“You see, we were way ahead of the research being done even today. We cracked the genetic code. We were able to identify DNA sequences for virtually every aspect of an animal, fish, insect… even plants.”
“What do you mean by every aspect?” Billy was back up, searching cabinets, finding a bag of chips and returning to his seat. “Like eye color?”
Mossy nodded. “Eye color, any physical characteristic really, as well as defense mechanisms; its venom is a chemically-enhanced version of scorpion venom. Scorpions, like some spiders, inject venom that induces almost immediate paralysis. We re-engineered the creature’s venom to have the same effect but to also sedate the victim to avoid panic. Squid-like tentacles for long-range delivery of the venom, bear-like claws for in-close fighting, lion’s jaws, the eyes of a fly, the radar capability of a bat… it’s a hideous patchwork of a thing, built for one reason: to kill. Which brings us back to the lions. Gunlinger was able to acquire the blood of one of the Tsavo lions. We identified the DNA sequence responsible for the human blood-lust and made it part of the creature’s fabric.”
Throughout all this, Billy continued munching chips and was now licking salt off his fingers. Denny watched him, thinking he would never be able to eat again after hearing about the creature in the lake. “Mossy, how could something so noticeable, and such a killing machine, go unnoticed for over 30 years?”
“Good question, Denny. The answer is simple: it slept.”
Billy was now wiping his fingers inside the empty chip bag, then licking the crumbs from his fingers. “Slept? Are you saying it slept until 1961, woke up to snack on some kids, then went back to sleep until now? Did you inject this thing with some Rip Van Winkle DNA too?”
Denny uttered a choked laugh at this, and was surprised to see Mossy smiling as well. “Not exactly, Billy, but you’re not far off. I’ve mentioned part of the creature’s DNA was from a bear, a Black Bear to be exact. If you know anything about bears…”
“It hibernates!” Denny blurted out.
“Give the boy a prize.” Mossy answered with a smile, pointing at Denny.
Billy noisily crumpled up the empty chip bag and tossed it in the trash. “This thing slept for… how many years? Why didn’t it starve?”
“Another excellent question. I mentioned we sequenced plant structure… you’ve heard of the Venus Fly-Trap?” Mossy didn’t wait for an answer. “A few of the ‘suckers’ on each of the creature’s tentacles serve a different purpose than the rest. They emit an odor which attracts victims; in this case not flies but larger prey like mice, rats, frogs and the like. When they touch the source of the odor located at the center of the sucker, small, chitinous hooks trap the prey and the creature ingests it while still hibernating.”
Denny cringed at the thought of it, pictured the sleeping monster feeding. “But why would you want it to sleep… I mean hibernate for so long?”
“We didn’t want it to, not for that long. It was an unknown side-effect, if you will, of the Black Bear DNA and some other sequence. We did want it to have the ability to hibernate and heal, kind of like a medically-induced coma; that’s why we engineered the ability for it to feed while sleeping. We certainly didn’t foresee it hibernating for years. We never got to figure that flaw out. But we did know it would put itself into hibernation when it is injured or traumatized in some way. I figure the explosion in 1944 sent it to bed. It woke up in 1961 and something happened to it to put it back to sleep.”
Denny looked at Billy and Billy returned his look. “Paul!” they exclaimed together.
Mossy looked confused. “You mean Greymore? The one they accused of the killings?”
Denny was nodding. “I’m sure of it. He was found with a dead girl in his arms but he was trying to save her. I bet he fought that thing and somehow hurt it enough to send it into hibernation.”
Mossy nodded. “Well, this time we’re not putting it to sleep, we’re killing it.”
(71)
The clock ticked loudly as Denny and Billy sat in the kitchen trying to make sense of what was going on. Mossy had left, walked back to Chandler’s to get some sleep. “Denny… do you believe him?”
Denny looked intently at Billy, feeling a tiredness beyond his twelve years. “Yeah, I guess I do. It’s crazy, but it makes sense. But what do we do now? Nobody else is going to believe any of it.”
Billy nodded slowly. “My dad and Paul might…”
“No!” Denny stared at him. “If we tell them they will believe us. And you know what they’ll do? They’ll go in those caves themselves to kill it. We help Mos… my grandfather make the poison, then we get him to the caves. He’s sure he can kill it.”
“But maybe Paul and my dad could help. You can’t expect an old man to take that thing on by himself.”
Denny was torn, faced with a decision he was too young to make. Responsibility, retribution, fear… the once black-and-white images of right and wrong now fading to gray. Introducing Mossy to his mom could be what she needed to be healed. But if it happened before the creature was killed and Mossy died trying, she might be lost forever. To ask Paul and Joe to risk their lives to help Mossy was too much. Denny would never risk having Billy go through what he did when he lost his dad. And losing Paul would feel like he was going through it again. Now where did that thought come from? As cold as it sounded, Denny had to let Mossy fix this. If he failed… Denny would deal with that when… if… the time came. He explained this as best as he could to Billy. “Swear to me, Billy, swear you won’t tell.”
Billy nodded reluctantly just as the back door flew open.
“What the hell are you doing here?” It was Julie, followed by Paul.
Denny’s heart had almost burst from fear, picturing Crawford and his gang coming through the door. Or something worse, something with tentacles. Once the fear passed, his heart continued to rattle against his ribcage in Julie’s presence. “Julie… Paul… we came to warn you. Crawford and his gang…”
Paul held up his hands. “Julie got here first and warned me…”
Billy found his voice, “You’re supposed to be at Aunt Sarah’s…”
Paul again motioned for quiet and took over, quickly relating Julie’s night. Denny felt his face burn and his heart grow icy. Whatever else happened, he would personally make Crawford pay.
Billy was enraged as well. “We left the carnival and Denny had the idea to let the air out of Crawford’s tires. We should have burnt his fucking car…”
Paul looked at Denny, “You probably saved an ugly scene, Denny. Great thinking… if he had gotten here first…”
Denny’s pride swelled at Paul’s words, but it was the look of gratitude and admiration on Julie’s face that made his face burn brighter.
Billy continued excitedly, “Then when we got here and you weren’t home, Paul…”
“We came here to make a plan.” Denny interrupted, giving Billy a withering look.
Now it was Billy’s face growing red and he closed his mouth.
Paul didn’t miss the exchange, and his eyes went to the third empty glass on the table but said nothing. “I was home, just fell asleep when I got there. I’m going to borrow Joe’s car and take Julie back to Malden. You guys head up to Denny’s house, we’ll figure this out in the morning. Crawford won’t show up now, and he and his pals will all have big heads tomorrow.” The two pairs headed out silently, lost in their own thoughts.