Michael Bray - Feed

Benton pulled Tyler into the Zodiac, both men exhausted as they sat in the small inflatable. They could see the fishing trawler on its side, then watched as the shark circled around it.

‘How can it do that?’ Tyler said, the adrenaline rush starting to fade. ‘We’re in the shallows.’

Benton shook his head. ‘Shallows here are different. It’s not just one landmass but lots of different underground islands spaced out in this area pretty much like the one you were on. Next to impossible to navigate so the whole area is just marked shallow.’

‘So there is deep water around it?’

Benton nodded. ‘Deep enough. Looks like the captain has run aground on one on of the little islands. Look, the shark is circling the boat.’

Underwater, the Megalodon swam around the rock island, the blood seeping into the water igniting its lust to feed. It scraped its snout against the semi-submerged bow, partially lifting it out of the water then letting it fall back to the rock platform. From his vantage point, Carrington got his first real concept of the scale of the creature and realised that his blood was attracting it. He tried to pull himself out of the water, climbing up the control panels towards the copilot’s chair. If he could get there and out of the window directly above him, he knew he would be relatively safe. He scrambled up, trying to haul himself out of the water, but he had damaged his shoulder when the boat capsized, and he couldn’t put any weight on it. He was about to try again when he saw a blur of movement a split second before The Megalodon struck the wheelhouse, giant dagger teeth clamping down on the steel frame which groaned in protest. Carrington screamed and flinched away, for a moment finding himself submerged and just a few feet from the immense jaws of the creature. The Megalodon shook its massive head and pounded its body against the rock outcrop. It was only then as the vessel slid forward and scraped against the rocks that Carrington realised what was happening. The Megalodon was trying to pull the boat back into open water.

Benton saw it happen and knew exactly what the Megalodon was doing. ‘We have to do something to help. Draw it away from the boat.’ He moved towards the outboard motor as he said it, checking the frame and control panel.

‘No, no engine,’ Tyler said, the fear now something impossible to ignore. ‘It will come after us.’

‘That’s what I want; we need to draw it off the captain.’

‘It’s not safe.’

Benton glared at Tyler as he pulled the chord to fire up the engine. It sputtered but didn’t fire up. ‘I don’t give a shit what you think. We came here to save you and now look what happened. We’ve already lost one man and I won’t let another die. If you don’t like it, feel free to get off the damn boat.’

Any further argument was pointless, as the engine spluttered to life. ‘Worst case, we can head into that island of yours and wait for the Coast Guard.’

‘No,’ Tyler said, glancing at the rock mile protruding from the ocean. ‘Not back there.’

‘Then help me navigate.’

Benton aimed the Zodiac towards the stricken vessel. ‘You keep an eye out for that shark,’ he shouted above the wind and din of the engine.

‘I don’t know what we can do to stop it if it decides to come for us,’ Tyler shouted back, the fear making him feel sick.

‘Trust me on that, I know what to do.’

‘And what’s that?’

‘That wound of yours,’ Benton said, nodding at the ugly gash on Tyler’s arm which was still dripping blood onto the floor of the Zodiac.

‘What about it?’

‘Hang it over the side, in the water. Let’s see if we can draw our fish in.’

Tyler shook his head. ‘No way. I’m not doing that.’

‘Do it, or I swear to God, I’ll throw you out of this boat and you can fend for yourself.’

That was enough for Tyler. He hung his arm over the side and let his blood drip into the water. At the same time, Benton brought the Zodiac to a stop less than thirty feet from the stricken vessel.

‘What now?’ Tyler asked, heart thundering as he scanned the water, trying to see through the sun glare.

‘Now we wait until he shows.’

The Megalodon had pulled the bow of the boat off the edge of the rock platform. It rocked precariously, the wheelhouse filling with water as the ocean threatened to swallow it. Carrington scrambled for something to hold onto, but it was fruitless. He was sure if his shoulder was dislocated or if he had broken his collarbone, and he didn’t have enough strength in his functional arm to pull himself to safety.

I’m going to die.

There was no panic in the thought, just an inevitability about the situation. The boat would be pulled into the depths and sink. If he was lucky, he would down before the shark managed to get to him and devour him. It was the photograph that changed his mind. He saw it bob along the surface of the water in front of him. It was his wife and two children. The photograph was sun-faded and one he had forgotten was pinned on the wheelhouse window. The thought of never seeing his family again gave him renewed desire to survive. Carrington used his good arm to try once more to pull himself out of the water, all the time waiting for the jaws to close on him and extinguish his existence. He managed to pull half his body out of the water, the effort making his good arm tremble. He looked down, expecting to see the gaping maw beneath him, but the water was still. The Megalodon was gone.

‘It’s coming right for us,’ Tyler said, pulling his arm back into the confines of the Zodiac, not that it would give him much protection when the shark attacked. They both watched the immense dorsal fin slide towards then, one edge bloody and ragged where the shotgun blast had hit it. ‘What are you waiting for?’ Tyler screamed, backing away from the front of the boat.

‘Not yet, just wait,’ Benton replied, hand poised over the controls. Tyler couldn’t help notice how tacked together it looked. The small A-frame housing the steering wheel and throttle clearly wasn’t part of the original design and had been added later. Tyler only hoped there was no water damage from when the Zodiac had been flipped over, and that when Benton decided it was time to take action, everything worked as it should. Any hesitation, any fault would mean certain death. The fin was just twenty feet away now and they could both see the huge body of the Megalodon under the surface. Tyler was frozen, too terrified to speak. It was coming right at them side on. The Megalodon surfaced, jaws gaping, eyes rolling back into its head, ready to kill its prey.

Benton gunned the engine. The Zodiac zipped forward, the Megalodon’s jaws crashing down on empty space. Tyler expected Benton to move them away from the giant shark, but instead, he circled back towards it, waited until it started to follow, then changed direction again.

Due to its size, The Megalodon had a slower and larger turning circle than its smaller cousins. Combined with the network of shallow islands surrounded by deeper waters, the advantage it would have in more open waters was significantly reduced. Even so, it was determined not to let the intruder to its territory escape. It gave chase, every time it drew closer to the Zodiac, the Megalodon slowed, having to skirt around one of the island outcrops, increasing the distance between the two. It was the highest stake game of cat and mouse the world had ever seen. Benton kept just enough distance between them, hoping to buy as much time for Carrington as he possibly could. Tyler had realised that the plan was working, and was looking back at the dorsal fin cutting and weaving as it tried to give chase. ‘We’re doing it. We might well come out of this yet,’ he said to Benton, believing for the first time that an option other than death existed. He noticed they were gradually getting closer to the island. He could see Liam watching events unfold. He was about to tell Benton to be careful getting closer, as the water was shallow when a thud from the rear of the Zodiac almost tipped him out of the boat. For a second, he thought the Megalodon had caught up to them and their luck had run out. That, however, wasn’t the case. The Zodiac started to slow.