Free Z-Volution by David Sakmyster, Rick Chesler Page B

up in the White House instead of staying at the Holiday Inn?”
    “Well, I wanted to keep our vacay low-key, without all the paparazzi and media attention we’d have if everyone knew our true family heritage.”
    Pamela Jefferson looked out across the water, laughing softly to herself while Sandi went on.
    “Yeah right, Dad. And that might not be so bad, anyway. Nothing ever happens around this boring old place, unless some nut job tries to jump the White House fence. I mean, look at this place, it’s so tedious, there’s—”
    The water in the middle of the river began to roil.
    Mom pointed. “Hey, there’s something!”
    “What?” Dad asked. The whole family looked out over the river at the disturbance.
    “I don’t know, it looks like something’s coming up.”
    Around them, other people were stopping along the river to stare at the commotion. The leading edge of a ripple created by whatever was rising from the river reached the concrete seawall, gently splashing against it before reflecting back out into the river again. More fingers pointed toward the watery upheaval.
    Suddenly, a wall of water surged forward from a central point, much larger and more forceful than the initial ripple. This was a wave, several feet high, barreling toward the river bank.
    “I see a fin!” Aimee had actually removed her ear buds. Mr. Jefferson’s eyes narrowed as he looked to where his daughter pointed. Indeed, a sail-like fin sliced through the water’s surface, coming straight at them on the concrete river bank. His wife looked around, as if to see if she could find an indication that this was some kind of tourist attraction or publicity stunt for…for what she didn’t know, but something, right?
    Instead, as the first water was pushed up and over the seawall to rush up against their feet, she looked back to the river and watched as what was now clearly a gigantic animal of some sort rose higher from the water. Instinctively, Peter Jefferson began herding his family to one side, not knowing what they were facing but sensing it was best to stay clear.
    “Look out!” a nearby tourist shouted to a kayaker on the river. The man in the tiny boat had been taking pictures of the boardwalk area and turned around too late to stop his kayak from being overturned by the approaching beast. Shouts of terror erupted from the onlookers as a giant mouth opened on the aquatic sportsman.
    Even from this distance, the Jeffersons could see the teeth in that mouth. But that was not the worst of it.
    “Something’s coming out of the mouth, Dad!” Sandi observed the behemoth even while backing away. It bothered Peter to take his eyes off the overall scene and instead focus on such details as what was in the mouth of the thing based on what one of his kids said, but he did in fact see movement in there and… holy crap!
    He watched in rapt disbelief as a couple of objects fell from the creature’s oral cavity and spilled out onto the kayak. But as he continued to watch, mouth agape, he could see that they were no mere objects that had been disgorged from the animal’s mouth—no! They were… people ? He didn’t know how it could be possible, wondered for a fleeting moment if the water supply in the hotel had been spiked with some experimental drug by the government using its guests as lab rats, but after rubbing his eyes and taking a deep breath, he was all but certain. Human figures were dropping from the mouth of the… dinosaur—is that what that is ? Impossible …
    The kayak capsized as two of the humans toppled onto it and began grappling with the paddler, who began shouting for help. Cell-phones were produced by passerbys who dialed 911—or took videos. The Jeffersons began backpedaling for higher ground, unable to rip their gazes from the ungodly manifestation playing out before them. The beast kept coming toward shore after plowing over the hapless paddler. As it neared the seawall, it picked up speed, rising higher in the