Author's note: This is my submission the Whitix's Summer Writing Contest.
Amber was admiring the sunset as she walked along the beach. It was her nightly routine, a way to clear her mind from the events of the day. She was always an active person, so it had upset her that she had to take a job behind a desk. Not only that, but looking at a computer screen for hours made her eyes tired. It was when she could hardly stay awake on the drive home that she realized she needed to do something else. If she had known that being a marine biologist would mean sitting behind a desk so much, she would have chosen a different career path.
She was almost to her turnaround point, an old wharf that had been mostly reclaimed by the waves, when she saw something lying on the sand. At first she thought it was a huge pile of trash, but as she got closer she could tell it was some kind of organic matter. This caused her to jog over to it, fearing that a baby whale had washed ashore. When she got to it she saw it clearly wasn’t a baby whale, or anything she had ever seen before.
The thing was a huge mass of flesh, over twenty feet long. Thick black-brown skin encased it like an armor. There was no discernible difference from its body or head, it was just a large barrel shaped blob of meat and tissue. It was definitely organic though, Amber had no doubt about that.
Her heart started to beat like a drum, as she got close enough to touch it. This could be a perfect find, a find that could propel her career. With only being on the work force for three months, she would really be making a name for herself. Her first reaction was to call Raoul, tell him what she found, and go from there.
“Hey,” Raoul answered. “Finally decided that going out to dinner with me would be a good idea?”
A smile broke across Amber’s lips. She liked Raoul, he was a good looking man that could make her laugh easily. But for some reason, she had always brushed off his offers to take her out. She always told herself that it was because he was only playing with her, but she knew that wasn’t true. The truth was that she enjoyed playing with men, she always had.
“No,” she said chuckling, “I think you should come over here though, I have something I want to show you.”
“Whoa, whoa, whoa. You're inviting me to your house already, but you won’t let me take you on a date? That’s a first. I mean, I’m fine with it if that’s what you wanna do.”
“It’s not like that, you don’t have a chance.” She chuckled again to ensure he knew it was all in good fun. “I found something on the beach and I don’t know what it is. I was hoping that maybe you could help me identify it.”
“Is it treasure? I’ve always wanted to find treasure on the beach, but those damn pirates never hid their treasure where it’s easy to find.”
“No, it’s not treasure. At least not the kind you’re thinking of. It’s some kind of animal that washed ashore. I don’t know what it is, or how to deal with it. For all I know, it could be a new species.”
“Really? Nice, I’m on the way.”
And with that they got off the phone. Amber was thinking about how nice Raoul had been to her since she started working at the aquarium. He was her senior, but he never made her bored or put too much stress on her. In fact, everyone in the aquatic health department had a good disposition, and Amber thought it was because of Raoul.
He had always treated his coworkers well, but he always favored the opposite sex. Of the six females that worked with him, at the same pay grade or below at least, Amber was the only one he hadn’t slept with. In his mind she would succumb to his charm before the end of the quarter. So, when she called him over to her house he figured she would give it up.
By the time he arrived, the sun had completely faded into the sea, so at first he only saw the shadow of a massive thing, next to the shadow of a person. With their phones they were able to examine the creature on the beach a little before Raoul gave it a name.
“This is a blobster,” he said. “I’ve never seen one before, but I’ve heard about them. They are normally just the carcass of a whale that washes ashore. Although, this one is rather large and doesn’t smell like it is decomposing. I’mma call some other people and we’ll get this back to our lab. Looks like you and I are going to be doing something other than looking at bacteria tomorrow.”
He flashed her a quick smile then walked off to make his call. In minutes he was back with her, standing next to the body.
“I called Johnny, Rachael, and Dennis to come help us move this thing. Knowing them, they will show up with a group of people each and a couple of kegs. So, it’s fine if you come in late tomorrow.” He gave her a wink and she smiled.
Raoul went back to the blobster and examined it with the flashlight of his phone.
“This is kind of strange though,” he said as he rubbed his hand across it. “Whale skin is thick, it has to be, but this feels more like an exoskeleton than the skin of a whale. See how the skin is rough and rigid, even with the barnacles a whale’s skin isn’t like that.”
They waited for an hour before the first of their coworkers, Rachael, showed up. She gave Raoul a hug, and for a brief moment, Amber thought she gave her a look of disdain before hugging her as well. She called back to the bank she climbed over and another three people came walking over the hill. Two of them were carrying coolers, the other had flashlights.
“So, this is the carcass that washed up,” Rachael said pointing the beam of her flashlight on it.
“Sure is,” Amber replied. “You want to see it up close?”
“Honey, I’m going to be helping you move this thing, I’ll have plenty of time to get a close-up look at it.” She changed her attention to Raoul once more. “So, who else is coming?”
Raoul reached into one of the coolers and pulled out a beer.
“Johnny and Dennis.”
“Great,” Rachael said. “Every time Johnny comes around he drinks all my beer. Not only that, he brings shit that he knows I won’t drink, so he doesn’t have to share with me.”
Johnny and Dennis arrived shortly after, and, as Raoul predicted, each had brought a keg with them. Not only did they bring more beer, which was a relief to Rachael because she didn’t have enough for everyone, but they also brought five friends with them. Bringing their total to eighteen people to move the blobster.
Johnny was carrying a huge canvas tarp, which he threw on the ground when he got to the party waiting by the blobster.
“What’s up guys,” he said giving everyone a hug. “I didn’t think I’d be seeing you guys again tonight. Just thought it was going to be these guys.” He spun around to point at the people that came with him, his dreadlocks whipping around with his head.
Raoul told them the same thing about not being on time in the morning. Johnny and Dennis started laying out the tarp so the group could push the carcass onto it. They had heard it worked before, so they figured it was worth a shot.
“Wow,” Dennis said, as he tried to gage the blobster’s mass. “Do you really think we are going to be able to move this thing by ourselves?”
“Should be,” Raoul said.
Amber finished her first beer and was feeling ready for this. But before they got started they all decided that another beer would be best. That turned into two, which turned into five.
“Arg,” Rachael said, “this thing is disgusting. I should have brought some gloves, I’m going to be cleaning this slime off my hands for a week.”
At first they tried to move all of the remains onto the tarp at once. Everyone was spaced so they could have the entire thing being pushed at once. But after the first few tries of that, they decided it would be easier to try and move it by halves. The water was lapping at their sneakers, which caused Rachael to complain about that.
“Damnit,” she said, “these sneakers are new. Now I’m going to have to wash them and shoes never feel the same after they are washed. And…and, we’ve been pushing at this thing for at least an hour now, have we made any progress? No, it’s still a massive carcass sitting in the exact same place. You guys may be enjoying this, but I’m certainly not.”
Amber rolled her eyes when Rachael started talking. Johnny walked away to the keg, making it look like he was going to refill his cup, even though he still hadn’t drained it since the last time he filled it. Dennis was the only one who spoke up.
“Listen,” he said, “I understand you don’t like doing this. Hell, I don’t like doing this, but it is something that needs to be done. If we don’t remove this carcass now, then it will still be here rotting in the morning. It will be a feasting ground for all sorts of lovely parasites and scavengers. And, I for one, don’t want to come back tomorrow and try to move this thing when it really starts to stink. Because you know who they’re going to call, don’t you? Us.”
Rachael stopped complaining so much after that, but she started drinking twice as much. It took them a couple of hours to get the first half of the gigantic body onto the tarp. Between people falling down, the breaks they took, and the size of the creature, everyone was happy with their progress.
“This thing’s really impressive,” Dennis said looking at the massive body. “I mean, the carcass seems to be fully intact. Most of the blobsters I’ve seen are either just a large piece of flesh that came from a whale, or nothing more than bones. But this, this is wholly intact. The only damage it seems to have taken is that one bit down the center.”
He was referring to a long scar that ran from one side of the carcass to the other. It was wide, but compared to the girth of the thing, it didn’t seem so big.
Dennis turned to Raoul and said, “You know, I don’t think this is a whale at all. I think we’ve just discovered a new species. Like a giant armored sea slug or something.” The two men looked at the blobster and thought about it for a moment.
After a long drinking break, they decided it was time to move the other half of the carcass onto the tarp. Everyone was pushing as hard as they could, some were laughing as they tried in vain to gain purchase in the sand. But once it got moving, it didn’t seem to be as hard. Sadly, they only got it halfway onto the tarp before they needed a break.
“I take back what I said,” Dennis said between heavy breaths. “It’s not so impressive, it’s just a bitch.”
When everyone had sobered up a little - Raoul told them to hold off on the drinking until they finished the job - and caught their breath, they started to push again. It seemed to be going easier this time, until the thing moved. Everyone jumped back from it, fearing the huge mass of meat would fall on them.
“What the hell was that?” Johnny yelled.
“It just started rolling back,” Raoul answered. “We’re just lucky it didn’t come back too far.”
“Nah, man. That didn’t feel like it was rolling. It felt like it came from inside. It felt like that thing took a breath.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Rachael said. “This thing’s dead, it couldn’t have taken a breath. Not to mention, it lived in the sea, it hasn’t been able to breathe for hours. You know that just as well as any of us.”
“I also know that whales are mammals, that breathe air,” Johnny rebutted. “If this is some kind of mammal, it’s possible it could still be alive. Which would mean this is not the remains of any whale, but something new.”
“It could have come from inside this thing,” Raoul said. “If the bacteria inside had started to decompose the carcass, it would make gas bubbles, which could cause it to look and feel like it’s breathing. Or, there could even be some parasite or scavenger feasting inside of it, maybe it just repositioned itself.”
Johnny looked around the group, it appeared that only a few of them accepted the notion that it wasn’t a breath but bacteria or a parasite. The looks on some of the faces were of confusion and fear, which would hopefully provide enough force to move the last bit of this carcass onto the tarp. After another hour or so, the entire body was on the canvas.
“Dennis, why don’t you call a tow truck and get this thing to the lab,” Raoul said. “I’m going to walk Amber to her house and head over to the lab. We’ll meet you there.”
Rachael looked appalled for the briefest of moments. She hoped that Raoul didn’t notice, which he didn’t. But Amber did. Amber knew what Rachael was thinking, that Raoul was going to try and score with her. And, how Amber was feeling, he wouldn’t had had to try too hard.
The walk home didn’t take as long as she thought it would take. By the time they finished their beers, they had arrived at Amber’s house. Rachael had a right to feel that Raoul was going to try and get into her pants. He was talking smoothly to her the entire walk home, and by the time they reached the house, she was inviting him in.
If Amber was asked what happened, they made love. And it was great, he wasn’t too gentle, but not rough either. If Raoul was asked, he would say he got some. He had better, and he had worse. He wasn’t sure if it was going to be a one night stand or not. He hadn’t made up his mind. She wasn’t bad enough to make him not want to do it again, but he also didn’t want to be tied down. There were always more fish in the sea.
By the time they were passing where the blobster had washed up, they saw the tow truck arriving. Its yellow lights flooded the dark street. Luckily, no one was near the street. Amber didn’t want anyone to know they were only leaving now.
The truck arrived at the aquarium, twenty minutes after them. That gave them enough time to get a large gurney to transfer the blobster onto and have the doors open for easy transportation. They would keep it in one of the freezers, the same ones they use to preserve the whales for study.
With the help of the driver, they were able to roll the thing onto the gurney from the flatbed in an hour and a half. The driver was by far the biggest of the bunch, so everyone was thankful he was willing to help out.
Raoul gave him a fifty as a tip, and thanked him again for helping before he drove back out into the night.
Everyone helped push the gurney up the ramp and into the freezer. Even though the gurney had wheels, it was still a laborious task. It took almost all the energy everyone had left just to get it up the ramp. But by three in the morning, the gurney and blobster were safely locked in the largest freezer in the lab.
Raoul stayed behind, bidding everyone a good night as they left. There was no way anyone was going to be making it in before noon the next day, so he didn’t feel the need to rush. Not to mention, he also had to take Amber back to her house, and maybe, if he played his cards right, he would be spending the night with her.
There was some paperwork that needed to be filled out, which he got halfway through and decided that it was a job for the next day. He also checked to ensure the temperature in the freezer was at a stable level. Seeing the lab was low on liquid nitrogen, he put an order in for some more canisters.
Dennis arrived at the lab around three-thirty. Everyone else was either still sleeping or far too hung over to even start to make their way to the lab. Dennis didn’t really feel like being there either, and when he noticed that he was the only person who had showed up, he contemplated leaving. He decided that it was best to stay.
As he walked through the lab, he was thinking about whether or not he should had just stayed home. Seeing that he was the first one there, he thought that none of his coworkers would be coming in, so he would stay for an hour or so, then leave if no one else arrived.
His mind drifted back to the blobster. Maybe he would stay longer and do some tests, get some samples. That thing was just too damn interesting to be ignored. So the first place he went to was the cooler to get the blobster into the lab where he could start working on it. But when he opened the door his heart sank to his shoes. The blobster was missing. The canvas tarp was still on the gurney, but the creature it held was gone. It was far too big for someone to just carry it out of there. But why would they have left the gurney and tarp? Something was wrong.
Dennis spun on his heels, pulling his phone from his pocket. He needed to talk to Raoul about this, he would have some idea of what to do. As soon as he started searching his recent calls, a voice sounded in his head. It wasn’t a voice he had ever heard before, not his conscious or his own. It was soft and calming.
Dennis looked around the room to see if he could identify where the voice was coming from, but there was no one in the cooler with him. In fact, he looked around the lab, but that was empty.
“You don’t need to call them,” the voice said.
Despite feeling the urgency of the situation, Dennis put his phone back into his pocket.
“That’s good. Why don’t you come back into the freezer? That’s a good man.”
Dennis was standing in the center of the freezer when he noticed the blobster. At first he didn’t know what it was, or if the thing was even real. It was massive, but it didn’t look like the barrel shaped mass they moved last night. At seeing that thing, stuck to the wall and ceiling, Dennis regained control of his body. The first thing he did was move towards the back of the cooler, the blobster was near the door.
Dennis tried to clear his mind, but the voice was still impinging.
“You shouldn’t think like that. I just want you to help me. You see me and it frightens you, but you frighten me just as much. Can I trust you to help me?”
Dennis couldn’t believe what was happening, the blobster seemed to have changed its shape and was clinging to the wall, sending thoughts to him even though its massive maw wasn’t moving.
“Man has made life difficult for me and my kind. All life in fact. So, we would like to make our lives easier again. If it wasn’t for man, the waters would be clean, the forests wouldn’t be destroyed, and the earth wouldn’t be unfit to sustain life as it once was. Humankind has been a blight on the world, and I need you to help me cure that.”
The blobster started to move, its wide wing shaped arms slowly started to peel from the wall. Dennis knew there wasn’t any time to delay and ran for the door. He made it three steps out of the freezer when a sharp pain shot through his body, so strong that it paralyzed him. The pain caused him to become as stiff as a board. He looked down but couldn’t see anything. His hands groped behind him and felt a hard, slimy tube going into his back. A few seconds later that same tube ripped through his chest. In his last few seconds of life, as the tube was pulled out with enough force to spin him around before he fell. Dennis’ eyes caught the thing that stabbed him in the back. It was the blobster’s tail.
As Dennis was dying, Raoul put some pants on and walked to Amber’s kitchen. Amber was at the stove, cooking bacon and eggs. She looked beautiful. He walked up behind her and kissed her on the nape of her neck. As he did, she nuzzled up to him and they stood there for a moment. He was feeling something more for this woman, something he hadn’t felt before.
They ate their breakfast, got cleaned and ready for the day, and Raoul started to call his underlings to tell them it was now time to head over to the lab. Everyone answered but Dennis. Raoul thought that was strange, he was the person that he thought would be the easiest to get ahold of. He tried calling again while they were driving to the lab, but still it had only gone to voicemail.
“Looks like Dennis isn’t going to be coming in today,” he told Amber. “Bastard’s probably too hung over to answer his phone.”
Johnny was getting out of the car when Amber and Raoul pulled in.
“Didn’t expect you to get here for at least another hour,” Raoul said as he stepped out of his car.
“Man, I’ve had a lot of crazy nights in the past, that’s just another one to add to the list. Besides, I want to take a look at that thing with a clear head in some good lighting. What Dennis said last night got me thinking, maybe it’s not a whale?”
As the three of them were walking into the lab, Rachael pulled in. They stopped and waited for her to get to the door.
“Okay,” Raoul said as they all stood before the door, “we all know what our focus is going to be on today, let’s try not to get too carried away. We will still leave at the same time, so let’s not get carried away. Try to preserve some of the specimen. If it turns out to be something besides a whale, I would like to keep it intact so we can identify it. It would be great if we found a new species, so let’s keep our fingers crossed.”
After his little speech he opened the door. The stainless steel shined in the florescent lighting. Raoul frowned.
“I turned these lights off last night, didn’t I?” He asked Amber.
She nodded her head as she looked around the room. Noticed the tanks of nitrogen and pointed them out.
“It was probably the people who brought in the nitro.”
A smile broke across Raoul’s lips as he realized she was most likely right. That thought fled when he saw the freezer was open.
“Who the fuck came in here,” he said as he ran towards the door. “If someone took our specimen I’m going to…”
He couldn’t finish his sentence when he looked into the freezer. Dennis’s lifeless body lay in the middle of it, a trail of blood smeared on the floor showing where he was dragged.
“Amber, call the cops,” Raoul said without taking his eyes off the body.
When the rest of the crew heard this they ran over towards him. Amber was the first, and she gagged then started crying. Johnny and Rachael were right behind her, Johnny looked at the carnage and couldn’t take his eyes from it. Rachael saw the blood stain and didn’t want to see any more, so she walked with Amber to the phone.
“Raoul, we need to make sure that whomever did this isn’t still in the lab,” Johnny said. “If they are, we could all be in danger.”
Raoul nodded but didn’t move. His eyes drifted from the lifeless body of Dennis to the empty gurney which held the blobster. He could feel the heat rise in his cheeks as anger filled his body. The cold air blowing from the freezer did nothing to cool him down.
“They took the specimen,” he said in a hollow voice. It was so soft that Johnny barely heard him.
“What?”
“They took the specimen.” Raoul repeated.
Johnny looked back in and saw the blobster was missing.
“That’s not important right now, man. Dennis is dead. For all we know the person who did this is still somewhere on site, hell, they could still be in the lab. Think about the girls, man. What if that person attacks them? They aren’t in any shape to be fighting someone off. Shit, I don’t think we really are either, but we have to make sure it’s safe in here.”
Raoul slowly turned around and nodded again. They started walking through the room, Johnny grabbed a scalpel to protect himself. Raoul just walked through the lab slowly. His eyes were wide but he wasn’t really seeing anything. It was like he was walking through a dream, he could tell there were things in front of him, but he didn’t know what they were, nor did he care.
Amber and Rachael got to the phone. After a few deep breaths Amber grabbed hold of the phone and took it off the receiver. She started dialing 911, but stopped after the first number. She heard a voice, it didn’t sound like Rachael, but she knew it couldn’t had been anyone else.
“Put the phone down,” the voice said.
“What?” Amber said turning towards Rachael.
“What?” Rachael said. “Why aren’t you calling the cops?”
“I thought you just said something. I must be out of it, sorry.”
Amber turned back to the phone and heard the voice again.
“You don’t need to call the police. There is no one you don’t know in the room. If you call them, they will come out here and find nothing out of place besides a dead body. And who do you think they will question? You will be taken to jail if you call them. Put the phone down.” The voice became sterner as it kept talking to her.
Amber put the phone down.
“What the hell are you doing?” Rachael said.
“You didn’t hear that voice?”
“I didn’t hear anything. If you’re going crazy, you better let me talk to the cops.”
“No,” Amber said, urgency in her voice. “If you call the cops we will all be arrested. I don’t…I can’t be taken to jail right now. It would just be too much.”
Rachael looked at her, her eyes narrowing.
“Why would they take us to jail? Are you the one who did this?”
Amber wanted to shake her, to get her to understand how important it was to just leave the scene, but at the same time she didn’t understand why she was thinking like that. There was definitely a reason why she was scared of going to jail, even though she hadn’t done anything wrong. She just wasn’t sure what she was worrying about.
“No, I d-didn’t do anything,” Amber said. “I was with Raoul last night. He can verify that.”
Rachael looked at Amber, her distaste visible.
“She is going to try and blame you for this,” the voice said. “You should kill her.”
“What?” Amber shrieked.
Rachael slowly backed away from Amber, never taking her eyes off her. Johnny looked over, his eyes wide, but when he saw the two women, he returned to his search.
“Amber, I think you should just step away from the phone. I can call the cops, and you can just wait over in the corner while I do that.” Rachael’s voice was shaky, slow.
Amber shook her head. It looked like she was saying no to what Rachael had asked, which caused Rachael to run towards the men as they searched the lab. In reality, she was trying to figure out what she had been hearing, it was all too confusing and for the first time in her life she felt that the only way to clear her mind would be to shake her head. It did nothing but make her look even crazier. Realizing that the voice in her head, which meant that something had snapped at seeing Dennis dead on the floor.
Once more she lifted the receiver and started to dial the number for the cops.
“You will rot in a cell,” the voice said as soon as she lifted the receiver. “Your life will never be the same.”
Amber ignored the voice. It was very hard to not listen to it, every word it said carried a weight that seemed to push her into a depression, the likes of which she had never felt. But slowly, as she had spoken to the dispatcher, the voice became panicked, angry.
The blobster, trying to gain control over the situation had changed his tactic. He decided that Raoul would be a better prospect.
“You need to kill her,” it said as demanding as it could.
Raoul paused for a moment. An image of Amber flashed through his mind. He knew what he was told to do, but he wasn’t able to do anything other than stare at a chip in a floor tile.
“Fine,” the blobster said, “I’ll do it myself.”
Everything happened so fast after that. Even as it was happening, Amber wasn’t able to process it until it was far too late for a safe escape. Rachael was speaking with Raoul, who seemed to be dazed. The dispatcher was asking for her location for the third time, and telling her to stay on the phone. Johnny had just gone into the freezer, and once he was in there he screamed and started running full speed for the door. Raoul and Rachael looked up from their conversation.
Johnny was running for the door, screaming incoherently. It wasn’t until he was halfway through when something burst from the freezer after him. The thing was massive, a long tail dragged on the floor as it floated overhead. It had wings that resembled that of a manta ray, only much, much larger. It was hard to tell where the head started and where it stopped, because there was a mouth that ran vertically between the wings at about half their width. In the mouth were teeth that were at least three inches long, about as wide as a steak knife and as sharp as a shark’s teeth. On the wings, suckers could be seen, and a large claw on the end of each wing.
Amber, Rachael and Raoul watched as the thing swam through the air like it was water. Amber froze, lowering the phone slowly as she watched the thing. Rachael and Raoul ran towards the door as they watched. Johnny wasn’t watching it at all. His eyes were locked on the door. He was focused on where he was headed. But the thing landed in front of the door before he could reach it. Its massive wings only a few feet from Amber.
Johnny tried to stop running, but because he was going full speed, his feet slipped from under him, which caused him to land on his back. He slid to a stop not ten feet from the thing's open mouth.
He scrambled to his feet and ran back towards the freezer. Amber followed suit. She tried to put as much distance between herself and the monster before it noticed her. She made it to the group, and ran into Raoul’s arms and cried as he held her.
The blobster started to make its way slowly towards them. Crawling on the floor with its wings. Johnny had just gotten behind Raoul as the blobster had gotten to the middle of the room. Raoul shoved Amber to the floor and told everyone to run. Amber looked up in horror. Raoul turned and started to run away from the monster, but Johnny caught him and shoved him back. His feet caught on Amber and he stumbled in front of the blobster.
He didn’t even have time to turn around before blobster lifted itself on its wings. Those huge teeth sank into Raoul, cutting him in half. His right arm and eye twitched as the electric signals from his brain slowly stopped. Amber made it back to her feet and ran to join the other two.
The dispatcher heard the commotion and sent three squad cars to the aquarium. She kept trying to get someone to answer her, but everyone wasn’t able to hear her over the din from the recent events.
Amber couldn’t believe what just happened. That Raoul tried to feed her to the monster. But he just tried to kill her. Her head was spinning so fast. Everything was happening so fast.
Tears streamed down her cheeks and into her mouth. She gagged a few times, then spewed her breakfast all over the tile floor.
Johnny was pushing her towards the wall, yelling something that Amber couldn’t understand. Rachael was already hiding behind the nitrogen canisters, yelling for them to hurry.
Amber couldn’t focus enough to even realize how much danger she was in, but slowly her surroundings were starting to make sense again.
“Move,” Rachael screamed at the two of them, tears streaming down her face.
Rachael was trembling, her arms and legs felt numb. Her eyes wide to take in her surroundings. She was aware of what was happening. The man she had loved for the past three years, the man she couldn’t let go, had just tried to sacrifice someone to save himself. If Raoul had survived there would had been no way she could have still loved him. Still, it was a hard loss to take. Watching the death of someone she loved, even after a despicable act. It was a one two punch of heartache, and she wasn’t ready for it.
Johnny shoved Amber to the wall and Rachael pulled her behind the canisters as he picked up one. As he turned, the long tail of the blobster came darting through the air at Johnny’s chest. On an impulse, Johnny raised his hands. The canister came up with his hands and the tail punctured the metal. For the first time, the monster made a noise. A noise that everyone in the room could hear at the same time. It was a high pitched squeal, so loud it made the three feel their ear drums would rupture.
Johnny turned sharply to run behind the canisters, but he never let go of the tank. As he turned the end of the blobster’s tail was cracked, causing it to scream again.
The tail thrashed back and forth, ripping the canister free from Johnny’s hands, a fine spray landed on his chest, freezing his shirt and burning his chest. That gave him an idea.
He picked up another tank, unscrewed the lid with trembling fingers, and walked towards the blobster, raising it as he went. Rachael and Amber screamed for Johnny to join them behind the tanks. He didn’t listen, he just kept walking. Slowly, quietly towards the blobster.
The girls knew he wasn’t going to listen to them. So instead of trying to get him to hide with them, they started to unscrew the lids of the nitrogen canisters. This was what caught the blobster’s attention. It turned towards the group. Its massive mouth opening as it did. Johnny started to lift the canister and was going to throw it at the monster, when the hook on its wing came down. It plunged into his collar bone next to his neck, and burst through his chest.
Johnny screamed as the wing lifted him off his feet, high into the air. The blobster opened its mouth and started to lower Johnny towards those sharp, serrated teeth. Despite how quickly all this was happening, Johnny was able to find the time to pour the nitrogen into its open gullet. The smoking liquid splashed down the monster's throat, causing it to convulse. Its wings fell to the ground, pinning Johnny to the floor. He pulled at the claw frantically, first trying to pull it all the way through his collar bone, but realized he couldn’t, so he tried to pull it out from the wing that pressed against his neck. His hands slipped from the claw and the blobster fell on top of him. Crushing him like a roach.
The women saw their opportunity and started splashing the open canisters of liquid nitrogen onto the body of the blobster. A glossy sheen of ice started to form over the monster’s body.
“Stop,” the voice shouted. This time both Amber and Rachael heard it. “I can give you everything you want. I can help you achieve your dreams. Please, stop throwing that stuff on me.”
Amber didn’t stop, she emptied one canister and grabbed another. Rachael paused for only a moment, before she too grabbed another canister and started pouring the last of the liquid nitrogen onto the creature. Its entire body was covered with a layer of ice, and the women looked at it in disbelief for a moment.
“I’m so cold,” the voice said. “Please, I am the last of my kind. I only want to survive, just like you.”
“Fuck you,” Rachael said as she hefted an office chair over her head and slammed it down on the ice covered blobster. The ice and meat below it fissured into a spider web of cracks, revealing red meat under the thick brownish-black skin.
Another high squeal resonated in the room, but Rachael didn’t stop hitting the thing. Amber saw that what she was doing was having an effect on the monster, so she took the empty canister she was holding and smashed it down on the creature.
“Stop! Stop! Stop,” the monster called to them.
It was at that moment when the police burst through the door, guns drawn.
“Shoot that fucking thing!” both Amber and Rachael shouted in unison.
They ran to the police, and the police heard the inhuman squeal. Without hesitation, they opened fire on the blobster. The bullets ripped through the ice and flesh of the monster, leaving grapefruit sized exit wounds. All three of the officers had emptied their clips into the blobster, and it was a few moments after the last shots were fired that the squeal had stopped. With wide eyes, the cops each reloaded their clips and emptied them once again into the blobster.
[]
As the coroner was processing the dead bodies recovered from the scene, he was disturbed by the report of an animal that was able to create that much havoc. It was one of the worst cases he had ever seen. The cause of death was easy to determine for each of the victims, but he still had to process the bodies, or what was left of them. There was no way that Raoul was going to have an open casket funeral. He would be the last to be examined. Dennis was the first. The cause of death, was the huge hole in his chest.
It wasn’t until halfway through the exam that the doctor noticed something unusual happening. Dennis’s stomach was boiling. He moved his face closer to see what it was, pressing slightly on one of the bubbles as they surfaced. It was hard and wiggled under his gloved hand. As he took the notes of this strange phenomena, three baby blobsters ruptured Dennis’s stomach. They squealed as they latched onto the doctor’s back. He screamed as their sharp teeth dug into him. Slowly a few more came crawling out, the egg sack was still attached to the tail of the last one that freed itself from the corpse.
Written by JohnathanNash
Content is available under CC BY-SA