PROLOGUE
Los Angeles, the city of Angels.
At the moment the city was experiencing a heat wave. The air was dry and made anyone who dared venture outside hot and sweaty.
It was odd then that a pond in the city centre was currently completely frozen over. Scientists from the nearby weather centre were at a loss as to how to explain this bizarre phenomenon.
Lots of news reporters were at the scene commenting on it giving up to date information on TV and the internet and it was in all the morning papers.
At the scene was Lisa Hooper reporting for NEPC, the largest news corporation in the city. "I’m here at the Watercourt on Bunker Hill in the historic core of the city, and as you can see the pool is completely frozen over. Even the waterfalls are solid giving us this eerie spectacle,” she said, beginning her broadcast. She then listened to a question in her ear piece from a colleague in the studio. "Yes Phil, scientists are at a loss to describe the situation, as you know it’s a burning 35 degrees in Los Angeles today and the formation of ice is baffling experts." She listened to another comment, "Yes, yes we will stay here and keep you updated," she said.
The cameraman said cut and she was off the air.
Lisa fumed where she stood. "What a rubbish story," she said to the cameraman.
"I know I've got an hour's footage of just ice," he said," someone should at least chuck a penguin on it to give it some character.
"I thought this was going to be big news," Lisa said.
"So did I, I thought a natural disaster was going to take place, like in that film," he suggested.
Lisa Hooper had also been thinking that. It was interesting that ice had formed in this pond, but also boring in that there appeared to be no explanation, so the story went nowhere.
"Hey kid get off there would you," a cop suddenly shouted.
Lisa, attracted by the voice of authority, looked out across the pond and saw that a young blond boy was walking across the ice to the centre of the pond without a care that it was covered in ice.
She watched a cop get onto the ice and follow the child, waving his hands and shouting. He was unsteady on the slippery ice while the boy suffered no difficulty. The boy looked perfectly normal; a regular child except that he wore some strange gauntlets on his arms. He was so casual it looked like he was just out for a stroll. Lisa assumed that he was doing it as a bet.
"Bill start rolling," Lisa said hoping that whatever the boy was doing was going to be interesting. The camera started rolling.
The boy reached the centre of the pond knelt down and pulled a stone from his pocket. For some reason he bashed on the ice with the stone in a repeating pattern, as if doing Morse Code. The cop reached the boy just as he finished his message. "Come with me son," the cop said and reached out to grab the boy's shoulder. The boy moved out from under the cop’s hand at astonishing speed and walked away towards the edge of the pond. "I've woken him it would be best if you got off the ice," the boy said over his shoulder.
The cop decided to run after the boy, which was difficult because of the slippy-ness of the ground he was on. Eventually though he caught up with the boy at the edge of the pond.
"Stop, boy stop," the cop said.
It was then that the pond ice cracked. The policeman was unbalanced as the ice he stood on slid and cracked.
Everyone nearby started screaming, chunks of ice rained down all around the pond. As the ice broke apart the cracking sounds it made were deafening. Out of the icy pond a giant hairy beast erupted from the frozen water. It was followed by several smaller hairy beasts. The boy stepped off what remained of the ice and turned to look at his latest master. “I’ve found what you wanted,” he said.
“Good,” the hairy beast said. “Time to put this planet on a diet."
The boy disappeared in a flash of light and from the hairy beast a wave of ice flowed across the city freezing everything in its path.
Lisa Hooper and her cameraman ran for their lives.
At the moment the city was experiencing a heat wave. The air was dry and made anyone who dared venture outside hot and sweaty.
It was odd then that a pond in the city centre was currently completely frozen over. Scientists from the nearby weather centre were at a loss as to how to explain this bizarre phenomenon.
Lots of news reporters were at the scene commenting on it giving up to date information on TV and the internet and it was in all the morning papers.
At the scene was Lisa Hooper reporting for NEPC, the largest news corporation in the city. "I’m here at the Watercourt on Bunker Hill in the historic core of the city, and as you can see the pool is completely frozen over. Even the waterfalls are solid giving us this eerie spectacle,” she said, beginning her broadcast. She then listened to a question in her ear piece from a colleague in the studio. "Yes Phil, scientists are at a loss to describe the situation, as you know it’s a burning 35 degrees in Los Angeles today and the formation of ice is baffling experts." She listened to another comment, "Yes, yes we will stay here and keep you updated," she said.
The cameraman said cut and she was off the air.
Lisa fumed where she stood. "What a rubbish story," she said to the cameraman.
"I know I've got an hour's footage of just ice," he said," someone should at least chuck a penguin on it to give it some character.
"I thought this was going to be big news," Lisa said.
"So did I, I thought a natural disaster was going to take place, like in that film," he suggested.
Lisa Hooper had also been thinking that. It was interesting that ice had formed in this pond, but also boring in that there appeared to be no explanation, so the story went nowhere.
"Hey kid get off there would you," a cop suddenly shouted.
Lisa, attracted by the voice of authority, looked out across the pond and saw that a young blond boy was walking across the ice to the centre of the pond without a care that it was covered in ice.
She watched a cop get onto the ice and follow the child, waving his hands and shouting. He was unsteady on the slippery ice while the boy suffered no difficulty. The boy looked perfectly normal; a regular child except that he wore some strange gauntlets on his arms. He was so casual it looked like he was just out for a stroll. Lisa assumed that he was doing it as a bet.
"Bill start rolling," Lisa said hoping that whatever the boy was doing was going to be interesting. The camera started rolling.
The boy reached the centre of the pond knelt down and pulled a stone from his pocket. For some reason he bashed on the ice with the stone in a repeating pattern, as if doing Morse Code. The cop reached the boy just as he finished his message. "Come with me son," the cop said and reached out to grab the boy's shoulder. The boy moved out from under the cop’s hand at astonishing speed and walked away towards the edge of the pond. "I've woken him it would be best if you got off the ice," the boy said over his shoulder.
The cop decided to run after the boy, which was difficult because of the slippy-ness of the ground he was on. Eventually though he caught up with the boy at the edge of the pond.
"Stop, boy stop," the cop said.
It was then that the pond ice cracked. The policeman was unbalanced as the ice he stood on slid and cracked.
Everyone nearby started screaming, chunks of ice rained down all around the pond. As the ice broke apart the cracking sounds it made were deafening. Out of the icy pond a giant hairy beast erupted from the frozen water. It was followed by several smaller hairy beasts. The boy stepped off what remained of the ice and turned to look at his latest master. “I’ve found what you wanted,” he said.
“Good,” the hairy beast said. “Time to put this planet on a diet."
The boy disappeared in a flash of light and from the hairy beast a wave of ice flowed across the city freezing everything in its path.
Lisa Hooper and her cameraman ran for their lives.
