by catt dahman
Leonie battered the water, making noise. The shark ignored her and came up under Candy Lynn, taking her lower body in its jaws and shaking her as it bite and chewed. Amadee hit the water and reached for her hands, but Candy Lynn’s eyes rolled back as half her body went down the fish’s gullet.
Leonie screamed in anguish.
“No, ya evil son of a bitch,” Amadee roared. He used his big knife on the shark closest to him, plunging the blade deep into the creature’s eye, shoving and corkscrewing the knife. With a fast motion, he removed the blade and lightning fast, sliced the knife into the shark’s belly, yanking and pulling. He was using the same actions he liked for dealing with attacking alligators in the bayou.
Amadee was born and raised fighting water beasts. Instead of avoiding the next shark, Amadee attacked it as well, slamming his knife into the fish and losing park of his upper arm in the fight; Amadee didn’t react to the shredding of his flesh other than to fight harder.
Candy Lynn slipped into the deeper water, and one of the creatures went after her; she and the shark that Amadee killed sank together while two sharks snapped at the bodies but lost interest. The shark that Amadee killed twirled into the depths; maybe one day people would wonder why its teeth were lost in the yard of a home in the city.
The water had lowered, despite the rainstorms, and in places, taller buildings reached for the sky, muddied bricks and shattered windows, leaving them looking forlorn and like things from a war zone. Fish darted through what once had been supermarkets, churches, and schools; they ate floating food and defecated, but bodies decayed there as well. Nothing would be salvageable.
Houses had withstood other storms and had survived this one, only to be flooded. The inhabitants crawled onto the roofs to await help, but they drowned instead. Trash filled the streets, and as the water receded, in time not only would streets be unrecognizable from yards and mud bottoms, the stench would be even worse than it was now. It was to the filthy mud that the dead shark and young woman drifted.
Leonie stopped. She saw Candy Lynn lose her lower body and drift away. There was no way to live after that, and no way anyone would want to try. Candy Lynn’s death was most unfair because she was a new mother and the best of the bunch. She screamed, “You bastard, Clovis. You had no right.”
Virgil grabbed Leonie and yanked her to the side as a shark snapped the air beside her. He pushed her ahead, bruising her more as he tried to save his mother, “Swim…just swim.”
Ghislaine screamed from a little ways away where she had been turned around and had gone in the opposite way. She drifted towards one of the distant buildings.
Virgil paused, thinking of going back for her, but if he did, Leonie would never make it. He released her for Toby to pull up to the deck and looked back, knowing he might meet the maw of a shark. Nothing was there. He yanked out his knife and promptly lost it as the shark that swam by took it away, embedded in its belly.
Buford managed to dodge the creature after Virgil shanked it and swam to Virgil, telling him to get out of the water.
Virgil did as told, thinking once up on deck, they could dive out to help the rest when they saw where they were located. He looked out and saw three fins, but that was all. “Where is…everyone else?” he asked, puzzled.
“That’s all,” Toby said, tears streaming down his face.
Virgil spun, searching the water. There had to be more. Where was Ghislaine? “Gee Gee? Ghislaine?”
“She didn’t make it. That bigger one chased off after her,” Toby said.
“Amadee?” Virgil knew his stepfather had jumped in after Candy Lynn.
“You didn’t hear him? He screamed for Candy Lynn until the very end, trying to kill all them bastards, Virgil. I’ve never seen anyone so crazed and determined to kill…and he killed one and wounded another,” Toby said. Amadee had slashed and stabbed, yelling for his first born the entire time; he didn’t do anything but fight harder when Candy Lynn slipped beneath the waves. One took off one of his arms, but he went after it and cut the fish deeply.
Toby could hardly look away as Amadee launched his one-man attack, wondering if Amadee might kill all five sharks and win the battle. It looked possible. It was possible until Amadee lost his second arm and still tried head-butting the creatures.
By then, Buford was slashing with his own knife and trying to save Amadee. He finished off one shark and got a blow in to the one Virgil wounded but swam for his life as soon as he had the chance. He had gone into the water only to save Amadee. Buford was too late, too outnumbered, and too limited for weapons to do any more than what he did.
Buford lay face down on the deck, crying for Amadee.
Marie had tied cloths around Leonie’s shin and using Toby’s belt, made a tourniquet. She ignored Buford, checked Abagail again, and rolled back to her butt, crying out as she did so.
“What? What’s wrong?”
Marie just cried into her hands. She glanced up, did a quick count, and buried her face again, “Beau?”
“Jeez,” Virgil said. He didn’t know whether to go to his mother or to Marie, but Leonie weakly waved him away and to Marie. He crawled over and cradled her as she wept. In a matter of hours, she had lost her father, other brother, and Abagail who was like a grandmother.
Toby held his mother and rocked with her in his arms, “What happened? She isn’t bitten. She didn’t drown. She was okay.”
“She…she was holding…her chest….” Marie cried.
“A heart attack, maybe. I’m sorry Marie and Toby,” Virgil said softy.
Marie suddenly sat up straight, “Virgil? What’s wrong?”
He shook his head. He had almost nodded off asleep and frowned, “I don’t know.”
Marie made a sound of surprise and demanded his belt, “You’ve got a deep cut here on your leg.” She whipped the belt into place, “Toby, listen to me, we have to get Leonie and Virgil inside and treat them, or they’ll die.”
“I’m gonna kill that little son of a bitch,” Toby said, standing. He stared at Clovis.
“Kill him in a little while, but right now, you have to help me.”
“I’ll get Leonie. Help Virgil.” a voice interrupted them, making Marie jump.
“Beauregard Theriot, Oh, my dear, Lord,” Marie grabbed her brother as she ran across the deck and hugged him tightly, “We thought….”
“I thought the same, but I went under the boat and around. They missed me.” Beau saw Abagail, and his voice caught in his throat, but he scooped Leonie into his arms and took her inside where it was lighter. Toby and Marie helped Virgil inside, and then Toby retreated to wrap Abagail in a sheet.
“If you touch her, cannibal, I’ll kill you. We clear?” Toby asked Buford. He kicked Buford.
“I lost my father….” Buford moaned.
“You lost a blood-related sister, and your mother is hurt badly, too, so save your tears for those deserving of them,” Toby said; he felt no sympathy. He felt nothing but anger and a desire to stop the death. Without thinking what he was facing, Toby climbed upwards, aware that this was how Virgil fell, but he made it up to the top and grabbed Clovis with his fists buried in the child’s shirt.
It crossed his mind to throw Clovis to the sharks, but for all he knew, the fish wouldn’t harm him anyway.
He was correct.
The sharks butted the boat again. Toby tossed Clovis down to the back deck, jumping down to finish his job.
“What’re you doing? Stop it, ya idiot,” Buford lunged at Toby, his knife ready to slice the other man.
Clovis didn’t watch them with the slow, unanimated gaze he had when he was smaller or before the storm came. With the blood and the sacrifice, Clovis became an open door and was filled. He was power. He stared at the two young men, wondering how each should die, not who would win a fight although he really only had interest in one of the young men.
Toby dodged a downswing of the knife and moved to the side, but it was an unfortunate move, for Buford, with a man
iacal grin, came around, spinning. He was in place now so that if he slashed again, Toby would fall over the railing, avoiding the knife. Failing that, Buford could knock him over the side.
Beau swung hard and sure. The pipe landed solidly on Buford’s head, and before Buford could fall into a heavy lump, Beau rushed him, pitching him over the railing where it seemed the sharks waited. The pair that remained bit, gulped, and tore until nothing but floating gobs of fat remained on the water’s surface.
“Now what, Clovis?” Beau asked, “that’s all the Audettes besides you, and they are the ones who tricked people into eating humans.”
Toby sighed, gasping in relief at being alive, “Yeah, we didn’t choose it.”
“Do what you may to me. They won’t let you go as long as an Audette remains,” Clovis said, “we are many, but we have other calls to make. We grow weary. Remember my words.”
“You’re some devil, huh?” Toby asked, still making sure since his temper had waned and that he spoke to a child of eight.
“We have many names.”
“Where is the real Clovis?”
“He’s gone, now. He’s gone on and won’t return. He’s better for not being left behind as Audette blood is an abomination.”
The sharks jolted the boat. Toby pushed Clovis at the same time, and he fell into the water as Buford had. He yelled angrily, but it wasn’t the sharks, but a blow to his head on the railing that took his life. As he fell unconscious, he drowned in the dirty water. The fish didn’t eat him, so he drifted on the current.
“He looks like a kid; it’s bittersweet, huh?” Beau asked.
“I don’t know if I could outright kill him…maybe…but he’s gone. It should be over. He was a demon or whatever the thing was inside him.”
“It wasn’t a kid for sure. It wasn’t the Clovis they all knew before,” Beau agreed, “if we had known, I’d have fed every one of the Audettes to the sharks to have saved Daddy and your parents, Remy, Jules, and Nita.
They went back inside.
“It’s over,” Toby said, retelling the story.
“Finally,” Marie said. Virgil held her hand tightly.
Chapter Fifteen: Audette Blood
A few minutes later, they heard the sharks bump the boat again.
“I thought…you said…why isn’t it over?” Marie asked, shaking again as her nerves jumped.
“If they stay with it, we’ll sink and be eaten. That’s it,” Toby said.
“But he said it would stop with the last of the Audette blood,” Beau remarked, “How can that be? They’re all dead. Leonie isn’t of Audette blood.”
“Just leave me here a little while to rest, please,” Leonie begged, “I’m so tired. Go make something to eat. Beau, would you stay with me? I wanna tell you a story I know you’ll appreciate it more than the rest, please? Virgil can join you after I fall asleep, okay?”
“Mama?”
“Virgil, be a good boy, please; it’s just a story he should hear…one of my many, and he’s probably tired from everything.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Nothing to understand, son. I am just Mama being Mama and telling stories…you know me. Deal with Marie; she needs you.”
“I’m not in a place to walk around,” Virgil complained. His leg was clean, and the wound was taped up and bandaged, but it was extremely painful, and he was in a bad mood. Marie’s sad smile convinced him to do as his mother asked, and with Toby and Marie helping him, he limped to the front of the boat to stretch out again and watch them fix dinner.
Leonie sighed, “I have a special story, Beau.”
Once there was a girl named Leonie, who thought herself very grown and she and her friend Olivia, went to a bar wearing sexy clothing, too much make-up, and very high heels with short shorts. Olivia’s family also came from the swamp, and in mere weeks before the bar adventure, her father sold his oil rich swamp land and become a millionaire; they moved to the finer area of New Orleans and become nouveau riche, not the most accepted of families, but still all right.
This one night, Olivia, remembering her swamp friend, initiated a trip to the bar and proceeded to entertain all over the room while Leonie met a handsome man named David and became pregnant with Virgil.
Olivia also met a man, who was then, somewhat attractive, a little rough, and somewhat charming. He won over Olivia, for that night anyway, and took her to his battered truck where a drunken Olivia had sex with the man. Unfortunately, Olivia became pregnant that night, same as Leonie.
The man who made her pregnant was Amadee Audette.
Beau frowned, “I thought he was married to a woman called Jenny.”
“He was, but a little after this time,” Leonie said.
Olivia was beautiful. When she washed away the make-up and dressed appropriately, she was a stunning young woman, hardly sixteen, but her parents couldn’t deal with a pregnant, unwed daughter while they were using the new- found money to become respected members of society. Tangled webs were spun.
Her parents showed her off like a prized cow, hoping for a big bidder; almost any bidder might be accepted, to be honest.
Quite quickly, Olivia had a suitor. They married fast as she said she was pregnant by him, with no fan fair and almost quietly. Olivia fell in love with the man whom she married, and he loved her deeply. In time, they had the first child, and then three more, all lovely children that they loved.
“My mother’s name was also Olivia,” Beau said, “is that why you thought the story would have meaning to me?”
“Something like that,” Leonie said. She was pale and cold, but she continued her story, ignoring the dizziness in her head. She was fully in control of her mind and spoke only the truth.
Olivia’s husband never knew that the first-born child wasn’t his, and he might not have really cared since he loved the child anyway. The saddest part was that Olivia was in a terrible car crash and died, leaving her family behind.
“The same as my mother,” Beau said.
“Yes, my best friend. Can you guess who her child was?”
“It’s me, isn’t it?”
“It is. I don’t know about Clovis and demons and if there is a curse and about Audette blood and if all must die to stop this, but those are de facts, Beau. I wanted to tell you in private.”
“Thank you for that, Leonie.”
“I can’t say what to do. Old Abagail would have known, but she’s gone now. Only you all are left to figure dis out, and I ain’t long for this place, Beau. I’m weak and dizzy. Amadee broke bones, and now my foot…well…I’m done in.”
“You can make it; try….”
“Naw. I’m too tired and hurt too much.” She was faintly aware Beau held her hand, but it seemed she could hardly feel it except his hand was warm.
“Amadee was…damn…that makes me sick.” Beau felt ill, knowing that Amadee Audette was his real father.
“Amadee was a sperm donor, Honey. Frank was yer daddy. I needed to tell you though….”
The sharks thumped more. The hull was broken, and the houseboat was settling deeper into the water; it was sinking
“Was Clovis a demon?”
“I don’t know what he was, but yes, he set this in motion; I saw it in his eyes. He wasn’t the child I knew a week ago.”
“Is it just the eating of humans? I mean…what is wrong with Audette blood?” Beau rubbed at the veins on his arm as if he could wipe them away and then grasped Leonie’s hand more securely, afraid she would pass away before his eyes.
“It goes back a long time. They beat women. They have raped and abused…touched children. Beau, I heard rumors that Buford’s father, my step dad, was an Audette cousin. I never believed it before all this. He was just like Amadee, so it must be true. They ate flesh and called it the family tradition.”
“It’s like a curse.”
“Of course, it is and way back when…there was probably a curse put upon the family either before they went bad or after…who knows
…ancient history, Beau. But now you know.”
“We’re sinking.”
“Yes, we are. I won’t be here, but I have hope for Virgil. He isn’t Audette blood. Toby is a fine young man. Marie…lovely. Maybe, she’ll give Virgil a second glance. A mama can hope.”
Beau nodded, “But the fish will get us. It’ll kill my best friend, Toby, and my sister, too. And Virgil.”
“Yes.” Leonie saw tiny black dots about her vision. She knew her leg was bleeding out but didn’t say anything about it.
“I have to try to save them.”
“Yes.”
Beau turned as Julia Rose made a sound in her sleep. The baby was fat, healthy, and a good sleeper. Beau’s face went rigid. He paled. “Oh. Oh.”
Leonie let a tear slip down her cheek.
Beau kissed her cheek, and in a few minutes after Leonie was gone, he did his duty to save his friends and family. Beau used the last of the drugs on Julia Rose and himself; the baby passed away easily. Beau wobbled and weaved as he crawled over the railing and fell in the water with the baby in his arms. The sharks stopped attacking the boat and went after the man and baby, devouring both of them.
The sharks nosed around, swam in circles, and headed back the way they had come. They returned to the salt water of the bay.
Chapter Sixteen: Gumbo is Made This Way
For three days, the sun shined brightly. Water receded, toxic gases dissipated (although the smell still forced all responders to wear masks as they worked), and rescuers moved into the center of the destruction, shocked by all the deaths and carnage left behind. No building would be left standing when (or if) the city rebuilt.
On the third day close to sunset, rescuers found an ugly houseboat, only the deck floating on the shallow water. They saw that one needed massive antibiotics for his leg wound, but that the other two were in fairly good condition.
The survivors told of a shark attack.
“Are there more?”
“None but us. Three of us.” There were only three young people.
“Just us. We have the fancy rich white girl, the coon-ass from the swamps, and me, the black guy.”