HAPPY SHARK WEEK! I'm in the middle of a nervous breakdown but at least it's shark week and I can post chapter 2! 8D Also I can't post links on here but if anyone has Discord and wants to join my server to bug me on a daily basis, my username is Chas#0048.

Chapter 2: Death Before the Mast

His laughter filled the early morning air. The sun was just peaking over the horizon and it made the water glow. It always took his breath away. They rented a sailboat and came out there every year, to celebrate their anniversary. This one was number 9 and it still felt like the first. They'd been high school sweethearts and married right after graduation. He knew about her from the beginning and he never cared. It was just a part of who she was and he loved every part of her. "Kaaaaaaren." He strung out her name in a singsong voice as he leaned over the edge of the sailboat. He dipped his fingers into the water and swirled them lazily along the surface, creating tiny ripples. "Honey, come on out. I got breakfast ready."

She was gliding through the water around and under the boat in circles just as lazy as her husband. At almost 10 foot from snout to fin, she was over half the size of the small sailboat. She was a dark gray color with white tips on all her fins, hence the name whitetip shark.

"Karen." He leaned closer to the water and dipped his hand in lower. She slid through the water just under him and he reached out to touch her dorsal fin. "I know it's been a while, honey, but you need to eat. It's not good for the pup."

That stopped her. She circled around again and poked her triangular head out of the water. She blinked her dark eyes at him and breathed out loudly, exhaling droplets of water up towards her husband's face. She kept her mouth open.

He wrinkled his nose and rubbed his hand over his face, wiping off the water. "I'm not feeding you with those teeth." He said in a warning tone and wagged a finger at her. "Last time I needed stitches."

She nodded her head and dipped back below the surface. A few moments later and human fingers breached the water seconds before her upper body emerged. She stretched her hands above her head and stifled a yawn. "That was an accident." She said with a sweet smile, exposing all her pointed and sharp teeth that didn't belong in a human mouth. "I've never bitten you on purpose." She grabbed the edge of the boat and pulled herself up a bit, until just her tail below her rather large and protruding belly was in the water. "Come on, Scott!" She whined. "Just 10 more minutes!"

He laughed and stretched out on the deck beside her. "Fine, fine." He breathed out. "10 more minutes."

She smiled and nodded her head. "Deal. So..." She mused and tilted her head. "While I was swimming... I had a name idea..."

"Name?" Scott glanced sideways at her. "Thought you didn't want to name her until she was born."

Karen shrugged and leaned closer. "I just had a feeling. Brooklyn. Or Rosalie."

Scott nodded his head. "Yeah, those are nice."

She leaned her head on her palms. "Have you thought of any names?"

Scott folded his hands under his head. "Alice, I guess, is nice. Joanne, Hailey."

Karen smiled and nodded. "Kimberly."

"Tanya."

"Evangeline."

"No." Scott shook his head right away at the suggestion.

Karen frowned and pouted. "Why not?"

Scott let out a lighthearted laugh. "We are not naming our daughter something I can't spell."

She giggled. "But it's really pretty. We'll learn how to spell it together."

"Too much work." He said and waved his arm. She giggled again and they were silent for a moment, just listening to the waves lapping against the side of the boat. "How do you think your sister's doing with the boys?" He asked finally, breaking the lull.

Karen laughed again. "Claire's so going to regret saying yes when your parents got too sick."

"I feel worse for the boys." Scott said gravely. "She's a real stick in the mud."

Karen sighed deeply. "I wish it wouldn't take an excuse to get her here."

"Claire?"

Karen nodded her head. "We were so close when we were younger. We used to swim together, all the time before. But then..." She sighed again and leaned against the boat.

Scott rolled over on his stomach. He reached out and touched her cheek gently. "You know she just wants to be a normal human." He said softly. "And you know I don't mean it like that." He added quickly.

"I know, I know." She nodded and leaned into his touch.

"You can't fault her for living her life the way she wants."

Karen pulled away from him and her eyes narrowed. "I can, too!" She snapped but there was no real venom in her words, just frustration. "I miss having someone to swim with." She lamented.

Scott nodded like he understood. He didn't really, but he tried as best as he could. "In a few years, you'll have Zach."

She nodded her head slowly and sighed deeply again. "I hope they take to it, I hope they don't resent it like Claire. I hope they accept it as part of who they are, part of who I am. I hate that they don't know." She sighed. "I hate that I have to keep it from them."

Scott shrugged a bit. "I'm fine with telling them. You're the one who said not to."

"I know." She breathed out. "I still think it's a good idea. You remember, I told everyone!" She whispered.

Scott laughed and nodded his head. "Yeah, I remember. We were like 5 or something, in kindergarten. And you walked in, new student, and told everyone you were a shark. Everyone laughed and thought you were crazy."

Her mouth dropped open. "I thought it was cool!"

"It was cool." He nodded. "And I remember the first time you transformed to finally prove it to me, when you were 13."

Her eyes narrowed. "Excuse you! I was 11! I developed early!" She said smugly.

Scott rolled his eyes and laughed again. "Whatever. I'm not an expert on this stuff. That's your job. You told me 13."

"Yeah, for most." She emphasized. "But I developed early." She repeated. "Don't you remember? You were there!"

"It was a long time ago!" He said defensively.

She stuck her tongue out at him.

He laughed again. "We can tell the boys if you want to. As soon as we get home, we can show them. We can rent the boat again and take the boys out and you can swim with Zach before he gets his fins." Scott suggested. "I'll call the rental agency right now and we'll bring the kids."

"Swim with Zach…" Karen mused.

Scott nodded. "Gray, too, when he's older. And when the pup comes, we can show her."

Karen smiled and for a moment, allowed her mind to think on that, on how wonderful that could be. But she shook her head and snapped herself out of it. "No, no, no." She breathed out. "I think my parents made a mistake. If we're going to live in the human world, then we have to behave like humans and keep the secret. I talked, I told everyone!"

"Yeah, you did." Scott nodded his head. "Luckily only one crazy boy believed you."

She smiled and then sighed again. "I just don't know how they're going to take it."

"I knew it." The unknown voice came out of nowhere.

Karen immediately ducked down and Scott rolled over. He jumped up and put his arm out behind him, trying to shield his wife.

Standing on the edge of the boat was a man, looking around their age, with scuba gear. "I knew it." He mumbled again, his eyes looking through Scott, at Karen behind him. He held a large net harpoon gun in his hands.

Scott took a step forward. "Uh… hello?" He waved his hand, trying to get the stranger's attention. "Who are you? What are you doing on our boat?" They hadn't heard him. They'd both been so caught up in the moment, in each other, that neither had seen, heard, or smelled the intruder.

Karen pressed herself closer to the boat and tried to tuck her tail up under it. She couldn't shift back to human, not while being stuck in the water. Her only option was to shift back to shark, but she couldn't just disappear. She was certain this raving lunatic had seen her. But there was no way he'd seen her tail. She'd been half submerged the whole time. But why hadn't she noticed him? She bit her lip and glanced around. She could smell him now and his boat, just on the edge of the horizon, a few miles out. Shifting and swimming away was her only escape option. But she wouldn't leave, not when some crazy guy was with her husband. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what to do. She wasn't a fighter, she was a runner. Well... a swimmer.

"They all called me crazy." The man said, ignoring Scott's question. "But I wasn't crazy. They're real. And I'll show them. I'll show them all."

"Sir." Scott lifted his hand. "You are trespassing..."

The man didn't seem to hear him, he didn't even see him. At that moment, all Vic Hoskins saw was the shark person, in the water. He'd seen her transform at the docks. He'd watched as their boat pulled away with her swimming around it. Then he quickly followed, keeping enough distance between their boats that they wouldn't notice him. And clearly they hadn't.

"Karen, run!" The man yelled before lunging towards Vic.

Vic didn't have time to think. He really hadn't been thinking at all since he saw her. He had one thing on his mind: catch the shark person. It never occurred to him that he'd have to go through another human to get to the shark. He lifted the harpoon gun and fired it. He hadn't really even aimed. He hadn't cared. This guy was between him and his prize. He didn't care how he got it.

The harpoon pierced Scott's heart easily and embedded in his chest. He fell to the deck, dead instantly.

What happened next happened so fast, Karen had no time to process. The second Scott died, the shark in her took over. She didn't even make a conscious decision to shift to shark. She just simply was shark, propelling out of the water and onto the boat without any sense of preservation for herself or her unborn pup. She flopped across the deck, moving faster than a shark out of water should be able to. Her jaws snapped as she slid towards the human.

Vic stumbled back and landed on the deck with a thump. And she was on him in seconds. Vic lifted his hands to try to shield himself. He let out a scream as her teeth sunk into his fingers. The flesh was torn away like it was tissue paper. Pain shot through him but he didn't have time to spare. He had to get her to stop! He clawed at her face and stabbed a good finger into her eye. The shark was momentarily dazed and shook her head. Vic used the second reprieve to roll out from under her. He kicked with his feet and scraped along the deck. And then he ran into the body of the man. Vic glanced back and eyed the harpoon, still lodged in the man's chest.

The shark shook herself again and then was wiggling towards him, snapping. Blood was splashed over her teeth and snout and it wasn't all hers.

Vic swallowed and jumped up. He grabbed the end of the harpoon, put his foot on the body, and yanked with everything he had. The harpoon pulled free and he almost stumbled backwards. He quickly righted himself and turned towards the snapping shark. "Stop!" He said loudly as he lifted the harpoon over his head. But she kept coming. He thrust the harpoon at her. The end nicked her and left a red trail as blood pooled to the surface. But it wasn't deep and she didn't seem fazed. She was still coming and still snapping.

Vic lifted the harpoon again as she sunk her teeth into his leg. Vic flinched and bit his lip as he thrust the harpoon at her again. This time, the tip sunk into the soft fleshy tip of her nose. He wrenched the harpoon out and stabbed at her again. Again and again, as hard and as fast as he could, he stabbed at her. The last time, he managed to stick her right in her eye. Blood and viscera seeped out. He flinched and looked away, feeling like he was going to be sick. Or maybe it was the blood loss. The shark finally let Vic's leg go. He stumbled back and fell. He smacked his head and was disoriented for a moment. Vic closed his eyes and rubbed at his head as it swam.

After a few minutes, the pain in his head subsided and he stood up. He sighed and shook his head as he stared down at the two dead bodies. Two dead human bodies. Because there was a very human, very pregnant looking dead woman laying on the deck. He hadn't meant to kill her. She just wouldn't stop. But at least he finally had his answer. There were more. He would find another.

The adrenaline of the fight had worn off and he could feel the pain in his hand, outweighing his leg. He held it up and looked at it. The ring and pinky finger of his left hand were missing below the first knuckle. It was still bleeding pretty profusely. He knew if he didn't stop it, he could pass out. He didn't need to be found on the boat. He glanced around the boat and found a towel. He tore it into strips and used his teeth to tie a tourniquet around his arm. Then he used another to bite on while he used a third to tie around the bleeding stumps. It hurt worse than anything in his life and for a moment, he thought he might black out. But he kept himself awake and shook himself. It would do for now.

He was disrupted from his work by a ringing. He stopped and glanced around. There was a cell phone sitting near the controls. Vic grabbed it and tossed it in the water. Next, he had to dispose of the bodies. That would be the easy part. Vic simply rolled them both over the edge and watched as they sank. The blood would attract sharks and other fish. Hopefully there would be very little of the bodies left in a few hours. The last thing he did was dump out the contents of a cooler he found and use it as a bucket. He washed as much of the blood off the deck as he could. Last thing he did was start the boat and pull down the sail. He used the last of the ripped towel to tie the throttle to the steering wheel loosely enough that he was certain it would fall off. The boat started cutting through the water, moving farther away. Then he jumped in the water and headed for his boat.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

She pulled the phone away from her ear and stared at it. Her eyes narrowed into a glare that she directed at the phone. They hadn't answered. They promised her when she agreed that they would answer. No matter what they were doing or where they were at the time. They would stop and answer the phone. It wasn't the first time she had babysat. Well... actually it was. It was the first time she had both of them. She babysat the older one once, a few years ago, when there was only the one. But now there were two and she'd never been left alone with two and the baby wouldn't stop crying! "Zach! Please!" She snapped a bit louder than she meant to. But her head was pounding and she had no clue what to do. She was never agreeing to this again! Ever! Especially since soon there would be three of them! She would never understand why her sister insisted on reproducing!

Zach was barely 7 years old. He'd just had his birthday a couple weeks ago. He walked into the room holding a bottle. "He wants his bottle, aunt Claire."

She nodded and waved at him, not looking up from the phone. "Yeah, yeah, can you get it for me?"

He held up the bottle. "I already did."

She glanced over at that and smiled. "Good boy!" She said, using a voice she would use with a dog.

Zach frowned and shook his head. "I'm not a dog, aunt Claire."

She blinked for a moment and shook her head. "I know that, sweetie. I didn't..." She stopped and looked away. She was horrible at this. She knew she was. She sighed deeply and looked back at him. "I'm sorry I'm so bad at this."

Zach shrugged as he set the bottle on the floor. He reached into the swing and pulled out his baby brother. He struggled for a moment but he was careful. Then he sat on the floor and cradled Gray in his lap as best as he could. He reached for the bottle and looked back at Claire. "You'll get better." He said, holding the bottle for Gray as he suckled on it hungrily.

Claire watched for a moment, marveling at how well Zach was at taking care of Gray. She sighed again and shook her head. "I don't think so." She admitted softly. "I'm not cut out for kids." Honestly, she had no clue why her sister was obsessed with the ocean and the whole shark thing. Karen had married a human and had kids. She was lucky to be living as a human, in the human world. Why did she need to leave in the first place? Claire just had no clue what was wrong with her sister. She'd give anything and everything to just be normal.

Zach pulled the bottle out of the sleeping baby's mouth. He set it on the floor beside him. "He fell asleep." He said, looking up at Claire. Claire stood up and helped Zach put Gray to bed. Which meant she watched as Zach set Gray in his crib

The next day, Claire again watched as Zach took care of Gray. She tried to help, but every time she tried to pick up the kid, he screamed. So she stuck to trying to clean and cook and make sure Zach had everything he needed to take care of Gray. It was just after lunch when the house phone rang. Zach had just gotten Gray to sleep and Claire had cleaned up lunch. She grabbed the phone and answered it. "Hello?"

"Is this the Mitchell residence?" An unknown voice asked.

"Yes." Claire answered.

"Scott and Karen Mitchell?"

Claire frowned. "Yes." She answered, getting a bad feeling. "They aren't here at the moment."

"Have you heard from them?"

The bad feeling only got worse as she listened to the man on the other end of the line talk. Karen and Scott hadn't returned the boat that morning as scheduled. The owner had located it, in the middle of the sea, farther out that they had discussed, and empty. There was no sign of either of them. No sign of anything and there were no leads. But there was an investigation, the man assured her, and they would be in contact the moment anything was found.

Claire hung up the phone, feeling numb. She stared down at it and her mind was blank.

"Aunt Claire?" Zach was suddenly there, looking up at her with concern. "What's wrong?"

Claire glanced at him slowly but she was still too numb to answer. She shook her head and looked down at the phone again. It was fine. Everything was fine. Karen and Scott had just... left the boat early and... changed plans and... just did something else. They were somewhere else, perfectly safe and alive and would call her any moment. Any moment.

But they never called. Days passed and Karen and Scott were supposed to have been home already. Claire was supposed to have been home. But there still wasn't a call. Weeks went by and then months. She'd gotten the call that the investigation was being closed, that the case was dropped. They were being deemed as lost at sea. Zach kept asking questions and Claire didn't know how to answer. She just kept telling the kid that his parents were still out, having fun. Of course they would be back, any day now.

Any day now.

X-X-X-X-X-X-X-

Author's Notes: … they dead. 8D Poor Scott and Karen. This is like the only time I've written Scott as nice. XD And then I killed him.