Sabina Boyer • Corinna Choi • Anna Brane • Eliana Cetola • Emma Martin • Nicole Sua • Sarah Neumann • Natalie Mulford • Ava Dargel • Timothy Baker • Hope Berry • Abby Carollo • Miguel Paul • Cara Pisani • Kenzie Young
“Wouldn’t you want to see what it’s like in the ocean?” Sarah asked Emily as they stood on the beach, peacefully watching the waves. Summer break had just begun after a grueling week of finals, and they were now spending their newfound free time vacationing and relaxing (M. STANTON). The words had barely left her mouth when a shiny gray fin appeared above the waves, then just as quickly vanished (A. DARGEL). Sarah stopped short in her tracks, fingers clinging to Emily’s arm who gazed back at her with wide eyes, “It’s him again…” (N. SUA). Both girls found themselves frozen in the gritty sand, immensely terrified and speechless (C. CHOI). The fin circled closer, plowing a mound of ripples across the churning crest of the waves, and as if to confirm their suspicions, they could soon read the unmistakable “Experiment 21.4” neatly stenciled on its side (T. BAKER). Emily grabbed the shocked Sarah and dragged her to her feet, running as fast as she could away from the beach, the water, and the ominous fin (S. NEUMANN). They ran without looking back until they reached Emily’s street, but they stopped short when they saw a large gray van parked in front of her house (K. YOUNG). “Is that…is that what I think it is?” Sarah asked in a shaky voice. Emily nodded gravely, gazing at the words on the side of the van: ED SHELLY’S SEA CREATURES (E. CETOLA).
“Finally, you two trespassers show up,” a tall, African man donning a lemon-yellow jumpsuit says as he steps outside the vehicle (M. PAUL). “What’s gotten loose this time?” Emily asked the man seriously, her eyes flicking back in the direction of the beach. “I hope experiment 21.4 can’t grow legs like the last one,” she continued, and Sarah shuddered and tightened her grip on Emily’s arm (N. MULFORD). Glowering at them through the visor of a matching lemon-yellow helmet he was adjusting, Captain Shelley replied, “If they’re desperate enough to send me out here, then ‘.4 can probably do lots more than that, and it looks like your trespassing really agitated it too” (T. BAKER) “But why?” Sarah asked, her cheeks heating as fury rose within her like a stoked flame. “Why must you do this?!” (N. SUA) Captain Shelley wickedly chuckled, an evil glint forming in his right eye (C. CHOI). “World domination, of course! Once my high-tech ocean creatures take over, there’ll be no stopping us!” he said gleefully (E. CETOLA). Emily slowly turned her head toward Sarah, a sickening feeling rising in her stomach, and she knew in that moment that if nothing was done to stop Captain Shelley, their families, their friends, and their futures would all be in trouble (A. CAROLLO).
Sarah sighed and reached into the monogrammed beach bag on her shoulder to find her carefully concealed nunchucks, sighing, “I thought nothing could be worse than finals week.” Emily followed suit, pulling back the towel around her waist to reveal the long wooden staff strapped to her leg (C. PISANI). At the sight of the staff, Captain Shelley’s evil glare vanished as he pulled out a small device from his back pocket and began hastily tapping buttons on the screen (H. BERRY). Thud. Thunk. Thud. Noises of metal slamming against the concrete road blew through the air as Captain Shelly looked up from his device, smirking at the girl’s feeble attempts at defense. “You know, trespassing has consequences” (M. PAUL). Emily and Sarah readied themselves, staring towards the source of the noise as a giant metal finned creature came crawling up the road, dripping water from where it had hauled itself out of the sea. “Really?” Emily said in exasperation. “Calling the defect experiment on us, that’s the best you got?” (N. MULFORD). Captain Shelly shrugged, and resumed his confident, malicious grin. “It’s better than what you’ve got right now, which, as far as I can see, is only your ability to run away or be eaten by my deadly experiment. I suggest you run” (A. BRANE). Emily and Sarah were silent for a moment, considering their options, before finally, Sarah spoke (C. CHOI).
“You know what? Maybe running isn’t such a bad idea,” she said, and at that, they sidestepped the bewildered captain, leapt into the still-open doors of his gray, instrument-bedecked van, and locked the doors behind them—their every move followed by the beady red eyes of Experiment 21.4 (T. BAKER) “You can drive, right?” Sarah asked, her pulse quickening as Emily scrambled past the high-tech-looking equipment and into the driver’s seat. “How hard can it be?” Emily gulped, gripping the steering wheel (H. BERRY). Emily hopefully pressed down on one of the pedals on the floor, probably too well…because the car shot out from under her and the girls screamed in unison while Emily leaned hard on one side of the steering wheel (E. MARTIN). “WHERE ARE WE GOING?” Sarah screamed. Emily kept jerking the steering wheel, narrowly missing several homes and mailboxes, as the car sped wildly through the neighborhood, finally circling back to Emily’s street and racing at full speed toward a surprised Captain Shelley and the pointy teeth of Experiment 21.4 (A. BRANE).
Flooring the gas pedal with all of her might, Emily stared down the creature with a grin, sending the vehicle straight for its dropped jaw. “I hope you have dental insurance!” (S. BOYER) With that the van slammed into experiment 21.4, and with an ear-piercing screech of metal, smashed it to smithereens (N. MULFORD). Sarah and Emily stared at each other, their mouths wide open, and Emily’s hands frozen to the steering wheel as a thin swirl of smoke rose from the van’s smashed hood until Sarah finally gasped weakly, “I seriously thought we were going to die” (S. NEUMANN). Before they even had time to calm the adrenaline rush surging through their bodies, the captain appeared out of nowhere in front of the van, staring down at his obliterated experiment, a menacing and unforgiving look in his eyes. “H-how…w-what’s he doing?” Sarah choked out, the fear rising in her voice (H. BERRY).
Staring at the man, one of Emily’s eyebrows slowly raised. “I think… he’s pouting?” (S. BOYER). “Huh,” Sarah said. “And I thought summer would be relaxing. At least finals didn’t attack us with giant walking sharks” (A. BRANE).
Glancing over at her, Emily paused, the tiniest of twinkles shining in her eyes. “Clearly you and I took different finals” (S. BOYER).
Photo Credit: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/culture/travel-dining/g3820/worlds-best-beaches/