Rocky climbed down the ladder first. When reaching the bottom, he stood beneath it and held his arms out to support his brother should he slip off.

"You don't think Colt could be down here?" Tum tum asks; looking around and seeing nothing but concrete from corner to corner, he shakes his head. "Maybe we should go back up, Colt-.."

Cutting him off, his older says very authoritively. "Could be anywhere. We're looking." Grabbing him by the upper arm, he walks two steps away from the ladder to peer around a corner.

A longer hall is all he sees until a closer looked revealed something brown just off from eyesight.

"Tum, you can stay in the bedroom or you can come with me... your choice."

Tum tum didn't have to think it over, he does NOT want to be left alone in this place. "I'll stay with you."

Smiling, he nods his approval of his brother's choice. Resting an assuring hand on the younger male's back, Rocky leads them down the long hall. The atmosphere is dank, but bright, so it isn't doom and gloomy like the rest of the tiny, cobweb covered home. But then, if this tunnel is often used its really not a wonder that its lined with bare-bulbs hanging on a long rope-like wire.

"Why does it stink like sea water?" Tum tum's nose wrinkles up when a particularly fragrant whaft blew up his nose from their passing by a metal door. "Wonder what's in here?" Grabbing the knob, he gives it a strong tug but it doesn't budge. "Locked."

"It figures." Sighed Rocky. Eyeing the entrance to who-knows-where Rocky with a curious gaze, he kneels to check the lock. "Its locked from the other side." Straightening up, he then turns his attention down the hall. "What's that?"

Leading the way, Rocky carefully inches across the wall until he's close enough to peek around the corner unseen. Relief washed over him when noticing that it wasn't some passed out zombie waiting to strike when they walked by, its simply a crate- a trio of crates to be exact.

"Why are these here?" Tum tum touches them. Looking down he reads the sides. "B.O.W. Hmm." Spotting his brother, he asks.

"I don't know, maybe this is an old storage."

Rocky's attention isn't on the crates any more, its on the seven foot long gaping hole in the middle of the hall filled with murky stanky water. Its moldy and green even!

"Can we jump it?" Leaning over his brother, Tum tum sizes up the distance.

"No. Its too far, and who knows what type of chemicals this water has floating in it." Straightening up, Rocky sighs. "We'll have to turn around."

"Rocky... do you think these'll float?"

The younger boy is standing behind the crates, peering over at his brother.

"...Maybe." Looking the crate over, Rocky touches the one nearest him. "It just might, it feels empty." Grinning at his little brother's brilliance, he cheers him. "Tum tum, it might work!"

Pleased with the praise, he tips himself to get a good pushing footing. Rocky watched the large wooden boxes thump together, and he has to shake his head in dismay.

"Tum, we have to move the one closest in first." He shrugged at how obvious it was.

"Right." Embarrassed, he strains and grunts in attempt to pull the crate back away from the others.

"Watch out." Rocky says.

Giving his little brother a hand from the other side, he shoves the crate down enough so he can fit into the space between the two.

"Okay, now come help me push this one in."

Tum tum joined his brother between the crate and helped giving it a good few shoves until it submerged into the water. The two smile with joy that their makeshift bridge is successful, and quickly work together to shove the other boxes in. It shoved into the originally plunged crate then washed over to the edging in back.

"One more." Rocky says.

"Rocky... we know Colt's not here, right?" Tum tum says when the final crate is in place. "I mean, if he'd come through here then these would already be in place."

"I know." He sighs. "But someone locked that door on the other side, and we need to find out if it was because it was locked before any of this happened, or if Dad came through here- possibly Colt- and locked it to protect theirself."

Stepping one foot down onto the crate he test its strength. It held fast. The cramp of the tight space held them tightly inplace, and the depth of the water kept them afloat. Though slowly, the makeshift bridge is crossed with cautious ease by both boys, one after the other.

They have more hall to go through but the length is much shorter than the original path. The two skid to a stop when seeing waist deep water up ahead.

"So much for avoiding the water." Comments the younger male.

"I'll test it out." Rocky moves forward and dips the tip of his Nike into the shallowest part of the water. "It didn't melt my sneaker." He says upon inspection. "May as well just give it a shot." Kneeling, he hesitates his finger tips over the water.

"Rocky," Tum tum warned.

"I think its ok." He dips his index finger in, pulling it back when the water reached as high as his knuckle. Submerging the rest of his hand, he sighs with relief when there isn't even a slight burning. "Its just water. A pipe must have broken down here."

"I hope this place doesn't flood if we open the doors."

Walking through the water after his brother, he's a little worried when the height surpasses his older brother's due to his shorter size. It's up to his neck for Pete's sake! Metal double doors stand in there way; they look like a serious force to be dealt with. Watching Rocky hold the bar, he takes a grip himself. He's careful to raise his chin when they lean their shoulders against it as well.

"Just hang in there and help me push," Rocky instucts. "there's a lot of water pressure against it."

Switching sides, he sloshed through the water. "We should push the same door, it'll be easier."

"Yeah."

Giving it a great shove, they try again and again, putting as much force behind it as they can. Its not hard to get a footing on the concrete beneath their feet, but its hard on their shoulder's which are giving it everything they've got. There's a hard groan and before the knew it the water was rushing in at a rapid pace!

Rocky grabbed his younger brother under the arms, elevating him above the rushing water while he took the full force of it on the body, though his face is shielded by Tum tum's body.

"Aaahh! Who's there!?" A voice called out beyond the opened door.

Setting his brother down now that the water has leveled off, Rocky and Tum tum rush in to help.

"Richard!" Rocky calls out. "What are you doing here?!" He calls over rushing water.

The room is split leveled, and filled up with water! The entire lower-level is flooded, leaving still a huge amount of water spiraling angrily around their calfs. The entire room is made of metal, they're standing on a metal catwalk framing the upper half of the cylindrical room. And across the room from the two is Richard; he's bandaged and no longer bleeding, but that doesn't mean he's no longer in pain, his body is straining to remain held up and pressed against the bar-lined glass tank?

"Kids! You didn't understand, I wasn't calling you in here!" Richard called out.

Ignoring him, Rocky walks to the edge, reaching out a hand, he calls to him. "Richard, reach for me! I'll pull you over!"

"Get out of here!" He shouts and not just to be heard over the roaring water.

"Why?"

Tum tum saw why, and wide eyed and fearful, he's got a grip on the back of his brother's shirt. "Ro.. Rocky!?"

"Not now Tum, we have to help him." Reaching again, he shouts. "Give me your hand!"

"But Rocky!"

"Watch out!" Richard shouts.

Rocky turned his head then. And he was not prepared for what it is that he sees. Richard leaped across the distance shoving the kids forward and out of the way of the oncoming threat. But that left the S.T.A.R.S member in the path of the great white monster.

A very real Jaws swam up like its own living tidal wave, slapping and swishing the waves about the room as if it controlled them itself. To make matters worse, there are two littler sharks following closely behind.

Tum tum's screams are muffled by Rocky shoving his brother's face into his stomach to shield him from the horror of Richard's death. The poor guy, he never stood a chance; his garbled screams silence not long after the ravenous great white tears into his back, shredding it into pieces so fine the man snapped in two. His legs are still in the beast's mouth, but his upper body floats on top of the water.

"Tum, we have to run." Rocky declares.

The panic in just the way his name was said told Tum tum how urgent the situation just became, and with tugging help from his brother, he's pulled along to the a large door a good many feet ahead of them. The sharks had the advantage, and quickly tailed the two who were considerably slowed by the splashing water.

Rocky couldn't help but to recall a similar situation, that's happened just last year, when he and Colt were down in the sewers and had to run from a fireball. He'd tripped then, but he won't make that mistake this time. Speeding up his pace, he holds tightly to his brother's arm and bounds through the door that came into view. It took a lot of force, but he closed the door swiftly after they'd entered. Sighing with relief, he shrank to his wobbling knees. Even with all they've been through, he can't seem to shake the panic. Each thing seemed worse than the last.

"I guess we know what that sea water smell was." Tum tum kneels down beside his brother. "Did you see that broken tank behind Richard, it was huge!"

Nodding, Rocky swallows to catch his nerves and keep them calm. He did notice the giant fish tank, but he keeps pet sharks? Moreso, how did they get them to be that big?! This lab must have been experimenting on them too, just like everything else. But their own workers, really? How can any of this be real? Not to mention, what the hell does this lab plan to do with these things? Were the diet pills that turn you into zombies an accident, or intentional? Are these sharks just lab monkeys? Their medicinal plants are amazing! So why these other things? Trial and error? Are they planning on keeping it all a secret; abandon the lab and no one will know? Nothing will get out? Well things are getting out, if those dogs are any indication.

'Colt, I don't know where you are... but please be safe.' Rocky prays.

8 8 8

"Mmm." Colt moaned softly.

His eyes begin to twitch as his senses wake up. Before his eyes ever opened he noticed a ripe smell, old and dead... Where is it coming from? Rolling over, he felt his every muscle scream. He whimpered in pain, but pushed his body anyway to roll over onto his stomach. It was that simple act that smashed his face down into something soft enough to push down.

'Why can't I feel it?' He wonders through his cloudy mind.

He's about to sit up when he hears heavy foot steps in the distance. Too heavy to be either of his brothers, not likely his father's. Even then, they're too heavy for his steps as well.

'Why is my face wet?' He wonders. Touching his face very slowly, so that whomever is approaching doesn't notice his movements. 'There's something on my face! But what?'

He's physically startled when a loud metal groan sounds through the room. Its more quiet than it should be, though.

'Does that mean I'm underground?' He wonders.

Colt remembers all the sounds that went on when they were on Snyder's ship, they were loud and obnoxious. He's not on a ship, though he can hear water rushing somewhere... or dripping. It's this sort of wet movement.

"Y..OO Waaahk?" A hoarse voice says over where Colt assumed the door is. "Maa eerrr? YOO Waak?"

"Hhha!"

Colt leapt out of his skin, thumping his back against a- unknown to him- near wall, he scoots to the farthest reach on what he's discovered is a large dirty bed. Breathing heavy, Colt looks frantically around the room for something- anything!- that can battle the large creature. Finding nothing on hand, he puts up his fist in the basic battle stance. Fist balled hands with one arm set forward to guard his chest to defend, and the other back to attack; he waits for the coming blow. But the unexpected happens.

The large thing that bashed him over the head and dragged him down into wherever this is, clapped its long fingered hands together- with some difficulty due to an old-style shackle keeping the wrist bound. It then reached for him, stroking his cheek tenderly; Colt felt whatever sticky thing was on his face being pressed in against him, but the initial stroking was sort of muffled by the obstruction.

"Haa Hood." It garbled at him before moving over to a small table.

Colt blinked in confusion. Whatever is on his face bent and ruined his eyelashes, each blink has them dipping into his vision blurring it more than his headache already was.

"Maaher Come!"

It slammed the rusty metal brace down onto the metal floor, and in movement far faster than it should have it crosses the room in a way that ressembles a large ape's gallop.

"Oh shi-.." He panicked.

And with good reason as the creatures hands hit the floor to support its rising lanky legs, that in a single sweep slap Colt right across the back sending him sprawling out across the bed. It should have hurt a lot more than that, but he sensed that the creature went easy on him, for some reason.

Getting the hint, he raises his hands in defensive surrender. "Okay, okay... I come." He mimics its speech in order to maybe communicate with it properly. "I come." He moves over to the table, and takes a seat on one of the filthy pink cushions resting on an iron chair.

That seemed to satisfy the monster, and she joined him for tea. Lifting the rusty kettle, she tips it over his cup. Murky muddy water splashes all over the place due to the size of the cup and the distance its being poured. Colt hoped like hell she doesn't want him to honestly drink it. He just doesn't think he can do it, not for all the fear in the world. It even has a thick worm squiggling around in it. Although, it seems kinda thin for a worm. Is it a snake?

He looks closer, his longish hair dipped forward.

"I DO."

Startled by it speaking to him, he wonders what its on about, and finds out soon when his head is grabbed after she produces a brush from a drawer on a busted dresser. She must live down here, its completely a tiny little girl's room. Pink this, fluffy that, no matter how busted or dirty it may be, its still the makings of a young girl's bedroom. The weight of the brace rests heavily on the back of his head, dipping it forward for him. The bristles of the brush dig in clean to his scalp. He can feel each run through over his head.

He complained gently when the sharp edge of the wrist brace poked him in the back of his upper shoulder when the girl grabbed his hair into a small ponytail.

"YOO BE-OOO!" A mirror is lifted to him.

Colt's eyes go wide when he sees not his own reflection, but a woman's! Touching his face caused the stick substance to move out from the nose holes, empty eye sockets before his own, and the empty mouth. Its like a Halloween mask gone rogue, because this is real skin, a real face... and its been sewn into his skin!

Colt sucked in a breath, and he screamed! Trying to calm him, but with no success, the large creature chose to put him back to sleep. Raising his brace, she locks her hands into a fist and smashing them down into the center of his back. Lights out.

5 5 5

"Why does it look like we're in a submarine?" Tum tum asked when he'd finally recovered from their breather on the door.

"Don't know, but there's a ladder over here." Crawling over to a hole in the floor, he looks down below. "I'm gonna drop a gun down to check and see if anyone's down there."

"Do you think anyone could have made it past the sharks?"

"No. But these things are practically immortal now that they're living again, so anything is possible." Removing his gun from the back waistband of his jeans, he drops it down into the hole.

The sound was loud enough to resonate around the room, but it didn't sound too spacious down below.

"I think we're good." He positions himself to go down the ladder, pausing when his brother grabbed him by the shoulder. "What?"

"Rocky," He releases him now that he has his attention. "You don't think this is that lab Jill was talking about? We can't leave without Colt or Dad."

"I know. If this is the the main lab, then we're gonna secure the area, if we can... And then we'll go back and look for them."

"Okay."

Climbing down the ladder, Tum tum not four rungs behind, Rocky gets to ground floor first. Looking around, he sees a door not far ahead of them, and an entry way directly left. Walking in, Rocky sees nothing but tons of machines and levers. He's unsure of what they do, but he can guess it for monitoring the sharks. He can even see them swimming around through three large windows.

"There's a lot of water blocking the door. We can get through it we can drain it." Tum tum says.

"That could be what these machines are for." Rocky looks them over. "See if you can find an owner's manual or something."

"Right." They scan the desk top for any paper giving instructions on opperating the machine.

"Here's a map of this place."

"Not very big," Rocky looks it over. "I think maybe we.."

A loud crash silenced the 2, and they look frantically around for the source of the sound. Its the sharks! They see them! They're swimming th circle to gather speed and they're slamming themselves into the glass.

"Its ok... they won't be able to break it."

But Rocky spoke too soon. The glass just got a huge crack in it...

Rocky's heart began to pound like a jackhamer. They'll drown if those windows break! Looking around, he sees that the windows have large shutters rolled up over them. "Tum, we have to close the shutters!" Moving over to the machines, he spots a large bar-handle lever. "Could be." Giving it a pull he waits to see what happens.

The shutters start rolling down, but stop.

"Unidentified pressure source detected."

"Pressure?" He responds to the machine. "Where?"

"Safety system engaged, now locking door."

"Don't!" Turning around, he looks for something that'll release the pressure.

"Critical pressure 10%."

He pulls one lever behind him, but the windows don't close. Turning, he pulls the lever behind him. The begin to roll down a bit, but stop half way.

"Aaah!" The two rock back and forth when the body slam was strong enough to shake the entire room.

"Please add additional oil to pressure to stabilize use."

"Where's the oil valve?"

"Rocky, back here!"

He fell on his way back when the great white slammed into the glass again. It isn't leaking, but the crack has gotten larger.

"But there're three. Which one supplies it?" He wonders.

"You go in the room and look, I'll turn 'em."

"Okay." Returning to the back room, he stands and waits.

"This is number three."

Rocky waits. "Nothing."

"This is... number one!"

The alarm is going off, and the pressure is growing. Its reached 70%. They don't wanna think about what's going to happen at 100%. The first valve tugged the shutters up back into their post, and Rocky knew that had to mean something. Pressing both levers again, the first one on the right of him, then the one on the right the shutters slide closed.

Both heaved a sigh of relief, hugging out their anxieties.

A sound all to familiar with childhood soon filled the room then after. The sound of water going down a drain like it would when you've been pulled from the tub, and the water is being drained. A beep sounds off the right of the main room. The door is unlocked.

5 5 5

"Uuuhh," Colt groaned.

Raising his head slowly from the table, he looks blearily around the room. The monster is still there with him, but she's not moving. She's laying on the bed, from what it sounds, fast asleep.

'Now's my chance to get out of here.' Slowly, he gets up from the table.

As quietly as possible, he walks through the tiny room; limbs shaky from the hit over the head, he's wabbling back and forth. But he has the close space walls to hold him up as he makes his way to anywhere but there. It felt like he'd been running forever, he's just plain out of breath as he moves.

He yelps when something brushes his hand. He can't see through the dark waist high water, but if the present in his cup of mud was anything to go by, he just brushed his hand into a snake. By, he moves even faster down the dark tunnel. He can feel the ripples coming at him at top speed, the snakes are chasing him!

"Come on, come on." He coached his shaking thick legs to move better.

The hissing bounced off the walls in the worst way, it threatened his panicked nerves that the snakes were closer than he liked to think, and he nearly smacked his face into a ladder when he'd glanced over his shoulder as he ran.

"Thank you, thank you." He praised his guardian as he climbed his way to where he hoped was a safe haven.