Elusive

Chapter 9 ~a very close call~

I'm sorry for being so mean and giving you a cliff hanger on my last update. Hope you enjoy this one :)

*****

Mark's shock freezed him in place. For a few seconds, the event that had just taken place finally sunk in, causing him to spring into action. What the heck had Torrent been thinking?!? Glancing at the small figure running next to him, he figures Julianne is thinking the same thing.

Shoot, shoot, shoot! Amongst the broken remains of the dock there's no sign of Elizabeth or Torrent. Mark hardly ever cussed. At all. But he had a couple choice words running through his mind at Torrent's stupidity.

He was almost there. Curse the sand for being so hard to run on. He pushes himself harder, fighting the sand to get to the water.

Where are they?

Suddenly, Torrent's head breaks the surface, spewing water while coughing and taking in gulps of much needed air.

But where's Elizabeth?

Mark keeps running.

~~~~~~~

'No, no, no, NO!' Elizabeth chants to herself as the cool water envelopes her. Thankfully, Torrent's grip on her waist isn't there anymore; so he won't feel the scales that had appeared.

Elizabeth was about to shift back to legs when something hit her in the stomach, driving some of the air out and into bubbles. They heavy wooden beam quickly dragged her the rest of the fourteen feet under to the sandy bottom. Successfully pinning her there.

Looking above her, she sees that the walk had broken into several large pieces. These pieces were sinking much slower than the one that had her. Amongst two semi-floating pieces, was the body of Torrent.

He wasn't moving.

Maybe he was struck unconscious.

That would be REALLY bad.

Wait.

He moved; he's okay! He must have just been in shock.

There we go, he's moving again; swimming to the surface for air.

That's another problem. Elizabeth needs to get to the surface soon or it will look suspicious. What person doesn't breathe for fifteen minutes and is fine when they hit the surface. She begins struggling to get the heavy beam off, using her tail to help push.

No matter how hard she pushes, the beam only moves a little bit before getting stuck. She looks around and up. Oh no. Her sharp mermaid eyes can see a darker color against the surface of the water coming from Torrent. It takes her a moment, but when she realizes what it is, she thrashes around with renewed vigor.

It's blood.

~~~~~~~

Kicking off his sandals and pulling his shirt over his head, Mark continues running to the water's edge, searching for Elizabeth the entire way. 'Why does the distance have to be so far?' his frustrated thoughts are cut off by Ruth's warning scream piercing the air.

"Shark!"

Torrent, who is struggling through the debris in the water, turns to look. Mark skids to a stop, searching the water as well. He and Torrent spot the fin at the same time. It's distinctly shark, cutting smoothly and quickly through the water towards them.

Marks eyes make contact with Torrents frantic ones, and he shouts Elizabeth's name.

Where is she? She must have little air, if not any, left. He needed to find her. Now. They move into action at the same time. Mark closes the distance between him and the water, running in, and swimming out while Torrent, taking a deep breath, sticks his head under to search for her.

~~~~~~~

Elizabeth can feel her strength diminishing with each minute she continues to struggle. Torrent's silhouette is still in the water above her. She stops to rest a moment and looks around when she hears a high pitch sound that seems to be coming from above the water. It sounds like someone is screaming.

Frowning, Elizabeth looks around again. Looking up, she sees Torrent has stopped swimming for shore and is taking a deep breath. Her eyes widen at what he's going to do and she frantically shifts.

A second or two later Torrent sticks his head under and starts to scan the water through the debris. The second he sees her struggling form, his head goes back above for air and he shouts something to someone on land. His head comes back under, locates her, and he points to his left.

She frowns but looks in that direction.

Her heart stops.

There, cutting quickly through the water toward them, is a 16-foot tiger shark. Its slim figure helps it slice through the water; its fin is near the tail and above the water.

Great. Just great.

The scent of Torrent's blood probably attracted it. Which means it's coming for him. He needs to get out of the water! NOW!

Elizabeth's thrashing became even more frantic, trying to get the darn support beam to move. Her struggles only result in nudges; it isn't moving as fast as she wanted it to be. To add to her frustrations, Torrent wouldn't get out of the water.

As if hearing her thoughts, or realizing he was bleeding, Torrent began swimming back towards land. Elizabeth, making sure he wasn't stopping any time soon, shifted back to her tail and began her struggles anew.

Suddenly, the water's surface was broken as someone dove in above her. Elizabeth froze, it was the form of Mark. He was diving down for her. Shifting a bit of the still floating debris, he spots her and immediately lets out a few bubbles of air. Her senses finally catch up with her and she shifts quickly.

With the bubbles around Mark's eyes clearing, he can see that, no, she doesn't have a tail. She can see him blink before going back up for air. When he comes quickly back down she pretends to be running out of air. At Mark's desperate look she shakes her head, gesturing toward the shark then at the beam pinning her down.

Even at a distance, she could see the stony determination on his face as he shakes his head. They stared each other down until Mark has to go back up for air. While he's slightly occupied, Elizabeth looks around for the shark. It's not too far away, and gaining every second.

She has no choice. If they were both going to get out of this alive, and not be shark bait, she was going to have to think of something other than shifting. Fast. In frustration she lets out a burst of bubbles, while reserving a bit of air, and fakes going limp.

Peeking through her eyelashes she sees Mark shout, releasing a burst of bubbles; and promptly going up for air. She can see his movements and came to the conclusion that he was breathing deeply. He swam jaggedly, yet quickly, to shore. Out of danger.

Elizabeth shifts but freezes. The tiger shark, losing its prey, had sensed the movement of her shifting and was now heading her direction. She doesn't move, knowing that if she did she would be truly gone.

The shark swam closer. Closer. It wasn't far when, without seeing anything worth inspecting, turns and swims away.

Four splashes above steal her attention. She can see the outlines of four girls. They made a show of taking a deep breath of air before diving. They shift when out of sight and swim quickly down to her. Meredith, Julianne, Leanne, and Ruth split into pairs and take up positions on each end.

On a count, they all lift, tails thrashing, kicking up sand. Underwater the beam was lighter than it would have been on land. However, there is also the water pressure pushing against them. Elizabeth tries to help by pushing from below. When there's an inch of space, she flicks her tail, propelling herself out from underneath the wooden beam.

Elizabeth runs out of air, shifts, and allows her sisters to drag her up after they shifted. They break the surface and Elizabeth stays limp; but her mind is racing. How long was she under? What would a normal person look like in these circumstances?

Well, a normal person may not have been able to get out of that. Would they believe what the girls told them?

*****

I don't know if that counts as a cliff hanger, but sorry anyway :)