Floodwaters by Cody Knox - HTML preview

NO CIVILIAN ACCESS ALLOWED

Behind this sign could be seen a pristine river as calm as a resting cat on the windowsill. A large part of the fence had been peeled back so people could ignore the sign and squeeze through anyway.

“Right, let’s get going,” the ginger woman said, unbuckling her seatbelt and throwing the door open. A gust of cool, crisp air struck her in the face, and she grimaced.

“B...But, um, the...the, uh, sign...” the blonde woman stammered.

But the ginger woman had already made her way to the back of the car.

The blonde woman sighed, and checked their supplies in the back seat.

Here there were an assortment of items – these included life-jackets, a first-aid kit, water bottles, hand sanitiser, toilet paper, soap, an extendable shovel, tampons, a whistle, a thermal blanket, canned food, a can opener, a portable radio, and spare batteries.

“Brooke!” the blonde woman exclaimed.

“What is it, Willow?” Brooke asked.

“We forgot the emergency flares,” Willow said.

Brooke rolled her eyes, and said, “We’re only going to be gone for half an hour, I don’t think we’re going to need them. Now come help me get the kayaks down,”

A short time later, Brooke and Willow were in their kayaks, wearing their life-jackets, making their way down the river.

Brooke was whistling a happy tune to herself, while Willow was scanning the area for any possible threats.

“This is nice, isn’t it, sis? I bet it’s much more exciting than staying in that stuffy old office all day,” Brooke said. Willow furrowed her brow.

“I like the office,” Willow said, “you always know what to expect in the office. Paper work. Printers. Coffee. I don’t have to worry about drowning in the office, usually,”

“Don’t think about drowning. That’s not going to happen with your life-jacket on,” Brooke said.

“What if the life-jacket doesn’t work? What if a crocodile--”

Willow began.

“There are no wild crocodiles around here, calm down,” Brooke said.

“What if one escaped from the zoo and got into the river?” Willow asked. Brooke could see Willow growing more tense by the second.

“Willow, just calm down. Take deep breaths. The whole reason I wanted to go kayaking with you was to take you out of your comfort zone, to help you face your fears,” Brooke said.

“By kayaking on a river so remote my smartphone’s not even picking up a signal?” Willow asked.

“Yeah, I know how apprehensive you get around other people. I thought you’d be less scared if it were just the two of us,” Brooke said, as they rounded a river curve.

“You don’t understand me at all, do you?” Willow asked, staring straight at Brooke. Brooke just kept looking straight ahead. Her eyes had grown very wide.

“What, now you’re ignoring me?” Willow asked, annoyed. Brooke pointed straight ahead.

“Look!” Brooke said. Willow did so, and in doing so, instantly understood why Brooke had been taken aback.

The river had extended into a lake, but this was no ordinary lake. This lake had once been a small town – here and there they could see half-submerged buildings, fences, willow trees and so on. At each corner of the lake there appeared to be watchtowers.

Near the centre of the lake was what looked like a dairy or coffee-house. To the east was a large cave. And at the very far end of the lake was a large building on the hill. This building was too far away to make out any details.

“This is so cool! I didn’t know there used to be a little town down here! Come on, let’s go exploring,” Brooke said, grinning from ear to ear. She began paddling.

Willow opened her mouth as though she wanted to speak, but then closed it again and began to follow Brooke.

A short time later, they came to the dairy which was only flooded by half a foot. It seemed it was on a higher incline than most of the other buildings. It had an old, rotting wooden sign atop of it, with the words MAIN STREET DAIRY written on it in washed-out letters. Behind this sign was what was left of some abandoned rescue helicopter. In the state it was in now, it was nothing more than scrap metal.

The front windows of this dairy showed that all the shelves had been plucked bare long ago. Here and there there were discarded candy wrappers and empty cans of dog food. Taped to the front windows were various old flyers. There were two in particular that stuck out to Willow. The first one had the words: PLEASE DON’T POLLUTE OUR BEAUTIFUL LAKE

Followed by an image of a cartoony lake monster giving the thumbs up and winking, followed by the words, ELI SEZ DON’T LITTER

The second one had the words:

Are You:

- Young?

- Inexperienced?

- Desperate For Work?

Why Not Get A Job At Haphazard Co?

We Work In – Forestry – Mining – Fishing

- Other Industries Your Hippie Friends Don’t Like CONTACT US AT:

The rest of the text had been smudged by water damage.

“Aww, look, a kitty!” Brooke said. Willow turned to the direction of Brooke’s voice, where, behold, there was a stray black cat walking along a half-submerged wooden fence. Its fur was ragged, and it looked like it hadn’t had a decent meal in years.

“It looks just like the cat he had,” Willow muttered gravely, her whole body shuddering.

“Come on, Willow. It’s just a cat, and you know that man is behind bars now. He can’t hurt you,” Brooke said, as she rowed her kayak over to the fence so she could pet the kitty.

Looking around, Willow could see a whole crowd of stray cats was beginning to gather around the half-submerged buildings.

Willow began to feel filled with unease.

“I want to leave. Now,” Willow said, her breathing growing more panicked.

“Alright, alright,” Brooke said, giving the black cat a quick head-pat.

Meanwhile, over in the large building on the hill, two people, a tan-skinned woman and a pale-skinned bald man, watched the two from the window.

“Uh oh, we’ve got two new arrivals. And it looks like they’re trying to leave,” the tan-skinned woman said, biting her nail.

“They might be OK if they make it past the watchtowers,” the pale-skinned bald man said, putting his hand on her shoulder.

“You know nobody ever makes it past the watchtowers. Get the speedboat,” the tan-skinned woman commanded.

Back in the flooded town, Willow and Brooke were making their way back to the river, when a large blurry black shape sped through the water. Willow and Brooke stopped in their tracks.

“What was that?” Brooke asked. Before Willow could give an answer, Brooke’s entire kayak was dragged underwater, leaving Brooke splashing around in the open water. She and Willow both shrieked in terror.

“Brooke!” Willow exclaimed, frozen in fear. Seconds later, the kayak popped out of the water a few feet away from Willow, only now the kayak was in three torn bits. Willow couldn’t take her eyes away from the sight until she heard Brooke give another scream. Willow turned just in time to see Brooke pulled underwater violently by some shadowy black mass.

Willow felt like her heart was beating a million miles a minute.

She hadn’t felt this terrified since she had been living with...

him.

“You! You need to get on this boat, now,” a voice from behind her said. She turned to see the voice belonged to a pale-skinned, bald man. He was standing up in a speedboat; a tan-skinned woman was sitting behind the steering wheel.

“Here, take my hand,” the pale-skinned bald man said, leaning over, holding out his hand. Willow stared at the man. She found herself flashing back, back to when she had been with... him. In her mind she saw him raising his fist above his head, his face filled with rage.

“No...please...” Willow whimpered, cowering, “Don’t touch me!!

Don’t touch me!!”

The pale-skinned bald man withdrew his hand and took a step back. Willow could feel the salty tears run down her eyes.

“Uh... she’s freaking out, Kiri,” the pale-skinned bald man said in the direction of the tan-skinned woman.

“Take the wheel,” Kiri said, jumping out of her seat and running over to where the pale-skinned bald man had been.

“Listen, woman, look behind you,” Kiri said. Willow did so, and saw that where Brooke had been was now an expanding puddle of blood.

“That’s going to be you if you don’t get the hell onto this boat in the next 10 seconds!” Kiri exclaimed.

Willow did not have to be told twice. Without looking back, she scrambled onto the boat.

“Go!” Kiri commanded the pale-skinned bald man, and he pushed down on the throttle. The speedboat roared down the lake, and off they went towards the large building on the hill.

Looking over the speedboat railings, Willow could see a terrifying giant black mass three times the size of the speedboat, at least ten feet under the water. It was keeping perfect speed with the speedboat. The shape slithered back and forth, like a giant snake.

The large black mass continued to keep pace with the speedboat until it had reached a small makeshift pier at the end of the hill where the big building was.

It abruptly changed direction, and sauntered off into the distance.

Now that they were closer, Willow could see that the big building was a large Gothic mansion. It was easily the largest structure for miles around and it looked imposing, like something out of a horror movie.

To the right of the mansion was a large glass greenhouse and a water tower. To the left was a small pasture with a number of sheep, chickens, and almond trees scattered about.

Directly in front of the mansion were the letters SOS written in rocks. The letters looked like they had been there a long time, and had moss growing around them.

Some time later, Willow found herself in a lavish lounge fit for a king. The room was filled with bookshelves and old paintings.

Willow sat on a couch with Kiri, while the pale-skinned bald man put a log in the roaring fire. This fire was the only source of light in the room. Sitting on opposite sides of the couch were a young tan-skinned man, and an elderly pale-skinned woman, the latter in a rocking chair.

“Well, I suppose introductions are in order. My name is Kiri, I am the de facto leader around here. This is Alan,” Kiri said, gesturing to the pale-skinned bald man.

“Hi,” Alan said with a sheepish wave.

“That trouble-maker over there is Alfredo,” Kiri said, gesturing to the young tan-skinned man.

Alfredo laughed.

“And that’s Stephanie,” Kiri said, gesturing to the pale-skinned elderly woman, “she was the chef here before everything went to Hell,”

“Hello, dearie. It’s been so long since we’ve had a new arrival,”

Stephanie said.

“I... uh, um, I’m W-Willow,” Willow managed to stammer.

“Willow. That’s certainly quite a coincidence,” Stephanie said.

“I came with my sister, b-but she... she...” Willow began, before bursting into tears.

“We’re very sorry for your loss, but there’s nothing we could’ve done. That thing will kill anyone that tries to leave. If it helps, many of us have lost someone to the monster, too. I lost the rest of my rescue team, Alan lost his father, and Stephanie lost everyone who used to live at the mansion,” Kiri said, patting Willow on the shoulder.

Willow drew herself away, and said, “What was that thing?”

“It’s a long story, my dear,” Stephanie said, getting out of her seat and grabbing a book from the shelf behind her, “perhaps this will be of help,”

Willow leaned over and saw the book was titled, A HISTORY OF WILLOW LAKE

Stephanie handed the book over to Willow, who accepted it gingerly.

Willow took a quick dive into the pages. She saw walls of text accompanied by photos of Willow Lake from before the flood. She noticed there were no watchtowers in any of the photos, unlike what she had seen coming into the village. She came to a page that showed a large cave opening a few feet above the lake, a willow tree growing atop the cave. This page was titled, THE MONSTER OF WILLOW LAKE.

“We used to get along with Eli. So long as we didn’t disturb him, he left us alone,” Stephanie said.

“Eli?” Willow asked.

“The monster,” Stephanie explained.

“This is so confusing. Why were there no watchtowers in the photos?” Willow asked.

“Well, those were built quite recently, only a month or two before the... flooding. We don’t know much about them,” Stephanie said.

“Listen, we’ve given you alot to process; we should show you to a room, let you get settled in,” Kiri said.

“But what are we going to do?! We have to get out of here!”

Willow exclaimed.

“We gave that up a long time ago, ma’am,” Alan said.

“You see, Willow, as long as we don’t try to leave, the monster tends to leave us alone. So, we’ve decided we’ll just live out the rest of our days here,” Stephanie said, in a resigned tone.

“What?! How can you possibly be OK living like this?!? Where th-that monster swims around waiting to kill us?? We have to get out of here!! We have to get out of here RIGHT NOW!!! ” Willow screamed, almost bolting out of her seat.

Kiri grabbed ahold of Willow and said, “Look, let’s just settle down for now. We can talk about how we’ll get out of here tomorrow,”

“That’s not what you said yesterday. Yesterday you said we should give up any hope of ever escaping,” Alfredo pointed out.

“Shut up,” Kiri growled.

A short time later, Kiri was showing Willow around the mansion.

“So, this mansion has twenty bedrooms, and there’s only four of us. Well, five of us including you now. So you have plenty of options,” Kiri said.

“Thank you, I-I’m sure, um, I’ll find one,” Willow said.

“You’re welcome. Toilets are to the east, lounge and dining room are to the west. Oh, and remember to boil the water here before you drink it,” Kiri said. Willow nodded as Kiri walked away.

Willow began to wander around.

Eventually she came across a room she quite liked. It had a good spot in the sunshine and gave a good view of the horizon. It had tasteful paintings of flowers that made Willow feel calm.

However, it was already occupied by Alfredo, who was at his desk, drawing.

“Hey! Willow! You’re just in time! I just finished some drawings, to help you understand what happened to Willow Lake,” Alfredo said, showing her the drawings he had been working on.

“Oh, um, y-you’re... um, quite the artist,” Willow said politely.

The drawings were stick figures.

Alfredo narrated over the drawings, saying, “Willow Lake used to be this little village of some 90 or so people. The monster lived in his cave and people knew not to bother him,”

“Then Haphazard Co came along. They knew there was gold buried deep in the cave, somewhere under the monster’s reservoir,” Alfredo explained.

“So, they started mining. But something went wrong, and the cave collapsed. The reservoir burst open and flooded the town,”

Alfredo said.

“And so the monster was unleashed, too. I think that’s why it’s killing humans. It’s mad because we destroyed its home,” Alfredo said.

“You say that so calmly, like it’s the most normal thing you’ve ever heard of,” Willow said.

“Well, I’d be mad too if some people came along and wrecked my place. I probably wouldn’t kill them, though,” Alfredo said.

“That’s not what I meant... and this doesn’t explain the watchtowers,” Willow said.

“We don’t know much about the watchtowers, the monster never lets us get close enough. We know they were built by Haphazard Co, though,” Alfredo said.

“How did you come to be here?” Willow asked.

“I like a bit of danger. I saw the sign that said nobody was allowed to enter, and I wanted to find out what the story was,”

Alfredo said.

“I see. I’ll, um, be going now,” Willow said, walking off.

Eventually, Willow came across an empty room she liked. There was a wardrobe with a vanity mirror, and a painting of a willow tree. The room also had a single bed with a wide window that gave a full view of the outside pasture. Sheep and chickens milled about, while Alan tended to their needs. He looked good, his muscles glistening with sweat in the dim autumn afternoon light.

Willow felt a burning desire to get to know Alan better. She opened the window and shouted out, “Alan! I...I, um, I was thinking about you,”

Alan put down the feed bag and stepped closer to Willow.

“You were?” Alan asked.

“Yes. I’m so sorry about what happened when we first met. It’s just... I just came out of an abusive relationship. His name was Scott, and he looked alot like you,” Willow said.

“That’s OK, I understand. You don’t need to like me. I’ll just stay out of your way,” Alan said, turning back to feed the sheep.

“B-but, uh, I d-do, um, that is, I, wanted to g-get to know you better,” Willow mumbled. Alan turned back to face Willow, a neutral expression on his face.

“What did you want to know?” Alan asked.

“What’s your story? How did you get to be here? What happened to your father?” Willow asked.

“Well, you see, my father and I used to run a farmstead far away from here. We got along alright, no major dramas. Two years ago we went on a fishing trip down that very river, on that speed boat we brought you in on. It was really foggy that day so we didn’t see any warning signs or anything.

We made it to Willow Lake, tried to leave, and the monster jumped right out of the water and chomped my father right in two. I’d be dead too if I hadn’t seen the smoke coming from the mansion’s fireplace,” Alan said.

“Oh, I’m sorry for your loss,” Willow said.

“I’m sorry for your loss, too. Were you close with your sister?”

Alan asked.

“Not really, we didn’t get along that well. I’d told her about Scott, but she never took me seriously. She just said, well, that’s just how men are, you just have to get used to it,” Willow said, sighing, wiping away a small tear.

“Still, she didn’t deserve to die like that,” she said, shaking her head and adding, “let’s talk about something else. Y-you’re, um, really g-good, uh, with animals, which is, um... to b-be expected, because, you know, you’re a farmer... and... uh, stuff...”

“Yeah, I find if you’re real friendly with the sheep, they don’t complain when you shear their wool off,” Alan said.

“What, um, do you do with the wool? Make clothes?” Willow asked.

“Yeah, I made a really nice wooly jumper last year; let me show you,” Alan said, running off. Willow waited patiently by the window-side. A minute later, Alan was at her door, holding the wooly jumper up for her.

It was a big white jumper, with a picture of a group of cats on it.

At the very front of this was a black cat, just like the one Brooke and Willow had encountered. She flashed back to that very moment.

“It looks just like the cat HE had,”

“Wh-why did you sew a black cat?” Willow asked, eyeing Alan with suspicion.

“It’s one of the strays. Sometimes we get stray cats that wander around here. Are you alright?” Alan asked, tilting his head.

Willow’s heart began racing. She scoffed and said, “So I’m, uh, um, s-supposed to b-b-believe, um, that it’s just a coincidence?

Th-that there’s, um, this bald man living here who looks just like the man who abused me? And-and-and-- owns a, um, black cat?”

She couldn’t believe the words that were coming out of her own mouth. She liked Alan. Why was she treating him like this? It was like the fear had taken control. She tried to close her eyes, take some deep breaths, and apologise. However, upon closing her eyes, all she saw was Scott, looming above her, ready to hurt her again.

“G-Get away!! GET AWAY FROM ME!!!” Willow screamed. Alan gave one last hurt look at Willow, then scampered off. Willow covered her face with her hands and began to sob.

She looked into the mirror to see her reflection. She looked dishevelled, her eyes were bloodshot. She felt the tears run down her cheeks.

She grabbed ahold of the mirror and, through heaving sobs, said,

“Why? Why am I like this? Why can’t I stop being like this?”

It was then that she saw something startling in the mirror; the sight of a black cat watching her, on the windowsill. Willow gasped.

She turned around, just in time to see the black cat leaping off the windowsill and darting off into the distance, off onto the roof of some submerged house.

Later, dinner came around, and Willow found herself in a dining room with Alfredo, Stephanie and Kiri. Stephanie had prepared an appetizing roast chicken dinner with sides of mashed potatoes, peas and gravy. It looked quite nice, considering the circumstances.

“I hope you enjoy this, Willow. We don’t have roast chicken alot.

You’re lucky we had some plucked ready to go in the icebox,” Kiri said.

“Where’s Alan?” Willow asked.

“He took his dinner to his room, he said he didn’t want to upset you further,” Stephanie explained.

“Oh, gosh, I really should apologise to him. I don’t mean to keep freaking out on him like that, it’s just--” Willow began, only to spot the black cat once more, watching her from the dining room window. She shrieked.

“It’s that cat again! Why is it watching us?!” Willow asked.

“Probably just wants some of our food,” Alfredo suggested.

Willow did not look convinced. She stood up and walked over to the window. The cat ran away; Willow ran out of the dining room in hot pursuit.

Moments later, she had rushed out the front door, just in time to see the cat jump from the pier to a nearby fence and then scurry off. But Willow was not willing to give up just yet – she ran as fast as she could to the speedboat, hoping to catch up with the cat that way.

However, it was not to be. As soon as she had hopped aboard the speedboat, the waters beneath began to rumble as a large black mass started to emerge from the surface.

Within seconds, the monster emerged from the water, clutching one end of the speedboat with its scaly claws. Willow looked at the beast in stunned horror.

It was a large creature, at least 20 feet tall and 4 feet wide. It resembled a giant, black humanoid eel, with slime and water sliding down its smooth, fleshy skin. Its legs and arms were long and lunky, each ending in five webbed claws. It had four eyes, all white, save for small black dots in each of them. Its mouth was a great, wide chasm filled with rows of razor-sharp teeth. It seemed to be smiling. And then, to Willow’s shock, it began to speak.

“And just where do you think you’re going? ” the lake monster asked in a deep, guttural voice.

“I-I-I-You-You-You t-t-talk!” Willow managed to stutter.

“Wel of course I talk. You think just because I’m a monster I can’t understand and speak human language? How small minded of you, ” the lake monster said, “now answer the question, ”

“I-I-I... I was following the cats! I know y-you have, um, something to do with them! Like, you, uh, you must be using them, to, uh, spy on me! Or, um, something!!” Willow declared.

The lake monster howled with laughter.

“Oh, you... you actual y thought, oh ho ho... you’re paranoid of some measly cats? That’s just the most ridiculous thing...

believe me, I don’t need any cats to learn more about your kind, Wil ow River. Hm. Strange coincidence, ” the lake monster remarked.

How did he know my full name? Willow thought to herself.

“I’m partly psychic, ” the lake monster replied.

The lake monster bent down to get closer to Willow. He stared intently at her, examining her from head to toe.

“Hmm... perhaps you could help me, Willow. You could help me, and I could help you, ” the lake monster said.

“W-what? H-help you with, uh, what?” Willow asked, taken aback.

“Help me with escaping, ” the lake monster explained, “then I can protect you, stop any other man from hurting you, ”

Willow seemed to ponder this offer. But what if it was a trap?

What if the monster just wanted to kill her? Then, out in the distance, she heard Kiri running down to the pier, holding a harpoon gun.

“There you are, you monster! Hold still!” Kiri said, aiming the harpoon gun.

The lake monster winked, then turned back to Willow.

“If you want answers, meet me back here when everyone’s asleep, ” the lake monster said, then hopped back into the water and swam off.

“Oh, thank goodness you’re OK! Are you alright?” Kiri asked.

“Y-yeah, just a b-bit shook up,” Willow said, still pondering the lake monster’s words. Willow and Kiri made their way back to the house.

“You gave us a bit of a scare back there, running out in the middle of dinner like that,” Kiri said.

“I know. I’m so sorry for the way that I am,” Willow said.

“It’s fine. And if Alan bothers you again, we can kick him out of the house,” Kiri said, walking through the front door.

“No, y-you d-don’t understand, I, uh,” Willow stammered, but Kiri was already out of hearing range.

Willow thought to herself, I really ought to seek out Alan and apologise to him.

Shockingly, Willow did not have to wait too long, for as soon as she entered the hallway she saw Alan leaving his room, then retreating back into his room and shutting the door.

“Alan? Please talk to me, I wanted to apologise to you,” Willow said.

From behind the door, Alan said, “You don’t owe me anything, least of all an apology. I understand you’re going through some things and don’t want to make them any worse. I promise to leave you alone,”

“No, Alan, I really like you and want to get to know you better. I feel like maybe you could really understand what I’m going through and why I’m freaking out, the others don’t seem that bothered by all this,” Willow said.

“You don’t need me, I think you’re strong enough to handle this on your own,” Alan said.

“But I still like you, and I want you to like me. Do you like me?”

Willow asked.

“Sure I like you, and I respect your boundaries, so I’ll just leave you alone from now on,” Alan said.

“No, please, I want things to work between us. I want to move past what happened with Scott. I want to be able to get close to a man again without freaking out. I don’t want to be alone. Please, just open the door so we can talk,” Willow said.

There was a long pause, then Alan opened the door, giving a weak smile. Willow tried to maintain her composure, but all she could see when she looked at Alan was the face of that horrid, horrible man, Scott, who had abused her so horribly.

She felt her heart begin to jump, as if it was going to burst out of her chest. She felt like she was going to faint. She was sweating all over. She was on the verge of tears. She began screaming, and ran back to her room.

Minutes later, she found herself facing herself in the mirror, her eyes red, her face tear-stricken. She slammed her fists against the mirror again and again and again until her fists bled. The blood leaked down the mirror as Willow sobbed. In-between the sobs she shrieked, “WHY?!? WHY-CAN’T-I-STOP-BEING-LIKE-THIS?!?”

She smashed her fists against the mirror, once again drawing out much blood as the broken shards hit the floor.

“Why am I like this? Why can’t I stop this? I’m never going to be happy again... Nobody understands me... why can’t it all just stop? I’m going to die here... My sister... dead... the man I’ve fallen for thinks I hate him... I’m trapped in this place... I have nothing left to live for... I may as well...” Willow sobbed, then she looked up through the window, seeing the flooded town, thinking back to the words the lake monster had spoken to her.

She decided to wait for nightfall, calmly cleaning up the broken mirror shards and hiding them under the bed. It seemed her screaming hadn’t alerted anyone else in the household, so nobody came to check up on her.

After enough hours had passed, and the house grew dark, lightened only by the light of the moon shining through the window, Willow made her way to the pier, where the lake monster was waiting for her.

“Ah, I knew you would be back, ” the lake monster said.

“I don’t care if this is all a trick so you can kill me, there’s nothing for me here,” Willow said.

“That’s the spirit, ” the lake monster chuckled, “hop onto my back, ”

With that, the lake monster bent down, offering Willow a spot between his top shoulders. Willow gingerly stepped onto the monster and bent down, grabbing ahold of the monster’s neck.

She found the monster’s skin to be quite sticky, easy enough to get a grip onto.

The lake monster swam off, its head and shoulders poking above the water so Willow wouldn’t drown. She couldn’t believe she was doing this, riding on the back of a deadly creature to take her to heavens know where.

“My psychic powers have their limits, but I can tell you already know a good part of the story, of how I came to be in this flooded town, ” the lake monster said.

“I understand why you killed the miners who destroyed your home, but w-why k-kill everyone else? E-even my sister?” Willow asked, surprised at her own bravery. Her question was answered with a short period of silence, and for a moment she thought the monster would turn around and bite her in half. Instead, the monster merely chuckled.

“It’s just in my nature to kill humans, just like it is in human’s nature to destroy the world around it, ” the lake monster replied.

Willow could see one of the watchtowers out in the distance, which they were rapidly approaching.

“Besides, I only kil people who try to leave. If I’m trapped here, it’s only fair that everyone else is. And one of these days, if I’m lucky, I’l manage to kill the one who trapped me here, and I can finally leave, ” the lake monster said, “Oh, you don’t understand what I’m babbling about. It’l make more sense when we get to the watchtower, ”

The two spoke not another word until they reached the watchtower. There was a long, rusty metal ladder that led all the way to an opened hatch door.

“Go up to the top, ” the lake monster commanded, and Willow did so.

To her surprise, when she reached the top of the watchtower, she found the roof above her to be covered in strange faintly-glowing symbols. They looked alchemical. From here she could see the whole flooded town, lit by the moonlight.

“Those runes are in al four watchtowers that surround the town. They are what keeps me trapped here. I cannot destroy these watchtowers, they will only be destroyed if the original warlock who drew them dies. I have not let a living soul escape, which leads me to believe that the warlock is still here, living in this town, ” the lake monster said.

Out in the distance, Willow could see the lights were on in the dairy. The lake monster noticed too.

“Get down at once, ” the lake monster said. Willow did so, hopping back onto the monster’s shoulders. They raced off to the dairy, arriving just as the lights were turned off.

“Go inside, ” the lake monster ordered. Willow nodded.

Willow hopped off the monster, and squelched her way to the front door. The door opened easily as soon as she gave it a weak push – it must have been used recently, by whoever had the lights on. Looking around, she could see an open door leading to a small office-type area behind where the cashier would normally stand. Peering inside, she could see a trapdoor, with a light shining out of it.

She ventured into the office – now she could see that the trapdoor had a ladder that led down into some underground passage. It was far too small for the monster to come down, but just the right size for her to squeeze down.

And so she did so, and made her way through the dimly-lit passage. As she did so, she wondered who built this hallway, and why. She noticed as she walked past that there were various hatches here and there that presumably led into different buildings.

“P-perhaps this tunnel was meant to be used during World War 2, in case of aerial raids,” Willow said to herself, “those hatches could lead to people’s houses, so if there was a bombing or something, they could just come down here,”

Eventually, after much walking, she came to an ornate door.

Behind it, she could hear Stephanie and Alfredo speaking.

“The others still don’t suspect anything. Are you sure this will help us escape?” Stephanie asked.

“Yes, I finally found the last items I needed at that abandoned dairy. The summoning shall soon commence,” Alfredo said.

Willow gasped, alerting the two to her presence. Within seconds, the door flung open and they saw Willow standing there in terror.

“W-what’s g-going on here?! I-I-I-I d-don’t understand--” Willow began, then took note of her surroundings – Alfredo was wearing a long black robe and a large black hat with long, black horns protruding from it.

On the concrete floor of this room had been sketched a rune circle in chalk. It was filled with strange items and symbols.

Nearby, there was a staircase leading up to another ornate door.

“Y-YOU!!! You’re the w-warlock--” Willow began once more.

“I’m the warlock, yes,” Alfredo admitted, “I make for a convincing teenager, don’t I? But how did you know anything about that? And why did you come from that door?”

“I-I-I’m not answering any q-questions!! Um, not until you a-answer some of m-mine!” Willow stammered, “Tell me what’s going on here!”

“Well, those watch-towers, Alfredo was tasked with building them by Haphazard Co, in case a disaster just like this one were to happen. Alfredo enchanted them to stop the monster from escaping,” Stephanie said.

“I-I already know about that! I mean, how did you know about the sign warning people not to enter, and the circle, and you, and the, the, the, why is the circle glowing?!?” Willow asked, for there in front of her the circle had started to glow a dark red.

“With the sign, Kiri told me she’d put it up there before she went on her rescue mission. And with the circle, it’s finally time for me to summon something even more powerful than Eli!” Alfredo said, as he walked over to the circle and began to raise his arms.

“Wh-What do you mean?!?” Willow asked.

“We’re finally going to be able to leave this wretched place. I am going to summon an eldritch demonic creature to kill the lake monster,” Alfredo explained.

“Y-you’re going to WHAT?!? But then we’ll just have two monsters terrorizing us!!” Willow exclaimed, as a strong glowing orb of red light began to grow in the middle of the rune circle.

“Don’t worry, I am a master warlock. The demonic entity will obey me,” Alfredo said. Willow looked like she didn’t believe a word he was saying.

“Of course, first I shall require a blood sacrifice,” Alfredo said.

Willow’s eyes grew very wide, as he pulled a long, jagged knife out of his robe.

Without another word he drove the knife deep, deep into Stephanie’s neck. Stephanie shrieked in terror as blood spurted over everything, and she collapsed directly over the glowing red orb, which was growing, and growing fast. Willow screamed, ran up the staircase, and pushed forth the ornate door.

She now found herself back in the Gothic mansion.

“Kiri! Alan!” Willow screamed as she ran down the hallways,

“Kiri!! Alan!!”

The ground beneath her shook, and a big red beam of light shot out a few feet from under her, breaking a huge hole in the floorboards and the roof above. She yelled once more, and ran in the other direction.

Kiri popped her head out from one door, while Alan popped his head out from another.

“What the hell is going on?” Kiri asked.

“I-I-I wouldn’t know where to start,” Willow said truthfully.

“Does it have anything to do with... that?” Alan asked, pointing out his bedroom window. Willow and Kiri came into his room, to see what he was pointing at. A large, shiny black mass could be seen writhing through the water, headed straight for the island the mansion was marooned on.

“It’s the monster!” Kiri exclaimed.

“We’ll be OK,” Alan reassured the others, “that thing can’t go onto land... can it?”

To their horror, they all watched as the lake monster emerged from the water, standing up to his full height, and taking one slimy step onto the dry ground near the mansion. Then another.

And another. It was coming straight for the mansion at top speed.

“We have to find the harpoon gun,” Kiri said, and Alan nodded.

The two ran out the door as Willow continued to stare through the window, until there was a loud crash as the mansion doors flew off their hinges. The monster ran down the hallway and down the staircase of the basement, not even taking a casual glance at Willow as he passed her by.

Willow followed behind the lake monster, who was now in the basement or bomb shelter or whatever it was, where Alfredo was still trying to summon some eldritch horror. It looked like he was almost done. The red beam of light was crackling with electricity.

As quick as a whip, the lake monster had its claws grasped firmly around Alfredo’s neck.

“This town ain’t big enough for two monsters, ” the lake monster said, squeezing Alfredo’s neck until his head popped off like a champagne cork, showering the monster in blood.

The red light faltered, and disappeared. Whatever Alfredo was trying to summon, it wasn’t coming here any time soon.

In the distance, Willow could hear the distinct sound of watchtowers beginning to collapse.

The lake monster laughed, and ran back up the stairs, pushing Willow aside. He looked out the front doors, or rather, out where the front doors had been. Looking behind his shoulder, Willow could see the watchtowers were now falling apart in the distance. Now there was nothing keeping the lake monster confined to this flooded town. Behind her, Willow heard the voice of Alan.

“Willow!” Alan exclaimed. Willow turned around and saw Alan and Kiri, panting for breath, Alan holding up a harpoon gun.

“Get out of the way, Willow! We have to kill that thing!” Alan said. The lake monster roared with laughter, placing a scaly hand on Willow’s right shoulder.

“I don’t think that’s going to happen. Willow and I have a deal.

She doesn’t want anything to do with you stupid, greedy humans. Especially not a human like you, Alan,” the lake monster sneered. He put another hand on Willow’s left shoulder and bent down so he could speak directly into her ear.

“You know you can’t trust him, Wil ow. Human men lie, Willow.

Alfredo lied to you, he knew more than he was letting on, he murdered Stephanie. Scott lied to you, he said he loved you, and he treated you like a punching bag. I’ve never lied to you, Willow. I’ve never tried to hide the monster I am, ” the lake monster said.

“Just give me the harpoon gun, Alan. I’ll kill this monster, even if I have to kill Willow too!” Kiri exclaimed. The lake monster chuckled.

“As Kiri here has just demonstrated, human women can be plenty monstrous too. Oh, did you think she was on your side?

I can read her mind, too, you know. She was planning to use you as bait al along. Isn’t that right, Kiri? ” the lake monster asked.

“He – he’s lying! I’m sorry to have to do this, Willow, but it’s better you die than to let that thing loose into the environment!

He’s already killed dozens of humans!” Kiri said, attempting to wrestle the harpoon gun away from Alan.

“You can’t trust either of them. What wil happen if you let them kil me? Wil you end up with Alan, wil you trust him?

He’l be just like Scott. He wil lie to you. He wil hurt you. What sort of idiot would risk it, risk being abused like that? You may think he’s a good man, but how can you know for sure? At least you know I’m a threat, but with him? Who knows? Why risk getting hurt again? You can just stay miserable and afraid with me, FOREVER, ” the lake monster said, smiling from ear to ear. His grimy, sharp, crooked teeth glinted in the moonlight. His smile faltered as he looked into Willow’s eyes.

“I...I...I can’t know anything for sure, but I’m tired of wallowing in the mires of fear. I’m not going to let anything keep me chained down any more,” Willow said, then calmly walked over to Alan and Kiri.

“You INSOLENT WRETCH! ” the lake monster roared, “I’LL KILL

YOU! I’LL KILL ALL OF YOU! ”

With that, the lake monster leapt into the air, and Alan shot his harpoon gun, which plunged itself deep into the monster’s chest, spurting black goo over the hallway.

“You... I... didn’t... believe... you... would... ” the monster sputtered, then collapsed to the floor, dead.

Some time passed – Willow, Alan and Kiri all gathered their belongings, went through the underground tunnels, and had boarded Alan’s speedboat. Now they were sailing away from the town, towards the rest of the world.

Kiri drove the boat, silent as the grave. She had refused to look Alan or Willow in the eye the entire way to the boat. Willow stroked the black cat sitting in her lap; she had found it resting in the dairy and decided to rescue it. Rescue the cat that had once filled her with such fear. (At a later date they would go and rescue all the cats and chicken and sheep and such as well)

Alan sat beside her. Alan glanced over at Kiri.

“How is she going to live with herself, after what she almost did?” Alan whispered to Willow.

“Don’t be too hard on her,” Willow said, “fear can cause people to make very poor decisions,”

“Thank you for not listening to the monster. I’m sure it can’t have been easy,” Alan said. Willow held Alan’s hand, and the two of them smiled.

THE END.