by Russ Watts
A series of vibrations shot up Don’s body and he saw a shadow flash over the concourse. There was a splashing sound, a frisson of excitement from the crowd, and suddenly, a tremendous surge of water spilled over the lip of the tank, drenching both Amanda and him. He grabbed her to him as Diablo leapt from the tank. When Don looked up again, he could see Diablo in the stadium. Don knew he was only looking at a baby. Maybe that explained why it had been so quiet these last couple of days. It hadn’t known what to do, yet, now that it had its mother or father nearby, its confidence had grown. Maybe the barks were their way of communicating. Don could think of no other explanation. Somehow, the adult of the species had found its way here.
Don had no time to piece it all together, as Diablo was now free. A mere two thousand pounds, the infant crashed into the lower half of the stands, instantly crushing most of the assembled media, two teachers, and a dozen school children. In the water, it moved swiftly, silently, and with precision. Out of water, it was ungainly and it crashed around noisily, as it began to snap its jaws at the screaming audience.
Don was reminded of an image from an old history book. Roman gladiators in the Coliseum with people cheering and baying for blood. The blood of the beasts mingled with the sand in the arena, and the crowd went wild. He used to love pouring over the pictures and imagining he was there. The crowd today though, was screaming in terror and fear. The gladiators were absent, and the beasts were hungry.
“Oh, God, no,” was all Don could mutter as the scene began to play out. As the infant began to feast on the abundance of humans laid out before it, as if on a platter, the other monster, the newcomer, turned away, content to let its child devour as many people as possible. Don watched the carnage, terrified as the monster turned its misshapen head to face the stage where Zola still sat. Don wanted to keep Amanda close to him, to shield her from the horrible terror that was opening up before his eyes. Nobody should have to witness the ruin he was seeing. Amanda, however, was only too aware of what was happening. She could hear the screaming of petrified children, the anguished cries for help, and the incessant crunching of bones as Diablo finally filled his empty belly. The screams for help were almost drowned out by the sickening sound of people being scooped up in the monster’s jaws and eaten alive. With the reassuring presence of its parent, it was showing no fear, and whipping its snarling teeth back and forth, as it greedily took more and more fresh food.
That’s why it wouldn’t eat, thought Don. It wouldn’t touch the dead meat. It wants fresh meat. And now, we’ve given it a five-star banquet to tuck into.
A magnificent roar from the larger creature briefly drowned out everything else, even Don’s thoughts, and then the infant began to work on the crowd with almost a childish glee. Like a frenzied dog attack, its salivating jaws scissored through people of all ages, as they ran aimlessly, stumbling over chairs and bags in a desperate attempt to exit the stadium. An obese man with a goatee that only covered one of his chins made a break for it, pushing through a school group and knocking children to the ground. Diablo jumped up and snatched the obese man into his mouth. The man’s guts spurted out over the running children, as Diablo chomped through him. A little girl in a chequered blue and white pinafore smock broke away from the others and tried to climb upwards, clambering over the seats to get away.
“Look out!” Don shouted at her, but in a flash, Diablo had swallowed the man and taken the girl too. A ripped shred of blue cloth caught on one of its incisors was all that remained of the girl. Diablo crawled higher, its vicious jaws snapping eagerly. Limbs flew through the air, as it mangled and crushed the desperate people beneath its feet.
“Don, look.” Amanda pointed at the stage. Zola was getting to her feet slowly, to face the monster. She held her hands up in front of her, her palms raised in defence.
“Zola!” shouted Don. “Zola, get out of there!” Don saw Diablo’s parent approach the stage.
If Zola heard him, then she didn’t show it. There was no sign of understanding on her face, not a twitch of an eyebrow or a flicker of movement from any part of her body. She faced the creature stoically as it bore down on her.
“I…I’m sorry. I didn’t…,” she whispered. Zola stumbled backwards as the monster unleashed a nerve-shredding bark and drowned out her words.
The monster lunged at Zola, and with a flick of its head, launched her high up into the air. It took a step forward onto the stage, which creaked under the weight. Zola screamed and a shoe flew off as she zipped high into the warm air above the tank. The monster looked up at her, opened its jaws, and snapped them shut just as Zola plummeted down. It caught her in its sharp teeth, so her lower body was inside its mouth and her torso was caught between its teeth. Zola screamed again as the teeth ripped into her and the monster flung her ragged body from side to side. Don saw beads of blood fly from Zola into the pool, and waited for the thing to swallow her. Instead, he was amazed to see the monster release her and drop her back onto the stage. It stepped back and emitted three short barks.
Zola lay on the stage, her body broken, her spine crushed, and her wounds bleeding profusely. She lay at such an angle that her face was turned toward Don, and he was helpless to do anything but watch, as the life began to ooze out of her.
Responding to the barks, Diablo abruptly left the stadium and raced up to the stage. Cautiously, it placed its feet on the sodden stage and then approached Zola. Its face was covered in blood and gore. It snorted once and looked up at its parent. One short bark was all it required, and then it grabbed Zola’s feet in its jaws. With a sickening crunch, Don saw Diablo bite off Zola’s legs and gulp them back down its gullet. Then it moved further up her body and took the rest of her in its mouth. Zola screwed up her face and tried to scream, but could only spurt a mouthful of blood out, as Diablo began to chew on her body, its sharp teeth grinding through her and ripping her apart. Its tremendous jaws tore through Zola as if she was nothing more solid than cotton candy, and Diablo swallowed her piece by piece. The once glamorous stage was now covered in bone, tissue, and a solitary red high-heeled Manolo Blahnik shoe, the only proof left behind that Zola was ever there at all.
Don looked back at the stadium. People were running amok, desperately trying to find loved ones or a way out of the stadium. “Amanda, we have to go, we have to get out of here.” Don couldn’t help anyone now. He had to get back to the office and call for help. “We need help. We need to call the police, the army…fucking anybody.”
Amanda felt like a doll in his hands. As he got up and pulled her with him, she felt so light that he was scared she would blow away. He gripped one hand and pulled her back into the tunnel beside the tank, away from the monsters above. Now there were two of them. One had been bad enough, but two?
“We should get Zola,” said Amanda. She looked comatose, her eyes glazed, and her speech slow. “She…she…”
“She’s gone, Amanda,” said Don slowly. “She’s gone, and we’re next if we don’t make a move now.”
Amanda turned to look at the stadium. The crescent-shaped roof was still in place, but beneath the shining lights, it was utter carnage. It looked like a slaughterhouse, as dead bodies and blood covered the concourse and the smashed seats. Most of the spectators had now escaped the stadium and only a few remained; those who were unable to comprehend what was going on, and those who were cradling their loved ones, simply unable to leave them behind. Amanda raised a hand to her mouth, and then looked at the two monsters that were ambling toward the stadium to pick off the stragglers. She turned back to Don.
“It’s our fault, Don, we did this. We should’ve let it go. We shouldn’t have listened to her. Oh, Jesus, what do we do now?”
CHAPTER 12
OCTOBER FRIDAY 18TH 18:39
Meghan was out there, somewhere. Had she made it? Don had seen a few people escape, but in the chaos, he hadn’t seen her. He had to trust she had. He had to believe she had made it out alive.
She’s waiting for me to get he
r. I need to find her. I need her. If I hadn’t asked her along, she wouldn’t be here, so she’s my responsibility. The whole park is my responsibility. I have to do something. Why didn’t I shoot? I’ve got the rifle, but I couldn’t. There was no time. It was too big. What could I have done?
“Amanda, listen to me, we have to go. We have to go get help.” Don tried pulling her with him, but Amanda was not moving.
“Oh, Jesus, what are we going to do?” Amanda looked back at the monsters again. “Diablo. What a joke. Look at the size of it. Look at the other one. It must be three or four times the size of the one we had. What if we only had a baby version? I think we just had an infant, Don. Oh Jesus, I can’t…”
Amanda’s knees buckled and Don put his arms around her, letting her sink slowly to the floor. They were beside the tank, just under the shelter of the tunnel that led back to the control room. The monsters out there hadn’t seen them yet, but he didn’t want to wait much longer. Amanda was losing it, and he couldn’t blame her. How many people had just been killed; a hundred, a thousand, more? If Don and Amanda were spotted, they would be dessert. He had to make her move.
Don cupped Amanda’s face in his hand. “Listen to me good, Amanda, ‘cause I’m only saying this once more,” he said sternly. “Unless you want to be a snack for a giant fucking sea monster, then you need to get up and out of here. We have a slim chance if we go now. You ever tried killing a mouse with a tank? Well, those things are bigger than tanks, and we’re the mice. We can get past them, we just have to be smarter than them. Now get off your ass and move!” He literally pulled Amanda up onto her feet, and together, they began walking quietly down the tunnel.
Don kept them as close to the tank as he could, hoping it would provide them with cover. The tunnel was dim, but they only needed to get as far as the security control room. He couldn’t hear any noises behind them and chanced a look over his shoulder. The monsters were well behind them now, and he let out a breath. His heart was pounding. He had thought he was going to have to drag Amanda out of there by her hair, like some prehistoric caveman. He looked at her and his heart reached out. She was broken. The shock was subsiding and reality was setting in; tears were streaming down her face and the hand he held was starting to tremble. She coughed and then tripped, holding herself up by leaning against the tank’s walls.
“Don, just a second. Please?”
He let her go and watched her recline against the tank. He nervously looked back to where they had come from. He could no longer see the stadium, and he was pleased to see nothing was following them. The newcomer wouldn’t fit down here in the tunnel, but Diablo certainly would. Don nodded and let Amanda gather herself together. He wanted to get back upstairs as quickly as possible, to make sure the authorities were on their way. He also wanted to get Amanda out of her wetsuit and into some dry clothes. He could do with something dry to put on himself, and felt a shiver run down his back. It was a mixture of cold and fear.
Don knelt down beside Amanda. “I don’t know what the hell happened back there, but I can tell you this, my guys know what they’re doing. I’m sure the police and paramedics are on their way right now. We need to get you someplace safe, okay?” Don was aware that so far, Amanda hadn’t thought about Hamish. He had been out there to watch the show with his father. There was no way of telling what had happened to him, and if Amanda picked up that thread, it could lead anywhere. Don really hoped he could get Amanda out of harm’s way first.
“Someplace safe? Where the hell is safe anymore?” Amanda hissed. With shaking hands, she swept her hair back behind her shoulders. “It’s got to be its mother. What else could it be?”
Don shrugged. “What does it matter? We’ve got to kill it. Kill them both.”
Amanda looked at Don and nodded her head. “What if they head further inland? What if they head for the city? What if…oh God, what about Hamish, he was there!” Amanda jumped to her feet and looked down the tunnel.
Before she could make a run for it, Don grabbed her arm. “There’s nothing you can do about it now. Either he got away or…”
“Or what? I have to find him. He and Curtis might still be out there, in trouble. You saw what Diablo was doing, what he did to Zola.” Amanda tugged her arm from Don’s grasp.
They were interrupted by more barking noises from outside that echoed down the tunnel and stung their ears.
Don lowered his voice. He couldn’t fight her anymore. “Amanda, if you go back out there, you’re as good as dead. Hamish isn’t stupid, he would’ve made it. He was with his father wasn’t he? At the first sign of trouble, I bet they bolted. He’s probably waiting up in the staff room for you now, wondering where the hell you are.” Don took a step back, away from the stadium, and held out his hand. “Please, Amanda, come with me. We’ll find him, I promise.”
Don watched as Amanda thought it over. He genuinely didn’t know which way she was going to turn. He hoped that reason would win over emotion, but such was the expression of worry and fear on her face that he was expecting her to run away from him. His heart stopped pounding a little as soon as she took his hand.
“Fine. Let’s get upstairs. Then I’m going to get Hamish, with or without you.”
Amanda started running away from the tank and the stadium with Don, when a tremendous crash brought them to a stop, and natural daylight blinded their vision as a section of the roof above them was lifted off. Chunks of masonry fell around them, and then water swirled around their feet as the tunnel began to fill. The Ocean King was standing above them, and his tail had crashed through the roof. Large cracks appeared in the glass wall on their right, and then they saw Diablo swimming toward them through the water at speed.
“Run!” shouted Don as concrete and dust fell around them. Sprinting down the corridor, he heard more barks from the two monsters. The Ocean King was tearing the park apart above them, whilst Diablo chased after them. This was no random attack anymore; Diablo was going after them all. The vindictive Ocean King was urging its infant on a rampage, and Don’s pulse soared as he sensed Diablo’s approach. A sickening, crashing sound indicated the tanks walls had given way, and Don felt more cold water surging past his feet. “In here!”
Don opened a doorway and shoved Amanda through. She was immediately faced with a set of steps leading upward. “Go, go, go! It leads up to the janitor’s room. We can get out that way.”
The very building seemed to shake as they ran upwards, water filling the stairwell as they climbed. At the top, Amanda burst through another door and encountered a large room stocked with cleaning materials. She tried the door that led to the park, but it was locked.
“Don, I can’t open it.”
There was another bellow as the monsters destroyed the building. It was as if Diablo was specifically hunting for Amanda. Having killed and eaten Zola, was it now looking for her too? The room trembled and splintering sounds suggested the doorway below had finally given in to the pressure of the water. From beyond the door, Don heard screaming and the very ground shook, as the Ocean King began marauding through the park for more victims, leaving Diablo to finish the job at Shakti Stadium.
“Stand back,” said Don. He fired his rifle at the door, shredding it under a hail of bullets. The door flung open and Don and Amanda rushed outside.
Don heard the sirens before he saw help arriving. They had surfaced near Dolphin Point, and he saw a giant tail swing around and smash into the structure, causing the roof to cave in.
“No!” screamed Amanda as the dolphin enclosure was buried beneath a mountain of rubble.
Don saw people running everywhere, hopelessly lost. People with missing limbs, covered in blood, ran for their lives. A man collapsed at Don’s feet, his neck torn open and bleeding. Many of the retail carts were toppled over, and the Ocean King was there, its massive jaws swinging around and around as it scooped people up and ate them alive. A crush of around two hundred people had amassed by the park exit. Two stalls had been set up right outside
, narrowing the access to single file, and the crowd had no chance. A dark shadow flitted overhead, as Diablo’s parent reared up and then landed on the pile of men, women, and children. Most were crushed instantly beneath its swollen belly, and the rest were killed in its jaws.
“Where’s Diablo?” asked Amanda. “Where did he go?”
“Who cares,” said Don. “Let’s move.”
With Amanda in one hand and the rifle in his other, Don scurried through the park toward the staff entrance, away from the normal public one that was now blocked by the sea creature. Its tail curled around the toilet block and restaurant, so he had to take them the long way round, past the Bay of Play. It used to be a colourful array of children’s rides and games, but now it was a mangled mess, destroyed when the beast had simply walked over it and crushed it.
As terrorised people criss-crossed the path in front of them, Don saw a screaming toddler was stood alone just a few feet up ahead. No more than three or four years old, the boy wore a light blue T-shirt that read, ‘I met Diablo.’ Holding a stuffed toy, the boy was terrified and his parents were nowhere to be seen. Don saw the monster’s tail flick out and threaten to crush the boy, so he fired his rifle, sending round after round of explosives into the beast’s meaty tail. It was just enough to cause the monster to deflect the tail’s path, and it ended up swiping away a hot dog cart. Don fired again and reached for his walkie. “Terrick, where the hell are you? James? Sam? Someone answer me.”
“Terrick here, Don. I’m by the Reef gift shop. There was a stampede to get out and I got swarmed. I can see it now. Christ, it’s eating them. What the hell is happening?”