He closed his eyes and shook his head, still in disbelief over what he was just told. This was a small, peaceful town – until the events of the last few days. Now there were missing people, a violent confrontation that put somebody in the hospital, astonishing claims of monsters, and now some deaths at Sweetboro Medical Center. The sheriff was in for another long day.
After throwing on his uniform and kissing his wife, he started his cruiser and headed straight to the hospital. He yawned deeply as he drove. Between how crazy yesterday was, with Malcolm Gibbs and then the alleged monster attack, how late it was when he finally got home and went to bed, and how early in the morning the phone woke him up, he was exhausted. He was definitely going to need a good night’s sleep tonight.
He arrived at the hospital around 6:30. The chief physician was waiting for him outside the main entrance. It was Dr. John Warden, who also happened to be the town coroner, and he looked extremely relieved to see the sheriff.
“Thank God you’re here,” the doctor exhaled. “It’s terrible inside.”
“What happened, Doc?”
“At shift change this morning, one of the orderlies starting her shift – Becky Salinger – discovered the bodies.”
“How many?”
“Two for sure,” said the doctor, glancing at the charts in his hands. “Malcolm Gibbs, and Billy Castle. And maybe three more.”
The sheriff shifted uncomfortably. “What do you mean?”
“Shirley Franklin gave birth here yesterday, but her body is missing now. And so is our night nurse Tammy Todd. And Murph, the security guard, is gone too.”
“So possibly as many as five dead. C’mon, Doc, let’s get in there and figure it out.”
Dr. Warden led the sheriff inside, past the traumatized staff huddled in the waiting room, and through the door to the main hall. The sheriff’s heartbeat increased with each step, as he tried to imagine what the crime scenes would look like.
“Did they steal any drugs?” he asked while following the chief physician.
“No, the dispensary was untouched. Besides, whatever killed these people was not after drugs – it couldn’t even be human.”
“What?” said Steele, feeling nervous; this was starting to remind him of last night’s claims of sea monsters at the restaurant.
“Come on, I’ll show you.”
Dr. Warden led the sheriff down the hallway to the nearest room of incident. As they neared, Sheriff Steele could smell the same sulfuric odor that was in the damaged restaurant. And he could see a dirty trail that had dried on the tile floor. He had a bad feeling about this.
“This is where Mrs. Franklin was,” said the doctor, opening the door with his gloved hand. Then he stood aside so the sheriff could enter.
The room was in disarray. Metal trays and blankets were strewn on the floor, and the bed was overturned on its side. The sheriff immediately noticed the blood on the mattress. Stepping closer, he saw spatter patterns that would indicate somebody was cut into forcibly while on the bed. The blood trail then continued across the room to the window, which had been broken outward.
A new mom, he noted, shaking his head. He turned toward the doctor. “And the baby? Was it in here too?”
“No, she’s in NICU so we can monitor her; she had the umbilical wrapped around her throat during birth. But she looks like she’ll be fine.”
“Thank God.” The sheriff looked at the bloody drag trail again. “Well, based on the amount of blood lost here, I’d wager Mrs. Franklin isn’t alive. Somebody attacked her in bed, dragged her to the window, and busted it out and left with her. But why take the body?”
“Um, I have a theory, but you need to see the other victims first.”
The sheriff looked quizzically at the chief physician, then figured the man knew what he was talking about. “Okay,” Steele said guardedly. “Let’s see the others now.”
They moved to the room where the first body was found. The corpse lay serenely on the bed, but there was nothing serene about its appearance. The patient had gaping holes in his neck, torso, and legs, and his entire body was covered in dried blood.
“Look closer,” said the doctor. “These are bites. Note the tearing and stretching of the tissue – not caused by any cutting instrument. It looks more like what you’d see from the bite of a small sand tiger shark.”
The sheriff was stunned. “What the hell kind of man would take bites out of another human being?”
“No man, I’m afraid. It has to be a large animal of some sort. The bite radius would indicate a larger mouth than any man, plus the points of initial tissue breaching are pointed, jagged – not caused by the straight, lineal bite from a man’s teeth.”
“Jesus. Same with the other victim?”
“Yes. Come on, he’s just next door.”
They walked to the adjacent room, and the sheriff was treated to another grisly scene. The body on the bed was twisted, indicating a struggle before dying. Like the other patient, this bloodied corpse had large bites taken out of it. The victim’s face was gone entirely. Just strands of muscle and exposed skull remained. Fighting the urge to vomit, Sheriff Steele looked away from the face and saw the bandaged hand.
“This must be Malcolm Gibbs,” he reasoned, and the doctor nodded. “Unbelievable.”
“So, now you can understand my theory, which is that something was here to eat people. Since the two victims here are partially eaten, it’s a safe bet that’s why they took Mrs. Franklin’s body when they left.”
“Shit, Doc,” said the sheriff. “In all my years I’ve never seen anything close to this.”
“Neither have I. And I’m a senior physician… as well as the damn coroner! Now you can see why I’m at such a loss right now. I can’t imagine any type of animal that could’ve gotten inside the hospital and done this to them.”
“Something strong enough to break the window in Mrs. Franklin’s room and drag the body away,” the sheriff added.
“You think that’s how they got in?” asked Dr. Warden.
The sheriff shook his head. “No, the window was busted out from the inside. Plus, there’s a dirty trail in the hallway that indicates something was moving through the hallway to get to the patients’ rooms.”
“How else could they get in?” the doctor posed. “Through the main entrance and past Murph?”
“No, the trail they left is just back here.” The mention of the security guard made Sheriff Steele think of cameras. “You have security cameras, right?”
“Yeah, that’s right! But only covering the halls, not in the rooms.”
“That’s alright,” the sheriff assured. “I’m sure they had to be in the hallway at some point. Let’s check your security cameras and see who or what did this.”
Dr. Warden brought the sheriff back to the reception area and around the front desk. They sat, and the doctor pulled up last night’s video surveillance footage from the security guard’s computer there. Within minutes they had video images of the hallways.
“Okay, here we go,” said the doctor. “Now we just have to scan back until we see something.” He used the mouse to drag the timeline back slowly. Then he saw motion in the video, and he let it play in real time. What he and the sheriff saw on the screen was mindboggling.
Two bizarre figures quickly came into view, looking like something out of a science-fiction movie. They paused for a moment outside Billy Castle’s room, and then pushed the door open and slipped inside.
“What the fuck was that?” Steele exclaimed. “Play that back!”
Speechless, the doctor backed the video up to watch again. The screen showed the creatures moving rapidly, stopping long enough for the camera to record their monstrous features. They looked something like a cross between an alligator, a squid, and a monster from another planet. The sheriff shuddered as he realized he was seeing exactly what Mason and Eaver had described to him last night.
After three minutes, one of the things came back into the hallway and we
nt to Malcolm Gibbs’s room. Two of its six tentacles tried to push the door open, then experimented with the handle until the door gave way. It vanished into Mal’s room for several minutes. Then the video showed both creatures emerge from their rooms and swiftly disappear down another hallway toward Mrs. Franklin’s room. Shortly after that they witnessed Murph coming into view, pausing at Mal’s door, and then hurrying down the other hallway. Then nothing but a still corridor.
Dr. Warden backed it up one more time. When he saw a clear view of the monsters, he paused the image so he and the sheriff could study them.
“What in the name of God are they?”
“I – I have no idea, Sheriff. I’m still not sure if I’m having a crazy nightmare or not.”
“Whatever they are, they’re dangerous killers. We’ve established they’re strong enough to break through windows, and we can see they are surprisingly quick.”
“And poisonous, I’d wager,” the doctor added.
“Huh?”
“Billy Castle, that first victim, was admitted last night. He was hysterical and claimed he had been scratched by a monster. Said he was burning and feeling very sick. He did have a fever, which rapidly worsened. I ordered hydration treatment and took some blood. Despite his bizarre claims, I thought he was just having a bad reaction to some kind of drug he had taken. But now, after all this, I’m afraid everything he said was true.”
The sheriff stretched his arms behind his head. “So, let’s see. We seem to have a monster problem in our town, something that lives in the water, they have deadly claws and teeth, and just for the icing on the cake they have some kind of poisonous venom.” He sighed. “What a time for the mayor to be across the globe on a cruise.”
“What are you going to do, Sheriff?”
Sheriff Steele stiffened his back. “I have a feeling I know where they live. In the meantime, no statements to the public until we figure out exactly what to say. But right now I’d like to take this footage back to the station for further study with the rest of my men.”
“No problem,” said Dr. Warden. “I’ll copy it onto a flash drive for you.” He reached into the top desk drawer and retrieved a portable USB drive. While the doctor was copying the files for him, the sheriff picked up his phone and called Marty.
“Hey Marty,” Steele said when the diver answered, “it’s Steele. Listen, there was an attack at the hospital and it was pretty bad. But we have video of the things that did it, and you have to see it to believe it. Nobody’s ever seen anything like these things before.”
“What, you mean animals?” Marty asked.
“More like sea monsters. This is right up your alley, and we’re gonna need all your input. Meet me at the station, will ya? I’ll be there shortly.”
“Okay, Sheriff. On my way.”
“Get ready to see something you’ll never forget.”
CHAPTER 23
By the time the sheriff squared things away at the hospital and returned to the station, Marty was already there. Seeing the sheriff pull up and park, Marty stepped out of his Dodge van and approached the cruiser.
“So?” he asked, oddly excited. “What’ve you got?”
Steele shook his head, still in shock over what he had seen. “Like I said, something you have to see to believe,” he said. “I’m gonna need all your ideas on this one.”
“You said sea monsters, were you being literal? Or was that just a figure of speech?”
“C’mon, Marty. You’ll see for yourself.” They walked to the front of the police station, and the sheriff opened the door.
Deputy Carl Riggins had just started his day and sent the old night officer home. He was at the front desk, having just hung up the phone he was speaking into. “Hey, boss,” he said as the men walked inside. “Lena Dermont just called. She says her daughter Hannah is missing. Hasn’t seen or heard from her in two days.” Then, realizing the sheriff was dealing with more pressing matters, he asked “What’s going on at the hospital?”
“We got us a situation, Spud,” replied the sheriff. “At least two people were killed there last night. Probably four.”
The deputy’s eyes widened. “Holy Jesus. Lewis told me about the call when I got here, but I had no idea it was that bad.”
“It gets worse. Come on back with us, I’ve got something crazy to show you. And then I’ll need you to go notify next of kin.”
Carl nodded. “Sure, boss. What exactly happened there?”
“Better if I just show you both,” said Steele, leading the pair to his office. The group followed and waited earnestly while the sheriff woke his computer and inserted the flash drive into a USB port. After a moment, the files on the portable drive were displayed on the screen.
“Okay,” the sheriff said, “here we go. Watch this.” He double-clicked on the video file, and the footage began to run on the computer’s default player.
The hallway footage from the hospital’s security camera began to play. It took a few minutes for Steele to find the moment when the creatures appeared. When they did, Marty and Carl instinctively recoiled from the monitor.
“Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!” said the deputy. “What the hell is that?”
The sheriff pointed to the screen. “Watch, they go to the first victim’s room, Billy Castle, one goes into Malcolm Gibbs’s room, and then they head out to attack Mrs. Franklin. And watch how fast they can get around.” He played back the entire sequence three times for the others, then paused the video to concentrate on an image of the creatures.
“What do you think?” the sheriff asked, turning to Marty.
“Wow… I don’t know what to say. Okay, well, it’s not from blue water, looks like something built to be on land. This would definitely live in the shallows, possibly in that cave I found.”
“After seeing what it’s capable of, I don’t want you or anybody else diving in these waters,” said Steele.
“Look at that thing,” Marty marveled, his eyes glued to the screen. “I mean, Jesus… how does something like that exist without us knowing until now?”
“You got me,” said Carl.
“Amazing… look how it’s put together. It has clawed tentacles, probably to grab things from farther away than arms could, and legs to allow it to move on land like an amphibian. And obviously it can breathe in and out of the water, so it must have both gills and lungs, like some amphibians and fish. That tail looks like something from an alligator or dinosaur. The tail’s weight probably helps stabilize it when it walks on land; and in the water it likely uses that tail to swim in an undulating motion.”
“Jesus, Marty,” winced the sheriff. “This isn’t a goddamn biology lesson.”
“It is for us,” Marty replied. “The existence of this thing is exactly a biology lesson. We’ve never seen anything like this, ever. Does this mean there are other surprises Mother Nature has yet to reveal to us? Something recently awakened by tectonic activity? Or is this thing some kind of result of mutation, due to environmental factors humans have caused?”
“Marty…”
“I know, I know, what to do about these things.” The scientist cleared his throat. “Well, first thing I’d say we need to do is warn everybody about them.”
Sheriff Steele shifted uncomfortably. “That’s a slippery slope, Marty. I’ve thought of that, but then I just keep thinking about how the news would get onto the Internet. Then we’d get droves of yahoos coming in to look for monsters. That’s a bunch more people that could get killed. I can’t be responsible for that.”
“Makes sense,” said Marty. “But the townspeople do need to know. Word’s gonna get around from the hospital employees.”
“Of course we’re notifying the families of the victims at the hospital. And we’ll go door to door to at least let everybody know that people were killed by an animal attack and they should stay locked up at night until we find what did it. But other than that I want to keep a media lockdown on this. No mention of sea monsters.”
“
Secondly,” continued Marty, “we need to find out where these things live and kill them. Normally I’m not for eradicating any species, but when they’re a danger to the public, it’s a different story. And the first place I’d look is that underwater cavern in Pirate’s Bend.”
“I think we should call in some help,” Carl suggested. “We have no idea how many of these creatures there are, or how hard they’d be to kill. Maybe we should call the state boys?”
“Excellent idea, Spud. They could help us take care of this problem without it becoming a media circus.” The sheriff pulled up the number for the state troopers on his computer. Then he activated the speakerphone on his desk phone and dialed the troopers.
After four rings they picked up. “State Patrol, this is Captain Moody.”
Sheriff Steele had dealt with Josh Moody several times in the past, and he was glad to hear the familiar voice. “Hey, Captain, this is Sheriff Steele down in Sweetboro.”
“Howdy, Jimmy. Long time no see. What can I do you for?”
The sheriff didn’t know where to start. “Well, I’m not sure how to say this, so I’ll just lay it on you, Josh. We had an attack at the hospital here in town last night, three to four people killed, and when I watched the surveillance video I saw the animals that did it.”
There was a moment of silence before the trooper’s voice was heard again from the phone speaker. “So some kind of animal broke into your hospital? Like a cougar?”
“Animals, yes, but nothing like you’ve ever seen before. These things are something nobody’s seen before, something that lives in the ocean but can walk on land.”
Another silent pause. “I don’t think I follow, Jimmy.”
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