But then, one of Vincent’s legs slapped the dock and with its tubules began slowly, wearily, it seemed to Dekka, pulling itself all the way onto the dock.

The Coast Guard ceased firing because a miss now might kill innocent civilians.

Dekka and Armo backed away, retreating faster and faster, as the creature filled most of the parking lot, not quite as big as it had been since it had lost arms to both the densovirus and Napalm’s fury, and the regrowing sections were shorter. But it was still enormous, and the belt of poisonous tentacles still writhed and lashed, reaching out almost as far as the creature’s red legs. And, like a model riding atop a nightmare vision of a parade float, Vincent Vu still emerged from the central circle at the nexus of the arms.

Monster, Chapter 27