I searched for the culprit of those steps that lead so neatly to that retreating tide. Each a stamp that betrayed it, the drowned thing that visited our world. I reached into my jacket pocket and fingered the the grip of the pistol that weighed heavily there. Could I do the deed if given the chance? Kill that thing that wrought such evil upon my family?

The questions were many that passed through my mind, as the water soaked through my shoes, and all went unanswered. All I could focus on was the sound of the waves lapping against the sun like a hungry tongue. The sound which had once brought such calm to me now filled me with a building dread. My ears twinged at each irregularity in that sound, each break of the surf suggesting an emergence, a return of the beast.

When it eventually surfaced I almost didn’t see it. The sun had begun to set, and the waters surface had become confused by the evening sky above it. It was unmistakable now though, as it marched grimly towards me through the roiling waves. Its eyes locked on me like two great moons, shining their cold light on my face. I could smell it now, a putrid musk of dead and rotten things, and then I heard it, drawing whistling breathes into its many gills. I watched in frozen horror as it approached, webbed hang outstretched and grasping.

I hadn’t felt myself pull out the pistol and now I was peering down the sights at the thing and its searching hand. I squeezed the trigger.

One shot left its chamber and met its target - its scaly chest, glancing off of the shimmering carapace.

Another clipped the fin protruding from its head, sending a spout of black blood behind it.

The last missed its mark and flew clear of it and into the sea foam behind.

I didn’t have a chance to catch my breath before it lunged at me, pushing me down with its immense weight and pressing my head beneath the water. Salt water washed down my throat and burned in my lungs and as much as I struggled, the burden of its monstrous form lay heavy on me. I sank deeper into the wet sand and in a moment of morbid clarity, I thought it a fitting burial.

I wondered if they would find my body, or if I would be pulled out to sea by the tide like everything else. Nevermind, It’s over now.