Megalodon Riptide

by Watts, Russ

  “Douglas, who are they?” asked Jonah again. “Where are they? They can’t have the whole coastline covered.”

  “Feels like it. They have outposts everywhere. We just came from Wilmington. We used to trade for a little diesel there.”

  The cabin door swung shut and I saw Ava emerge with something tucked in paper under her arm. She smiled when she saw me, then headed right over to Gills and passed him the parcel.

  “So, you know Kath?” Gills tossed the food parcel over to Douglas. The boats were only a few feet apart. Douglas took it and held onto it tightly.

  “Sure. Who doesn’t around these parts?”

  “Who are they, Douglas?” asked Jonah with growing animosity.

  I sensed Jonah’s impatience, but the more I saw of the thin couple on the Bella, the more I felt sorry for them. They appeared to have gone through some sort of ordeal. They didn’t have much fat on their bones, and their yacht was in a bad way. Douglas and Honey obviously cared a lot for each other and had even risked coming to warn us off. Whatever awaited us down south was trouble.

  “I don’t know their names, just the leader. They’re led by a man named Mckade. If you’ve been south of here you must have heard of him,” said Douglas. “We’ve been around Grand Bahama the last few months and came to get more diesel. It’s changed. Things have changed a lot. Mckade has taken over. You know him?”

  “I do,” confirmed Jonah. “He’s trouble with a capital T, and you can take that to the bank.”

  Ava suddenly became animated. “Did you hear about a boy with him? Lance? Fair hair, about my height?”

  Douglas shook his head. “No. He’s got a lot of men, but I don’t remember anyone by that name.”

  “What about Kath?” asked Gills once again.

  Douglas and Honey looked at each other silently.

  “We knew her,” sniffed Honey. “But now… I’m not so sure… there was so much blood—”

  As Honey broke down again, Ava staggered back repeating her brother’s name over and over.

  “Go,” said Jonah. “Go north, Douglas, and take your wife some place quiet. Stay safe.”

  Gills raced down to the wheelhouse with Jonah at his side. I followed them, eager to know what the plan was.

  “Are we following them?” I asked as Jonah started the engine up.

  “No,” he said firmly. “We’re going south.”

  Facing the Bella, I saw the gap between the two of the boats grow. Douglas and Honey moved toward the grab rail, and Douglas signaled me over. I left and made my way over to the side of the hull.

  “There’s something else, something you need to know,” said Douglas.

  Ava ran past me toward the cabin and as the engine strained, the gap between me and Douglas suddenly widened. I wanted to go with Ava, to make sure she was all right, but I had to know what waited for us. I had to hear Douglas and I raced to the edge of the boat.

  “Have you seen them?” he asked. “You can’t have or you’d know. You’d know not to go south.”

  Our boat pulled away and Douglas looked downcast.

  “Seen who? Mckade?” I shook my head, confused.

  Douglas headed toward his own cabin, where Honey stood in the doorway waiting for him.

  “No, I meant the monsters. The ones that eat the sharks. The Megalodons.”

  CHAPTER 8

  “Didn’t you hear them? They said we should head north.” I couldn’t understand what Jonah was thinking. Why sail into a storm when you had the option of bypassing it? “Look at them. You can see that they’re not lying.”

  Douglas and Honey had retreated into their yacht. I stood in the open doorway of the wheelhouse. The Tukino was moving now, gaining speed and causing the swell to splash over the side of the boat. Droplets of salt water hit my face. I had no idea what a Megalodon was, but I figured it wasn’t good. If they were south of here along with this Mckade, then it made no sense to me to go in that direction.

  “I know,” replied Jonah. “They’re telling the truth. There are a few decent people left in this world, Luke, and those two deserve a chance. So does Kath. We’re going south.”

  I looked across at the Bella. It was already far away from us. The smiling cat painted on the hull had probably looked cute once, but now its salacious grin just reminded me of how dangerous the ocean was. It seemed that pirates were real after all. We had been lucky that Douglas and Honey had turned out to be friendly. This Mckade sounded anything but, and despite Jonah’s affections or responsibility toward Kath, I couldn’t see why we would willingly head into danger.

  “There must be a better way,” I said. “Perhaps we can send a scout ahead or gather some more information about this Mckade? You’re not really going to—”

  “Back off,” said Weir as he put a hand on my chest, shoving me back. “We’ve got work to do. Run along, grease-monkey.”

  “Watch it, Weir, I was talking to Jonah.” I met Weir’s fierce gaze, refusing to back down. He might have superiority over me in terms of being a crew member, but we were all in this together. I had pussy-footed around him long enough. He was a bully, plain and simple. We didn’t have to like each other, but we did have to get on and ensure the safety of everyone onboard.

  Weir curled up the corner of his mouth and narrowed his eyes. “You don’t like it, go for a swim.”

  Ignoring Weir’s veiled threat, I knew I had to try and make Jonah understand. “Douglas said something else. He told me about monsters that—”

  “You’ve got five seconds, then you’re going down Jacob’s Ladder. I think you’ll find it’s a long swim to the mainland from here.”

  Exasperated, I looked at Gills for support but the look in his eyes told me otherwise. Jonah said nothing, concentrating on navigating the boat. I could see that continuing to argue with Weir would get me nowhere. He wasn’t going to back down or entertain having a serious discussion with me. This was a fight I was going to have to save for another day.

  “Later. I’m going to check on my family.”

  I heard Weir chuckle as I turned my back on him. He was stubborn and his voice carried a lot of weight with Jonah. I could see they had made their minds up. How far were we going to get? How far could we get? Jonah had told me they were running low on diesel. Perhaps we had no choice but to try and trade. Jonah wouldn’t knowingly put us all in jeopardy, I was sure of that. Weir, on the other hand, had his own agenda. And seeing me thrown off the boat seemed to be part of it.

  With the cool morning breeze behind me, I headed for the steps leading down to the bunks. I bumped into Manny on his way out and we squeezed past each other on the narrow staircase.

  “Hey, man, Pippa and Chelsea are down there. Chelsea’s pretty sick. What’s the deal? We heading south?”

  “Something like that. I need to talk to Pippa. There could be trouble ahead.”

  Manny looked at me and nodded his head as if he knew everything. “Okay. I’ll go help. You take care of yours. We’ll be okay.”

  Manny departed upstairs and I heard him offering Jonah his assistance as I continued down. He was a good friend, always positive and ready to help. I was grateful he was around. It was nice to have someone on my side. It was beginning to feel like we were in the way, and after Weir’s threats I needed to know I wasn’t on my own.

  Before I headed on down to the bunk rooms I noticed that Ava was sat in the galley with a gun on her lap. She faced the wall, seemingly staring into space, and gave me the merest glance as I approached her. I wanted to go into the sleeping quarters and check on Pippa and Chelsea, but first I needed to know that Ava was all right. Something had upset her and none of the others seemed unduly concerned. I sat down quietly beside her, keeping one eye on the gun in her hands.

  “Are you okay, Ava? What was that about?”

  She didn’t answer so I reached across and opened the blind, the roller springing up to reveal the ocean beyond the window. Spray lashed against the glass as the wind hurled the ocean’s waves
against our trawler. The weather seemed to be deteriorating along with my mood. Ava tugged her red hat down over her ears.

  “Lance is with Mckade. He left me a while back and I haven’t seen or heard from him since. I wasn’t sure I would ever get the chance to talk to him again.”

  “You know much about this Mckade character?” I asked. “Why did Lance leave you to join him?”

  Ava shook her head and looked down at the gun in her lap. I wished I could see her eyes, look her in the face, but she kept her back to me.

  “I asked myself the same question every night for months after he left. We used to be close. We were close until the accident. After mom and dad passed, he kind of freaked out a bit. He didn’t take to being told what to do very well, and Jonah was more patient with him than I was. But when Mckade came along I guess he saw an opportunity to break free.”

  “How did you come across Mckade? From what Douglas and Honey told me they had a narrow escape. You saw the state of their yacht. Did Mckade try anything with you?”

  “Yeah.” Ava sighed. “It feels like a long time ago now. Jonah knew of a good spot to fish where Brunswick used to be, down in Georgia. Mckade was fishing there too when we arrived. He had one of those superyachts. We caught him with his guard down, which is the only reason we managed to get away. Lance was impressed by Mckade. He had a way with words. I mean, his operation was small-scale back then but he knew what he was doing, what he was building. It sounds like he’s moving up in the world. If he’s taken control of Kath’s diesel trading post then we’ve got problems.”

  “He’s not the sort of man who gives you a fair deal, I suspect.”

  “No way. When we met him we thought we might be able to trade information at least, but he just wanted our gear. He bragged about how he had destroyed a marina only a few weeks previously and taken everything. He’s a small man with big ideas. Lance fell for it hook, line and sinker. Jonah refused of course, wouldn’t give him anything, but when it came down to it, he had the upper hand. That was the first time we had to get our guns out and since then we haven’t greeted anyone without them. I hate him for that. I hate him for stealing Lance away from me. If I’d had more time, if only I’d said or done something… Mckade is trouble but I want to find Lance. I want to know that he’s okay.” Ava’s head dropped further. “There was blood on Honey’s shirt.”

  I remembered the stain. Honey had said something about blood too when Gills had asked her about Kath. I put my hand on Ava’s back and rubbed it gently. She sniffed and when she turned to face me I saw tears forming in her eyes.

  “Talk to Jonah. He’s fair. I’ve known him a few years and I’ve never known him to be unreasonable,” I said. “He must understand.”

  “True, he is, but he’s also got Weir in his ear. That guy has it in for me.”

  “You too? He didn’t warm to you over time? Jonah told me you were part of the crew.”

  “Not in Weir’s eyes. You haven’t heard him snipe at me. He thinks he runs this boat. He hated Lance, too. My brother was difficult to get along with, I’ll be the first to admit it, but Weir didn’t help. When Mckade offered him the chance to leave he took it gladly. I think he wanted to get away from Weir as much as anything else.” Ava lowered her head and rested it on my shoulder. “Sometimes I think I should’ve stayed with him, gone with Mckade so I could at least keep an eye on my brother. I don’t know. It wasn’t easy after we lost our parents. If Jonah hadn’t come along when he did, then… everything’s just so hard. I wish things could go back to how they were.”

  A lock of Ava’s hair brushed my face and I put my arm around her. She had been shaken hearing about her brother, and after the way Weir had reacted with me I could understand her worry. If we did find her brother then would he want to come back? How would we convince him to rejoin the Tukino and his sister with Weir still around? I felt my shoulder getting wet and knew Ava was crying. She was trying not to show it so I just held her and said nothing. There was little I could do to help and offering up platitudes and reassurances about how everything would be fine would only ring hollow. I hated lying and wasn’t about to start with Ava.

  The boat felt like it was going at full speed. More waves kept crashing against the hull and I wondered how long it would take us to reach Kath and the trading post she had set up. A few days ago, I had been safely cocooned in my apartment with Pippa and Chelsea, completely unaware of how the world was. I was oblivious to what was happening outside of our own four walls. In a way I was glad things had changed. We couldn’t have survived much longer living like that. Out here on the open water at least I felt like we had options, a possibility of something different than just surviving.

  Ava stirred and looked up at me. She sat upright and wiped her face. The soft tears had gone and she offered me a half-smile.

  “Sorry, I don’t normally get all melancholy like that.”

  I shrugged, looking at her blue eyes. Against a backdrop of gray sky littered with dark clouds they sparkled like diamonds.

  “No drama. We’ll work it out. Jonah is set on finding Kath so at least you’ll know soon enough what’s happened.”

  I heard footsteps descending the stairs behind me, and Gills marched in, bringing with him a blast of cold air. He looked at us and I was all too aware that I had my arm around Ava. To his credit, Gills said nothing.

  “Ava, you good? Jonah wants you out on deck to help.”

  “Sure, of course.”

  Gills frowned. “Why don’t you take a moment? It’ll be a while before we get to Kath.”

  I think he could see she was upset and I was grateful that Jonah had sent Gills to fetch her rather than Weir. “Hey, Gills, can I ask you something?”

  “What’s up?” Gills scratched at the stubble on his chin.

  “Douglas said something to me before we parted. Something about a mega… a Megalodon. You know what he was talking about?”

  Gills looked shocked and then laughed. “I think he and Honey have a vivid imagination. There’s no such thing.”

  “That’s not strictly true,” said Ava. “There used to be, right? Didn’t Weir say..?”

  Gills put one foot on the lowest step and sighed. “Ava, forget what Weir said. The Megalodons were wiped out. They’re a myth. Get yourself together and get out on deck. And put the gun away. You won’t need that, not yet anyways. I’ll tell Jonah you need a minute.”

  As Gills left us alone I looked at Ava. “You know what they are?”

  “I know what I’ve been told. They’re like a prehistoric shark. They don’t exist anymore, which is good news for us.”

  “Why?” I asked, intrigued. “Douglas warned me about them. He said they were monsters. I didn’t get a chance to ask him anymore.”

  “Well they’re way bigger than a regular shark. That dead twenty-footer that we ran into earlier? A Megalodon is three or four times the size. They’ll eat other sharks, boats, pretty much anything. An animal like that is not something you want to come across. Can you imagine if the Tukino hit one of those? It could be bigger than this boat. The mouth on that thing could swallow us whole.”

  “That’s a lot of teeth,” I said quietly. Old Mr. Johnson reappeared in my head, disappearing into the jaws of a huge shark. Had that been a Megalodon? Could they have somehow resurfaced now that the land was succumbing to the oceans? Had they not really been extinct but just dormant, hidden in the icy depths of the deep trenches that covered the darkest places of the ocean’s floor?

  Ava nodded. “Sure is, Luke.” She got up and put the gun back in a cupboard. Then she took it back out and tucked it under her jersey, sitting back down beside me a little closer than before. “Just in case.” She continued to look at me and I felt like there was a question coming, as if she was plucking up the courage to ask me something important.

  “What was New York like? Before all this.” Ava opened her arms, indicating the ocean outside. “Forget about ancient sharks. Tell me what the real world was like.”


  I smiled. “You would’ve liked it. It was so full of life. You could do anything there, anything you wanted to.”

  “And I bet you took full advantage, right?” Ava dropped her arms and one of her hands came to rest on my leg. “Chelsea told me you helped bring her up but you never married. I can imagine you running around the bars and clubs. I wish I’d had a chance to visit them, but I never got far from home. New York was always a dream to me. Now it’s just a creepy place, like so many cities I see. Clogged with dead bodies and completely lifeless.”

  I couldn’t take my eyes off Ava. The blonde hair enveloping her face looked so soft, and her damp eyes sparkled when I looked into them. “It feels like a dream to me now. I can remember what it was like but it doesn’t feel real. Everything now is submerged. I mean, you can still see the tops of buildings and a few landmarks are still visible. But the city, the streets and the bars, the cabs and malls, the people who made it what it was are all gone.”

  Ava’s smile faded and I realized we were both sinking into melancholy. I needed to snap us out of it and try to make the atmosphere more positive. I wanted to see Ava smile again. I racked my brains and then it came to me.

  “Want to hear a joke?” I asked.

  Ava looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “A joke?” She raised her hands defensively. “That’s a lot of pressure. If it’s not funny you’re going to look like an ass.”

  I cleared my throat. “What did the Pacific Ocean say to the Atlantic Ocean?”

  Ava looked at me with a curious expression on her face, but at least I could see her smile returning. “I give up.”

  “Nothing,” I said, “it just waved.”

  I was relieved when Ava chuckled. She raised one hand to her face and hid her mouth but I definitely heard her laugh. Even over the barrage of waves hitting the boat I could hear her.

  “Okay, I know, not the best joke in the world. But if nothing else I like to be topical.”

  “Topical? You can get that from Christmas crackers?”