Author's Note:
Ready for the bloodbath? Me too. Let's get to it.
Gwen was startled awake by Chef's shout. "Everyone up!" She shot up in fear as the rest of the survivors slowly woke as well. Which was when she noticed the water leaking in from one of the barricaded doors.
"What's going on?" she asked.
"Our nightmare scenario," Chef grunted. "That damned thing's trying to flood the ship."
"What do you mean?" Cody asked.
"Found a hole at the back of the ship," Chef explained. "Too big to fix. We're going down."
Gwen noticed then that the ship was leaning a little bit, confirming Chef's story. "What do we do?" she asked.
"Everyone get to the top deck," Chef ordered. "We're abandoning ship."
"Abandoning ship?!" Courtney exclaimed. "Are you insane? That—that thing is still out there! We don't stand a chance out in open water in a lifeboat!"
"It's the only chance we got," Chef told her. "Unless you'd rather be swimming in shark infested water. Any takers?"
No one spoke up.
"That's what I thought. Now, everyone get up to the top deck!"
"Move it, asshole." Eva grabbed Mayor McLean and shoved him forward to the stairs.
"Why are we taking him along again?" Heather asked. "We should just leave him to die."
"We can't do that," Bridgette protested. "He may have been the jerk that unleashed that monster, but he's still a human being."
"Yeah, a human being with a lot of blood on his hands," Duncan reminded her. "I'm with Heather; we should just leave him to die."
"Quit your yapping!" Chef barked from the top of the stairs. "I said everyone get up here! That includes you, McLean. If we get out of this, you'll face justice for what you did."
"We'll see," McLean replied. "The Drama Corporation is a lot stronger than you think."
"Watch it, or I might make that justice be me throwing you overboard, McLean!" McLean's mouth snapped closed as he faced the prospect of being fed to Fang.
"Hey, uh, Gwen?" Gwen looked over to see Trent standing behind her.
"What do you want, Trent?" she asked coldly, folding her arms over her chest.
"I, uh…" He rubbed the back of his head. "I wanted to apologize for last night. I was way out of line. I'm sorry."
"You're sorry?"
"Look, Duncan just rubs me the wrong way, okay? He's not exactly the best guy. And I do care about you, Gwen. I want to make sure that you're safe and you're not getting hurt by anyone."
"I know, Trent," Gwen replied. "You're one of my best friends. Just…try to accept Duncan, okay? He's not bad once you get to know him."
Trent nodded. "Fine. I'll try. But I still don't like him."
"What are you two doing down there still!" Gwen startled, realizing that she and Trent were now alone in the lounge.
"We're coming, Chef!" Gwen hurried up the stairs, Trent hot on her heals. Everyone was gathering up on top, where the tilting was becoming even more apparent.
"What's the plan, Chef?" Trent asked.
"We're getting the lifeboats deployed," Chef explained, aiming his rifle around. "After that we're getting off this doomed ship."
"How many lifeboats do we have?" DJ asked.
"Not many. And we can thank that damned monster for that."
"How many exactly do we have?" Heather asked.
"Two. One up here and one near the back."
"What about those motorboats?" Trent asked.
"Underwater," Chef grunted. "The shark took care them first."
"How are nineteen people going to fit in two lifeboats?" Courtney asked.
"We just need the lifeboats long enough until the rescue party arrives," Chef told her.
"How are they going to find us without the Wawanakwa?" Bridgette asked.
Chef reached into his bag and pulled out a flare gun. "With this. As soon as they get close, I'll signal them with the flare gun."
"If we live that long," Heather pointed out snootily.
"Um, has anyone actually seen that shark today?" Cody asked.
"It's probably still out there," Harold guessed. "Lurking under the water, waiting for us to make a mistake so it can eat us."
"Or it's still digesting Owen," Alejandro added.
"Dude," Geoff hissed as Izzy shot Alejandro a death glare. "Not cool."
"Enough talk," Chef ordered. "Let's get those lifeboats in the water and—"
CRASH! Fang leaped onto the deck of the boat with a snarl and a flurry of gnashing teeth. Several of the teens screamed and backed away as the shark stalked towards McLean. Chef aimed his rifle and fired a flurry of rounds, but the bullets didn't do anything.
"Face me, you piece of shit!" Chef ran at the shark, still shooting. Fang swung around and tried to bite at Chef, but the big man was too quick, sliding under the jaw and firing another two rounds directly into the shark's face. The shark growled and backhanded him, sending him crashing into a wall.
"Chef!" Bridgette cried. Fang, meanwhile, was advancing closer to McLean, who was backing away in fear. Duncan, Eva, and Izzy all fired at the shark with their own guns, but nothing was stopping the beast from getting his next meal.
"Help!" McLean pleaded, now pushed to the wall of the boat as Fang bored down on him. But there was nothing anyone could do.
"D-don't eat me! Please!" McLean pleaded one last time to the monster. But Fang, growling with intense hate, opened his mouth and bit down on McLean's upper torso. The man's struggle ceased instantly as the shark feasted on his guts.
Gwen winced at the bloodiness of McLean's death. But some of the others seemed unfazed.
"You want some more, fish freak!" Eva threw her gun aside, running at Fang. "Let's go again!"
She pummeled the shark directly in the mouth. Fang roared in pain and stumbled back as a single tooth snapped off, clattering to the deck. Eva continued her attack by smacking Fang in the side and stomping on his foot.
"That's right!" Eva yelled as the shark was forced back. "Get out of here, you slimy sonova—"
Fang caught her next hit and twisted her hand, breaking it with a loud SNAP! Eva's mocking turned to a cry of pain as the shark ripped her hand clean off and stuffed it in its already blood-soaked. She sank to her knees as blood spurted from her wound.
Fang, seeing her weakness, grabbed her and held her in the air. Eva, despite her pain, narrowed her eyes at her killer. "Choke on my bones," she growled.
Fang just shrugged and tore Eva in half, spilling her guts and entrails everywhere before taking a big bite from one of the halves.
"That's it"! Izzy threw aside her gun and took her own turn attacking the shark. "You ate Owen, you fucking bastard! I'm going to make you suffer!" Gone was the crazy in her; all that was left was pure, psychotic rage. Unfortunately, Fang threw off her crazed attacks and threw her aside before setting his sights on Gwen. She froze in shock as the monster bore down on her.
She cursed and stumbled back as the shark lunged at her. But before Fang could attack, Trent got in his way, tackling the monster. "You leave her alone!" he yelled, wielding his guitar and smashing it into the shark. The guitar broke in half and Fang swiped at him, cutting a deep gash into his chest.
"Trent!" Gwen ran to his side as he held his chest in pain. Fang moved closer, flashing them a savage grin and opening his mouth. Gwen shut her eyes, bracing for the brief pain that would end with her death—
With a howl, Chef leaped on the shark's back, stabbing at it with a large combat knife. Fang tried shaking the man off, but he held strong, stabbing at him again and again.
"Get the flare gun!" Chef bellowed, struggling to hang on to his opponent. Gwen snapped herself out of her stupor of seeing Trent in a rough state and ran to Chef's discarded bag, fumbling around for the flare gun. As she gripped it, Chef let out a grunt of pain as the shark ran backwards into the wall, smashing the big man into it and knocking him out cold. He slumped to the ground and Fang turned around, ready to bite down on the war veteran.
"Hey!" Gwen yelled, taking aim with the flare gun. As Fang turned around, Gwen closed her eyes, said a small prayer, and pulled the trigger. There was a loud POP and a flash of light as a red flare fired from the gun, striking the shark in face. It roared in pain, stumbling around, blinded before running off and leaping back over the railing and back into the water.
Gwen sighed with relief. "Check on Chef!" she yelled at the others. No one moved; everyone seemed to be frozen in shock.
"Come on, guys!" she yelled. Bridgette moved first, running over and checking Chef's pulse.
"He's alive!" she reported. "But he's out cold!"
Gwen dropped the flare gun and ran to Trent, who was lying on the ground. Leshawna soon came to her as well.
"Trent!" Gwen got down next to him and pressed a hand to his bleeding wound. "Are you okay?"
"Been better," he grunted, wincing in pain.
"It don't look good for him, girl," Leshawna told Gwen. "We gotta get him out of here."
Gwen took a few deep breaths to clam her racing nerves. "You're right. Let's get him and Chef to the lifeboat up here. Let's also get someone to get to the lifeboat on the other side of the ship."
"Yeah, about that," Duncan spoke up. "I think we've already got some people going to it."
Gwen looked around and finally realized that two people were missing. She let out a groan. "Where are Heather and Alejandro?"
Alejandro finished lowering the lifeboat with himself and Heather inside. "We're ready to go," he said. He couldn't hear the sounds of fighting anymore. Which meant that the others were either dead or had chased the shark off. Either way, he and Heather had to get out of there.
Now that they were in the water, he could see that the ship was in rough shape. There were even more holes in the hull than Chef had thought. Alejandro guessed that it wouldn't be too much longer before the entire ship would be underwater.
"So let's get moving then," Heather told him. "While that thing snacks on everyone else, we can get the hell out of here."
"Si," Alejandro agreed, grabbing the oars and starting to row the two of them away from the sinking Wawanakwa.
Did he feel any remorse about leaving the others behind? Of course not. It was survival of the fittest. And no one else on the boat was fit enough to live. Only the strong would survive, and no one was stronger than Alejandro.
The water around the lifeboat began to bubble. Alejandro froze, peering over the edge.
"What is it?" Heather asked. "What are you—"
The lifeboat shot out of the water as Fang popped up under it. Alejandro went flying, landing with a splash next to the ladder on the side of the ship. He spat out some water as Heather surfaced next to him.
"Up the ladder, Heather!" Alejandro could see the fin of Fang turning around and heading right for them. He gripped the ladder and started climbing, Heather hot on his heels.
As he climbed, he felt the ladder shake. He looked down to see Fang gripping the ladder, starting to tear it down. Heather slipped on the next rung and fell, but grabbed the rung and clung on for dear life.
"Don't just stand there gawking, Alejandro!" Heather yelled. "Help me up!"
Alejandro looked from her back down at the shark, who was now climbing the ladder himself. "What are you doing?" Heather demanded. "Keep moving, you son of a bitch!"
Alejandro made a decision. "Alas, I'm afraid this is where we part ways, my dear."
Her eyes widened as she realized what he was about to do. "You bastar—" She was cut off as Alejandro stomped on her hands, causing her to fall back down the ladder. Fang was taken off guard too as Heather smashed into him, sending both back into the water.
Heather surfaced first. "You bastard!" she yelled back up at him. "You'll pay for this! I swear to God, I'll make you pay for—"
Heather's curses stopped as something dragged her under the water. A few seconds later, blood began to float to the surface.
Alejandro gave a silent farewell to the prettiest girl he had ever met before continuing his climb.
There will be other girls, Alejandro, he told himself.
Provided he survived, of course.
Alive: Alejandro, Bridgette, Chef Hatchet, Cody, Courtney, DJ, Duncan, Fang, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Izzy, Leshawna, Noah, Sierra, Trent
Dead: Katie, Sadie, Blaineley, Beth, Tyler, Lindsay, Justin, Owen, Chris McLean, Eva, Heather
Let's take a moment to process those deaths. Especially that last death. Did anyone expect Heather to die in this? I'm sure, at least, some were expecting Heather and Alejandro to try to leave everyone to their fate.
I also want to give a shoutout to Kyle Eaton, who correctly guessed that the Wawanakwa was going to sink. The ship was never going to survive this story. As for its final demise, well...you'll have to wait until the next chapter to find that out. Which might come tomorrow if I keep this momentum and focus going. We'll see. There's only two chapters left now. We're in the home stretch, people!
Anywho, that's all from me. Make sure you hit that favorite/follow button if you want to stay informed on future updates, and don't forget to drop a review to let me know how I'm doing. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, reminding you to keep writing if you've got the momentum, even when that writing takes you past the time you originally planned to go to bed. Ciao!