The lake of death

prologue

His feet sunk into the rain drenched grass with a crunching sound as he walked. David Harchey walked across a bank beside a lake and aligned with a road. The pavement here was very narrow which barely provided any chance of keeping on the uneven pavement and not tripping over the curb, which was the reason why David always walked on the bank next to the peaceful river. The only danger was that he could easily slip and injure himself or fall into the river.
No one ever seemed to walk here and only a few cars drove by. The city of Witheren was lively and bustling with it’s residents in most places, but a few areas of the city were quiet.
David was quite poor, could only barely afford food and drink. And he had no money compared to a lot of the people in Witheren. Sometimes his parents, who had a fair amount of money, paid for a few things.
Although he was poor, he still had lots of friends. He had lived in Witheren all his life, he was used to city life.
David looked down into the lake and wondered what lurked in it, prowled in the depths, stalked it’s prey. He stopped and turned to look down into the murky water.
He was for a moment mesmerised by the water, not even the slightest ripple seeming to disturb it.
Suddenly, a long scaly green tail extended out of the water. David jumped as water splashed him. Before David could react the tail cracked him on the back, almost fracturing his spine.
He screamed as he plunged into the shallow water feet first. His feet hit the bottom about a meter and a half below.
The water was up to his chin and he coughed as water ebbed into his open mouth. The bank was about a meter up. David reached up and grasped the strong grass on the bank. He pulled his body as hard as he could up and a pain slipped through his spine. He groaned in agony. He did not stop pulling himself up. He reached up with his other hand and finally pulled himself up onto the already drenched bank.
It was then he heard the slight trembling of the ground. Right next to him. His heart pounded relentlessly in his chest. David turned round and it was right in front of him, gigantic, crawling with ease up the bank. It was huge, the length of a car and the half the height of a door. And it turned round to face him.
He could feel the foul breath emanating from it’s mouth.
It’s jaws opened and David looked into a black maw. And the jaws closed firm on his arm.
The alligator’s sharp white teeth sunk into the soft skin of David’s arm. He was heavily winded. He opened his mouth to scream but no air escaped past his lips.
Then the alligator tugged on his arm and the skin ripped at his elbow. He felt hot white pain course through his arm as the elbow socket was dislodged. His eyes opened wide in their sockets.
The alligator pulled again and this time it was flesh that tore. Bone split with a sickening snap. David felt his stomach lurch. He felt bile rise from his stomach, snake up his oesophagus, flow into his mouth.
And with one final wrench, David’s arm agonisingly came off. He again opened his mouth, but instead of air, remnants of his latest meal surged out.
The vomit dripped down in large chunks onto the grass. A river of it slowly seeped down in the direction of the water, the most liquid parts of it already trickling into the quiet lake.
David stared at the strips of flesh that hung from the stump of his arm- and again vomited.

Chapter 1

The lake shimmered in the bright sun. Tourists admired the beauty of Witheren, although the city frequently received complaints about the amount of pollution. It was one of the most polluted cities in the world.
Harry looked out across the river which glimmered gorgeously. He was a policeman. He lived one side of a lake which led off into the pacific ocean.
It was morning and Harry had to get dressed. He was laid beside his girlfriend who was called Melanie. He had been with her since the age of seventeen. Harry was thirty two at the moment.
He had gone to Welland high school and highly enjoyed it there. Although he was frequently bullied for his quiet voice, he still liked it there and had lots of friends to accompany him. He didn't care much when he was bullied which both his friends and teachers had said was good.
Then he met Melanie, who had been a new person in the school. He admired her slim figure. And her like towards him. She seemed to like him as well. And then one day she had nervously asked if he could go out with her. He had accepted, and from then on they were boyfriend and girlfriend. They had lived with each other since the age of 19.
The phone rang which startled Harry. He picked up the phone. Melanie was also awake now. Her eyes were open.
"Hello?" Harry spoke into the phone.
"Hi, it's Mancine."
"Hi sheriff. What's going on then?"
"Someone found something in the lake."
"What?"
"Come to the station and find out. I'll warn you though. It's brutal. You might puke at the sight of it."
"Ok, I'll come over." Harry hung the phone up and lifted himself out from under the mattress of the bed. "Melanie, I need to go to work now, so look after yourself."
"Ok darling, I hope you do good in work today. I'll probably just be lazy and stay in bed."

Harry drove his police car along the roads of Witheren which were packed with cars. There was no space to drive fast. He just had to deal with it as everyone else did. Harry had been a policeman for five years. It had not buckled the relationship between Him and Melanie. That was excellent for him. He had not dealt with any particurly serious cases, the most serious being a woman roughed up by her boyfriend.
Harry soon reached the police station. He opened the car door and walked towards the entrance. He went through the automatic doors.
"Harry! I'm glad you're here at last." He was immediately greeted by sheriff Mancine.
"Come with me, I have something to show you." He said in a hushed voice. Harry was led through the many corridors of the police station until they finally came to a door. "Go in." Mancine instructed. Harry entered the room.
In it sat a woman a woman at a table. The room was quite small. "Sit down." Harry sat down opposite the woman.
She was silent. Her face was pale. Her eyes were sore and red. And on the table was a black blanket. Something was hidden beneath it.
Mancine reached for it. "You might be sick." As Mancine got hold of the blanket, the woman turned away as if to avoid the thing that was inside it. And so did harry when the blanket was lifted.
Pale and stiff, it lay on the table like a mark of horror.
A severed arm, stained dark crimson. Flies surrounding it.
Harry was not surprised that the poor woman was absolutely horrified. When Harry had recovered, he shifted his unbelieving gaze back to the arm.
Sheriff Mancine was growing impatient.
"So what do think could have caused this? I think a boat propeller."
Harry was staring at the grisly limb.
A pause.
Impatience.
"Harry?" He was snapped out of his trance.
"Sorry." After a moment's thought, he came out with an answer. "I think maybe if a carnivourous animal infiltrated the lake, someone could have been near the water and this animal ripped his arm off? the arm has clearly been torn off, looking at the stump."
"Ok, so what do you think could have caused this, Miss Harchey?" The woman was still turned away from the grisly sight.
"Please could you cover my son's arm up, please?" a tear ran from her already sore eye.
Mancine covered up the mutilated arm and Miss Harchey heard the ruffling of the blanket. This signalled her to turn back round.
"I really don't want to think about it." she said in a shrill voice, full of hurt and sadness.
"I understand, Miss Harchey." Mancine reassured.
"Please, call me Pamela."
"Ok, Pamela. Harry, come call over the coroner. He'll carefully collect the arm and bring it to his building where he'll inpsect the arm and try to figure out what caused it."
Harry made his way way over to reception.
"And come back here when you're finished on the phone." Mancine informed as Harry was walking out of the room.
He turned back round to Pamela.
"You can go now if you like."