Icehot

4: Wind & Wall

Oliver slid to the side as one giant claw struck the sand next to him, violently shocking open a coconut with one slash. So that's how the coconut got opened, he thought.

Adrenaline began to race through his veins like race-cars as the beast turned sharply on its massive hind legs, its blood-red eyes pointed straight at him. He backed up slowly and tripped, falling back into the water with a surprised cry. The beast began to charge, black spittle flying out of its mouth.

Oliver's head burst from the lake, cold water slipping down his long blond locks, and through a kaleidoscope of bleary waterlogged eyes he saw the... thing charging at him in great bounds. He tried to step backwards, but his legs had sunk deep into the muck at the bottom of the lake.

A terrible screech filled the air and the beast jumped back like a scared cat, its eyes bulging out. Oliver twisted his legs out of the muck and began to paddle himself across the little lake.

It's afraid of water, he realized, as the creature began to pace around the lake, snarling, its bloody lips and thick muscles still very frightening.

He began making a plan.

He took a deep breath and dunked his head underwater, and then dove to the bottom of the lake. It wasn't deep—ten feet at most—and he began to snake along the loose dirt like he did at the public swimming pool back home, his chest just brushing against the bottom.

Fighting the urge to swim up, he instead reached his hand back towards his soaked fanny pack. He slid open the zipper just enough to wrap his hand around one of the two empty coconut husks he had put there earlier. He filled the husk with water and continued to the swim to the far side of the lake, and then, as quietly as he could, began to army crawl up the steep bank, not breathing for fear of being heard.

Unfortunately, a rumbling noise and alerted him that he had been spotted and he took a deep breath and spun onto his side just as the creature sprang across the sand towards him.

Oliver got up, the dripping, water-filled coconut husk in hand.

"Here, doggy. Over here!" he shouted.

Another screech.

"Bad dog!" he began to say.

Quite suddenly, he felt the temperature drop considerably as the creature's shadow covered him and it's slimy saliva dripped down his back.

"Good dog..." he said awkwardly, and then took off at a sprint across the gravely furnace of sand, catching the wolf-monster by surprise. The beast was a little behind him, but it began to catch up quickly, sprinting at a seemingly impossible pace.

He didn't have to make it very much farther. Only to the tree, and then he just had to hope that his plan worked.

The beast was closing even faster, seemingly spurred on by the same heat that drained Oliver. His legs became leaden and his head began to spin. He could see it behind him, its wolf-like form terrifying and magnificent at the same time. In the corner of his eyes he thought he saw something happen but didn't dare look, didn't dare turn, didn't dare do anything but run...

He reached the tree. Putting all of his effort into it, he turned sharply around the tree, almost slipping in the loose sand. The beast hadn't been anticipating the turn and gave a mighty roar as its legs crossed up and it tumbled to the sand in pain. Oliver stopped, turned around, and heaved his water-full coconut husks on the forehead of the beast.

He plugged his ears and fell to his knees as the beast thrashed about, slapping itself on the forehead. He watched in awe as the water melted through its skin, like a deadly acid. With one final surge of strength, the monster slammed its body hard into the coconut tree. Then it crashed to the sand, the water still sizzling through its head. The monster went limp and the tree wobbled for some time and then crashed to the ground, cutting through the beast's body like a massive sword. Oliver stumbled backwards a few steps and reached his hand behind his back, slipping the killer coconut into his dripping fanny pack.