Cryptid Kingdom (Cryptid Zoo Book 6)

by Gerry Griffiths

  36

  SURF’S UP

  In order for Gabe, Caroline, Tommy, and Amy to remain together and not drift apart, they had to hold on to the handles on each other’s inner tubes while floating in the undulating wave machine pool along with 2,000 other swimmers. Gabe could hardly call it swimming when all you did was bob in the water waiting for the giant pistons at the end of the pool to generate the next wave.

  He had hoped to get in some body surfing but it was impossible wearing the inner tube, as everyone was required to use an inflatable flotation device to prevent being shoved below the surface under a ton of people.

  Anticipating and timing the next wave, everyone joined in and cheered like adoring fans greeting a famous celebrity on the red carpet.

  “Here comes another one,” Tommy yelled.

  Gabe saw the white water surge build up into a forming wave, then lift the front row of inner tubes up on its crest, sending bathers crashing into the main group like an invading armada.

  Caroline’s inner tube raised enough that her elbow caught Gabe in the face, striking him in the eye. The wave sent water splashing over everyone as they collided into one another. Gabe saw a small Asian woman flip upside down with her feet sticking up in the air then slip under the water.

  This is insane, he thought to himself. People can actually get killed here!

  Gabe breathed a sigh of relief when a man grabbed her by the arm and hauled her to the surface.

  The rolling wave leveled out, sending a few bathers onto the sandy shore of the man-made beach.

  Gabe could feel his feet touch the bottom.

  “Are you all right?” Caroline said. “Did I do that?”

  “It was an accident,” Gabe said, cupping his right eye.

  “Does it hurt?”

  “A little.”

  “I’m sorry,” Caroline apologized.

  “No big deal. Want to get out?”

  “Sure.” Caroline looked at Tommy and Amy. “You guys coming?”

  “Give us fifteen more minutes,” Tommy said. He looked at Amy to confirm and she nodded that she wanted to stay.

  “We’ll wait for you out front by the changing rooms,” Caroline said.

  “Sounds good,” Tommy said.

  Gabe and Caroline waded out of the water, dragging their inner tubes onto the beach, and deposited them at the drop off spot to be handed out to the next group of visitors.

  They walked to the locker room. Gabe went inside and gathered up his and Caroline’s belongings leaving the cousins’ stuff in the locker.

  He came out, handed Caroline the day bag containing her shoes and clothes, and they went to the changing booths to get dressed.

  Ten minutes later, they found a bench and sat waiting for Tommy and Amy so Gabe could hand over the locker key so the cousins could change into their clothes.

  “How’s your eye?” Caroline asked.

  “I’ll survive,” he said, rubbing his eye.

  “Let me see.” Caroline reached over and gently pulled Gabe’s hand back so she could take a look. “It looks red. Wait,” she said looking at his other eye. “They’re both red.”

  “It’s the chlorine,” Gabe said, covering his eye again. “Hey, do you know what a pirate’s favorite letter is?”

  “No. What?”

  “Arrr.”

  37

  VISTA POINT

  Rather than risk the chance of being spotted tailing the vehicle, Mack drove on by when the SUV turned off the main road and headed down a narrow drive to what appeared to be a private airstrip with two warehouse-sized hangars, more than a dozen rows of private single-engine planes, and a couple of larger twin-prop transport aircraft.

  Mack pulled over to the side of the road. “What now?”

  Anna glanced out the windshield and saw a dirt road that ran up a hillside to a ridge overlooking the airfield. “Maybe we can get a better look from up there.”

  The rental car proved suitable for most of the drive up the steep incline, though the rear tires did spin out near the top causing the vehicle to go sideways but Mack was able to regain control, goosing the accelerator as they reached the summit.

  “This would make the perfect vista point,” Anna said. Not only did they have a sharpshooter’s view of the small airport, they were high enough to see the magnificent city of Hangshong with its dramatic skyline far off in the distance. Anna could even make out the bullet-shaped Chang Empire Building, which stood out from the rest of the architecture like a saguaro cactus on a rocky plain.

  Anna and Mack got out of the car, walked over, and stood on the ridge.

  “Be nice to have some binoculars,” Mack said.

  The SUV had pulled up to the side of one of the hangars. Four doors opened up and the men got out. It was too far to get a decent description, only that they were all dressed in black and wearing hoods.

  A side door in the hangar swung open and a man stepped out. He walked up to the group of Cryptos like he had been expecting them, shaking one man’s hand.

  “Be nice to know what they’re saying,” Mack said.

  “We could go down and introduce ourselves,” Anna said.

  “Sure, and while we’re at it, we could slip them our business cards.”

  “We still need to go down there and see what’s going on.” Anna pulled her Glock 19 out of her holster, ejected the clip to make sure it was fully loaded, popped it back in the handgrip, ratcheted the slide back, and put one in the chamber.

  “Maybe there’s a window around back,” Mack said, drawing his service weapon.

  They were just about to head down the sloping hillside when they heard blaring sirens coming from the direction of the city.

  “What the hell is that?” Mack said.

  “Sounds like a warning system,” Anna said.

  The ground under their feet trembled and the rental car rocked violently on its chassis, enough to trigger the anti-theft alarm. Chunks of loose rock and clumps of dirt tumbled down the hill.

  Anna stumbled backward, fighting to stay on her feet as Mack staggered toward the side of the car. She heard a loud rumble, and then a three-foot wide fissure opened up between her and Mack, threatening to swallow her partner up. “Mack, watch out!” she screamed. Mack leaped over the chasm.

  Turning to the sound of the sirens coming from the far away city, Anna witnessed a tall structure snap in half like an icicle breaking off an eave. More buildings swayed and came apart. She could see heavy plumes of smoke billowing up between the collapsing high-rises.

  A hard jolt knocked Anna to the ground. She looked for Mack but couldn’t see him in the cloud of swirling grit. It was like being buffeted by rotary blades from a hovering helicopter.

  She crawled blindly on her hands and knees, unable to see in the whirling dust as the ground buckled beneath her.

  “Anna! Where are you?” Mack yelled.

  Before she could answer, a large shadow came toward her.

  She scrambled out of the path of the rental car as it slid over the edge and rolled sideways down the hillside, flipping over onto its roof, swept up in the rockslide piling up at the bottom of the slope.

  Mack stood over Anna and helped her up. He looked out across the valley and said, “Jeez, will you look at that?”

  Anna could see black smoke over the city from erupting fires.

  She turned and gazed down at the rental car half buried under the rocks at the bottom of the hill. “Well, there goes our ride.”

  One of the hangars had collapsed on the small airfield but the one the men were in was still standing.

  The SUV seemed to have escaped damage.

  “Or not,” she said.

  38

  RUMBLE

  Jack and Nora were standing at the same spot where they had seen the utility cart come out from behind the shrubberies when they heard a thunderous rumble like a speeding locomotive barreling toward them. A powerful shockwave ripped beneath them like the quick snap of a wet towel.

>   “Holy shit, it’s a monster earthquake!” Jack yelled, grabbing hold of Nora as they struggled to stay on their feet like passengers on the deck of a cruise ship pitching in a rough sea. Jack heard people shouting and women and children screaming.

  Situated near the garden area between the raptor exhibit and Yeren Temple, Jack and Nora watched the devastating destruction. Heavy tiles slid off the shaking buildings and fell on park visitors, burying them under the rubble.

  Jack looked up and saw the cable snap on Sky-High. A string of two-person chairs plummeted from the lift. A man and a woman fell into the fenced-in pen and the gaping mouths of the giant toads.

  The sprawling branches on the humongous Jinmenju tree snapped off, crushing people as they ran for safety.

  Unable to withstand the jarring shake, the walls collapsed on Fu Lion Pavilion and the roof caved in. The brickwork on a nearby watchtower began to crumble, causing the structure to fall in on itself.

  Jack heard a piercing screech and looked up. A speeding train derailed on Cobra Fury and flew over their heads, burrowing into the ground like a spinning drill bit.

  “Oh my God, look!” Nora pointed to the giant slides at Splash Down. The eighty-foot tall tubes were splitting apart at the seams, spilling out bathers. Support beams splashed down into the lagoon.

  Jack and Nora ran past the fenced-in white deer and dashed through the garden area to the entrance of Yeren Temple, dodging people running frantically out of the building while heavy tiles shattered on the steps strewn with bodies of those struck from the bone-crushing debris.

  “We have to get Lennie out of there,” Nora yelled, staying close to the wall to avoid being struck by the bombarding tiles.

  The giant room was filled with swirling dust. An overhead beam snapped and swung down like a pendulum, punching through the thick exhibit glass between the Xing-Xings’ enclosure and Lennie’s.

  The one-armed monkeys had already gotten free and were fighting in the middle of the room like two feuding backwoods families.

  “Look out!” Jack yelled when a fifty-pound Xing-Xing came at them. Knowing he would be no match against the powerful animal, Jack scanned the floor for a weapon and spotted a club-sized piece of splintered wood. He picked up the board, stepped back to shield Nora, and when the Xing-Xing leaped in the air, Jack thrust the sharp end into the primate’s chest. The ape shrieked and crashed to the floor.

  “Oh my God,” Nora said, when she saw three Xing-Xings knuckle walking in their direction.

  “We have to get out of here,” Jack said.

  Jack and Nora turned to run then realized there was nowhere for them to go.

  Two Xing-Xings blocked the entrance like a pair of brawlers bracing for a fight.

  39

  DESPERATION

  At first, Gabe thought that one of the giant pistons in the wave pool had thrown a rod when he felt the sudden jolt and the asphalt beneath them buckle suddenly, tossing Caroline and him from the park bench.

  “Oh my God,” Caroline screamed, landing flat on her belly.

  Gabe came down next to her. “Are you okay?” he said, struggling to get on his hands and knees. It was like kneeling on a vibrating paint-mixer shaker.

  He flashed on the natural disaster movie San Andres that he had seen in a movie theater with booming surround sound and how realistic the special visual effects seemed when the 9.6 magnitude earthquake annihilated the city of San Francisco, even causing a tidal wave. But that had been make-believe; this was real!

  He heard the sound of grinding metal and looked up.

  The Splash Down tube slides were twisting like four giant flex straws and bursting apart at the seams, spilling out bathers, many flailing their arms and legs comically, though it was no laughing matter when they belly flopped, or landed squarely on their backs in the shallow water, some missing the lagoon all together and splattering on the concrete support foundations.

  “My God,” Caroline shouted. “Amy and Tommy are still in there!”

  Tubular chutes broke apart and came crashing down on swimmers. People were screaming hysterically, scrambling to get out of the pool, dashing onto the man-made beach, everyone running in the same direction like frantic sheep mindlessly fleeing a hungry predator.

  Gabe saw the thirty-foot high perimeter wall surrounding the park give way in places, brick and mortar demolishing into ruinous heaps.

  A roller coaster trestle suddenly sunk ten feet into the ground, snapping the rails, and collapsed into the wave pool pumping station. Gabe heard the horrendous sound of fallen metal striking machinery and concrete. Damaged pistons sent water surging over the abutment onto dry land, forming a three-foot tsunami, so powerful, it knocked people off their feet and sent many sprawling face-first into the swift current.

  Gabe and Caroline ran perpendicular to the fast-flowing water and managed to get to higher ground near the lagoon.

  Already scores of bodies were floating facedown on the surface.

  Everywhere around them structures kept falling down creating thick, dust clouds while the earth continued to shake.

  Twenty seconds seemed like an eternity, and then the trembling stopped.

  Caroline stared out over the water and cupped her hands around her mouth, yelling, “Amy! Tommy! Can you hear me?”

  Which seemed improbable with all the chaos around them.

  Thousands of park visitors shouting, some helping the injured or digging with their bare hands for those buried under the rubble, many staggering around too dazed to know what had just happened. Parents protecting their children, families split apart, lost souls sitting on the ground.

  While Caroline continued to call out for Amy and Tommy, Gabe reached in his pants pocket and took out his cell phone. It took him only a couple of seconds to find the right app. “You’re not going to believe this.”

  “What?” Caroline said.

  “We just had an 8.3 magnitude earthquake.”

  “Are you serious?”

  “The epicenter was right in the middle of the city.”

  “Oh boy. That means we’re stuck here.” Caroline turned and shouted, “Amy! Where are you?”

  Despite all the noise around them, Gabe heard a woman’s voice answer back. “I think I hear her,” he said.

  It was Amy. She and Tommy were wading in waist-high water. Tommy was being brave for his cousin, pushing floating bodies out of their path so Amy wouldn’t freak out.

  “Thank God,” Caroline said, waving to get their attention.

  Gabe glanced over at the building with the dressing room. A sidewall had collapsed but the rest of the structure seemed intact. “Maybe I should go get their things from the locker room.”

  “Gabe! What’s that?”

  Something was swimming just below the surface about ten feet in front of them.

  Gabe took a step forward to get a better look and was able to identify it right away. “Don’t worry, it’s only a fish.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “It’s one of those fish from the aquarium.”

  Amy finally spotted Gabe and Caroline on the abutment and called out, “Guys!”

  Caroline turned to Gabe with a worried look. “Oh my God, Gabe. If the fish got out...” She faced the water and screamed, “Amy! Tommy! Get out of there! Now!”

  Gabe waved them on. “Get out of the water!”

  Tommy trudged through the water, cupping his hands to propel himself forward.

  Amy was having trouble keeping up and trailed a few feet behind; enough space for a dead woman—with the back of her skull missing—to float in between them.

  “Tommy, help!” Amy screamed.

  But before Tommy could go back for her, an enormous twenty-foot long shape knifed through the water and came up behind Amy.

  The giant Guai Wu exploded out of the water like a blue whale executing a barrel roll and splashed down on top of Amy, taking her down with it.

  “No, no!” Tommy screamed.

  “Get out o
f there, Tommy!” Caroline yelled.

  Another Guai Wu—or maybe it was the same one—lurched out of the water, grabbing Tommy with its flipper arms and pulled him under the surface.

  Gabe saw more of the seal-like creatures converge on the rippling circle where Tommy had disappeared. Turbulent gouts of blood bubbled to the surface.

  “Oh my God, no!” Caroline screamed.

  “Son of a bitch!” Gabe yelled. He put his arm around Caroline and turned her away, knowing there was nothing they could do to save them. He felt doubly bad knowing that if he had been adamant about keeping his plans to take Caroline to his parents for spring break and maybe talked Amy into convincing her father to find a way to get his money back after booking their trip, Amy and Tommy would still be alive and not bloody chum at the bottom of the lagoon. “What do we do now?”

  Caroline was crying. “I don’t...” She brushed her cheek. “Wait a minute. I know someone who might help us.”

  “Who?”

  “The FBI agents that were on our flight.”

  “Yeah? But how are you going to reach them?”

  “Agent Rivers gave me her card. I have it somewhere,” Caroline said, and began digging through her purse.

  40

  BLACK MARKET

  Climbing down the gravely slope was like dancing on marbles. Twice, Mack fell and slid down on his butt, ruining the seat of his slacks and scuffing up his shoes. Each time he went down, Anna—who had the grace and agility of a gazelle—couldn’t help but laugh. She loved ribbing him every chance she got: even in the worst predicaments.

  Upon reaching the bottom, Anna and Mack stayed low and crept across the tarmac to the black SUV parked outside the hangar.

  Luckily, no one was guarding the vehicle.

  Mack peered through the driver’s window. “We’re in luck. They left the fob in the cup holder.” He was about to reach for the door handle when Anna shook her head.