The ship was in two halves, both ends up in the air with the broken middle section sinking downward. He saw the Megalodon take another enormous bite out of the side of what was left of the wreckage, and the squealing, grinding sound made his ears almost bleed. It was worse than the sound of the missile launcher.
The Megalodon was so damn big.
He saw four figures in the water near the ship, and they swam away from the destruction. The shark hadn’t realized that the snacks were getting away, and continued demolishing the ship in crunching, metallic-sounding, stabbing bites, but it didn’t take the Megalodon long to realize the sacks of flesh weren’t filling its mouth. It submerged, leaving only its damaged dorsal fin towering over them all. Had there been a sunset, its shadow would have passed over half the earth.
“Don’t look,” his father grunted to him between tight breaths of effort.
He wanted to look away, look forward to where they might be going, to where his dad was taking him to be safe. Ellen would be there, certainly. Of course, she would.
Still, Will couldn’t stop watching the fin, the four men frantically swimming away from it in all directions.
The fin turned toward one figure. It had to be a green-suited man, because he lifted a handgun out of the water as the Megalodon’s head surfaced, and those awful teeth opened for him. He shot into its open mouth, but it rushed at him, scooping him up, tossing its head back with him inside. Its mouth leaked blood down its white cheeks and its black eyes rolled back to white. The man’s screams were not as loud as the ship’s destruction, but much more painful to Will’s ears. He just kept howling as though he never learned to speak, and he never would speak again. Then suddenly, as one of each of his arms and legs came out of the side of the monster’s mouth, the screaming stopped dead. Like the man.
The Megalodon wasn’t done. It went for the next figure in the water, who Will assumed was a crewman. He didn’t have a gun. He turned to face the giant fish head-on when he smelled it coming for him, and ducked below the surface. The Megalodon was no stranger to being avoided at any cost, and diverted its attack by slipping its open mouth back under the sea. In the man’s spot, the water burst in shades of crimson and black at the surface. His head bobbed to the surface, and Will was grateful for the darkened sky; he couldn’t make out the dead face’s expression, but knew it was twisted in a mask of frozen horror.
The shark had gotten him below the surface, but brought its head out of the water to chew him up as though wanting the survivors to see her feed yet again, a warning that they all were next.
Will gripped his swimming father’s underarms more tightly, but still couldn’t look away.
The two men still in the water, the techie and a green-suited man, Will assumed, swam in their direction, but the Megalodon was onto them. Its fin swung around in the water, and sped toward their seemingly tiny, defenseless bodies.
It rose up out of the water, its nose skimming the surface of the freezing sea, and opened its enormous mouth behind them as they swam. Will couldn’t see the eyes, but knew they were rolling back in anticipation of the double mouthful it was delighted to partake in.
The awful smell washed over him as he watched the Megalodon scoop up both men from the sea, but its aim was a little off—maybe from having to angle in two bodies at once. The giant teeth crunched both men clean in half at their waists as the shark lifted its head high in the air, and their innards and top halves of their bodies fell into the sea before the Megalodon. Its teeth made a quick meal of legs and feet, and then it finished off its small feast by first eating the green-suited man’s upper body.
Next, Will saw that the techie was still half-alive and definitely aware as it swallowed him whole. His eyes were wide and terrified, consumed by fear and horror just as he went down the shark’s gullet.
“Oh, oh…” Will murmured in stunned shock.
“Look away,” his dad grunted. “We’re almost to them.”
To them? Will wrenched his frozen neck to look ahead, and away from the devastation behind them.
A lifeboat floated in the distance, and it held two human figures, but Will couldn’t make out who they were.
Was one of them Ellen? It had to be. He wished for it more than anything.
“Almost there.” His dad’s voice was a mere husk from the effort of swimming in the icy sea with his six-foot-tall son on his back.
Will refused to look back again, and kept focused on the lifeboat, slowly coming closer and closer, and hoped…that was all he had.
They reached the lifeboat and Will heard Ellen’s voice. “Dad! Will!” He felt strong hands pull his freezing, shivering body from the water and looked up. Don Mack hauled him onto the lifeboat as his father hefted himself aboard, as well.
Ellen grabbed him away from Don Mack and wrapped him in a tight, warm hug. She was dry; she hadn’t gotten knocked into the sea. “You’re okay, my God. I saw them…the others. I thought you and dad were out there. I didn’t know who was swimming to us. We have to get away!”
As Ellen ran on hysterically, Will heard his dad thank Don Mack for saving Ellen. The first mate must have gotten the lifeboat to sea level just as the Megalodon collapsed the ship. Will hadn’t seen it because he’d been watching the Megalodon’s destruction.
“Oars?” Will’s dad asked Don Mack.
“Right here, let’s go.”
The sailing duo grabbed up a pair of oars and started madly paddling south of the fin and the wreckage. Will watched behind them as the fin submerged, facing away from them.
Was it gone? Was it gone for good? Did it think there were no more snacks, that it had destroyed the threat and completed its revenge? He hoped so.
He turned forward and watched the darkening sea through the snowstorm, hoping they could get far enough away so that the giant shark wouldn’t come looking for them.
He didn’t know what would or could happen after that, but he didn’t care. He’d rather starve and freeze to death on a lifeboat in the Antarctic sea than be eaten alive by the Megalodon.
A lump filled his throat and he continued to shiver as he wrapped a life jacket around him. It couldn’t be this easy, but he hoped it was.
Chapter 18
How long had it been since the attack? How long had his father and Don Mack been paddling hard, trying to put as much distance between them and the giant shark as possible? It felt like seconds and hours and years all at the same time.
Will sat at the back of the lifeboat, shivering. Ellen had her arm around him, trying to keep him warm as the snowstorm died down. A single beam of the setting sun’s light shone through the clouds on the horizon, lighting up the sea for a brief moment in yellows and blues and oranges.
Will saw nothing behind them, not even the fin.
His chest relaxed a little bit, and he took a deep breath. “I don’t see it anymore. Dad, I think it’s gone.”
His father didn’t acknowledge him, but rather kept pumping his oar in synch with Don Mack.
Ellen said, “Don’t worry, Dad promised he’d get us out of this, and he always keeps his promises, Willie.”
Yeah, he did, Will thought. Still, was this a promise anyone knew they could keep? Sure, his father was determined and had gotten them far, even seemingly completely away from the Megalodon. Had he tricked it? Were they really safe?
“Head for the ice, Don!” his father’s rough voice called out.
Will turned away from where the havoc had been and looked ahead. A large chunk of ice floated in the now-disappearing ray of light. It was nearly as big as the Megalodon. Was his dad really going to get them on an iceberg? That was nuts! How could they be safe there?
How could they be safe on this tiny hunk of metal floating in the sea, either? Maybe his dad’s plan wasn’t that bad.
Will focused his mind on making the lifeboat go faster, as though through sheer willpower he could make this happen. His muscles were still stiff from the freezing water, but he wanted an oar, too. There
simply wasn’t another one. He considered dipping his wet, gloved hands into the sea and paddling, thinking maybe that little extra help might be all they needed.
In no time, they beached on the edge of the ice, and the two seamen pulled Will and his sister out of the boat and onto the slippery white surface. Ellen fell almost immediately, but Don Mack caught her before she went into the freezing water.
“Thank you, thank you,” she said softly. Will barely heard her. She looked different to him now. Her eyes no longer held panic. She seemed downright pissed and fierce. She was now determined to stay alive at all costs.
“Here,” he said to Ellen, reaching in his soaked parka pocket and pulling out a grenade, handing it to her.
She took it, stared at it in wonder. “I don’t know how to use this.”
“You pull this.” He pointed at the grenade’s pin. “And then you throw it at the shark if it comes back.”
She looked up at him. “Thank you, Willie.” She gave him a little smile.
“Come on,” their father said. “We have to get as far into the middle of the ice as we can.”
“But it’s not coming back, right?” Ellen asked.
“Don’t know, Ellie,” said Don Mack, “but we have to be ready just in case.”
“Have flares?” Will’s dad asked Don Mack.
“Got them from the lifeboat.” He held up a pack of three flares.
“Let’s go.” His father led the way, his black whip still hanging from his hip, swinging madly as he marched up and over the ice. The rest of them had a hard time keeping up with him. Will’s father had experience walking on icebergs, even. Was his history still so much of a mystery to Will?
As they made it to the middle, highest point of the ice, Will’s father turned to them and said, “We wait here. Someone had to have picked up one of our distress signals. We wait until we see something, and then we set off flares. Don’t worry.” He looked from Ellen to Will, and then back to Ellen. “I told you we’ll be okay, and we will.”
“I believe you, Dad,” Ellen said to him.
His father turned to Will. “Do you?”
Will blinked hard at him and wiped a few snow flurries out of his eyelashes. The storm had almost completely died off. “Yeah, yeah, I do.” He knew his dad had the best intentions of seeing them all to safety, but he also knew there was no guarantee, especially after all he’d seen.
“We should face away from each other, you know, so we can see every angle,” Don Mack suggested.
“Good idea.” Will’s father’s fingers grazed over the handle of his whip. “Will, you still have one grenade, right? And Ellen has the other?”
“Yeah.” He took his out and held it out to his dad.
“No, you keep it. Don? Any weapons?”
“Just a Glock.”
“If she comes back, hit her in the nose. That’s her weakness.”
“She can’t get us way up here on the ice, can she?” Ellen asked, anger in her voice.
“I don’t know,” was all he said, and he twirled his fingers through the air in front of them. “Everyone, face away. Look out to sea. Alert us if you see anything. The shark, or a ship to rescue us, anything.”
Will faced northeast, shivering. It almost felt like the threat was behind them. Even if the Megalodon came for them, it couldn’t reach them through all the ice. Could it?
Time leaked by as the sky went black. The clouds parted again, and the snow stopped for the moment. Will looked up as the moon shone through the part in the clouds. It was a half-moon, one of the man in the moon’s eyes watching their plight without emotion, but seemingly some knowledge of how all this would turn out.
He looked back at the moonlit surface of the sea. Lots of ice floated white among the waves’ sparkles. It looked almost beautiful, if Will could forget why they were here and what might happen to them.
His breath plumed white in front of him as he kept watch, feeling bad that he’d even looked away for a moment to gaze at the half-moon. He could have missed something.
It was so quiet. No winds now, just a slight breeze. The water stayed rough around the iceberg, though, and the moonlight made the waves dance like mermaids were having a party just below the surface.
Will kept his sights on the black horizon, trying to keep his focus off the water and on the horizon. He kept his hopeful ears open for a ship’s horn.
His breath was so thick with the frozen air that he couldn’t see well in front of him each time he breathed out. He tried blowing down out of his mouth, but the breeze blew the white plumes back up in his eyes.
This went on forever, the waiting and watching. Nobody spoke. There was nothing to say; they were all thinking the same things. Would they be rescued? Would the Megalodon come back? Would they freeze to this spot, not having either of those scenarios? Their lives snuffed out quietly in a frozen slumber, bodies never to be found?
Will blew his breath to the side, white blowing away, and saw, in the light of the moonbeam, way in the distance, a long, thin, white fin rising out of the water, its tip blown to pieces and turning black.
This time, his voice didn’t choke in his throat. “Dad!” He pointed, saying, “Dad!” again and again.
All of them turned and Ellen muttered a curse.
“I can’t believe it,” Don Mack said.
Will spun to his father. “Take my grenade.”
“No, you need it.” He rubbed his whip’s handle again.
“Your whip can’t do anything against this monster,” Will told him. “Take it! I have no aim.”
He shook his head. “You need it,” he repeated.
The fin picked up speed, heading right for them.
“On your knees, everyone,” his father barked.
They all fell to their knees instantly, preparing for impact. They were not disappointed.
The Megalodon rammed clean into the iceberg, sending them pitching forward onto their faces, then they rolled backward, scrambling to get back on their knees.
A huge chunk of the front of the ice had been broken off, leaving a gap of about thirty feet between the deadly sea and themselves.
The fin circled lazily in front of them, almost as though trying to decide how best to torment them for the shark’s final act of murderous destruction.
“Don, your gun,” his father hissed.
“Ready,” Don Mack responded. Will glanced over at him. He had the Glock pointed in the direction of the shark. His father unclipped his whip and unwound it slowly, squinting one eye at the shark as some snow flurries blew in.
“Ellen, Will. Your grenades.”
He held his up as Ellen wrapped a gloved finger around her grenade’s pin.
“She’s coming again,” their father said, and Will looked out to sea.
This time, the putrid shark’s smell oozed at them as it opened its mouth, coming straight for the ice. Its teeth gleamed as another moonbeam struggled with the heavy clouds. Will could make out the serrated edges of the front teeth still there, eying the gap where Sir Mallory had cut out Lady Katherine’s tooth.
The Megalodon hit, its teeth biting down with as much force as it could on the ice in front of them. The impact wasn’t as strong as a full-on ram, but the ice before them crumbled to pieces, and splashed in the water away from them. The iceberg shook, and Will fell to his side, his grenade almost slipping from his wet grip.
He sat up, dazed, to see that now, only about ten feet lie between them and the giant shark’s massive bite. The fin danced in the moonlight, seemingly delighted that it was so close to more morsels of human flesh, so close to completing its revenge.
“Get ready!” Don Mack cried out as the fin straightened, and the Megalodon turned to face them again. With another bite, it could take them all out at once.
Its head rose out of the water as it came upon them a last time, intent on finishing this one way or another. Will saw the black eyes, this time not rolling back to white, and its teeth were so very sharp as its m
outh opened, taking in sea water and expelling that disgusting scent. Will felt its warm breath on his face as the teeth popped out.
Suddenly, Will heard a loud explosion as Ellen hurled her grenade and it crashed into the top of the Megalodon’s head. But it seemed to do no damage except to slow down the oncoming rush the giant shark made. Will couldn’t see if the top of its head had holes in it or not, but the teeth went back in place.
He clung to his grenade, intent on not freezing up.
His dad cracked his whip upward as the shark’s mouth closed in on them, and snapped it across the tip of its enormous white nose.
The shark stopped dead, closed its rank mouth, and submerged.
“Don, shoot her nose! I saw something. We can do this.”
“I saw it, too,” Don Mack called back to Will’s father.
“What?” Will asked.
His father turned to him. “Get ready with that grenade, and try to throw it in her mouth when Don Mack shoots her nose.”
The enormous Megalodon didn’t stay under long, and its fin slung back around for another go, its head rising up out of the freezing sea, so close to them…so close.
Don Mack’s gun let out a steady stream of bullet spray as its mouth opened, teeth shining, and Will closed his eyes and tossed his grenade.
He heard the explosion, opened his eyes. He’d landed it in her mouth! Blood came gushing out, and the shark was stunned by both the bullets to its nose and the grenade. It swung its head from side to side with its mouth wide open, and his dad ran up to the very edge of the rocking iceberg, held up his whip, and slashed it into the Megalodon’s open mouth.
Will’s shocked eyes saw the whip come out of the monster’s mouth with something long, big and metallic, and his father guided the whip’s bounty back to Will and the others. The missile launcher that Sir Mallory had left in the Megalodon’s mouth had still been in there. That’s what they’d seen. That’s what his father and Don Mack wanted.
They might have a chance.
“Will!” Don Mack cried out. “Grab the front, now! She’s coming again. I’m out of bullets. We got one shot at this! I’ll hold the back.”
Megalodon: Apex Predator Page 13