Legend: An Event Group Thriller

by David L. Golemon

  The fur-covered plesiosaur darted forward in the water with incredible speed. Jack heard another scream and more shots from somewhere in the bow.

  “It’s got the chief and Dr. Pollock cornered,” Mendenhall yelled as he saw an open shot and took it. The sergeant’s bullet grazed the dark skin of the beast and it hissed, its yellow eyes glancing away from its prey and toward the stern of the boat. Again it crashed its glistening body into Teacher, almost rolling her onto her side. They didn’t think she would right herself after that heavy blow, but slowly she started leaning the right way.

  “Look out!” Jack shouted as he pulled Mendenhall down and on top of Danielle. The thick, powerful tail of the animal had risen from the water and lashed out at the antagonists from behind.

  Jack braced himself but he knew it was too late. The tail hit him across the chest and threw him six feet into the air and over the side.

  Sarah was still in the galley and yelped when the overhead light shattered. She looked up as the lights were lost but could still see the hull as it buckled inward from the pressure the monster outside was forcing on it. The upper window buckled and cracked. Then she smelled fire as the interior of Teacher went black.

  Carl finally reached the upper deck from amidships after fighting his way through the darkness and flooding. When he first saw the beast his eyes widened, but it didn’t stop him from firing his handgun at the swinging head of the plesiosaur. He was only two sections back of Jenks and Virginia as he heard her scream and the master chief curse. He saw the flash of three shots as Jenks fired from where he covered Virginia below the gunwale. High above, an M-16 opened fire with a three-round burst that caught one of the freshwater animals along the curvature of its body where its skin met Teacher, just above the waterline. Sanchez had opened fire from the crow’s nest. The sergeant fired again, this time stitching a pattern in the water as he missed, and then guided the rounds across the body of one of the four smaller, shelled creatures.

  The plesiosaur shook its massive head and slammed it into the section that Jenks was in, crushing the composite hull, causing the master chief to lose his weapon as he threw himself onto Virginia to protect her.

  Suddenly Carl heard shots coming from the water. He saw the flashes about twenty yards from the boat. Several of the rounds struck the nightmarish beast just behind its head, jerking it violently. The dinosaur and its smaller companions turned their attention to their new antagonist as Carl turned on the battery-powered spotlight to see who had fired. It was Jack, treading water. Carl watched as the major fire twice more into the thick body of the creature. Its yellow eyes glowed with pure rage. It bowed its long neck and head, and immediately slammed its giant foreflippers into the water. Carl was astonished to see what looked like stubby fingers protruding from the flipper-like apertures as it dove away from the boat. The beast was going for Jack. Carl hurriedly fired several times, as did every armed hand on the upper deck. Even Jenks was now standing and fired wildly at the massive shape as it thrashed in the water.

  “Goddammit!” Carl yelled. Sarah finally made it to the top deck as he emptied his nine-millimeter toward the prehistoric animal. “Swim for it, Jack!” he cried even though he saw Jack would never make it.

  Sarah gasped when she saw one of the smaller animals had made it to Jack first. He disappeared from sight as he was jerked under the water. Carl threw down his weapon, jumped clear of the upper rail, and dove headfirst into the roiling lagoon. Mendenhall did the same at the stern. Sarah couldn’t help it, her legs gave out and she collapsed against the gunwale. Professor Keating came through the hatch and went to her side. The others watched in horrible dreamlike slowness as the water crashed and swirled around the small beast. They saw Carl surface and look around, and Mendenhall dive again. But as both men both went under, the thrashing stopped. The larger animal was now at the spot where Jack had been dragged down. As Jenks shined the large spotlight on the water, he saw a few bubbles and four long wakes leading away from an expanding circle of blood.

  As the night became quiet all they could hear were the loud splashes of Carl and Mendenhall. Then even that sound ceased as the two men realized as one that Jack and the animals were gone. And then total silence swept across the water except for the gentle lapping of the lagoon at Teacher’s waterline.

  In less than twelve hours onsite, Teacher had sustained damage twice. The pounding she had endured from the family of plesiosaurs was substantial, but Jenks announced that it was not beyond repair. The report fell on deaf ears as the crew was laid low by the news that they had lost Jack. In the science lab, Virginia and Dr. Waltrip tried to convince Sarah that taking a sedative would by no means make her a lesser woman in anyone’s eyes. Still, she refused and angrily left the lab.

  She walked by everyone as if she were in a daze, to the spiral staircase amidships. Jenks headed her off and held her arm at the bottom step, then released it just as quickly when he saw her eyes.

  “You watch yourself out there, young lady,” he said, and handed her an M-16.

  She took it and went up the stairs, then pushed open the acrylic hatch bubble and stepped out into the night. She saw Mendenhall leaning against the gunwale and walked over. He was taken aback when he saw who had joined him. The black man studied her for a minute and then turned away to stare at the water.

  “What you and Carl did, going into the water after Jack like that, I want …I want to say thank you for trying,” she said as she steeled herself against the tears that threatened to form.

  “I only did what he would have done if it were me in the water,” he said without looking at her. “He trained us to react without thinking, but he never taught us how to act if we failed …” he said, trailing off.

  Sarah placed her hand on Mendenhall’s, suddenly realizing it was not only she who would be grieving for Jack. She knew the sergeant looked at Jack more as a father; and Carl, as his best friend. The lieutenant commander had buried himself in the task of repairing the ship, to take his mind away from what had happened. Sarah knew she needed to do her job, as well, and decided that it was time to get on with it. She patted Mendenhall on the shoulder and turned away.

  It was near dawn when Carl was shaken awake by Shaw, who had pulled a double shift abovedecks on watch while the others repaired the boat. Carl saw the wide look of fear on the corporal’s face and immediately rose from his bunk.

  “What’s wrong?”

  “Sir, I think one of those animals has surfaced and is just floating around the boat. I felt something hit us a minute ago and when I looked down, there it was, big as life. We may have a chance at killing the bastard. I also repaired the laser warning system. Something set off the fence at some point during the night.”

  Carl leapt from the bunk, not bothering with his shoes, as he trotted for the arms locker. Jenks, who had been awake all night repairing the hull from the inside, saw him dash by and followed. Carl quickly removed a .50-caliber Barrett rifle from the locker and handed it to Jenks. Then he tossed two hand grenades to Shaw, and when he noticed Mendenhall come sleepily down the companionway he tossed him two grenades. He grabbed a white phosphorous canister and then ran for the amidships hatch. The rest of the boat was coming alive with the noise the men made as they ran up the steps.

  Carl ran to the gunwale and was surprised to see the thick body of the large plesiosaur lounging up against the hull. It bobbed easily in the movement of the lagoon. His eyes followed the entire length of the beast. It disappeared into the darkness of the water toward the aft of Teacher.

  “Fuck a preacher’s daughter, she’s one big son of a bitch,” Jenks whispered.

  Carl didn’t answer. He was looking at something strange that seemed to be wrapped around the midsection of the long-necked animal. As he looked forward he saw the same thing toward the bow, where the head disappeared from view into the depths of the lagoon.

  “It’s dead.” He handed Mendenhall the two grenades he was holding. Then with no explanation he jumped o
ver the side, as all on board to a man reached out to try to stop him.

  “Are you crazy, Toad, you fuckin’ officer piece of shit!” Jenks said loudly.

  As they watched in stunned horror, Carl surfaced and made his way toward the floating plesiosaur. His breaststrokes were slow and deliberate and although he suspected the giant beast was dead, he still looked up and made a gun motion with his hand. Jenks aimed the rifle down at the thickest part of the animal as Carl approached.

  “You have company, Commander,” Mendenhall shouted.

  Carl pulled up short of the hull and watched as four of the smaller animals shot away from the corpse of the larger one. It had looked as though they had been intentionally staying close to it. Ellenshaw had explained earlier why he had thought the green-shelled animals were the larger one’s off-spring, and that not recognizing the boat for what it was, she had targeted Teacher as a threat to them. Thus, as he had lectured at them like a schoolmaster, why she had attacked the vessel.

  Carl watched for a moment, but the smaller plesiosaurs didn’t reappear. He resumed his approach toward the floating body. Slowly, he brought his hand up and touched the rough hide of the wondrous animal, then he slapped at it. It didn’t move. Then he saw what had caught his attention from the deck above. The beast had been impaled onto the maneuvering water jets of Teacher, effectively holding it in place. He turned and swam toward the cockpit area, where it had been brutally attached at the forward thruster, as well.

  “What in the hell, Toad?” Jenks asked. Other crew members had now come on deck to watch.

  “It’s been slammed so hard into the maneuvering jets that it’s been impaled.”

  The conditions just under Teacher had deteriorated as revealed in the early morning’s diffused light. The water was now murky. At last Carl found the long neck of the beast where it sank below the water. His hand traveled along it until it suddenly slid off. The head of the animal had been completely ripped off. Strings of meat protruded from the stump and long gouges deeply marred the plesiosaur’s dark, lightly haired skin. Carl looked around him and suddenly felt as if he wasn’t alone. He kicked upward toward the lagoon’s surface. When he did so, he immediately swam for the ladder.

  “What in the hell’s going on, Toad?” Jenks repeated.

  “Something wanted us to know this animal was dead. The head has been ripped off the body.”

  The others started speaking at once, but Sarah just looked away toward the falls and wondered who—or what—had avenged Jack’s death.

  The small hands worked and the jabbering was nonstop. Sand was thrown and even a few berries were forced into his mouth. The fruit was followed by cool water that not only splashed his face but started a choking reaction, as the water slid past the berries and into his throat. Jack sputtered and coughed as he fought his way back to consciousness. As he spat out the last of the overly sweet fruit and threw up about a glass of brackish water, he slowly looked around him. The forest surrounded him with darkness and it was loud with the noises he had come to be accustomed to. The screeching of monkeys and cries of the many different species of birds threatened to overwhelm his awakening senses.

  As he stilled his heart he thought he could see through the trees to the lagoon beyond. He felt his chest and legs, and found no broken bones. His right ankle felt as though it may have been fractured until he attempted to stand and could put his full weight on it. That was when he noticed the damage to his boot and the puncture marks that lined the thick rubber sole. They looked like teeth marks. He was having the hardest time remembering what had happened to him. The only thing he could recall was drowning— being pulled under the water and not being able to come up for air. He remembered the feeling of being released and quickly grabbed again, and then a sense of speed, of being pulled through the depths and then just as suddenly being let go. Now he could recall the water becoming strangely and overly warm around him while there had been a tremendous explosion of motion around him. Then another vague memory of an animal that had no right to be in existence. The plesiosaur started to rematerialize in his confused mind. Now he remembered being thrown into the water and even firing at the great animal as it smashed into the boat.

  Jack tested his sore ankle by taking a few steps. Then he remembered the berries being placed in his mouth, and saw where he had spat them out onto the grassy forest floor. He looked around and wondered who it had been who tried to feed him. He was deep in thought when a bunch of the small red berries hit him on the head and shoulders. He looked up in time to see a small, shiny arm shoot back into the tree branches. Keeping his eyes on the tree, he reached down and retrieved one of the berries and popped it into his mouth. He chewed and swallowed and continued to look upward. That was when he heard chattering along the ground in front of him, and he looked that way. As he watched, several of the small monkey-like creatures Sarah had said she had seen grooming poor Sanchez walked out of the underbrush. Jack felt as if he were hallucinating. He shook his head and stared as they advanced upright with a bowlegged gait. Their arms were longer than their legs, and they seemed to wobble as they walked. Their skin was perfectly smooth with not a hair visible. Scales covered their bodies and even in the dark he could see the fins that lined their forearms and legs. Small gills puffed in and out along their jawline, and their small lips were parted to show teeth that were short and pointy, not like a monkey’s at all.

  “Well, what have we here?” His own voice sounded strange to him.

  The five small creatures stopped short when he spoke. They looked from one to the other as if the sound coming from this man amazed them.

  Jack now noticed their small hands; and indeed, as Sarah had said, their fingers were joined by webbing, and the same went for their overly large feet. There was a finlike appendage on the top of their heads that flared up and down as they took in air through their small noses.

  “I suppose I have you to thank for the berries and water?”

  The creature closest to him turned to look at its companions and then back at Jack. It tilted its head and then suddenly ran the thirty or so feet to the trees and disappeared, immediately followed by the others. Jack watched them leave and wondered what had scared them off. He listened closely, and he heard splashing coming from the lagoon. He turned in that direction and that was when he saw the footprints. They were huge and came from the lagoon. There was another set going back the way they had come. The enormous webbed prints heading from the beach looked as if whatever they had belonged to had been dragging something.

  “What in the hell?” he mumbled as he reached down to touch one of the impressions. He picked up his nine-millimeter Beretta. Had it been him that had been dragged ashore?

  He heard voices and looked again toward the lagoon. He followed the tracks of the large, fan-shaped footprints all the way to the water. In the bright spot of sunlight he saw the surreal vision of Teacher anchored in the center of the lagoon. Several people crowded the upper deck as they stared down at a man in the water. Jack stepped close to the water and called out.

  Aboard Teacher, the crew had just opened one of the lab windows to take Carl in when a shout startled all on deck. Sarah looked toward where the others were pointing and her heart almost leapt from her chest. Jack was standing on the small beach with his hands on his hips. Then he raised his hands to his face, to cup his mouth.

  “Will someone get a boat and get me off this beach?” he hollered. Shouts and laughter erupted everywhere on the upper deck. Carl dove back and swam to the other side of Teacher, then pulled himself up into the rubber boat. He then quickly started the motor and cast off, sped around to the opposite side, and zoomed into the lagoon.

  Running the Zodiac up on shore, Carl hopped out before it came to a complete stop. He shook Jack’s hand and then guided him to the rubber boat. Sarah was so elated she didn’t feel it as the others on deck patted her on the back and shoulders. Even Danielle Serrate gave her a smile.

  An hour later, Jack was cleaned u
p, his ankle taped and his stomach full of scrambled eggs and sausage supplied by Heidi Rodriguez. Sarah sat next to him and kept shoving food into his face while he told his strange story. Her happiness brought a mood of joy and a sense of reprieve to the rest of the crew.

  “Not to break the mood here, but how in the hell has that animal survived?” Jack asked.

  Keating started to reply but bowed to an excited Ellenshaw instead.

  “Well, Major, one of the things we must consider is the fact that this lagoon, this valley, must now be considered as one would an island. A place that is separate from the rest of the world. And as on an island that has been left undisturbed, the animal life and even its ecosystem will evolve almost totally void of outside interference. The indigenous food supply would be the main key to any species and its growth. If this plesiosaur, or whatever it was, and its offspring has an ample supply of, let’s say, monkey and fish, and both land and lagoon life is as abundant as I’ve ever seen in such a small environment, there would be less competition for that food supply. The same can be said of other life forms associated with this lagoon. Obviously, this species would be near the top of that food chain.”

  The others looked at Ellenshaw as if he had just spoken in Latin.

  “Perhaps another example, Madagascar, off the coast of Africa. It was separated many, many thousands of years ago from the continent and in consequence the species on that island developed far differently from their cousins on the mainland. Why? Because they were isolated. Birds, for example, became flightless because they had nothing to fear in this new environment.”