Mega Worm Apocalypse

THIRTEEN

The sharks surged up out of the waves, breaking the surf like an advancing army.

Kayla hurried for the shored boat - for the weapons and the gear. The harpoon gun. That was her favorite. Justin was already moving. She didn't have to tell him what to do. They'd faced the threat so much, it was a practiced routine by now.

But Nat and Andres. They stood, rooted to the sand, watching the swelling horde. They'd never faced zombie sharks before.

"Get off the beach!" Kayla barked, as she hauled the weapons out of the boat. Justin loaded the shotgun.

"Eff that," said Nat. "What can we do?"

Kayla threw her another shotgun. "You know how to use that?"

Nat nodded, checking the weapon. "Is there any trick to it?"

"To what?"

"Killing these things," supplied Andres.

Kayla shrugged. "Same way you kill anything else."

"Between the eyes is a safe bet," offered Justin. He was right of course. Between the eyes was the surest way to kill them. Kayla looked over at him, and he winked. A thrill fluttered in her stomach. That half smirk of his. She hated that it still worked on her.

There was a sound, a gargle of water, a snarl, a sucking of air through gaping maws unaccustomed to the process. This was the sound of zombie sharks above the waterline.

And Kayla hated it.

She loaded the harpoon gun and turned to face the advancing line. Justin and Nat were already firing, Andres readying more ammo. She stared down the scope, the gasping, thrashing form of an oozing, sore-riddled great white in her crosshairs.

And she heard them. Felt them. Deep in the meat of her mind. An aching cold. A lonely terror too deep to ignore. The sharks. They were in her mind. Beneath the red hot burning of Nat, and the sunny warmth of the boy they were looking for. The sharks. All of them. Frightened and confused and unable to break free. Free of them. The Whole, Nat called them. Kayla could hear them too. Hissing and whispering over top of it all, like thick steam from a boiler.  Pushing the sharks forward, ever forward. Push. Onward. Drive them in. As she watched the diseased creature writhe and thrash in her crosshairs, she felt pity. So immense and painful she nearly looked away.

But that wasn't how this was done. Wasn't how you stopped them. Eyes open, Kay, she heard Robbie in her mind. Robbie taught her how to shoot. Taught them all. And taught them well.

So Kayla pulled the trigger.

The zombie shark's face exploded into a mess of pulp and blood, and Andres handed Kayla another cartridge.

"Kay," shouted Justin, between rounds. "There's too many of them!"

So many. The ocean frothed and boiled with their thrashing bodies. She'd never seen so many all at once. Every zombified shark in these waters had to have been coming for them. 

Just like that night at the Lookout. The night when Maddie....

"We have to get off the beach!" Kayla roared just as the first of the sharks broke onto the sand.

"No," shouted Nat, firing another shot that only grazed the side of a hammer head. Not nearly as impressive with a gun as Kayla had expected. "We need to get back on the boat!"

"The boat!?" screamed Justin.

They wouldn't get back on the boat. Kayla was damn sure of that. They had to go. Off the beach.