He woke up on the beabsp;He didn’t even have to open his eyes, just the loud surf and soft ch of the sah his head was enough. He groaned as he brought his hands to his face, feeling the all too familiar surge of pressure behind his eyes, the dry swollen feeling in his mouth and throat, and the barest hints of heaving nausea. He must have had a good time st night. He didn't even remember going to the beabsp;A small peek of his eyelids and he decided blindness referable to the unbearable light. He reached out his hands, slowly and with excruciating effort flipped himself onto his belly. Sand mushed into his face, and he smelled something weird. French fries? Whatever it was, it made that pool of urn into a tidal wave. He poured out all of his bad decisions in two or three heaves, then curled up into a ball and id there. Let the beach patrol find me, he pled. Let me be their problem. But no one came to escort him off the beao ed mother shrieked about degees in broad daylight. He wasn't even bothered by any vagrants, looking to bum a smoke. Despite his pain, he was curious. He slowly opened his eyes, ready to ehe blinding sun in order to get his bearings. This isn't Fort Lauderdale. The sky ale, a hazy white that seemed to curve all around him. Small waves of dark green water pped near his feet, crests murmuring incessantly. He stood on a small spit of gray sand, barely more than three feet wide, that extended into the horizon. The sky was lighter there, as if something was leag the color out of everything. It was early m, the sun barely above the horizon, and the moons hadn't yet set. Wait. Shit. He rubbed his palms against his eyes and peered again at the sky. His eyes told him the same thing again. There were four..no, five moons in the sky. "What the fuck?" He half-ughed, looking around himself for someoo expin the joke. There was no one. He took a shaky breath. "Ok so there are five moons. Ok. I'm on a sandbar in a weird o and the sky has five moons. I deal with this. I got this." Six more breaths ter, he was feelier--not great--but better. He suspected he still had some alcohol in his system. He stood up and looked around again, hoping he'd missed something. The sand spit erfectly straight lihat disappeared into the hazy horizon, a roiling fog hiding it from further sight. Behind him, the stretch of sand ected to a much rger body of nd an uain distance away. It loomed rge in the dawn semi-dark, and he couldn't make out maails, but it was way more inviting than the vanishing horizon. Step one, he thought. Get away from the creepy green o. He'd always feared the opehe idea of dark cloudy waters hiding sharks made his back itd palms sweat. He hustled down the sandbar, moving as fast as his absp;body allowed. He'd only made it twenty yards when he felt the sand shift beh him. "Whoa, that's dangerous," he muttered as he adjusted his footing. Then a portion of the sandbar gave way and his leg buckled. He plunged into the dark water. The water burned, like fire sizzling along his flesh. He thrashed in pain, blindly grabbing for the sandy shore he knew was nearby. He felt his hand sink into gritty sand for moment before something suddenly tugged on his leg. His eyes snapped open in surprise, the caustic waters biting at his eyes as he un toward something in the deeper water. A giant e eye the size of a basketball bzed in the murky depths, and the tentacle tightened on his leg painfully. He screamed, bubbles flooding his face as he tried to pull ba the sandbar, trying to escape. The shape in the dark depths was hard to make out but it had too many writhing limbs to be anything except a monster. A sed tentacle whipped out of the darkness and tched onto his left wrist, strig painfully and yanking his arm backward. He was barely hanging on, the tips of his fingers losing ground in the slippery sand. He spared a sed gnce backward and immediately regretted it. A dozen more eyes had appeared and all were oriented on him. He could see the dark silhouettes of dozens of more tentacles writhing ier, hungrily reag out for him. His left arm ulled again, inch by inch tearing him away from his per the rocky sand. Desperate, onless, out of breath; he did the only thing he could think of... He bit it. Acrid blood flooded his mouth, tasting like rotting seaweed and brine, just as the acidic water ate away at his tongue and gums. Blue fshes assaulted his vision, fres like fireworks in his mind. Before he could focus ohe creature's tentacles pulled ba pain, loosening their grip in the process. Frantically, he scrambled up the slope, kig his legs in a spastic doggy paddle. His head broke the surface, and he gulped the air greedily even as he pulled himself onto the thin spit of nd. His heart hammered in his ears and fear raced in his blood. He stumbled to his feet even as a shapeless mass broke the still waters with whippiacles. "Holy fuck!" He stuttered into a run, heading toward the dark ndmass as the tentacles shed at the spot he was standing in just moments ago. His clothes were waterlogged and burning, the awful acidic water raisis on his skin even as he dried rapidly in the warm air. "WHAT THE FUG FUCK!" THOOM! An explosion behind him threw crey sand over his bad pelted his exposed calf, but he didn't turn around. He wasn't sure he'd be able to handle seeing what was behind him. He just kept running, helplessly ting the seds until he was eaten. Ten seds. Thirty seds. Sixty seds, and suddenly the sounds ceased. It was another half minute before he colpsed on the pale sand of a much rger beach, the tree line dark and green ahead of him. He was exhausted, mentally and physically. He finally mao turn his head, and saw that the sandy spit was torn to shreds. Whatever had chased him had ripped it apart as it thrashed toward him. Dull horror twinged in his chest, barely registering in his exhaustion. If that thing had caught him.... Something glimmered in the dark green waters, a few hundred feet out. A thick, shiacle swept into the air before diving deep into the now still waters. A sharp trilling noise sounded in his ears, awitched in shock. Then a bright blue box appeared before him. ANALYZING... HE DREADTYPE: ABERRATIONLEVEL: ???HP: ???MP: ???LORE: THE DREAD IS ALL ING, ALL POWERFUL, AND UNSTOPPABLE. "Huh," he breathed. Then he passed out.