It's Coming

Once the church service was over, Eustace Arden collected the picnic basket and his gun from the cloakroom, then offered his free arm to Lacey. The siblings left the stone church building together.

Just outside the doors, Dr Easton and his family had stopped to talk to the pastor. Morgan stood with them. Eustace smiled, glad to see the lad out and about.

Eustace had found the lad on the beach nearly two months ago, bedraggled, soaked with seawater and his own blood, clutching an elabourately-decorated dagger, and deliriously ranting that “it’s coming. It’s coming. It’s coming…” What was coming he wouldn’t, or couldn’t, say.

Eustace had immediately taken him to Dr Easton’s office. By the time they got there, the lad had passed out. He awoke the next day, but hadn’t spoken a word since, delirious or otherwise.

Other than his unwillingness or inability to speak, Dr Easton and his family had nursed the lad back to health. Dr Easton’s eldest daughter, seven-year-old Katie, had insisted that they call the lad Morgan, because, she said, “it means ‘born from the sea.’” So Morgan he became.

Eustace had gone to visit Morgan several times, both alone and with Lacey. But today was the first time he had seen him outside the doctor’s home since the day he had first found him.

Eustace and Lacey paused briefly to greet the Eastons, Morgan, and the pastor. Then they headed out of the village and down to the beach.

“The weather is lovely today, isn’t it?” Lacey took a deep breath, looking up at the partly-cloudy sky, and around at the wind in the grass, the trees, and the waves.

Eustace agreed with a smile. She always thought the weather was lovely for their Sunday lunch picnic, no matter what the weather was.

Once Lacey had chosen a spot, just out of reach of the waves, Eustace pulled the picnic blanket from the basket and spread it over the grey sand. They sat down and dug into the basket of food.

As usual, Lacey had been in the kitchen early that morning, helping Cook prepare breakfast and lunch. And, as usual, they had prepared far too much: beef sandwiches and chicken sandwiches, fruit salad, a selection of fresh vegetables, milk tea, and milk coffee.

As they ate, they talked about the morning’s sermon, about how much better Morgan was looking, about the weather, and--

A wave washed right up over their picnic blanket, soaking their clothes and dousing the remaining food in cold saltwater.

Eustace and Lacey leapt to their feet with startled exclamations.

“What in the world?” Eustace grabbed for the picnic basket as the wave pulled it out to sea. But another wave was coming, so he grabbed his gun and Lacey’s hand instead and they scrambled up the beach together.

They stopped at the stretch of grass and heather at the top of the beach and turned to watch the picnic blanket and the rest of their picnic supplies be pulled out to sea by the second and a third wave.

Further out, the sea roiled, as though two monstrous creatures fought in a battle to the death under the waves.

Lacey grasped Eustace’s coat sleeve. “What’s happening?”

“I don’t know. I’ve never seen this before.” It wasn’t the weather. Sure, the sky was greyer than it had been a few minutes ago. But rather than picking up, the wind had all but died down completely.

Lacey shivered. Eustace shrugged his coat off and draped it over her dress and light wrap. “Come on, let’s go home. You need to get out of those wet clothes.”

They had a view of the churning water below them the entire way up to Arden Manor. Eustace wracked his brain. Had he ever come across anything like this in his studies? It was not a hurricane -- there was no wind. It was not a tsunami -- those were preceded by the water retreating from the beach, not the other way around. Could it be an underwater volcano? No. The sea floor wasn’t very deep here. If it was a volcano, there would already be steam, at the very least, being thrown into the air.

So what was it?

Morgan’s delirious rambling came unbidden to Eustace’s thoughts. “It’s coming! It’s coming, it’s…”

Eustace gave himself a mental shake. He couldn’t let his imagination run away with his thoughts. First he had to get Lacey to the house, where she’d be safe and warm. Then he would go down into the village and see if anyone there had any idea what was going on. Maybe one of the elders had seen this before.

Cook met them at the front door. “There you are! I was getting worried. Have you seen-- oh dear, you’re both soaked! Come in, quickly, and warm up by the fire.”

Eustace surrendered his sister to Cook’s warmth. “Lacey needs dry clothes and a hot drink.”

“Eustace…” Lacey gave him a pleading look.

Eustace shook his head. “I need to figure out what’s going on. You’ll be safe here. I’ll come back to check on you in--” He checked his pocketwatch. “--two hours.”

She sighed. “All right. But here.” She handed his coat back to him.

Eustace leaned his gun against the wall of the house and put his coat back on. He didn’t pick the gun back up. The seawater had soaked the gunpowder, so it was useless for now anyway. He touched Lacey’s cheek, then turned and ran back down the road.

He was nearly to the corner where the road that came down from the village met the road that ran past the beach and up to his house when he saw Morgan. The lad seemed to be wandering aimlessly, but his wandering was about to take him over the road and down onto the beach.

“Morgan!”

The lad didn’t respond.

Eustace jogged to catch up to him. “Morgan.”

The lad didn’t stop walking until Eustace put a hand on his shoulder. Eustace turned the lad toward him. The lad’s eyes were frantic, belying his slow, aimless walk. “It’s coming,” he said. “It’s coming, it’s coming!”

Eustace grasped both of the lad’s shoulders. “What’s coming?”

“...coming, it’s coming…”

“Morgan, what’s coming?”

For just a moment, Morgan’s eyes cleared and he met Eustace’s gaze.

Behind Eustace, down past the beach, something erupted from the water.

With a wail, Morgan dropped into a crouch and clapped his hands over his ears.

Eustace spun on his heel. A huge, dark sphere sat in the water, still half submerged but reaching three or four metres into the air, only a short distance from where Eustace and Lacey had sat on the beach not half an hour ago. As Eustace watched, four long octopus-like tentacles emerged from the water, reached for the beach, and began to propel the creature toward land. Its movement sent more waves high up the beach, into the grass and nearly up to the road.

“It’s come!” Morgan wailed. “It’s here!”

Two more tentacles lifted out of the water, one of them coiled around a body. Just before the creature reached the edge of the water, it flung the body aside. Eustace flinched when the body crashed to the ground in a broken heap.

Eustace had heard of giant sea creatures, but he had never seen one so huge. He wanted to stay and watch, to pull his journal and pencil from his coat pocket and document its movements and behaviour. But this thing seemed to be headed for the village. He had to warn them.

He grabbed Morgan’s arm, dragged the lad to his feet, and turned him around. “Come on! That thing is coming this way. We need to warn the village.”

Morgan didn’t resist, but neither did he assist, so Eustace all but dragged him up the road toward the village. As they ran, Eustace prayed that they would make it in time -- and that the creature wouldn’t change direction and head for his house and Lacey instead.

No one was out on the streets, as was normal on Sunday afternoons. Everyone was at home, eating Sunday dinner and enjoying family time.

They went to Dr Easton’s house first. The house was one of the closest, and Eustace could leave Morgan with Mrs Easton and get Dr Easton to help him warn the rest of the village.

Eustace had just raised his hand to knock on Dr Easton’s front door when the door swung open to reveal a worried Mrs Easton. Relief crossed her face when she saw Morgan. “There you are!”

Morgan ducked his head and brushed past her into the house.

“Dr Easton went out to look for him,” Mrs Easton said. “Wherever did you find him?”

Eustace pointed. “Down by the beach, saying ‘it’s come’ and ‘it’s here.’”

“Oh dear…”

“And he’s right,” Eustace continued. “Where did Dr Easton go?”

“To the beach. You didn’t see him? And what do you mean, he’s right?”

“No, I didn’t see him.” Eustace thought fast. If Dr Easton was near the beach, he was bound to see the creature. When he did, his first thought would be to come back for his family. But what if the creature was already between him and the village? He gently but firmly grasped her shoulders. Her eyes widened slightly in surprise. “Do you trust me, Mrs Easton?”

“Of course.”

“Then don’t ask questions. I’ll explain later. Gather your children and Morgan, go out the back way, and take them up to Arden Manor. If you see anyone else on the way, tell them to do the same, but don’t stop. I’ll find Dr Easton, and we’ll alert the rest of the village. And bring your gun.”

Mrs Easton had gone pale as he spoke. But she asked no questions. She was already calling her children before she had closed the door.

Bother it all. He should have asked if Dr Easton had taken his gun. No matter. He would ask Abney if he could borrow one of his.

As Eustace left the Eastons' front garden and went to the house next door, he glanced at the church building. It would be so much easier if he could go there and ring the bell. But that would only bring the village people out onto the main street -- right into the creature’s path.

He looked back toward the beach. At first, he couldn’t see the creature. But no, there it was, tentacles flailing as they sought to grab hold and pull the creature up onto the road. It had hardly advanced at all. Breathing a quick prayer of thanks, Eustace pounded on Abney’s front door.

Tom Abney, the village blacksmith, opened the door seconds later. “Arden? Whatever is the matter, old chap? You look as though you’ve seen a ghost.”

“Worse.” Eustace pointed.

Abney whistled. “That is a sight. What’s your plan?”

“Send the women and children up to Arden Manor, then figure out how to destroy this thing.”

Abney nodded. “Count me in.” Then he frowned. “Where’s your gun?”

“At the manor, full of wet gunpowder. Lacey and I were on the beach just before the thing appeared.”

Abney paled. “Is she all right?”

“She’s fine. I took her home. Get your gun and let’s go.”

“Right. I’ll get you one too.”

Once they were both armed, Eustace and Abney split up to warn the rest of the village. A few of the men went with their families up to Arden Manor, but most joined Eustace and Abney in warning the other families and preparing to make a stand against the invader.

The creature had reached the houses on the edge of the village, its flailing tentacles crushing picket fences, throwing tiles off roofs, and knocking over young trees.

And again a man was clutched in one of its tentacles. Eustace couldn’t see who it was. He hoped it wasn’t Dr Easton.

The last house emptied of people, Eustace joined the rest of the village men, including Abney and the pastor, in the center of the main street, facing the creature. Most had guns, though a few were unarmed.

A low rumbling sound came from the creature as it continued forward. Now Eustace could see the man in the creature’s grip. His jaw clenched. It was Dr Easton. The man struggled, still very much alive. But would he survive if the creature decided to toss him aside as it had the man on the beach?

“Shoot it!” Dr Easton waved one arm, the other trapped by the tentacle. “Shoot it! Kill it!”

“Is shooting this creature really going to stop it?” the pastor asked.

“Only one way to find out.” Eustace raised his gun to his shoulder, took aim -- not hard with such a huge target -- and fired.

The bullet pierced the creature’s gelatinous flesh, releasing a spout of dark liquid. The creature shrieked, the sound something like a cross between a seagull and an angered boar.

But it kept moving forward. If anything, it moved faster now, angered by the pain.

“Good show.” Abney raised his gun. “Fire at will, boys! Just don’t hit the doc.”

A dozen more guns fired, almost simultaneously. Every one of them hit their mark. The creature let out an unearthly cry as more dark liquid spouted from the holes in its flesh. But still it kept coming, its tentacles thrashing and causing even more damage to the houses on both sides of the street.

For a moment, Eustace thought he saw someone behind the creature. But he brushed that thought away. It must have just been one of the tentacles. All the village people were here with him, or on their way up to the manor.

The men fired a second time. The beast shrieked a third time, its flesh a torn mess, a trail of dark liquid smeared along the cobblestones.

One of its tentacles snaked forward and grabbed the greengrocer around the ankle. The man cried out as the creature yanked him into the air. Those nearest him grabbed for him, but were too slow. The creature flung him into the air for him to crash into the roof of his own house. He slid from the roof and hit the ground with a sickening crack.

As the men stood in horror, staring at their fallen friend, the creature lashed out with another tentacle, this one reaching for Abney. Eustace slammed the butt of his gun onto the tentacle. The creature hissed and pulled its limb back.

Then the creature screamed, this time longer and higher-pitched than before. Some of the men dropped their guns and covered their ears, grimacing in pain. The creature writhed in the street, its tentacles crashing through walls on both sides. It lost its grip on Dr Easton. He fell to the ground and lay still.

What was happening? No one had fired again. Could the creature be reacting so strongly to being out of water for too long? Eustace shook his head. After all this, that idea was almost laughable.

The creature’s death throes -- for that must be what this was -- lasted a full five minutes. No one dared to move in that time, for fear of getting too close. Gradually the writhing subsided into shuddering and twitching. And finally, the creature lay still.

Some of the men ran to Dr Easton. Others ran to the greengrocer. Eustace slowly approached the creature. Dark liquid still spilled from its torn flesh and soaked into the cracks between the cobblestones. He would have to have the thing carted up to his workshop so he could study it. What was this thing? What had provoked it to attack their village?

Eustace circled the creature, stepping over its tangled tentacles. Then he froze.

Morgan stood behind the creature, smiling. In his left hand he held the dagger he had been found with.

When Morgan saw Eustace, his smile widened. “It’s gone!”

~The End~