by M H Ryan
That’s fine. We would teach these sharks the consequences of messing with us, if it came to that. A wave of hot anger radiated out from the male shark. The other sharks reacted to it like blood in the water, churning and twisting with rage.
This gift did have its disadvantages, like understanding that not only did it want to eat me but devour the girls and me. They wanted to stop us from moving, drag our bodies under the water, and feast on our flesh.
“Everyone stay in their positions,” I said.
“Aye, aye, captain,” Sherri said and tossed me a spear.
I caught it with my free hand and stuck it in the bamboo near me.
“They might bump us or take a free shot, so keep your limbs in the boat,” I said.
Cass whimpered and sat back on her heels, hugging the shack. At least she couldn’t fall out of the boat there.
“I’ve got a bunch of arrows now,” Benji said, holding out her bow at the ready. “I could pin cushion those dorsal fins. Might make them think twice about us.”
“Not yet. They are pissed off, but they haven’t come up with a way to attack us,” I said, trying to split my attention between the five sharks.
They moved apart from each other and circled the boat. We were going a reasonable speed on the water with the bigger sail. The sharks, however, were on a different level of speed. The big one moved to the back of the boat and curved from side to side in a serpentine pattern. I felt its hot presence right behind us, a fiery rage that wanted to consume us, raft and all.
What was it about us that they hated so much? The creatures of this world despised us without even knowing us. Had humans before us earned this hatred? I wanted to be rid of them and rubbed my forehead in frustration. There had to be a better way of dealing with these creatures of the sea. If I kept training my mind, I wondered if I could get past their barrier and manage them as quickly as I did the sea bass.
The big male made a sound I barely heard—or maybe I didn’t. Perhaps I just heard it in my mind. One of the female makos on the port side had made a decision, fueled by the big male’s signal. Then I knew my mental powers, the tar on the Luna, our bigger boat—nothing was going to stop these creatures from attacking us.
“It’s coming,” I said, pointing. “On your side, Sherri.”
Sherri held up her spear, putting it near her cheek as her hand extended back.
“Bring it, fuckers,” Sherri said.
“Oh, shit,” Kara said.
The shark, which had been thirty feet off our port side, turned and faced the craft. It dipped below the water and sped toward us, its tail flapping the water, creating sea foam and splashes. It took only a split second before coming back up, breaching the surface. It launched into the air toward our boat. Sherri yelled out a battle cry and threw her spear as the mako became airborne.
The shark flew a couple feet up as the spear stuck it just behind the gills. Its forward momentum carried it through the air like a missile. It slammed into the parapet wall wrapping around the boat.
The wood cracked, and the wall bent forward under the weight of the large shark. At the point of impact, the branches broke and stuck out from the wall. But the wall held and repelled the shark. It flopped back in the water, with the spear still stuck deep in its flesh.
Blood smeared the wall where it impacted and more spilled into the sea below.
The red stuff might as well have been rocket fuel for the sharks. I felt them all shifting into a higher gear of blind rage. They weren’t going to stop until they killed us all.
“Get ready. They’re coming again,” I said.
Cass screamed and flung open the door to the shack, scrambling inside. She struggled to get the door closed, and some of our stored fruit spilled out onto the deck. I sighed and not just for Cass but the feeling the sharks were giving now, as if they were all going to launch themselves onto this boat. We had to stop them before they did.
“Open shots, Benji,” I said, pointing to my champion.
Not waiting for a second, Benji fired. It flew through the air and hit the body of a shark near her. With the arrowhead, it lodged deeper in the shark’s tough hide. Blood spilled from the creature and into the waters.
“Nice shot,” Aubrey said, holding out her spear.
“It’s making another run,” Sherri yelled.
A splash drew my attention to the other side of the boat quick enough for me to witness the same shark attack us again. It still had Sherri’s spear stuck in it. The beast landed higher up on the wall, crashing into it with its massive weight. The wall cracked and creaked under the shifting weight of the shark. Eliza jumped forward slammed her ax down on top of the thing’s head with a deep thud. She pulled her weapon back, revealing a large gash.
The shark lunged for her as blood slipped from the wound. Eliza held her ax up again, ready to hit it when the shark stopped moving. Its body slid off the boat and back into the water, leaving a trail of blood on the deck.
The big male was behind us and I could feel his building agitation. I watched as he dipped under the water and disappeared, but I felt it getting closer, right underneath us.
Another shark hit the starboard side of the boat with a sickening thud. Benji fired an arrow and had another nocked in the string in a second. She shot again. Aubrey stabbed it with her spear once, then twice.
The shark flailed at the side of the boat, smashing its mouth against the wall. It pulled a chunk off the top, spitting it back onto the deck floor.
“It’s skewered on one of the boat spears,” Aubrey yelled out, leaning over and stabbing the thing again.
“It’s stuck to the raft,” Benji called out.
In a few more seconds, the shark stopped moving and slumped over the railing. Blood dripped from its mouth onto the deck. The wall bent, cracked, then collapsed entirely under the weight of the shark. The carcass slapped against the floor and Aubrey and Benji jumped back, narrowly missing getting hit.
“Son of a bitch broke our wall,” Aubrey said, getting closer to the shark with her bloody spear in hand.
With the wall down, the girls were exposed on the starboard side. If another one of them bastards launched from the water, there would be nothing to stop it from hitting my girls.
“Stay away from the starboard side,” I said in a rush. “Benji, to the bow. Aubrey, stern.”
I reached out and felt that only three sharks were still active. The one that Sherri had speared and Benji shot must have died. Two down, but there were still three around, and we had yet to see what the bigger shark had in store for us.
The big male swam under us. It jerked in the water with fits of rage and kept swimming up at us before backing away. Then it moved to the port side, and I while I couldn’t see it, I could feel it. I watched the water, following where I thought it was and then it popped up right where I had expected. I stared in awe at my ability to locate this shark. Before, I had a general idea—at best—of where a creature was. With this one, I knew its location like I had GPS.
Its large fin moved through the water, staying out of range of Sherri’s spear. If it rammed the wall it would break just like the other side. If we had two sides exposed, the girls could be picked off by a lucky shark. Plus, they were wrecking our boat. Something the girls nearly killed themselves to build. I wasn’t going to have it damaged any more by these damned sharks.
We had passed Food Island in our quick-moving craft but we were nearing a small island where it all began: Tiny Island. I moved the rudder to the left, steering the craft to the right and headed straight for the small island. The waters were shallow there, too shallow for this big boy hunting us. At least, I hoped.
“I’m beaching us on Tiny Island,” I yelled out.
Right as I finished speaking, another female slammed into the port side. The wall cracked and groaned under the assault. It leaned a good foot more into the boat. Sherri hit the shark with a spear and Eliza swung her ax, making a grazing cut along the shark’s nose. Bloody, the s
hark quickly dipped back into the water.
“This side isn’t going to hold up for much longer,” Sherri said, inching closer to the middle of the boat. “We need to get to that island before they’re flopping on the deck after us.”
“Get to the bow,” I said. “The triangular shape should hold up better against these fuckers until we get to the island.”
The craft pounded against the water. We were going fast—too fast. We needed to slow down. Tiny Island raced toward us.
“When I give the signal, all of you will need to get that mainsail back up,” I yelled.
I timed it, looking at the few palms and the large bundle of bamboo on the postage stamp of an island. We needed to get there on pure momentum.
A shark slammed against the front of the boat.
“It bounced right off,” Kara said with a snort.
Good, the front of the boat held up to the assault.
“Okay, now! Close the sail,” I commanded.
The girls jumped back to their stations without hesitation. They untied the ropes from under the fallen and bent walls, then on Sherri’s side, they pulled the line hard, getting the sail back up in less than a minute. Benji jumped onto the mast and tied the boom off against it. The boat slowed down, lurching us all forward.
“We leaving up the small sail?” Eliza asked as she adjusted to the slower speed.
“Yes,” I said. “And everyone—brace for impact. We might be coming in hotter than I thought.”
Below us, the thin blue water rushed by, and I spotted the white sand just a few feet below us rising. I gripped the rudder tight and braced as the boat crashed into Tiny Island’s beach.
“Brace!”
Chapter 8
The boat struck the shoreline, and I fell forward as the craft came to an abrupt stop. I grabbed Aubrey as she tumbled next to me. Cass yelled from inside the shack and the rest of the girls piled up near the bow.
Breathing hard, I jumped to my feet and grabbed my spear. The sharks were still behind us but they were staying away from the shallow waters.
“You okay?” I asked Aubrey.
“Yeah.” Her gaze stayed on the sharks in the water. “I swear, I’m going to get a shark suit, a machete, and a barbecue grill when I get back to the mainland, and then I’m going swimming in the ocean for a long time.”
I rushed to the girls at the bow. Some were rubbing their head or knees.
“Is anyone hurt?”
They shook their heads in a negative.
“No, but what about Cass?” Benji said, still holding her bow with a nocked arrow.
Shit, Cass! I rushed to the shack and pulled open the door.
Cass flopped out of the shack, landing on her back. A few mangos rolled out over her and then the fish I cleaned earlier landed on her stomach. She screamed and threw the fish off of her.
I helped her get to her feet, and she looked down at the blood on her stomach, the color draining from her face.
“Is that my blood?” Cass wiped her stomach and quickly realized it was that fish she flung off her.
She rushed the bent wall, leaned over, and threw up in the shallow water.
“Oh God, I can’t hear this,” Eliza said, dry heaving. “She’s…” She made a gagging sound as Cass threw up again.
I took my shirt off and dipped part of it into the water as I walked to Cass. She stood back, with her hand on her mouth, watching me walk to her. I used my shirt and wiped the vomit from the corner of her mouth. I rotated the shirt and knelt to her stomach, washing the blood from her.
With the blood cleaned from her, I went to the water's edge and washed my shirt in the shallows. I felt the sharks out there. They were annoyed and frustrated, but they were also hungry. I hoped the hunger would win out, and they’d leave the area in search of more cooperative food.
“Is the island clear?” I asked as I wrung out my shirt for the second time.
“I don’t see anything,” Benji said, looking excited as she clapped her hands and jumped off the bow of the boat, landing on the white sand.
“Thanks, Jack,” Cass said, with a hint of red hitting her cheeks.
“Anytime,” I said. “You feeling okay?”
“Yeah, it’s just a lot to take in. I mean, if you weren’t lying about these killer sharks, then is the rest true. Are the snakes true?” Cass asked.
“It's true. The sharks…the snakes…all of it,” I said.
“Star Wars, The Force Awakens,” Benji screamed out from the other side of the island.
I smiled. I couldn’t get a line past her.
“When I felt there was a chance you were messing with me…like on some Truman Show level shit, I had this hope this could be over. But now…”
“Jack, get over here,” Benji yelled.
“You sure you’re okay?” I asked Cass again.
She didn’t answer and looked through the floor of the boat.
I sighed and rushed to the front of the boat.
Benji stood on one of the beams left behind on our shelter. She held onto the palm tree and leaned way out with her other hand held up high. She spun around the palm tree and landed on the sand.
“Can you believe some of it is still here?” Benji said.
The other girls were walking around on the sand, looking at the waters, as if a SEAL strike team might be making a landing at any moment.
I jumped over the bow wall and landed on the sand. The front the raft had run aground a few feet and had dug a trench into the beach.
“Benji is way too fucking excited about this island,” Aubrey said.
Kara kneeled next to me, touching the sand. She stood up, pouring the sand out from her hand with a smile.
“This is a really good island, Jack,” Kara said. “You two were lucky to start here.”
“Did I mention I had to kill a boar on this island?” I asked.
“I’ve heard the story, Mr. Stud,” she said and gave me a wink. “I like it here.”
Sherri stood next to me, breathing deep. “That was intense back there. You think the sharks will beach themselves? We don’t have much cover if they do.”
“No. In fact, I don’t think they’ll be around much longer. We're falling into the not-worth-it camp for them.”
“Good,” Sherri said, taking a deep breath. “I need to be able to relax for a minute after that.”
“You doing okay, Eliza?” I asked.
She stared out into the ocean. “I don’t think we should stay here long.”
“Your hooker’s intuition?” I asked.
“The girls clued me into what that means.” She looked back at me, checking out my bare chest and then my crouch. “And hand jobs. But, yeah, it's my extra sense, screaming at me. I think she’s in trouble, Jack.”
I called out to the girls with a whistle, and they turned to face me.
Cass stood the head of the bow, looking back at the ocean, before glancing at us and then back to the sea.
“We aren’t staying here long, but I think we should get the resources we can while we’re here and repair the ship,” I said. “Benji, can you and Cass cook up something for lunch?”
“Dude,” Aubrey said, bumping me on the arm, gesturing the port side of the boat. “We’ve got a freaking shark kebab stuck to the ship.” She grabbed me with both hands. “I want to eat that shark.”
“I do too,” Sherri said, raising her hand.
“I think it’s fitting,” Kara added.
“Okay then,” I said. “It’s big enough that we can probably cut steaks right off the side of it. I’ve never cleaned a shark, though…”
“I’ll cook the shit out of that bastard,” Benji said, glaring at the dead shark attached to the boat. “It tried to kill us.”
“It tried,” Aubrey said. “But nothing is getting past us.” Aubrey high-fived Benji.
“And Jack, I can cut the shark up. We won’t be able to use much of the shark because we have no way to store or prep this fish, so I can just cut
into it all willy-nilly.” Benji smirked at Aubrey.
“I swear, you say willy-nilly once in your life, and you can’t live it down,” Aubrey said, feigning anger.
“Okay, I’ll get the fire going while you prep the shark,” I said and handed Benji my knife. “The rest of you, we need to repair the boat and reinforce it. The bamboo over there will make for a perfect cross brace on the walls. Our axes should cut through them well enough.”
“Right on it, captain,” Sherri said, saluting. “Come on, girls, let’s cut some bamboo.”
Over the next hour, I started the fire, and Benji gathered mangos and oranges from our stash, plus a few leafy herbs that Aubrey said were okay to eat. They were kind of like cloves and gave stuff a smoky flavor. She used the aluminum panel as her cooking surface, and the shark steak sizzled on the hot metal. Another smaller piece of the metal had been shaped into a spatula, and Benji twirled it in her hand.
Cass hadn’t helped clean the shark or prepare the food. She stayed near Benji and pretended to help, but mostly she stared out into the ocean in a state of shock. Benji didn’t really pay much attention to her and did the work of two with a smile. I just hoped Cass would be able to handle this world all the rest of the women had. If it broke her, I wasn’t sure how to deal with that in any kind of simple way.
I threw a piece of the bamboo we’d cut onto the deck of the boat. With a pile on board, I pulled myself over the front wall and walked to the fallen wall. With the help of Sherri, Aubrey, Kara, and Eliza, we lifted the wall back in place and then fitted the bamboo against the wall at a forty-five-degree angle.
We spent the next twenty minutes doing this and got the felled wall upright and braced.
“Man, it would be nice to get all that bamboo,” Sherri said. “It makes for a great material to work with.”
“We just don’t have the room on the boat. We’d be tripping over it.”
