ZOMBIE SHARK HIGHWAY

Chapter 5

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CHAPTER 5

A tremor wormed it's way up Kayla's body, from her toes out to the tip of her finger, off the end of which she could see the massive razor slicing through the choppy waves.

She looked down at her feet. It was there. The leg.

It drifted with the waves, the toe of the boot caught on a stone, unable to quite make it on to the sand. She watched it, the way the sea foam clung to the hairs, the way the veins looked blue and purple beneath the skin. It was wrong. Alien. But it was there. Right in front of her. And it belonged to someone.

An Officer.

She felt a suction, deep in her gut, pulling at every part of her, drawing her in, deep and down inside herself. The leg at her feet fell away, far away, so far she couldn't be sure she was really seeing it. But she was. Somehow. From deep in the dark that had sucked her up, she could still see it.

And she could hear him. Justin. Somewhere far away. Screaming at the others.

Her eyes drifted from the severed leg back over the sand -- to the drag marks that lined the beach.

He's dead.

She knew it. A true and awful instinct that was as real as the cold seeping into her skin.

Kayla's father was dead.

The sharks took him. And a terrible thought forced its way inside the darkness. A terrible horrible frightening thought.

The sharks took her father. And they would all be next.

*

Justin's feet pounded the sand, his eyes trained on the ominous sail heading for his friends. "Guys! Get out of there!"

The fin closed in, its massive size lighting terror through his bones.

His shoes soaked up sea water as he ploughed into the surf, his jeans soaked and heavy. "Guys!"

The creature burst out of the water, lightning fast but still, Justin saw it all in slow motion. Saw Sarah turn just in time to watch the tremendous jaws come down on top of her. Saw the water around her explode with red. Saw the animal's gnarled flesh, the oozing sores.

Justin's throat seized, locked, choking his voice so he couldn't cry out, couldn't move. He fell back, his hands in the frigid water as the other's ran -- Mike, DeStefano, Maddie - away from the monster -- away from Sarah, who wailed for help. Help from her friends. His help.

Justin stayed there. Frozen and useless sitting in the waves that carried Sarah's blood to the shore. What could he do? What could stop it now?

He knew the answer. It hooked itself into the meat of his brain and dug in. Nothing.

Sarah let out an inhuman shriek and was pulled beneath the surface.

Nothing could stop it now.

Justin's pulse throbbed in his neck. He stared at the churning, foaming red vortex -- the spot where Sarah disappeared -- and waited.

They all did. All five horrified teens, quiet and still on the shore.

Waiting.

For what?

And then a scream. A terrified, gut wrenching wail that Justin knew came out of Maddie. It was the sound he was making, somewhere inside himself, swelling beneath his chest.

Sarah was gone.

Gone and not coming back.

And he didn't stop it.

*

Kayla ran, sprinting as fast as her legs would carry her while the rest of them just stood there. Too frightened and shocked to move. But they couldn't be shocked. They didn't have time.

Kayla knew.

Knew what the rest of them didn't. What they hadn't yet guessed at.

The drag marks.

We're next. All of us.

Justin sat, sprawled out in the surf like a piece of driftwood, his mouth hanging open. "Justin!" she shouted, but he didn't hear her. She wrapped her arms around him, hauling him back from the water, dragging him with all her might. "Justin we have to go!"

His legs moved weakly, kicking lightly at the sand as if he'd forgotten how to stand. "Sarah--"

"Get up!" she growled at him. "We can't be on the beach."

"It just--"

He was so heavy. Impossibly heavy. She couldn't drag him the whole way. She wasn't strong enough.

And then he stiffened. She could feel the muscles in his body go tight and she stopped. He stood, slowly, staring out at the blood stained waves and Kayla's eyes followed his, her stomach tightening when she saw them -- the fins. Eight of them.

Eight sharks.

She reached for Justin's hand, stepping back from the water's edge. Justin didn't resist, backing up with her, his grip tight.

Kayla saw Maddie standing between Mike and Joey DeStefano, the three of them slowly backing away.

The eight razor peaks drove towards the teens. Fast. As though the shore meant nothing to them.

It doesn't, Kayla knew.

"Run," she barely managed to squeak out. "Justin, we need to run--"

And the first of the eight burst free of the waves, its mighty jaws open in a massive, blade-lined yawn as it lunged for Maddie and the others.

Justin stumbled, tripping over his own feet as his hands grabbed for Kayla. She felt his grip on her upper arms, tight, painful as he pushed her up the beach.

The others were screaming and Kayla glanced back.

Maddie was on her stomach, waves pulling her back beside the massive shark as it thrashed and twisted, red spilling onto the beach. Joey stopped, not sure if he should go back for Maddie or keep going. And Kayla heard the screaming. Animal screaming and she could see, in the blur of movement, the shark had someone in its mouth -- Mike.

Joey took a step toward Maddie as a second shark exploded onto the beach, snapping and thrashing for Joey.

"Move!" screamed Justin, pushing her on. "Move move!"

Kayla scrambled up the sand for the guard rail, and pulled herself over, her feet heavy on the solid pavement of the highway. Justin followed, grabbing onto her for balance.

They looked back to the beach and Kayla saw Maddie, soaked and crying but back on her feet, running towards them as the first shark ignored her, satisfied with what was left of Mike.

And Joey--

Kayla could see him--

That's impossible.

The second shark was thrashing, snapping, and moving. How can it be moving? Free of the water, it flailed wildly, but still it was moving. Moving for Joey. Driving him further down the beach, away from Kayla and Justin.

Maddie screamed, and Kayla's eyes widened as another shark drove itself onto the beach. It was covered with the pus, with the boils she'd seen before. And its eyes. Kayla could see its eyes. They were wrong. They were milky. White. Dead.

And it was moving.

Moving toward them.

"The truck!" Justin screamed. "Kayla, we need to get to the truck!"

He pulled on her, tugging at her shirt, desperate to run but Kayla stopped, waiting for Maddie. The drenched girl was frantic, clawing her way up the sandy hill and collapsed against the guard rail, sobbing, screaming, and Kayla dragged her over, struggling to keep her upright.

"Help me!" she ordered.

Justin took Maddie's other arm, slinging it around his neck and they ran together, hobbling for the truck.

Justin opened the door and the two of them shoved the sobbing Maddie inside.

Kayla glanced back at the advancing shark, two more emerging from the water behind it. And Joey. Where was Joey?

"Kay!" The engine roared to life, Justin behind the wheel. "Get in the truck!"

She held the open door, glancing back at the beach. Five sharks, moving, thrashing, on the red stained sand. Three more patrolling the waters behind them.

Eight sharks.

But they were dead--

"Kayla!" Justin screamed. "Kayla, come on!"

And there was Joey, sprinting further down the beach, making a cut for the guard rail.

The guard rail, she told herself. They can't get over the guard rail.

"Kayla!"

She climbed in and slammed the door, her eyes ever on the advancing sharks.

And the tires screeched as Justin took off down the highway.

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