Kellen

 

“What’s taking them so long?” I demand when Kyle slaps a trash bag onto the cement floor beside Barb. “They should be back by now. Hope, how long has it been?”

Kyle, exhausted and heaving with exertion, just groans instead of answering me. Hope frowns at me, telling me my answer.

Too long.

Not long enough for them to survive.

I wince as I make my way down the stairs. The water laps over my dress shoes as I ponder if I need to try to go after them or not. Maybe I can save them.

Hope squeezes my shoulder before sloshing into the water in front of me. “I’m going in.”

“I’m going with you,” I grunt, forcing myself to step into the water that’s been trying its hardest to kill me for nearly twenty-four hours now.

I may not be able to swim, but nothing is going to stop me at this point, not even the fear of drowning.

Upon seeing the determination on my face, she gives me a quick nod and then dips below the surface. I take a deep breath and then also submerge myself. Hope swims quickly away from me, sending bubbles fluttering in front of my face. It takes a second to adjust my eyes and when I do, I freeze.

There’s a body halfway sticking out of the stairwell door.

Tyler.

My heart tightens in my chest as I push off the steps toward the door. Hope pulls Tyler through the opening before handing him to me. Then she disappears through the doorway. I hook my arms around Tyler’s waist, dragging him up the stairwell toward the air. When I finally resurface, lungs burning, I realize he doesn’t take a breath with me.

Fuck!

“No, no, no,” I chant as I heft him up the steps and out of the water. “Stay with me, Tyler.”

His skin is pale and he seems so young in this moment. A sob crawls its way up my throat at the unfairness of this entire situation. He wasn’t supposed to die like this.

I force the panic away and start chest compressions. In high school, I learned CPR my senior year, and I’m trying desperately to remember the motions. When I decide I’ve done enough compressions, I blow air into his lungs and then start over again.

I’ve failed him.

I’m the fucking boss around here and I should have been the one to go down there or stop them. Instead, I let four of our people go and only one has come back breathing.

“Please,” I beg, choking on tears. “Please breathe.”

I can sense others near me, but I don’t dare look at them. I’m too focused on trying to resurrect Tyler from the dead.

Hope reemerges from the water, cursing and crying, drops a plastic first aid box onto the cement, and then she heaves Tyler’s backpack down beside it. She kneels next to me, fingers feeling for a pulse at Tyler’s throat, and shakes her head.

With a roar of frustration, I beat my fist hard on the center of Tyler’s chest and then my lips are back on his, forcing air into his stubborn body.

He twitches.

Then gurgling resounds from his chest before he vomits seawater out. Elation surges through me as Hope helps me turn him onto his side. He continues to heave out an endless amount of water, his entire body convulsing. I stroke my fingers through his hair, whispering assurances that he’s not alone.

He’s alive.

Hope clambers to her feet and then shakily makes her way up the steps to where Kyle is lying. “You monster!”

He groans and sits up on one elbow. “What?”

“You left them there and gave us no warning!”

What the hell is she talking about?

“Brian was dead by the time I left the break room,” Kyle snaps back. “The other two were missing. Was I supposed to die looking for them?”

Hope swings her fist, clipping Kyle in the jaw. He jumps to his feet, fisting his hands, but thankfully, Gerry steps between them.

“Enough,” Gerry barks. “This entire thing is fucked, but it’s no one’s fault.” To Kyle, he says, “Did he drown?”

Tyler starts to softly cry and it breaks my fucking heart. I half pull him into my lap, ignoring the searing pain in my side. I’m sure it’s bleeding like crazy again, but holding him right now is more important. He nearly died.

“Shh,” I croon, voice shaking. “It’s okay. You’re okay.”

He clutches onto me, burying his head into my shoulder. I stroke my fingers up and down his bare back as I attempt to keep up with the conversation going on with the others.

“Does it matter how?” Kyle throws back. “He’s dead.” Elise starts crying hysterically, which earns the wrath of Kyle. “Shut the fuck up, Elise! You’re useless, goddammit!”

Hope flings herself at him again, but Gerry grabs hold of her before she can do any damage. She points an accusing finger at him.

“I saw his half-eaten body!” Hope screams at him. “There was a shark down there and we didn’t get so much as a warning!”

Kyle has the decency to look ashamed. His brow furrows and he glances down at his feet. “I wasn’t sure what I saw. I saw blood and Brian was dead.”

“There was a shark,” Tyler croaks out, breath hot against the side of my neck. “I saw it. It attacked Brian.”

My stomach roils violently, threatening to purge what little food I have in it. “And Frannie?”

Tyler shakily sits up so his bloodshot eyes can meet mine. His bottom lip wobbles as he shakes his head.

“No,” I whisper. “Frannie can’t be gone.”

He squeezes his eyes shut and shudders at the memories plaguing him. “She got pinned. I wasn’t strong enough.” He reopens his eyes, darting them back and forth as if trying to get me to understand. “I tried. I really tried, Kellen.”

Pain lances through me at the loss of one of my only friends. But having this young man break apart in my arms distracts me from my grief.

“It’s okay,” I stammer out. “You did good. You’re still here.”

His body relaxes against mine. “I’m so sorry.”

“Me too. Come on. Let’s get you back up top and warmed up.”

Hope shoots daggers with her eyes over at Kyle. He’s apparently done with their fight because he goes back to his garbage bag loot to remove the contents. Elise rushes over to Hope, hugging her tight.

“Gerry,” I grunt. “Can you help?”

Now that the situation is contained between Kyle and Hope, he jolts into action to assist me with Tyler. Together, we half lug him up the stairs back over to our spot. I gingerly sit down, well aware that I’ve fucked my wound up some more, but attempt to ignore it the best I can.

Once Tyler is settled beside me, Gerry heads back down to retrieve the first aid box and the backpack. While they were gone, with Hope’s help, I’d removed my jacket. Since Tyler is in just boxers and shivering, I grab my damp jacket and drape it over him. He curls against me as though I’m some magical source of comfort for him.

Gerry hands me an open bottle of water. I graciously accept it, sipping a few swallows before offering it to Tyler. He tilts his head up and parts his lips. I pour some of the water into his mouth. Once he swallows it down and doesn’t throw up again, I give him more. We share the bottle until it’s empty, but luckily, based on what I can see in the bag, we have plenty more for the time being.

Frannie and Brian are gone.

It’s immediately felt by all of us. There’re seven of us left.

The gray light from the cracks and a few holes in the outer walls illuminates our space just enough to see the bone-deep weariness etched on everyone’s faces. It hasn’t even been a full day and we’re all at our wits’ end.

How much more of this can we take?

Are we prolonging inevitable death?

Kyle tosses a couple of candy bars at me. I unwrap a Snickers and take a bite, damn near devouring half the candy bar. Then I feed Tyler. He shifts until he’s sitting right beside me and less in my lap. Though I miss the loss of his body against mine, it eases the pain in my side. Plus, knowing he’s feeling marginally better makes me happy.

We share the Snickers and then I open the Butterfinger next. Once it’s gone, my stomach grumbles in protest. Candy bars aren’t exactly a prime source of nutrition, but it’s all we have at the moment. I just hate that two people gave up their lives for us to have a damn snack.

The group must feel something similar because no one speaks. Elise continues to cry, despite how much it clearly bothers Kyle. Hope watches him with narrowed, furious eyes. Gerry keeps his face buried in his hands while Barb sleeps undisturbed. Slowly, my tense muscles begin to unravel their tension. The storm seems to have lessened in the last couple of hours. Soft pattering of rain can be heard beyond the ever-present groans and moans of the building.

Yesterday morning, when I woke up to get ready for work, I’d have never expected the building would be underwater and a holding tank for a shark. This shit is insane. I couldn’t have made it up if I’d tried. I imagine talking to my brother about this. There’s no way in hell he’d believe me. The image of his disbelieving stare in my mind has a smile twitching at my lips.

It’s gone, though, when I think of Frannie, who’s probably shark food at this point. Even if we wanted to retrieve her body, it wouldn’t be safe.

Slowly, the sounds of heavy breathing fill the air, and soon, Gerry’s snores. Everyone is wiped from our terrible morning. I think Tyler is napping too until he speaks.

“I tried to stay and help for as long as I could,” he whispers, a shiver running through him. “She forced me to leave.”

“There’s nothing you could have done.”

I believe this because if there were, he’d have done it. Tyler is that kind of guy. He’s not like Kyle—ready to bail on others when the going gets tough. This has to be killing Tyler.

“I really am sorry, Kell.”

It’s the second time he’s called me this. I’ve always been Kellen. Even back home. Never Kell. I like it.

“I know. Stop beating yourself up over it, though. It won’t change anything.”

He nods and lets out a heavy sigh. “Do you think we’ll ever get out of here?”

It’s looking less and less likely by the day.

Still, I give him the gift of hope. “We will. Now rest.”

This time, he sleeps. And finally, I do too.