FRENZY OF FURY
THIS IS INSPIRED COMPLETELY BY A SHORT STORY IN THE BOOK 'THE LAST STORY' BY CHRISTOPHER PIKE. THE SHORT STORY ITSELF WAS A BASIC IDEA FOR A FAKE MOVIE DEA IN THE BOOK. I TOOK THIS IDEA AND TWISTED IT INTO A NIGHT WORLD VERSION; THEREFORE THE IDEA IS NOT MINE, NOR IS THE NIGHT WORLD CHARACTERS. NOTHING IS INTENDED… I SIMPLY THOUGHT IT WOULD BE AMUSING TO BRING THIS TO LIFE… NIGHT WORLDER STYLE.
WARNING: SOME CUSSING (YEAH, I'M SHOCKED TOO, BUT I HAD TO PUT IT IN HERE) AND MAJOR CHARACTER DEATH… MINOR CHARACTER SURVIVAL.
It was a clear, bright day- the kind that normally screams optimism. The weather itself was wonderful- but the atmosphere was not.
Eight teenagers stood scattered apart upon the main deck of a yacht, scared for their lives. They were sailing through the Florida Keyes- for 'pleasure', as they had been assured by their host.
The waters around them proved to be tranquil- at first. The wondrous water was the perfect Caribbean color- a beauteous mix of blue and green. A soft breeze whizzed throughout the air, gently causing the hair of the girls on board the yacht to sway.
Those present were all friends- James Rasmussen and his girlfriend Poppy North, as well as Ash Redfern and his girlfriend Mary-Lynette. Others included John Quinn- who went by Quinn –and his companion, Rashel Jordan, along with Morgead Blackthorn and Jez Redfern to accompany him. Galen Drache and Raksha Keller- who went by Keller –completed the group. They all attended the same high school- in which Hunter Redfern, Ash and Jez's uncle, was the principal.
Hunter (or Mr. Redfern, as they called him), had decided to allow his niece and nephew bring along a group of friends to enjoy a day out at sea. Just a day to 'relax; one to lay back and watch the clouds', as he had told them. But this once seemingly perfect day was turning into a downhill nightmare… at an alarming rate.
"This boat has a bomb set to go off in ten minutes exactly," Hunter said, allowing the teenagers to look at him as he spoke softly. "There are two lifeboats- and I will be taking one of them. The other has a canister of gasoline and a compass in it. It holds up to three people- a larger capacity would cause it to immediately sink. And we wouldn't want that in these shark-infested waters, now would we?"
"These waters haven't had any sharks all day! We've seen none," Keller said, exasperated.
"Ah, that is untrue. Partially, anyway." Hunter began to speak once more, with the same distinctly dangerous and venomous ring to his tone. "While you idiots were downstairs in the cabin fooling around, I was trailing slabs of beef throughout the water. Which has only whetted the sharks' appetites; I'm sure they are hungry. Bottom line, there are ten of you. Only three will survive- if you are that lucky. It is up to you entirely which three will take the lifeboat… or you could all stay and attempt to disarm the bomb. Either way, time is ticking, and I must go. Enjoy yourselves."
Hunter then jumped off the edge of the boat.
Everyone gasped, and ran towards the nearest rail. Hunter hadn't been stupid or lying- he'd landed perfectly into one of the two lifeboats the yacht had to offer and was already preparing to speed away- for the boat had a motor.
"That jerk! He planned this! The boat was ready to leave- it had gas and everything!" Morgead bellowed.
"What are we going to do?" Poppy asked, hysterical.
"We'll do this!" Galen yelled, and jumped down into the boat with Hunter.
Whirling, Hunter pulled a gun out of his belt. Galen threw himself at Hunter, who disregarded the teen with a shot to the head. The force of the blow knocked Galen backwards into the water- where a frenzy of sharks immediately gathered for the fresh meat.
The teenagers on board watched in horror as Galen was torn to pieces.
"At least the gun killed him before he got to the sharks," Jez said.
Keller pushed her.
Jez flailed, immediately sliding backwards across the deck after falling. She landed up against the rail, with an outraged Keller hot on her heels.
"You BITCH!" Keller screamed, insanely furious. "I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU JUST SAID THAT!" Keller transformed immediately into an angrier version of herself, and a stronger one as well. She picked Jez up and threw her over the railing- then laughed maniacally as the sharks ate her. Jez's shrieks pierced the rail- each one like a thorn on a rose inflicting pain to an innocent child.
"NO!" Morgead screamed, and threw himself at Keller. Both tumbled over board- into the shark infested waters as well.
After several more shrieks, the remaining six teenagers began to fret.
They began screaming vile things at each other- and were progressing closer and closer to the point of pushing and shoving as the seconds ticked by.
"Everybody calm down!" Rashel screamed. "Don't you see what he's done to us? He didn't intend for the bomb to kill us- Mr. Redfern knew we'd kill each other first!"
"We need to disarm that bomb," James said. "Get down below! Now!"
Everyone raced down a narrow flight of steps- single file. They came to a large safe in an empty, dank, and concealed room, which was slowly filling with water.
"There's a leak somewhere! We need to crack open this safe and disarm the bomb, and fast!" James commanded.
"We probably have somewhere around five minutes left," Quinn put in.
The thought sickened the friends- in only five minutes, four of their own had died. And only one had died from the man who started the whole situation- the other deaths were from the real killers: themselves. Them. Teenagers, friends, who no longer trusted each other. Under the stress of death and betrayal, they were being forced to resorting to the killing of others.
"I found a wire! Maybe if I bite through it, it will help us in some way!" Rashel shouted, and bit down before anyone could object.
"You IDIOT!" Ash said. "The wire isn't grounded-"
Before he could finish the sentence, Rashel shrieked and dropped to the floor. The wire was bit in half- and she was dead.
"RASHEL!" Quinn shouted.
"We need to figure something else out- there's no way we can disarm this thing in time!" Poppy shouted.
Ash put a hand on Quinn's shoulder. "We need to go- you can only save yourself now."
Quinn turned, tangible fury emanating from his aura. "Shut the hell up!" he roared, and decked Ash.
Ash fell to the ground with a hard thud, boards splintering beneath them. He had fallen so hard, he'd actually crashed through the bottom of the boat!
The room was rapidly filling with water.
"We need to get upstairs!" James yelled, grabbing Poppy and running.
Mary-Lynette clasped Quinn's hand and ran behind him. They were the only four left.
Once on the top deck once more, the teenagers stopped, panting, with their hands on their knees.
"What are we going to do?" Mary-Lynette asked. "Everyone is dead! They've killed each other, or themselves!"
"We should all try to fit into the last lifeboat. I'm sure that Mr. Redfern meant that three of us could fit without it sinking- even three guys and no girls. Poppy and Mare, you guys don't weigh any more than either James or I, so we should be fine," Quinn stated. For having just killed Ash, both he and Mary-Lynette were extremely calm.
At that moment, survival mattered more than grudges. Mare hadn't said anything; Quinn wasn't angry with her. Quinn hadn't meant to kill Ash; he just meant to knock him unconscious. The force of his landing was what had killed him.
"Agreed," James said.
"Same here," Poppy spoke.
"Then let's move!" Quinn bellowed.
The four of them swiftly climbed down the yacht's ladder to the one remaining lifeboat- painstakingly ignoring the red streaks staining the once-beautiful waters. Shark fins were present everywhere the eye could see; hundreds upon hundreds of them.
With as minimal shuffling as possible, the four managed to fit all of them into the small lifeboat. It wasn't sinking!
"We have gas and a compass, so we should head away from these sharks to begin with, then head to land, right?" Mary-Lynette asked.
"No. Think about it," James began. "If we get to land, Mr. Redfern is caught red-handed. All exclusive evidence will be present."
"So he's waiting. Somewhere." Quinn replied, his tone flat.
"He knew there was a chance of us getting away. I doubt he's watching at this very moment- but he's sure as hell about to come circling back to check soon." James added.
"How do we get out of this situation, then?" Poppy asked. "If he's coming back, he'll kill us. He has a gun!"
"I'll hide." James said.
"What?" the three others replied simultaneously.
"The lifeboat's been moving without us knowing it. When we untied ourselves from the yacht, it began to drift away, and we didn't notice it all the time we've been talking. Look around- there aren't any sharks in this area."
Surprisingly, after a quick look across the Keyes, the three others could barely make out the yacht in the distance- which suddenly turned into a large cloud of dust.
"I guess the ten minutes are finally up," Poppy said.
"It seems like it's been forever!" Mary-Lynette cried, tears prickling in her eyes. "We've had six of our friends die of completely unnatural causes in ten minutes!"
"Calm down. I'll get us out of this. Now, back to my plan of hiding," James told them.
"How can you hide? We're trapped on a lifeboat the size of a tin can!" Quinn exclaimed.
"I'll hang onto the side of the boat- my body underwater. When Mr. Redfern comes back- which is inevitable –I'll swim underneath our boat, to the back of his. I'll pull myself up onto the boat and come up behind him. Just keep him distracted, and we have a shot at survival here."
The group couldn't argue- James' plan was the best –and craziest- they had to offer.
With him hanging onto the edge of the boat, the other three sat and waited. Within minutes, another moving object on the horizon caught their attention.
Mr. Redfern was advancing towards them-quickly. His lifeboat's motor was whirring at full speed. The angle was perfect- there was no way he'd be able to see James. Finally, a bit of luck had come the teenagers' way.
"Get ready. He's almost here," Poppy whispered to James over the side of the lifeboat. "Be safe."
Within two minutes, Mr. Redfern had pulled up beside them. "So, you made it this far. I'm quite impressed- I honestly thought that none of you would make it off that boat." he said.
"You bet your ass we got off, and you can bet your ass we'll be getting out of this, too," Quinn spoke.
The girls remained silent, their faces grave and phlegmatic.
"So you're the alpha-male? Or, should I say, so you think you're the alpha-male here?" Hunter asked. "Too bad for you I can't let you go- it'd risk me getting caught. And I don't want that. You see, this game is all about what I want. So I win." he removed his gun from his belt once more, and aimed it at Quinn's head.
"I don't think so!" James yelled, jumping on Hunter from behind. He grabbed Hunter's arm- the one holding the gun- and the sound of a gunshot resonated throughout the air.
Hunter screamed in pain- James had twisted his arm so the bullet had landed in the principal's shoulder.
Hunter slumped down in his small lifeboat, his bloody arm trickling crimson into the water.
"Sharks! James! Get away from any blood!" Poppy screamed.
James took one step back, and leaped into the lifeboat holding his surviving friends.
Quinn dumped the canister of gas into the tank, and the boat roared to life.
The four teens sped away, only stopping to look back at the bloody mess of water where Hunter had been laying only moments before.
"North is that way," Poppy said, pointing to the left.
"How did you know? Because you're last name is North?" Mary-Lynette asked.
"No… because there was a compass in here…" Poppy responded.
Mary-Lynette blushed.
The four were headed toward shore; toward safety. How they would explain the event, which had all taken place in a mere twenty minutes, they had no clue. The important matter was that they had survived.
Yupp. That's got to be the most fast-paced thing I've EVER written. The book that gave me the idea didn't have much- and I didn't really feel the need to add anything. It kills me to have Daybreakers die… but AT LEAST this isn't Strange Fate, right?
Sooo… feedback? Please? Too brief? Too brisk? Hate it?
Thanks yas. (:
~Laura~
