The Real Bait

As the water crashed against the bodies on the shore, You could her a faint scream of a woman. She was running toward the town, petrified from the sight of whats left of the mens bodies. “THE MEN!! THE BODIES!!! AHHH!!” the woman was screaming, as she ran through the small beach town. A woman holding her baby asked, “What’s going on?” Men and women were flocking from the homes and stores, to see what the commotion was about. A few other women tried to calm the woman down, but as they did, another scream was heard coming from the shore of the beach. Men ran down to the shoreline and now understood what the panic was all about. Boddies lined the shore, or at least what was left of them. Heads ripped off from the neck, limbs missing, some chests cracked completely open and the organs removed, and they could see the wildlife already picking at the remains. Everyone stood still and in silence. Then someone said “What the fuck…” and it was enough to breat the silence. With those words, everyone Started sharing their thoughts at once. “What’s going on?” “Who are these men?” “Is anyone missing?” “I think I’m going to be sick” “Where’d the woman go?” “Fuck man...”

A loud and deep voice broke through the noise. “Alright, We do not know who these men are and what had happened. But what we do know is these men most likely had families that are probably looking for them now. We need to get them off the shore to preserve what is left. Once we get them out of the water, we can try to start identifying them. I suggest the women and children stay in the church For the time bring. As for the woman who found this, I would like to speak to her.” It way the mayor, taking charge with some reasonable actions. The women scooped up the kids and rushed over to the church and the men slowly walked toward the sene on their beach.

“Can you tell me what you saw?” The mayor was sitting across the women from this morning. She was now rapped in a blanket and had two other women standing behind her for support. “I went for my morning walk...” the words were hard for her to get out of her mouth. Her teeth were chattering and she sounded short of breathe.“I noticed the smell first. It smelled like death, so I went to see if a dead seal washed up… I saw one body first and didn’t know what it was until I got closer...” Her eyes started filling with tears. “Once I figured out what it was… well... That’s when I noticed the rest of them…” The woman on her right grabbed her shoulder for comfort. “Was that it? You didn’t see anything else? Nothing comes to mind? I mean really think?” The mayor was starting to lose his patience. He grew up as a fishermen and has see his far share of dead fish being bitten up by other creatures, but this was different. “No, I am sorry I can‘t be more help...” “Thats alright.“ He kindly smiled. “Go to the church with the other women and rest.” She stood up and the three women started to walk away. “You know I didn’t see anything, but now that I am really thinking, I did hear something…” She turned back around to the mayor. “What did you hear?” “A beautiful voice. Almost like an angel. Singing a wonderful melody.“ A chill went down the majors spine. Frozen in place, he smiled and nodded at the woman. Quickly getting up, he started to run toward the beach.

Back on the beach, the men were carefully placing the bodies and in some cases what was left of them on towels, row boats, and stretchres. Trying to clear the beach as quickly as possible. A young teenage boy was helping his father lift a boat when he heard it. It was almost like a small hum in his ear, but it slowly got louder and louder. It wasn’t an annoying noise, in fact it was very pleasant. ”Ouch! Dammit get it off my foot!!” His dad yelling at him because the boy dropped his half of the boat right on his dads foot. Not even realizing he has dropped the boat, he picked it up quickly and apologize. “What happened? Lost your grip?” The dad picked up his end again. “I actually heard something…” the son whispered. “Something beautiful...” As the words slowly slipped out of his mouth, loud yelling started. “BRO!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING??” a very buff man was grabbing his friends arm. The friend was staring at the ocean, face completely blank, and he continued walking toward the water. Everyone stopped what they were doing and watched. The friend was being dragged by a man half his size, almost like the water was giving him super strength. He kept walking forward. Finally two more men ran over and grabbed his arms. He kept walking forward. Four more men grabbed onto his arms, legs, chest, and pulled him back. He started to slow down when he was knee deep in the water. Slowly he became waist deep and then finally stopped. The guys all let go, but his friend still had a firm grip on his wrist. “Dude! Snap out of it! What’s gotten into you?” The friend slowly turned around to see his friend. Eye to eye with his friend, a tear went down his cheek. “I’m sorry my friend. She is calling me home now.” Everything then went dead quiet. No birds. No waves. No breathing. Then the friend looked back toward the water, and out of no where, as if something grabbed his waist, he was violetly dragged into the water. Screaming while everyone stood frozen. The friend quickly let go of his wrist as to not be dragged down with him. Within seconds he was gone, and all that remained was a pool of blood.

”GET THE FUCK OUT OF THE WATER!!! GET THE FUCK OUT!!” The mayor was sprinting toward the beach waving his arms. Just then, the friend vanished into the water. One by one the six men who went in were gone. Blood was filling the shore line. Some men ran back screaming and some stood frozen, staring at the ocean. Then it was quiet again. All eyes were locked on a small rock in the distance. A creature lay on the rock, basking in the sun light. A beautiful sound filled the air, as the creature was looking up at the sky. At this point everyone stared toward the ocean. Blank faced, and brainless, they all started walking. One, two, three, four, it didn’t matter how many men violently got dragged down into the deep, they all continued toward the majestic creature. Within minutes, the beach was empty. All of the men, the boys and the mayor were now at the bottom of the ocean floor. Bodies of unknown men still scattered across the sandy beach. Blood turned the whole shoreline a deep red. The creature looked up at the sky one more time, before vanishing back into the sea.

Across the ocean their bodies would resurface. Shredded, dismembered, and decapitated. Placed strategically on a small beach towns shoreline. These fisher men would become what they used everyday. Bait.