Gods and Monsters

Ep.3: The River Monster (No.6)

Episode 3: The River Monster (No.6)

Written by Danny Richards

Produced by Corey Smith, Matthew Anderson, Luca Limoncelli and Joanna Holland

Edited by Corey Smith, Matthew Anderson and Joanna Holland

Created and developed by Danny Richards

Unknown Forest

The wind whipped through the trees on the dreadful, windy night. The miserable crisp leaves crashing into one another as they glided down to the damp floor below. Peggy was struggling to keep her pace as she ran through the forest. She breathed heavily, trying to take in as much oxygen as possible. She wasn't sure why she was running; if she was chasing someone or someone was chasing her. All she knew was that she had to keep going. Twigs and branches crunched under her feet as she dodged her way through the trees, struggling to see them until they were just inches away from her face.

It was only after she had been running for what felt like hours that she suddenly heard it. Another pair of footsteps. Peggy couldn't tell where they were coming from, all she knew was that she wasn't alone. Tears filled her eyes as her chest burned in pain, but she was too afraid to stop - too afraid to find out what was with her in the forest.

Suddenly, her foot caught a protruding root and she fell, grazing her hands and knees as she landed, rolling down a ditch before she splashed into a muddy puddle below. Peggy wiped the mud from her eyes, but the sight she was met with was not one that she expected. An outstretched hand pulled her up from the puddle, holding her close as she shivered in her wet vest top and grey tracksuit bottoms.

It was Nick; he was alive.

Peggy couldn't believe her eyes as the two lovers embraced each other tightly. "Nick? But you're..." Nick raised his hand to her lips to shush her before planting a kiss on her forehead. He moved back and Peggy wasn't sure what to say. She was frozen still, so confused as to what was happening. She couldn't even remember how she had got here in the first place or why she had been running, everything was such a blur. She only felt safe in Nick's arms, but as she moved forward to hold him once again he pushed her back.

Nick looked at her confused face before he finally spoke. "Why didn't you save me, Peggy?" His face twisted into a horrible scowl as he stared down at her. "You could have saved me, but you failed." Nick stepped closer so that he was now towering over her. Peggy tried to speak, but could only stutter as she tried to explain how she had tried, but nothing had worked. She tried to push herself back and get away from the now intimidating figure of her partner, but her attempts were met in vain as her back smacked into a tree trunk.

"You're a failure!" Nick screamed before his throat wound opened up like it had back in Wembley on the day of the Embankment incident. Peggy was sprayed with Nick's blood, screaming as he collapsed onto her, pinning her down in the dark, dreary forest.

Peggy's apartment - Finchley, London

Peggy shot up from the bed as she woke from her nightmare, sweat pouring off her body as she struggled to breathe just like she had in the dream. For a moment she remained confused; the dream had felt so real: the touch of Nick's hand, the softness of his lips, and unfortunately, the warm spray of his blood as it covered her face at the end. It had been so vivid that it took her a minute to adjust to the more familiar surroundings. The orange walls of the bedroom that Peggy usually despised felt oddly reassuring after her ordeal in the forest, although a picture of Peggy and her sister, Laura, standing in the woods near their family home in Kent did make her feel a bit unsure. Peggy needed someone to speak to, and right now her sister would likely be awake due to the time difference in New Zealand, but she still didn't feel comfortable with it. They had spoken a few times after Nick's death: once to let Laura know he had died, and then another time after Laura and her family couldn't make the funeral. Peggy really could have done with just having someone to speak to in person, releasing her inner thoughts to, but other than Nick, she didn't have too many close friends. She got on well with everyone on the team, of course, but with her current condition and the situation with the pills, Peggy didn't feel comfortable telling them about any of it just yet. The only other option was her father, but she didn't think it would be fair to wake him at this peculiar hour.

Peggy cleared up the newspaper clippings of Yates that she had been looking at before bed — likely the cause of her nightmare — shuffling them back into the box she had stored them all in. Hopefully Peggy wouldn't get any unexpected visitors round to her flat, as if any of them found the pictures, it could be a little difficult to explain. Especially as she didn't understand them fully herself, let alone if they found Nick's handgun. After a few moments, Peggy composed herself and went into the bathroom of her flat, splashing her face with water to cool herself down and wake herself up. Her emerald green eyes looked glassy in the mirror, with big black bags dragging them down. Looking over at the flashing clock, Peggy saw the time was only 1:14 am meaning that she had been asleep for about two hours. Tying her copper hair up, Peggy got dressed into some casual clothes and headed for her car, but not before necking two of her pills, unsure as to whether the recommended four hours had passed since she had last taken them. After her nightmare, Peggy had decided to take matters into her own hands; she needed to find out what happened to Nick, and what Yates had to do with it.

Continued in Part 2