For the rest of the day, everyone went about their business, nobody really talking. Will found Ellen in the main hall at one point, and she tried to hide her unhappiness with their situation when she and Will talked, but he could sense it. He hated to see his sister like that.
It was around three in the afternoon when the sedative wore off, which was much sooner than it should have. They all knew it when James alerted them to the sharks’ mad circling behavior they always had when the zombie dust wore off, and Sir Mallory gave the order to sedate them again at Will’s father’s insistence.
But it was too late. The Megalodons started slamming into the back cave wall again, according to the monitors, and everything shook and trembled.
Mallory madly barked into his walkie-talkie to the green-suited men, and Will heard their replies. “Not working…they built up tolerance…main defensive action…” was all he caught. He’d thought the zombie dust was supposed to kill them if they had too much, not that they could possibly build a tolerance. That gnawing pit of worry in his gut came up once more as the Megalodons smashed into the wall again and again, harder each time. All through the main hall, dishware and décor smashed to the marble floor, with shattering sounds that further gave Will’s anxiety and feeling of foreboding a hard boost.
Everyone gathered in the main hall, except for the techies and the green-suited men. Don Mack wrung his hands as though they were cold, although the compound was warm as could be. He looked nervous. His father and Ellen were close to the fireplace, and Ellen looked terrified. Lady Katherine sat in her chair, and to Will, she seemed as detached as ever.
Will tried to hear more of the walkie-talkie exchange between Sir Mallory and the green-suited men, but Sir Mallory had gone far from the others and spoke in hushed tones. The messages back were so full of static that Will made out nothing but the panicked tones of their voices.
Trepidation and tension filled the hall each time the sharks hammered the cave wall. The very foundation of the compound might crack under this stress, Will thought. Even as the idea crossed his mind, he ran to the techies’ room and watched on the monitors as the Megalodons slammed the back cave wall more and more frantically. They looked bigger than usual on the screens, but then suddenly, they stopped and swam to the front of the enclosure by the steel bars…as though waiting for something…
Then all hell broke loose.
And Will saw the beginnings of it onscreen.
The back wall of the giant cave enclosure, which was supposed to have been full of steel bars, burst into pieces. Chunks of solid rock and steel flew through the air, and one knocked out a camera. Something was coming through that back wall, breaking through with impossible strength, and it was big…bigger than the two Megalodons.
The compound shuddered like its walls, too, might crumble from the impact. Will heard screams, but kept his eyes and mind focused on the monitors. He heard Ellen and his dad calling out for him.
As the dust cleared from the broken enclosure’s inner wall, Will made out a gigantic, long white fin, much bigger than the Megalodons’ fins, rising out of the enclosure water and nearly scraping the ceiling.
“Jesus,” James hissed. “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus Christ! It’s another one, and it’s fucking huge!”
There was still too much dust in the air and murk in the water to make out what lie beneath the surface, but Will knew James was right. Will’s hands shook and sweated.
The fin rested in the back, middle of the enclosure, and two smaller white dorsal fins hovered on either side of it, facing the open air blocked by steel bars. If that new Megalodon could smash through the cave wall, Will had no doubt that it could get through those bars with enough effort.
Just then, the trio of prehistoric gargantuan predator sharks made a rush at the steel bars, the big one in front.
The monitors went black just as the wall between the compound and the enclosure burst into pieces. An enormous, white fin slashed through the wall, going so fast and wreaking so much havoc that Will couldn’t process it. One of the crewmen’s head got chopped clear in half by the thing, blood spurting from his neck as his headless body fell. His head flew off, unseen by Will ever again.
The fin ripped the eastern side of the compound to pieces and everything began falling apart. Will had spun around from the tech room in time to see it all. God, it was huge. And the crewman…oh, God.
Will realized he was on the floor. Had he fallen, or had the impact knocked him off his feet? He wasn’t sure, couldn’t remember. It was all happening so fast.
The fin sliced clear through, and the front of the compound, which had no outer door, fell to pieces as the new Megalodon rammed against the steel bars over and over, its white fin moving back and forth in the compound’s main hall with each effort, further breaking down the foundation of their haven.
Freezing air hit Will in the face, and the blizzard, which they’d been safe and warm from, now took over everything inside. More screams as the giant Megalodon’s fin sliced through the front of the compound with an especially forceful push at the steel bars, and Will knew it had escaped, taking the other two with it.
“Out!” yelled Don Mack. “We all gotta get out!”
Will couldn’t distinguish who was who in the dust and mess hanging in the air and filling the compound. He heard more voices screaming the same thing as Don Mack, and he shook himself out of his daze. He got up and ran, ran to the now-open front of the compound and out into the white wall of the blizzard.
He was wearing casual clothes, nothing to protect him from the deadly cold elements, but once outside, he felt hot with fear and tension. In the swirling snow, he saw figures dashing about. He heard his father calling his name. The ocean was merely twenty feet from the compound, and through the white storm, Will saw something even whiter. Three fins, with the one in the middle rising up thirty feet from the sea, all pointed at them. At him, it felt.
Then they attacked the short beach, and the massive Megalodon charged first, followed by the smaller ones they’d held in captivity. It ran itself up on shore, body still in the water, and through the storm, Will saw its head, resting on the beach, open its mouth. Its teeth popped out in that unnerving way right before eating, and it scooped up three human figures off the ground, black eyes rolling back in its head and turning white. The most rank smell ever hit Will, and he saw red blood squirt out across the snow-covered shore, and wails burned Will’s ears. The giant shark’s face was splattered with crimson human blood. Whoever those people were, they were being eaten alive in open air. This monster didn’t care that it couldn’t breathe at the moment. It had revenge on its demonic mind.
What if any of those people were his sister and father?
Will got as far from the shoreline as possible, gaping now at just how huge this new Megalodon was. It had to be thirty feet bigger than the other two, judging by the size of its head, which now withdrew back to the sea for a breather.
The crowd of people left all backed off the shoreline, having seen what happened, too, but even as many of them joined Will, the compound began crumbling in on itself, the structure completely devastated. Chunks of the building fell all around them, and Will ran to the west, where the ship’s dock was. If his father and sister were anywhere, that’s where they’d be.
He stumbled almost blindly through the steely snow stinging his flesh, and through the swirling, freezing snow, he saw others heading toward the ship, too, nearby him. There was no communicating. No yelling at the top of his lungs to get anyone’s attention. The thundering sounds of the compound collapsing made that impossible.
Will heard more screams just before he reached the haven of the ship’s port, and glanced back, not wanting to, but having to see…see what was happening, who was dying.
The big Megalodon had risen up on the beach again, just its head, and the wind shifted a tad so that the snowstorm allowed him a clearer view.
Lady Katherine stood before the huge thing, stoic and seemingly unafraid. She fell to her
knees just as the Megalodon’s teeth popped out at her, taking her into its giant mouth, and she squealed and shrieked as the serrated teeth crunched her frail body into minced meat. Her blood flew through the air and splattered the now-blood-soaked shore, as well as the Megalodon’s face. Her screams stopped short, and Will saw that her head had been severed and was impaled on one of the Megalodon’s front, sharp, giant teeth. Her facial features had distorted from being spiked, and her blonde hair was soaked red with blood. Her eyes had popped out of their sockets and hung on tendons, dangling on her cheeks. Her mouth fell open forever in an unfinished wail of pain and horror.
“No!” Will heard Sir Mallory cry out. Will made out his form nearby where Lady Katherine had been, and Sir Mallory pulled out a handgun and began shooting at the shark’s face, screaming curses and crying. The Megalodon retreated quickly, and all three fins went under water.
“Sir Mallory!” Will called to him. “You have to come with us. Come with us to the ship!”
“My Katty!” He fell to the snow and put his head in his hands. Will ran to him, despite fears that the giant Megalodon might come back at any moment, and pulled him up to his feet. His face was red with fury, eyes streaming tears of anger and anguished loss.
“Don’t think, just come with me!”
“I can’t leave her!”
“She’s gone! Now you have to come, have to come to the ship. We have to get out of here before it comes back. Before they all come back. Come on!” Will encouraged.
Sir Mallory numbly let Will lead him away from the shore and to the ship’s port to the west. Will hoped the now-crushed compound’s devastation hadn’t affected the ship’s dock. Now, he felt the cold as his clothes became soaked through and the pause in the storm that had allowed him to see Lady Katherine’s demise was gone. The blizzard raged harder than ever, as though reflecting Sir Mallory’s devastation at losing his beloved wife in a most horrible way.
Somehow, Will got himself and Sir Mallory to the ship’s port in the blinding white. The rank smell from the giant Megalodon’s breath still hung in the air, but Will was in too much of a rush to get away to be too bothered by it.
Once in the shelter of the dock, Will saw the ship was intact and most of the crew and Sir Mallory’s people were there.
“Will!” Ellen came running from the crowd, short hair and clothes soaked. She grabbed him in her arms and hugged him as though she’d never let go. Finally, she pulled back and said, “Come on, Dad’s worried to death about you.” She tugged his hand toward the boat.
“Sir Mallory?” Will said, turning to him, but he wasn’t there. Worry hit him yet again, but he decided to go with Ellen. She led him through the frantic, freezing crowd to their father, who, upon laying eyes on Will, let his tight shoulders sag in relief.
“I found him. He’s alright, Dad.” Ellen hugged Will again.
“Thank God,” was all his father said, and then he turned to the frenzied and terrified people all around them. “We have to get back onboard. We have to sail out of here while they are submerged. They’re north of us, so we’ll sail west, around them, then to the coast of Argentina. I’ve sent out distress calls, but with this weather…”
Everyone listened, but the general level of hope that they’d escape this nightmare felt at the lowest of the lows.
Sir Mallory appeared next to Will’s father. “No, no. We can’t leave. My wife…and we haven’t documented…and…and…”
Will’s father glared at him. “Do you think we can survive this storm without shelter?”
“We can take shelter on the boat, just stay here, just stay here,” he answered.
“I’m afraid to get on the ship again,” said one of Nancy’s girls. “They’ll come after us, I just know they will. I can’t see any more of this. We’ll all die!”
“We’ll all die here even if we take shelter on the ship and stay,” said Will’s father. “Those monsters will find us here. That big one, I’d bet she’s their mother. She has to be sixty, seventy feet long. And they swarm her like children. They will come here, and then we will all die.”
Silence.
“I agree with Captain Miller,” said Don Mack. His black hair was a wild, wet, and snow-covered mess. He hadn’t been wearing his usual sailing hat since they’d first arrived. “We’re safer at sea where we can navigate away. Captain knows how to sail these waters, you all know it. He’ll get us away from the sharks.”
“No,” said Sir Mallory, his voice stronger now. “No, we have to stand here and fight. We can’t fight them on a boat. They have the advantage in the water.”
“Fight?” Will’s father barked. “Fight with what?”
“You saw how the big one came right up on shore. Not safe here. And the weather will kill us if the sharks don’t. Come on, man,” said Don Mack.
Sir Mallory straightened up and looked around. “Who is missing, other than my wife?”
“Two crew members and Ken,” answered James. Ken was one of the techies Will hadn’t gotten a chance to know. Those must’ve been the three he saw the mother Megalodon get onshore first.
Sir Mallory looked down and ran a hand through wet, snow-covered hair. “What do all of you think? Do you agree with the captain?”
Nobody said anything, not wanting to make the wrong decision or not being able to decide. Fear ran like electricity through their whole group.
“We go,” said Will’s father. “We go now. We go directly west and I’ll know when to start north. Hell, we might even sail out of this blizzard.”
“Can you navigate this storm?” Sir Mallory asked.
“Oh, yes.” Will’s father met eyes with Sir Mallory for a long time. “I’m sorry about your wife,” he added softly.
Sir Mallory’s mouth tightened, and then he said, “Okay, we sail. We sail.”
“What about the helicopter?” Will asked.
Sir Mallory shook his head. “It must be buried with the remnants of the compound. Besides, no flying it in this weather. So yes, we sail.”
Chapter 13
Will threw up over the railing within ten minutes of sailing on the incredibly rough and stormy sea. He wasn’t the only one, so at least there was that.
He was scared. Actually scared for real for the first time on the trip. What was going to happen to them? Would they be rescued? Would the Megalodons come back for them? Did his dad really know what he was doing? He hoped so.
Tension filled the ship. Most people had come from below deck after changing clothes, drying off and putting on parkas. Nobody’s stomachs could stay stable in the cabins. The ship rocked and bobbed like it was a toy boat in a two-year-old’s bathtub. The blizzard was so thick that the late afternoon sunlight had filtered to near-darkness. Never had Will felt cold like this.
Ellen hadn’t left Will’s side except when they changed clothes. Their father and Don Mack were busy on the bridge, so that’s where Ellen and Will went. Will had to keep swallowing vomit every few minutes, but that was the least of his worries. After seeing what happened to Lady Katherine, he was grateful he was still alive to feel seasick.
The sailors didn’t notice Will and Ellen. They worked like a smooth and comfortable team, yelling back and forth to each other to be heard. His father had steering, black whip swinging madly at his hip, and Don Mack was watching the waters ahead, giving warnings to Will’s dad if he saw ice, and intermittently screaming into a radio that answered back with nothing but static. His black hair stood out everywhere, and his nose was as red as it ever had been.
“Willie, maybe we should go on deck,” Ellen said to him in a low voice.
“Why?” Will choked out, swallowing another bit of bile.
“Because you’re turning green. Let’s go.”
He didn’t argue. The cold would be a blessing if it stopped his stomach upheaval.
On deck, Sir Mallory’s people had opened up the one mysterious giant crate that had been left on the boat, the crate that Will had wondered about what felt l
ike years ago. They pulled huge guns, missile launchers, grenades out. Ellen grabbed Will’s arm, mouth open, pointing at them. “Would you look at that? Dad’s gonna be pissed.”
“What? What do you mean?” Will felt relief at seeing the crew also take up arms. Even though the storm made visibility low, Will could make out the immediate happenings on deck around them.
“He hates weapons. Guns. You know that. Now, anyway.” She shielded her brown eyes from a particularly fierce blast of wind and sleet, as did Will.
He wanted to say more, but had to run to the rail and puke. Ellen followed, patting his back as he got the last of the food in his belly out and dry heaved until he couldn’t breathe.
“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Ellen soothed.
By the time Will had his bearings again, he heard Sir Mallory over the wind and waves. He was giving instructions on where to stand on the boat, what to do with the weapons. People surrounded the edges of every part of the ship, loaded with massive amounts of firepower.
Then it occurred to Will. Would these measly guns and grenades be enough for three Megalodons if they came after the ship? What if there were more Megalodons in the sea? There had to be. If the huge one was the mother, then they bred here, and that meant there could be countless numbers of the giant monsters. He felt colder at the thought, if that were possible.
Suddenly, Will heard his father’s screaming from the bridge. He’d opened a window up there and yelled at Sir Mallory. “You brought those on my ship without telling me? What the fuck? You’ll get us all killed!”
Sir Mallory ignored Will’s father, still giving frantic instructions. His cheeks were more sunken than before, eyes wild with grief and madness. All he yelled back to Will’s father was, “We have to finish this! For her, for us all!”
Will’s father yelled something back, but the words were lost in a gale. The tone of his voice wasn’t, however. He was, as Ellen said, pissed. Next, Will made out his father calling for him and Ellen.
They made their way back to the bridge, stumbling, and Will dry heaved one more time on the stairs to the bridge.
Megalodon: Apex Predator Page 9