"A KiIler Day On The Beach" by Scott Wilson

A Killer Day on the Beach 

by Scott Wilson

Tom opened his eyes to the bright sunlight and questioned how long he had been asleep. 

He was on his front with his face was to one side and he could see that nearly all that days sunbathers had gone, leaving two teens kicking a ball around and a couple holding hands as they walked their dog.

That was when the pain struck.     

His body felt like it had been rubbed down with sandpaper, or a cheese grater. His sunburnt body radiated heat. Tom tried to turn his head, but it was locked into position, as were his arms and legs. 

He tried to complain about the burns, but no words formed, he couldn’t even make a sound.

“What’s happened to me? Have I had a stroke or something” he asked himself in dread as he attempted to move his paralysed body once more.     

He desperately tried to think back. 

Had he been in an accident or was he so drunk his body didn’t want to comply to his basic instructions?

He had been with Grace, but after yet another argument she had gone home early.   

“That’s right, I did have some beer, but only a couple from the cooler, not enough to get drunk” then a deeper fear took him “What if Grace had found out about Kim and spiked my drink?” 

That was ludicrous and he pushed the thought away as quickly as it had come. “If my beer had been spiked then I would more likely be shitting myself, not unable to move”.

Then what had happened? 

He strained as much as he could, to try and call out, but it was no use.

He could only watch as the teens took their ball and left, and the dog walkers were already out of sight.

Then he saw her. 

Tom was unable to move his eyes but, from the corner of his vison, he saw a woman laying on her front on a towel, her back was glowing red. He could just about meet her eyes, and she looked terrified.

The realisation that someone else was paralysed on the beach was beyond horrifying.

He desperately tried to move, to roll, but his muscles didn’t budge. Tom wanted to yell, to scream but his body was lifeless. 

“Am I dead!” he cried within as he tried to look around. The colour of the sky told him that the sun had begun to set and the ferociousness of the oncoming waves, as the tide approached, alarmed him.

He knew his bag was next to the cooler and inside was his phone but even though they were only inches from him, they may as well have been on the moon.

The white of the surf ran into his vision as the sea began to close in.   

Tom’s body was unable to panic, and his breathing and heartbeat remained calm, it was only his inner self that was manic.

A memory returned to him. Tom had placed the second empty can on his cooler when something had stung his foot. He had looked down to see… “What was it?”

It had resembled a crab but had been purple, almost bug like. He had kicked it away before sitting on his towel to check the wound.

“Then what happened?” 

Tom didn’t know. 

The eyes of the woman looked frantic as her legs and then lower torso were covered by the inescapable oncoming sea. 

As the surf pulled back Tom saw that it left what looked like purple pebbles in its wake. 

The pebbles moved on black crab-like legs. 

More were being pushed to the sand as the sea returned, almost covering the woman completely.

Something burrowed out of the sand inches from his nose. It was one of them.

It studied Tom for a moment and he was sure the creature was going to come for him, maybe burrow and crawl into his disabled face. At this distance Tom saw two antennae on its repulsive head.

The creature turned and moved away as another wave came in and Tom saw that there were dozens of them, and as the woman was finally covered under the waves and purple creatures, he could only await his turn.

The sea would cool his burns and as he finally accepted his fate, he hoped that he would drown before those things got to him.

Tom didn’t know what these monstrous creatures were, but he did know that no one would be leaving the beach.