Chapter 5: Into An Unforgiving Sea
A shark!
A shark?!
Why the fuck was there a shark so close to the beach? They didn't come this close! Not big ones, not to this beach. They hadn't before. Had it been caught in the storm, too? Was that possible? How? How was there a shark right behind or under or whatever of him? Oh god! He was going to be eaten by a shark just like his parents! He should have never broken his promise! He closed his eyes and waited. There was no way he was fighting off a shark that big.
Minutes ticked by and he was still alive. He wasn't eaten by the shark and he was still breathing. The breathing aspect hadn't occurred to him yet but the not being eaten by a shark had. He opened his eyes slowly. His field of vision was different but that also didn't sink in. His eyesight was clearer and farther, and the color had gone. Hues of grays clouded his vision but he didn't notice. He turned his head slowly, the motion feeling weird. He was having difficulties turning his head too far, like his neck was bigger, the muscles there thicker. He caught the tail fin in the corner of his eyeline again. Just lazily swishing back and forth. What the hell? It's just floating there?
The pain in his foot sparked again and he thought maybe he could smell blood in the water. His blood. Was that possible? Had the shark been attracted by his blood? It was just a tiny cut! At least he thought it was. He didn't spare the time or even thought to look at it. Zach turned his head the other way and saw the lazy tail in his periphery still. He tried looking up and down and still saw it. It was like it was all around him. But that couldn't be, that didn't make sense. Unless he... Zach shook his head and tried to lift his hand to his head, intending to rub at his forehead. But he couldn't. He felt the appendage move a couple inches, but it was like the muscles were tight, they wouldn't move.
He tried to look down at his hands and saw the pectoral fins of the shark. That was it! That was the last straw. His mind couldn't process it anymore, couldn't process what he was seeing or what was happening to him. Panic took over at that moment and he went into a frenzy. He couldn't think anymore. All he could do was react. He kicked his legs, ignoring the pain in his cut foot and all sense of the fact that they didn't move up and down, nor did they move independently of each other. His legs moved as one, side to side, propelling him through the water faster than he'd ever gone before. Instinct alone drove him through the water, in the opposite way of the shark. And the beach. He moved into deeper waters, colder and darker. But neither affected him. He could still see all around him, different angles and vantage points, with monochrome colors. But it was much more than just seeing. He could feel the water around him. He could sense it, sense everything in the water around him.
He lost all sense as he fled. Only one thought consumed his mind, swimming. He had to get away, he had to fight to live! He wouldn't die like his parents! He had to liver Gray, to see him again and take care of him. Gray needed him! He was so focused on fleeing that he wasn't even sure if he were still being followed. He slowed and stilled in the water. He wasn't exactly tired. If anything, the flight had exhilarated him. He had never felt so great, so free, so alive! Never in his whole life! He opened his mouth and inhaled, ignoring for a moment the way the water rushed into his mouth without repercussions. He felt great and he hated the idea of having to return to the shore… where the shark was… his eyes widened and he turned in one fluid motion. There was no sign of the shark. He breathed out, exhaling the water from his lungs.
All too slowly, that's when the several things he had been ignoring came to him again. The way his body moved, the way his eyes were working differently, the way his vision was devoid of color, his lack of oxygen, the way his back itched like something else was there. The way his skin tingled in places and ways like it never had before. A million tiny little things he'd been ignoring since he set foot in the water and it took over his mind. He was the shark. He was a shark. Some twisted dream, it had to be! Because there was no way he was a shark. There was no possible way! It couldn't happen. He had to be dreaming or something… he closed his eyes tight. This was a dream. Any moment and he'd wake up, still in his bed, like he never left. He shouldn't have left. He had to work tomorrow. Well maybe he had to work. Maybe it was tomorrow. He had no sense of time. He just…
A shadow fell over him. It was a subtle change, the shift in light. He was still rather close to the surface, closer than he thought, and something blocked the moonlight that filtered down through the water. Zach glanced up. Circling above him was a shark. She was a female, with overly long pectoral fins and a white belly. He assumed like other sharks, she was countershaded. A darker color, usually gray, at the top that faded along the sides to the white of the belly. But it was hard to see her coloring from below, if he could decipher the color at all. Everything around him was shades of gray. Inwardly, Zach cringed. He didn't know if he was grateful for Gray's endless hours of shark documentaries. Zach never knew he retained any of it. But as she continued to circle and drop, moving closer to him, he noted the elongated slender build and caught a glimpse of what looked to be a darker gray along her sides that faded into the white of her belly. He'd bet that darker gray was more of a blue gray color. He knew what species she was and again, he wanted to roll his eyes at himself. She was a blue shark.
The blue shark lowered again and turned around. Zach had turned to the side slightly and could see her perfectly as she watched him. Then she started forward again. And Zach promptly freaked out again and swam away.
The blue shark didn't hesitate to follow. She zipped through the water behind him with ease, cutting through it with more grace than he did in his panicked state. She kept pace with him easily, the blue shark was one of the fastest species of shark, second only to a mako. Zach knew this and still he fled.
And then suddenly, as if from out of nowhere, there were three more sharks. Zach could sense them behind him, following. He was tiring and was out of options. He couldn't outswim them, blue sharks were fast. He'd glimpsed the newcomers and the largest one, with the dark hide, white belly, and dark stripes, was a tigershark, he was certain. Tigers were known both as the laziest and best swimmers among sharks. They moved slowly and sluggish most of the time in the water, but they had strong tails and when needed they could propel themselves in small short bursts of speed that could rival any of the other species.
He clearly couldn't fight four sharks. Another species he recognized in the bunch was a bull shark. Flat nose and stocky shape, the species was known for being extremely aggressive and having one of the strongest bites. The last of the group was a nurse shark. Most sharks were solitary creatures. There were a few exceptions but to see the normally docile nurse shark in a group of larger predatory sharks was unusual. At least as far as he knew. He wasn't an expert by any means. He didn't have Gray's capacity for or interest in learning or remembering. Honestly, he was a little freaked out about how much he suddenly realized he remembered. But he still thought it was weird that the smaller bottom feeder was with them.
So he couldn't run and he couldn't fight them. He had no chance. Some sharks were cannibals. Bull and tiger sharks he thought fed on smaller sharks. But he supposed, any shark that was hungry or desperate enough wouldn't be picky.
Seconds passed as all of the random facts swirled around his brain. His mind was so focused on the swirling facts that he wasn't paying attention to where he was going, not that he really had any idea. But he suddenly found himself coming up on a large wall. A coral reef or a series of underground caves, he wasn't sure. He was just suddenly cornered. He pulled to a sudden stop and spun around, facing his pursuers.
But the three sharks had stopped as well. They had stopped about five feet away and made no indication of advancement or aggression. The blue shark bobbed her head. Beside her, the tiger opened her mouth, exposing her odd hook like teeth for a moment, and then closed it. The bull shark turned to the side, her head shaking as if annoyed. The small nurse shark broke apart from the pack as well. She slowly swam towards Zach and he didn't know why, but he wasn't afraid anymore. He was still confused and freaking out. He had no clue what was going on or if it was even real or some way too lucid dream. But he wasn't afraid of the four sharks anymore. He thought maybe they were making some sort of noise, maybe a form of language, like they were trying to communicate with him. He knew sharks didn't actually make sounds, not in a way like a dog barked or a hyena laughed or a whale sang. But somehow though, they were talking to him, in the way they moved.
The nurse shark swam up beside him. Zach flinched a bit but he didn't shy away from her. She paused, seemingly catching his subtle hesitation. Then she moved even slower, if it was possible. She reached out and touched his side with her rounded nose, brushing her odd whiskers against him. Barbels, he thought they were called, were used to help the bottom feeder shark find small prey in the loose ocean floor soil. Zach wasn't her prey. At least, he hoped he wasn't. He was pretty sure he wasn't. But he was probably hallucinating all this. So what did he really know anyways?
The nurse shark pressed up against him again and he wasn't sure what to make of the gesture. But he felt like it was friendly. She pulled away and the blue shark bobbed her head again. Then she turned to the side and seemed to almost be pointing. She swam a couple feet away and turned again to look back at them. Zach got the feeling that she wanted him to follow, that they all did. Zach nodded his head. The blue one swam off and the nurse nudged him again. Trying not to shake, Zach followed. The nurse shark stayed on his left side. The tiger shark swam to his right and the bull brought up the rear.
He was literally surrounded by sharks, boxed in on all sides. He wasn't sure what to think. He wasn't sure of anything anymore. He was just a jumbled mess of confusion and he was trying not to freak out. But he still oddly trusted the sharks swimming with him. He glanced sideways at the nurse and she bobbed her head and brushed against him again. He glanced the other way, at the tiger shark. She was the largest of the bunch and so far, she hadn't made an impact like the others had. The bull shark may not have interacted with him, but her standoffish attitude and detachment left him a bit wary and scared of her. The tiger, however, hadn't done anything but attempt to smile at him and show off her teeth. Zach watched her out of the corner of his eye.
They swam a few lengths in silence before the tiger noticed his gaze. She slowed for a moment, paused, and tilted her head. Then she rolled over, flashing him her white belly, and she waved all of her fins at him. Then she spun around again and bobbed her whole body up and down. Zach could feel the excitement radiating off of her and he had no idea why. But watching her distracted him and he almost forgot where he was and what was going on.
Until the blue one stopped.
The whole group stopped as one. Zach almost didn't notice. He'd been so focused on the tiger shark, who's attention had likewise been on him. Until it wasn't and she stopped and faced forward. Zach turned and noticed the others, all stopped and facing forward. He stopped and glanced between them all, more confused than before. And then he smelled it. Smelled, tasted, felt it in the water around him. He sensed it in everything around him. That was the best way he could describe it. He felt it with every fiber of his being and he had no clue how or why. Why was this happening to him? What was happening to him?
He let out a distressed whine. He hadn't even realized he did it. Or that he could. The blue shark turned to the side, looking back at him. Then she bobbed her head, turned back, and moved. Zach swam up beside her and forgot how to breathe again.
Several meters away, the ocean water clouded with a dark color, unmistakable because of the smell. There was movement in the swirls of blood and viscera. A large shark was wrestling a small minke whale. The whale was nearly twice the size of the shark and covered with seeping bite marks. It thrashed it's fluke as it attempted in vain to get away but the shark hung on. The great white shark shook his mighty head and the whale gave out a final note as it died. The shark pulled back and spit out a rather large chunk of still bleeding flesh.
Zach felt like he was going to be sick.