Shark Beast (12 page)

He was up to his chest in cold swirling water, when he heard the angry splash behind him.

~ ~ ~

Roxy was humming.

It was a nice song, a very pleasant easy tune.

D. J. focused on it, focused on it very hard, holding her tight, leaning his ear to her, so he could hear...

Roxy was humming.

She held him close, her head soft against his cheek. It was right there and then--it just popped out of nowhere, this incongruous thought, but there it was:

I'm going to marry this girl.

Followed almost immediately by another:

If we survive.

Roxy kept humming.

~ ~ ~

He didn't want to acknowledge it--after all, the concept of time in moments of panic and stress--who could keep track? But he couldn't shake the feeling, irrational or otherwise: that
thing
... it's been in the water forever--it has to be behind us--it has to be right there--

(
she's the one, you know
)

(Many attempt, but few reach...)

He kept pushing through the freezing late night waves.

Roxy kept humming.

~ ~ FIFTEEN ~ ~
In The Water, Up The Incline:
THE BALLAD OF
D. J. & Roxy

He felt the water rolling.

Heart bursting, breath staggering, D. J. pushed onward, up to his shoulders in salt and foam and waves, then, suddenly, pushing his way
up
an incline, approaching the tiny rock island.

That thing has to be right behind us.

It's been hours since it splashed in the water after us!
Days!
Years--! DECADES--!

Then, D. J. noticed something odd:

Roxy had stopped humming.

"I love y--"

They were three feet away from the island of rock.

~ ~ EPILOGUE ~ ~
A Week Later

A sign, at the far edge of the dune.

PARROT'S COVE

BEACH

Will Be Closed Until Further Notice

We Apologize for the inconvenience.

Someone had scratched out the word "inconvenience" and replaced it with a crooked red scrawl that read "SHARK BEEEST."

Other than that, it was a beautiful day.

-- THE END --

And now...FREE "SHARK BEAST 2" SNEAK PEEK

Enjoy a bonus "taste" of the raging "Shark Beast" sequel ...

"Shark Beast 2: Paranormal Sharkitivity"

-- this time, a young and sexy band of film-makers make a quickie Sci-Fi style "Shark Beast" exploitation movie, on the very beach the attacks happened one year earlier.

Distracted by the sexy behind-the-scenes movie hijinx, they don't notice the REAL shark beast is about to make a guest appearance...

SHARK BEAST 2:
PARANORMAL SHARKITIVITY

by
R
USS
C
OOPER

~ ~ ~( Bonus Sneak Peek ) ~ ~ ~

Tentacle ONE

Two Brave, Horny Teens

They kissed.

A lot.

"I don't think we should do this."

"Oh, c'mon. It'll be fun."

~ ~ ~

Kali pulled her bikini top back in place.

She thought about stalking off; not seriously, of course -- just pretending to. Making him, she didn't know, jealous or something. That would show him. Theoretically. She didn't, of course. After all, he was
sooo good-looking...

So: they kissed.

Then a little bit more. 

Then a whole lot more. 

Under Steve's bikini-grabbing, lip-kissing guidance, they stepped over the NO TRESPASSING wire, and stumbled over onto the restricted part of the beach. 

~ ~ ~

"I don't think we should do this," she said, even as he removed her bikini top.

"Oh, c'mon. It'll be fun."

~ ~ ~

"I don't know ... I feel frightened," Kali whispered, "I mean, if we're going to do it" -- and obviously, they were -- "let's go back, get a room, or the back of your car, even..."

"You're scared?" he laughed, guiding her clumsily but persistently toward the sparkling water. "Being out here late at night all alone?" His expression, abruptly demented now, eyes poisoned, perverse and sly. "Then I guess you know ... 'The Story,' huh?"

(Working on her bikini bottoms now.)

"The Story...?" she said, shivering.
Shivering.
Not because of the cool night waters ebbing around her ankles, her legs, her
thighs
-- no. Shivering for a whole new set of reasons she wasn't sure she wanted to find out about.

He paused, just for a moment, wicked fun in his grin.

"It was a year ago, this
com-iiing
Halloween," he suddenly moaned in a movie announcer voice, "eleven months and one day ago
this very night,
when a strange, unbelievable creature in these very waters went wild, and took a half-dozen good citizens to
the bloody depths--
"

"Oh, come on, be nice," she whimpered, the waters rushing around her back. Shivering now, shivering. A
lot.

"-- in this very town, this promenade, this boardwalk villa, Halloween came bearing teeth and jaws and tentacles. Bearing
hard.
It was a wild,
terri-frrying
night, that started and ended as quickly as it began, not to be seen hide nor... tentacle ... again."

He leaned in, close enough to withhold a kiss.

"Not seen since that
horr-rrible
evening, by this very sea, beneath these very waters. But ... one year later ... on the anniversary of those crazed events ... would it,
could
it, come back? Two brave horny teens ... were about ... to
find out
...!"

She didn't like this. Didn't like it at all. Nothing
but
shivers now -- felt like she should just get up and go, get away-- for real, no pretending --

~ ~ ~

"I don't think we should do this," she whispered, one more time, but it was, of course, well past that point.

~ ~ ~

So, they kissed.

And kissed some more.

~ ~ ~

"Oh, c'mon. It'll be fun," he said, almost in a mocking voice. 

This time, though:

She didn't say anything.

~ ~ ~

Like she was barely breathing, even, or something. It took him a long time to notice that, but eventually, even a good-looking guy like Steve comes around. Obviously -- this is him deducing -- obviously, she'd decided to just lay there and let him have his fun but act all like she was doing him some favor -- or, you know, something --
whatever
--

Man, who could figure out these girls?

Who really
bothered
to figure them out?

Though he did finally feel a bit of a shiver himself -- a small one -- when the ocean splattered kind of sticky on his chest, and then -- she
pinched
him?

(Finally! Naughty girl!)

He looked down to see -- (red) -- in the middle of her chest --

(red?)

(red)

-- in the middle of her chest -- poking out of it, actually -- boring out of her chest, was what looked like --

(giant worm? snake?)

(red! lots of it!)

Nope.

Yep.

-- a tentacle.

~ ~ ~

Took a minute --

--but good-looking Steve, he came around.

He gasped.

He choked.

Then started bawling.

~ ~ ~

-- her arms
(what)
were at her sides
(how odd)
bobbing in the ebb and flow of the frothy, bloody-crimson splashing waters. So what was
(confused now)
wrapped around him
(panic rising)
holding him in a clinch--?

(no sense no sense at--)

He never found out.

The tentacles tightened on him so hard and fast his ribs cracked and his brain went fuzzy and
(jolt)
the tentacle boring out of his girlfriend's chest went
(hello! goodbye!)
boring straight through the side of his head.

He didn't scream.

He didn't anything.

Bye, Stevie.

~ ~ ~

The two bodies left long, sluggish drag marks in the beach, as they slipped away into the waters, leaving only a bikini and dimming, swirling trails of blood.

~ ~ ~

Eleven months and one day ago this very night...

Shark Beast was back.

Tentacle TWO

Meet The Girls

14 days later.

~ ~ ~

The first of the girls to arrive were, as promised, spectacular.

College girls -- junior college girls, actually -- from the local drama department, three hotties strutting (or trying to) awkwardly out of the back of the dune buggy. Mike recognized their types right away --
sigh
-- mentally ticking down the college drama chick list of stereotypes sighted and confirmed...

First,
ahhh, yes
... the Blonde Ingenue. The 'usta be'. As in --
used to be
prom queen,
used to be
head cheerleader,
used to be
homecoming princess ...
usta be
on and on until whoops-boomshakalaka -- high school graduation, the 12-year princess party over,
done!
Time to find something in junior college to replace all that lost LOOK AT ME attention suddenly gone
bye-bye
... so,
voila,
hello drama department.

(Vital Stats:
Very breasty. Lots of suspicious highlights. Usually had a name spelled with more vowels than you'd normally expect.)

Meet Britnee.

Next out of the dune bug, Cute But Oooh Sooo Angry Punk Chick. Something in her childhood happened you don't want to know about. Which she would never tell you anyway. Which, in a way, works out for everyone because, man
-- you don't want to know.
Very sexy-looking -- or would be, if not for that punky haircut, those -- of course -- obligatory, oh-so-predictably-"radical" tattoos, and the whole
I might be a lesbian so what's it to you dude!
vibe she's got going. If she had any talent she'd be in the art department, if she could sing she'd be in some contentious indie band, but, lucky you, she's right splat in the middle of the drama department. When she's not working both sides of the counter at Hot Topic, of course.

(Vital Stats:
Surprisingly well-built and fashionable for somebody who supposedly doesn't give a crap. Beautiful eyes. Usually totin' a name that sounds like one of those bands from the Seventies with the album covers filled with bearded mushrooms and elves playing bass to an audience of unicorns.)

Meet Alysia.

And thirdly --
oooh,
there she is. The rarest of them all -- the really real "drama student" drama student. The one who's actually heard of David Mamet. The one who takes the whole theatre experience seriously. A little too seriously. Oh,
who's kidding who
-- she takes it so seriously she makes you want to pull a little David Mamet on her. And you probably would, except --
she's so hot.
Of course she is, all drama chicks are, they're crazy, damaged, mixed up, overly suspicious, freakishly vengeful and madder than the Joker on a box of Froot Loops -- but they're all
so
... freakin' ...
hot.
"Normal" and "smokin'" never seem to go together, unfortunately.

(Vital Stats:
Very mysterious. Odd but surprisingly sexy glasses. Transfixingly raven-haired. The creamiest (if somewhat pale) skin you'll ever see. Usually has a name from any other period of history aside from whatever's the current one.)

Meet Katherina.

"I don't think we should do this," Mike muttered, as the three smokin' hot drama chicks stretched and yawned next to the dune buggy, then -- after another
take a niiice long look, boys
pose -- headed toward the front porch of the large beach house.

"Don't listen to him, girls, all directors are insane," the driver of the dune buggy laughed (a little too loudly) as he hopped out and danced (actually danced!) his way to Mike's side. "Just go inside, relax, beers in the fridge, sodas too, but mostly beers, help yourself, we'll be right in."

The girls giggled -- well, actually, only Britnee giggled, that was her thing, giggling, the other two girls just scowled and gave vaguely suspicious looks -- as they sashayed their way into the beach house.

Jake the Producer gave Mike one of his patented
you're killin' me, dude!
producer smiles. Jake the Producer was good at smiling, he had a million of 'em, all of which came in handy when, say, he was hiring you (smile!), was firing you (different smile!), was rehiring you (third kind of smile), and when he was about to give you one of his also-patented "How Life Works" lectures (patented fourth kind of smile!)...