| abstract
| - Downtown San Francisco sat under a haze in the mid-afternoon. It was fairly warm here, being the western coast of the U.S. A mild breeze was picking up off the ocean, bringing in the warm coastal air with it. Way out in the bay, almost past where it met the ocean, a yacht was floating. It was brand-new, in fact being on its maiden voyage, going down the coast. The boat had been a joined effort between two men, Paul Davis and Randy Shubein, and now the two were sitting on deck, sipping cold beers while talking in the shade. "Lovely day out," Randy said, sighing as the beer flowed into his stomach. "You bet," said Paul, looking at the Golden Gate Bridge, sparkling in the sunlight. "No better day to break in the new yacht!" "I knew I could rely on you to make the best choice," said Randy, closing his eyes and stretching out on his deck chair. "This boat's a real beauty!" "Straight from London's shipyards," Paul said proudly. "With my job, we'll pay it off in no time!" Suddenly, they heard a strange, low rumble far below. "What the heck is that?" Randy asked, getting up. "Sounded like an earthquake!" "Dad-blast it," Paul said angrily. "Just got this thing, and now we'll have a nice big tsunami to wreck it!" "Hold it," Randy said, listening closely. The sound came again. "That's not an earthquake. Sounds more like something swimming along the bottom of the bay!" Suddenly, there was a grinding sound, and then the boat lurched. "What the crap???" Randy swore, running over to the deck. "Something brushed the boat!" "Could be a shark," Paul said. "Yeah right," Randy mocked. "A shark the size of Godzilla? There's something big down there!" The grinding sound came again, this time much louder. The boat nearly spun as something scraped the bottom hard. Suddenly, there were shouts from down below. "Must be a submarine," Paul said, running down the stairs to the main floor. "Might be terrorists!" Randy followed him, finding workers running screaming along the main deck. Paul stopped one of them. "Joe?" he asked urgently. "What's goin' on?" "Water's gushing into the hold!" Joe shouted, pointing down. "Something scratched through the hull!" "What was it? Did you see?" Randy demanded. "Not very well, but I thought it looked like a couple of metal spines! Y'know, like the kind on the front of those Roman war ships!" Suddenly the boat rocked, sending chairs and people flying toward the sides. Paul hit his head on the railing lining the deck, and went limp. Randy shouted as he grabbed his friend. "Get off the boat!" he shouted. "Off! Now! Whatever it is, it's after the yacht!" He didn't have to say that twice. Men and women were running pel-mel to reach the life rafts, located on the top deck. Randy looked down the stairway into the hold and saw that the floor was covered with water. Suddenly, there was a loud roar and then, for an instant, the boat was lifted out of the water. Then, whatever it was submerged again, and the boat splashed back down. Then suddenly, it began to tilt. "She's going to capsize!" Randy exclaimed, running up the stairs. "Everyone off!" He ran for the nearest life raft, which was almost full. "Is everyone down?" he asked Joe, who was getting ready to throw it overboard. "Yeah, most of 'em," Joe answered. Then the boat's side hit the water, and the two went flying in. Randy struggled for breath and he fought to get away from the doomed vessel. He swam as far as he could, then came up and watched the yacht. Suddenly, something brushed against him; something wet and slippery. "Oh my word," he said, looking down. He could see a dark shape move in the water. "That thing's huge!" He continued watching the yacht for a minute, as it filled with water, and then began to sink. Then suddenly he saw a life raft heading toward him. "Randy! Get in!" shouted Joe, who was rowing. "There's something in the water!" Suddenly, there was a loud groan, and then the boat began to break up. But this was no natural event; something was ripping at it from underneath. The two men watched as it began to sink rapidly. "This needs to be reported," Randy said. "I think this is terrorist activity!" Joe snorted. "How come they're not dive-bombing the city??" he asked, watching the boat disappear beneath the waves. "Why would they just attack a little yacht? Come on!" "That's the only explanation I could think of," Randy replied. But deep down, below the surface, something even worse than any terrorist technology could think up was moving. And it was moving rapidly into the bay, generating a current as it swam. Meanwhile, the traffic across the Golden Gate Bridge was increasing by the minute. Rush hour was approaching, and many workers were on their way home. None of them noticed a large ripple that was rapidly approaching the bridge from the west. Not even when one of the beams shuddered from the impact with something huge. Suddenly, there was a terrifying scream and a gigantic, snakelike creature with legs slithered up the side of the beam, sending a bus careening off the edge as it reached the road. Cars skidded to a stop in front of the beast, as it leaped onto the bridge and crushed a cyclist with its claw. It let out a bloodcurdling scream and knocked two more cars off the road. Others were knocked down in the ensuing chaos. In the meantime, the people along the shoreline were enjoying the warm day, splashing and swimming in the water. It was only when they heard the roars and the screeches of vehicles did they bother to look up at the bridge and see the terrible demon and the hundreds of cars careening into the bay. "What the heck?" said a policeman, who was passing the beach in his cruiser. "What the crap is that thing?" He stopped his car and looked closely. Then he grabbed his radio. "Officer Jennings!" he shouted into the radio. "There's something big on the bridge! Get out here, and notify the military!" "What??" came the incredulous voice of Officer Jennings, who was at this moment sitting in a coffee shop, enjoying a doughnut and a cup of coffee. "Come on, Williams! What are you talkin' about?" "I can't explain it!" screamed Williams, looking on as the huge beast suddenly began slithering up the north tower of the bridge. "It's like a—well, like a giant lizard! It was throwing the cars into the water! We gotta stop it!" Jennings sighed, got up and walked to the door of the shop overlooking the bay. Then he was convinced. "Son of my mom!" he exclaimed. "What the blue blazes is that thing??" Soon other people were at the window with him, eyes locked onto the giant reptile. "Look at that!" someone shouted. "It's on top of the tower!" Officer Jennings took his walkie-talkie and radioed the local military base, about a half a mile away. "Colonel Jameson!" he shouted. "We've got trouble!" "What sort of trouble?" asked the colonel. "Come on, Jennings. I'm extremely busy right now!" "Come out here and see for yourself!" Jennings exclaimed. "There's some kind of monster on the Golden Gate Bridge!" "There's always monsters on the bridge!" Jameson replied. "Now I've gotta get—" "Colonel, you need to get some jets out here right now!" Jennings yelled. "That thing looks like...oh my word! He's just dived back onto the street! He's gonna break it in half!" "Look, Jennings," the colonel answered, "You need to stop watching those crazy sci-fi films and concentrate on your job. Now I'm..." He was suddenly interrupted by some loud shouting. For a few minutes he yelled back and forth with another officer, then he came back on. "All right Jennings, you win," he said. "We're on our way!" The monster was climbing back up to the tower when suddenly the sound of roaring jets was heard. "It's the military!" shouted several voices down below as three F-14's came roaring down at the bridge. The monster roared when it saw them, and then stood on its back legs and showed a terrifying display of two spiny flaps on the side of its head. Then it spit some brownish liquid at the jet nearest it. "I'm hit!" shouted the pilot to Colonel Jameson as he went careening out of control. "HELP! I can't see...AAAUUUUGGH!!!" The plane crashed into one of the bridge's supports and exploded. Suddenly the beam cracked, and the bridge began to tip. There were screams of terror as several people went flying into the bay. "Davis," Jameson shouted on the radio to the other pilot, "Focus on its mouth. Don't let him spit any more. Gall, where the dickens did he come from!" The other F-14 fired two missiles, which flew directly toward the lizard's mouth. However, the monster saw them and quickly dove off the bridge, into the bay. The missiles struck the tower instead, throwing fragments everywhere and causing the rest to topple. "Sir, he's gone!" Davis exclaimed. "He's in the water!" "I can see that, you diphead!" Jameson shouted. "Fire into the water then! Kill it!" Two missiles were fired, but Davis had aimed too low. Instead of going directly into the water, they struck the middle of the bridge instead. There was a terrible explosion, and then the bridge broke in half and began to sink into the water. "Davis, you idiot!" Jameson shouted. "You've blown up the bridge!!!!" "S-sorry, sir," Davis stuttered. "I lost control for a minute!" The people on shore had seen everything. "Everyone off the beach!" shouted Williams, running down onto the sand. "Get off the beach! That thing's going to...oh my" The last word was obscene. He saw a large ripple rapidly approaching the beach. Then, a moment later, the head of the creature appeared, followed by the rest of the body. There were screams of horror as people ran screaming to get away from the water. However, it was too late for some of them, who were rapidly overtaken and devoured by the reptile. Williams watched in horror as the monster came onto the beach. By this time most of the swimmers were gone, but the lizard still managed to grab a fleeing sunbather in its jaws. Finally, the officer grabbed his gun and began to fire. The creature roared as the bullets struck, and then turned its attention to Williams. Williams tried to fire at the eyes, but suddenly his vision was blackened. His eyes burned; he screamed in pain as the monster leaped on him and snapped him up like a gecko with a cricket.
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