Benton aimed the Zodiac towards the stricken vessel. ‘You keep an eye out for that shark,’ he shouted above the wind and din of the engine.
‘I don’t know what we can do to stop it if it decides to come for us,’ Tyler shouted back, the fear making him feel sick.
‘Trust me on that, I know what to do.’
‘And what’s that?’
‘That wound of yours,’ Benton said, nodding at the ugly gash on Tyler’s arm which was still dripping blood onto the floor of the Zodiac.
‘What about it?’
‘Hang it over the side, in the water. Let’s see if we can draw our fish in.’
Tyler shook his head. ‘No way. I’m not doing that.’
‘Do it, or I swear to God, I’ll throw you out of this boat and you can fend for yourself.’
That was enough for Tyler. He hung his arm over the side and let his blood drip into the water. At the same time, Benton brought the Zodiac to a stop less than thirty feet from the stricken vessel.
‘What now?’ Tyler asked, heart thundering as he scanned the water, trying to see through the sun glare.
‘Now we wait until he shows.’
The Megalodon had pulled the bow of the boat off the edge of the rock platform. It rocked precariously, the wheelhouse filling with water as the ocean threatened to swallow it. Carrington scrambled for something to hold onto, but it was fruitless. He was sure if his shoulder was dislocated or if he had broken his collarbone, and he didn’t have enough strength in his functional arm to pull himself to safety.
I’m going to die.
There was no panic in the thought, just an inevitability about the situation. The boat would be pulled into the depths and sink. If he was lucky, he would down before the shark managed to get to him and devour him. It was the photograph that changed his mind. He saw it bob along the surface of the water in front of him. It was his wife and two children. The photograph was sun-faded and one he had forgotten was pinned on the wheelhouse window. The thought of never seeing his family again gave him renewed desire to survive. Carrington used his good arm to try once more to pull himself out of the water, all the time waiting for the jaws to close on him and extinguish his existence. He managed to pull half his body out of the water, the effort making his good arm tremble. He looked down, expecting to see the gaping maw beneath him, but the water was still. The Megalodon was gone.
‘It’s coming right for us,’ Tyler said, pulling his arm back into the confines of the Zodiac, not that it would give him much protection when the shark attacked. They both watched the immense dorsal fin slide towards then, one edge bloody and ragged where the shotgun blast had hit it. ‘What are you waiting for?’ Tyler screamed, backing away from the front of the boat.
‘Not yet, just wait,’ Benton replied, hand poised over the controls. Tyler couldn’t help notice how tacked together it looked. The small A-frame housing the steering wheel and throttle clearly wasn’t part of the original design and had been added later. Tyler only hoped there was no water damage from when the Zodiac had been flipped over, and that when Benton decided it was time to take action, everything worked as it should. Any hesitation, any fault would mean certain death. The fin was just twenty feet away now and they could both see the huge body of the Megalodon under the surface. Tyler was frozen, too terrified to speak. It was coming right at them side on. The Megalodon surfaced, jaws gaping, eyes rolling back into its head, ready to kill its prey.
Benton gunned the engine. The Zodiac zipped forward, the Megalodon’s jaws crashing down on empty space. Tyler expected Benton to move them away from the giant shark, but instead, he circled back towards it, waited until it started to follow, then changed direction again.
Due to its size, The Megalodon had a slower and larger turning circle than its smaller cousins. Combined with the network of shallow islands surrounded by deeper waters, the advantage it would have in more open waters was significantly reduced. Even so, it was determined not to let the intruder to its territory escape. It gave chase, every time it drew closer to the Zodiac, the Megalodon slowed, having to skirt around one of the island outcrops, increasing the distance between the two. It was the highest stake game of cat and mouse the world had ever seen. Benton kept just enough distance between them, hoping to buy as much time for Carrington as he possibly could. Tyler had realised that the plan was working, and was looking back at the dorsal fin cutting and weaving as it tried to give chase. ‘We’re doing it. We might well come out of this yet,’ he said to Benton, believing for the first time that an option other than death existed. He noticed they were gradually getting closer to the island. He could see Liam watching events unfold. He was about to tell Benton to be careful getting closer, as the water was shallow when a thud from the rear of the Zodiac almost tipped him out of the boat. For a second, he thought the Megalodon had caught up to them and their luck had run out. That, however, wasn’t the case. The Zodiac started to slow.
‘What are you doing? Speed up,’ Tyler said. He stared at Benton and saw fear.
‘We lost the engine. Snagged a rock too close to the surface and ripped the propeller straight off. We’re stranded.’ They both watched as the Megalodon closed in on them.
They had come to rest, much like Carrington on a rock plateau. It began just a foot below the waterline. The boat was light enough to stay on the surface of the water and was drifting dangerously close to the deeper waters surrounding the plateau. Benton scrambled to reach under one of the seats and tossed Tyler a paddle. ‘Here, you take that side.’
‘And paddle out of here? It’s impossible.’
Benton scowled at him. ‘That’s not to paddle out of here; it’s to keep us on this rock platform and out of the deep waters.’
The Megalodon circled, lifting its head out of the water and staring at them in the boat, yet knew it couldn’t come closer. It rushed the platform, turning away at the last second, sending a wake crashing over the rock plateau and driving the Zodiac away from safety to deeper waters.
‘Paddle, paddle now,’ Benton screamed.
He didn’t need to be told twice. He knew the implications if they drifted into deeper waters. He paddled, using the little energy he had left as the wake washed them perilously close to the edge. The Megalodon swam to the rear of the rock, waiting for them to enter the area where it could get them. Somehow, Benton and Tyler managed to keep within the confines of the shallows. Benton was breathing heavily; Tyler was exhausted. He had nothing left to give.
‘Catch your breath,’ Benton said. ‘He’s going to try again.’
They watched as the Megalodon swam away, then came back at them, its speed terrifying. It surfaced and turned away, sending another huge wake rolling towards them.
This time, they were prepared and paddled into it, the Zodiac lurching up over the wave but still being dragged back; this time, they didn’t stay within the confines of safety, and were pushed over the edge into the deeper water.
‘Paddle, paddle with everything you have,’ Benton said, furiously pulling water with the small black paddle.
Tyler followed suit, aware how sluggish he was, how little strength he had left. He was starting to feel dizzy, the lack of food and the trauma of the last few days finally making his body give up the fight. Neither of them dare look but could sense the Megalodon approaching. A flash of colour from the left and Tyler was sure their luck had run out, but they had done just enough to get back above the shallow rock and out of the reach of the Megalodon. Its jaws snapped down on open water. It lurched away again, soaking them both as it spun away, ready to charge again.