The town of Dunstable was dying.
It hadn't been sudden, but it sure had been steady. For weeks, people were disappearing. One by one, they were taken, swallowed up by the dark water that stretched across the lake near the edge of town. The lake had always been there, peaceful and still, a place where people would go fishing or swimming on warm days. But now, it was the heart of the nightmare. The smell of decay had begun to spread, and everyone knew what was happening. No one wanted to say it, but there it was. The snake was out there.
No one had seen it at first, just the missing people. Bodies would float up after a few days, usually mangled, sometimes barely recognizable. The first hunting group formed when a young man named Jack Carpenter vanished on his way home from work. He was the last person to go out near the lake. That's when the rumors started, whispers about a giant snake. People were frightened, but that didn't stop them. The hunters would gather at the bar after dark, drink their beer, and talk about what they were going to do. No one had any real plan, but the idea of doing something, anything, made them feel less helpless.
Jonah Riser was part of the second group. He wasn't a man of many words, but his hands were rough from years of farm work, and he knew how to handle a rifle. He didn't believe in the snake at first. He thought it was just a bunch of stories. People needed something to blame, something to make sense of the disappearances. The snake wasn't real. Not like that. But when his cousin's wife was found torn apart on the shore, he didn't think that anymore.
The hunters went out at night. They patrolled the lakeside with torches and guns, but they never saw anything. Sometimes, they'd find footprints, huge, wide prints that didn't match anything they knew. Then the attacks would keep happening, and the bodies would keep coming back. Each time, more mangled than the last. It was like the snake was getting bolder, and it knew they were trying to stop it.
Jonah couldn't tell anyone, but he wasn't sure what he was looking for. He hadn't seen any giant snake, but there were things that didn't add up. Sometimes, he'd hear the sounds, low and gurgling, from the water. Other times, he'd see something move under the surface. But he kept telling himself that it was nothing. That was just his mind playing tricks on him.
A week later, things got worse. Two more families vanished, and the town's people started packing up. They were leaving in droves, heading to the next town over, anywhere but here. Jonah's neighbors left. His aunt and uncle left. It was like the town was emptying out, and the closer they got to the lake, the worse it got.
Jonah was alone now. Everyone had gone. Except for the few stubborn souls who still wanted to fight back.
The second night Jonah stayed alone in his house, he heard it again. That low gurgling sound, closer now. Too close. He had no time to think about it. He grabbed his rifle, stepped outside, and walked down the road that led to the lake. The moon was low in the sky, barely visible behind the clouds. The wind was still.
Jonah walked to the edge of the lake, the cold water rippling gently under the moonlight. Nothing was moving. But he could feel it. Something was wrong.
He wasn't sure how long he had been standing there when he saw it. It was subtle at first, a ripple in the water that spread out slowly, like something was moving just beneath the surface. He tightened his grip on the rifle, squinting into the dark. His breath quickened.
The ripples spread further, but Jonah didn't move. He stood there, too scared to do anything. He didn't want to believe it was real. That was the worst part of it. He knew he couldn't stop it. He wouldn't stop it. But he was too stubborn to leave.
That was when it rose up.
The water erupted. Something massive, slick and wet, surged out of the lake with a horrible screeching sound. Jonah stumbled back as the thing rose from the depths, impossibly long, its scales glistening in the moonlight. It was like a nightmare made real, something that shouldn't exist. The head was the size of a house, and the body stretched out for what felt like miles.
Jonah couldn't breathe. He couldn't move. The snake's eyes were hollow, dark pits, staring at him. The hiss that came from its mouth was like a furnace, hot and suffocating. The snake uncoiled itself, slowly, like it was savoring the moment. Jonah could hear his heartbeat, the blood rushing in his ears. His hands trembled. He didn't know what to do. There was no way to stop it.
The snake snapped, and Jonah barely had time to raise his rifle before it was upon him. The world exploded in chaos. The rifle went flying from his hands. His heart raced, his body frozen. He fell to his knees, paralyzed with fear. The snake reared back, its enormous head looming over him. It hissed again, and Jonah could feel the heat from its breath.
Then it struck.
Jonah screamed as the snake's massive jaws clamped down around him. He felt the bones in his body break under the pressure. His arms were twisted, his legs crushed beneath the weight of the snake. The pain was unbearable, but it wasn't enough to kill him. Not yet.
The snake pulled him under, dragging him toward the water. Jonah tried to scream again, but his mouth was full of blood and scales. He clawed at the snake's throat, but it was like trying to fight a wall. His hands couldn't find purchase. His legs kicked uselessly against the air. The water was cold, and the pressure was crushing him, but the snake wasn't in a hurry.
The last thing Jonah saw before he was fully submerged was the faint reflection of the moon on the water's surface. The water turned red as the snake tightened its grip, and then everything went dark.
The lake was quiet again, calm, as though nothing had ever happened.
The town would keep dying, just like it always had. One by one, each person taken by the water, by the snake. No one would ever stop it.