Cesspool: A Love Story - Aquatic Monsters are on the Loose!

What's more fun on a hot summer day than taking a dip in a swimming pool? Well, not much, But what if something is living in that pool, something that's long and green and oh so hungry, and you're on the menu. What's that You want to be scared? Come with me. You will experience tales over our broad ghosts and death. It does not recommended at the foot of week at hard Heart Listen as in the dark, it's more fun at that way way. This is Weekly Spooking. Hello, my spookies, It's Wednesday, and you know what that means. It's time for a little spooky in your weekly I'm your host and narrator, Enrique Kuto, and we have quite a fun one for you tonight. This one's got monsters, it's got murder and a first love. But before we get to that, well, I want to mention I'll be in Pittsburgh this weekend at the Living Dead Fest in Pittsburgh, So if you happen to be stopping by there, keep an eye out for me. I'll be at the Death Cult Press booth helping sell copies of our brand new Freddy's Nightmares book. It should be a lot of fun and I would love to run into a Pittsburgh Spooky while I'm there, if at all possible. Also, over on our Patreon, we've just started the brand new Strickfield series, The April Fool. The first episode just dropped and another one will be dropping in about a week and a half. When you sign up for us on Patreon, you get two shows every single month and our undying gratitude. So if it's time, and I think it is time to sign up and join the other one hundred and six spookies over at Patreon, just go to Weeklyspooky dot com, click on Patreon, and select a dollar or more a month to contribute. You really do help us bring the fears to your ears every single week, and I do appreciate it. And if you want to support us in a way that doesn't cost you a single dime, we appreciate that too. You can go to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and leave Weekly Spooky a five star rating. It makes a very big difference, and it helps us find other spookies to join in on the cause. And speaking of if you use Facebook, you can join a group full of spookies like myself, like our authors, and like many of our fans just go to Facebook and type in weekly Spookies, Tomb of Terror. We share memes, scary stories, photos, and so much much more. It's a lot of fun. We'd love to have you there, but now it's getting a little warm out, so I think it's about time to take a dip. Right after these quick words, Cesspool, a love story by David O'Hanlon, Hey, shit for brains, Bobby Barrister called for my attention, bring me another, Bruce Ki. I watched Bobby lounging in the pool and wondered what would happen if I tossed the bug zapper into the water. Bobby was two years younger than me. His pudgy body might have been fifteen, but his voice was still stuck at ten. I should have been kicking his ass and taking his lunch money, but unfortunately I wasn't that kind of kid, and his family was filthy rich. Welcome to Barrister Bend, California. Yeah, they're that kind of rich. When I was fourteen, my old man made me start helping him out with his pool cleaning business. That first year sucked. There was a lot to learn, so I shadowed dad every day. We worked sun up to sundown, seven days a week. In lieu of a paycheck. He absolved me of any fiscal responsibilities around the house. That's not as unfair as it sounds, considering puberty hit me like a freight train. There was, however, one perk to the job, as I found out that summer. Her name was Lilah and she was worth that penniless year of hard labor. Hey, you death beer me, Bobby shouted. I'm not bringing you a beer bucko. I told him as I wound up the vacuum hose. You work for me, Andre. Bobby raised his wrap around shades for effect. I said, go get me a brew. So that's what you're going to do. I'll let the maid know she does work for you. I pointed to the adjoining hot tub, and stop whacking off in the jacuzzi. You're screwing up the skimmers. I grabbed what tools I could carry in one trip and left him bitching with that stupid squeaky voice of his. My gaze hung on the bug zapper as I walked past the porch. It was Tuesday, However, I cleaned Lilah's pool on Tuesdays, and I wasn't going to miss that just to shock some manners into Bobby, especially considering the prior week's events. I had been at the mall with my best bud, Jamie and his pet Viking. Wolf was an exchange student who came all the way from Sweden with nothing but a backpack and a full blonde beard. He was staying with Jamie for our senior year and had arrived early to acclimate. Wolf was a living, breathing romance novel cover. He was just as tall as I was, and his heavy metal T shirt strained against the thick cords of muscle beneath. Every girl embarrassed bend drooled over him. Despite the fact that God clearly loved Wolf more than the rest of us, all that female attention was wasted on him. Wolf turned into a stammering idiot whenever he tried to talk to girls. I almost felt bad for him, almost his being a dork kept the playing field level. The mall had the only Chinese food in town, something Wolf had never had and couldn't get enough of since Jamie introduced him to it. That was the excuse Jamie used when he asked for the ride. It was my fourth summer working for Dad, and he let me have the old company truck as a reward. It ensured I always made it to the job, while also advertising everywhere I went. It also made me the official wheels for any of Jamie's hair brain schemes. While we sat in the food court listening to the uncomfortably ecstatic groaning of an egg roll devouring viking, we saw them. Jamie knew I was crazy about Lila. He also knew I was too chicken shit to act on it. Likewise, I knew Jamie had a zipper busting crush on Lilah's best friend Cassie. She wasn't just out of Jamie's league, she was playing an entirely different game. Cassie won beauty pageants, national ones, and she drove a Porsche, captain of the swim team, state gymnastics champ. Worst of all, she was a goddamn mathlete. Jamie was a surfer kid one hundred miles from the nearest beach. He liked sca Beavis and butt Head, and could make a bong with just about anything. Wolf finished his food suspiciously fast when he saw the gaggle of gorgeous babes strutting through the mall. He wiped his mouth and suggested we go to the arcade. I wasn't so distracted as not to notice the arcade happened to be in the same direction as Lilah and her friends were heading. What are you two lames playing at? I asked, I was thinking Mortal Kombat, Jamie said, with a smirk. You know what I mean. I'm hurt. Jamie held up his hands defensively. I can't just want to hang out with my best pals at the most happening spot in town. It is a very happening spot. Wolf agreed. And I love the poo poop platter. Everyone loves poopoo platter, Wolf, I told him, not everyone eats them at ten in the morning. Why are we really here? Jamie rolled his eyes to see the girls in their bikinis. Wolf admitted that had me intrigued. Wolf was very specific in everything he said, probably a side effect of growing up on a glacier and fighting polar bears or whatever the fuck Swedish kids did back home. He said, bikini and not swimsuit. Lilah always wore a one piece that was attention wrecking enough. I raised my eyebrow spill, I demanded. I was over at Barrister Park on Tuesday, No Thursday. I think Jamie waved his hands in the air. Whatever. I rode my board to the park and was sitting behind the tree, you know, the one the mimosa, I said, can we get to the part that brought us to the mall right? So I smoked a fatty and was just chilling there, enjoying life, looking for shapes in the clouds, the important shit. Jamie leaned on the table conspiratorially. That's when it happened. It's about time, I grumbled. Cassie was there with the bim Betts, Jamie said, using his pet name for the McClanahan Twins. Cassie is doing a photo shoot for one of the teen rags, some kind of American dream bullshit. They want pictures of her with her friends, So she told the twins she was taking the whole click shopping on Daddy's Discover card. What's that got to do with bikinis, Jamie smirked. I knew that would get your attention peaked, along with other things. He means your erection, Wolf stated bluntly and loudly. I quickly hid my face in my arms and groaned. She mentioned where all they'd go. Jamie continued, The Wet Spot was on that list. I raised my head slowly. Vicky's Beach Boutique only sold the skimpiest bikinis, so skimpy that a local church petitioned the mall to close the store on grounds of indecency. They said the advertising was pornographic, and they weren't far off with that claim. The life side cardboard stand up meant to entice passer by, was the most stolen item in the town's history. In four of the eight windows hung a giant banner showing different models in their latest fashions. Every boy in the bend found an excuse to walk by and look. Those ads earned it the nickname the Wet Spot on account of well, you probably get it. I looked at Wolf, who nodded knowingly. They mentioned shopping for Lilah specifically. Jamie shrugged, but if you don't want to hang out at the mall, we can shut up. I stood. Let's go see what you've got up your sleeve. Something brilliant, Jamie promised. The girl were browsing the racks. By the time we caught up the Bimbetts stood next to a mannequin, debating the option on display, which was essentially dental floss and seashells. Bridget and Gidget were identical in every way except the bottles they got their hair color out of. Unfortunately, they flipped a coin to see who got to be the blonde every few months, and I had no idea whose turn it was. Stacy the fifth point of their pin up, Pentagram displayed a frilly two piece for Lila. I could see the embarrassment on her tan cheeks as she imagined herself wearing it. She wasn't as curvy as the twins or Cassie, but I still didn't see any chance of her fitting everything in those three tiny triangles of fabric. I damn sure hope she'd try, though, So what's the plan? I asked. Jamie pulled a small mirror from his pocket and smiled wide. I looked to Wolf for some explanation, but he was busy prancing in a nervous circle and trying to avoid eye contact with the cardboard stand up. He brushed his long hair back behind his ears and nodded in response to a question. No one asked, I think I will wait in the arcade. He finally said, no, you will come with us, Jamie told him, pulling out a second mirror. This is absolute genius, tiny mirrors. I looked back inside as Lilah vigorously shook her head at another barely there bikini. You take the mirror and put it between your shoelaces like I did, Jamie pointed at his converse. You didn't even notice it was there, right, I hadn't. We wait for the girls to go into the dressing rooms, then we act like we need to use one, he continued. Put your foot under the door and you can see everything. We act like we need the dressing rooms, I asked, so that we can try on our matching g strings. First of all, it's the nineties, bro, Dudes can wear whatever they want, Jamie corrected me. Secondly, they have men's stuff too, Jane. He grabbed Wolf's bulging bicep and put a mirror in his hand, then offered me the other. I was about to wave him off when I saw Lilah begrudgingly take something from Cassie's hand. I hadn't gotten a good look at it, but knew it would be a knockout. I snatched the mirror and quickly tucked it into place. Let's do this, I said. Jamie had been running into the store for years to feel up all the Mannikins. He knew the layout well and went straight to the single table with men's swimwear to grab an item. Without looking, he headed for the dressing rooms for a five foot four ginger with acne. The kid was pure confidence. Wolf and I stepped in together. I went to a counter and grabbed the newest ad flyer and pretended to read it. I nudged Wolf with my elbow. I think we need to go over there, I said, Can I help you, gentlemen find whatever you're looking for? A sultry voice asked, it reminded me of the commercials for those nine seven six numbers that came on late at night. I turned the Saleslady looked like the commercials, too cleavage, bare midriff, skin tight aerobic pants. Wolf made a sound that might have been his soul leaving his body. When I finally managed to make eye contact, I realized why she was the model from the stand up. I gulped. Just doing some shopping for a birthday, I said, trying to buy for other people. Is so hard, but it is the swimming season, so we thought we'd check out your goods and the swimwear. Wolf whispered, she hurt him anyhow, The lady teased her up her lip with the tip of her tongue as she looked him over his boots, squeaked as he squirmed uncomfortably. She crossed her arms, amplifying the amount of flesh lunging for us. Who would you be shopping for, she asked, mom, Wolf said, abruptly. I snapped around to look at him. His cheeks flushed and his face scrunched in a constipated smile. You're shopping for your mother. She raised an eyebrow. We do not have places like this, Wolf explained, no bikinis at all. It is very cold, is it now? Yes? Now and the rest of the year. Wolf spread his hands wide, fluttering his fingers downward. It's just snow all the time, so we do not have swimming. In my country. We ski a lot. I had never seen a car before I came to America. Only skis twice a year. It is warm. However, I thought she might like American fashion for those days. Both of them. The model asked with her lips fighting the building laughter. Better get her too, yes, Wolf agreed, with his eyes, dancing a jig between the breasts and the exit. A pair would do nicely. You're in luck, she purred. I have a great pair for you. The dire wolf whimpered, so did I. Luckily. The screaming drowneded out. Don't go away, weakly, spooky, We'll be right back. The three of us looked toward the dressing rooms. I knew, damn well, it was Jamie's fault. He stumbled backwards, uttering apologies while popping a tiger striped speedo like Indiana Jones's whip. An old lady who'd packed forty years of passed her prime into a tiny number that belonged somewhere beyond Thunderdome barreled after him. A wrinkled tit slipped from the studded foux leather top, and she redirected her wild punches to cover the atrocity. Jamie tripped over a mannequin in his retreat, sending it crashing into a table of sunscreen. The containers spilled to the floor and caused enough distraction for me and Wolf to bolt. Jamie scurried to his feet and narrowly avoided being clotheslined by the saleslady. He slid out of the store and we regrouped at the truck, with all of us panting and wheezing with laughter. We took the long way back to Jamie's. The back road skirted the town and allowed us a chance to pass a spliff around before returning him in wolf to the doldrum of Green Acres reruns, and left overnight with an allotted time period of family games. Jamie's parents were great in a Mayberry sort of way. Their idea of cutting loose was gambling Hershey's kisses over a game of clue. I liked hanging out over there sometimes it was the closest I got to experiencing a real family unit. Dad worked all the time. It kept his mind off Mom. I didn't have that problem, since I couldn't remember her at all. I was thinking about what kind of games she might have made us play if she'd lived. When a dump truck cut me off. I spiked the brakes and looked down the service road it had exited. What's all that? I asked signs advising people to keep out, and that blasting was in progress alternated down the road as far as I could see through the wake of the truck's departure the lake. Wolf said, the lake is that way. I pointed, huh. Wolf squinted through the windshield with bloodshot eyes and shook his head. No, the new one, new one. I started driving again. What do you mean, remember the mine, Jamie asked, the one we all used to dare each other to go into. Of course, I peeled my tongue from the roof of my mouth several times. We should stop and get some surges. Hell yeah, Jamie agreed. We rode along, stoned out of our gourds for a few more miles before I remembered the conversation. What about the mine though, huh oh, Jamie giggled. Some science farts from the university found a lake under the mountain. But what about the mine, I asked, not grasping much of anything. The miners broke into it, they drowned. Jamie nodded. Now the you is trying to explore the lake because no human has seen it in like a million years or something. No one except the miners, I reminded him. They're not talking about it, he said, grimly. It was probably just the pot, but I kept thinking about the mysterious underground lake. Dad took me fishing a lot when I was younger. Maybe they'd find some new kind of fish in the ancient waters down there. That'd be cool. Then I could take him there and let him just relax for once, just him and me catching prehistoric fish. I couldn't remember the last time i'd seen him at peace. We stopped for serge, which led us all to getting an assortment of munchies. A few minutes later, I was dropping Jamie and Wolf off and already halfway through a bag of paw shaped cheetohs. Jamie came around the truck and reached in for my hand. You need this more than I do. He pushed the bald up speedo into my palm. When you go to clean Lilah's pool, suggest taking a swim with her, Then you drop trap to reveal this bad boy. It's guaranteed to work. Of course, I snickered, When have you ever had a bad plan? Exactly? Jamie smiled. Life doesn't get any better than this, Bud, trust me, And that's where my mind was. As I finished loading the truck outside Bobby's place, The anticipation killed me all week long. I was finally going to find out which bikini she'd picked. I drove over, fighting the urge to speed the whole way. I was two blocks from Lilah's when the CB crackled and I heard Dad's voice calling for me. I picked up the mic. Go ahead, Dad, Fred won't be making it to work tomorrow, he said. Something was wrong with his voice, a darkness to it. No, biggie, I assured him. I can cover his load until he's feeling better. Must be a hell of a cold for him to miss work. It isn't a cold, Dad said. I felt my entire body clinch up. I pulled to the curb and put the truck in park. Dad spoke directly, always to the point, but not this time. I stared at the CB. Andre I need you to make a detour, he said, swing over to the Vallejoe place. I did the mental math on the drive time. The Valetjos lived between Bobby's private estate and the old mine all the way back i'd just come from. There was no way I'd be cleaning Lilah's pool if I went back. I let my head thump against the steering wheel. Whatever Dad needed, it must have been important, Andre, He said, that tone made me cold. Fred's had an accident. He's dead. I'm on my way, I choked out. It's bad, kid, Dad continued, It's really bad, really bad had been a huge understatement. The paramedics rolled the gurney to the back of the ambulance, carrying a plastic bag barely large enough for a bowling ball. That was all they could retrieve. The rest of Fred Lentz was drifting in the pool. Gathered viscera clogged the skimmers, and the water was a foggy, pink swirl of blood and tiny flesh particles. The Valejos were pissed. They'd paid us to clean their pool, not to have one of our workers dissolve in it. They wanted a full refund and their pool cleaned immediately. You've got to have priorities in life, after all, How do we even start, I asked Dad, staring at a little strip of Fred that bobbed like a minnow just below the surface. I mean shit, yeah, shit, Dag shook his head. I got a truck coming to drain the water. A couple of deputies are going to stick around to bag the Fred right. I started gathering my tools, not knowing what else I could do. I didn't sleep that night. Fred was cool as hell and an all around great guy, the last person on earth to deserve whatever it was that happened to him. Dad stayed up to research every chemical we used to find out if there were any similar accidents, but came up with nothing. There was no reason for what happened, or any excuse for it to have happened to Fred. While Dad couldn't find any evidence that Fred's accident had anything to do with our chemicals, there wasn't any to the contrary either. He promised double time to anyone who stayed to still quit who could blame them either way. It took the rest of us the entire week to get caught up on the backlog created by the emergency servicing of the Valejo pool. Everywhere I looked, it was all stained with the same pink hue of the water. Tuesday morning, I laid on my unslept in bed and thumbed through the stack of college brochures I'd been collecting. I never really thought about my future, but I was willing to consider any option to run from my present, go to school, or end up meat jelly in a pool skimmer. Life is full of tough choices. I went out to the truck and began driving without checking the schedule. Dad had left at dawn to get an early start on his share of the workload. Guess everybody coped differently. I grabbed the clipboard off my dash. There was a note from Dad telling me he was springing for Dino Burger on our lunch break. Thinking about those monstrous half pound burghers reminded me of how long it had been since I managed to eat. I pulled Dad's post it note from the board to reveal my first stop. The tires squealed as the truck slid to a stop. I'd been driving the wrong way. If there was a better way to take my mind off Fred than Dino Burger, well it was Lila. I stomped the gas, sending up twin pillars of smoke as I cut a U turn. Excitement overrode common sense and I went through the back gate without any of my equipment. There she was sitting on the diving board with her painted toes swirling in the water. I gawked at her stupidly, and then managed a wave that completed the look. As usual, she looked like a goddess, and as usual, she wore the exact same pink and teal one piece bathing suit. Part of me was disappointed. Unfortunately it wasn't the part shrouded by just thin nylon shortz. She looked gorgeous anyway, I stammered, I can come back if you're still swimming. I'm not. There was something off about her voice. I was thinking about it have been all weak, oh, I sighed, I'm sorry. I should have been by last week. We've been well. There was an accident, I know. Lilah pulled her feet up to the board and hugged her knees. It it It wasn't any of our chemicals. If that's what you're afraid of, I said, trying to sound genuine and not like a lawyer. I didn't think that. I don't really know what I think. Yeah, I get it. I went to the diving board and leaned on the bars. It's been really hard. Did you know Fred He used to clean our pool when I was little. She shivered despite the heat. It must have been horrible memories of the sludge that used to be Fred dripping from my tools raced back to me. My stomach lurked, and I cleared my throat to hide the gag. The sudden squeeze on my triceps made me jump back into the present. Swim with me, Lilah said softly. It was so sad, almost pleading the way she said it. She knelt on the board, looking up at me with those bright amber eyes. I think I nodded, not that it mattered. Lilah reached around my neck with her other hand and pulled her face close to mine. Please, she whispered. Then we were in the pool. I don't know if she pulled me or I pushed her, but we went in together, and she never let go of me as we sank to the bottom and bobbed back up. I do know that it was her that kissed me first. I'm sure of this because I was entirely too chicken shit for it to have been my idea. And that's how I spent the next two hours. We swam laps around each other, took breaks to kiss some more, splashed each other and laughed and forgot all about everything else. I could hear Dad yelling on the CB before I even made it to the truck, so I sprinted the rest of the way and pulled the mic out of the window to answer, Go ahead, Dad, I said, I've been trying to raise you for thirty minutes. Andre, Are you afraid? Good? Weekly spooky? We'll be right back. Sighed and took a deep breath before speaking again. Sorry, I'm just on edge. There's some kind of damage over here on Turner Drive. The road's all torn up like an earthquake hit it. Weird, was all I could muster. Yeah, and dangerous. It ripped the shit out of two tires. I'll come and get you. I'm over on Saint John. Oh. Dad's voice seemed lighter, especially compared to recently. Guess that explains the delay, being extra thorough with a valued customer. I could hear the laugh, even though he didn't let it out. Charles is on his way to help me out. He continued, that's going to take us both off the roots for a while. I need you to head over to Travis Barrister's place. Can't I come get you instead? You could have, but you were too busy. This time he did laugh. Charles is pulling up. Get over to the Barrister estate. He's paying double for emergency cleaning. Something's been causing his jacuzzi to act up. I wonder what that could be, I said to myself. I groaned and pressed the mic ten four, Dad, I'm on my way. I grabbed the shop back and headed into the backyard, knowing damn well what was causing the problems. I glanced at the bug zapper, then groaned, there was the source of the problem, really, Bobby, I shouted, it's broken, and you're still getting in to beat it. Bobby sat in the jacuzzi with his back turned to me. He didn't respond. I sat the vacuum down and walked over to him, calling his name repeatedly, but still getting no response. The water looked off. I tapped his shoulder with my foot. Bobby's head lulled backwards. I screamed and jumped up in a way. I slipped, landing flat on my ass. His eyes were rolled back in his head and his face was shriveled. His lips were pulled back from his still chattering teeth. I hooked him under his armpits and pulled him up. Then he went back in. I pulled harder. The jacuzzie tugged him back with greater force. I kicked off my flip flops to get traction and jerked him from the tub. Hold on, Bobby, I'm gonna get fuck. The pulpy green tube protruding from the water had completely engulfed Bobby's genitals. It dragged him back toward the water. Tiny holes puckered along its length like mouths, gasping noisily for air. Bobby's torso was sunken in my eyes. Jumped back to the thing attached to his crotch. That's when I noticed his legs. They were deflated balloons, slithering up higher and higher as they disappeared into the alien appendage. His chest collapsed suddenly with a gunshot snap of his ribcage collapsing instantly. The thing slurped in the rest of his insides, then more of his outsides. I ran to the truck and threw open the door before looking back. I couldn't let it eat Bobby, mostly because I'd get blamed. I noticed the white jug strapped to the toolbox. The chemical was so reactive to everything that we only used it in emergencies. I think cock eating pool monsters from hell count as an emergency. I grabbed it in two smaller bottles before running clumsily to the pool side. The creature had sucked Bobby into his armpits by then. I dumped the small bottles into the big jug exactly like Dad told me never to do. I twisted on the lid, praying he hadn't been over exaggerating, and tossed it into the hot tub. He had not been over exaggerating. The boom reverberated through all my organs and the blasts, and a geyser of water thirty feet straight up. Bits of green, spongy flesh splattered everything polside, including me. The ground rumbled and the concrete cracked around me, lifting in huge, craggy chunks. The tentacle lifted away from Bobby's crotch and angled itself towards me. Circular rows of soft, flexible spines lined the meat tube. The appendage spasmed, then coughed. It pulsed hard, and unleashed a stream of blood and chunky visceral remains over my body before collapsing and sinking into the retreating water. I stared down at the bits of Bobby dripping off me. It was the same thing that got Fred a monster in swimming pools. Wolf said, incredulously. This sort of thing does not happen in Sweden. It's not supposed to happen here. I rocked on the bean bag chair, but you got to make out with Lilah. Jamie added, that's rad, But there is a monster. Wolf said, that is it's not rad. I don't have a pool. Jamie flopped back on the futon, cradling his bong. I clean pools. I pulled my arm over my face. Dude, you survived a monster attack. Jamie said, you can quit working and just sell the movie rights. James Cameron is gonna be all over this. Plus Lilah's got the hots for you, and Bobby got eaten. I mean shit, this is the best thing that's ever happened in your entire life. In a fucked up way. Jamie was right. The police didn't buy into the monster, but they had cleared me of all wrongdoing in Bobby's death. Officially, they were blaming it on an anaconda. It sort of matched my description and wasn't uncommon for people to dump snakes into the wild when they got too big. It seemed logical enough, at least compared to my version. Who says it's only in the pools? I asked it tore up the street down on Turner. No one has a pool on that street. It's all townhouses. The mayor said that was a tremor. This is California, after all, Jamie offered, maybe, I conceded. Jamie pointed to the table next to Wolf. The Viking handed him the bick sitting on it. The Swede leaned back, scratching at his beard. What's on your mind? I asked, a lot of things, Wolf said, should only be one thing. Jamie wheezed as he held in A hit and it starts with a p. Now's not the time for poo poop platter, Wolf said. Jamie exhaled smoke into Wolfe's confused face. Party, Jamie corrected him. Bobby was Cassie's cousin. She's having a party in his memory, and she invited Andre for fighting off the anaconda. It wasn't a snake. I sat up straight. Cassie has an Olympic sized pool. It's the perfect place for this monster to strike. I cannot swim, so I don't mind missing the party. Wolf said, we're going. Jamie told him, so is Lilah, Snake, monster, killer, rubber ducky, who gives a shit if it shows up? Don't you want to be there to protect her? When's the party? Jamie looked at his naked wrist. Right about now, the bare naked ladies were blaring over a set of speakers beyond the privacy fence. As we opened the gate, every asshole teen in town was bobbing and splashing in the pool like fruit loops in an oversized bowl. The music started sounding suspiciously like a dinner bell. The mixtape's next track was smash Mouth. The ground rumbled, We're all going to die to fucking walk in on the sun. I looked around the crowd for Lila. My eyes damn near left my head. Her and the whole crew were wearing their new bikinis on the elevated deck around the hot tub. As they danced to the music. She spotted me and waved. I returned the jest, so did someone in the pool. Then I realized he wasn't waving, he was flailing. The boy's body shot out of the water with a familiar green appendage clamped around his crotch. It slammed him to the pool side. People started screaming. Another body was hoisted from the water. More tentacle like things lashed out of the water, swiping bystanders into the pool. The first body began to shrivel as it was sucked dry. Stacy leaned over the edge of the deck to see what was going on. The creature grabbed her by the face and jerked her from the platform. Her head came off from the force and her body ragged alled into the pool. I ran for Lilah, hurtling. A dying classmate slipped on the edge of the pool and toppled into the water. Through the bloody, dirty water, I saw the cracks widening as the creature broke through. I popped up to the surface in time to see two of the appendages smashed the supports of the deck. The bimbetes fell, one hit the water, the other didn't. Her skull popped open on the concrete. The school's star receiver sprinted away. A tentacle latched onto his back and lifted him high in the air. A second slithered up the leg of his trunks, splitting the fabric with its girth, and latched on Holy Martian Cocksuckers. Jamie said, reaching down for me. You were right, that is not a snake, No shit. I took his hand and pulled myself up. Water rushed around my feet, hard enough to make me stumble. I turned to see the dripping body of the beast break the surface. It was like a booger, covered in a vegetarian mullet of lush moss. The thing beached itself. Nearly two dozen of its appendages fed off the assorted teenage prey. A mangled, scorched tentacle rushed toward me in recognition. It sucked onto my chest and whipped me from my feet, bringing me towards the main body of the monstrosity. Nourish me, it growled in a strangled, boisterous voice. The face of the creature was a mass of thousands of twitching eyestalks and curling petals that formed the lips of hundreds of synchronized mouths. Nourish me, it demanded. One of the tubular mouths stretched open wide beneath my junk. Get away from him, wolf shouted. I hit the ground hard, something broke, but everything hurt. Green opaque slime showered over my crumpled form. I rolled over and saw Wolf holding a double edged axe. The chlorophyll like arterial spray of the hacked tendril dripped from his beard and across the lettering of his mortuary T shirt. Why do you have an axe, I muttered, because I'm Swedish, he said coolly. Another appendage swiped at him, and he took it apart with swift chops. His muscles throbbed as he fought off each successive attack. I spotted Lilah struggling to pull Cassie back onto the deck. It teetered wildly. I cried out for Lilah before I saw the bones sticking out of my forearm. Then I just cried. I tried to ignore it and sped up the stairs to the deck. I gave another look to Wolf. The creature had knocked his axe away, and two tentacles rushed for a drink of his Swedish nectar. Wolf caught one with each hand and wrestled them away, His sleeves split from the effort. No wonder Chicks, dug him. I have a plan, Jamie shouted, making me as nervous as the monster. I reached down with my good arm to help Lila pull Cassie up. Her skimpy top hadn't survived the jostling of her fall over the edge. Water cascaded over her bare curves from Oh shit, I looked over my shoulder to the tilting jacuzzi. Its anchors cracked from the boards, and the entire unit came sliding towards us. I grabbed Lilah around the waist, pushed off the deck, and kissed her all the way down to the pool below. The hot tub broke free and followed us over the edge. Lilah kicked off the bottom, redirecting us before we were crushed. We came to the surface together. Cassie was nowhere to be seen. Lumber exploded, The deck fell, sending a wave splashing over us. Wolf sailed overhead, crashing through a refreshment table. Lylah draped her arms around my neck. I kicked my feet until we reached the edge of the pool. Cassie erupted from the water in the grasp of a verdant tendril. Nourish me. The creature bellowed, Eat this, Jamie shouted from the window of my truck. The engine roared as he raced into the thing's face. The old Ford struck with a sickening splat, followed by the crunching of steel. The tires spun on the wet concrete. Jamie kept the pedal down. He screamed. The monster screamed back. The truck's ass swung side to side. The engine struggled to stay in the fight. The remaining tentacle smacked against the truck, trying to get a bite of the strange new animal attacking it. Jamie clamored out the back window into the bed. The thing lanced an appendage for Jamie's groin. He dived away before it could latch on. He wrestled the bick from his junkos and struck it to the gas trail. Lilah pushed me under before the truck exploded. The cloudy water illuminated in an orange flash. We bobbed up into a rainstorm of metal and monster chunks. The creature slid backwards into the water. Its front half was a smoldering crater. As it disappeared back into the pool, I let out an embarrassing screech as something clasped my arm. I looked up at Wolf, who smiled serenely before wrenching me and Lila from the pool. With ease. Jamie limped over to join us. It looked like a giant nug, he said, slumping down beside me. Then it hit me. Just spark the bowl, Lilah and I. I stared at him incredulously. Wolf snapped his finger like debong. We all collapsed back and laughed and cried and just felt good to be alive. Too bad the creature wasn't the only thing to come out of that lake. The end For now, I hope you enjoyed that extra special summer episode of Weekly Spooky as much as I did. Big thank you to David O'Hanlon for the story and also for writing our Babysitter Massacre books, which you can listen to free here on Weekly Spooky by just doing a simple search at Weeklyspooky dot com, or you can buy the books over on Amazon just punching Babysitter Massacre and you'll find a whole bunch of fun reading. And while you're over at Weeklyspooky dot com, remember to join our Patreon For as little as one dollar a month. You can help us keep the show going and going and get two bonus shows for each month that you're signed up. Right now, we have a brand new, exclusive Strickfield story running its course and it is very fun and very scary. So head over to Weeklyspooky dot com and click on Patreon sign up today help us keep the spooky going and going and going. It really does make a humongous difference to the show. And I am so thankful for the one hundred and six spookies who've already signed up. And I want to say an extra special thank you to our Patreon podcast boosters, folks who pay just a little bit more to hear their names at the end of the show, and they are Johnny Nix, John Callen, bobotopia dot com, Jenny Green, Brent mccaullaugh, Karen Weemet, Jack Kerr, and Craig Cohen. Thank you all so much, And if you want to hear your name at the end of the show, just head over to Weeklyspooky dot com, click on Patreon and select a tier at fifteen dollars a month or higher. You'll be making a big difference, so we want to make sure you get credited properly. But anyway, my friends, it's time for me to get myself ready and get packed up to head to Pittsburgh. So remember if you're going to be at Living Dead weekend in Pittsburgh. Well, I'm already there, so come and say hi. I'd really appreciate it. I'd love to meet some spookies out in Pittsburgh. But now it's time for me to go. So for myself, for my executive producers Mark Shields and Rob Fields, my composer Ray Madison, of course, my producer Dan Wilder. I'll talk at you next time. Thank you for listening. Make sure to find your way back next week. But for now you are safe, trust me,