the noise come out more loudly. The Jellyfish seemed to stiffen beneath us, as though it was listening to what we were doing.

Then Soldier John dropped his hand.

Immediately, we started walking towards the far side of the Jellyfish, the boat and the shoreline at our backs. We pounded and stamped and jumped towards the other side, as far away from the boat as possible. We screamed and shouted and roared. We waved and spun and swore. Wilder and crazier and louder.

‘Come on!’ shouted Soldier John, his voice somehow booming above everything else.

The water was already starting to pool around my feet, the jelly already starting to tilt.

‘Don’t stop!’ shouted Soldier John.

Louder and louder, we pounded forward, wailing. Slowly, the jelly began to rise behind us, then more rapidly. I could feel the mucus forming around the back of my ankles, the angle of our world starting to change.

‘Keep going!’

We were right on the edge now and shouting louder. The Jellyfish tilted right up behind and then, with a juddering lunge, it suddenly jumped twenty degrees further. All that was holding us on now was the sticky mesoglea, but I could feel even that shifting and liquefying beneath my feet. Three people jumped in, then four more. They started swimming away from the creature.

‘Don’t stop the noise! We need more time!’ shouted Soldier John.

We started screaming again. Next to me, James jumped in, and then Lana, both of them shouting and bellowing with all their might. I jumped in too.

Beneath me in the sudden coldness of the water, I could feel the short tentacles squirming around; so many, like a mass of twisted seaweed or fur. Sometimes they’d catch on my skin and clothes, a moment of stickiness before continuing to move. Moist, smooth flesh forming and adjusting itself around me.

The last of the people jumped in, or fell in, so we were now all in the water. Some of us stayed next to the creature, but others swam wildly out into the open ocean. We all carried on shouting, but our energy was dipping.