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Gabrielle Ivanovitch was alone. The streets of Destiny City were deserted and a soft, swirling fog clung to her as she walked, heels clicking against the cold pavement. Where had everyone gone? Even at this time of night, the city usually showed some sign of activity. And why was it so freakin’ cold? Shivering, the girl continued to walk, looking for a sign of life other than herself. The chill and the quiet were unnerving. Up ahead, the mist swirled and parted to reveal an enormous sandwich board. In bright, garish colors it exhorted her to come and see a mutant marvel of nature! Come, come and see the Rarest of the Rare! Come see the Fabulous Black Shark!

As Gabbie read on (who knew they could cram so much text onto these things?), curiosity gnawed at her. She knew there had to be black sharks out in the wild. Just like there had to be albino sharks. Mutations occurred all the time in nature. But this board was promising her something the size of Jaws and colored in stark, ebony black. Okay, so sharks weren’t really her forte, but she had to see this.

The walk to the aquarium didn’t take long, and here at least, there was other life. A shadowed figure smiled nastily at her and ushered her into the viewing arena. CLICK! went a door behind her. Spinning around, she found herself in a narrow, oblong room. The smooth walls showed no trace of a door and in front of her was a huge panel of clear glass. Beyond the glass was water. And something else. Something that moved closer and closer to the glass. Something she knew with sudden, panicky certainty that she did NOT want to see. Stumbling backwards until her back slammed into the wall, she reached behind her, desperately feeling for the door she’d come through. Amber eyes locked on the glass and somewhere deep in her brain, a little voice told her to relax. Go closer. Take a look. It’s too small to be a shark. Curiosity overwhelmed caution and she crept forward until she was close enough to touch her fingertips to the icy cold glass.

Leaning forward, her nose almost touched the glass as she narrowed her eyes, trying to see past the gloom to identify the object. Only to have it do a graceful turn in the water and reveal itself to be the broken, mangled and bloody body of one Lt. Hematite. He grinned at her through the glass before one tattered arm came up and through the glass, moving as if through clear, thick gel to latch onto her wrist, holding her in place as she turned pale and screamed. His hand on her skin felt slimy, cold and stronger than steel. Even as she struggled to escape, he held on, grinning at her and pulling her closer to the glass. Trying to pull her through the glass.

And then she saw the shark. Blacker than pitch and bigger than a city bus. It swam gracefully, cutting through the water with a malevolent ease that had her going weak at the knees from terror. It was coming for her, no doubt of that. And as she struggled more, Hematite pulled her through the glass with painful slowness. Only, for her the glass wasn’t gelled. It cut through her skin, sending tiny drops of vermillion into the water. ********, she was in the water and bleeding! She fought more, desperate to get back through the glass. Only to see that it, and the room beyond, had disappeared. She was alone in the water with a giant shark and the zombie-fied remains of the man who’d nearly killed her. Her mouth opened to scream and the water came rushing in, choking her.

“Sssh! Don’t scream,” Hematite’s voice burbled through the water as his other arm came up and his fingers locked around her throat. “Screaming only makes it worse, you know.”

Cold, dead hands on her wrist, around her neck, can’t move, can’t fight, can’t scream, can’t get away! And the shark was so close now. She saw the cavernous maw open. Saw the jagged teeth the size of a watermelon as the shark rushed them. Saw the final darkness as they were swallowed whole and the jaws began to close…..


There was no one to shake Gabbie from her nightmare as she lay in her bed and thrashed wildly, fighting a menace that was all in her head. It was only when her flailing arm slammed against her bedside table and gave her a real, physical pain that her eyes flew open and she stared wildly around her room. For a moment, she thought that she was still trapped, but then she felt the sunlight trickling through her window. Heard the birds chirping. With a ragged sob, she relaxed back into her sweat soaked sheets and shook from leftover terror and hopelessness.