Marine Reptile & Vagrant
The Loch Ness Monster peeked his head out from the water, and saw that there were no humans on the starlit beach. Satisfied, he climbed out of the water, and waddled across the sand.
The night air felt cool on his wet, rubbery skin. The coarse sand stuck to his flippers, but he didn’t mind. The joints in his long neck popped and cracked, as he stretched them. He spent a lot of time under the waves, and rarely got to experience the joys of dry land. It felt nice.
He stopped and admired the dark forest that sat at the edge of the beach, opposite the green Loch Ness Lake. That forest was the only thing separating him from the settlements of humanity.
The humans didn’t scare the monster, but they did unnerve him; hairless apes, clad in artificial silk and furs, living in caves of glass and brick. They were so different from the beasts he’d known in his youth, in the time before man, when the continents were one, and the air, land and sea, was ruled by monsters. Monsters like him.
He pushed the thought away. Nostalgia was a powerful drug; glorious high, followed by a crushing low. The old world was gone.
He slithered along the beach, breathing in the stench of low tide, when he spotted the man.
Clothes torn and stained, beard long, twisted, and dirty. He wore no shoes, and his…
