ZOMBIE SHARK HIGHWAY
NINETEEN
Happy Friday, dear reader!
I’m back with lots more TEETH! If you missed last week, you can find chapter 18 here. Or, if you’re new to ZSH, you can start at chapter 1 here. All ZSH chapters can be found under the ZSH section of Authorstrator.
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Happy reading!
CHOMP CHOMP!
NINETEEN
No time.
The sharks were coming. Driving through the flood waters, charging straight for Justin and Kayla.
No time to plan. No time to talk. Staring down the maw of the beast -- there was only instinct. Basic, urgent.
Justin's body moved before his brain had a chance to catch up. The awning of Beats Music Shop. He could reach it. From there, he could pull himself onto the roof.
"Kayla!" he screamed, swimming as fast as he could. "The awning! Come on!"
Don't look back, he begged himself. He didn't want to see. Didn't want to know how close those hungry mouths were to crunching his bones to pulp. If he looked, he might die of fear.
The awning was higher than he thought. He reached, but his fingers barely grazed it. He had to jump. In ten feet of water, somehow he had to push himself high enough. Desperately, he kicked, forcing himself up out of the waves and grabbed hold of the blue and white awning. The metal screamed against the pull of his weight but Justin held tight, hoisting himself up despite his trembling arms. The awning sagged from the stress of holding up his body, but it just needed to hold long enough for the three steps it would take for him and Kayla to reach the roof.
"Hurry!" Justin cried, hurling himself off the awning and onto the roof of Beats Music Shop. "Kayla, quick!" He turned back, reaching out for her, but his arm found nothing but air. "Kayla?"
She wasn't there. Not on the awning. He looked over the side, but still she wasn't in the water.
"Kayla!"
The dark fins of the sharks sailed by him, completely oblivious to his presence. They were hunting something else.
There -- across the street -- shimmying up the post of the power lines, he saw her.
"Kayla!"
She glanced back at Justin, eyes wide with terror as the sharks encircled the post.
And then the big one rammed it.
They wanted her for themselves.
Kayla's left arm came loose and she cried out, the whole of the post shaking from the impact.
Justin watched, helpless. What was she doing over there? How had he left her?
Instinct.
When the sharks came, he'd made a break for the first escape route he saw -- the awning. Kayla must have done the same thing. They hadn't had a chance to coordinate.
Kayla climbed higher, the biggest of the sharks ramming the post again, and again, and again.
And now the others were joining the effort. One after another they charged the wooden post, and Justin's heart raced as the tower began to lean. They'd knock it down. And Kayla with it.
"Kayla!" he called to her. "Get off of there!"
But where would she go? The post was too far from the shops behind it. There wasn't anywhere for her but the water.
Nearly at the top, Kayla reached for the wires.
"What are you doing?!" Justin shouted.
But Kayla couldn't answer him. All her focus was on reaching for the wire, both hands gripping hold for her life, her legs still wrapped around the post.
The big shark rammed the base again, and Kayla's legs fell off, her grip on the wire the only thing keeping her from falling. She inched herself along, hand over hand, slowly making her way across.
But the sharks kept ramming the post. If they knocked it down, the wire would go too. And Kayla would fall into the water.
He had to do something. And had to do it fast.
Justin watched as the big one left the group, his interest in the post gone. The beast swam further down the street before turning back abruptly. What was it doing? Justin watched as the massive fin disappeared beneath the water. He couldn't see it. Not any more. The shark could be anywhere.
Suddenly, it burst free of the waves, an explosion of white foamy water and thrashing fins --
-- right beneath Kayla.
The beast's mouth gaped, reaching up for Kayla as it flew skyward, and she screamed, and Justin felt the world strain around him.
They can't have her, he told himself. They can't.
The shark's jaws slammed shut just short of Kayla's shoes, and the beast fell back into the waves with a massive splash.
She was alive.
She was still clinging perilously to the wires, but Kayla Girard was alive.
The shark swam down the road again. He was preparing another jump.
No, thought Justin. They wouldn't have her.
Justin pulled Melvin's hunting knife, and sliced open his palm. Blood ran down his arm, dripping onto the rooftop.
He wouldn't let them have her.
Justin leaped off the roof, dropping into the flood. The blood seeped from his hand, colouring the water around him red. He splashed and screamed, "Here! Over here!"
"Justin!" Kayla cried. "Don't!"
But it was too late. The sharks were already moving away from the post. They knew he was there. And they were coming for him.
"Go Kayla!" he told her. "Quick!"
Kayla pulled herself along the wire as fast as she could, while Justin stared down the fins racing towards him. He had only seconds. But seconds he planned to use.
The biggest of the sharks led the charge, it's mouth opening as it raced towards him.
Justin reached for the awning, hauling himself back up as he'd done before. The metal frame shuddered, threatening to give way.
Three steps, he told himself, hurling himself towards the roof. He landed with a thud, his heart threatening to burst free of his chest. But his heart was beating. That was the important thing. He'd made it.
Until the shark burst up onto the awning.
"Justin!" he heard Kayla scream.
When Justin looked back, the big one was free of the water, thrashing its way towards him. They don't need the water, he realized, remembering how the sharks moved on the beach. The metal frame of the awning screamed under the creature's weight. But it was holding. Justin had to get off the roof.
Behind Justin, a gap separated him from the roof of the building that backed onto Beats. He could jump. He had to jump.
"Kayla!" he shouted. "Get out of here! I'll meet you at the marina!"
He hoped.
The shark thrashed its way onto the roof, snapping at the air only feet from Justin.
It was now or never.
Justin turned his back on the monster.
And jumped.
Thanks for reading! Chapter 20 coming next Friday.
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