Mega 4: Behemoth Island Read Free Page B

beneath his feet. He looked left and saw a way to get down, but he knew he didn’t have time for that path. The monster behind him was only a few paces, a few collapsed and crushed trees, from snatching him up in its oversized jaws.
    To the right, close to a hundred yards away, was a majestic waterfall that would give sightseers and photographers heart attacks from its beauty alone. It roared over the edge of the cliff, falling at least a hundred feet before turning into a rainbow mist against the hidden rocks and boulders of the river below. Dr. Chen could reach the waterfall, but he doubted he could survive the fall.
    Unless he changed, which he had been loathe to do despite the others’ assurances it was the most amazing thing ever.
    It was a hard choice, one made even harder by the constant pounding of giant feet coming for him.
    Die from beast or die from waterfall? Stay himself or become something else entirely?
    He made his choice and sprinted to the right just as the trees behind him were turned into nothing but splinters and toothpicks. Woody shrapnel exploded around him and he screamed as he felt new wounds added to his already marred body. There were a million ways he could die in the next few minutes, but only one chance at survival.
    The ubiquitous roar shoved at him like a strong wind. He ignored it, blocked it out, focused only on the waterfall ahead of him. One hundred yards became eighty, became fifty, became twenty, became nothing.
    Hesitancy was death and the man didn’t want to die so he did not hesitate. He reached the edge and kept going, leaping out as far as his fatigued legs would carry him. His arms pinwheeled and the scream of fear he bellowed changed pitch and tone until it became a wail of survival, a plea to anything that would listen to save him from being an impossible monster’s meal.
    Or snack. Yeah, he was only snack-sized for the creature that charged at him.
    He turned in the air, his body already changing, and caught sight of the creature that had been pursuing him—a tower of a beast with a huge body, short arms, a head nearly as big as its torso, and powerful legs that looked like nothing but quivering muscle. Which they were.
    He could feel his own quivering muscles as he turned into whatever he would turn into.
    That was the thought in his head as he hit the water and was spun about by the force of the river that fell from above.
    Dr. Chen was swept down, down, down, away from the edge of the cliff, away from the beast, that nightmare made of muscle and violence, away from the world above and into the world below. He took a deep breath and then lost it instantly as his back impacted with a heavy boulder. He roared and choked on water, his heavy body pulled downriver by the immense power of nature.
    Whether that nature was actually natural or not, was up for debate.
     
    ***
     
    “What locations or destinations did Ballantine ever talk about?” Jowarski asked. “Any special places he was fond of? Possible vacations he’d taken in the past? Maybe even a bucket list of travel spots he wanted to see?”
    Popeye blinked a few times then scrunched up his face and leaned as far forward as the restraints would allow. “Do you even know Ballantine?”
    “I’ve met the man, yes,” Jowarski replied. “I understand those seem like strange questions for someone like Ballantine, but I have to be thorough.”
    “Yeah, thorough,” Popeye chuckled. “You must be desperate to ask questions like that. I’d think Ballantine’s wifey would know those things. Why the hell ask me?”
    “Dr. Ballantine has not had the privilege of her husband’s company in some time,” Jowarski replied. “But we’ll keep that between you and me.” He waited with his pen poised above his clipboard.
    Popeye shook his head and leaned back. “Ballantine didn’t share.”
    “Is that so?” Jowarski asked. “Nothing while you and the rest of the crew travelled with him over the open oceans? Nothing