Michael Bray - Feed

Liam sighed and stood. He had tied the wetsuit around his waist and took one of the arms and wiped the sweat from his forehead. ‘I won’t leave you here to die alone.’

Tyler was only half-listening. Something had caught his eye in the water off the island, although he couldn’t tell if it was a trick of the light. Whatever it was out there was only thirty feet out. Easily swimmable under ordinary circumstances. He turned to Nash. ‘There’s something out there in the water.’

Liam joined Tyler at the water’s edge, cupping his face to shield it from the glare of the sun. ‘Where?’

‘Right there,’ Tyler said, pointing to the spot off the coast.

‘That’s the Zodiac, or what’s left of it. Junk.’

‘What if we could use it? What if we could repair it? Wouldn’t that give us at least half a chance?’

‘Repair it with what? Besides, that looks pretty close to where the shark was stalking. Maybe too close,’ Liam replied, still staring with his hands cupped.

‘He’s right,’ Nash added. ‘We’re safe here because it’s definitely too shallow. Out there, you’re right on the edge. You won’t be able to tell from the water if it’s shallow or deep. Too risky.’

‘I’m prepared to try it. We need to at least try,’ Tyler said, driven more by the burning desire for a drink than any sense of bravery.

Liam glanced at his father, then at Tyler. ‘I still say it’s a risk. Are you feeling brave enough to try or are you just talking shit to look like the big man?’

Tyler had reached his breaking point. The desire to hit Liam was strong, and as frustration and exhaustion set in, he was finding it increasingly hard to hold it back. Without another word, Tyler turned back towards the water and waded in.

He had done it as a way of proving that he wasn’t scared, but now that he was in the water and knew what was out there, he was much less confident. Even the little voice he thought of as his monster with it’s never ending craving for booze was silent. He swam, forcing himself to be calm and not splash too much. He thought it was unlikely that the Megalodon was still stalking the island and waiting for them. A creature of such size would need to feed on more substantial meals than they would provide. He believed that, as he had said to the others, it had likely moved off after realising they were unobtainable prey. Even so, he couldn’t escape the feeling of powerlessness and just how small he was. He risked a look back, and the island they were marooned on seemed even smaller. He focussed on the task at hand, swimming to the orange glow he could see just beneath the surface of the water and trying not to think about what could be below him. The Zodiac partially deflated, bobbing just beneath the surface and retaining enough buoyancy to keep it and the outboard engine from sinking. He tried not to get too excited at the idea that this could be their way out, but still felt a mini surge of adrenaline. He dived, kicking towards the part deflated boat and pulling it towards the surface. It was heavy, but the buoyancy helped. He resurfaced, gasping and treading water. Now there was no hiding his elation. This could be it. Their way back to the real world, their—

He was broken from his train of thought by something moving underneath him, the current caused by its wake pulling him a further ten feet away from the island. He stopped moving, partly through fear, partly through recollection of the book Nash had given him saying that kicking and splashing attracted sharks. He clutched his prize, determined not to let it go. There was something beneath the surface, an immense shape coming towards him.

Death.

It would find him first before the others and he could live with that. It was better than the alternative, the slow painful expiration that would come on the island if the Zodiac wasn’t repairable. He flinched as the water exploded beside him and waited for the huge jaws of the creature to close around him and crush him. Once again, though, luck was with him. Instead of being crushed, Tyler was looking at a humpback whale. It had breached the surface, massive eye staring at him. Unlike his encounter with the shark, there was no sense of threat, just one of wonder at being in the presence of such a huge and graceful creature. Tyler was once again reminded that he was a minuscule part of the machine that was nature, one that would go on without him. He had read stories about whales helping humans. Even now, science was still learning about the incredible majesty and intelligence of the species. Tyler stared at it and wondered if this was some kind of sign that everything was going to be alright. He clutched the semi-inflated raft closer to him, treading water and wondering if the others could see what was going on. As he contemplated this, the whale lurched out of the water, emitting a high-pitched whine as it was attacked from below by the Megalodon. For a terrifying second, Tyler couldn’t move and only watch the savage display as the whale was decimated. The wake from the attack pushed him back as the water bloomed with blood. It was this that spurred him on his way. He started to swim, desperately clinging on to the raft and listening to the sounds of the whale being savaged at his back. He made it back to the island, dragging the remains of the boat with him and wondering if it had all been worth it. Liam and Nash were waiting. All three of them were silent as the destruction continued, the cries of the whale and thrashing in the water an awful soundtrack to the devastation. When it was done, there was little evidence that any attack had taken place apart from a slick of blood on the surface of the water. Both Megalodon and remains of the whale were gone.

Tyler was still sitting at the water’s edge, clinging to the remains of the inflatable. ‘We’re stuck here.’

‘I told you we were,’ Liam replied. ‘No way we’re leaving this place now. You just risked your life for nothing.’

The afternoon heat was unbearable. Nash was talking to Liam about trying to catch fish, although Tyler had noted there was little enthusiasm. There were no tools to make a net with. Tyler had made another lap of their small island, hoping to see something new he may have missed the first time around, yet there was no such luck. The rock was as barren as it had been the previous day and offered little in the way of provisions. This time, there was no second thought and he ate the moss without hesitation. Hunger and thirst had come much quicker than he ever anticipated. Even the monster that lived in him would settle for water now. It was as if the energy he had was being drained by the heat of the sun. Part of him wished he hadn’t expended so much of his reserves retrieving the raft. Although potentially repairable, there was nothing to patch the hole in the rubber, and so it was useless. His lips were starting to become cracked and his tongue felt shrivelled in his mouth. When he returned to the front of the island, Liam was cleaning his father leg wound. He glanced at Tyler, the look in his eye saying that the prognosis was not good. The discolouration was increasing rapidly and infection had definitely set in.

‘Bad, isn’t it?’ Nash said. Both Liam and Tyler were surprised how jovial he was considering the situation.

‘Yeah, it’s not looking too good, Dad,’ Liam said, covering the wound with the makeshift bandage made from part of his wetsuit. ‘We need to keep it clean.’

Nash chuckled and shifted position. ‘I wouldn’t worry about it. We’ll be gone long before infection sets in. Couple more days and… well, that’s us.’

‘You don’t know that.’

‘I know enough. This isn’t how it was meant to go down, that’s for sure.’