CHAPTER 1

“Don’t keep throwing the worms overboard, Jake!” Shem glared at his youngest brother with a look that indicated his obvious disapproval at Jake’s very immature behavior. After all, this was a day of fishing with Dad and that was serious stuff.

“But, the fish are hungry and I just want to feed some of them!” replied Jake with a stubborn pout of his lower lip. This was also serious stuff to him. After all, a six year old has his priorities too. And he wasn't going to back down from his older brother even if he was going to be twelve this summer.

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Noah just watched the scene with a smile as he showed Ham how to tie on his lure so that the knot wouldn't come undone again. Oh how he loved these outings with his sons in their little twenty foot outboard. It was a perfect fishing boat for them so that Sara would feel safe about them going some distance off shore to chase the elusive yellowtail or some other fish that happened along the California coast. Sometimes they would get so carried away with fishing that they would go out a little farther that they planned, but their boat was equipped with all the modern technology available. The “toys” on board included a state-of-the-art depth finder, global positioning satellite equipment, and fish locators so precise that they almost could print out the species you were sailing over. Of course, the boys were fascinated by all the gadgets and by how everything worked. That was part of the entire fishing experience for all of them.

Sometimes Noah would just daydream while they were fishing. He could envision this becoming one of those great family traditions that would be passed down to his grandsons. What a joy it would be to have three generations of Arcmann's out on the ocean together, sharing stories, sandwiches and laughter. They might even need a bigger boat to hold that many rowdy youngsters. Everything seemed right with the world at that moment.

"It just doesn't get any better than this!” Noah thought to himself. As he looked out over the ocean towards the horizon, he couldn’t help but notice how unusually flat and glass-like the water’s surface was this morning. It was still ... very still. But the sun was shining and there wasn’t even a cloud in the sky, so there was certainly no cause to worry.

"It just doesn't get any better than this!” Noah thought to himself. As he looked out over the ocean towards the horizon, he couldn’t help but notice how unusually flat and glass-like the water’s surface was this morning. It was still ... very still. But the sun was shining and there wasn’t even a cloud in the sky, so there was certainly no cause to worry.

“He turned his attention back to tying Ham’s lure on his line for him. It was funny though, no matter what they did today, they just couldn’t seem to even get a bite. That wasn’t normal for them. They were all pretty good fishermen, except of course little Jake. But nothing they tried today seemed to work. Well, like the old saying goes, “There’s no such thing as a bad day of fishing!”

His thoughts were interrupted by Ham pointing off the bow, “Look, Dad! Look at that school of fish breaking the surface over there!”

Noah watched as hundreds of small, silvery fish, like smelt were frantically breaking the surface as though they were being chased by a much larger, hungrier fish. “Cast over there,” he shouted to the boys. “Maybe we can hook whatever’s chasing them.”

He didn’t have to ask twice. Before he got the last words out, both boys were casting over in the direction of the fleeing fish, just behind what appeared to be the back of the school. Although his boys truly loved one another, there was still a fierce competitive streak that ran through them, no matter what they were doing. Fishing was no exception. They were both intent on being the first one to catch a fish today. They each wanted to have the cherished honor of having caught the biggest and the most.

Jake pulled on his Dad's fishing vest, "Daddy! Daddy, look!”

"Just a minute son, we're trying to find at least one fish out here that hasn’t had his lunch yet.”

"But, Daddy!” Jake insisted, “There’s big fish over there, lots of them.”

Noah turned to see what his youngest son was pointing at. He couldn’t believe his eyes. There was another school of fish breaking water just like before. But these were considerably larger than the anchovies that were running off the bow of the boat. Shem and Ham both caught sight of the activity on the other side of the boat at the same time. In a flash they were casting in the direction of the scattering school of fish around them. Both were just squealing with delight at the prospect of catching one of these trophies.

As Noah watched his older sons working up a sweat trying to be the first with a fish on the line, and Jake clapping his chubby little hands together cheering them on, he noticed a small dark cloud, about the size of a man’s fist, moving in from off shore. For some reason he couldn’t take his eyes off this cloud. There was something very strange about it and he couldn’t put his finger on what it was. It was moving toward them at an alarming speed and growing in size at the same rate. It was odd because there didn’t seem to be any wind where they were. The ocean was glassy all around them, except of course where these crazed fish were jumping up and making the water boil and foam.

As he continued to stare at this cloud, it seemed to slow down and hover over the water. Slowly it began to spread out in a long, thin, black line parallel to the shore. As it became more elongated, it seemed to be growing in density and depth. It was billowing and rolling in place, churning puffs of purple, indigo and black as it began to stretch across the horizon. The sky began to darken all around them. Was it his imagination or was this cloud actually descending down to touch the top of the water?

Noah had been out on the ocean ever since he was a lad, just like his sons. He grew up on the water. He knew that storms could sometimes materialize very quickly, so he was always careful to check weather reports before going out. There was absolutely nothing in the weather reports for this area. He didn’t want to take chances, since they were several miles farther out than normal. He’d thought it would be safe enough on such a sunny day and with such flat water.

Something inside him was telling him that this was serious but he didn’t want to alarm his boys. It was time to head for shore and fast. As he started up the motor, he told the boys to reel in their lines and prepare everything in case it started to rain. The boys busied themselves checking their life vests and making sure Jake was securely in his jacket and all the gear was stowed in the proper compartments. He turned back to check on this eerie storm cloud and his heart seemed to stop. He rubbed his eyes and tried to refocus on the horizon once again. He must be imagining things because he thought he saw the cloud touch down along the horizon ... all across the horizon ... and it seemed to be sucking the ocean water up into itself creating a growing wall of water reaching skyward.

“This is impossible! I’ve seen waterspouts formed over the ocean when a severe storm whips them up from the surface. But they are generally like small twisters and dissipate shortly. This is all wrong! This doesn't look anything like a waterspout. This looks like a tidal wave. But it can't be. They're not formed like this!”

There was definitely a wall of water forming from this unholy union of the black cloud and the ocean. Just then the cloud seemed to let go of the water and started moving rapidly towards shore. The wave that it formed was now loose ... traveling independently of the cloud and rushing towards them. It stretched across the entire horizon, or at least where the horizon had been before this nightmare began. It arched up towards the heavens at what appeared to be a height of at least one hundred feet. It was at once a thing of awe and a thing of destruction.

Suddenly Noah was wrenched back to reality. His sons were scared! He was scared! He jammed the engine to full throttle and headed for shore. Dark, ominous clouds were billowing overhead. Seagulls were flying frantically in every direction, squawking some kind of warning. Noah was trying desperately to calm his three little boys as their boat was being battered by a series of increasingly larger and fiercer waves. They couldn’t see land in any direction because of the clouds blocking the sunlight.

"Daddy! Daddy, where are we? What’s happening, Daddy? We want to go home, p-l-e-a-s-e, Daddy!”

He could feel something horrendous building. His grip on the steering wheel was tightening, as was the growing knot in his stomach. Every muscle in his body was constricting, ready to fight for survival. Noah couldn’t even hear his sons over the incredible noise. It started with a rhythmic pounding that jolted his entire body and filled his eardrums to bursting. This monstrous aberration of the ocean was approaching them at an incredible rate of speed and with such a deafening noise that it would have drowned out the loudest jet engines.

A part of Noah wanted to imagine this as some mythological sea monster coming up from its ancient lair miles beneath the ocean. He desperately wanted to believe that it would all disappear as he regained his senses. His imagination was now playing tricks on him. Maybe they mistakenly drifted above the nose of some highly secret nuclear submarine whose existence was unknown to the United States or its allies; some horrific weapon of destruction that was about to break on to the surface from the deep and crush them with its enormous weight, leaving scarcely a remnant for anyone to identify! His heart was beating so loud it was almost as loud as this fearsome roar approaching. The cold water splashing over the boat rocked him back to this horrible reality.

“Grab that bucket, Shem and give the other bucket to Ham”, he shouted above the deafening roar. “Start bailing, boys!”

But he could tell by the look of terror on their faces that they were beyond being able to comprehend the impending disaster. He turned to see this monster wave closing the distance between them at frightening speed. It was as if the ocean itself was supernaturally rising and forming itself into a curved wall of water, hundreds of feet high and speeding toward them and land at a heart-stopping rate. A boiling wall of salt water was building in speed and height simultaneously as Noah and the boys watched, paralyzed with terror. There was nowhere to go! No escape! The noise was drowning them as if it were the water itself pounding the life out of them. It was thunder; it was roaring; it was all encompassing. He pressed his hands over his ears as tightly as humanly possible and still it wouldn’t stop. It was permeating his entire being. And in it all, there was a familiar sound. It was the sound of something recognizable deep within his soul.