Shy pulled his oar through the ocean, again and again, steering toward their weakening raft. There was less than a basketball court between them now.
He watched one of the sharks suddenly dart toward the raft. It bit into the side near the oilman, who quickly dove backward. Everyone screamed and moved away, holding each other. The shark shook the raft in its teeth, like a dog, then let go and sank slowly back into the water.
Shy couldn’t believe how aggressive the sharks were acting. Like they sensed how close they were to getting these people into the water. The raft began sagging on the bitten side, and everyone pulled their hands out of the water and moved toward the middle of the raft.
A second shark broke from the pack, this one smaller and coming from the opposite side. It didn’t bite into the side like Shy was expecting, it launched itself entirely out of the water, turning over in midair, and landed on the back end of the raft.
A few passengers were knocked off balance and fell overboard, splashing awkwardly into the ocean. They came up screaming and beating at the water around them, trying to get to Shy’s boat. But the sharks quickly pulled them back under, their tails whipping around the churning water.
Shy was horrified.
To get away from the shark on the raft, two others dove into the ocean and swam for Shy’s boat. One of them was Toni.
“Stop!” he shouted, watching the sharks pull them under one at a time, their screams piercing as they came up for air and struggled to get away.
Shy saw Addison still sitting near the front end of the failing raft, screaming. And he saw the oilman shoving things into a dry pack and then diving into the water, too.
“Stay on the raft!” Shy shouted.
Toni miraculously reached Shy’s boat.
He extended his oar toward her, and she grabbed on. He pulled her in until she was close enough that he could grab her hand and her other arm and he heaved her up and out of the water. But just as he was getting her over the jagged lip of the boat, she screamed in Shy’s ear, locked her terrified eyes onto his, then she was ripped from his grasp and pulled back into the water.
“Toni!” Shy shouted, leaning over the side of the boat. He watched her thrash against the shark, trying to fight it off. She broke away somehow and started swimming for the boat, but seconds later she was pulled under again, her screams turning to muffled gurgling and then nothing.
Shy’s entire body was shaking uncontrollably.
He’d done nothing to help.
A few more sharks appeared, their fins and tails whipping the water into a boiling mass as they tore at Toni’s body.
Shy dug his oar back into the water, moving toward the oilman and Addison, who were the only ones left. The oilman swam right up to the feeding frenzy, pointed a flare gun and fired. The dark water lit up bright orange and the sharks darted away. Toni’s mauled body floating up to the surface, unrecognizable, her life jacket ripped to shreds.
The oilman dropped the gun and continued swimming the short distance to the boat. He reached out for Shy’s oar and Shy pulled him in, then hoisted him over the side and turned his attention to Addison.
She was still on the mostly deflated raft, frozen in shock and staring down at the water in front of her. He inched the boat toward her, to the point that they were almost touching. A shark popped its head through the surface of the water. Its massive jaw yawning wide, water rushing over the endless teeth, one of its black eyes staring directly at Shy.
He swung his oar as hard as he could, cracked the shark in the side of the head. He raised the oar in the air, ready to strike again as the oilman snatched Addison by the arm and pulled her into the boat. She fell onto one of the dead bodies, quickly pushed herself away, and leaned up against the side, covering her face with her hands and sobbing.
Shy tossed down the oar and went to her. He didn’t say anything, though. Nobody did. They only looked at each other and tried to catch their breath, listening to the splashing water and the feasting sharks. The sky entirely dark now, except a few scattered stars and the dull-looking half-moon that hovered in front of their boat.
Shy rubbed his eyes and gritted his teeth, but he couldn’t shake it all from his head. Toni getting pulled under and the screaming and the blood.
The oilman reached into the dry pack beside him, pulled out a gallon of water. He unscrewed the cap and handed it to Addison, who was shaking so violently she could hardly lift it to her mouth. The oilman had to help her.
Then it was Shy’s turn, and when the water hit his tongue his entire body came alive. He could’ve kept drinking for hours, but they had to conserve. Who knew how long the jug would have to last. He passed it back to the oilman, who took a sip of his own.
The oilman was holding a hand to his thigh, but even in the dark Shy could see the blood seeping through his fingers.
The man set down the bottle and looked up at Addison and Shy. He lifted his hand from his leg, and Shy cringed. The giant rip in his jeans exposed a grotesque wound. All the way to the bone. Blood pumped out rhythmically, soaking his pant leg, streaming into the water around his shoe.
The oilman put his hand back over the wound and told them: “I believe I’ve been bit.”