Chapter 2: 1. The Leopard Fish

Serena was an orphan, and very ordinary. She had no siblings, or relatives of any kind. All her life she had been bounced between foster homes, orphanages and temporary parents. By the time she was 16 she was tired of it all, and ran away.

Serena had a nose for trouble, and would work any job she could find as she travelled around her small corner of the world. She always did her best to stay off the streets, and to avoid dating people - what point was there in getting attached to a person or place when all that the future held was moving on?

Today Serena was investigating a small pond in a cow paddock. The farmer woke up that morning and found 3 cows were missing from the herd that should be in there, and there were odd tracks by the pond. There shouldn't have been anything dangerous in a pond 5ft long by 6ft wide and around 2ft deep. It wasn't like this was crocodile country.

Serena had her trusty pocket knife, a strong net to trawl the pond, and a few good poles to guide it. In the hot morning sun no one else would take the job, so she was alone. Usually she preferred it that way, but something about the empty paddock felt strange, and put her on guard.

With care she attached the corners of the net to 2 poles, and started dragging the shallow water. All the while, apart from the sloshing and splashing and her own panting breaths no sound could be heard.

The silence was so disquieting that Serena even wondered if she should quit the job and leave entirely. Something here felt strange, and dangerous.

She shook her head, trying to refocus on the work, when from the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something -

Something round, and wet, just under the water -

Something that was near the centre of the pond, and was slowly getting nearer -

Something that seemed about to leap out of the water -

Serena didn't delay another second. She dropped the poles and ran as fast as she could for the gate in the fence. If the fence was only wood she would have hopped over the closest side, but there was barb wire strung along the fence in 3 layers to stop thieves getting the cattle.

Behind her a massive splash could be heard, as Something leapt out of the water and started chasing her! It sounded big, and strange, like it wasn't a creature with feet. There was a dragging noise, and wet gulping, and a weird gurgling growl.

Serena didn't look back to see it, she didn't dare. The gate was uphill, and the paddock was large, she was beginning to slow down. Feeling a sudden premonition of doom, she ran left quickly, and the Something flew

through the air and crashed along the ground where she had almost been.

Giving up on the gate, Serena dashed for one of the fence posts, and threw herself over the fence as best she could, despite the dangerous wire.

She tried to get up and keep running, but to her horror found her ankle was entangled! Sobbing in fear, she grabbed the wire and pulled it off her leg, without noticing the bleeding cuts on her skin.

As soon as she was free, she scrambled backward away from the fence, and finally saw the Something.

It looked so strange, and horrible - like it was supposed to be a fish but something went dreadfully wrong. It had long jaws like a crocodile, full of sharp jagged teeth and covered in scales, sprouting whiskers like a catfish. It had 6 fins, and a fish tail, but the fins seemed to have similar bones to legs, allowing the thing to chase on land, to leap and to lunge. It had wide gills fully extended, waving in the air like it was water and glistening wet, like it was breathing, but that was impossible. It had claws on the end of it's front pair of fins, and used them to gouge grooves into the turf. But it was the eyes that struck fear into Serena's heart - eyes so dreadful and cruel they could not belong to an unthinking animal.

Serena froze in primitive terror, her instinct holding her in place, unable to escape. Even as the beast seemed to sneer at her, she could not move. It wriggled it's tail, like a feline menace, and lunged forward mightily, jaws spread wide, ready to eat!

The fence between the beast and girl was uprooted with ease. The wood shattered on impact, the wire slid over hard scales with shocking ease - it could not break them!

Serena pulled her legs up to her chest, closed her eyes, and prayed her end would be quick, and it would not hurt too much. Liquid spattered her, and she felt the jaws draw nearer, but there was nothing she could do so she didn't look. A horrid, dreadful Snap was heard!

Serena blanked out, and knew no more.