An Ever Raging Sea

A fisherman is down on his luck and he doesn't know how to turn it around...

Several fishing boats rocked back and forth on the choppy seas under an azure blue sky without a cloud to block it. Off the shore, they hoped to catch a substantial amount of fish for the day. One fisherman was not having such luck though.

"Those cheap, goddamn b******s!" James muttered to himself as he dragged in a heavily torn net back into the boat. This had been the third time this season that it had either snapped or unwoven on him and he had spent what little he had fixing it.

The corded muscles throughout his body were tense with frustration over this setback but quickly relaxed as he realized that's all it was: a setback, nothing more.  Perhaps one of the others wouldn't mind if he asked for one of their nets; they probably wouldn't. Even if they did, he still had a hooked and braided fishing line and plenty of bait.

He rowed the two kilometers back to shore, docking his fishing boat to the wharf wherever he could. With the catch already prepared, all that was needed was to carry the catch onto the stage then get it all salted and stored. 

James trotted up to his house and back, grabbing the old wheelbarrow along the way. A couple of other fishermen offered their help but were declined and shrugging their shoulders, strided their way back to their homes. "This wasn't something that really needed help." James thought to himself. But the moment he opened the stage/storage area, a thick stench filled his nostrils. 

Holding back his gag reflex, he took a look at what remained of his store, and fell into despair as he discovered that almost all the fish he had caught this season had become maggoty. They weren't fit to eat, let alone sell. He looked outside and saw the gulls draining the days catch before him. There was no time for grieving and worrying, he had a job to do.

"Out with the old, in the with the new" was the old adage and the birds seemed to take a liking to it, for the most part. 

In this enclosed space though, he had nothing to fear from the birds but dampness was an issue, he had to make sure all of this was cured in a very short time.

It was about 7 pm when the front door to the house finally opened revealing the bulky figure of James as he stepped through the door with fish in hand. 

His wife had spent most of the day taking care of the children, housecleaning, and gardening. Both children had been sent out earlier that day to get some bread. The hearty meal would be made shortly. In the meantime, the children played outside while they waited. Their mother came outside every so often to make sure that they hadn't run off.

But of course, they had run off and yet, they ran back to the house like bats out of hell, screaming bloody murder up to their bedroom. James decided to see what all this screaming and running was all about. Up the stairs he came, crossed their own bedroom, and gently pushed open the kids' bedroom door.

Lowering himself onto the edge of the bed, he asked with a comforting tone "what's with all the screaming and running now?" The children held their silence for but a moment before one burst out crying "We saw a sea monster!"

"A sea monster?"

"Just off the coast!"

"Are you sure you're eyes aren't just playing tricks on the both of you? It is completely black out there."

"I swear we saw it!" "Please don't go!"

"Ethan, Michael, I have to go out there. It's the only way I can provide a life for us. Now come down for dinner."

With a modest meal of fish, potatoes, carrots, and bread before them, they said their prayers. The brothers silently prayed something extra. They had their meal, then they all went off to bed. James heeded no mind to what his son had said and got a good night's sleep.

At the crack of dawn, James and Mary got up out of bed to get dressed before waking the boys up and getting breakfast. The sun was barely over the horizon when James stepped out of the door to make sure everything was in order. He would have to make do without the net today; he pushed down his frustrations once more before gathering what was needed and setting off on his boat, along with the rest of the village.

Rowing slowly away from shore underneath clean sunlight, James couldn't help but wonder: was it really their imagination at work? He shook his head trying to concentrate on finding a dense cluster to put his line out to. 

Suddenly, he spotted a large, dark shape under the water and James felt dread and panic take him over as he realized that this shape was static and not dynamic like a school of fish. Without warning, the shape shot up out of the water throwing James out of his boat. He quickly swam back to his boat to retrieve his line and knife.

He looked up at the thing that popped up out of the water. Green scales on a snake-like body rose up to what seemed to be at least 30 feet above the water, meeting a relatively large torso with equivalent arms, a beige underside, and a serpentine/dragon-like head peering down at him.

Its fist came crashing down onto James' boat with James jumping out just in time. He stared at where the boat used to be dumbfounded, then his frustrations grew again and this time, he let them surface. He put his knife between his teeth and the line coiled around his shoulder. Pulling the knife out for just a moment  he yelled "Hey ya dumb b*****d, I'm still alive down here! "

Another large fist struck downward, missing James yet again. Before it could lift its fist again, James snagged his multi-hooked line onto it and climbed. The monster snarled in frustration as it saw what was happening and tried to rip the line from its hand without succeeding. 

Neither James nor the creature had noticed, but the other fishermen were coming in for a closer look. James had climbed up onto its wrist and was effectively flicked off. That's when the other fishermen decided it was their time and attacked. With knives, spears and whatever else they had, they climbed and started stabbing and hitting, drawing bright red blood wherever a wound was sustained.

With the monster distracted, James could take a breather, holding onto a small bit of wood. With his net, his store of fish, and his boat in ruins, there was nothing else James or his family could afford to lose, especially him. He thought about what he should do. He stared at the situation from afar. "That monster is technically a fish" he thought to himself, "And fish equals food and credits, something that could possibly sustain us. No, not just us, all of us."

Dragging in another ragged breath, James swam back to the scene despite several broken ribs and a dislocated shoulder which eventually popped itself back into place while swimming. He could see it now, several fishermen had been killed, their families now without a way to earn a living, it would hurt so many more if this continued.

James grabbed onto an arm as the monster thrashed about, trying to shake off any unwanted climbers. He held on for dear life as he slowly climbed up and up to the upper arm, then the shoulder. The monster still had not noticed until James stood up.

Trying to avoid the hand, James fell off the shoulder and with his knife, dug into the scales, doing his best not to fall off. A deep gash down the monster's upper back was testament to James' iron grip and with no alternative, used the gash to climb his way back up to the creature's shoulder who was now hissing and howling in great pain as it continued to thrash about in the water.

He sat on the shoulder this time and scooted his way towards the neck. Again, a heavily bloodied hand tried to slap him away. Ducking under the slap, James quickly scooted over the rest of the way before  savagely stabbing the back of the neck over and over. The monster tried one more time to swat James away but it was too weak this time to stop James from drawing its blood.

He opened up a deep enough hole to expose the monster's spine, unsuccessfully trying to sever it as the large creature fell over into the water, dead from blood loss, the battle was over.

Through sheer manpower alone, the corpse weighing several tons, was dragged back to shore. The community protected it from the gulls, utilizing every bit of the body for whatever was needed or even not needed.

The fallen were mourned and their families paid compensation by their respective merchants. Thanks to the creature, James managed to catch up with his usual quota at the end of the season and successfully replaced his lost equipment.