:A/N: Chapter 3! Now we know where the fish came from, but can we stop them before they start their murderous underwater rampage? Read, find out, and review!
Chapter 3
Piranha
"Nice going Britt." Jeanette growled as their tiny boat floated into the distance.
"I thought I tied it down right..." Brittany pleaded as her sister stomped off. "Oops."
"Really Brittany? !" Jeanette snapped. "Oops? You freaking stranded both of us!"
"I'm really sorry Jean." Brittany sighed.
"Sorry doesn't get us off this island!" Jeanette snapped again. "I don't know why I should expect more from you though."
Brittany bowed her head sadly as she walked onto the shore of the island. Her head lifted as she heard the distant sound of a boat engine.
"Help!" Brittany screamed with all if her might. "Help!"
"They won't see us Brittany." Jeanette growled with a hint of irritation as the passing boat showed no signs of recognition of the screaming chipette. "They're way too far from us."
Brittany ignored her sister as she walked into shallow water and continued screaming. But unknown to the chipette, a lone piranha was following the echo of her voice to the shore. Brittany yelled more as she walked deeper into the water.
"Brittany get out of the water now. It's useless." Jeanette rolled her eyes.
Brittany was about to yell one more time, but instead yelped in pain as she unwittingly stepped on a piece of broken glass. The lone fish from afar went mad at the scent of blood and swam faster to the source.
"Dang it Britt." Jeanette said as she helped her sister walk out of the water. "You're lucky I have something to wrap it."
Brittany nodded in response as she stepped onto dry land. The piranha in the water growled in frustration as the potential prey escaped to its own domain where the fish would not survive. The fish was famished, but it would have to search for prey else where.
/ / / / / / / / /
Simon jumped as he heard the door of his store being banged on roughly. He gave an irritated sigh as he looked over his newspaper.
"We're closed!" Simon yelled as he returned to his paper.
"Bro open up!" Simon could hear a familiar voice respond. What was his twin brother doing here?
"Simon, it's Officer Ross." He could hear another female voice call. "We need your help."
Simon opened the door to see his brother breathing heavy and the town sheriff holding a metal bucket with both paws, the container shaking violently.
"What's in there?" Simon raised an eyebrow as he looked at the bucket, wondering if it was his imagination that he was hearing growling.
"We were going to ask you the same thing." Vinny said as she and Simone walked into the store.
"Well what do you want me to do with it?" Simon asked as they moved to an empty fish tank.
"I want to know what this thing is," Vinny explained as she lifted the lid and dumped the contents into the tank. "And what the fuck it's doing in the lake."
Simon could only look in amazement at the fish as it explored its new container. The fish was about over a foot long, shining blue and grey scales, and had a menacing set of sharp teeth. It's red eyes made the fish look even more lethal.
"Ok I'm no fish expert like you," Simone gulped. "But is that a fucking piranha? !"
"It can't be one. Piranhas only live in South America right?" Vinny looked at the twin chipmunks for an answer.
"You think someone let a few in the lake a couple of years ago and they've just been breeding this whole time?" Simone suggested.
"No." Simon shook his head as he lifted his glasses off of his face. "No, it wasn't placed here. It's always been here."
"What are talking about?" Vinny asked.
"This specific piranha went extinct nearly two million years ago!" Simon exclaimed as he turned around and walked into his office. He soon returned with a textbook and turned to a page that displayed the fossil of the fish that was swimming in the tank now. "This creature is what our piranhas today descended from. This is the original piranha."
The two others fell silent. They couldn't believe they were staring at a living fossil.
"I just can't believe that you two captured one alive." Simon turned to the two other chipmunks. "Where did you find it?"
"Oh you know," Simone started sarcastically. "Just was out on lake today and found a couple thousand of them making a meal out of my co-workers."
"Thousands?" Simon looked back to the fish in the tank.
"Yea, and they're pretty angry." Simone sighed, but then looked at the fish in confusion. "I think it's staring back at us."
"It's not staring, it's sensing." Simon clarified. "Piranhas hunt like wolves. They stay in a pack, just to overwhelm their target. That first bite will draw blood and that blood will draw the entire pack."
"But how could it even survive without a way to the surface?" Vinny asked.
"Cannibalism." Simon answered simply. "Piranhas today are known to turn on each other if food is scarce. They must've been attacking one another all this time to continue their species. All that time must've made them super aggressive if their attacking people."
"So can we do something about them?" Vinny sighed, tensing at the sight of the contained predator behind the glass.
"They're scary looking, but they're still fish." Simone started. "Can't we poison the water or something."
"No, that lake is our main source of water." Vinny answered. "We'd poison the whole town."
"Well if you're going to kill them and there are really thousands..." Simon took off his glasses and sighed. "You should've started yesterday..."
/ / / / / / / / / / / /
Theodore growled with envy as he steered the boat and guided wherever Ryan wished. He was watching the two females flirt with Alvin, his jealousy against Charlene and Sherry growing the longer he saw them playing around with his crush.
"You ok there?" Ryan's cameraman, Xander, asked the pudgy chipmunk.
"I'm fine." Theodore sighed.
"Yo!" Theodore heard Ryan command and felt his shoulder being tapped. "Stop the boat! We're here!"
Theodore sighed again as he cut the engine. He rolled his eyes as he saw Ryan take a large drink from the glass of vodka he was holding. Theodore had learned quite quickly that Ryan had a strong love for alcohol that bordered disturbing.
"We're going for a swim Theodore." Sherry smiled at the chipmunk as she and Charlene stripped off what little clothing they had on. "Wanna come with?"
"Oh no, I'm fine." Theodore gulped. Though he had no sexual interest in either of them, it still made the green eyed chipmunk blush seeing two completely nude females.
Charlene and Sherry giggled as they dived into the water and swam deep. Meanwhile, Ryan and Xander moved to the bottom deck to film from the clear glass bottom of the boat. Once the two humans were gone, Alvin sighed as he inflated a flotation raft and placed it on the water. The chipmunk proceeded to remove his white t-shirt and laid on the raft, freely floating in the water.
Theodore rested his head on his paw as he stared out at the lake, sighing as he heard Ryan yelling perverse complements to the girls underwater from below. He began dozing off, having not gotten much sleep the night before. He awoke instantly as he felt his cell phone vibrating in his pocket. He looked at the caller ID, seeing it was his mother calling him.
"Hello?" Theodore asked as he flipped the phone open.
"Hey Teddy." Vinny spoke on the other end of the line. "Is everything ok? I tried calling the house but no one's answering."
"Yea, everything is fine mom. We're just outside right now." Theodore lied as he turned around, away from Alvin.
"Theo, if Brittany or Jeanette are in the water get them out now." Vinny sighed. "I don't want any of you three in the lake understand?"
"Yea yea." Theodore smiled. "We'll stay in."
"Alright then, I'll check on you guys in a bit and I'll try to make it early ok?" Vinny said.
"Ok. Love you, bye." Theodore turned around again. He raised an eyebrow however when he saw Alvin's flotation raft floating empty.
"Love you." Vinny said sweetly as the line disconnected.
Theodore walked closer to the water, wondering why Alvin had suddenly disappeared. Becoming worried, the chipmunk discarded his black t-shirt and dove into the water. He swam to the raft and looked around for any sign of Alvin.
"Alvin!" Theodore called out. "Alvin!"
"Teddy, I'm over here." Alvin called back. Theodore turned around to see Alvin, Sherry, and Charlene back on the boat. "Come on, we're heading back."
Theodore could only blush as he saw Alvin drying himself off. He swam back to the boat and climbed on.
"What were you doing in there?" Alvin asked as the boat began moving across the water.
"I was worried." Theodore blushed a bit.
"About me?" Alvin raised an eyebrow.
Theodore simply nodded. Alvin looked over his shoulder as they passed a small island, seeing two figures signalling for rescue.
"Is that Brittany and Jeanette?" Alvin pointed at the island.
"What are you-" Theodore gulped as he turned around. He hung his head upon seeing his younger sisters stranded on the island.
"Did you know they were going to be there?" Charlene asked as she sat up from her laying position.
"No, there supposed to be at home." Theodore answered as he walked closer to the front of the boat. "Fuck, I'm supposed to be home."
"Well we have to go get them." Alvin said, seeing Theodore already running up to steer the boat.
"Whoa whoa whoa!" Ryan exclaimed stood in front of Theodore before he could reach the controls. "What do you think you're doing."
"My little sisters are stuck on that island." Theodore answered, trying not to react to the strong stench of alcohol on Ryan's breath. "We need to get them."
"We're not going off course." Ryan said sternly.
"Look Ryan," Theodore began sternly. "Those are two twelve year old little girls that are stranded without food or water and we're perfectly capable of rescuing them. My mother is the town sheriff, so unless we go by that island, you'll be explaining why you neglected two children."
"Is that Theodore?" Brittany gulped as the boat pulled into the shore.
"We are so busted." Jeanette groaned, seeing their older brother standing on the watercraft with his arms crossed and a disbelieving look on his face.
"Theo, it was my idea," Brittany began as the boat stopped. "But Jeanette didn't stop me!"
"Why are you blaming me? !" Jeanette snapped. "I'm not your babysitter!"
"I gave you forty bucks apiece to stay home." Theodore groaned. "What the hell?"
"How about twenty for us to share and we call it even?" Brittany tried to bargain with her older brother.
"How about you both get in the boat and we go home?" Theodore retorted.
The two children sighed in defeat as they stepped into the shallow water and onto the boat.
"Come on come on!" Ryan exclaimed as he jumped inti the water and rushed the twins on board. "We should've been back an hour ago!"
"Ow! Don't push!" The two girls complained as Ryan hurried them along.
Ryan quickly tasked Xander to control the boat and steer it off in the direction of the docks. They were already behind schedule, and anymore delays would infuriate the intoxicated human.
Meanwhile, Alvin and Theodore lead Brittany and Jeanette to the bottom room of the boat, which consisted of a small sitting room and a kitchen area. Theodore didn't want his little sisters anywhere near Ryan, and this was probably the furthest they could get on the boat.
"Here." Theodore sighed as he gave both girls a bottle of water from the mini-fridge. "I doubt either of you have had any water today and I don't want you dehydrated."
Brittany and Jeanette mumbled their thanks and sat down near the glass window that viewed the clear water below them.
"So," Alvin sighed as he leaned on the counter. "You snuck out of your house, bribed your sisters, lied to me, and spent the day guiding some pornographer around. Why? This is so not like you."
"Alvin, I didn't mean to lie to you. I just needed to get out of the house for awhile." Theodore explained.
"I invited you along with me to that party on the lake today!" Alvin snapped at Theodore's answer.
"I just didn't want to be in the way of anything." Theodore reasoned.
"Theo, why would you be in the way? You're my best friend and probably the only real friend I had in high school." Alvin responded. "What would you be in the way of?"
"Girls." Theodore simply said as he looked away.
"Why are so worried about that?" Alvin raised an eyebrow.
"Alvin, it was eating me alive seeing Charlene and Sherry flirt with you." Theodore let a single tear fall.
"What are you talking about?" Alvin questioned, his tone of voice calming down.
"You've known I was gay since senior year." Theodore sighed. "But I've had a crush on you since I met you in 10th grade."
Alvin fell silent. His best friend had a crush on him since they met almost five years ago, and he had been too oblivious to notice. But before he could respond in any way, the boat suddenly stopped in its tracks and jerked backwards.
"What happened?" Jeanette asked, looking startled from the sudden movement.
"The propeller must be caught on seaweed or something." Theodore said as he walked towards the exit of the room.
Alvin was still silent as Theodore left the room. Meanwhile, both of the younger girls returned their attention to the glass, seeing a small school of fish swim by. Both jumped as an unfamiliar fish came across their view, red eyed with sharp teeth.
"What kind of fish was that? !" Brittany exclaimed, pointing at the glass.
"I don't know." Jeanette said as she tried to look where her sister was pointing, barely catching a glimpse of the strange creature.
/ / / / / / / / / / /
The party at the lake was still going strong and was only getting wilder by the second, people dancing and drinking on the parked boats. Eleanor was growling in frustration as she tried to evacuate the lake, her warnings going unheeded. Vinny and Simone were in another boat, giving the same call to exit the water.
"You know what, fuck this." Eleanor angrily sighed. "Cut the engine."
Her subordinate obeyed in the boat obeyed as he stopped the boat. Eleanor took the pistol from her waist and pointed it towards the sky. Without warning, the irritated officer fired three rounds into the air. The music came to a screeching halt and all of the party goers fell silent as Eleanor held up a megaphone.
"Because you did not hear me the first time," Eleanor began. "This is the Lake Aldeso Sheriff's Department. The Sheriff has declared an emergency situation and has ordered the evacuation of this lake."
"Hey officer don't worry about, we got beer over here!" One male human cheered out, his friends cheering as well in agreement.
"Cannonball!" Another exclaimed as he deliberately dived into the water, the others following suit.
"Hey! Get out of there and get back to your boat!" Eleanor snapped as the crowd went out of control once again.
Both Vinny and Simone's hearts dropped as they saw the party goers jump into the water, knowing nothing about what was lurking underneath. For many of these teens, this would be their last mistake.
A/N: End chapter 3! I have to say, I'm really disappointed with myself for this chapter. I had to watch the movie like twenty times so that I could write this one chapter. Anyway, please read and review. I don't know if I'm going to ditch this story, but it sounds very likely :(
(P.S., I know nothing about marine biology, so when Simon is talking about the piranha, I kinda just went with what I found on Wikipedia.)