by Jack Heath
Something bubbles to the surface. It’s one of the big fans, floating on its own. A few more bits of the hovercraft bob up — part of the skirt and a chunk of the hull. It must have gotten smashed somehow.
A shadow sweeps past under the water. At first you think more pieces of the hovercraft are coming back up. But no — this is something much bigger.
Whatever it is, the shadow doesn’t stay long. It descends back to the depths.
Several questions rush through your mind at once. Why wasn’t it “safe” for the company to drill in the ocean anymore? Why do these people have tranquilizer rifles? And was that really just a patch of seaweed you saw under the water, before Stacey’s boat limped in to shore?
You swim over to the nearest concrete piling and cling to it, but other than the barnacles, it’s smooth. You can’t climb out of the water.
The shadow reappears, directly beneath you. Details form in the darkness as the shape races for the surface.
Fins. Eyes. Teeth!
You scrabble at the piling, dragging yourself around to the other side of it, away from the rising predator. The creature bursts forth from the ocean, gnashing its tremendous fangs.
You scream. It’s a shark, but not just any shark. It’s huge, with a nose as big as the front of a car and eyes the size of soccer balls. Another fin breaks the surface almost twenty metres away, and it takes you a minute to realize that it’s the tail fin of this same creature.
This must be a new species of giant shark. Or maybe a really old, undiscovered one.
The monster chomps on the piling. It misses you, but comes so close that you feel the rush of air as its jaws sweep past. It sinks back into the depths and disappears, leaving a couple of teeth the size of shovel heads wedged into the concrete.
You stare down into the black ocean, heart racing. You remember reading somewhere that a shark can detect a human pulse from kilometres away. This thought doesn’t make your heart beat any slower.
Stacey’s rope still dangles from the harpoon above, but now that the hovercraft has sunk, it’s out of reach by several metres. You can’t escape that way.
“Help!” you scream. Maybe someone from the platform above will come to your rescue. But the rig above is still and silent.
At any moment the shark will return to bite you in half with those gigantic teeth. No one will ever know what happened to you.
You could swim for the shore. The shark is so big that it probably can’t come into shallow water. But the shore is almost half a kilometre away, and you can’t possibly swim as fast as the shark can.
Maybe you should try to climb onto the floating fan instead. Get out of the water and wait for help.
If you swim for the beach, click here.
If you climb up on the fan, click here.
22:11
“What?” you ask.
Stacey examines the surrounding trees like a wild animal watching for predators.
Leaves rustle. Boughs creak.
“What?” you say again.
“The mercenaries hired to plant the explosives might still be here,” Stacey whispers. “Keep your voice—”
She doesn’t get any further before she is slammed off her feet. A big man swinging on a rope has crashed into her at high speed, and now they’re both soaring away into the jungle like Tarzan and Jane.
You stumble backwards, dropping your board, so shocked you almost fall over too. Through the trees, you see the man let go of the rope. He and Stacey drop to the ground, where another man in camouflage gear grabs Stacey’s wrists so she can’t struggle. The two men drag her into the forest and disappear.
You stare after them, flabbergasted. It all happened so fast. What should you do?
This sudden abduction leads you to believe that Agent Stacey was telling the truth: the bomb is real. With no hope of finding or defusing it yourself, maybe you should continue up to the lookout. There’s bound to be someone with a phone up there. You could call the cops so they can evacuate everyone from the blast radius.
But there might not be time to get everybody out. What if Stacey is the only one who knows where the bomb is and how to defuse it? Maybe you should chase after the two mercenaries and try to help her escape.
If you chase after the men and try to rescue Stacey, click here.
If you run up to the lookout to summon help, click here.
03:03
You wrap your hands around the nearest bough just in time. A wall of hot air slams into you, lifting your feet off the ground.
It’s like being caught in a hurricane on the surface of the sun. The fire sucks the air out of your lungs, scorching your skin and melting your wetsuit.
Just as suddenly, it’s over. The flames vanish, the roaring stops and you flop to the ground like a discarded puppet. The ringing in your ears is disorienting. You wonder if you still have eyebrows.
But you’re not dead. Even though it seems impossible, you survived the explosion.
From where you’re lying, you can see the lights flash at the top of the hill. Blue and red — the cops have reached the lookout. You guess Stacey must have escaped and got the word out. Hopefully her colleagues are arresting the bombers right now.
You clamber up and wait for the world to stop spinning. Then you begin the long hike to the lookout.
00:00
You survived! There are twelve other ways to escape the danger — try to find them all!
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15:39
Harrison chuckles nervously. “OK, you got me. Very funny.”
“I’m serious!” you insist. “You need to call the police so they can tell us how to defuse the bomb. And everyone needs to help with the search. It’s somewhere in the caves near here.”
You look around. No one is sitting around the fire, and you can’t hear anybody talking in the tents. “Hey, where is everyone?” you ask.
“At the lookout,” Harrison says. “Stargazing.”
This seems silly, since it’s not yet dark enough for the stars to be out. But you’re pretty sure the lookout will be outside the blast radius, so your friends are probably safe.
Unfortunately, that means they can’t help you search for the bomb.
“So,” Harrison says. “Can we drop all this nonsense and go join them?”
You expected him to take the threat more seriously. “I’m telling the truth!” you say. “A federal agent warned me that there was a—”
“A federal agent?” Harrison asks, looking suddenly alarmed. “When was this?”
“Just a couple of minutes ago. At the beach.”
“And what did she tell you exactly?”
“She said—”
You stop talking. Because you don’t remember telling Harrison the agent was female. Did he just guess?
And why did he schedule a stargazing expedition so far away from camp, at a time when it’s not even dark enough to see any stars?
“What did she say?” Harrison demands.
Is he taking your story more seriously because the federal authorities are involved? Or does he know something about the bomb, and he’s worried about getting found out?
If you accuse Harrison of knowing about the bomb, click here.
If you trust Harrison and tell him everything you know about Agent Stacey, click here.
07:51
You bolt out of the cave and race back the way you came, desperate to get out of range. Soon you hit the point at which this trail splits off from the main path.
No sign of Harrison. There’s so little time left that he’s probably given up searching for you and is fleeing for his life.
You turn back towards the lookout and run. Prickles stick into the soles of your bare feet. Branches scratch your face, unleashing clouds of excited insects. It’s getting harder to see in the fading light.
You keep running until you reach the big rock. You don’t know how many seconds you have left. Maybe you should take cover and wait for the blast.
/> Then again, you’re not that far from the cave — certainly not a stadium-length away. The explosion might still cook you at this distance. Perhaps you should keep running.
If you take cover behind the big rock, click here.
If you keep running, click here.
02:00
You strike out for the shoreline, leaving the stunned shark behind. The water hisses and bubbles, still hot from the explosion. It’s hard to swim through the foam, but anything is better than facing those gigantic teeth.
Suddenly you can hear voices. Someone is screaming your name.
You blink salt water out of your eyes and look around. The wrecked beach is deserted. Did you imagine it?
No. Someone at the lookout above is waving their arms wildly. It’s hard to tell, but it looks like Neil, one of your friends from surf camp. He survived the explosion!
You can see Pigeon and Shelley behind him. And Harrison. Everyone’s OK!
Now that Neil has your attention, he yells something.
“What?” you shout.
“Shark!” he screams.
The shark must have recovered from the blast. You swim even harder, but you’re already exhausted. The water feels as thick as honey. You wonder how far behind you the shark— CHOMP!
THE END.
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19:56
You run as fast as you can to the camp, leaving your board behind. You can’t believe how suddenly your day has turned into a nightmare. There are mercenaries in the jungle, and they’ve just kidnapped a federal agent in front of your eyes.
Your friends have no idea of the danger they’re in. You need to get them out of the blast radius — or find and disarm the bomb.
Soon you see the towels fluttering on the clothesline and ashes in the firepit beyond. This is the camp. But where are the people?
“Harrison?” you call.
Your voice echoes around the campsite. There’s no answer.
“Pigeon?” you try. “Shelley? Neil?”
No one responds.
A plastic storage box lies at your feet, filled with emergency supplies. Maybe there’s a phone inside — or at least a note explaining where everyone went.
You open the box. There’s a coil of rope, a box of matches and some cans of beans. No note, no phone.
You can’t afford to waste any more time. You’ll have to flee. But maybe you should take some of this gear with you. It could be useful for when you’re escaping the blast zone — or if you see Agent Stacey and have an opportunity to help her.
Do you pick up the rope, or the matches? Make your choice, and click here.
01:01
You fly over the gap, legs kicking, arms flailing. Neil is on the other side, reaching out for you—
But the chasm is widening even as you cross it. Deadly blackness yawns below you, spiked with sharp rocks. The cliffs roar as they collapse, stone grinding on stone.
Your clutching hand misses Neil’s.
“Noooooo!” you scream, as you plunge down into the darkness.
THE END.
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09:21
You reach out for the phone.
Just as you’re about to grab it, Harrison pushes a button. Twin prongs sprout from the end of the phone. It’s not a phone at all. It’s some kind of—
He jabs the device against your upper arm. There’s a crackling sound and your teeth slam together against your will, as though you’re a ventriloquist’s dummy. Your arms and legs lock together and you topple over.
Harrison catches you, just before you hit the ground.
“Shhhhhhh,” he says.
You black out.
When you wake up all your muscles are sore. You’re lying in the dirt. Harrison is gone, clearly happy to abandon you here. He must not think you have enough time to escape from the blast and expose his treachery.
Time to prove him wrong. But how?
Your gaze settles upon the row of tents and the still-smouldering campfire. You might be able to science up an experimental escape vehicle. Perhaps you can heat the air inside one of the tents and float away.
Or maybe that’s insane. Perhaps you should just run.
If you sprint away as fast as you can, click here.
If you try to turn one of the tents into a hot-air balloon, click here.
16:03
You race across the clearing, rip off the camouflage netting and reach for the tape across Stacey’s lips—
But she grabs your hands and stops you.
She’s not tied up. Duct tape is around her wrists, but it’s torn. She’s free. She was only pretending to be bound.
You’re still processing this — and realizing that “Mmmf!” meant “Go away, you’re about to ruin everything” — when she drags you to the ground and pulls the camouflage netting over both of you.
Just in time. The two mercenaries walk into view.
“Did you hear something?” one asks.
“Yeah.” The other mercenary gestures to the netting. “She must be awake.”
“I’ll get the tranquilizer.” The first giant goes over to the metal box and hesitates. “Hey. Did you lock this?”
“No. I left it open for you.”
“Then why is it—”
Stacey doesn’t wait any longer. She leaps up and throws the netting over one of the mercenaries. He whirls around and gets hopelessly tangled in a matter of seconds. He yells, panicked.
The other guy hurls a huge fist at Stacey, but he’s too slow. She ducks under his arm, reaches up and sprays something on his face from an aerosol can.
He blinks, sniffs and falls over like an uprooted tree.
The first guy has managed to fight his way out of the net, but not quickly enough to get away from Agent Stacey. She sprays the same thing on his face. He hits the dirt like a dead rhinoceros.
“Wow,” you say.
“Get up,” Stacey orders. “We have to move.”
“Where are we going?”
Ignoring you, she digs through the pockets of one of the fallen mercenaries until she finds a phone.
“Come on,” she says. “We have to get back to the oil rig.”
One word stands out in that sentence. “ ‘We’?”
Stacey picks up her backpack and puts it on. “Right. I can’t operate the hovercraft by myself.”
“Hovercraft?!”
Click here.
04:59
You push off the piling and swim freestyle to the beach. Your stroke is long and powerful, but you wince at every splash. Surely the shark can hear you flailing desperately against the water.
Then again, maybe it’s given up. It might have lost so many teeth biting that concrete that it’s decided to go home to wherever it is that giant sharks live. Or maybe it spotted bigger prey and decided to eat that instead.
It is hard to resist the urge to peer down into the dark water, looking for signs of the shark beneath you.
It’s like walking a tightrope. Focus on going in a straight line, you tell yourself. Don’t look down.
You can’t work out how far you’ve travelled. The oil platform is a long way behind you, but the shore doesn’t look any closer. The surf gets rougher as you swim through shallower waters.
Suddenly the water seems thicker. The current is turning against you, pulling you back towards the oil rig. A big wave must be building behind you. Maybe you can ride it all the way to shore.
You turn to look at the wave, trying to judge where it will break—
And then you see something through the curtain of shimmering water. A giant ring of teeth.
The shark is inside the wave, rushing right for you, with its mouth open.
You paddle desperately, trying to get out of the way. The wave looms taller and taller, foaming at the top as it gets closer. You can see the shark’s emotionless eyes behind the murky water, zooming in on you. A scarred fin breaks through the surface.
&
nbsp; You cover your head with your arms as the wave crashes down on top of you—
THE END.
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03:51
The box of matches is still tucked under the sleeve of your wetsuit. You rip it out, shake a match loose and strike it, hoping that they didn’t get wet when you jumped into the waist-deep water.
They didn’t. The match fizzes as a bright flame flares to life. You hold it in front of you like an Olympic baton.
The croc slows down. It’s impossible to tell what’s happening inside its ruthless reptilian brain. Perhaps it’s afraid of the fire. Or maybe it’s just confused because its prey isn’t trying to escape.
Either way, you’re not safe for long. The croc has you cornered, and the bomb could go off at any minute.
The crocodile creeps forward, claws unfurling.
The match flickers and dies.
You strike another one. Hiss. But the croc doesn’t back off. Its tail swooshes from side to side.
You flick the match straight into the crocodile’s eye.
Direct hit! But your elation evaporates when the croc doesn’t flinch. Its jaws pop open and it leaps at you—
CHOMP!
THE END.
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03:04
“Leave him,” you shout, and clamber over the rail.
“What?!” Pigeon yells.
“There’s no time.” You start climbing down the cliffs. The rocks are slippery, worn away by millennia of ocean gales. Neil climbs over the rail after you.
“I’m going back for Harrison!” Pigeon sprints back down towards the fire.