Ohyaho everyone! CJzilla here with her next horror fic! It's a personal favorite, a creature that is both of myth and fact that was nothing short of an unstoppable monster. The Beast of Gévaudan. For more info on this creature you can always Wikipedia it.
Synopsis: After three-hundred years a vicious, man-eating beast has reemerged from French folklore. The Saturdays take on this challenge knowing full well that the Beast of Gévaudan is deadly. Soon they find themselves tangling with V.V. Argost and the man's twisted allies. There is something not known about the Beast of Gévaudan and V.V. Argost wants the creature; badly. Zak finds that his power may be the only way to stop the cryptid's rampage, but he is now in the creature's crosshairs.
As I rampage all over this city, alls CJzilla has to roar is this: R&R! Love on me... hate on me... I don't care.
AN: CJzilla owns nothing of the Secret Saturdays or the folklore. I do own your reviews and sanity!
The Beast of Gévaudan
Chapter 1
Reappearance of The Beast
The day was warm and the sun was high over the rolling mountains of Lozére, France. It was at the end of summer and the leafy trees of the area were just beginning to change to beautiful autumn colors. For the farmers and ranchers of Lozére, it was time to cut grass to feed their cattle over the winter. The feeling of the air all ready had a bit of a cold nip, even for being in late summer. The chilly temperature prompted the plant and animal life around the countryside to begin preparing for colder times.
Plump cattle were grazing in a nearby field, trying to consume as much food before a cold French winter. Then the sound of a large motor cut through the calm air. As the cattle raised their heads, they spotted their beloved caregiver, chugging down the lumpy dirt road on his tractor. Coming to a stop on his beaten but dependable tractor, the farmer pulled the break. Hopping off his machine, he walked to the gate and opened it. As the worn, handmade gate's hinges creaked, the hard-working French farmer was greeted by several head of his cattle, the foremost being a kindly black bull.
The farmer smiled as he placed a hand on the bull's head and gave the kindly animal a scratch on the ear. The bull gave a low moo. The man smiled as the rest of his herd came to greet him. The cattle were fat, contented and happy to see their owner but they all knew what he was at their pasture for; he was to cut the grass. Obediently standing to the side, they watched the man hop back on his tractor and pull his heavy grass cutter into the field. Giving the black bull one last scratch, the farmer pulled his tractor deep into the field, away from harming his cattle. Setting down his grass cutter, he took the wheel of his tractor and began slicing grass for bales.
Cutting neat and thorough lines through his field, the farmer made sure that he got every blade of grass for his beloved herd. But then his tractor lurched as something hard as stone got wedged in the blades of his cutter. Quick to pull to a stop, the French farmer rushed to his expensive grass cutter to find the problem. Upon seeing a stone the size of a loaf of bread jamming one of the wheels, he grabbed it from the machine's spokes. With one large pull, the farmer had pulled the odd looking stone from his machine.
The farmer looked at the stone since he had never seen one like it before. The rock was large, red and seemed to be deliberately cut despite its old appearance. Rubbing some of the packed on dirt, he saw worn golden letters painted on the stone. As soon as he uncovered all of the letters, he found that the inscription was in French.
""The… guardian of the secret stone and the secret stone of the… guardian"?" He read out loud. As those words left his mouth, the stone in his grasp began to shake.
Gasping, the farmer dropped the stone and stumbled backwards. The red rock tumbled to a stop and trembled in the long grass. The man looked on in stunned disbelief as the red stone began to glow. The rock then began to writhe as spider-web cracks traveled over the golden letters. With a loud scream, a flash of light burst from the stone. The farmer flinched at the bright blast and shut his eyes as a wave of heat hit him. But just as soon at that happened the heat was no more.
Then low, steady and loud breathing was heard.
Opening his eyes and blinking the spots from his vision, the farmer's mouth dropped open at what he saw. A large wolf-like animal stood in front of him. The animal's shoulders stood about four-feet-six-inches tall and spanned nine-feet long from nose to tail. The creature's reddish fur shimmered in the sun as its lithe, long cat-like tail fell to the ground. It had a long, pointed Greyhound-dog-like snout and a small nose. The animal's eyes then opened, and locked to his. The farmer felt an icy fear grip his chest as he saw those red and yellow eyes sharpen menacingly.
The man gasped and moved backwards. His movement prompted the wolf-like animal to snarl angrily, its lips curling exposing long, pronounced teeth glistening against pink gums. The hair on the back of its neck stood ferociously as it turned its body toward him. The farmer's hand floundered for the seat of his tractor, where his rifle was stashed. As the creature stared and slowly stalked toward him, the man's desperation grew. His hand fell onto the barrel of his rifle but the hilt was caught between the break and frame of his tractor. Turning his head, the farmer yanked on his weapon. It was no good.
He knew the large wolf-like beast was nearly on him and he jumped into the tractor's seat. Trying to get away, the farmer felt the creature's claws sink into the leather of his boots. Tumbling off of the tractor, he fell to his back and was once again looking into the creature's terrifying red and yellow eyes. Glaring the farmer in the eye, the beast's maw opened and a low, spine-shattering roar came out. By that time the man was frozen with fear and as the creature eased its long, white teeth onto his throat, he knew he was going to die.
Just as the beast was about to tear into the man, its ears flicked up. In that second, the thundering of cattle's hooves was heard. The creature jumped off the man and growled as it was surrounded by the farmer's cattle herd. The black bull and heifers pawed the ground and formed a wall of hooves and horns around the farmer. The large wolf-like animal laid its ears flat against its head and growled in fury. The cattle stood their ground and advanced to it. Though the beast snarled and seethed, it retreated into the trees. With one last glare at the man, the beast sprinted off into the woods and disappeared.
The farmer stood, hand clapped over his throat to make sure that his neck was not ribboned. The black bull returned to the man and stood close, even as the beast's deafening howl shattered the quiet French countryside.
Halfway across the world, a family of scientists was busy unmasking the secrets of cryptozoology, exploring the unknown and denouncing fact from myth. Drew Saturday was busy inside the family's exotic cryptid plant garden while Doc Saturday was examining their latest finds on the Kur Stone. Finally Zak Saturday was executing the most important challenge of the day: winning his newest videogame against Fiskerton.
"Give up Fisk!" Zak strained, his thumbs cramping as he mashed the buttons of his gaming controller. His red race car was just a hair away from Fisk's and he knew he needed all the luck of a forest of four-leaf clovers to win against his formidable opponent. "I have this game in the bag! There's no way you can pull off this win!"
The Fiskerton Phantom, a seven-foot-tall gorilla-cat with white fur and glowing red eyes begged to differ.
"WIN-murg!" Fisk growled, deep into the videogame. Using his opposable thumbs on his feet, the gorilla-cat used his hands to cover Zak's eyes.
The eleven-year-old boy with wild black and white hair snarled in anger and surprise that his best friend could stoop this low.
"Aaa!" Zak choked out, not able to do anything about the large, stinky Fiskerton hands clapped over his eyes. "Fisk! You low-down fur ball! I'm gonna tell mom-!"
He could get the rest of his rant out as Fisk's blue race car passed over the finish line.
"WINNER! WINNER!" The game chirped. The gorilla-cat threw his feet in the air as his controller clattered to the floor.
"Winner-lisir!" Fisk cheered, humming happily as he wriggled on the floor in some sort of happy dance. Then he remembered his hands were still over Zak's eyes.
Flinching a little, the gorilla-cat slowly took his hands off of his best friend's eyes. He got a death-glare by the eleven-year-old. Fisk clapped his hands over his own eyes to hide himself from the rotten stink-eye he was getting.
"Esmosursur." The cryptid stated delicately. Zak growled at his best friend and "brother".
"That was NOT an accident!" The eleven-year-old fumed, getting to his feet and looking down at Fisk. Zak's face twisted with anger and annoyance. "I had no idea you could sinkTHAT low, Fisk!"
"Usosmurgur!" Fisk flailed his long, lanky arms in the air expressively, his eyes still pinched shut. Zak scoffed loudly.
"I know you don't like to lose! But neither do I. So expect a fight to the death, Fiskerton!" The eleven-year-old stuck out his tongue, folded his arms and walked to the door. Fisk sat up and watched his "brother" move off.
"Iso?" The seven-foot-tall gorilla-cat called after him. Zak stopped at the hydraulic, sensor operated door hissed open.
"To tell mom and to get a peanut-butter and jelly sandwich." The boy responded making another face at Fisk as the door closed behind him. The gorilla-cat rolled backwards before vaulting to his feet.
Fisk ran to the door pleading and squirming just like any sibling would do if their "brother" was going to tattle on them.
About ten minuets later Fisk and Zak walked into the greenhouse part of their huge, highly advanced house, munching on peanut-butter and jelly sandwiches. They scanned the oddly shaped and wildly colored plants before they saw the curvy figure of Drew Saturday off in the distance. The boy and cryptid walked toward the maternal unit of the Saturday family, their eyes glazed over with boredom.
Drew Saturday, a curvy woman with plump lips, white hair and seductive eyes in a yellow and black jumpsuit held a watering can in her hand as she attended to the Peruvian Vine Whips. The lively South American cryptid plant soaked up the attention.
"Hi mom." Drew heard her one son that she birthed greet. Turning, she saw her two "boys" chilling and eating their sandwiches. "Whatchya doin'?"
"Hey boys." She set down her watering can. "Oh, the Vine Whips have been feeling a little ignored so I thought I'd just come down here and water them. I know the sprinkler system could do that but these fickle cryptid weeds get moody when you don't-"
Drew could tell when Zak and Fisk weren't listening to her anymore because they got that faraway look on their faces. Clearing her throat, Drew smiled at her boys.
"So, how'd your videogame go? Who won?" She asked, the last she saw of her son and cryptid they were deeply involved with that silly gaming system. Drew then saw the angry look on Zak's face as he glared at Fisk.
The eleven-year-old opened his mouth to reply when Fisk clapped his free hand over Zak's face. Biting down on his sandwich, Fisk picked Zak off of the ground and flung him into a nearby tree. Drew was stunned as the normally well-behaved gorilla-cat smiled sheepishly at her. The seven-foot-tall cryptid zipped to her and hugged her, obviously trying to mask something.
"Uh, thanks for the hug Fisk, but… what did you do now?" The woman questioned, not bothering to hug the naughty gorilla-cat back. Fisk picked her up off of the ground and hugged her deeper, swinging her back and forth like a rag doll.
By that time Zak had tumbled out of the tree and was running back over to Fisk and Drew.
"Mom! Fisk chea-muff!" Fisk clapped a foot over Zak's mouth as he held Drew out of the boy's reach. Zak grabbed Fisk's ankle and fought to get his foot off of his face.
Fisk held his foot to his brother's mouth as he hopped around on the other, Drew still in his arms. Zak was angrily snarling cruse words under Fisk's foot as Fisk was growling back at his brother.
"Musiskurg!" The gorilla-cat barked at his brother. Drew, got past the vertigo enough to hear what Fisk had just said.
"What? Tell me what?" She was getting very fed up with this "keep-mom-away-from-Zak-so-he-won't-tell-her-something-Fisk-did" game. As Fisk jumped around, his leg hit something and he tumbled to the ground.
Drew was safe in his lanky arms and as the gorilla-cat looked up at what he tripped on, he saw Komodo become visible again as he greedily ate his and Zak's peanut-butter and jelly sandwich.
"Aw! Umbufow." Fisk shook a fist at the genetically altered komodo dragon. Komodo simply ignored the chaos around him and continued eating the sandwiches.
"Mom! Fiskerton cheated!" Zak wiped the dirt and fur out of his mouth left over from Fisk's foot. Drew shook the stars from her head as she climbed out of Fisk's arms.
"Cheated?" She dusted herself off, her eyebrows slightly furrowed. "On what?"
Zak's face turned red with anger.
"On the videogame! He covered my eyes so that I would lose!" The eleven-year-old returned. Fisk sat up and started arguing with his brother.
Drew face-palmed.
"Boys! Boys!" She quieted the argument as Komodo waddled up to her, licking his scaly lips. Fisk and Zak stopped wrestling. "This is what I didn't want to happen when I bought you guys that console! You were supposed to have fun and share it!"
Zak and Fisk nodded.
"We ARE sharing it and having fun!" Zak then pushed Fisk. "But Fisk cheated!"
Once again, the cryptid and his eleven-year-old human friend were wrestling. Drew glanced at Komodo and grimaced.
"That's enough!" She barked. Zak and Fisk stopped. "From this moment on, you two are grou-!"
"Drew, Zak, Fisk and Doyle; I need you four in the control room ASAP." The intercom suddenly blared with Doc's voice, thus saving Fisk and Zak from being grounded. Drew eyed the nearest speaker and then looked back at her two boys.
"We're not done here. As soon as we find out what your father wants, I will dish out your punishment." Drew gestured as she walked toward the door. Fisk and Zak moped.
Komodo simply licked the peanut-butter and jelly from his smiley maw and tossed his two pals a wily cryptid grin. Getting the stink-eye from both Zak and Fisk, the genetically enhanced komodo dragon trotted after Drew, his scaly belly getting tickled by the grass under his feet.
"Why did you make me tell on you?" Zak growled at his best friend. "Now we're both gonna get the shaft."
Fisk threw his long arms dramatically into the air and spat out a few angry gorilla-cat words. The eleven-year-old boy stood on the ground and stomped off after his mother, Fisk still growling at him.
The hydraulic doors to the control room opened with a decompressed hiss. Drew, Komodo, Fisk and Zak walked into their home's "control room", which was called a living room by other families, and saw Doc Saturday, the leader and father to the Saturday family looking out the window towards the sea.
"Hey pop!" Zak greeted running up to his dad. Pressing his face against the glass of the window, the eleven-year-old blew a cloud of breath onto the glass.
Doc, a tall, brawny African-American man with white streak running down the middle of his black hair, a long scar running down his silver right eye looked at his overeager son draw a smiley face in the moisture on the glass. Then the eleven-year-old wiped his window art away with his shirt's sleeve, giving an evil cackle as he did so.
"Okay, what is it this time?! Sea-monster? Wolf-Man? Or giant two-foot tall spiders that walk on two of their eight legs?" Zak rattled off as he mangled his glass art. Doc just quirked a brow at his child.
Fiskerton quickly walked to the window and blew a breath on the glass. Doc watched, oddly silent with his hands folded neatly behind his back. Then he felt the arms of his wife wrap around his neck and her soft lips place a kiss on his chiseled face. Any other day Doc would have welcomed that. But he didn't react to it.
"Gee hon." Drew's hands fell to his shoulders. "What's wrong? You called us to a family meeting and you haven't said two words. Wow. That's a first."
The woman moved out from behind him and stood before Doc, her hips cocked in a flirty gesture. But Doc's face was steely and unchanged.
"I just got word from… France, Drew. It was a priority one distress call." The man finally said. As Drew's face straightened, Zak groaned.
"France? Home of fancy foods in itty-bitty portions?" The eleven-year-old turned to his parents with a scrunched look on his face. "France is so backwards! They don't even have breakfast!"
Just then the doors opened and Doyle walked in. Doyle was a tall younger man with broad shoulders and flaming red hair cut into a long and wild Mohawk. He caught the tail-end of Zak's sentence.
"Though I would like bigger portions as well, the itty-bitty food is good there." Doyle smirked at his nephew. Zak's face immediately lightened. "I should know; I've been to France before."
Fisk and Zak ran to the newest member of the Saturday family as Doc and Drew managed annoyed yet charmed grins.
"Hey Uncle Doyle!" The eleven-year-old boy jumped into his long-lost uncle's arms, followed closely by Fisk nearly tackling him. The man was taken aback by the sudden hugs he got from his newly discovered nephew and the Fiskerton Phantom but gave in with a smile.
"Hey yourself. You too fur ball." Doyle hugged his nephew and scratched Fisk behind the ear.
Fisk gave an affectionate purr as Zak laughed a little.
"You've really been to France? What were you doing there?" The kid grinned. Fisk even had that stupid, excited look on his face.
Doyle was about to answer when he heard Doc chuckled.
"Another one of your ten-foot fish adventure stories, Doyle?" The older man poked fun at Doyle's fantastic if a little exaggerated stories. The red head shrugged and flung a giggling Zak over his shoulder.
"It was a long time ago, when I was first started out as Van Rook's apprentice. And France is the home of V.V. Argost, don't forget." Then Doyle's smirk fell off of his face as he turned to Drew and his brother-in-law. "Is that what this is about, Doc?"
All eyes were on the leader of the Saturday team. Doc sighed but shook his head and walked to one of the large monitors in the room.
"The branch in France gave us a call a little less than fifteen minuets ago." The man stated as the monitor's screen flicked on. "Concerning one of the most ferocious cryptids that has ever existed."
Finally the picture on the screen showed 18th century engraving of a weird but awesome looking creature.
"La bête du Gévaudan." Doc gestured toward the screen, an icy shiver flying up his spine.
At the tone of his father's voice Zak cocked his head, Fisk flinched at the scary depiction while Doyle frowned and Drew gasped.
"The Beast of Gévaudan?!" The woman nearly ran to her husband. "But Doc! The Gévaudan Beast has not been seen for over two-hundred and fifty years! Are you sure it's not some big wolf or dog… or something?"
Drew was hoping that Doc was wrong.
"No, Drew. The Wolf of Chazes is back." The man's silver eye drilled into her own. Then Zak jumped off of Doyle's shoulder and he and Fisk walked up to his parents.
"Okay. We give. What's this heinous motherhoper?" The eleven-year-old gestured toward the picture on the screen. Doc and Drew folded their arms at their son.
"Okay for one, watch your language and second… it's the Beast of Gévaudan." Doc returned before fear settled on his face. "It is a creature that stands four-feet six-inches tall that once terrorized fifty miles of French country-side nearly three-hundred years ago… and we just received a call that its attacked again."
Zak looked up at Fiskerton and Fiskerton shrugged.
"So? We'll find it, kick its ugly butt and cage it! Just like we've done before!" The boy shrugged with a smile. Drew and Doc shook their heads.
"Zak, the Beast of Gévaudan isn't like the other cryptids we've fought." Drew narrowed her eyes.
"Your mom's right, kid. The Beast of Gévaudan is a man-eater." Doyle walked up to his family. Zak cringed.
"Lycopardus parthenophagus is the Beast of Gévaudan's Latin title, Zak. Do you know what that means?" Doc folded his muscular arms. Zak shook his head, silent. "It means panther-wolf, devourer of maidens. This monster is responsible for two-hundred and ten attacks resulting in one-hundred and thirteen deaths! This is not a cryptid to take lightly."
Fisk was nearly on the ceiling in terror. Then Doc's face fell pensive.
"What's incredible about this cryptid is that mankind in general has excepted that this creature has existed. Most of cryptids are not embraced as an actual living-thing by the public." The man looked at the picture of the famous engraving. "Historical records and conspiracy theorists all agree that there was such a creature as the Beast of Gévaudan. But the one thing they cannot agree on is WHAT this animal was."
Drew nodded.
"Some say it was a wolf or a wolf-dog hybrid, something as simple as a lioness or hyena escaped from one of the wealthy and eccentric lords living on a nearby estate." The woman stated.
"But none of the animals listed is as fantastic looking or killed humans in such a horrific way." Doc cut in. "Historical records claim that there was more than one of these man-eaters and that this creature was killed at least twice. Yet it kept coming back and it kept killing."
He looked at the screen again.
"But the Beast of Gévaudan's reign of terror only lasted three years before it totally vanished off of the face of the earth." Doyle looked to Doc. "Why would such an indestructible cryptid monster terrorize people for three short years before disappearing? And why now, over two-hundred years later, would it reappear?"
Doc shook his head and the three adults went into a thoughtful silence as they looked at each other. They were interrupted by Zak's voice.
"AWESOME!" The eleven-year-old cheered. Doc and Drew whirled around. "We're totally gonna be in some real danger!"
Drew gave her son an angry look.
"And the last mission including avalanches, lava and nine-foot-tall lizard men wasn't dangerous?" The woman quirked an eyebrow. Zak scoffed as Doc folded his arms.
"Yeah, that one didn't count. For the fact that most of the mayhem was created by natural disasters and mom's sudden motivation to beat Uncle Doyle at everything." The eleven-year-old voiced throwing his thumb at his uncle. Drew's face reddened as Fisk dropped from the ceiling and nodded along with Zak. "But this time it's the danger of a real-life man-eating cryptid!"
Doc stepped up to his son.
"Whoa little man." He set a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You're going to have to take this mission with the utmost of sober mindedness if you're going to last two seconds without becoming cryptid food." Drew gasped. "The Beast of Gévaudan is no laughing matter and to convince me that you are responsible enough to come along, you're going to have to show me that you are serious about this."
Zak puffed out his chest and gave his father a serious look.
"I am seriously looking forward to the adventure, dad." The eleven-year-old saluted. It wasn't the whole-hearted answer Doc was looking for but it was as close as he'd ever get to it.
The man nodded.
"Fine. Now go pack a bag or two." Zak smiled and ran for the door. Doc looked at Fisk. "You too, Fisk. And take Komodo."
The seven-foot-tall gorilla cat saluted, picked up Komodo and ran after Zak. Doc and Drew watched them leave with concerned looks on their faces. As the door hissed shut, Drew walked up to her husband.
"I don't think it's smart to bring them." The woman said, motherly worry softening her voice. Doc looked at his wife.
Gazing at the woman for a few long seconds, the man took her hand.
"I understand your worry, Drew. But if Zak is going to follow the footsteps that we leave him, he will have to learn how to handle a highly dangerous and potentially deadly cryptid." He voiced.
Drew gave Doc an angry look.
"I do not want to see my boys get torn up by the Gévaudan Beast, Doc!" The white-haired woman growled. "This is far too dangerous for them and you know it!"
The man nodded, his face softening.
"Cryptozoology is and always has been a family affair for the Saturdays." Doc returned. "Leaving Zak and Fiskerton behind would tear them up."
Drew was still unconvinced.
"Zak will have six pairs of eyes open for him. You, me, Fisk, Komodo, Zon and Doyle." He said. Quieted Doyle looked up at his sister and her husband.
"I think Zak can handle it. With everyone looking out for him and with those freaky powers he has the worst that could happen to him would be jet-lag." Doyle shrugged. "How soon do we leave?"
Doc smirked at his brother-in-law whom he still did not totally trust.
"As soon as you pack a change of underwear and gas up that jet-pack of yours." The man answered. Doyle smiled but rolled his eyes as he walked to the door.
"We'll be in the Beast of Gévaudan's crosshairs; I'm thinking I'm going to need more than one change of undies." The red head stated as the door shut behind him.
Doc and Drew shook their heads and went their separate ways, preparing to depart to France and face down nothing less than a monster.
R&R! LONG LIVE ROCK!
