Read Shark Beast for Free Online Page B

out in style.
    Eddie just laughed, a real condescending bark.
    "You know what you look like to me," he growled, with a hateful lush's grin, slowly limping down the dune. "Nothing. A big piece of nothing. You're not even worth thinking about. You're just a waste. A waste of time, a waste of thought, a waste of life. And I'm going to do you a favor, you nothing..."

    Now, this one, Big Ed here, he's not nice, nope, he's not nice at all...
    She lay back in the sand-- could hear the edge of the water getting closer, could hear the lapping waves, feel the sting of salt on her bruises...
    That writer, from the bookstore, he suggested we come out here in the first place; funny, it threw me, because--you'll never believe it--I thought it was a little forward. Going to the beach, on the first date. Can you believe it? Doesn't he know proper etiquette is to tear off a girl's top and threaten her with a crowbar? I mean, get it together, writer dude!
    "...I'm going to do you--and the world--the biggest favor there is." He hefted the crowbar. "I'm going to turn you from a nothing...to a burden. A cripple, some ugly twisted heap someone will have to take care of. Someone you can't tease. Someone you can't kick a cheap shot. And that'll be the only way you'll have some one care about you. And you'll finally have a purpose."

    He grinned.
    "And me, well... I'll finally get some fun off you."

    She shrugged.
    Fine.
    Have your way with me.
    "You're such a stud," she whispered weakly. And then she spit on the beach sand.
    Water splashed against her back, spattered into her hair. She was trapped. And, funny enough, now that it was over, no more options, she no longer felt any fear -- matter of fact, she felt a surprisingly sweet sense of relief. She was tired, wounded, drunk, and what about it. She'd had enough. After all, a girl can only deal with so much. Especially when you got a date, who...
    (went-too-far)
    "Well, if you're gonna do it, big boy," she husk-whispered, "you're gonna do it looking me in the eye. 'Cause here I am..."

    Naked. Beautiful. Pissy.
    And with that, she wiped her nose with her good fist, took a deep, steadying breath, and glared at the son of a bitch.
    Then she passed out.
    Then--back in.
    Damn.
    He's still here.
    Eddie grinned wickedly.
    She grinned right back. A grin that said, Well, at least I got a couple of good kicks in. I did do that.
    His grin wilted a bit--but just a bit.
    But Kirsten didn't care. She knew where this was going. And sure, she knew she could scream, just as she knew it would do no good, no bloody good at all.
    Eddie lifted that crowbar.
    And mean as he was, mad as he was, out of his mind as he was...
    He took the time.
    Took his sweet time.
    To aim.
    Kirsten just smiled. What else could a girl do? No one would hear. And if they did, it would be too late. So no point wasting the breath, of giving him the satisfaction.
    And then she went blank again.
    (sure)

    (hey, why not)

    And that's why she was as surprised as anyone, really, when suddenly, a scream pierced the air anyway.
    Kirsten's eyes widened--skeptically--as Eddie's looming form suddenly buckled, underwent a huge wrenching twist.
    (boy, that sure looks--)

    His face exploded with pain.
    (exactly)

    And then, suddenly, it turned into quite a show:

    His eyes widened. The muscles in his neck whipped and clenched. His scruffy jaw stretched and made a tiny musical popping sound, locking open. His nostrils tremored, went flat. His face flushed hot-crimson, morphed into a mottled pink, then blanched bone-white. His whole body flexed and then locked tight. He looked as if he'd stabbed a fork into a fuse box, a thousand watts of paralyzing pain circuiting wildly through his form.
    His scream careened, then abruptly cut itself off--what came out of his mouth next: a sharp glassy choke of an airless yelp.
    After that: silence.
    (bravo! encore!)

    Silence.
    The crowbar dropped from his outstretched fingers, splashed dully in the ebbing tide a few