by John J. Rust
“Hey! No one’s supposed to be back here.” His eyes widened when he noticed Rastun’s pistol.
Rastun held up his hand. “Sir, you need to—”
A groaning, cracking sound cut him off. Both Rastun and Karen turned around.
The Point Pleasant Monster smashed through the door. The corridor was just wide enough for it to fit through.
The janitor screamed something in Spanish and took off running. He turned right into another corridor and vanished.
An exit maybe?
“Follow him!” Rastun fired three rounds at the monster. It didn’t move as fast in the confined space.
He turned to follow Karen, then paused by the janitor’s cart. He stared at the bucket of soapy water.
The monster hissed, stomping closer to him.
Rastun picked up the bucket and threw it on the floor. A mass of water and white foam spread before him.
He ran, catching a glimpse of Karen turning the corner. Just as he reached the intersection, he heard a loud thump behind him. The monster had slipped and fallen. It hissed as it struggled to rise from the slick, damp floor.
Rastun dashed around the corner. Karen reached the exit and pushed open the door with her shoulder. He followed her out a few seconds later.
“Are you okay?” Karen shouted over the wails of the girl.
“Yeah. You?”
She nodded.
Rastun spotted the janitor running across the street. He was tempted to follow, but felt the terrain too exposed. The Point Pleasant Monster would recover from its fall soon, and for whatever reason, the damn thing was determined to get them. They needed a place to hole up, close by.
“C’mon.”
He led Karen along the rear of the boardwalk.
“I want my mommy,” the little girl said through her sobs.
“We’ll find your mommy, sweetie.” Karen tried to sooth her. “I promise.”
Rastun came to the back door of some business. Locked. So was the next one.
The third door was unlocked.
“Inside!”
Karen hurried through the door with the little girl. Rastun followed and slammed it shut. He secured the deadbolt and checked over the door. It was made of solid metal. No way was the monster getting through that.
“What the fuck’s goin’ on?” someone said in a thick Jersey/Italian accent.
Rastun spun around and saw a man with dark hair, a huge belly and an apron. His hands quickly shot up.
“Yo, take it easy with the gun, man.”
“Calm down, we’re not here to hurt you.” Rastun pointed his Glock to the floor. He noticed the smell in the air. Tomato sauce, melted cheese, pepperoni and sausage.
They were in a pizza parlor.
“My name is Jack Rastun.” He shoved a hand into his pocket, his fingers brushing against his keys and lighter before pulling out his wallet. “I’m with the FUBI.” He showed him his ID.
“That’s that group that looks for monsters, right?” asked the cook.
“Yeah, and we found one. The Point Pleasant Monster. The damn thing chased us through the boardwalk.”
“No shit.”
“Yes shit.”
“So that’s why everyone was goin’ nuts out there?”
“Yeah. Just tell everyone here to stay put. We should be all right.” Rastun holstered his gun and drew deep breaths, replenishing his lungs. Karen also took deep breaths as she lowered the girl to the floor and knelt in front of her.
“What’s your name?”
“Ashlee.”
“My name’s Karen, and that’s Jack, and we’re not gonna let that big scary monster get you, okay?”
Ashlee nodded. “I want my mommy.”
“As soon as it’s safe, we’ll find her. Here, let me dry your face, okay?”
Karen got some paper towels and wiped Ashlee’s tear-stained face. It looked like she was finally calming the little girl. Then again, Karen had a daughter of her own. She was more used to dealing with kids than him.
Rastun pulled out his cell phone and was about to dial 911, but stopped. They must already be flooded with calls about a monster rampaging on the boardwalk. The cops had to be on their way, hopefully with more firepower than his useless Glock.
He instead dialed Dr. Ehrenberg’s cell.
“Jack, what’s up?”
“I’m with Karen at the Point Pleasant Boardwalk.”
“A-ha! I had a feeling there was something going on between you two. You enjoying yourselves?”
“We were until the Point Pleasant Monster started chasing us.”
“What?” Ehrenberg’s tone became more serious. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah. We’re both fine. We’re holed up in a pizza parlor with a little girl we rescued. You better get hold of the police. We’re going to have to coordinate—”
Glass shattered. Ashlee screamed.
“Holy shit!” the cook yelled.
Rastun looked up at the window near the corner of the kitchen. The Point Pleasant Monster’s snout poked through it.
TWELVE
Rastun brought up his Glock. The monster’s snout twitched left to right. He held his fire, fearful of a ricochet.
The monster withdrew its snout.
“Jack? Jack!” Ehrenberg shouted. “What’s going on?”
“It’s here.” He spoke loud to be heard over Ashlee’s crying. Karen held the girl tight. “The monster’s outside the restaurant.”
“All right, I’m headed to the weapons locker now to get some tranq rifles. We’ll be over there as soon as possible.”
A loud thump came from the door. The cook jumped back. Ashlee cried louder.
Rastun pointed his Glock at the door. “Better move your ass, Randy.”
“It’s moving. Stay safe.”
Ehrenberg hung up.
The monster thumped the door again. It held up against the assault.
Rastun looked around the kitchen, trying to find anything he could use as an improvised weapon. His gaze halted on a nearby table with containers of shredded cheese, sauces and sliced pepperoni. Beyond that was the stove with a couple of chicken breasts cooking on it.
He grimaced, regretting his decision to hide in here. He’d seen photographs of cars, RVs and homes trashed by bears who’d entered them searching for food. Would the Point Pleasant Monster do the same?
No more thumps came from the door. Rastun saw no other way into the kitchen from the outside. Maybe—
Screams erupted from the dining area.
“Shit!” He dashed through the kitchen and pushed open a green swinging door. A crowd of people stood in the middle of the dining area, many looking terrified. Others scrambled out of booths that lined the side of the restaurant, dominated by a row of huge windows.
Through those windows Rastun saw the Point Pleasant Monster.
“Get back!” he shouted at the customers. “Get back, now!”
Many of them backed up against the far wall. Some still screamed.
“Shoot it!” yelled one hysterical woman. “Shoot it!”
I have been shooting it. It doesn’t do any good.
The monster put its head down and charged. The sound of screaming merged with the sound of breaking glass. Rastun brought up his Glock, but held his fire. He didn’t know if any civilians were outside the restaurant in the line of fire.
Several people rushed out the front doors. Others stood against the wall, frozen in fear. The Point Pleasant Monster looked to the ones running.
Rastun put his pistol down on a nearby table. He picked up a chair and hurled it. It struck the monster just below the neck.
It swung toward him. Rastun grabbed another chair.
Someone dashed out of the kitchen. It was Karen, holding a fire extinguisher. White spray blasted the monster. It hissed and trashed about, knocking over chairs and tables.
Rastun hurried across the dining area to the four people pressed against the wall, eyes wide with terror.
<
br /> “Get outta here!” He grabbed a woman by the arm and pulled her away from the wall. “Go! Go! Go!”
The woman ran for the door. The other three followed. Karen sprayed the Point Pleasant Monster again. Its tail whipped around and knocked over a table and three chairs.
Rastun snatched up his Glock and ran back to Karen, giving the enraged monster a wide berth.
“Time to go.” He clutched her shoulder and yanked her toward the kitchen. They sprinted through the swinging door. Ashlee stood next to the cook.
“Dining area’s clear.” Rastun ran to the metal door and threw back the deadbolt. “Karen bought us some time with the fire extinguisher. Let’s get out of here.”
He flung the door open. Karen, carrying Ashlee, went through first. The cook followed.
A thud went through the kitchen. Rastun turned.
The monster tried to force its way through the kitchen door. The walls around it buckled.
“This thing just doesn’t quit.” Rastun went through the back door and slammed it shut. He spotted a large plastic garbage can next to him, filled to the rim. He tipped it over in front of the door and took off running.
“Jack!”
Rastun saw Karen standing on the sidewalk with Ashlee.
“What do we do now?” she asked.
“Keep moving.”
They ran across the street. Sirens wailed in the night. Lots of sirens, growing louder by the second. It sounded like the entire Point Pleasant Police Department was headed for the boardwalk.
They turned a corner and stopped near the front yard of a two-story white and blue wooden house. Rastun took deep breaths, thinking. Should they wait for the cops to arrive? Should they try for his car? It was well over a mile away. Could they make it? For some reason, the monster had a hard on for them.
Why us? They hadn’t made the pursuit easy. Most predators would have given up by now. What made them special? Did they give off a scent it really liked? Their suntan lotion? Residual smells from their dinner?
It didn’t matter. The ugly bastard wanted to eat them. Rastun was determined not to let that happen.
So how do you do it, smart guy? His Glock was useless. He sure as hell wasn’t going to go one-on-one with it with his little tactical knife.
Rastun looked around and spotted a mailbox attached to a wooden post along the curb. A small motorhome was parked in the driveway.
Now he had an idea.
He ran to the mailbox and tried pulling it out of the ground. It wouldn’t budge. He took out his Glock and fired two rounds. They tore through the wooden post. Rastun gave it a shove. It fell over.
“What are you doing?” asked Karen.
“You’ll see.” He lifted the post over his head and slammed it against the sidewalk once, twice. The mailbox snapped off. He took off his t-shirt and tied it around the top of the post. Rastun dashed across the sand-covered front yard to the motorhome and crawled under it. He took out his lighter and flicked it on. The fuel tank was just to his left. He snapped off the lighter, got his tactical knife and rammed it into the tank. Gasoline spilled onto the driveway.
Rastun crawled out from beneath the motorhome and grabbed the wooden post. He shoved it under the punctured fuel tank, soaking the t-shirt with gasoline.
Karen screamed.
Rastun spun around.
The Point Pleasant Monster rounded the corner of the house. It lowered its head and charged.
“Karen!”
Rastun jumped up and shoved Karen and Ashlee out of the way. All three toppled onto the sand. Ashlee shrieked. The monster rushed by. It slammed into the motorhome. The boxy vehicle went up on two wheels and tipped over.
Rastun rolled off Karen and Ashlee and got to one knee. He held the lighter next to the gasoline-soaked t-shirt and flicked it.
Nothing.
“Oh c’mon. Not now!”
The Point Pleasant Monster moved toward him.
He flicked the lighter again.
Whoosh! The t-shirt went up in flames.
Rastun stood and thrust out his makeshift torch. The monster hissed and backed off.
He thrust the torch at the beast again. It backed up further, then cut to the right.
Toward Karen and Ashlee.
Rastun leapt into the monster’s path. He rammed the torch into its mouth.
The monster stumbled backwards. It hissed and spun in a circle. Its tail swung toward Rastun. He jumped out of the way and rolled across the sand. He got back to his feet, torch held out.
The Point Pleasant Monster stomped around the house, still hissing.
“Stay here,” he told Karen and took off after it.
He ran around the house. The monster loped back toward the boardwalk as Rastun dug out his cell phone and called Ehrenberg.
“Jack, are you and Karen all right?”
“We’re fine. I’ve got eyes on the monster. It’s retreating to the boardwalk.”
“Retreating?”
“It came after me and Karen again,” Rastun told him. “I shoved a torch in its mouth.”
“Where did you get a torch?”
“I’ll explain later. How far out are you?”
There was a pause before Ehrenberg answered. “According to the GPS, we’re about a mile-and-a-half from the boardwalk.”
Rastun watched the monster scramble up the boardwalk. It smashed through the wooden railing on the other side and jumped onto the beach.
He kept after it. The sirens grew louder. The police couldn’t be more than a block away.
Rastun went up on the boardwalk and stopped by the shattered railing. He watched the darkened silhouette of the Point Pleasant Monster enter the surf swim out to sea.
“Randy, you might as well back off the gas. The monster’s gone back into the ocean.
“Dammit.” A pause. “All right. You and Karen get back to Bold Fortune. I’ll have Captain Keller scrounge as much fuel as he can and we’ll try to track it down.”
“We’re on our way. See you soon.”
Rastun put the cell phone back in his pocket and turned around.
“Freeze!”
Four Point Pleasant cops stood on the other side of the boardwalk, guns pointed at him.
“I’m Jack Rastun! I’m with the FUBI!”
“Drop the torch! Get on the ground now!”
He was about to identify himself again, but stopped. To the cops, he was a shoeless, shirtless stranger carrying a torch.
Rastun threw the torch onto the sand and got on his knees. Two cops hustled over to him, while the other two kept their pistols trained on him.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing?” asked one officer as he handcuffed Rastun.
“Oh, just taking a beautiful woman for a stroll on the beach and getting chased by a sea monster. You know, typical date night stuff.”
THIRTEEN
The cops took Rastun’s Glock, knife, lighter, cell phone, keys and wallet before they handcuffed him. One cop, a sergeant named Graffanino, asked him, “Where are your shoes, sir?”
“Back on the beach.”
“Where’s your shirt?”
“That’s on the beach, too. But it’s probably a pile of ash by now.”
Graffanino furrowed his brow. “And why were you carrying a gun and a torch?”
“I was fighting the Point Pleasant Monster. The gun wasn’t working, so I made a torch. That worked.”
Graffanino drew his head back, an expression of disbelief on his face.
“Yeah, sounds crazy, I know.”
Graffanino stared at him in silence for several seconds before checking Rastun’s wallet.
“You’re really with the FUBI?”
“That’s right.”
“Is there anyone who can verify it?”
“Call the FUBI operations center. They can connect you with Colonel Salvatore Lipeli. He’s my immediate supervisor.”
Rastun gave Graffanino the number. More police arrived, along with a couple of
ambulances and news vans, as the sergeant spoke on his phone. Rastun watched two paramedics rush into a shop just across from him. He remembered how dozens of people made a mad dash to get indoors. There had to be injuries. He hoped none of them were serious.
Ten minutes later, Graffanino uncuffed him.
“Your info checks out, Mister Rastun.” He gave him back his things. “Sorry for the misunderstanding.”
“You don’t have to apologize, Sergeant. If I saw a half-naked guy with a torch on the boardwalk, I wouldn’t take any chances, either.”
“So what happened? Nine-one-one got slammed with calls about a monster trashing the boardwalk.”
“That’s about the size of it.” Rastun gave Graffanino a brief rundown of their flight from the Point Pleasant Monster and how he chased it off with his improvised torch. The sergeant looked like he couldn’t make up his mind whether to be impressed or skeptical.
“You’d better stick around,” Graffanino told him. “We’re going to need an official statement from you. Our chief’s on the way here, too. I’m sure he’ll want to hear this.”
Rastun nodded, thinking about how Bold Fortune was about to go after the monster without him. He called Ehrenberg.
“Jack! I was just about to call you. Where are you and Karen? We’re almost ready to go.”
“We’re still at the boardwalk. The cops want to talk to me about what happened.”
“How long do you think it’ll take?”
“I doubt it’ll be quick.”
Several seconds of silence passed before Ehrenberg responded. “The Point Pleasant Monster couldn’t have gotten too far. We have to move on this, now. I’m sorry, Jack, but I can’t afford to wait for you.”
Rastun let out a frustrated breath. He’d seen first-hand how dangerous the monster was. He needed to be on Bold Fortune to protect Ehrenberg and the others should it attack them.
But the cryptozoologist was right. The monster couldn’t be that far from shore. Their mission was to capture it, and if they had a shot at doing that, they had to take it.
“Understood.” Even though he didn’t like being left behind, he had to admit Ehrenberg made the right call. Rastun’s respect for him as a leader went up.
“Just be careful,” he added. “I put two full clips from my Glock into that thing and it barely noticed.”