Chapter 17 is here! Hope you’re a fast swimmer.
CHOMP CHOMP!
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SEVENTEEN
Kayla knew this shark. The sentry that guarded the DeStefano's front window. It had come for her.
The shark's gaze fell below the water, its fin the only thing visible above the surface. Kayla could only gape, the dorsal blade carving swiftly towards them.
"The door!" Joey screamed. "Kayla, the door!"
The two grabbed hold of the kitchen door, the water pushing back against them.
"Hurry!" Kayla screeched, heart pounding, muscles screaming as she pulled with all her might. She saw it all in a flash -- the teeth, the tearing, the blood.
The sharks would take her.
Just like Sarah and Mike.
Just like Dad.
Growling against the strain, Kayla pulled with everything she had, Joey screaming power into his arms.
The shark reared up, jaws open as the door slammed closed.
WHAM!
The beast's body rammed into it, door frame splintering.
"It's not gonna hold!" cried Joey, as the shark rammed the door again.
Kayla knew he was right. They had little time.
"The window," she ordered. "In the living room." With the sentry behind the door, the window was unguarded.
Kayla swam through the DeStefano home, Joey splashing frantically to follow, the slamming of the shark against the kitchen door echoing through the house. Kayla rounded the corner, the shattered glass teeth of the broken window daring them to escape.
Outside, she could see the truck. The bed was almost completely submerged, Melvin still posted at his harpoon. Maddie and Justin clung to each other on the truck's roof, looking down at the two monsters that circled them.
Two?
What happened to the third?
And then she saw it, belly up by the tree, harpoon in its gut.
Joey grabbed hold of Kayla, his panicked grip hard on her arm. "What are we supposed to do? We can't go out there! Look at them all!"
And then they heard it.
The thundering crash that could only be the kitchen door giving way.
"We can't stay here!" she screamed.
The sentry flew around the corner, mouth open and thrashing, desperate to bite into anything. And the sound -- the sound that made Kayla's skin crawl.
Silence.
The monster made no noise -- not a roar, not a growl, or a hiss, nothing. Just a patient, furious silence, hunting to swallow her up.
The head turned, the white cloudy eye meeting Kayla's gaze.
"Go, Joey! Go!" she screamed, pushing him towards the window.
They leaped out into the street, the water well over their heads so that they had to kick and thrash and fight against the current that threatened to sweep them away, the pounding rain sending droplets splashing up into her eyes, her nose.
She heard Justin over the thunder of the rain. "Kayla!" His voice desperate, hopeless.
Because he saw what she saw. Sentry behind her. And in front -- the two sharks circling the truck turned toward the new commotion. Toward her and DeStefano.
She was caught. Sandwiched between a million razor teeth.
Until the harpoon found its mark.
A splash flew up as Melvin's harpoon pierced the skull of the sentry. The shark writhed, water flying as it rolled and twisted in pain before finally sinking beneath the water's surface. A green pus spread out through the waves, creeping its way toward Kayla.
Behind her, the pair by the truck stalked closer.
Maddie screamed and the truck began to slide. The current threatened to carry it away. Kayla watched as Maddie grabbed hold of Justin, both of them wobbling on the roof, losing their balance as the ground beneath them shifted.
And they fell.
Justin and Maddie toppled over the back of the truck.
The shark pair turned toward the splash, unable to decide which part of the buffet to start at first.
"Oh shit..." said Joey beside her. "There's more."
Kayla followed Joey's eyes to the road, back toward Main Street. More sharks -- four of them -- circled the stop sign, waiting. The big one -- the one Melvin had split in half on Highway 3 -- lead the pack. We'll see that big boy again, Melvin had promised.
He was right.
Four sharks on Main Street, Kayla counted. Plus the pair by the truck, the sentry, and the belly up. Eight sharks. There'd been eight on the road. And here they were, together again.
And then it moved -- the belly up shark with the harpoon in it's belly.
"What is that?" cried Joey. "Kayla, what the hell is that?"
Its tail flipped up, and it righted itself, back from the dead.
Melvin roared over the chaos, a pistol in his hand as the truck drifted sideways.
He fired into the water, unloading everything he had at the pair and the belly up.
Terrified, Kayla looked to the green ooze, where the sentry had disappeared beneath the surface. Was it still alive too?
But there was no sign of it. The harpoon had struck its skull.
Destroy the head, Melvin had told them. Only thing that seems to work.
She looked back to the three sharks -- they'd stopped. All of them.
Kayla watched, feeling the pus flowing around her, sliding against her skin. The three sharks just hovered in the water. Not going forwards or back.
"What are they doing?" Joey shouted.
Kayla didn't know. Didn't understand.
Finally, they moved, swimming away, passed the truck, one of them slapping its tail against the side. The truck groaned, its final hold on the ground giving way, the current carrying it off -- with Melvin in the bed.
Melvin didn't seem to care. His eyes were watching the sharks. Watching them swim back to Main Street. Back to the rest of the group, where the big one was waiting for them.
"They're leaving?" Joey asked.
It looked that way.
No one said anything, barely daring to breathe as the sharks disappeared into the distance.
Safe again. But for how long?
Joey's mother screamed for him. Kayla looked up to the DeStefano's sliding to the edge of the roof, Joey swimming around the side of the house, using the drain pipe to help himself up. His brother reached out for him and when he was pulled up, the arms of his family wrapped around him.
She needed to get back to Bo.
"Kayla!" Justin swam, front crawl to her, Maddie scrambling to keep up. "Kay, are you alright?"
Alright? Was she alright? She looked at her arms, surprised she still had them, at the green slime that tinted the water around her. She nodded.
"Melvin," she said. "We've lost Melvin."
Justin looked back to where the truck had been -- gone. The water had carried the truck and Melvin off.
"Melvin!" Justin called out. "Melvin, where are you!"
"The big boy!" the gruff voice called out. "Did you see it?!"
Justin and Kayla waded to the end of the DeStefano driveway where they could see Melvin, clinging to a drowning Maple. Kayla could see the truck halfway down the street, caught against one of the houses.
"They answer to the big boy!" He seemed almost giddy.
"Who do?" said Justin.
"The sharks," said Kayla. "They left to follow him."
"What does that mean?"
"It means," said Melvin, "that our big boy is running the show. Bring him down, the others are lost."
"How do you know that?"
"I don't," laughed Melvin. "But it's the best theory I have to work with."
"The harpoon," said Justin. "What are we supposed to do without the harpoon?"
"I can get it," said Melvin. "But I need some way to haul it around."
"How do we do that without the truck?"
Melvin rubbed his hand over his face.
"We need a boat," Kayla realized.
Melvin nodded.
"Where are we supposed to get a boat?" Justin asked her.
Kayla knew where. They all knew. "The marina."
"But," said Maddie, "how do we get to the marina without a car?"
Melvin sighed, hand sliding from his face to the back of his neck. "Welp, that's the thing," he said. "Someone's gonna have to swim."
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