"Peter!!!" Cried the voice of a 7-year old little girl, clad in jean
overalls and a blue shirt, with a black baseball cap topping off her
blonde hair which were tied in pigtails. She put her hands to her
hips and feigned frustration at her older brother, who clumsily was
tripping his way over to her. Peter was of average build, with short
brown hair that often spiked naturally, with a set of glasses that
occasionally slipped down his nose. He was clothed in his usual garb,
a blue jean jacket with a symbol of a lions head sown on the left arm
sleeve, with dark blue jeans and a black t-shirt completing the
slacker ensemble. The 19-year old walked back up to Maya, the afore
mentioned little girl and sister, he looked sidelong at her and
said "Don't yell, your attracting more attention than we need." The
two were taking a walk down the Santa Monica Pier, it was one of the
few times Peter could slip in some quality time between work and
college. "Well, maybe if you get really humiliated you'll learn not
to screw up so often." She replied, a little protectively. After
their parents death, the Huerta siblings struggle to survive on
Peter's small salary, but manage to stick together in the toughest of
times. Peter held his little sisters hand, his mind mostly on the
small array of college classes he was enrolled in. Maya's mind was on
what she was going to make for dinner, not wanting her brother to eat
so much fast food and eventually get (gasp) scurvy, she looked up at
Peter " Hey….if a great white shark were to fight an eagle on land,
who would win?" Peter rolled his eyes, his sister asked the most
complicated and, oddly, good questions. "I guess the eagle, sharks
can't breath on land, it's a matter of gills." He replied, but Maya
was paying no attention in the answer to her question, she instead
ran to the end of the pier and was watching the waves roll in and
out. Peter sighed and pushed up his glasses, walking up behind her
and putting a hand on the top of her cap, twirling it around and
giving her the "white midget rapper" look.



Giggling a little the little girl started tossing her loose change
into the sea, as if the Pacific ocean were one giant wishing well.
Peter gave a little sigh and put his arms on the piers guard rail,
feeling himself drift off into a day dream like he was known for, in
time he knew Maya would tug at his sleeve when she wanted to do
something or go somewhere. After closing his eyes and expecting to
hear the peaceful sounds of the ocean, he was instead treated to the
sounds of screaming from the tourists behind him. Maya looked at him
serenely, but her vocabulary was anything but lady like "What the
hell are they screaming at?" Peter's answer was cut off as the ocean
started to become choppy, throwing small dinghy's back into the
shore. Soon the water level began rise forward in strong wave
cycles, rushing in and pulling back large amounts of sand. The crowd
of regular vacationers and students started out with frantic terror,
but was soon built into a regular screaming mob as they ran to find
get back to the mainland. Peter and Maya however, however, was not so
lucky as they stopped at the end of they pier, and were running in
panic without care of order back to the other end of the pier. Justin
was pushed and shoved aside by many fellow runners, Maya holding on
to the sleeve of her brothers jacket, and was less than halfway to
the end when he tripped and lost his glasses. As he searched urgently
for them a large black cloud flowed in over the area with incredible
speed, descending and condensing into form. The people that made it
back to the beach turned and pointed in horror, mixed in with those
still running to get back to the mainland. Peter slipped his glasses
nervously on, and what he mistook for a cloud formation turned out to
be a horror of the most nightmarish sort. It was gigantic, at least a
story tall, with a mans muscular torso and long, hooked claws. Its
face was hidden behind what looked like several large feelers
covering its head, but a sharp nose and two, haunting yellow glowing
eyes burned underneath the tentacles. It had no lower body, its
growth developed down to its stomach and from there it simply
floated, and it waited with the deadly sense and patience of a
sentinel. Peter took all these factors in about 2 seconds and tried
to bolt back to the end of the pier, a scream rose in his thought and
stayed, it would have to wait until he could be sure a scream could
be heard. However, before Peter and Maya had the chance, the black
sentinel rose its large arm, and from its sharp claws a dome of
purplish energy spread , covering a small area of the pier, taking in
with it Peter, Maya, and those unlucky few tourists who couldn't get
away fast enough.

The beings yellow eyes flashed, and suddenly the dome illuminated a
bright red, blinding those within with a horrifying brightness. Peter
and his sister hugged each other tight, the trapped humans screamed,
it seemed as if fear was the only thing existing in the small space,
and suddenly, everything stopped. There was nothing but blackness, as
if a blanket had been put over them, and then a foreboding silence.
Peter could feel a cold rhythmic beat in this darkness, and suddenly
he realized he had never been more afraid in his life. He could feel
his sister being torn away from him, crying at him to please save
her, but Peter's body was frozen in fear, as if ice were running in
his veins and nerves and locking them tight. His eyes remained closed
as he could feel the girls hand slip from his sleeve, his body still
locked and unable to fight for her. As her pleads drifted away he
find what sounded like a legion of people speaking at the same time
to form one voice.


"WE KNOW YOU…WE KNOW YOU WANT SOMETHING…..WE KNOW YOU HATE SOMETHING…
EVEN IF YOU…HAD ALL THE RICHES…OF THE WORLD…YOUR PEOPLES GREED
WOULD..NOT END.."

The cold sensation ripped further into him, it felt as if every
single blood vessel in his body refused to move, after a moment of
panic Peter tried to open his eyes. At first his eyes felt on fire
since he was looking in direct sunlight. He found himself slumped
over, his back reclined against a tree and his legs sitting straight
out. "Wha…what the hell?" He said a little dumbly, he stood up, his
muscles a little stiff but he was otherwise healthy. Physically I'm
fine, mentally I'm messed up, that was the worst dream I ever had he
thought to himself. Looking around, making sure his glasses were
clean he was sure that Santa Monica did not have plant life that
looked like the Jurassic period. Collecting himself further, though
his hands were shaking, he started making his way across the lush
jungle floor, his feet getting snagged a few times in the underbrush,
his annoyed symphony coming out in short gasps "Shit, dammit, fuck,
son of a bitch." Justin looked up to find small patches of sunlight
escape from the canopy of the jungle, he put his hand above his brow
and suddenly realized that Maya was no where near him, thinking that
maybe she would have wandered off from him in search of help. "Yo
Maya!!!" He cried "Don't scare me like this kid!" Anxiety soon set in
and Justin now moves forward, still unsure of where he's going but
knows that getting to someone…anyone was better than being left in
this creepy jungle.