Her eyes snapped open as a violent gasp escaped her racked her lungs.

"Easy, easy," Heller's voice grew clear, his hand rested on her back and guided her to sit up, "you're alright now. Take deep breaths." "Where's...where's Suyin?" She croaked, her slurred speech was audible to the ear, "pleeeze I...I need t' nowe iff shese alright." Her mind bombarded her with many worse case scenarios, all of which ended up with her being dead.

"Why don't you ask her that yourself?" Dr. Zhang said from the other side of her, glancing at the doorway. Evelyn's eyes met the chief marine biologist's chocolate ones, easing her brain from a great lot.

"Uhm, Dr. Zhang, Dr. Heller," she rasped, clearing her throat afterwards to speak once more, "c-can i havva minnit wiss herr?" Dr. Heller ripped off the cuff for the sphygmomanometer she didn't even notice was attached to her arm, and had felt vaguely familiar, before the two of them left the cabin as Suyin approached the makeshift bed.

Evelyn gave the girl a lazy grin, one the latter promptly returned. "You go me out," she started, "you saved me."

"I prefer yoo alive ann nod crumpled upp liyke a ball uhf tinfoil, iff i'm bein' honezz," the redhead said softly, watching the other with fondness sparking in her own dirt coloured eyes.

Suyin's lips thinned while the cabin was enveloped in silence. Alas, the serenity didn't last long for there was an unexpected knock on the door, and Jonas standing in the doorway as the marine biologist had been a few seconds prior.

"Eve," he smiled brightly at her, his gums were visible, "Suyin. There's something you might wanna see."

"Lemme ged zzressed firzz, thenn i'll join yoo," she glanced down to find herself with her tank top while her wetsuit was rolled down to her waist.

The two seemed to understand because they nodded in agreement and exited the temporary sick bay.

Seeing the biologist alive and breathing had shut up the voices in her head that tormented her for the past five years, constantly reminding her of how much of a failure she actually was. They had gotten even louder and irritable after Toshi's death but now...

She no longer heard them.

She rose from the covers, pulling her arms through the sleeves and managing to zip it up, all while finding her shoes underneath the bed. She slipped on her socks and tied her platforms tightly, lifting her butt off the bed as she stood. She found her glasses on the small table next to the bed and put them in her pocket.

By this time, she was sober enough to be fully awake, so her speech wouldn't be as slurred as before.

She walked out of the room, meeting Jonas and Suyin as they waited for her. He tossed her jacket, and she put it on over her attire, slipping her thumbs into the thumb holes on the cuffs of the sleeves, and followed them to whatever Jonas wanted to show them.

Her lips parted in satisfaction upon the giant, now dead, beast sleeping on the boat's deck, bloodied and scarred all over in all its glory.

Inside, she felt a pang of justice for seeking revenge for killing the thing that massacred other people.

"Hey, look who's up," Wall greeted them with a cheery grin. "Hey," the redhead timidly waved at him, flashing a close lipped smile.

He then turned to the other female, "how are ya?" "I'm better, thank you," she responded, slipping her arms into the sleeves of her own jacket due to how chilly the ocean breeze was.

"Jonas," he called the only male in their group while tossing his phone over, "get a picture of me with this smelly beast."

He then posed for the camera.

Jonas took a picture first before switching to video with a smug grin on his lips.

"Hey. You want a proper picture, get your head inside," he advised. It took Eve a few seconds to realise that DJ was next to the controls, and a few more to realise their intentions.

"Dios mío. Ustedes son increíbles," she shook her head, slipping into her mother tongue. Wall appeared mystified, but he proceeded with what Jonas had said and got his head closer.

"Closer."

"Closer?" Wall repeated, decreasing the distance between himself and the carcass.

"Come on. Get in," Jonas urged with a simple tilt of his head.

He got even closer than humanely possible, briefly gagging and puckering his lips, unbeknownst of what they were going to do.

All of a sudden, the shark moved as though it was resurrected for one last time, scaring the poor man out of his wits and making him tumble into the water with a startled yelp, having Jonas, Suyin and DJ roaring in laughter while outbursts of giggles escaped Eve.

"Yo Jonas, please tell me you got that," DJ sobered up enough to ask. "I got that, DJ," he responded resuming the chuckles, while Jaxx came over to witness what was up.

"That's not funny man!" Wall complained while treading water.

"No, like seriously, it's funny. Look, watch this." DJ made a show of himself cackling at the other's plight, then started rapping.

"We got The Wall in the water~ Woo, woo~ we got The Wall in the water~"

Jonas then called Suyin aside to talk, leaving the redhead to gaze at the prehistoric fish. She moved up closer, feeling it's leathery skin under her fingertips before snorting out.

"How's it like being dead, you titanic son of a bitch?" She sneered at it with a grin, planting one foot at its side, "yeah, that's right, you extinct fucker. Don't fuck with the human race." She then took a picture of herself with it, posing with a victory sign and then slipped the phone into her jacket's pocket, zipping it up.

She then looked up at its dorsal fin, her smile faltering when she didn't see the tracker dart Jonas shot at it.

"Wait a damn minute..."

Those words barely escaped her lips when the water splashed around, a shark even bigger than the dead one in their possession surged out of the water and launched itself at its kin, swallowing Wall as it did so, and sank its incisors into the carcass, having her heart suddenly spasmed due to how close it was to her.

A few more inches and she would have been dead...

Her eyes widened as the boat careened to the left due to the combined weight of the two sharks, tipping it over as the alive shark went over the edge, and slipping into the ocean with their prize, knocking Jaxx and DJ along with it.

The ship violently shuddered as it unbalanced, taking Eve by surprise as the gravity shifted. Something latched onto her foot and dragged her across the deck to have the same fate as the other two, crashing into the navy blue waters below.

She made a somersault underwater and rose up to the surface, choking and spluttering. She turned her body just as the boat overturned, collapsing on her before she could even manage to swim away. She inhaled deeply before she was pulled under, something was holding into her foot.

Panicked bubbles escaped her lips as she struggled to get herself free. The salt water burned her eyes but she needed them open to see what she was doing.

There was no way in hell she was ditching her shoes.

Her air was limited since she didn't have an oxygen tank, she was slowly losing the fight as more bubbles gushed out of her nose and mouth combined.

She tugged with all of her might, unravelling the cable that had wrapped itself around her ankle until she no longer felt the restricting weight anymore. In dire need of air, her lungs squeezing the last bit out of her system, she propelled herself towards the surface, swallowing an entire bottle you normally see in workplaces worth of water before she fully emerged.

By then, she was close to the underside of the boat which acted as a little island for her to climb on. Almost instantly, her stomach coiled and rolled uncomfortably, leading her to throw up sea water as a way to get it out of her system.

"There were fucking two that escaped during the thermocline breach?!" She half yelled, half rasped, collapsing onto her back soon after while listening to DJ come up with that same conclusion.

Her breathing steadied as her eyes fluttered closed...

Maybe she should just go to sleep-

No.

Not this time.

Her eyes refused to open but she forced them to, spinning around to see DJ crying out for help while Morris looked at him with utter disbelief.

"What is wrong with you?"

"I can't...I can't swim."

Silence.

"No, get outta here! Really?!"

"Don't pull that racist stuff on me!"

"Oh come on man. Give me a break. I'm not being racist," Morris defended himself, helping the man in trouble, "you work literally, in the middle of the ocean."

"This wasn't part of the job description," DJ argued, "none of this was part of the job description! They left that part out."

Suyin, on the other hand, was calling for Dr. Zhang, who was nowhere to be found.

So was Jonas...

In a split second, she was up on her feet, repressing the urge to vomit as she yelled out his name, glancing around.

"Jonas?"

No sign of him.

"Jonas?!"

Dread crawled into her chest.

No...

No way...

"Mac! Give me a hand!"

Evelyn had almost snapped her neck due to how fast she whipped her head to the sound of his voice.

She and Suyin rushed over for two totally different reasons.

The four dragged Dr. Zhang out of the water, seeing the thin line of blood trailing from his mouth as he thanked Jonas for saving him.

"He needs a hospital fast," he told Suyin, "let's get the doctor. Where's Dr. Heller?"

Evelyn spiralled around a bit, before spotting him and Jaxx who were further out than the rest of them.

Her insides dropped to her shoes when she spotted the dreaded fin.

Heller started splashing about, screaming to get its attention, which worked as the shark headed towards his direction. "Heller! What are you doing there," She practically screeched at him, "fucking swim!"

But it was too late...

The fin submerged, so did he...

And he never came back up.

"Heller!" Her voice cracked, tears stung her eyes as she inhaled forcefully, her lungs refusing to breathe the same air as him.

Since the shark was distracted, Jaxx was able to swim to the boat, breaking down as soon as she got out of it and thanking Heller for his heroics.

"What was that? What the hell was that?" DJ asked, distraught present in his mood.

"Okay, come on, DJ-"

"No! No! This is why we don't leave the station, okay? That's why you don't do that! And you went down there and you pissed it off, now it's gonna come back and kill every one of us! Now what are we supposed to do?! I shouldn't be even be out here in the first place! Swimming in this ocean! That one ate the other one, is another one gonna eat this one?"

He faltered after, too wrapped up in his emotions, "it just killed Heller. It killed The Wall. It killed Toshi. These are my friends, man..."

Morris took one look at the edge of the boat that was plunging into the water, "okay, can I just point out that this thing is sinking? What are we going to do now?"

"Oh, you don't say," Evelyn said sarcastically from her position.

"Where's Mac?"

The redhead pointed to the man who was swimming out into open, heading towards a lifeboat while everyone holds their breath, hoping he gets there fine.

Once he climbs into the boat, he gave the marooned crew a signal before finding the other one and bringing them over.

From there, everyone split up. Dr. Zhang, Jonas, Suyin and Evelyn were in one while Jaxx DJ, Mac and Morris shared the other one.

"Guys," Mac warned, spotting the ginormous dorsal fin following them.

"That thing is the devil!" DJ declared.

"The devil wants me to throttle him with my bare hands!" The redhead growled.

"I thought you were afraid of giant sharks?" Jaxx enquired.

"Not fucking anymore."

Jonas took one look and decided, "10 miles, it's still with us."

Morris talked onto his phone before he declared, "good news guys, it's pay back time."

In the distant skies, a helicopter was visible as it sailed over their heads. It looped around and began firing at the shark with bullets.

Really?

They thought guns could go against that thing?

At least they were ruthless enough to have it submerged.

"Well done Morris," Jonas gave him a thumbs up.

The boats skipped across the water with swiftness, having Evelyn holding on for dear life while listening into the conversation Dr. Zhang had with his daughter, fully understand what they were saying, but she'd let them have their moments together.

One blink and the man took his last breath..

They had managed to return to Mana One's dock safe and sound, Suyin then taking of her jacket to cover the now deceased man while mourning for him.

"I think I'm gonna be sick," Evelyn gagged as she stumbled out, running past Meiying to go find the nearest bathroom to throw up in.

In that moment, her mind replayed the things she had told Heller five years ago, practically wishing death upon him for being an asshole.

"Be fucking grateful we saved your sorry ass, Heller. Because if I was in charge of the mission, I would've let your dumbass die with the rest of carcasses on the sub so don't go blaming me nor him for their deaths!"

"Jonas was right, there was something down there, his gut instincts told him to close the hatch and he did. A result? You're sitting in this chair."

"Insanity was what kept me alive, Heller, if you can't handle the truth, don't even bother trying to convince me what is. It was a fucking pleasure working with your ungrateful ass, you son of a bitch. Have a good fucking day."

She knew she shouldn't have taken him for granted...

Want to know why...?

Because Karma was a bitch, but it was the cruellest bitch this time around...

...

After a calm shower and putting on new clothes, she grabbed her glasses from her jacket and dried them, putting them on afterwards.

She filed out of her room to the control room, where Morris had just began to give a speech.

"I've informed the Chinese government about the Meg," he began, "as well as the authorities in Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia and Australia. The Chinese are sending two destroyers to take it out. So, this is now officially and thankfully out of our hands. I'm closing Mana One until the Meg is killed and an evacuation ship is coming tomorrow morning. And finally, I just want to say...I'm sorry for your losses. Your friends. I came here to celebrate with you, and now I'm mourning with you."

After his speech, both Jonas and Evelyn accompanied the man on his departure.

"Thanks for saving our asses!" He yelled just as the helicopter took off into the night sky.

"Hey... Hey Jonas..." she said quietly, "do you ever get that crippling impression that no matter what you do, even if it's for the greater good, that you'll always feel the lingering guilt behind it. That no matter what you did, it still wasn't enough?"

He looked at her fondly, knowing the exact sensation she was describing. "Come on," he snaked an arm around her shoulder with ease due to their height difference, "you need rest, okay? Today's been a long day."

She nodded, automatically yawning after his sentence. He led her to her coom and tucked her in, but not before her hand shot out and she begged him him to stay.

"I'll have to check up on Lori, first," he stated, "I promise I'll come back,"

True to his word, a few hours later was when he slipped into the same bed, seeing as her arms instantly attached themselves to him.

He chuckled lowly before falling asleep as well.

Meiying was right...

He did like Evelyn...

...