Ghassan tried to look as suave as possible, strolling down the Corniche promenade with Martine. They had just watched Rebel Without A Cause at Le Metropole. He tried channeling James Dean, hoping bravado would overwhelm his falafel breath.
"Cheri, 'ahabak. Do you think maybe we could..."
"Qu'est-ce c'est? Did you hear that?"
"It must be the beating of my hea—"
That's when the gigantic salamander rose out of the Bay of Beirut.
☢
News reports called it Tannin, like the serpent fought by Ba'al. Panicked crowds rushed indoors as the leviathan plodded toward Centre Ville. A swipe of its tail wrecked the lower floors of swanky Hotel Phoenicia. Sunbathers fled as its radioactive eye beams lit up the beach where St. George once slayed the mythical dragon.
Sgt. Émile Gemieh and his Flying Canaanites swooped in. "Camarades! Dagon formation now! Attack!" The monster brushed off the air strike, flicking away the streamlined de Haviland jet fighters with its claws.
☢
Meanwhile, in a secret bunker underneath Mount Lebanon, the President was briefed by a team of science officers. All research pointed to the creature being the actual Tannin of legend, roused from slumber by the nation's clandestine undersea atomic testing. In the control room, he ominously pressed The Red Button. It was the signal for Prof. Walid Rizk to activate Project Hadad.
☢
Walid told himself it would be just like the drills. His government handler Leïla drove him as close to the danger zone as possible, speeding through the near empty streets in her Citroën DS. Once they were a few blocks away, she turned on the Hadadifier, dousing Prof. Rizk with "Ba'al Particles". At once, he metamorphosed into the avatar of Ba'al Hadad.
Armed with divine power, he fired a Yagarish Ray at the beast, driving it back out towards the Bay. He finished off the creature with an Ayamari Blast between the whites of its eyes.
Beirut was saved at last! But now the President had much to explain.
YOU ARE READING
Adventures In Brevity
Short StoryLook at this collection as your very own inter-dimensional portal, one that spans multiple genres and niches, from hard-boiled noir and space opera, to wuxia and pulp adventure. In these very short stories, readers will be transported to strange new...
