by Watts, Russ
“Stop here, Weir.”
I took the pack from Ava and let her keep the gun. I pulled out another one and tucked it into my pants. Then I pulled out three grenades and threw the pack away.
“Hmm. Where did you get those?” asked Ava, the look of surprise on her face almost bringing a smile to my face.
“Your brother, believe it or not. Mckade ordered him to blow the yacht up. This must be how they were going to do it. I can think of a better way of using them, can’t you?”
Ava reached up and kissed me, her warm soft lips pressing on mine. If it was my last kiss on Earth I couldn’t have asked for anything better. Ava murmured quietly as she let me go.
“Why here?”
“It’s the only spot I could think of that gives us a chance.” I pointed over to the right, to an open expanse of water. “That’s where my apartment used to be. There’s a thousand tons of rubble right below the surface. No way can the shark get past it. All around us actually. The Stamford collapsed a while ago. You might think we’re a sitting duck out here, but don’t let the water fool you. These streets are congested and narrow, and there’s no way it can get to us. The only way is from the west. Right there.”
I saw a sight then that I didn’t think I would see again. The uppermost tip of one of the spires of St. Patrick’s Cathedral. There were only a few feet visible, but I knew what it meant. I was home again, hearing the buzz of the people below my apartment and the sirens at night. I missed New York.
“What is it?” Ava checked her gun and mine, and I handed her one of the grenades.
“St. Patrick’s. Half of it is still standing, I think. When she comes for us, that’s where she’ll come from. It’s the only way through. We’ll see her coming and when she does…” I looked at the two grenades in my hand. “Boom.”
Ava smirked. “Hope you’re right, monkey. I truly do. If you—”
I grabbed Ava. “Later. It’s here.”
The water in the west was rising, pushed up by an invisible force. I knew what it was. The Megalodon was coming for us.
“Already? Sheesh.” Ava steadied her feet and pointed the gun at the water, close to where the spire was sticking up out of the water. “Luke, I’m not sure about this. What if we’re too slow? What if it’s too fast? What if..?”
“I know, Ava, I know. If we miss there is no second chance or time to do anything else. We can’t afford to mess this up. Just be sure with your aim and ready to go.” I blinked away the doubt in my mind. “This will work, Ava. Just be ready. When you see it, unload everything you have. We’ve got one shot at this.”
There was only a few feet between where we stood and the open water. If we missed, or if the shark was quicker than our bullets, then it would take us first. If I was wrong, then it would eat me and Ava first, and the rest of the boat just for the sake of it. I shoved the two grenades into my pockets and raised the gun. The fin was visible now, steadily rising up above the water. I estimated that the monster was directly above 5th Avenue. Its huge head began to rise up out of the water as it approached, unable to stay submerged in the shallow city streets. It revealed its teeth as it reached the cathedral and then suddenly everything happened fast. The shark was close enough to smell and its head was almost completely above the waterline. I looked into its jet black eyes, scared that I had misjudged it. The thing was huge and the cathedral did nothing to slow it down. I had hoped it might impale itself on the spires, but it simply crushed the cathedral as it swam toward us. As it got closer and closer, I noticed a long scar above its left eye. Someone had tried before, tried and failed to kill it. The thought that we might do the same crossed my mind, but there was no going back. There was no way Weir could move us out of its path now. It was time.
Both Ava and I instinctively knew this was our chance, and together we started shooting. The gun felt heavy in my hands and as I unloaded the bullets into the approaching beast I felt alive. I felt every single bullet rip into the shark’s skin. I imagined the pain it felt as one of its eyes burst. The black eye simply exploded as Ava let leash a hail of bullets, and I heard her scream a yelp of delight as the eye was destroyed. The shark didn’t slow down though. When our guns clicked empty we looked at each other and I frantically pulled the grenades from my pockets. I nodded at Ava.
We pulled the pins. The shark’s gaping jaws opened wide and I felt my bladder weaken as it bore down on us. I could see right down its bloody throat, past the shiny white teeth into its belly. It extended its jaws so wide it could almost eat our boat whole.
“Now”! I yelled, and I threw the grenades as hard and as far as I could.
Ava let hers fly after mine, and when all three were airborne I grabbed her and pulled her down to the deck. I felt the boat tremble as the shark neared us, its head casting a shadow over us as I cradled Ava on the deck of the boat. The rippled explosions came barely seconds later.
EPILOGUE
Miles and miles of ocean. That’s it. That’s all there is now. I’m so sick of looking across endless stretches of water and having none to drink. It’s been two days. The longest two days of my life. I can barely function anymore: no food, no water, and no hope. It all happened so quickly. It was over quickly, at least. Well, for most. Floating out here on what is left of the Bella, I keep going over in my mind where it went wrong. Leaving our apartment was the start of it. We should’ve stayed and gone down with old Mr. Johnson. It would’ve been over faster and been less painful. I wouldn’t have had to watch the people I care about die.
I think about death a lot now. There’s not much else to do out here. Baking sun and salty water that I can’t drink; left with my own memories. Death would be one option. Sometimes it’s a very appealing one too. But do I want to jump into the ocean and exhale? Fuck that. I’m going to make it. I’m not giving up.
The grenades caught the Megalodon, enough to give it one hell of a fright. We got her big-time. Blinded her at least and added a few more scars to her head. But it wasn’t enough. The grenades fell short. They exploded in front of the shark, not in its jaws as I had hoped. We blew our chances when we blew off the side of its face, and from that point on it was over. I saw it coming. Standing up there on the deck with Ava there was nothing else we could do. I remember watching it bear down on us, its jaws just opening wider and wider, knowing that we were going down. I’d let Ava down. I’d let my sister and niece down, and everyone else on board the Bella that day.
When the shark struck the bow I thought it would swallow us whole. I swear those teeth were going to sink right into the deck and bite the yacht in half. It seemed to turn slightly at the last moment, which meant it sheared off one side of the boat. I’m not sure why. Maybe the explosion threw it off its game, or maybe it just changed its mind and decided it would have a little fun with us first. The result was catastrophic. The boat caved in and I was thrown into the air along with Ava. I heard screams and panic, screams that still reverberate around my head now. Sleeping doesn’t come easy any longer.
The sound of the boat being mangled by the shark was louder even than the grenades. Metal and wood, fiberglass and aluminum, flesh and tissue: all were torn apart in a frenzy as the shark tore through the boat. I remember hitting the water and Ava’s hands being pulled from mine. We were pressed right up against the shark, unable to control where we were thrown as the shark ripped open the boat’s hull. It was like being in an underwater hurricane. I was repeatedly slammed into the side of the monster as I desperately tried to hold my breath. I tried to kick and pull myself toward Ava, but it was useless; like trying to swim against the strongest riptide you’ve ever experienced. I saw Ava pulled inexorably toward the monster’s jaws. It had a force all of its own, and she screamed for me even as she was sucked toward its jagged teeth. Her blue eyes locked onto mine and when she slipped inside the jaws of death I felt my heart explode. I tried to use the shark to get to her, digging my fingernails into its skin to claw myself along its body until I could reach her, but it was
impossible.
Ava disappeared from my vision as I was swirled around and around. I heard the sound of something snapping and when I managed to dig my hands into the shark’s body, I saw its huge teeth crunching through the deck, the fallen masonry and anything that got in the shark’s way. As I clung to the side of the monster I saw Pippa. She floated gently past me, not moving, one of her arms wrenched free from its socket, blood spewing out into the water. Her lifeless eyes swept past mine and then her body was propelled into the Megalodon’s mouth. Her body was snapped in half. The monster’s teeth ripped her apart like a rag doll, and her decimated body was the last thing I saw of my sister before the shark swallowed her.
Suddenly, I was thrust upward. The churning water forced me to lose my grip on the shark and I found myself emerging into the sunlight with pieces of the Bella all around me. There was no boat left. There was just a mountain of detritus and the shark swimming around it, determined to finish the job and pick us off one by one.
“Luke!” I heard a voice and frantically began swimming toward it.
“Luke?”
“Chelsea? Hold on.” Her voice was close, but so was the shark. I saw its fin disappear beneath the surface and I swam harder, fighting back the tears as I remembered Pippa and Ava. I pushed aside garbage and a metal box, and then I saw her. Chelsea was lying prostrate on a piece of wood, her arms hanging limply in the water. “I’m coming, Chelsea.” When I called to her she looked up, a bloody wound running down one side of her face.
“Luke, where’s mom? I can’t find her?” she sobbed.
“I’m coming, just hold on,” I said, unable to answer her question. The city was silhouetted behind her, giant buildings reduced to shadows of their former selves. Up out of the water rose the shark and I screamed. “Chelsea!”
It rose behind her almost silently, opening its cavernous mouth to reveal a set of teeth that I knew could tear through anything. Chelsea turned when its shadow fell over her, and she screamed my name as it bore down on her. I saw her try to push herself off the piece of wood and begin swimming away from it, but the shark was too fast. Its jaws closed right around her and I heard a muffled scream from within its mouth before the shark devoured my niece and dove beneath the water.
“No!” I punched the water in frustration. “No, no, no.” I hauled myself up onto an upturned wooden table and turned onto my back, the tears flowing freely from my eyes. I gasped for air, my hands idling in the water, blood and oil that surrounded me. The water lapped at me gently, and it was strangely silent. I lay there for a minute, waiting for the shark to reappear. I waited but nothing came for me, and I began to call out for help. I called for Weir and Estelle, but there was no answer. I called for anyone. I shouted until my throat was sore and my voice fading, but there was no answer. I think it was almost an hour before I saw their bodies. I was still on the upturned table, my mind numb, unable to comprehend what had happened, when I saw Weir. I wasn’t looking for anything in particular, but when I saw the body in the water something clicked inside me. It was a few feet away and I watched him float closer. I slowly recognized Weir, at least what was left of him. His eyes were closed and he almost looked peaceful. His legs were gone and his torso was ripped to shreds. I let him go past me, drifting south toward the bay and wherever the current carried him. A few minutes later and Estelle followed him. Her body was a bloody mess, held together by a few nerves and veins, her flesh already soft and half eaten. Her body twitched, almost as if she was alive, as something underneath her nibbled at her rotting body. I was alone. I had been left alone. They were all dead.
“Why? Why me?” I slapped the calm water. I was angry and grief poured from my eyes once more as I began to punch the water. “Come on, you bitch. Take me. Come on, what are you waiting for? Scared? Come and take me.” I remembered how Ava had pleaded with me right before she had died. The pain was unbearable. I wanted to be with her. I wanted to die and see her again. Her dying screams were all I could hear as I continued to slap my fists into the water. “Take me. Take me!”
The fin appeared first, swiftly followed by the Megalodon. It came at me from the west. I felt the water rising and then saw it. We’d done a good job in deforming it. One eye was gone and half of its head was a charred mess. The flesh was burnt and twisted, and when it finally came for me I stopped crying. I saw its huge jaws open up and then I closed my eyes. I smiled. It had won. I couldn’t deny that. But I was going to see Ava again, and I felt a calm sense of relief wash over me as the shark neared. I wanted to hold her hand, to kiss those soft lips and look into those crystal blue eyes once more, to tell her how much she meant to me. I heard the shark’s jaws snap shut and the huge beast slammed into me.
That was two days ago.
The Bella is my home now. All I have left is a single piece of wood that I cling to, until I don’t have the energy anymore. It’s not much of a life, but it is a life, and I’ll take that any day of the week. I have to hope that someone, somewhere, is going to find me. I have a day left in me, and then I’m done. The shark, of course, never did eat me. I’ll probably never know why. Maybe it just enjoys torturing me. Maybe fate intervened. All I know is that I woke up with a pounding headache several hours later to find myself drifting away from the city. The Megalodon was gone and so was the Bella. I was lying on a piece of wood that looked like it was part of the deck. I coughed up cold salty water from my lungs and watched New York fade away into the gloom of evening. I was still alive, yet I took no satisfaction in it. The Megalodon had taken everything I loved away from me and not even given me the decency to kill me too.
At least that’s what I thought. By a miracle I floated past the wing of one of the upturned planes where I spotted a red hat in the water. I reached for it, but it was too far away. As I drifted closer I saw a body lying on the wing. A figure spread-eagled on the metal wing as if sunbathing. I summoned up my last reserves of energy and pulled myself to the wing, grabbing it with both hands. Ava said nothing as I pulled her to me. I grabbed one of her arms and her body slid down the wing effortlessly. I hauled her onto the wood I was marooned on and then the current took us. I tried to coax her back to life, to get her to say something, but I couldn’t wake her.
I had no control over the current or where the ocean took us, so I let us drift. The city eventually disappeared and at some point I must have fallen asleep. When I woke the next morning the mainland was gone.
We’ve been drifting for too long and I have no idea where we are or what direction we’re headed now. All I can see is the ocean. The Atlantic is a foreboding place, an endless world of blue and black. There is no land, no boats, nothing; I’d hitch a ride with a turtle if I could get us back to a boat. I don’t want to let the Megalodon win. I don’t want to give up. I want to fight back. I’ve had a long time on my own to think about it, and I want to find someone with the guts to take these things on. When they do, I’m going to be right there. I want to see one of these things die. I want to sit astride its dead carcass and laugh. I need to, for Pippa and Chelsea, and all the others these things have killed. This is about more than mere survival now. This is personal.
I still haven’t coaxed Ava back to consciousness. I try to shield her from the sun, but I have nothing to shade her with except my own shirt. I guess she’s in a coma. There’s nothing I can do for her except make sure she doesn’t fall off this piece of wood and drown. I keep checking for a pulse and it’s still there. Faint, but there. I wish she would wake up. I wish I could talk to her and hear the sound of something other than my own thoughts.
The world is a big place. There are others out there, other people who need help, and other Megalodons who will seek out and destroy every living creature on the planet. I can’t let them. I can’t stop. I’m going to find a way, but I need an arsenal.
The sky is blue and I’m starving. My lips are cracked and dry, and I’m quite sure that the cuts up and down my body are infected. But I’m not giving up.
“What?”
The sound of my own voice is startling. “What was that?”
I raise my head and look to the south. Had I imagined it, or was there something there? I use my wrinkled hands to shield my weak eyes from the overhead sun and peer closely at the horizon. There it is.
“Uncle Luke, looks like you got lucky,” I said. My voice is feeble and shouting is going to be nigh on impossible. I have to get their attention somehow, but I have nothing with me, just the clothes on my body and a will to survive.
“Ava?” I prop her head up. “Ava? What is it?”
Of course, she doesn’t answer me. Her head falls limply back onto the wood and I slap the water in frustration.
The boat is distant, but large. I can tell from here that it’s not drifting aimlessly either. It has power. There’s a hazy gray smoke rising above it. The boat is headed north and if I can make it, I might just be able to hitch that ride I was looking for.
“Hey, over here!” I yell. The effort was almost too much. I have to wait until it’s closer, close enough that someone might hear my cries.
I wait and watch the boat get closer, and as I do so, there’s something else. I notice movement a little way behind it. Finally, I can make out that it’s a triangular shape and although very large, it’s smaller than the boat. It’s a fin.
I let a smile creep across my cracked lips. “I knew you’d come back,” I said. Blind or not, she wasn’t going to give up. The shark would never give up. But, neither will I.
“Over here,” I whisper. “Just a little closer. Come to Uncle Luke.”
I’m going to turn the tables on these prehistoric sharks and hunt every last one of them down. I’m going to get Ava and me on that boat. This isn’t the end for us.
This is the beginning.
THE END
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