“So much for seeing her coming,” Devon said. “It’s like swimming in soup.”
“Just keep the sonar going,” McCallum snapped. “I’ll watch my men.”
Devon glanced over at Arthur who shrugged. She looked at the camera monitor one last time then focused on the sonar screen. She had a duty after all, a duty to keep the men in the water and everyone on the boat safe. It had been her idea to go out looking for Nessie. She had been the one to make McCallum aware that Nessie wasn’t gone, that she was still very much alive. The sonar pinged. It pinged again. The camera screens showed nothing, just the divers.
“Keep going,” McCallum ordered in to the walkie talkie he now held. “Keep going down, you’re clear.”
They kept going down and the sonar kept pinging, showing a large shape near the silhouettes of the three divers. McCallum tapped something on the computer and readouts of the divers’ vital signs suddenly appeared on the images from the cameras. Devon stared at him for a moment then leaned in close to the screen, peering to try and see through the murk. She was sure that she had seen a shadow, something moving out in the dark behind one of the divers. The sonar kept pinging.
“Something’s there!” McCallum snapped into the walkie talkie. “Wilkins, behind you.”
One of the screens showed a blur of movement through the water, bubbles filling the screen. Then it settled and all the three people on the boat could see was the deep green of the water and the light dancing through, making patterns in the gloom.
“There, on your two o clock,” McCallum said.
Devon had seen it, a flicker of movement, a shadow, something moving so quickly that she almost wasn’t sure that she’d seen anything at all. A gasp from Arthur beside her told her she had. The other two screens were showing just water with an occasional glimpse of fish or the other divers. Suddenly one of the screens was filled with bubbles, a hint of red, spinning water and a dark shape. Then it went black and the vital signs cut out.
“What…” McCallum said. “What just happened?”
“He’s gone,” Devon said, her voice faltering. “He’s just… gone.”
McCallum just blinked at the monitor and leaned in closer.
“There!” he shouted, pointing at one of the other screens. “I see her! Get ready to fire, take her out!”
“She’s just defending herself!” Devon said. “We’ve come to her home and attacked her, what did you expect to happen?”
“She’s going down,” McCallum snarled. He raised the walkie talkie to his mouth. “Prepare to fire.
Devon quickly scanned the images and gave a small cry when she saw a dark shape coming straight at the screen of one of the remaining divers. She screamed as she saw it all on the monitor of the remaining diver, as the dark shape zoomed in to the second diver, massive crushing jaws clamped around the man’s midriff, an explosion of blood and the two severed halves slowly floating down and out of sight. Devon stumbled back and half turned. She buried her face in Arthur’s chest and he gently held her to him, stroking her hair.
“Oh my god!” McCallum said. “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.”
Devon slowly turned back to the monitors and watched the only remaining working screen. There was a wide open mouth, teeth everywhere and a deep black hole of the creature’s throat. Then the camera showed only static and the life signs vanished.
“They’re dead,” Devon said shakily. “They’re all dead.”
“We need to leave, lass,” Arthur said quietly, pulling away from her. “We need to get out of here.”
“No!” McCallum snarled. “She’s going down. What can she do to us that she hasn’t done already? She’s been a problem for long enough. She’s a relic that should be dead, it’s time to make that happen.”
“She was protecting herself!” Devon said. She stepped away from Arthur and towards McCallum. “We’ve come here, killed her babies and now we’re hunting her. She’s going to fight back. We need to leave!”
“No way,” McCallum said, shaking his arm free of her grasp. “I’m calling the media. They’ll help me hunt her down.”
He stepped away from Devon and Arthur who were heading towards him, trying to calm him down. He kept stepping backwards, away from them and towards the railing of the boat.
“McCallum, we have to leave,” Devon said. “Like, right now!”
He held out a hand, warding her off and with the free hand scrambled in his clothes for his phone. He pushed Devon away as she got too close and pulled his phone free. He started to dial. Suddenly something knocked against the boat with a heavy thump and they rocked madly for a moment. The phone in McCallum’s hand slipped free, he waved his arms wildly to try and catch it but it kept slipping free until eventually it tumbled through the air and over the railing, falling into the water with a small splash. McCallum spun, put his hands on the railing and stared at where the phone had disappeared.
“Get me a phone!” he screamed, turning around.
His eyes were wide and his face was red, twisted and lined as he snarled and glared at Devon and Arthur.
“We’re going to get the media, get the police and get the fucking army out here,” he snarled as he paced back and forth. “We’re going to take out this bitch, get rid of her once and for all. I’ll ram her with the fucking boat if I have to.”
He headed towards the helm. Arthur reached out to stop him but McCallum shook him off. The crazed businessman grabbed a hold of the helm when something hit the boat again and they rocked from side to side. McCallum barely kept himself upright, Devon had to grab hold of a nearby post to stay on her feet and years of experience helped Arthur stay steady on his feet. They were showered with water from above and there was a great splash.
Devon looked over to the side of the boat and saw a column of grey flesh, rising from the surface of the loch, up into the air. She followed it upwards, higher and higher until she came to its head. It was long, narrow with a rounded snout. Its eyes were wide, round and blinking slowly. There was sadness there, a deep, all-consuming sadness. It tipped its head back, opened its teeth filled mouth and roared angrily. The three all stood there, frozen in place as they stared up at the creature. Devon’s heart was in her throat, her chest pounding so hard she could hear it in her ears. It was Nessie. They were finally face to face with the Loch Ness Monster.
As Devon kept looking at the monster the fear started to leave her. It lowered its head and kept looking at them. This wasn’t a monster, this was a creature from the beginning of time. It was something that had never been seen before, had never shown itself. It had the deepest, darkest green eyes that Devon had ever seen on an animal. At first glance Nessie’s skin was completely brown but as the creature leaned over them she saw that there were patterns of greys and greens on its flesh as well and even a few patches of orange. Devon wanted to just reach out and touch it, touch her. Instead she looked it in the eye. The creature kept lowering and lowering its head until it was snout to nose with Arthur.
Devon watched, holding her breath. Nessie sniffed at Arthur and then gently nudged at his chest with her snout, rubbing against him. He closed his eyes and smiled, reaching up with a steady hand to stroke Nessie’s head. Then Nessie pulled back and her head swiveled towards Devon. She moved closer and sniffed at Devon’s clothing, bumping the woman gently with her nose. Devon watched with her mouth open, looking Nessie right in the eye. Nessie pulled back and just stared at Devon, head tilted to one side. Then she moved on.
McCallum flinched as Nessie came to him and sniffed at his clothing. She smelled him for longer than the others, going back once or twice more, sniffing at him furiously. Devon could hear each deep breath clearly. Nessie reared back, eyes locked on McCallum. She roared. There was so much anguish in that roar, so much hatred. Devon realised what was going on. She could smell the special agents on his flesh, on his clothes. She could smell the gunpowder and gun oil, the blood of her babies. Devon couldn’t react as Nessie struck, her neck bending and dart
ing forward like a pouncing snake.
McCallum barely had time to scream before Nessie’s jaws clamped down on his throat. He reached up, tried to claw at her skin. It was no good. She was too big, too strong. She pulled and pulled, dragging him off and into the water.
Devon came back to herself then. She scrambled for her phone and rushed over to the side. A few quick swipes on the screen and a tap and she thought she’d captured the perfect picture of Nessie. She looked. When she looked at the picture she had taken though her heart fell a little. All there was of the image was a big black blob and loads of water. She couldn’t use the picture. It proved nothing. She looked over at Arthur, he was smiling sadly at the spot where Nessie had vanished beneath the waves. Then it hit Devon. She had seen Nessie, she had seen the Loch Ness Monster. Monsters were real.
The tears prickled at her eyes. This whole time… she’d thought they weren’t real, that they didn’t exist, that they were just the result of a poorly educated working class in history and people trying to exploit fear. But now she knew otherwise. Now she knew that they weren’t lies, that they weren’t made up, that they were real. Monsters were real.
Arthur put his arm around her and held her close as they slowly steered the boat away from the scene, back to port.
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
The crowds of journalists were back the next day. Devon and Arthur sat on the benches in front of the hotel, watching as they crowded around Police Chief McIntyre and the mayor. The two men were speaking clearly and loudly, straining to be heard over the chatter of the journalists.
“As of yet we have no information as to the location of James McCallum,” the police chief said. “What is clear however is that the special forces soldiers that he hired under the guise of hunting down and tracking the Loch Ness Monster were in fact the ones responsible for the deaths and mutilations of the bodies that were found within the loch in the recent months. Video footage was recently handed in that shows several of the men mutilating the bodies that were discovered and dumping them within the loch.”
Devon’s eyebrows shot up. She hadn’t known that. She turned around and stared at Arthur. The older man wouldn’t meet her eyes. She kept looking. He glanced at her, sighed and looked at the table.
“Arthur…” she said. “What did you do…?”
“I leaked the video to McIntyre,” he mumbled. “I handed it over before we left with McCallum and told him to look at it if McCallum never turned up again or if we all went missing. I guess he looked at it anyway.”
“Aye,” Helen said, suddenly appearing at their side. “I spoke to Cousin Glennis, she lives two counties over. Apparently, a bunch of those special forces blokes were hiding in her town. The police swooped in yesterday and arrested the lot of them. Charged them with murder and mutilation of bodies and everything.”
“Hopefully they’ll get some hard time for that,” Devon said. “Not that it’ll be a problem for those guys. They’re trained killers after all.”
“I heard some of them are making deals,” Helen whispered. “Ratting out on McCallum so they can get a leaner sentence. They’re not happy they’re getting in so much trouble for this, apparently they were only following orders.”
“Isn’t that what the Nazis said?” Devon said. She sighed. “Well, at least there’s no evidence of Nessie being real now. Everyone knows that McCallum faked it all and made everything up. You all get your peace and quiet and she gets left alone at last. At least for the next few decades anyway.”
A car beeped near the hotel. Devon looked over and smiled.
“Here’s my ride,” she said, getting to her feet and gathering her bags together. “I promise to come back and visit. And you just need to keep an eye on Nessie for me.”
Arthur climbed to his feet and hugged her tightly before turning and collecting her bags. Helen hugged Devon while he took them to the car and helped the cabbie load them up.
“Now remember girl,” Helen said firmly, “don’t go trusting everyone you meet. Never work with worthless millionaires and always have some faith in the seemingly impossible.”
Devon laughed and hugged Helen again. She turned to the cab and gave a soft cry as she saw all of the people she had met during her time in the village lined up on the other side of the taxi, waiting to say goodbye. Each of them gave her a tight hug or a warm handshake and wished her well. Some shoved their email addresses into her hand and promised to be in touch. She eventually climbed into her taxi and waved at them all as she finally drove away. They stood there, in a crowd, receding into the distance as Devon kept waving out of the back window. These were the people she’d helped, the people who’d become her friends while she had been there.
It was only when they disappeared around a bend and out of sight that Devon finally turned around and settled into her seat. It was going to be a long ride to the airport and an even longer flight. With McCallum gone she was stuck with regular planes this time. At least he’d paid her before Nessie had dragged him off to the depths. That was something.
EPILOGUE
At her flat it felt like nothing had changed. Everything was exactly as she had left it: a complete mess with clothes and paperwork everywhere. But she felt changed, utterly changed. She took out the picture that she’d taken of Nessie, printed in the airport’s Boots shop, and tacked it to the fridge. She smiled. Nessie was real. Who knew how many other monsters were still in existence. Her smile grew wider. Then her phone rang. She didn’t recognise the number.
“Doctor Devon Childs speaking,” she said quickly.
“Devon!” a cheery voice said, his accent a mix of English and Russian. “Good to speak to you. How are you, old girl?”
“Sergei?” Devon asked, “Sergei Jones, is that you?”
“Of course,” Sergei said. “I wasn’t sure I’d reach you. Thought you might still be all locked up in Scotland and under investigation because of the McCallum thing!”
“No,” Devon said, laughing. “They thought about it but considering I had no knowledge of what they were actually up to and McCallum’s notes said he was using me as a beard they figured I didn’t really have a reason to kill him. After all, I was just doing my job up there.”
“Well I’m glad to hear it,” Sergei said. “How have you been otherwise?”
“Sergei…” Devon said, a hint of warning in her voice. “I haven’t heard from you in three years. I know you’re not just calling for a chit chat.”
“You caught me,” he said. He sighed. “Truth is we’re having a bit of trouble over here. The Russians brought me in as an independent surveyor on some land formations where they want to build a new road, you know, making sure it stays up and stuff. The land’s pretty sturdy and should hold up well, real high quality granite-”
“Sergei!” Devon said, cutting him off. “You like rocks, I get it. Time to focus on the issue though.”
“Oh right, yeah,” he said. “Well anyway. They’re bringing in the workmen and I’m staying with the builders, just in case they come across a different rock type. But they’re having a bit of an issue and now the workers are on strike. It’s a major problem and no amount of money is making these guys work again.”
“Get new workers?” Devon said. “I don’t understand what this has to do with me?”
“Devon, if it was as simple as that it’d already be done.” Sergei said, “Russia’s a country that runs on money. They’ve taken capitalism to a whole new level here. But it’s not about the money. Devon, these guys are scared. Even the foreman’s scared and so are my bosses even though they won’t admit it. No one will work on this road until we get this sorted.”
“What’s scaring them?” Devon asked. “Something tells me it’s not a bear.”
“It’s a Menk,” Sergei said. “More and more of the workers have being seeing it near the work site and the word’s spreading. They’re saying the Menk doesn’t want the road built and there have been a few accidents and over-night equipment damage. They’re bla
ming the Menk.”
“So you want me to come and prove it’s fake?” Devon asked. “I don’t know Sergei.”
“I’m just asking you to come and look around,” Sergei said. He suddenly sounded exhausted. “We’re up on Dyatlov Pass, in Russia. It’s practically in the middle of nowhere apart from one small town and it’s surrounded by forest. The army’s talking about firebombing the entire area. Devon, the town would be destroyed, if not by the fire then by the destruction of the forest. Their entire lives are hunting and trapping and woodwork in those woods. With it gone they wouldn’t last long.”
“Menk…. Isn’t that a Bigfoot?” Devon asked. “They think a Bigfoot’s trying to stop the road being built…?”
“Yeah,” Sergei said. “Devon… I think it’s real. I think I’ve seen it. I need you to come and help, in any way you can.”
Devon glanced at the picture. Someone thought Bigfoot was real. They said they’d seen it. She’d heard that before. And Nessie had been real, one of the most iconic cryptids in the world was real. Who knew how many others were too.
“Sergei,” she said. A smile spread across her face. “You need to get to Moscow. I’m coming to Russia.”
Read on for a free sample of Megalodon In Paradise.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Daniel Marc Chant is an author of strange fiction. His passion for H. P. Lovecraft & the films of John Carpenter inspired him to produce intense, cinematic stories with a sinister edge.
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