THOSE AIN'T GATORS!!! "Hey Al?" "What's up? I'm about to punch out." "Want some overtime?" "Not really, but I could always use some. What the hell... What-cha got for me?" "Just a quick check. Some folks over near seventh and eighth street been complainin' about foul smells driftin' up from the sewers." "It couldn't be the bombs they drop down their toilets could it?....They're sewers. They're supposed to smell foul." "Yeah, but they're complainin' that it's extra foul. Could be a back up in there somewhere. Just check it out and we'll see what needs to be done. Just make sure it ain't gators in there or somethin' ok?" "Gators? Are you kidding me? You watch too much T.V. buddy. Oh well...Easy overtime is my favorite overtime." Al arrived at the destination, parking his van along the curb. "Wew...They were right about the smell." Al rummaged through the back of his van and brought out his orange, hazard cones and placed them around the manhole cover. He glanced at it for a moment. Satisfied he rummaged through the back of the van again. Taking out his crowbar, he propped open the manhole cover and shoved it aside. He grabbed a flashlight, threw on his hard-hat, and climbed down into the dark abyss. After a couple of twists and turns the smell started to get stronger. He came upon some dumped trash; an old television set, that saw better days, a bag of who knows what, a kids backpack. A low rumbling sound echoed through the corridor. Al stopped in his tracks, as it sounded pretty darn close, he thought. "Great, maybe we do got gators down here. There's some kinda animal down here. I better get a team in here, cuz that sounds pretty darn big." Al turned to start on his way out, but his flashlight stuck on a heep along the wall. "What the hell is that?" After a moment of squinting and staring, the large "rock" came into focus...it wasn't a rock at all. The hollow eye sockets were the first thing he noticed. Then the teeth, forever locked in a deathly grin. The way the skeleton was laying, the fingers were illuminated next. Then he heard it again. The low rumbling growl. This time it was so close. Al turned to run, but something struck him hard in the face, sending him down onto his back. His flashlight flew out of his hand as he hit the ground, but his legs didn't even have time to hit the floor before he felt the crushing grip of the creature lock around his ankle. He screamed as he tried desperately to grab his flashlight, but his hand fell short. His fingernails chipped and scraped the rough ground. Blood trailed along as he tried to dig into the ground as he was being dragged along by an unstoppable force. Only his screams echoed throughout the corridors now, until they trailed off into a deathly silence..... I used Daz Studio 3 (Free Version). No postwork. Took me about 2 hours to set everything up and render. The image came to me as soon as I saw the contest theme.