The Monster of North Lake: Chapter 9

For the next week the five of us cruised around the lake searching for the monster. I allowed Andrew to drive the boat with Steven and Ryan while Angel and I flew over head. Andrew drove the boat while Ryan manned the harpoon and Steven Angel and I kept a look out for the beast.

Unfortunately, the monster seemed to have just disappeared. We had combed every inch of the lake from the main southern end of the lake to the furthest point north.

One morning when we were doing patrols we had found a large part of the bank near our base completely destroyed. Another time we had thought we found it once on the fish finder. But after firing the harpoon into the water and reeling the massive object up we discovered we had reeled in a 40 foot pine tree.

"Well even if we don't find the monster we can go into the underwater logging business with this thing?" Ryan said. The rest of us just shook our heads.

That weekend was the Fourth of July so we decided to not go monster hunting. There was a big party that at the boat launch that evening and all the camp owners were getting together.

My mom and I rode down on the boat We had taken the harpoon off and left it at the base. There are about forty camps on North Lake and it looked like everyone had shown up for the party. There was a long table full of food, three grills were cooking hamburgs and hot dogs, and a bar-be-que pit was cooking ribs. People were playing football, soccer, horse shoes, can jam, and volley ball. There were people in the lake swimming, tubing, and water skiing.

I saw the guys playing football and joined in while my mom chatted with some of our neighbors. We took a break from  the game when the food was ready. We dragged a few chairs down where the water was shallow there was an older guy fishing further away. The lake usually drops right off so it could be five feet deep the fifteen feet when you take another step.

"You's been doin any fishing?" The man asked.

"Well kinda." Steven answered. I guessed he was talking about the monster.

"Ya catch anything?" He asked reeling his line in.

"Nope, we saw a big one last week but we've never been able to catch it."

"Well in all my years of fishing I've learned a few things about this lake." He cast his line and I saw a shimmering lure fly through the air. "Big fish get big by eating little fish. They like things that shine and move. And they love live bait. The more commotion you can make the more likely he'll bite!" He said and smacked the water a few times.

The four of us nodded. I doubt the old timer had any idea of what we were really after but he did give me an idea.

"Old Atwell Martin, the founder of this lake caught one of the biggest fish in New York state history out of this lake"

That name caught my attention but before I could ask him what he meant someone screamed "DUCK!" And I saw one of the fire works for tonight's display fly in our direction. I quickly raised my hands and blasted it with a current of air knocking me out of my chair and into the water.

I went under and my butt landed on the bottom. I opened my eyes and looked up I must've been twenty feet underwater. I felt a current move past me. I grabbed Changing storm thinking it was the monster. Instead I came face to beak with two loons.

"My lord it's not safe for you in the water!" The male warned.

"Flee before the creature knows you're here!" The other pleaded. With that they turned and swam away at incredible speeds. I felt a cold presence moving this way and I launched off the bottom, back to the shore.

I climbed back on to the bank, about fifty yards from the party, and shook my self off. The others ran over to help me splashing through the water. Suddenly they stopped and I turned around to see the monster's head rise out of the water. It's rows of razor sharp teeth poised to strike. I had no time to move, I was screwed. Suddenly a wall of bright light appeared and the serpent crashed into it.

I raced for the others but the serpent suddenly slithered out of the water and cut me off. It had four short legs with webbed feet. It looked like one of the dragons I saw at a Chinese buffet once, only a lot more menacing. I flipped over the monster's back and regrouped with the others. A jet of fire shot from the end of a lighter Andrew had. However the monster was able to move it's head out of the way like a king cobra.

I lunged at the monster and kicked it in the head then pushed it back towards the deep water with a current of air. Ryan raised his hand and blasted it with a beam of light. Andrew shot another jet of fire at the monster and it tittered on the edge of the deep water. Before we could blast it with anything else Steven charged at the beast and tackled it into the water without a weapon!

"Steven!" We screamed and ran toward where they went under but we couldn't see Steven or the monster.

Suddenly the monster rose out of the water and looked down on us. Steven's cowboy hat hung form one of it's horns. The monster dove at us and Ryan put up another wall of light to try and defend us. Suddenly a pillar of water shot out of the lake with Steven on top.

We stood there shocked how was Steven able to control the water? He raised his hands and a wave of water crashed into the monster. He moved forward and continued to pound the serpent with water until it retreated. When the monster was gone Stevens' pillar collapsed and he fell into the water. After two minutes he didn't resurface! Ryan and I dove into the lake where we last saw him. We frantically searched the bottom of the lake. I spotted him and hauled him back to the surface.

I dragged him onto dry land but I discovered he wasn't breathing! Ryan shoved me out of the way and placed his hands over Steven's face and chest. Ryan muttered for a few seconds and Steven's eyes snapped open. He rolled over and coughed up half the lake. He sat there shaking and occasionally spitting sand out of his mouth but he was alive.