Dove stood on the deck’s other end. He raced to my side and pulled from me the water. My legs shook when they hit solid ground, unfamiliar with the feeling after having treaded water for so long.
Dove and I then helped Bertha into the boat, and she shook her head as she yanked the Dart from her chest. “Some serious shit going on around here,” she muttered, still looking confused.
Together, Dove, Bertha, and I pulled Phoenix from the water. Churchill continued to toss overboard any Feds who suffered the horrible misfortune of slicing their chutes directly over his ship. As if having your body crushed against the ship’s hard wooden deck wasn’t enough.
One soldier managed to grab the railing as Churchill pushed him overboard. Churchill promptly brought “Old Jimmy” down on his hand. The man cried out in agony as the hook’s sharp edge pierced his skin. Blood swelled and rolled down his arm before he fell into the ocean’s basin of churning salt water.
Churchill held his rusty hook high in the air and roared. “OLD JIMMY!”
Bertha’s eyes widened. “And I thought I was intense.”
A massive fin broke the water. Federal soldiers screamed as the incoming megalodon tore them apart with ease.
Phoenix grabbed Churchill’s arm and shook him. “You got blood in the water!” he said. “You should’ve known better. You should’ve known the nets would be turned off.”
He turned to Dove. “You know how to drive a boat, right?”
Dove nodded.
“Think you can manage this one?”
Dove ran to the ship’s helm while Churchill stood silent.
The soldiers in the water screamed as the megalodon shredded them into bits like paper. The water grew redder by the second. Soon the whole ocean looked like it was ablaze.
But more blood meant more megalodons. And sure enough, in the distance, several fins broke the surface. As the megalodons swarmed, the remaining soldiers clawed at the ship’s side, crying for help.
I felt sick to my stomach. This wasn’t right. The men in the water weren’t villains—they were just men doing their jobs. They weren’t the Lost Boys. They weren’t terrorists. They weren’t real villains. They weren’t real trouble.
I watched Phoenix stare at the bloody water with a blank expression. And it was at that moment that I realized: I was one of them. A Lost Boy. One of the people responsible for the deaths of all these men.
A particularly desperate moan erupted from the water. I ran to the ship’s side, and threw my hand to a man not much older than myself. His bright blue eyes burned into my soul—a lovely blue, the color of water when the sun breaks on it just right. The same color as Charlie’s eyes. Not one of the typical shades of Indigo blue, but something brighter: Charlie blue, I’d always called it. His fingers were inches from mine. I stretched my arm a little farther, knowing his hand would soon fall into mine.
There was a kick and a splash. Salt water stung my eyes. His fingers slipped past mine and he fell back into the water.
Bright green eyes replaced his—Mila. She’d tossed the man back into the water, and now she put her hand into mine.
Before I could pull her on board, the ship’s engine revved, and I squeezed her hand in my own. The boat shot forward, pushing past screaming corpses. My body lurched against its railing as Mila’s was dragged through the water, my grip the only thing keeping her from becoming a megalodon snack. A massive fin shot up beside the boat. Following Mila—food.
Phoenix sprinted to my side, and grabbed Mila’s other hand. Water poured onto the deck as the megalodon launched its face from the water, its teeth glistening in the scattered sunlight. Mila’s bright green eyes were filled to the brim with frozen fear.
The megalodon gnashed its teeth, its jaws heading straight for Mila’s legs, still dangling limp in the water like worms.
Chapter 19
The megalodon’s teeth dripped blood, and a pair of black and green pants were lodged between two of its teeth—undoubtedly all that was left of a Federal soldier it had consumed only seconds before. I silently gave thanks that it was only a pair of pants. It could’ve just as easily been a bloody arm or leg.
Despite having jaws large enough to swallow their victims whole, researchers had found that megalodons were particularly fond of tearing their prey to shreds. The scent of torn flesh seemed to satisfy their insatiable blood lust, however briefly.
The Retired Lobster groaned as it raced forward, its rusted engine no match for the megalodon who easily kept pace. Having already left the soldiers to its mates, it wasn’t about to give up on us, its last chance at a meal. Its wide jaws were easily large enough to tear apart not only Mila, but the tiny boat itself. My heart beat hard in my chest, and my knees felt weak—if it killed Mila, the blood frenzy would sure lead it to kill and eat us, too.
Phoenix and I fought to pull Mila up on deck, but the force of her feet dragging in the water drew her even closer to the monster’s mouth. If we pulled too hard, I worried we’d dislodge her arms from their sockets. The clash of the megalodon’s teeth, however, told me this would still be the preferred option.
Mila didn’t scream, but gritted her teeth and squeezed her eyes shut to avoid the salt water’s sting as it sprayed. She was tough. Tougher than most girls I’d met. Maybe even as tough as Charlie.
Her fingers were slowly slipping from mine. My hands became more slippery by the second, and Phoenix’s grunts told me he was experiencing the same problem. If we didn’t do something, we were going to lose her, and soon.
I yelled for help. Churchill grunted and swung his arm back. A piece of steel flew from his hand and over the deck. Its jagged edges did tilted somersaults as it sailed through the air. It spun past Mila, and toward the megalodon, burying itself in the monster’s massive snout. The beast fell back into the water, its fin trembling before it disappeared.
The monster was gone.
Bertha ran to our side, and with the added help of her uninjured arm, we were finally able to pull Mila from the water. Her feet collapsed beneath her, and she shook uncontrollably. We kneeled down beside her on the deck. Bertha leaned against the railing. “Hate these sharks,” she muttered. “Hate these damn mutant sharks…”
Churchill, alone, stood in salute. “Old Jimmy’s gone,” he said mournfully. “Found his final resting place in a megalodon’s snout.”
To us, it might have been an old, rusty hook, but to poor Churchill Wingnut it had been something more. I got up and stood by his side, joining his salute—it was the sort of thing Charlie might do.
Mila broke the silence with a breathless laugh. She shook her head and looked at me. “I can’t believe you swam into the mouth of one of those things.”
I wanted to tell her that, at the time, I had thought she was going to kill me, so the megalodon was really just the lesser of two evils, but I figured it was best for everyone if I didn’t mention that, so I just shrugged.
Dove poked his head out of the captain’s cabin. “We’re out of Federal waters now,” he said. “Not that it matters much with the nets down.” He turned, apparently noticing Mila for the first time. “Whoa… what happened to you?”
Mila stood, wincing as she stretched her shoulders. “You drove off without me, Dove.”
“What?” He gave her a blank look. “But you’re in the boat…”
“But she wasn’t at the time, Doveboat,” said Bertha, rolling her eyes.
He looked confused. “But she is now? So did she, like, teleport?”
“Oh, for Christ’s sake—”
“Where’s New Texas?” Mila interrupted. “And Kindred and Sparky?”