Author's Note:
We're in the endgame now, my friends. Who will round out the casualty list? Time to find out.
"That's just great!" Courtney complained. "Heather and Alejandro just left us to die!"
"Honestly, we should've seen that one coming," Cody admitted.
"Forget them," Gwen spoke up. "We need to get out of here." At this point, the ship was tilting back enough that some of the things on the deck that weren't tied down—such as what was left of both McLean and Eva—were sliding back. "This ship isn't going to last much longer.
"Fifteen of us aren't going to fit in there," Duncan noted.
"We'll have to try," Gwen insisted. "It's either that or stay here and die. Help Chef into the boat." She helped Trent to his feet and started to carry him to the lifeboat.
"It's not like we'll get far with Fang still out there," Bridgette spoke quietly as Geoff pulled her close.
"I'm not letting my Codykins get eaten by an oversized guppy!" Sierra declared, squeezing Cody tightly despite his struggles to get free.
"Then we kill that thing," Izzy decided. "We kill it and give it payback for killing our friends."
"In case you haven't noticed, crazy girl, Chef's guns are useless," Leshawna reminded her. "Fang's skin is too tough for these."
"Then let's hit it with something bigger," Duncan spoke up.
"We don't have anything bigger," Noah told him. "We have pea shooters, and that's about it."
A flash of movement caught Gwen's eye. She swung around and raised a pistol as something came from the back of the deck.
"Woah, woah!" Alejandro threw his hands up. "It's just me."
"Alejandro?! I thought you left us behind!" Courtney exclaimed.
"Alas, that was all Heather's doing," Alejandro explained. "I didn't want to leave you behind, but she insisted that we do."
"And where's Heather then?" Duncan challenged.
"Sadly, she didn't make it. Fang devoured her before my eyes. I tried to save her, but I was too late."
Gwen didn't trust him. Alejandro was an eel dipped in oil (as Noah once referred to him as). It was more likely that he simply left Heather to die. Not that Gwen cared too much. Heather was a bitch. Out of everyone that had died on this cruise, she was the only one that she wouldn't miss.
But there was no time to challenge Alejandro's claim. They had to get out of here. "Just get in the lifeboat, everyone!" she yelled.
"Uh—bad idea!" Geoff called. "It's right below us!"
Gwen ran to the side and looked over, seeing a shark fin poking up from the water, circling right below the raised lifeboat. "Damnit," she swore.
"Now what?!" Courtney asked. "If we go down there, we're all going to die."
"Not if we blow the ship." Everyone looked at Chef, who was just coming to. He let out a groan as he slowly sat up.
"Chef! Are you okay?" Bridgette asked.
"Been better. But we need to blow this ship."
"Blow the ship?" Harold repeated. "As in, blow the entire ship up?"
"That's exactly what I'm saying."
"How does that help us?" DJ asked.
"Easy. There's enough fuel in the engine room to blow the Wawanakwa sky high. Someone needs to lure that thing down there and blow the fuel up. The explosion should destroy the ship and the shark."
"And whoever's going down there," Noah noted.
"Chef, you're talking about a suicide mission," Geoff told him.
Chef grunted. "I wouldn't suggest it if I didn't already decide to do it myself." He struggled to get out of the lifeboat, but couldn't get to his feet.
"You're in no condition to run," Bridgette told him. "You'll never make it."
"I'm not letting one of you kids sacrifice yourself like this," Chef insisted. "I can't ask any of you to do this."
"So don't ask," Duncan decided. "I'll do it."
"Duncan, no!" Gwen exclaimed.
Duncan ignored her. "Everyone get in the boat," he told the others. "I'll take care of the shark."
The others (probably happy that someone else was doing the job) quickly went to the lifeboat. Gwen, however, got closer to Duncan. "You can't do this, Duncan," she insisted.
"No one else is quick enough or strong enough to make it there," Duncan told her. "Besides…hell of a way to go out."
"You don't need to prove that you can be good," Gwen pleaded. "Just come with us. We'll figure something out."
Duncan gently took her hands and slid his knife into her palm. "Something to remember me by."
"Duncan—"
Duncan kissed her on the cheek and shoved her into the lifeboat. "Make those bastards at the Drama corporation pay!"
"Duncan!" Gwen tried to get out of the lifeboat, but Chef managed to hold her back.
"Let him go, kid," Chef told her gently.
"But—"
"Hey, fish face!" Duncan's voice shouted down at the shark. He pulled a pistol out and fired a few rounds down at Fang. "Fresh meat! Come at get me!"
Fang poked his head out, looking annoyed. But he didn't take the bait; he just looked at the lifeboat instead, as if sensing the larger meal of people inside.
"It's not working," Courtney hissed.
"Hey! Fish face!" Duncan's voice called again. He was poking his head over the side of the Wawanakwa, holding a large tooth. "You want your tooth?! Come and get it!"
That got Fang's attention. With a growl, he focused on Duncan and leaped back onto the deck as Duncan vanished from sight.
"Go!" Chef ordered. "Drop the lifeboat and let's get the hell out of here!"
Duncan ran through the ship, jumping down the hall and heading for the engine room. He could feel the hot breath of Fang right on his tail. "That's right!" he yelled over his shoulder, tapping the tooth against the wall as he ran. "Follow me!"
Running towards his doom, he felt a surprising sense of calm. He wasn't afraid to sacrifice himself at all. Hell, it was probably the most meaningful thing he'd ever done in his life. And to go out with a bang, taking the shark with him? There was no better way to go out.
His only regret was that he wasn't going to see the Drama Corporation go down. If McLean was anything to go by, they were all a bunch of scumbags. Fang wouldn't be the end of their machinations. There were probably other experiments out there just as deadly as the shark.
Would the others be able to stop them? Would they want to?
The engine room was just up ahead. Duncan pushed himself faster, barreling into the room and sealing the door behind him. Less than a second later, Fang began pounding on it, causing several large dents in it.
Duncan knew he had to work fast. He quickly found large cannisters of fuel and began opening them up, dumping what he could on the floor. The fuel began to pool around him, soaking his shoes.
The pounding got louder as the metal started to tear. Duncan gritted his teeth and worked faster. He opened more fuel pumps, spilling more and more fuel everywhere. "That'll have to do," he decided as Fang finally burst through the door.
Duncan bravely turned around as Fang ran at him with a large snarl. He said a final goodbye to Gwen as he took Chef's lighter out of his pocket and flicked it open. "You're done, shark boy," he told it.
Fang paused, looking confused.
Duncan held up the lighter with a grin. "Smile, you son of a bitch." And he let the lighter fall.
The lifeboat, overburdened with people, was only about a hundred yards away from the Wawanakwa when the entire ship exploded in a massive fireball. Pieces of the ship went flying in all directions, splashing down everywhere.
"Duncan," Gwen whispered, hanging her head in mourning.
A weak hand grasped her own. Trent. "I guess…he wasn't that bad of a guy after all," he said with a groan.
"Do you think the shark's still alive?" Cody asked.
"It'd have come after us by now if it was," Chef told him. "Besides…not even that thing could survive an explosion of that magnitude."
"Uh, guys?" Courtney spoke up. Water was starting to splash into the lifeboat. Too much water.
"There's too many people in the lifeboat," Chef grunted.
"Now what?" Bridgette asked. "We're sinking, and now we don't have anything to fall back on."
"I believe this is the part where we all drown," Alejandro told her.
"You can't be serious!" DJ exclaimed. "After all that, we're just going to drown?"
"Oh, don't worry," Noah spoke up. "I think we'll probably be eaten by other sharks long before we drown."
"I don't think we have to worry about either of those things," Chef said, lifting a weak hand up. "Look."
Gwen followed his finger and her eyes widened in shock as something appeared in the distance.
"Is that what I think it is?" Courtney asked.
"Holy crap, dudes!" Geoff exclaimed. "It's the sheriff!"
Indeed, coming over the horizon, was Sheriff Sanders, leading a group of five smaller boats zooming towards them.
A wave of tension left Gwen as she sank back into the boat, despite the craft's current state sinking deeper under the water. She felt Trent's hand and gave it a tight squeeze.
After two days…it was finally over.
Alive: Alejandro, Bridgette, Chef Hatchet, Cody, Courtney, DJ, Geoff, Gwen, Harold, Izzy, Leshawna, Noah, Sierra, Trent
Dead: Katie, Sadie, Blaineley, Beth, Tyler, Lindsay, Justin, Owen, Chris McLean, Eva, Heather, Duncan, Fang
Or IS it over? Tune in next time to find out! I'd say to hit that favorite/follow button to stay informed on updates, but with only one chapter left, there's not really much point, is there? Still, go ahead and drop a review to let me know how I'm doing and what you think of me killing off Duncan of all characters in a final sacrifice manner. Until next time, this is Guest 1138, reminding you that reality is an illusion the universe is a hologram, and to buy gold. Ciao!