Shark Attack!

We swam quickly to the cave, magnesium flares in hand. Thankfully, the shark avoided us this time, but swam just beyond the bright lights...waiting. My lungs were already beginning to ache as we entered the overgrown cave. Shining my light around, I could see that the cave was not natural, but was not exactly 'built' either. Rather, it looked as though it were...grown. The entrance was overgrown with sea life, but at the back of the steeply sloping chamber, weirdly fluted pillars loomed in the magnesium light, a portal between them beckoning upward into an unknown dark.

Laughlin began looking for a good spot to open the oxygen tanks in, while I shined my light towards the portal, angling upward to see how far the area beyond it seemed to go. By the light of my magnesium flare, I could see into the next chamber, which was enormous and clearly not natural. It was filled with hundreds of close-set pillars, and the floor sloped steeply upward. Unfortunately, with all of those pillars in the way, I couldn't see very far into the chamber, or tell if there was air at the top of it. Like the entrance of the cave, this chamber seemed 'grown.' The effect was less pronounced in the lower, entrance chamber because actual sea life had grown over the entrance. Both chambers were less caves than they were rooms hideously constructed to resemble living tissue, and subsequently tilted at an extreme angle, probably by volcanic forces. It was rather...disquieting to view, and I found myself wondering who on earth had created these chambers? And why?

I turned back to see that Laughlin had found a spot for the air pocket, a small region at the entrance room's apex, right where the far wall met the roof, where the subsequent tilt of the structure had created a place that could collect air, for a time. Lungs aching, I swam over to the pocket and gratefully replenished my air supply. Laughlin did the same, then headed straight for the second chamber, holding a flare and a flashlight at the ready. I followed close behind, my flare still in one hand, a spear gun in the other.

The chamber was a confusing maze of pillars, over two hundred feet long, beyond which we found a set of steeply rising stairs. Unfortunately, it had taken us some time to navigate the pillars, and I was starting to need air badly by this point. Just then, I noticed a shark, much larger than the first, behind us in the pillar chamber. Much to my dismay, it was cruising straight at me! I tugged on the rope to bring it to Laughlin's attention and fired my spear gun at it. The spear sliced through the water and into the monster's flank, causing a cloud of dark blood to billow out. The shark barely seemed to notice. I continued swimming towards the stairs as fast as I could manage, reloading as I went.

Much to my surprise, Laughlin turned back, spear gun in hand. He was amazingly fast and agile in the water, almost like a seal. He waved me on toward the steps as the shark rushed forward. I hesitated only a moment before complying. Much as I hated the thought of leaving him to face the creature alone, both of us were low on air, so it made more sense for one of us to replenish our supply and return. And he had obviously decided he would be the one to stay behind. I just hoped he could hold out until I got back. Assuming I could find any air, that is. At least the stairs were going in the right direction...up.

I glanced back to see that Laughlin had moved in to engage the shark, a flare in one hand, a knife in the other. His spear gun was nowhere to be seen. Had he fired at the shark and missed, or just decided it was too awkward to maneuver with? He was almost superhumanly agile in the water, certainly faster than I was, but so was the shark, and it was far stronger. Laughlin managed to dodge its bite, and slam his flare into its nose, but he was then slammed sideways by the force of the shark's body. This thing was a monster, easily twenty feet long, and there was a haunting, dead look in its eyes.

Turning again as I reached the relative safety of the stairs, I could see that Laughlin was using his speed to his advantage, beginning a deadly game of tag in order to give me time to get away. Given the relative difference in size between him and the shark, he had headed for the pillars so that he could weave between them. The shark could maneuver there as well, but not as easily as he could. Still, the monster was right on his tail as he swerved and pivoted around the ancient pillars, and it was rather difficult for me to resist the urge to swim back and try to help him, even knowing we could both easily wind up dead if I did so.

Turning to shine my light up the stairs, I could see only darkness above. I ascended swiftly, propelled by my now desperate need for oxygen as well as my concern for Laughlin. It was only with a great deal of effort that I managed to restrain myself from gasping loudly for air when I finally broke the surface, not knowing what might be waiting up there in the darkness. Much to my surprise, the air was fresh, not stale, although there was no perceptible air movement. Still, fresh air meant there might be another way out of here besides the way we came, which was good news to me. Hearing nothing beyond the sound of my own breathing, I held my magnesium flare above the water and got my first look at my surroundings. Half-gone now, the flare revealed a hallway that looked more biological than constructed, much like the first two chambers. It was made of stone, but rounded and segmented. And warm. Worst of all, I was fairly sure I noticed the segments...moving.

Doing my best to ignore the walls for now, I inhaled deeply several times, then ducked back down the stairs to see how Laughlin was doing. Much to my relief, he was still alive, still ducking and weaving among the pillars. He appeared to be trying to swim between sets of pillars that were too narrow for the shark, but the shark failed to get stuck. Its twenty-foot frame continued to be a hindrance to its maneuverability, though, and in the end that proved to be its undoing. Just as I reached the bottom of the stairs, Laughlin doubled back sharply around a pillar and jammed his bang stick into the behemoth's side. The resulting explosion sent Laughlin reeling backwards. When the shock wave had passed, there was no sign of the shark...only an expanding cloud of blood in the water.

Laughlin swam past me with some urgency, emerging from the water with a powerful kick and clinging to the steeply tilted stairs. I surfaced next to him and gave him a few moments to catch his breath before observing, "I assume the shark's taken care of?"

"Honestly, I doubt it. I don't really feel like swimming around in there to find out for sure, though. Do you?"

"No, especially not when the blood from that shark is bound to attract others." I shined my light around, trying to figure out how big the chamber was, and if there was an exit. I finally spotted one, a dark, open area atop the stairs.

Laughlin glanced at me, and with a light in his eyes asked, "Shall we?"

I shrugged. "It beats going back through bloody shark-infested waters." I indicated the walls in what I hoped was an unconcerned manner. "Any idea why the walls appear to be moving?"

"Now that would be a really good question, but since I am having this nasty recurring memory of a killer whale shooting out of the water and eating a seal, would you mind if we walked forward a little bit?"

I shivered a bit, and began moving up the stairs towards the opening. "Well, when you put it that way..."

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Last modified on May 19, 2002 by Kris Fazzari.