Loch Ness

by Donovan Galway

  “Where’s yours?” she asked as she pressed it to her mouth to test it.

  “Just use it.”

  The upward angle of the sub seemed to increase as water filled the cabin. Aisling would be first to go under. John tried to put her out of his mind. He had done all he could do. Now he just remained focused on the too distant surface above them. The water had risen to her shoulders and Aisling put the tank to her mouth. She opened the valve and started breathing through it as water touched her chin. The air was cold and sweet. It seemed too fresh but she breathed deep.

  John saw a gaping hole directly above him. There was a smaller, less inviting tunnel visible to the left but he mentally placed it in the same category as the dozens of holes and indentations they had already passed. Above him, he could just make out a sharp diversion in the large opening. It seemed to be the natural course but the freezing water and unusual creaks and groans emanating from the hull of his damaged craft told him he had no time for errors. If they were wrong, they were dead. John turned off the running lights to drift in the total darkness of the abyss.

  Aisling pointed to what he had already suspected. The soft, luminous glow was coming from the smaller opening. The large cave was pitch black. A dead end. He switched the lights back on and strained at the pistol grip controls to turn the nose into the smaller tunnel. The floundering sub was far less responsive to his signals but was just able to angle itself into the cave. John cringed and physically ducked as the steel-rimmed glass dome scraped across the rocky ceiling of the lesser cave entrance. The dome held again and they drifted upward again and toward a new though still seemingly insurmountably distant surface.

  John leaned forward to keep his head above the rising water. He extended his lips as the seawater came up to his face. The light was closer, but he just couldn’t tell how much farther. They were out of time. The tiny bubble of air in the top of the cabin was out of reach. His lungs started to pound his chest and he felt the sea winning just as Aisling reached up and pressed the tank to his mouth. Survival instinct forced him to exhale the spent air in his lungs and draw hard on the tank. As soon as his lungs were full he shook her off. Aisling took it away and back to her lips.

  John watched the light growing. He knew the heavily weighted sub was slowed by the added burden of the water. He heard the motors whir, pushing with all they had left. Again his lungs begged for air. He nodded and she delivered the tank to his lips. Again he was strengthened. He shook her off and pulled back as hard as he could. The sub rose almost straight up. A tiny white line suddenly appeared across John’s line of sight. He knew a crack in the glass would be their instant death and there it was. This tiny hairline fissure was the nemesis that would take them both.

  It was denied the chance as the sub breached the surface and came onto the gravel bank of the cave. John pulled the four release handles two at a time and they pushed in unison to lift the canopy from the sub. The water poured out and they breathed in the stale, contaminated, life-giving air of the stagnant cave.

  Only the nose was on solid ground and the sub quickly started backsliding. The propellers were no long pushing and the sub became dead weight. John leapt out onto solid ground and pulled Aisling out. “Grab anything you can.”

  She looked around the small cabin. “Nothing in here but the air tank. Don’t you have any flares or anything?”

  “Sorry. Submarines hardly ever break down on the roadside.” He tossed the case off to the side of the storage compartment and looked back at her. He realized only then that he didn’t expect to ever see her smile again. She looked back at him with a smile that showed both pride and gratitude.

  “What’d I tell you about that tone, cheeky git?”

  She came up to his side. She, too, had never expected to stand on solid ground again. Her embrace told him all he needed to know.

  John looked around. “So how do we get out of here?”

  “Where are we? And what is that stench?” she asked.

  John walked up the incline toward the ten-foot tall mound. He was aghast at his luck. He leaned on it. He pulled a bit off to confirm the construction. He breathed in deep to taste the foul odor.

  Behind him, Aisling was looking at what she first thought to be some sort of seashells. She now saw them to be eggshells. Immeasurably old and alarmingly huge broken eggs. “What do you suppose came out of this?”

  “What do you think?” John replied without letting go of the mound. He was fascinated by it. “Do you remember Frank telling you this thing was more of an eel than a lizard? It burrowed in here because nothing else would. This is the nest.”

  Aisling suddenly remembered the cause of their plight. She went back to the sinking sub and looked behind it. “John, you won’t believe this.” She reached down into the water. There, wedged between the vents on the side of the sub and shielded by a bent rudder that covered it, the giant egg was still protected by the padded bra, and intact. “Do you think we can give this back now?”

  John couldn’t have agreed more. He climbed up onto the nest and examined the surface. Evidence of the most recent exits still showed on the top and side. He surmised that the creature most likely opened the side near the bottom and laid her eggs there before pushing them into the center of the mound and covering them with the protective moss and kelp. The hatchlings would climb upward and emerge from near the top. Rather than attempt to imitate the mother’s nesting, he chose the less resistant channel through the top. “Bring it over here.” Aisling carried the precious egg up to him, cradling it like an infant as John stood on top of the mound and found the best spot to push it back in.

  As Aisling extended her arms to raise the melon-sized egg up to him, a crack of gunfire boomed from the other side of the cave and the egg exploded. The fluid inside doused her and the shot reptilian embryo fell limp into her arms. She staggered backward, shaking the malodorous liquid from her arms and hair.

  John leapt off the mound and looked out across the dimly lit cave. From across the water, standing on the narrow ridge, Mike MacKenzie stepped out. He was brandishing his nickel-plated twelve-gage Mossburg shotgun. MacKenzie returned his look, then lifted the gun again and aimed. John shouted “Look out!” and leapt behind the mound just as he fired.

  Aisling instantly fell to her belly behind the mini-sub. MacKenzie couldn’t get a shot at her from there, but she had nowhere to go and was effectively trapped.

  “Are you insane?” John shouted to their assailant.

  “Just taking care of business, doctor. I’ve kids to feed, you know.” He spoke slowly and calmly as he pressed two more shells into the breach-loading weapon.

  “You just killed your meal ticket!”

  “Not the way I see it. Saved it more like. Like I told you, I never went to college. That inn is all I got in the world. I run it well and intend it to be worth something when I give it to my son someday. No legend means no tourists and no money. Simple as that.” His tone was casual, calm, and even friendly as to belie his posturing to get a better shot at them. He leaned against his prosthetic leg and hobbled back and forth on the gravelly ledge as he spoke. “I want you to know this is nothing personal, Doc. You too, lassie.”

  John looked to his left and saw a shallow ridge along the gravel that trailed almost to the edge of the ledge they were on. At the farthest point the gap between this ledge and the one MacKenzie appeared on was no more than eight feet. If MacKenzie was distracted somehow, he could jump that distance, he thought. But how could he distract the man? And what would he do once over there? And how was he going to get out there in the first place? With fewer answers than choices, John lay on his belly and started crawling out, low and easy. Even a glimpse of his untrained butt above the edge and the whole plan was lost.

  “Damned if I ever think to bring a torch down here,” MacKenzie said. He stared into the dim light and watched for a clear shot. He could afford to be patient. They had nowhere to go and it was unlikely anyone was coming to their rescue. “Tell yo
u what, Doc. You leave here with nothing. That means no eggshells or dead baby monsters or stories about crazy innkeepers, and I’ll consider letting you live. That fair enough?”

  “And we’re just supposed to trust you? Is that it?”

  “That’s my offer. Truth is I want to let you go. I hate doing this. Every time I do this I promise myself it’ll be the last time, sure I do. Hey, teacher. Throw that baby beastie over here and I’ll take it and go.”

  With few other options and nothing to be gained, Aisling pulled the dead chicken-sized carcass toward her and threw it over the sub toward MacKenzie. Mike watched it land squarely in the water and sink away.

  “Just as well. I dinnae want it. Just didn’t want you to have it.”

  “So you can go now!”

  “Sure I will. Just come out and watch.”

  Knowing he could not be trusted, Aisling climbed into the cockpit of the mini-sub. It was leaning toward them and away from MacKenzie so she managed to get in safely. Inside, she searched the tiny vessel for anything that could be used as a weapon, but could not even find a wrench. Behind her seat, she found the titanium case with the last vial of flash powder. It was the only thing movable in the sub so it would have to do. She thought that there had to be some sort of tool kit somewhere. As she tried to move the seat to look underneath, she felt the sub sink. She could hear the barely discernable sound of gravel underneath her. The sub was sliding back into the water.

  “Not exactly filled with confidence.” John had slithered as far as he could go and stopped. There was a large depression here that he was sure a Plesiosaur had sat in. It was deep enough to keep him out of MacKenzie’s range but less than halfway to where he needed to get to be out of the line of sight. He was confident MacKenzie thought he was still behind the mound but now he needed that diversion. One small miracle. That was all he needed.

  MacKenzie’s attention was drawn to the moving sub. “Looks like you’re in a bit of bother over there, darlin’. Go ahead and run for it. I’ll give you three steps. Promise.”

  She knew he knew she couldn’t stay in the sub. It was moving faster now. With no choice, Aisling held up the case. MacKenzie held his fire. Maybe, she prayed, his word was worth something. Taking a breath for courage and strength, she leapt up and jumped from the cramped cockpit and fell to the ground next to the sub. It slid away and with it, her protection. As her head was no longer protected, she stood and sprinted for the mound. One step. Two steps. With another thunderous boom, her leg was torn open at the knee by MacKenzie’s buckshot.

  “So I lied,” he chuckled. “Did I hurt you, missy? Why don’t you come out and let me take a look at that?”

  She fell past the mound and rolled out the other side. Before MacKenzie could get another shot at her she fell into John’s hiding place. John caught her and pulled her down for safety. Only the silver case was visible but it told MacKenzie where they were.

  “What are you going to do over there? Tunnel out? You got him in there with you? Damn, you two are becoming a nuisance.”

  They lay in each other’s arms, huddled beside the giant mound. She looked up at John and he could see the pain in her eyes. “You’re shot?”

  “Just a wee bit. When they said I didn’t have long, they should’ve been more specific.”

  John almost laughed. “We’re not going anywhere yet. Not like this.”

  “And why not? What makes this the lesser?”

  “Aisling... I’m sorry.”

  Mike called out from across the cave. “I really wish you two hadn’t found this. Shame. You’re going to have to stay here, you know! Can’t have you going out and destroying the myth.”

  “This is better than the legend, MacKenzie!” John returned. “It’s a gold mine for you!”

  “Afraid not. Once you scientist boys get a hold of it, it’ll just be another animal. The legend dies if you ... don’t. Ironic. Ain’t it, Doc?” Growing in his confidence, he walked out to stand at the water’s edge just across from them.

  “Who’s to say this is the wrong way to go?” she whispered to John. He looked at her, more hurt than shocked. “I mean, I’m not too fussed about my future as it is.”

  John flinched as MacKenzie fired upward toward the cave ceiling. “Nuh uh. I say we’re not going just yet, if for no other reason than he doesn’t get to make the choice.”

  Aisling looked at him. “Well, you’ve got a point there, mister scientist. He has become something of an asshole.”

  “Okay. I’m going to try to flank him. If I can get a shot at him with a rock, we may have a chance. I need to make him miss just once. You stay low.”

  He left her there and crawled out along a ridge of sediment. Lying just low enough to keep out of shot range, he knew time was not on his side. Nothing but water was keeping MacKenzie away. Given enough time and he would surely come across. Then it would be over, as he surely knew scientists don’t come armed.

  Under the fragile protection of the dim light and the shallow trench, John finally came around to where he should have been looking at Mike from the right flank. Slowly he palmed a grapefruit sized rock and readied to launch. In the second it took him to draw a preparatory breath he recalled his try-outs at little league baseball and the taunting laughter of his eleven-year-old peers as he attempted to throw a ball home from second base. He held the breath and slowly rose to see MacKenzie staring straight ahead. John came to his knees and actually believed for a brief instant that his plan might work. Then he noticed MacKenzie’s stare was not straight ahead at the mound but rather downward toward the water.

  Mike was frozen, petrified with terror as his gaze remained hypnotized by the water. From just below the rippling surface, insanely angry golf-ball-sized eyes stared back at him. His shotgun hung impotently at his side. As John watched, Nessie rose from the water, her eyes locked on MacKenzie’s. Slowly she rose to full length to tower above the terrified intruder like a giant cobra.

  Mike suddenly remembered the gun in his hand. As if being controlled by a remote, he mechanically raised the Mossburg and pulled the trigger. The gun merely clicked empty. Challenged by the click, Nessie lunged, closing her powerful jaws around his head and left shoulder. Lifting him from his feet, she shook him violently from side to side like a fleshy rag doll. The shotgun landed on the gravel as MacKenzie was slapped against the rocks for good measure. Her two-inch fangs cut through his ribcage and she whipped his body with such force that his legs were thrown about like a child’s pigtails.

  One leg with part of his trousers and the pocket still attached landed in front of John. He thought briefly about how the prosthetic leg had been attached. Then he saw the other leg fly against the far wall and bounce off with a plastic-sounding crack. He thought about the sound made by the other leg as he looked again to the one before him, the one that had landed with what he now recalled as a meaty thud.

  John still sat kneeling just out of reach of the reptile. Motionless, he saw the beast drop the remains of MacKenzie into the water and sniff the air. The familiar scent identified, she turned toward the source and looked at the cowering Aisling. The beast smelled the egg on Aisling, and John realized little would deter this hunter from the undeniable draw of its own offspring.

  The ples turned toward the mound and bellied up onto the gravel. She moved even slower than normal and John could see her right front flipper was badly torn from her battle with the Liopleurodon. But her protective instinct overrode any pain she was feeling. Hissing softly, she dragged herself toward the source of the scent.

  John stood and shouted at her, trying to draw her attention but the smell was too tempting. Aisling tried to move away but had virtually nowhere to run and her leg burned from the shotgun wound.

  The ples moved forward. Her hunting style on land was similar to that in the water. She would keep her neck pulled in to get close enough to catch the prey with a single lunge. She was nearly there and Aisling knew it. She threw a rock but the beast never flinched. It had
no mental or instinctive record of a stone ever being a threat. Aisling came to her knees and threw the metal case as hard as she could and this time the beast ducked. The shiny metal object was big enough to be a threat but it merely bounced off her and fell to the ground. She studied it for only a second before the scent of her egg again filled her nostrils and she looked up at the carrier.

  In a desperate attempt to pull the beast off Aisling, John stood and ran at the animal. He threw his body weight against it, trying to stay behind the head, as he had only just witnessed what those jaws could do to a human. With all his strength, he grabbed the beast with his left arm as he struck the head with the rock in his right. This was far from hurtful to the massive reptile but annoying enough to give her cause to turn. Unable to bite him as he clung tenaciously to her neck, the ples used her neck to whip John to the side. With one motion he was tossed aside. The sound of his landing was amplified by the aluminum case he landed on.

  The beast looked down at him with what could only be described as disdain. She cocked her head as if considering the best way to dispose of this pest. John read the look and scrambled frantically to get out of her range. His backward crab-crawl was interrupted when he stumbled over the case. The beast lunged at him as she had Mike. John raised the case and she merely deflected off it as if the resilient metal hurt her teeth. Perplexed, she lunged again and again John blocked with the case. This time she held it by the edge and pulled but John held tight to the handle. He kicked wildly at her until she was forced to release it and withdraw.

  When she released, John fell back onto the gravel and scrambled out of her reach, at least for the moment. The case fell open as he turned, and its contents consisting of a few papers, three CDs, a bag of barbequed potato chips and the glass jar of white powder fell out onto the gravel. The beast scooted farther up onto the gravel to get another shot at him and John stood to face her. Looking down, he saw the ples literally standing on the shotgun. That was possibly the only weapon in the cave that would have any effect on this giant and he needed to back her off it if he was to have any chance at all. All else left to him was that glass jar. He picked it up just as she attempted to rend him a bite. John hurled the jar into her gaping mouth with force enough to shatter the glass into jagged shards.