And It Arose from the Deepest Black (John Black Book 2) Read Online Free Page B
Author: Keith Soares
whale, but they say it’s too big for that. Maybe it’s a prehistoric whale or something. Like the Loch Ness monster.” With that, he was gone.
Was he just messing with me? Or was the Loch Ness monster headed to shore somewhere out west?
He’s messing with me.
I checked my watch and saw that I had about 35 seconds before my next class started. And it was two floors below me.
Thanks a lot, Steve.
* * *
That night, I made a joke about it with my mom during dinner. “No, I don’t think Steve was kidding, John. I saw some report about it. Weird, right?” She took another bite of chicken. “We can turn on the TV after we clean up and see if there’s any news.”
So we did.
And that was the first time I saw Mac the fisherman tell his tale. He talked about something swelling up below him. He said it looked like a giant head.
The reporters were skeptical. So far, they had footage of something large and dark moving eastward underwater. Radar showed it to be a big, solid shape, but offered few other details. The same loop of scenes played over and over. So-called “experts” were interviewed, each with their own opinion, but mostly just saying, “We have no idea. We have to wait and see.” Mac was different. Not an expert in a suit, just a fisherman ranting on a pier about a monster in the sea. Telling the biggest fish tale of all time.
Nothing happened that first night. The story got old. No change.
Two days later, everyone was glued to the TV. The thing hit land.
* * *
Branding is a cultural phenomenon in modern society. Everything needs a brand. Every conflict needs its own name and clever graphic. Every scandal gets “-gate” added to the end. Without a name brand, things don’t stick. So, not surprisingly, as soon as the creature broke the surface of the water, people raced to give it a name.
It rolled onto shore in a tight ball, like a meteor rising from the ocean rather than falling from the sky. Then it stopped, and unwound.
It was massive. It seemed to be made of stone. Simply put, it looked like a giant demon from hell. Someone — I think a Russian — tried to call it a gargoyle. Apparently gargoyle in Russian sounds sort of like “Gorgol,” which in turn sounds exactly like the name of a monster in a Japanese movie. And there you go. But a gargoyle is a little dude up on a cathedral wall, staring down menacingly at the people below. This Gorgol certainly could stare down menacingly, but it would crush a cathedral to stone dust if it got near one.
The news channels all jumped on the name. The Gorgol had come. Rolled up, it was about 150 feet in diameter. That’s like a 15-story building. It was covered in huge, dark, rough scales, like shards of mottled brown and black stone. Imagine eight full-grown elephants holding each other’s tails, over and over. That’s how wide it was. Imagine four city buses standing on their faces, stacked on top of each other. That’s how tall it was. And that’s just when it was rolled up.
Making land, the Gorgol unrolled and stood. It had four legs, sort of short and stubby, but thick and powerful, all about the same length. These too were covered with those rocky scales, and ended in round feet with spiked toes in the back and long-fingered hands with terrifyingly sharp talons in the front. When it started to walk, it did so hunched over, balancing on its back two feet. Because of that, it was actually a bit shorter unrolled. It didn’t seem to be the most limber of creatures, but then we all watched dumbstruck as it stood to take its first good look at the world above the water’s surface. Stretched out, it was nearly 200 feet tall. One big boy.
And its eyes… Deep reddish orange, and glowing with some sort of internal fire.
On live TV, the Gorgol lowered itself back to its hunched walking position. And proceeded to trample the seaside town where it had landed. It didn’t
Was he just messing with me? Or was the Loch Ness monster headed to shore somewhere out west?
He’s messing with me.
I checked my watch and saw that I had about 35 seconds before my next class started. And it was two floors below me.
Thanks a lot, Steve.
* * *
That night, I made a joke about it with my mom during dinner. “No, I don’t think Steve was kidding, John. I saw some report about it. Weird, right?” She took another bite of chicken. “We can turn on the TV after we clean up and see if there’s any news.”
So we did.
And that was the first time I saw Mac the fisherman tell his tale. He talked about something swelling up below him. He said it looked like a giant head.
The reporters were skeptical. So far, they had footage of something large and dark moving eastward underwater. Radar showed it to be a big, solid shape, but offered few other details. The same loop of scenes played over and over. So-called “experts” were interviewed, each with their own opinion, but mostly just saying, “We have no idea. We have to wait and see.” Mac was different. Not an expert in a suit, just a fisherman ranting on a pier about a monster in the sea. Telling the biggest fish tale of all time.
Nothing happened that first night. The story got old. No change.
Two days later, everyone was glued to the TV. The thing hit land.
* * *
Branding is a cultural phenomenon in modern society. Everything needs a brand. Every conflict needs its own name and clever graphic. Every scandal gets “-gate” added to the end. Without a name brand, things don’t stick. So, not surprisingly, as soon as the creature broke the surface of the water, people raced to give it a name.
It rolled onto shore in a tight ball, like a meteor rising from the ocean rather than falling from the sky. Then it stopped, and unwound.
It was massive. It seemed to be made of stone. Simply put, it looked like a giant demon from hell. Someone — I think a Russian — tried to call it a gargoyle. Apparently gargoyle in Russian sounds sort of like “Gorgol,” which in turn sounds exactly like the name of a monster in a Japanese movie. And there you go. But a gargoyle is a little dude up on a cathedral wall, staring down menacingly at the people below. This Gorgol certainly could stare down menacingly, but it would crush a cathedral to stone dust if it got near one.
The news channels all jumped on the name. The Gorgol had come. Rolled up, it was about 150 feet in diameter. That’s like a 15-story building. It was covered in huge, dark, rough scales, like shards of mottled brown and black stone. Imagine eight full-grown elephants holding each other’s tails, over and over. That’s how wide it was. Imagine four city buses standing on their faces, stacked on top of each other. That’s how tall it was. And that’s just when it was rolled up.
Making land, the Gorgol unrolled and stood. It had four legs, sort of short and stubby, but thick and powerful, all about the same length. These too were covered with those rocky scales, and ended in round feet with spiked toes in the back and long-fingered hands with terrifyingly sharp talons in the front. When it started to walk, it did so hunched over, balancing on its back two feet. Because of that, it was actually a bit shorter unrolled. It didn’t seem to be the most limber of creatures, but then we all watched dumbstruck as it stood to take its first good look at the world above the water’s surface. Stretched out, it was nearly 200 feet tall. One big boy.
And its eyes… Deep reddish orange, and glowing with some sort of internal fire.
On live TV, the Gorgol lowered itself back to its hunched walking position. And proceeded to trample the seaside town where it had landed. It didn’t
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