It didn't look like much more than a pile of bones roughly held together with rotting sinew but somehow it was pulling itself along the bottom of the lake. It was one of those times where you wished that the water wasn't quite so beautifully clear and that your tiny canoe wasn't made of transparent plastic. Even a thin plank of wood would have made you feel safer, less conspicuous.
It would extend its neck, tongue roaming the water like a snake tastes the air, hook itself around a rock or dig into the looser shale and drag it's gargantuan body behind. It did have arms - little hook-ended find that might have been flared and muscular at some point but were now pretty useless and scrambled about, gripping nothing.
If it had eyes, you couldn't tell. It's face was mostly mouth with crumbling scales and collapsing bones composing the rest of its head. Even it's body was just a misshapen, vaguely scaled lump of meat with its ribs visible through the broken, greying skin. There was no telling exactly what it was when it was in its prime but now it was almost pitiful.
That impression lasted right up until it lashed out with unnatural speed and withdrew with a large turtle writhing about in its jaws. They snapped shut with a crunch that could be heard even from the surface. The turtle broke cleanly in half and the beautifully clear water soon became cloudy red.
The creature, seemingly satisfied with its meal, sank down and blended perfectly with the lakebed.
It would extend its neck, tongue roaming the water like a snake tastes the air, hook itself around a rock or dig into the looser shale and drag it's gargantuan body behind. It did have arms - little hook-ended find that might have been flared and muscular at some point but were now pretty useless and scrambled about, gripping nothing.
If it had eyes, you couldn't tell. It's face was mostly mouth with crumbling scales and collapsing bones composing the rest of its head. Even it's body was just a misshapen, vaguely scaled lump of meat with its ribs visible through the broken, greying skin. There was no telling exactly what it was when it was in its prime but now it was almost pitiful.
That impression lasted right up until it lashed out with unnatural speed and withdrew with a large turtle writhing about in its jaws. They snapped shut with a crunch that could be heard even from the surface. The turtle broke cleanly in half and the beautifully clear water soon became cloudy red.
The creature, seemingly satisfied with its meal, sank down and blended perfectly with the lakebed.
No comments:
Post a Comment