The geyser of water stopped spewing. The moment that happened, something blasted high up in the sky. Arnold swore it was a government aircraft of some kind. It was thin, aerodynamic, and made of shiny black material. Definitely an aircraft, Arnold thought.
Figures. This is some kind of government testing ground. I'll not be a part of any cover up. I'll shove this .45 up their bureaucratic assholes, and I'll never stop popping rounds until every last one of 'em are dead. I don't care how many times I have to wipe the shit off my gun. You can't keep me silent. I know what I'm seeing, damn it. Arnold fucking Goodman can't be silenced.
Arnold realized in the next moment that he was dead wrong about his observations.
This was no government aircraft.
The black mass was almost as long as the Golden Gate Bridge itself. It hovered over the bridge waiting. Arnold could hear air hiss through the numerous holes in its body. The hermetic pressure caused the water in the San Francisco Bay to boil.
Arnold fired four shots at the black mass. He ducked back into his cab when the mass lowered itself closer to the bridge. The bullets got the floating mass's attention, and it was not happy.
Arnold flipped the meter back on and started driving down the bridge. "I know when it's time to get the hell out of here. My watch says go! Strap your seatbelts on, kiddos!"
The couple in the back was screaming. Arnold said everything in his customer experience canon to calm them down. Nothing would work. Arnold's heart was running a marathon in his chest. He was almost to the point of losing his cool, too.
The thing looks just like a giant string ray.
No damn way.
The suction sound of air, like a hundred airplanes engines about to take off at once, kept increasing in power. So deafening, Arnold had to stop the car and cover his ears. Every window in the car burst. Glass shattered on the hundreds of vehicles scattered about the bridge.
Arnold ducked down when the hood and trunk of the cab were wrenched upwards and flung aside by the massive surges of air. Cyclone forces spun vehicles on their wheels. Some vehicles were pitched over the side of the bridge, flung like toy cars. The bridge became a deadly high-speed destruction derby of chaos.
Right when Arnold shouted, "Hold on, folks!" the top of the car was peeled back like a tin can. Arnold was lifted up so hard that it snapped the seatbelt restraining him. The young couple hadn't worn their seatbelts and were spring-ejected upwards immediately. Arnold did four upside down, right side up spins. Massive numbers of people were hovering in the air after being forcibly removed from their vehicles.
Arnold craned his neck as he was suctioned towards the string ray's body. Black sleek skin covered its underbelly, as did thousands of mouths with lips the texture of black licorice. Arnold was sucked head first into one of the champing maws and devoured alive.
Blood rained down upon the Golden Gate Bridge.
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Slipway Grey: A Deep Sea Thriller Page 11
