Okay, chapter 21! Hope you like it!
Disclaimer: I only own Caroline!
Quint and I wordlessly left the cabin, looking out at the water where the dorsel fin and tail fin of the great white were advancing on the Orca. "Shut off that engine," Quint ordered Matt who turned and looked at what we were looking at before doing as he was told and shutting it off. I stared at the advancing shark and then looked to Quint who was still watching it. He walked to the end of the boat, watching at the largest shark we had ever seen swam by.
"That's a twenty footer." Matt said, his voice even and low. It was clear he was in awe of the monstrosity that was swimming by.
"Twenty five." Quint replied. "And three tons of him." Matt started to climb down from the helm as I looked to Quint for instructions.
"You're going to need a bigger boat right?" Martin asked as he looked to Quint while Matt ran into the cabin to get something.
"No. Gotta get to work." Quint replied and I walked to the side of the boat, watching it move past. To be completely honest, a bigger boat would have been a good idea, but given the fact that the shark was there, then and there was no telling how long it would be there I understood that we had to work now and work fast.
"How do we handle this?" Martin was asking as Matt came out from the cabin with a camera.
"Go up to the front Caroline, I need you," Matt said and I nodded, glad for something to do. "He's circling the boat Caroline, look at the size of him!"
"Trying not to think about that right now Matt," I said through gritted teeth as I held onto the edge of the boat while I made my way to the bow. I knew he was excited about the huge shark, but for the first time in a long time I was feeling apprehensive about a hunt. I had seen what this shark could do, it had killed people, people I knew, and I was damn sure not going to be another victim to this shark's monsterous appetite. I leaned against the barrels when I got there and sighed as Matt came to the bow as well.
"Can you go to the end of the barrels please?" he asked as he stood with his camera.
"What?" I dragged my gaze from the circling shark to look at him.
"Can you go to the end of the barrels please?" he repeated and I moved to the end of the barrels. "No, a little further."
"What do you want me to do Matt?" I asked.
"Can you go to the end of the pulpit please?"
"What for?" I asked with a frown.
"I need something in the foreground to distinguish size." he explained and I sighed before moving to the end of the pulpit and turned to look at Matt while he snapped pictures.
"Is that enough?" I asked.
"It's perfect! Come here darling, come here darling!" he was shouting as he took picture after picture of the killer shark. "Beautiful!"
"Chief," Quint came around to the bow with a new harpoon gun making me move from the pulpit to untie the first barrel from the old harpoon gun I'd rigged. The one he was holding was much more heavy duty, and after seeing that shark I knew why. "I want you to get up on the bridge. Take her forward steady."
"I've never steered a boat in my life." Martin protested.
"It's easy," I said as I worked on untying my knot.
"Just watch my hand Chief." Quint assured Martin. "Just forward steady, Caroline, attach the end of this line to the keg."
"Wait a second!" Matt pointed at me before disappearing around the side of the boat while Martin climbed onto the bridge. I took the line from Quint and then looked over my shoulder for Matt as Quint moved to the end of the pulpit.
"He's coming," he chuckled maniacally. "He's coming. Caroline, get clear of the barrel!"
"It's not tied yet, Matt told me to wait a second." I said quickly making him look over his shoulder.
"Hooper!" he shouted before turning back to me. "Tie it up would ya?!"
"Wait!" Matt called before he came back around the side of the boat. "I've got it Caroline, get out of the way." he said quickly and started to tie a blinking little box onto the barrel as he tied the end of the line to the first barrel. I moved as Matt tied towards the bridge to get out of the way, I'd learned first hand what harm those barrels could do when they were flying after a shark.
"Don't screw it up for me." Quint called.
"Don't wait for me!" Matt called back as he tied.
"Come on Hooper hurry it up will ya!?" Quint shouted as he listed the harpoon gun to point it at the oncoming shark.
"Now... Now..." I heard Martin muttering before crying out "Come on Quint, Kill it!"
"Shoot!" Matt finally called, when Quint shot the harpoon hit right at the dorsel fin, which was really too bad, a clear shot to the head could have killed the shark and ended everything, I knew that meant I was going to hear it from my dad as soon as this was over about not tying the line when I was told and listening to Matt over him.
"What were you doing, you knew I had to get a clean shot right in the head!" Quint shouted at me.
"I know, I-" Matt jumped up to the bridge throwing the engine into gear and turning the wheel.
"Free another barrel! I'm coming around again!" he shouted at me making me stare at him in surprise before looking at Quint who just shook his head. We both watched Matt as he drove the boat towards the yellow barrel before it went underwater, sinking into the murky depths and staying there, leaving no sign of where the shark was dragging it but down. Matt's face fell as he realized that was exactly what Quint knew was going to happen. His face darkened as he made eye contact with Quint who was still staring up at him, just watching. Unable to accept that he'd let that happen he looked around the surrounding ocean for a sign- any sign of the shark resurfacing, though we all knew how unlikely that was.
"What do we do now, we're quitting right?" Martin spoke up hopefully, his disdain for the boat, and the whole operation very evident in his voice.
"No Martin," I sighed as I ran a hand over my face and sat down next to the barrels.
"We've got one barrel on him, we stay here until we find him." Quint told Martin.
"Yeah but we could radio in and get a bigger boat out here!" Martin protested.
When Martin seemed to have calmed down about getting a bigger boat I looked up at Quint. "I messed up," I said softly. "I'm sorry."
"I don't know what you see in him." Quint replied as he stood, still on the pulpit, looking out at the water which looked darker than ever in the dusk lighting.
"In Matt?" I asked and he scoffed softly.
"He's a rich lab assistant. He may be good at them experiments and such, but he has no real world experience." he said as he looked out at the water, still not looking at me. "Are ya crazy going after a guy like him?"
"Crazy?" I asked softly before I sighed. "Right, I get it, you think I'm too much like mom." I ran a hand down my face. "Quint-"
"You're not like her," he defended his meaning. "You're too much like me." he explained and I looked up at him. It was very rare for him to something like that. Sure some people drew comparisons to us and our manner at times, and he called me a true Quint, but he almost never really compared me to him in our manners. "A sharker, going for a rich city person."
"I know," I sighed as I looked up at him. "But I love Matt." I admitted to him softly. "I don't need you to like it or understand it, but I'd like you to respect it."
"I understand it." he growled before he walked away from the pulpit and towards the side of the boat. "Come get something to eat. Ole whitey'll be back soon enough."
Quint made a dinner of a stew that I'd eaten hundreds if not thousands of times on the boat with him, and as I sat in the cushioned booth, my entire body aching I found I still had a healthy appetite, something that anyone on the boat would need if they wanted to get out of there alive. Matt and Quint ate silently, Martin pushed around at his food and then got up to stant near the windows, looking out at them as Quint pulled out a bottle of home brew and filling our mugs with it. Matt was smart, this time he sipped it, his eyes closed as he did, as if he was willing himself to be able to drink the strong liquor Quint brewed up for long trips like this. The four of us sat in silence for a bit, before Quint noticed Martin touching his head where he'd gotten hurt earlier.
"Chief," he spoke up suddenly. "Don't you worry about it Chief. It won't be permanent. You want to see something permanent? Boom-boom-boom" he pretended to hit the air before lifting a hand to pull out the cap on one of his teeth with a cackle.
"Ugh, I hate it when you do that." I muttered as I looked down. There was always something about him taking that tooth out that freaked me out. He couldn't just go get some dental glue and stick it in for good, no he had an envelope in his shirt pocket he'd tuck it into, which he did, and kept it in his shirt pocket.
"Hey Hoop," Quint cackled. "Wanna feel something permanent? You stick your hand under my cap, feel that little lump." he leaned over the table so Matt could do what Quint said and felt the lump. "Knocko Nolans, Saint Paddy's Day, Boston." Matt sat back down, as did Quint and I looked at the two men sitting on either side of me.
"I got that beat." Matt said suddenly, before looking at me with an excited look in his eye, which probably had something to do with the alcohol as well as being the excitement of having something to bond with my father over. "I got that beat." He lifted the sleeve of his left arm up to just below his elbow to show off a long scar on his arm. "It's a moray eel," he said as he showed it off to me and Quint. "It bit right through my wetsuit."
"Well, Hoop, now listen," I was starting to regret sitting between the two of them to be a buffer. "I don't know anything about that, but I entered an arm wrestling contest in an okie bar in San Fransisco. You see this?" Quint lifted the sleeve of his right arm up a little to show off what part of his arm he was talking about. "I can't extend this all the way, you know why? Got to the semi-final, celebrating my third wife's demise, a big Chinese fella, he pulled me right over." Hooper grinned as he stared at Quint before scooting towards me.
"Scoot over a little Babe," he said to me, making me scoot closer to Quint as Matt lifted his leg onto the table and pulled up the bottom of his pants. "Look at that," he pointed at the scar. "That's a bull shark, he scraped me when I was taking samples."
"I got something for you," Quint lifted his leg up, placing it on the other side of me.
"Oh, come on guys." I protested before grabbing the bottle and filling my cup up as Quint pointed to his leg.
"That's a thresher, you see that chief?"
"A thresher?" Martin asked.
"It's a shark," I told him, Quint taking the bottle from me and refilling not only his own cup, but Matt's as well.
"You want a drink?" Quint asked as he looked at Matt with a grin, he too seemed happy to have a common ground with Matt, their scars from working with marine animals. While I had plenty of those, I didn't speak up, wanting to give the two something to talk about. I loved Matt and if he was going to be a part of my life from here on out I'd hope he'd get along with my family, and seeing as Quint was the only family I had left- aside from my mom who sat in a mental hospital, I needed Matt to get along with him. "Drink to your leg?"
"I'll drink to your leg." Matt agreed with Quint as the two took their drinks in their hands.
"Okay, so we drink to our legs." Quint said and the two laughed, I let out a small chuckle and took a drink of my drink while they drank to their legs.
"I got the creme da la creme," Matt said suddenly. "Right here, hold on," he unbuttoned his shirt, exposing his chest. "Right there, you see that?" he looked at Martin.
"You're wearing a sweater?" Martin asked, poking fun at Matt's chest hair. Matt chuckled and pointed at his heart.
"Right there. Mary Ellen Moffat," he looked at me, the name of my aunt passing his lips made my lips tighten. "She lied to me about Carooline and she broke my heart,"
"Ah we all know where the old bitch is know," Quint laughed and Matt clinked his cup against Quint's.
"To Marry Ellen Moffat, may she rest, wherever she is." Matt grinned and the two of them drained their cups.
"My aunt." I explained to Martin. "She told Matt I'd gotten married and to stop harassing me, when in reality I was with this crazy sonuvabitch learning about sharks, while Matt was at school learning about sharks."
"We both know so much about sharks," Matt sighed as he wrapped his arm around my shoulders. I smiled and looked at him.
"I know," I said before I leaned in and pecked his lips lightly, the taste of alcohol lingering on his lips.
"What's that one?" Martin asked suddenly and I looked at where he was pointing.
"What?" Quint looked at Martin and then down at himself.
"That one on your arm." Martin pointed.
"Oh, ah," he looked at me and then at Martin. "That's a tattoo I had, I got that one removed." he said dismissively.
"Oh don't tell me, don't tell me, " Matt had obviously had too much to drink, unable to read the tone of the room, he thought that they were still joking around and bonding. "Mother!" he cackled as he drummed his hands on the table.
"Matt, no." I looked at him solemnly and shook my head making his laughter stop.
"What is it?" he asked slowly.
"That, Mr. Hooper is the USS Indianapolis.
Matt's laughter stopped instantly and he gasped a few times, looking from Quint to me and then back to Quint. "You were on the Indianapolis?" he asked in a hushed tone. If anything could kill the mood, it was the knowledge of what happened to the Indianapolis and as a shark expert, Matt obviously knew what had happened to the Indianapolis.
The story of the Indianapolis is in the next chapter, along with some more shark stuff! Yaay sharks!
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