“Blood on a knife? You actually stabbed someone with a knife?”
“It’s Serena’s blood.”
“You killed Serena? I thought the shark got her.”
“She was pretty much dead before Grey took her out.”
“Why’d you have to kill her? How did she hurt you?”
“She interfered with my plan and had to pay. Doesn’t matter. Grey was going to get her in the end anyway.”
“Why Chet? And Desmond? And Sarah? Why did they have to die? I don’t understand.”
“Are you serious? Chet was a cheater and an asshole. Desmond was a drug dealer. Sarah was a slutty bitch who screwed me over. Your buddy Glenn was going to get it also for putting that roofie in Sarah’s drink. Pretty sad when the only way he could get laid was by drugging someone. I had a plan for him, though it didn’t involve you helping Grey.”
“I don’t see how that’s reasons enough to kill them. How is it that you made friends with a shark?”
“I know it must seem strange to you, but he’s been around most of my life, and it feels natural. I first met him when I was a little girl.”
“You’ve seen this shark every day for what—ten, thirteen years?”
“Yep. It wasn’t long before I started telling him my problems at home. He would listen and…and then one day he started answering.”
“A talking shark?”
“He didn’t speak, but he did transfer his thoughts…or feelings. He communicated in a way in my mind where I knew what he was thinking. Luke, he was so kind. As my mother pulled her emotions away from me, his love filled the void.”
Luke scratched his head, doubt crept in. “That’s a strange story.”
“Doesn’t make it any less real. Anyway, after puberty, I sunk deeper into depression. Grey gave me a remedy to turn it around. He showed me a way to feel again. To relish life. I escape by killing. I get a charge out of it. If I can involve sex with killing it only excites me more.”
“Wow, Mandy. That’s a lot for me to deal with.” Luke stepped back and wrapped his arms around his chest.
“It’s not like you think. These people I kill serve a higher purpose. It’s all part of the law of the universe, and I’m keeping the score even. Grey is part of that plan, too. The universe needs sacrifice. It needs to feel the pain and horror of death. It needs to feel the ecstasy it brings others like me. I’m not a bad person, Luke. I am a child of the universe. My purpose in life is to do what I’m doing. The universe needs me. It needs us.”
Luke rubbed his hand over his face and gazed toward the house. His eyes widened, and his jaw slowly dropped. “Mandy, look behind you.”
Glenn sprinted through a patch of sea oats and ran down the pier. He stopped a few feet away from the shocked couple. He lifted a finger in the air, and heaved trying to catch his breath. “You fucking bitch. I’m taking you down.”
“Glenn. I can’t believe it! You’re alive! Thank God! I swear I didn’t mean to throw you in the water to get eaten by a shark. I—”
“Save it, Luke. You were just trying to protect Mandy. Doesn’t matter.”
Mandy lowered her gaze and slowly moved a couple of steps away from Luke.
“But the shark had you. How’d you get away?”
“A miracle. That damn thing had me by the backpack, and I was struggling to breathe. At some point we got caught in a riptide. The backpack tore off. I managed to swim with the riptide like they tell you to do. I was carried to a sandbar only a few inches below water. I ran to shore before that damn shark could catch me. I ended up a half mile from here and hitched a ride back.”
“Why didn’t you go to the police?”
“I was worried about you, man. This girl. She’s fucking crazy.”
“What are you going to do now?”
Glenn stepped up to Luke, pushing Mandy aside. “We are going to call the police and help them find out what the hell’s going on around here. We can’t let this bitch destroy any evidence.”
Mandy walked softly backward until she reached the long metal box, stooped, and opened it. She grabbed the contents with both hands.
“But the evidence was in the backpack, and you don’t have it. It’ll be your word against hers.”
“There’s more stuff in that room. I didn’t take it all. It’ll be enough to connect her with God knows how many people. Let’s go—ouch!”
Mandy held a speargun, and the tip of the spear had left a bleeding cut in Glenn’s back. “Luke, move away.” Mandy stuck Glenn again. He stumbled forward and turned around.
“Luke! Stop her. She’s going to kill me.”
“Get to the end of the pier. You’re getting back in the water.” Glenn took a few steps back and raised his hands. “Luke. Buddy. She’s crazy. Take the speargun from her.”
“Yes, Luke. Here, take the gun.” Mandy shoved the speargun by Luke’s chest. “Do it, Luke. Prove your love to me.”
Luke went to reach for the speargun and hesitated. Mandy’s gaze beckoned him to take it. Then he turned his gaze at Glenn.
Glenn’s face went white.
Luke took the speargun. A dorsal fin cut above the surface in the water beyond. The man-eater had returned. Luke aimed the speargun at Glenn.
Glenn’s face became even whiter. “Aw man, no. No. Please, no.”
“Get in the water, Glenn.”
“Luke! You can’t do this. She’s crazy!”
“Get in the fucking water!”
“You heard him. In the water. Now!” Mandy screamed in wicked delight.
Grey’s head broke the Gulf’s surface as he sped toward the pier.
Luke rushed forward and thrust the spear’s tip at Glenn.
Glenn raised his hands to catch the blow and lost his balance.
He crashed into the Gulf, making a big splash.
Mandy ran to the pier’s end. “He loves me, you stupid motherfucker.”
Glenn cried for help and tried desperately to pull himself up on the slimy support boards of the pier.
Grey was just a few short yards away. His mouth opened and the white membrane rose and covered the lifeless black eyes.
Luke pressed the speargun in Mandy’s back and pulled the trigger.
The spear tip poked out between her tits, and blood rushed from her mouth as she propelled into the water.
Grey bit down and severed Mandy in half, taking her head and upper torso in one bite.
Luke reached down and grabbed onto Glenn’s hands, pulling him up on the pier.
The water thrashed as the shark caught in a feeding frenzy devoured his willful slave.
Luke and Glenn watched from above, enchanted at the beauty and the horror of a feeding shark.
“What the fuck, man? Why’d you push me in the water?”
“It was part of my plan,” Luke said, dryly.
“Your plan? Throw me in the water while a man-eating shark is making a beeline to have me for dinner, and then shove Mandy in front just as he goes to bite me? That was your plan?”
“Yeah. So? I had to think quick.”
“So, Einstein. What if that plan hadn’t worked?”
Pissed, Luke said, “Well then, I guess we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now, and Mandy would be giving me a blow job.” He forced a sarcastic grin.
“You bastard! I oughta wipe that shit eating grin off your face for putting me at risk like that. But, hey. It worked. Thanks, man.”
“You’re welcome. You know, she almost had me convinced we could make a go of it together. I really loved her, and she had all these wild ideas.”
“What changed your mind?”
“The more she talked, the weirder it got. I realized she was totally fucking nuts just minutes before you showed back up. All those years believing Mandy was this wonderful person was just a lie. She was evil personified. Whatever feelings I had for her died instantly.”
“Well, I’m glad you came to your senses. Still, it must be tough for you.” Glenn patted Luke’s
shoulder.
Luke brought a hand up to his chin and slowly rubbed. He sighed a couple of times, and then took in a deep breath. He turned his gaze from the Gulf waters to his buddy. “Say, Glenn.”
“Yeah?”
“Since Mandy’s not around to give me a blow job, it seems only right that you should blow me for saving your life.”
“Go blow yourself.” Glenn shook his head and rolled his eyes.
“Believe me, I wish I could.”
“Quit trying to mask the hurt, Luke. It’s too soon. I’ll help you through this all the way.”
Luke lowered his head and cleared his throat, furtively wiping a tear dripping down his left cheek.
The two watched the shark head off into the deep of the Gulf. The universe had lost its balance.
*
You want a drink before we call the police?” Glenn asked as he opened the freezer door and threw a handful of ice cubes into a plastic cup.
“Shit, may as well. I need something to steady my nerves for the million questions we’re gonna get thrown our way in a few minutes.”
Glenn tipped the bottle of vodka and added three fingers worth in each cup. He filled the remaining space with cola and handed one to Luke. The two clinked glasses, toasting to the craziness they’d just survived. The creak of the front door opening startled them, and heads whipped around to see who was coming. A petite Mexican lady walked through the door.
She held a bucket brimming with disinfectant and towels. A pair of rubber gloves hung over the side. Luke and Glenn glanced at one another and smiled. The maid had arrived for her weekly cleaning.
“Ma’am, we’ve got some really bad news,” Luke said.
“Yeah, you’re not going to believe what just happened.” Glenn spread his arms and shook his head.
“Something happened? To Miss Mandy? What eese it?”
“Well, it’s kind of a long story. She, uh, she was sick. She—” Luke’s words were cut short.
“She’s a fucking murderer is what she is, or was. Because she’ll never kill anyone again.”
“Eese she hurt?”
“Dead. Swimming with the fishes, as they say.” Glenn grinned at his own joke.
The maid shrugged her shoulders and put down the cleaning supplies. “You boys wait right here, I be back.” The maid shuffled off just down the hall and opened a door.
Glenn looked at Luke who just shrugged his shoulders.
The door closed, and the maid rounded the hall back into the kitchen. She raised a gun and fired.
The bullet crashed through Glenn’s head before he could yell in protest. He collapsed to the tile floor, his limbs jerking wildly as his body shut down.
Luke only had time for a pathetic scream before another bullet pierced his chest. He flipped over a chair and came to an awkward landing on the floor, snapping his arm in the process. Tears streamed down his face as his hands pawed the gushing wound.
“Why?” he said, weakly.
“I promised Miss Mandy when she put me in her will that if anything ever happened to her I would avenge her death,” the maid said, and sent a bullet through his skull.
*
She looked over the scene. There would be much work to do today. It wasn’t the first time she had to clean a bloody mess. She was sad that Mandy Rivers had met her untimely, though expected, fate. She knew Mandy was crazy, but the money she was paid for her crime scene cleaning skills and silence was more than she’d make in several lifetimes. The cash was wired to Mexico every week, and she would be headed there to be reunited with her husband, Esteban, as soon as her work was finished.
She’d need to chop the bodies up and throw them in the water. Grey would take care of the rest. Then the cleaning supplies would be put to use. It was going to take some effort, but this would be the last time she’d ever have to clean a house to support her family.
Epilogue
Six-year old Cynthia Sweens sat on the pier, bathed in pale moonlight. Her bare feet dangled in the water. She did her best to ignore the screams of her mother coming from the house as her father beat her.
Tears rolled down her cheeks, and she choked back a sob. She raised a hand to her face and felt the swollen lump that had been delivered by a large hand. The water chopped against the wooden structure, and gentle droplets misted her legs. She thought about running away, jumping in the water, and swimming until she was someplace new. A place where people didn’t hurt each other. A place where someone cared about her. She had no one.
She screamed in surprise as a large, rough body passed under her feet. The dorsal fin cut the water and then submerged, disappearing into the inky blackness.
“Mr. Dolphin?” she asked, lowering her face to the water’s edge. Her fingers flicked the surface, coaxing the creature to show itself.
The shark’s large head emerged, and though instinct told her to run away, something tugged at her to stay. This animal meant her no harm, and as it swam around the pier, she placed a hand back in the water. It came to her, allowing itself to be lightly stroked on the head. Its black eyes stared into hers, and she felt a connection she couldn’t explain.
She had found a friend.
“Hello, Mr. Shark. My name is Cynthia, but the people at school call me Cindy. What’s yours?”
The shark’s teeth gleamed in the moonlight, like a strange grin. Cindy heard a faint voice, but no one else was in sight. The shark presented his blunt nose for her to pet. As she ran her hand across the slick skin, a thought came in her mind. “Grey. Your name is Grey.”
The shark swam, allowing Cindy’s fingers to trace the entire length of his body to the tail before he circled back.
“Oh look, you have a birthmark. It looks like the number eight. It kind of looks like mine.” Cindy rolled up her sleeve and revealed a red circular splotch of skin.
Cindy felt safe. Safer than she ever had in her entire life. The fear of daily existence slowly started to melt away. New thoughts and new concepts evolved in her mind.
She heard her mother scream. With her newfound serenity, Cindy was determined to stop that from ever happening again.
The shark nudged her hand for another pat and told her just how to do it.
The End
Read on for as free sample of Gargantuan: A Deep Sea Thriller.
On the Boardwalk
Five o'clock on a California summer afternoon, you bet the Santa Cruz beach boardwalk was busy with tourists. The boardwalk bustled with citizens enjoying the classic amusement park rides, like the Giant Dipper, Cyclone, Logger's Revenge, and Double Shot. Across from the vintage rides, the beachgoers were trying to catch what was left of today's sunshine.
What they would also catch was death.
Surging from the Pacific Ocean, the two-ton creature displaced enough water to cause a rolling tsunami wave to smash into the boardwalk. Rides were shattered into high-flying tatters by the force of the enormous wave. Helpless citizens were sucked under the water's wicked power. Those who were far away enough from the shoreline were screaming and running for their life. Barbara Hampton, who had been about to relax on the beach, called the police on her cell phone. Barbara was screaming for the authorities to send help, and send it now.
What can the police do about this, Barbara thought, even as she heard the dispatcher talking on the other end. Every ounce of gall drained from her body once she saw the beast surface from the ocean. The eye really had to take in the enormity for several seconds before recognition of any kind could be made. This was like no beast she had ever seen before. The thing was spinning like a thrown disc and traveling high up in the air. The chopping sounds were deafening as it kept taking flight. There was only one thing she could compare it to, and that was a giant starfish. The five prongs were made of thick bone and caked in an ancient greenish-black algae. The rest of its mass was a drab gray color. Each prong was slashing through the air, slicing through the tops of skyscrapers, tearing highways into pieces, and colliding into cars and downgradi
ng them into steel pulp.
Ten city miles were turned inside out in less than fifteen minutes. Flames were breaking out in pockets of the city and spreading in residential and business districts. Fire trucks and emergency response crews struggled to help the citizens in need because most of the roads and highways were in shambles. Emergency crews wouldn't be able to save Barbara. The flying starfish creature flew above her, eclipsing her in its shadow. Before the starfish splashed back into the ocean, Barbara's heart stopped dead in her chest.
Golden Gate Terror
"Whoa, whoa, whoa shit! Sorry for the crazy driving, folks. Jesus, did you see that thing? Holy mother of God!"
Arnold Goodman steered his cab towards the shoulder of the Golden Gate Bridge. The suspension bridge was jolted by the impact of the raging waves below. The other cars also pulled over in unison to the side, right after the giant geyser of water spewed from the depths of the Pacific Ocean. Arnold had seen many things in San Francisco he would rather not have seen, but this, this, topped everything in his prior life experience.
Arnold's patrons, a young couple who couldn't be older than twenty, stared in horror through the window with their eyes bulging from their sockets.
They won't help me one damn bit, Arnold thought. Wet behind the ears, dry inside the brains. Young kids have no common sense or ability to think critically. Generation dumbasses, that's what they are. The "do everything for me" generation. I guess it's up to me to deal with this mess, as always.
"Leave it to me, folks," Arnold said with incredible determination, "I'm not taking any chances. Whatever that was, it's not coming near us."
The cabbie dug under his seat for his .45 revolver.
"Stay in the cab, folks, I turned off the meter and I'll be right back."
Arnold thought the young couple was going to piss themselves. Leave it to me, he kept thinking. Leave it to Arnold fucking Goodman to deal with the world's problems. Like always. Like fucking always.
Slipway Grey: A Deep Sea Thriller Page 10