Mega Worm Apocalypse

ONE

The red buoys bobbed a few hundred meters offshore -- 173 drum lines in all, strung along the coast of Point Chester like a necklace of bloody pearls.

And one disappeared beneath the surface.

Justin sat on the edge of an old fishing boat, eyes narrowed on the missing buoy. He felt a familiar twinge in his gut, the flash of sweat in his palms. It was muscle memory more than anything. Only these days it came with a swell of annoyance. A shark was pulling the buoy under.

He continued twining the metal in his hands around itself, weaving and bending with his pliers. Carefully, he selected the piece of sea glass he'd been saving from his tool box -- a little gem of sapphire blue, perfectly round and smooth -- and fixed it into place on top of the ring of metal wire.

The sharks in these waters weren't normal sharks.

He looked out for the buoy, still submerged beneath the waves. He sighed. So much for the Pulse Perimeter.

After what happened in Point Chester last year, the town cleared out and left. The place where Justin Heard lived the whole of his eighteen years on this planet was suddenly a ghost town, half submerged by the waters of the Atlantic.

Not long after everybody left, the Navy moved in. The HMS Victory parked itself just west of Point Chester Marina, and had no interest in listening to a couple of teenagers warning about sharks that they could only describe as zombified. "Hyper aggression" in the sharks was the problem, that was what they said. So they spent a month laying down a barrier to keep the sharks away from the coast line -- the Pulse Perimeter, a line of high-tech magnets that were supposed to emit some kind of powerful electromagnetic pulse. It was supposed to scramble the sharks' senses. Confuse them and scare them away. Scientific studies showed this technology worked on ninety percent of sharks.

Normal sharks.

But the sharks in Point Chester weren't normal.

The sharks in Point Chester were dead.

It didn't take long for the Navy to realize they should have listened.

Justin squinted in the distance, to where the Victory sat like a sleeping giant just offshore. Justin never imagined himself rubbing elbows and consulting on battle strategy with Naval officers but -- he looked down at the little twisted ring of metal wire in his hand -- well, everything changes, one way or another.

"What's that?"

Justin looked up and saw Officer Robbie Howe standing on the dock. He motioned at the wire in Justin's hands. "What are you working on there?"

Justin hurried, twining the last piece into place. "Nothing. It's private."

Robbie raised an eyebrow. "I hope it's not what it looks like."

Justin turned around, putting his back between Robbie and the ring. "What do you want, Robbie?"

"Captain Dyer wants to see you."

Justin rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I saw the buoy. Tell Dyer I'll deal with it." He always did. Whenever the sharks made it past the Pulse Perimeter they'd get snagged on the drum line. Or worse...make their way to shore. Whenever that happened, it was up to Justin, or Robbie, or Joey, or Maddie, or Kayla to take a boat out and do what only they seemed to know how to do.

Stop them.

"Don't worry about the buoy, I'll take care of that," said Robbie. "Dyer needs you on deck pronto. You and Kay. Said it's urgent."

Justin looked out at the ocean. The sky and the waves were on fire with red and purples and pinks. It was getting late.

"Where is Kay, anyway?" asked Robbie. "Been looking all over."

Justin snipped the last wire, securing the blue sea glass into place. "She went out hunting with Maddie." It had become a thing -- the two girls would leave in the morning, fishing boat fixed with two harpoon guns and a couple handhelds for good measure. In the days that followed their rescue a year ago from the nest of zombie sharks, Kayla seemed determined to rid the world of undead parasitic sharks single handedly. Well, single handedly until Maddie started joining her. They'd become inseparable, and when they all sat down to dinner, Justin never really knew what they were talking about. All inside jokes and 'had to be there' talk. He was glad they were such good friends, but he'd be lying if he said he wasn't feeling left out.

"They're on the water today?" said Robbie, surprised. "I thought today was the big anniversary."

Justin threw the pliers into his toolbox with a bang and slammed the lid shut. "It's no big deal."

"Kinda seems like it is."

Justin wrapped the little ring in the red handkerchief he'd stolen from Dyer specifically for the purpose of keeping the ring safe and stuffed it into his pocket. He hopped off the fishing boat and onto the dock. "Don't worry about it, Howe."

"Hey I'm not worried," he laughed, holding up his hands. "I just don't have to tell you that if you think that ring is for Kayla, Bo's not gonna like it."

Justin winced. He knew that. He didn't need Robbie reminding him that the old man didn't approve of Justin and Kayla as Justin & Kayla.

Though if Justin were honest with himself, he wasn't sure how much longer they were going to be Justin & Kayla. Lately it seemed like he was the only one in the relationship. Like today. He'd been planning to do something special for their one year anniversary for weeks. And she blew him off to go hunting with Maddie. The ring was his chance to change things. His chance to make a promise to Kayla that he always knew he was going to make.

He just hoped she wanted him to do it.

There was a rumble on the water, and Justin and Robbie turned to see a fishing boat speeding toward the submerged buoy. At that reckless speed, there was no doubt who was driving -- Maddie.

The boat carved through the waves until it was practically on top of the buoy. And in a torrent of white, frothy water, the shark breached the surface, a massive, discoloured great white, mouth gaping as it lunged for the little fishing vessel --

And then the explosion.

The zombie shark blasted apart into nothing but meat and gore. And Robbie and Justin could hear the girls cheering.

Kayla was finally home.