Blood Circus

Chapter 15- Loch Ness Horror

Despite receiving two high voltage shocks, Sylvia felt normal. In fact, it seemed all the shocks had done was make her feel energised, like she had just drank a few giant cups of coffee. She had so much energy, she was managing to keep pace with Damian, who was walking at his fast paced vampire speed walk. They found themselves having to wait for Liam to catch up every now and then. About halfway to the suspected destination of the third number, Liam told them he had to stop and rest for a minute. He was out of breath trying to keep up with them. So they stopped and sat on a bench conveniently placed nearby. Sylvia hated it. They were wasting valuable time, and she told them that.

" I can't help it! I don't have as great stamina as you, and I'm not a vampire. I have to rest for a couple seconds."

" Well then I'll go on ahead and meet you boys there..." Both of them cried a simultaneous 'No!'. She decided it wasn't worth arguing over. Not in a two against one situation. Still, it was nice to know they cared so much.

Once Liam was ready, they set off again. Sylvia wanted to run there to make up for lost time, but Liam protested. So she and Damian slowed their pace to keep in line with him. It took longer than she had hoped to get to the water ride.

It was a large pond. A hut sat on the edge with a sign up reading;

Boat rides: £5 per boat for 10 minutes. 4 persons to a boat.

She read the sign, but couldn't see any boats around the pond. They decided to check the hut. Sylvia and Liam stayed outside to guard, while Damian entered through the creaking door. She stood outside the hut with Liam, who was once again holding his handgun, looking around. She saw a small pole sticking out the ground next to the hut with a chain leading from it to the water. She thought this was odd. It must be for to keep the boats in place, but there were no boats. She moved over to it and picked up the chain in her hand. It was cold, the metal links rusty at their joints. She followed it closer to the water and started to pull it out. Liam asked her what she was doing, and she gave a sarcastic reply.

" I'm picking daisies. What does it look like I'm doing?!"

" Well it doesn't look like you're thinking, that's for sure. Come on, leave it." The chain caught on something. She pulled as hard as she could, but it wouldn't move any more. Defeated, she let it drop back to the ground. she thought she saw a shadow move in the water, but just as she went to look, Damian called them over to the hut. Apparently, he'd found something. She took a last look at the murky water. She decided it was her imagination. She was probably still a little ditzy from the electricity. She followed Liam inside the hut.

Strangely, it seemed bigger on the inside. The wooden walls had holes rotted through them and it smelt damp. The wooden floorboards creaked under their feet. Damian stood behind a desk with had a cash register on it, and a selection of tattered bits of paper. He motioned them over and held out a folded newspaper. She caught the title.

Loch Ness Horror!

Recent attacks on a water ride in the 'Circo de Sangre' have forced its closure. Five people have went missing on the boat rides, only to turn up dismembered a week later. Witnesses believe that a monster lurks in the depths of the circus pond...

The rest of the article was illegible. It seemed that water had been leaking in and had washed off the newspaper print. Sylvia touched her forehead gently with her fingertips, something she tended to do when she was annoyed.

" Great. First vampires, now a freaking loch ness monster! What the hell is wrong with this place?!" Her answer came in the form of a loud splash outside. They all ran out of the hut. Nothing. Whatever had made the noise, wasn't anywhere to be seen. A small ripple wobbled over the greenish water. She noticed the chain she had tried to pull from the water had moved. On its own? Not likely. She grabbed the cold metal chain in both her hands and gave a hard tug. She had expected it to still be stuck, but it came out easily. Because she had used so much force, she ended up falling backwards, the chain clattering noisily on the hard ground with her. She heard Damian call asking if she was okay, but she was too focused on the chain.

It had been broken. Not at one of the joints, as it would if it broke on its own, it seemed to have been bitten off right in the middle of one of the links. A loud hissing noise erupted from the pond. Liam looked at her fearfully.

" Please tell me that was you."

A creature emerged from under the water. It was a lizard, scaled with a frill of skin around its neck, on all fours. Slowly, it stood up. It was 6ft tall at least, and water dripped off its human like arms. It held up a small black box in its webbed hands and seemed to grin at them. It then turned and threw the box behind it into the pond. The creature hissed at them before following the box into the pond. They stood for a moment, making sense of what had just happened. Sylvia finally stood up. Still facing the water, she directed her words to Liam.

" That box had the number in it."

" Yep."

" And we have to go get it while that things in there."

" Yep."

" I hate this place." She swung the holder, that kept her shotgun and flamethrower on her back, over her shoulder and put it on the ground. She then pulled off her leather jacket and dropped it with the shotgun. As she was unclipping her belt holding her handguns and extra ammo, Liam finally saw her.

" Hey, wait a minute, what the hell are you doing, Sylvia?"

" Picking daisies."

" You're not going after it!"

" Oh, and you are? If I don't go, who will?" With that, Damian jumped into the water. Sylvia and Liam stood in silence for a minute. She looked at him with her hands on her hips.

" He will."