If you See a Shark Shaped Cloud... Run!

I don’t know when they arrived, attempts to talk about it online established that at the very least, it started 3 months ago.

I had been out for a walk one day when I noticed that one of the clouds bore a resemblance to a shark, it had the pointed head, a tail fin, pectoral fins, and that iconic dorsal fin.

I remarked at the cloud shark with an awe I thought had left me after I stopped being a child.

I stopped and sat down so I could see the rest of the cumulus art gallery above me.

The more I looked around, the more sharks I found amongst the floating white blobs.

I didn’t think it was strange at the time, but checking social media when I went home cemented how peculiar this whole event was.

The shark-shaped clouds were found across the world, ranging from small to massive in size, with the outlines being compared to those of great white sharks.

The photos people took from high rises, helicopters, airplanes, even one taken by satellite were incredible.

Of course, nowadays even something as fantastical as shark-shaped clouds appearing all over the world can still fade from the public zeitgeist at great speed.

The last big thing anyone talked about was the formation of a massive storm cloud off the coast of Oregon shaped like a shark that was slowly making its way to land.

We probably should have listened to the scientists about this phenomenon, they immediately stated that nothing about any of this was natural, the mathematical odds of even 5 clouds having a similar shape would be low, let alone 10s of thousands in varying sizes.

They even reported more potential storm cloud sharks developing on coastlines across the world.

Of course, the majority of the population, myself included, retorted with a collective “shut up nerds!”

And moved on to the next thing that caught our collective attention.

It was at least a month before the news broke about a sharp decline in bird populations worldwide, people began to joke that maybe the cloud sharks got hungry.

Nobody joked when the number of missing persons in high elevation areas spiked.

What started out as fringe claims of the cloud sharks “wiggling as they moved” escalated to cloud sharks being seen next to airplanes, and circling skyscrapers like they were giant shark cages.

The definitive evidence that these were more than just specifically shaped clouds came courtesy of a man who decided to livestream the end of his Mount Everest ascent.

I didn’t get to see the original, but it was mirrored everywhere.

He was at the summit , a cloud shark could be seen in the distance. I watched as real-time comments pointed it out to the man.

Then the cloud shark turned and seemed to start moving toward him.

I saw the comments flood in that the cloud was getting closer, when the man finally turned around, by then it was maybe 8 feet away.

He let out a “what the-“ before the cloud shark attacked, grabbing the man by his head. The thing was huge, I watched as the shark thrashed around with the man in its mouth. Stopping to take another bite and pull more and more of the man in.

The stream finally cut out at that point, I prayed for everyone who witnessed that live.

From one viral nightmare clip came more.

A plane taking off was assaulted by three massive cloud sharks, the sharks bit into and ripped the plane apart in midair. Small dots believed to be people falling were quickly picked at by smaller cloud sharks.

Skydivers witnessing others in their group being grabbed mid fall and carried further up into the sky.

Footage from one of the highest roller coasters on earth, where riders heads were ripped off by cloud sharks.

The genie was out of the bottle now, the cloud sharks were actually hunting and acting like real sharks.

Panic was expected, the nerds we ignored were now the foremost authority on cloud sharks, but most of the new Information came from testimonials and social media.

The first instance of good news came from videos of cloud sharks attempting to swoop down, but as they got closer to the ground, the sharks would begin to break apart and evaporate

The experts theorized that the cloud sharks could only hold their shape if the temperature and humidity were at high elevations.

The result was a global exodus to hot lowland areas, the market for homes and even commercial buildings with basements spiked to the millions in prices. Those who couldn’t afford either one simply started moving into caves and sewer lines.

There was a point where I regretted not leaving town, but that ended up subsiding after I started looking into what was going on with that big storm cloud shark.

In the time since its discovery, over 50 more had spawned into existence. Satellite images showed they were all off the coasts of every continent. Australia had three of them, it almost looked like they were circling the continent.

There had been no reports of the storm cloud sharks attempting to attack anyone, they just very slowly moved closer to shore.

When they made landfall, that’s when the rain began.  the rain was comparable to a monsoon.

That’s when the cloud sharks started dropping down to attack.

They traveled under the storm shark, turning that area into a feeding frenzy. Within minutes, the internet was packed with footage and survivor testimony of hundreds of cloud sharks grabbing people in their mouths, biting off limbs, and ganging up on people to rip them apart.

The varying sizes of the cloud sharks meant that not even staying inside was safe anymore.

I still have video footage of a cloud shark the size of a 747 biting into the top of a building, breaking the top off and swimming away, followed by smaller cloud sharks diving into the hole left in the building.

The cloud sharks stayed under the Storm shark the entire time, the experts had quickly made a hypothesis.

They theorized that the excessive rainfall resulted in the perfect rise in humidity and drop in temperature for the cloud sharks to survive so low to the ground.

In rapid succession, more storm sharks made landfall, and the feeding frenzies multiplied, everyone who moved to lower elevation areas for safety was no longer safe.

It’s been 4 days since the storm sharks began their slow crawl across the continents, but looking at news and social media posts from those who survived has caused me to form a terrifying theory.

Continuous heavy rain from the storm sharks has led to widespread flooding, coastlines are eroding, and places like Australia are just gone.

A rising sea level means everyone has to find higher ground or drown, but higher ground means being in range of the cloud sharks, and in a matter of days, there won't even be a middle ground.

And that's what I've been thinking about from the 20th floor of my apartment.

I’ve been monitoring how close the storm sharks are getting, one is going to reach my town in 3 days.

I peeked through my blinds, I can see them in the distance. What made me jump away from the window was the minivan-sized cloud shark swimming straight for me.