The Creature of Black Water Lake Read Online Free PDF Page A

felt the brush of its coarse skin. A stream of dark liquid squirted from the creature’s side. It writhed in pain and quickly disappeared beneath the surface.

C HAPTER 12
    “Are you okay?” Rita helped Ryan climb into the boat.
    Ryan nodded and collapsed onto the deck. “Man … I thought … I thought I was a goner.”
    Larry shrugged out of his gear and crouched beside Ryan. “That was as close as I ever want to come. It took me a minute to locate you and when I did, I saw the creature, too. It was closing in. When I shot it I must have hurt it because it veered off and ran for cover in one of the caves.”
    Ryan tried to catch his breath. “What happens now?”
    “One thing’s for certain,” Larry said, leaning back. “We can’t go into the caves after it, especially now that it’s wounded. I guess the best thing to do is take what we have on videotape to the experts and let them decide what to do.”
    Ryan sat up. “Are you sure that’s what you want? I’m okay. We can try again …”
    Larry shook his head. “No. It would be suicide. Thanks to you and Rita, the world will be able to see what the creature looks like. I think you’ve done enough.” He looked at Rita. “Take us home, Skipper.”
    Rita started the motor and slowly piloted the boat across the water. Ryan stared over the back of the boat at the dark water, looking for some sign of the creature, but there was nothing. Not a ripple.

THE ANCIENT ONE
    The Ancient One knew by instinct that it was dying. Something incredibly sharp had pierced the side of its neck and it was fast losing blood
.
    It couldn’t remember how long this lake had been its home but knew it would miss the lake. A faint picture came into its brain, an almost genetic memory of other creatures somewhere, like it, in other dark caves. And then the picture was gone
.
    The Ancient One moved as far back in the cave as possible. The lids of its eyes closed, opened, closed, and did not open again
.



MYTHICAL MONSTERS
    You’ve probably heard of Bigfoot and the Loch Ness Monster. These are creatures that people claim to have seen but whose existence has never been proved. The study of these mysterious creatures is called cryptozoology, which literally means the study of hidden animals. Cryptozoology is not a recognized branch of the science of zoology. It is a controversial field. Cryptozoologists use legends and stories of sightings to try to establish the existence of these strange creatures.
    Bigfoot is probably the most famous mythic monster. Also called Sasquatch, it is thought to be a huge, hair-covered biped. A biped is an animal that walks on two feet—like a human. Some think Bigfoot descended from the extinct Gigantopithecus, the largest ape that ever lived. Bigfoot sightings occur frequently in the American Northwest.But so far, no evidence has been presented that proves that this giant creature exists.
    The Loch Ness Monster, also known as Nessie, is supposedly a large, long-necked aquatic creature named for its lake home, Scotland’s Loch Ness. Some scientists have speculated that Nessie might actually be a Baltic sturgeon, a reptilian-looking primitive fish with a snout and spines.
    Sea monsters, such as giant sea serpents, eels, and squid, have fascinated people for centuries. Giant squid have been hauled up from the sea in fishermen’s nets but no scientist has ever observed one alive in its natural habitat. The giant squid is believed to be the largest animal in the world, growing to sixty or seventy feet long with eyes the size of dinner plates.
    There are many other types of creatures—giant and mysterious cats, birds, and reptiles, for example—that cryptozoologists have investigated. Some cryptozoologists even believe that some creatures thought to be extinct may still walk the earth. Could there still be dinosaurs alive today? Is Bigfoot just a hoax? We may never know for sure.

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