I turned, my ravaged heart feeling as if it were about to burst from my chest. My eyes bugged out as they took in a towering vertical wall of water rising behind me—a cliff of dark olive-green sea that appeared to be climbing upon itself … seventy feet … a hundred, its mud-laced curl draining the shallows as it continued to rise!

I tried to flee, but the tug-of-war between the receding riptide was at best a draw, the monster’s roaring crest easily topping twenty stories, obliterating sky and sun. Terrified beyond reason, I humbled myself before death and dropped to my knees, the current cleansing my jumpsuit of the urine draining from my trembling groin.

Should I die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to—

“Ahh! Ahh!”

Stiletto-sharp blades pierced my shoulders—the bat’s curved talons stabbing my flesh, the tips curling beneath my collarbone, a tremendous force wrenching me off my feet into the air as the pain nearly rendering me unconscious. Screaming into the wind, my hands instinctively grabbed at the narrow, knotted-leather cords that were the creature’s ankles, my arms relieving the pressure as the flying mammal soared over the shallows.

A split second later the collapsing mountain of water exploded at my back, blasting both me and my winged rescuer with a barrage of cold sea and foam.

Screaming in agony, I pulled myself higher, forcibly extracting the curved talons from my butchered flesh. Then I held on as the bat’s wings beat the air, drenching me in its heavy musk as we raced inland, sixty feet over the tidal surge.

Enough! I shifted my right hand to grip the ankle held by my left, the sudden imbalance upsetting the creature’s ability to maneuver. The animal snapped its fanged jaws as it bent over in midflight to reach me, losing altitude in the process. Unable to release or bite its prey, the predator swooped toward the beach, intent, I was sure, on pile-driving me into submission.

Ten feet above the diminishing tidal surge I let go, dropping into the sea. Landing on both feet, I allowed myself to be swept inland and then sprinted in the shallows until once more I found myself standing, bent over, panting on dry land.

Blood drained from the deep throbbing puncture wounds.

The tide receded—leaving behind the shredded remains of my raft.

I stared at the rolled up, orange vinyl object, incredulous. “Are you fucking with me, God?!”

Asshole, there is no God … I’m the God creating this movie.

Verifying that the contents of the raft were still intact, I hauled the remains farther up the beach, wary of another wave. The effort caused me to wince and my entire upper body trembled from the pain.

Satisfied I had distanced myself from the next tidal surge, I released the raft and unzipped my jumpsuit, gently pulling my blood-soaked arms free of the tattered sleeves.