"I'm killing Jess first, then I'm going after Hilary."
"Not without a plan, you are."
Evelyn could only glare holes into the window showing the view in front of her as they emerged through the cloud like barrier and into waters they're more or less familiar with. Jonas had told them that they needed a plan but she didn't want to listen.
"Tell me this isn't the world's best 'I told you so'." She used his own words against him.
"I know." He sounded irritated, but she needed to get her point across.
She did tell him that there was something off about her, that there was more than what she let on,
"I knew she wasn't trustworthy."
No one responded to her, and all she could do was roll her eyes and pay attention to the view in front of her.
"Explosives? Check this out."
"Look what else."
"Is that gonna be a problem?"
"Holy shi"-
They're now looking what seemed to be a rather immense hole in the thermocline layer, something that the Megs could be able to go through if they had ever caught up with the sub. Evelyn severely hoped that they use their pea sized brains to stay the fuck down there instead of causing more terror.
"It's a hole in the thermal layer. It must have been caused by the mining explosions. It will seal up eventually."
"Eventually?"
"Yeah, within an hour."
"Not before three prehistoric murderers decide to come up for round two," she snorted from her seat.
"Can the megs follow us through?"
"I hope not."
"I'm not lingering around to find out," Evelyn puts the sub in full throttle and in a couple of minutes or so, it finally breaks the surface as they neared the research base. She started flicking switches of all sorts, showing that she had this all under control.
"What's that?" Jiuming's voice had her looking back, before following his ine of sight towards a small screen showing the Staff of Mana One being followed by armed guards.
"Trouble." Was all Jonas could describe it as.
As the sub got closer to the stairs, Evelyn managed to force it to stop, so the others could climb out safely before she herself climbed out last, leaving her blaster since there wasn't much to do with it any more. She's resorting to her fists now.
"So," Rigas said when they're walking through a corridor, "we're walking fast and with a lot of determination, which is great. But what exactly is the plan here?"
"They're armed and we're not." Jonas said simply. "Well no shit Sherlock, didn't take you that long to figure it out," Evelyn found herself rolling her eyes again.
He then opened a door that led them into another hallway and Evelyn entered before Jiuming so he had to close the door behind him. She leaned on the opposite wall and peeked though the windows to ensure that no one was strolling past.
"All righty. So what are you thinking?"
"What are you thinking?" Jiuming repeated the question while holding up cases of explosives. "You and I find Mac and DJ," Jonas ordered, "Rigas, grab what you can. Secure a Zodiac so we can get off this thing."
"Rock and Roll."
"Safest if Meiying goes with you," he then spared a glance at the fourteen year old next to him.
Movement cought her attention as someone began to walk by, and as an instinct, she dropped to the floor in a crouching position, signalling to the others that someone was coming. They did the same, until footsteps thudding against metal eventually faded into silence.
From there, they got back up to their feet. "I'll protect her with her life." Rigas promised him with a nod. "And I'll protect her with mine," Meiying promised as well. "No," Jonas and Jiuming told her on separate occasions. "Absolutely not, don't act like your uncle here," the bluenette shook her head, "that leaves me for last, Taylor."
"Guess you'll come with us too," Jiuming gave her a smile and all she could do was fight the urge to tell him off. Instead, she nodded and said, "okay, coast is clear. If we have to move, it has to be now."
Jonas peeked behind a couple of containers he was resting his back against and motioned for the others to follow. At a certain point they had to separate, for obvious reasons, so the bluenette found herself tailing behind the other two as they sought after Mac and DJ.
They ran through countless corridors (it was ridiculous) until Evelyn spotted the two being led away and how many guards were watching over them.
"Three of them, three of us. But we'll need a distraction." She said in thought, then looked up at Jiuming and grinned, "I've found our distraction."
A minute later, they were at their posts as they were going to intercept the five with a little sneak attack.
Jiuming barged in first and begun to talk in Mandarin. Jonas whispered to her, "three, two," then threw the door open, hitting a guard in the face while punching the lights out of the other one. Evelyn followed in fast and kicked the guard who was knocked down by the door in the face when he attempted to get back on his feet.
"Stay down," she hissed and turned to see DJ putting his body weight on a guard while the third one was down as well thanks to Jiuming and his trusty safety helmet.
"I thought you two were dead," Mac told them while sweet relief washed over his features. "Not really," Evelyn went to steal a rifle from the man she had knocked out, then for moved to untie him.
"Wishful thinking, Mac," Jonas told him.
"If it ain't the deviated septum," DJ addressed him.
"Boat's leaving." He said, signaling that they had to move fast. The walkie talkie that was on Evelyn's person, more specifically in her jacket pocket, started vibrating when static was heard, then it spouted Rigas' voice.
"Um guys? We've got a big problem."
"You have got to be fucking me hard in the ass right now," Evelyn took out the walkie-talkie then glared at it, "I knew it, I fucking knew it. I called it, didn't I?"
She looked around at the other two who were there when she had said it. "You know what? It doesn't matter," Jonas opened the door, "we'll find a way."
"And if we don't?"
"We will."
With that being said, he took charge and have everyone else leave the corridor before he followed up last. They ran back the way they came, and suddenly the institute shook as though something rammed into it, and there's no denying what could have possibly rammed into it.
She had to lean onto the wall to keep her balance, but her body rocked from side to side. "Come on, we can get te the Zodiac," Jonas urged the group to keep moving until they could see a stretch of water from where they were to the horizon.
"What now?" Jiuming asked once all of them were seconds away from jumping into the life boat and skedaddling out of there, hopefully in one piece.
"It's our only way off. We have to take it."
"But that thing doesn't have the range to get us to the mainland."
"You're about the destination? What about the first hundred yards? That's where we goin' die."
"We paddle out slow." Jiuming instructed while everyone else boarded the small lifebost, "no engines. Minimal motion. We won't look like food. When we're clear, we make a run for it. Huh?"
"Let's go."
They handed out the oars and six of them started to row, with Meiying in the middle.
"I still think we look like food."
"Agreed."
"Shh. Quiet everyone, paddle slowly."
"This feels unpleasantly familiar."
"Tell me about it."
"I just hope it goes better than last time."
"What happened last time?"
"You don't wanna know."
A splash caused her to glance at the dorsal fin that was circling around them and all she could do is was stay seated and hope for the best.
"Here he comes."
They momentarily stopped rowing, and watch as the shark continued to surround them like they're its prey until it submerged, giving rise to a similar lifeboat that was now heading towards them, with four guards controlling it.
Evelyn noticed that they were speedily on their way, which had meant that they were using the engine to catch up to them.
Idiots, she thought, did anyone teach thens anything about Megalodon101?
Suddenly, they stopped in their tracks a couple of meters away but the damage was already done.
One of them aimed their rifle at them and almost everyone ducked to prevent themselves from getting hit, but Evelyn held her breath and stared at the guard head on, waiting for this to be over with.
Eve then let a shit eating grin draw on her lips when a giant shark jumped out of the waters and chomped down on the lifeboat, before disappearing into the ocean once more.
That was the signal they were witing for, so Jonas revved up the engine and got them skipping across the waters like a stone.
"He got 'em! He ate 'em! He ate the whole boat!"
"Be glad it wasn't us!"
While they ware on they're on their way to who knows what, Jonas started creating makeshift harpoos by attaching bombs to poles and sawing one side to have it sharpened.
Evelyn was surprised that no one had fallen over the edge despite the speed they were going at.
"Any sign of the megs?"
"Negative."
"There's no way this thing's gonna work," Mac told Jonas.
"It's gonna work."
"And what if it doesn't?"
"It's gonna work."
"Bloke, you got more chance of blowing up yourself than one of the megs."
"At least I won't get eaten."
"Yeah," Evelyn snorted, "because you'll be fish food instead."
"Ha, I hear that."
"Jo, can you make me one?"
"I got you covered, Mac."
"We have to find a way to warn people. In case the megs move towards land. There's an island 60 klicks southeast of us. It's listed as inhabited."
"Inhabited by who?"
"The name more or less translates to. . .Fun Island."
"Fun Island?" Jonas repeated.
Who would want to live there?
The island was a couple of miles away, but Evelyn spotted two dots flying towards the island as well. "Jonas," she said in an alarmed tone, and she saw him picking up a pair of binoculars to check it out.
"This doesn't look good," he commented, then turned to the brunette at the engine, "Rigas, get us there fast!"
The speed they were going at got faster and Evelyn had to hold on to something in order not to fall off.
...
She stood corrected.
As they drew closer to the island, Evelyn used the binoculars to see that it was, in fact, bustling with people, even on the docks.
The group started yelling warnings while waving their arms around frantically when they thought they were in earshot.
But nobody paid attention to them, they continued to stay in the water. "If you want to become some tasty snacks to some hungry sharks, you can go right ahead!" She cupped her hands over her mouth and yelled to them.
As the lifeboot was washed upon the beach, people from the shore was runing into the water like lunatics. "Don't go into the water!" She yelled again as she jumped over the side of the Zodiac, but people were too panic stricken to listen.
"We have to save them!"
"I'm not leaving ya."
"Cell phone's down."
"There's no choice!"
"She's right."
"Hey, you two!" Jonas jogged up to Rigas and DJ, "find a way to call for help. Let everyone know what happened."
He then moved to Meiying while Evelyn had to engage in a frantic dance to ensure that people don't bump into her as they ran.
The next thing she knew, Meiying ran towards the lifeguard tower, leaving her with the other three men.
"Eve, maybe you should go with Meiying, just to be safe," Mac motioned to Meiying's body that was growing smaller the further she ran.
"Why? Because I'm a woman?" She asked in a challenging tone, folding her arms and raising an eyebrow, "I've already been involved in this, James. I can't back down now. I'll just be a replacement if you're too afraid to head out there with Jonas' makeshift harpoons."
No, I just think that "-
"You two. We have no time for your bickering," Jonas cut in, "we have a bigger problem to deal with. Come on."
James raised his arms in surrender as he backed off and Evelyn spared him an intense glare before she followed after Jonas.
They stopped to watch as a Megalodon chomped its way through the doc with ease. "Shit," Jonas cursed, "we gotta move now."
They continued walking in that direction, heading away from the beach to a more secluded area with less people.
"Theee Megs, three of us nonetheless. We each grab a jet ski. Get them to chase it away from these people and out to sea. Then we harpoon them."
"Oh, you mean with those jerry-rigged, maybe-they-work, maybe they-kill-us harpoons?"
Jonas stopped in his tracks to slowly turn towards Mac while Evelyn released a snort despite the brief argument they had earlier.
"Yeah."
"It's a terrible idea."
"You got a better one?" Jiuming gave him a harpoon.
"No. No."
"Then we're agree."
"You wanna switch then?"
"I mean sure. You can gladly take my place." He tossed her the harpoon instead.
"Thanks," she blew him a kiss, and they resumed their way on the path.
Soon their feet touched sand as they broke out into a light jog to where the jet skis are, only to find one.
"There's only one ski, "Jonas tuned to the three. "Give me your harpoons." She gave hers up and waited for Jiuming to give up his with a relieved look on his face.
She watched as Jonas bundled the harpoons together and clambered off tavards the only jet ski.
"We need more firepower," Jiuming said once Jonas launched off. "And where are we getting that from?" Evelyn questioned.
"I have an idea," he calmly stated, "let's go." The bluenette glanced back at the waters, before following the two who had taken off without her.
"He-Hey! Wait for me you cowards!"
She managed to catch up to them as they headed inland for explosive supplies and away from the chaos. People rushed past her, and all she had to think about was what were they running from.
She didn't think she wanted to know.
Thick trees and shrubbery surrounded them, forcing them to stay on a path towards a storage shed because they did not know what were in those bushes.
"This should be the place." Jiuming said as they drew closer to the door. He opened the door and peeked inside, before motioning for the the two to follow along.
Evelyn stuck her head inside last and then closed the door behind her. Jiuming searched through the shelves as though he was looking for something specific.
"What are we looking for?" James asked while standing next to him, albeit confused.
Jiuning peered around a shelf, then he swerved around it, having found something in the near back.
"Ammonium Nitrate."
"I'm no chemist, but that stuff's pretty explosive," the bluenette spoke up, then her jaw dropped at the sight of an entire shelf fully stocked with white bags of Ammonium Nitrate.
"You're making a bomb?"
"This stuff is as powerful as TNT," Jiuming picked up a bag. Just then, a group of men in camo uniforms barged in from the other door, seeming as though they were runing from something as snarls were heard from the bushes. The men were yelling and shooting at whatever was attacking them before one of them unpinned a grenade and threw it, waiting until it detonated then to slam the door shut and sigh out in sweet relief.
Then the men caught sight of the three and immediately aimed their guns at them while ordering them to freeze. Jiuming instantly passed the bag to James to raise his arms in surrender, and James did the exact sance thing to Evelyn, who couldn't find anyone else to hold the bag, so she flung the bag to the back of her and put her hands in the air.
Shit, they were caught.
What were they going to do now?
They couldn't fight back because of two things, they were outnumbered and they were unarmed.
She tried to keep her composure together, even though it was hard when a gun was being aimed at her head, a million thoughts raced around her mind and her heart thundered against her rib cage, ready to burst out of her chest.
But she had to have high hopes. They will get out of this.
Somehow. . .
And hopefully alive.
A couple of minutes later was when the door to the back of them opened because she heard familiar voices. She wanted to turn around and warm them, but she couldn't.
"What the hell?"
"Hi, DJ. Hi, Rigas."
"All of you together. Up against the wall. Hands up!"
"I wouldn't point that at me if I were you. Trust me."
"Shut it, keep your hands in the air!"
"Hands up," Jiuming repeated, to which DJ did.
It's official, people.
They're screwed.
She did as she was told, keeping her arms raised. And they were starting to burn painfully the longer she had them up.
"Don't want to hurt you," Jiuming said slowly, "so l'm going to give you one chance. Put those weapons down." How was he going to fight all of them?
"Or you'll do what?" One of them challenged.
"Yeah, what are you going to do?" She had to lean forward to look at him because she was slightly shorter than Mac, so seeing above his head was the only thing she could see.
"Stay still, little guy."
Jiuming moved one of his hands towards DJ's lower abdomen, and she watched as DJ stumbled back, pushing a button with his body that had the garage door behind the guys who apprehended them opening up a bit.
But it was enough for a Nothosarus to bite a man's leg and dragged him underneath the door while he cried out for help.
So that's where the snarling came from.
"Stay where you are!" The same man from before ordered them not to move, then directed his attention towards helping his comrade by shooting at the Dinosaur.
Of course, the group thought otherwise and made a run for it, and Mac grabbed a bag of Ammonium Nitrate on the way out.
They practically ran for their lives, hearing the sound of gunfire and bullets pelting everywhere until an explosion blasted them forward and made them face plant on the sandy path.
"Whoa," Evelyn looked back at the burning building, "imagine if we were still in there. We would have been either blown to smithereens or crushed by fallen debris."
"Damn!"
Yeah, that pretty much summed it all up.
Rigas dug into DJ's bag and pulled out a SAT phone, "I got signal."
"Call for help!" Jiuming ordered as he ran towards a blue jeep, "to get down to the beach and help people!"
"Where are you going?"
"Stealing a chopper," Jiuming grabbed the keys for the jeep.
"What chopper?"
"Evelyn, you come too," he pointed towards the empty space in the back. "Okay," she climbed into the back and threw away stuff that wasn't necessary for the time being, and held on tight as the jeep drove off.
...
Once a chopper was in their line of sights, Jiuming slowed down the jeep. The group of three spotted a Nothosaurus, there was no denying it, with its blue and cream leathery skin, long tail and sharp teeth, as it jumped out of the chopper.
"Ugh, looks like someone else had the same idea."
"No kidding. I wonder if it was Hilary?" She ducked low and crouched so the prehistoric carnivore wouldn't spot her.
"We need a plan," Jiuming told them, "we have to lead it away and steal the chopper." Evelyn dropped down from the back just Jiuming and Mac got out of the jeep.
"Okay," Mac whispered, "you and Evelyn lead it away, I'll steal the chopper. You distract it. I'll get the chopper." "Hello, hello, no," she angrily whispered to him, "take me with you to steal that chopper."
"Why me?"
"Can the two of you fly a chopper?"
"Yeah, I can," Jiuming answered as he picked up the bag with ammonium nitrate.
"I can, too. I've had training," she rolled her eyes, "you know this, Mac."
"You both have licenses?"
"Yes, I do!"
"It's in my penthouse-we're wasting time, Mac."
"I didn't know that."
"What?"
"Okay, good plan," Mac grabbed the bag of ammonium nitrate and scampered away to a hiding spot. Evelyn and Jiuming locked eyes with each other for a couple of seconds before the bluenette blinked first.
"So..." She started.
"So..." He repeated.
"So... see ya," she gave him a salute as she practicaly ducked and ran at the same time, leaving Jiuming to pick up a hammer and a shovel to use as a distraction.
She crouched low by Mac, waiting for the right moment to move. Jiuming hammered against the shovel as he ran amongst the tall grass, hiding low to not draw attention to himself, even though that was exactly what he was doing. Around the second round was when the dinosaur finally decided to follow the mysterious noise.
Mac and her quietly made their way over to the abandoned chopper, and she.got into the front passenger seat, puting on the headsets just as Mac crawled in.
He readied the chopper for take off, but he grew confused when nothing was happening. Evelyn's eyebrows furrowed sightly as she checked the gas meter. It appeared as though the helicopter was full of gas.
"Jiuming, we gotta go!" Мac called to him.
She gave the meter a couple of taps and her frown deepened when the arros went from full to empty. "Mac, the tank is empty," she told him, "we won't be able to take off."
He nodded and in her view, she spotted Jiuming sprinting towards them.
"Fuel! Get the fuel! Gas, we need gas!"
The man had to sprint back to the filling station that was luckily nearby because this area somehow became a helipad, and grabbed the pump only to sprint back while being chased by four more Nothosauruses to place the pump into the filler tube.
The arrow for the meter was slowly going up and Jiuming clung onto the inside while ordering Mac to get the chopper into the air.
The pump unravelled until it stopped and the chopper lurched to the side so suddenly that the bluenette was glad that she was wearing a seatbelt tight on her body, or else the impact would have flung her onto James.
"Get the fuel!" Mac called to Jiuming as the arrow moved past three on the meter. She kept her eyes trained on the dinosaurs that were now snarling at them. The most she could do was sit there and do absolutely nothing for the time being.
"Lizard incoming, hold on!" James grabbed the controls and attempted to shake off the giant carnivorous lizard, before Jiuming fell back to the ground with a thud.
"Jiuming?" She had to move her head about to see since James was obscuring her view.
The helicopter still spun around, making her get motion sickness and she had to hold onto something to keep her sturdy and prevent her from throwing up.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed that Zhang was spraying gasoline onto the dinosaurs to keep them from attacking him.
Finally, the helicopter ceased to spin when Mac yelled at him to run. He dropped the pump and made a run for it and Evelyn wanted to help him, even after all the shit they've been through because of him.
She picked up a flare gun and aimed it at the filling station behind him. Mac caught sight of her and thank God, he understood.
"Go !" He yelled as she took the shot and blasted a flare towards the filling station. Jiuming only moved his head to the side as the flare whizzed past him, hitting the station directly and, igniting everything that had been doused in gasoline. The fire was quickly spreading as her anticipation grew, wondering whether or not she had made the tight call.
The dinosaurs were overtaken in the explosion and Jiuming jumped at the last second to save himself, diving into the helicopter and clinging onto the interior before it took to the skies, returning to the beach.
"Man, I didn't think you were gonna make that one," Mac told him as he looked over his shoulder.
"You need to be alive for your niece," Evelyn only said these words without glancing at him, but she was smiling as she said them, "you can't die as yet, you Dipshit."
In the back of them, she heard the sound of rattling inside of a metal container, and she juat knew that the man was creating a bomb.
They got close to the docks where some sort of activity was taking place.
And long, flailing tentacles that her blood freezing to became ice.
'A giant octopus? You have got to be kidding me.'
"Get lower! That's Meiying!" Jiuming had to yell over the rotating blades of the chopper as he peered outside.
"Are you sure it's Meiying?" James asked skeptically while Evelyen tried to find the girl. A couple of seconds later, she spotted the girl on a surfboard in the water, attempting to rescue someone who had trouble swimming back.
"Get lower!" Jiuming insisted a bit more aggressively now.
"Okay, okay Hold on," Mac followed his command and lowered the helicopter as they got even closer to the chaos. By now, Juiming was fully outside, hanging onto the door and all Evelyn had to think was 'how the hell is he staying on?'
She peered down and saw the fourteen year old waving frantically at them.
Evelyn eyed the tentacles that were suspiciously wavering by the helicopter. "Uh, Mac," she started, "what about the giant octopus that's below us."
He casted a side eyed glance and shrugged, focused on lowering the chopper.
The chopper was then yanked to the side as though something was pulling them away.
She didn't need to guess what when she saw the waterproof skin and suction cups of a large tentacle that had wrapped itself around large the aerial vehicle.
She saw chunks of the tendril as it got chopped by the blades, before it let go of them and another one came to take its place. Mac tried to regain control but the octopus clearly wanted them as its reverse sushi roll.
Her peripheral vision caught movement, and saw the black haired man grabbing his makeshift bomb and jumping out of the chopper.
A couple of seconds later, however...
That's when all Hell had broken loose.
With one hard yank thanks to the giant octopus, the chopper was sent crashing down on a couple of rocks and smashed to pieces. The impact had her head hitting against the glass harshly enough to leave her dazed and her head pounding.
Again.
Then the interior began to fill up with water.
She moved to her hands to unbuckle her seatbelt, but it malfunctioned on her, refusing to let her go. Damn it, now she really hated the tightness of the safety belt as it pressed her against the seat without any room to wiggle through. "Mac, I know it's kinda obvious," she said while keeping her head above the water, her ears free because the headsets were knocked off in the crash, "but we're trapped."
She got no response, but the fear inside of her increased by tenfold when the chopper dipped into the water a bit, adding more to the water already present, leading to the point it's under her chin.
She started hyperventilating a bit, taking quicker breaths while trying to hard to repress the urge to scream. Her lungs felt like they were filled up with water, which they will be at the rate they're going.
"Mac?" She called to him once more, the dread settling in once she got no response from the station chief. She grabbed his hand and gave it a squeeze, expecting some sort of reaction.
He didn't show any.
His head lolled from side to side with the motion of the waves, but he was barely responsive.
She gave him another squeeze as she threw her head back on the headrest of the seat, wanting to take her mind off their current station.
It felt like minutes, terrifying, ominous, cold, hard minutes of deafening silence that passed between them like this, one step closer into their probable watery graves.
She's not afraid of the water, though...
She's afraid of what's in the water.
She looked at the docks for possibly the last time and her eyes widened when a giant shark and a giant octopus suddenly emerged out of the water, only to submerge and probably engage in an all out brawl.
They resurface a couple of seconds later, the Megalodon being the dominant one in the fight while the octopus was in its giant jaws, crushed between its sharp teeth that can easily tear into skin, before they dove back in and swam to God knows where.
She heard a faint voice over the rushing of waves, it was Jiuming's.
"Hold on! I'm coming!"
She never thought she would be so glad to hear this man's voice.
She gave Mac's hand a reassuring squeeze once more, and her eyes automatically fluttered closed when the pain had gotten worse, and she let out a sigh of relief.
Jiuming stopped swimming once he was right outside. "Mac, Evelyn, are you okay?" He asked, worry laced in his tone due to a lack of response from the both of them. "Mac? Evelyn?"
Her eyes snapped open to alert him that she's conscious, and so was Mac when he began to spit out water.
The helicopter dipped even lower, having her entire body fully submerged as she held in her breath. Jiuming struggled with attempting to rip the door off only resurfacing for air before trying again.
Finally, the door gave way and Mac swam out freely. She waved to get the man's attention, then pointed to her seatbelt. She wanted to let out all of the air she had inside in a burst of bubbles, but she couldn't, water would go into her lungs faster.
Her vision got blurry as Jiuming's hands grabbed the safety belt and yank at it, fidding with the buckle.
Bubbles escaped though her nose and lips and soon, she had no air left in her body. Her eyes threatened to flutter closed as her vision flickered, permenently this time, then she no longer felt the restricting weight of the belt anymore as her body slowly leaned forward while being pushed by the currents.
Strong arms wrapped themselves around her body and dragged her out, half conscious and barely moving before her head was above the water and sweet, fresh air rushed into her lungs.
She gasped out choking and spluttering before she vomited salt water back into the ocean.
"You're okay, you're okay, she heard Mac's wice from the other side of her, and another strong arm warped itself around her neck to assist with keeping her afloat, "breathe, Eve."
She wheezed and used the two men as her support while she pushed back her now wet hair away from her face.
Around that time, Jonas killed the biggest Meg there was with a makeshift harpoon made of the remains of the helicopter and went to join them, instantly checking Evelyn first. Apart from the horrible aching in the front of her head, she was fine.
"God, Eve," he dotted over her, "I was so worried about you."
"I'm okay." She assured him with a quick nod of her head.
The four of them then began to swim back to shore, relieved of this nightmare when Jiuming called for them to stop, "Hey, Wait, wait, wait!"
"Everyone stay still," Jonas warned while a giant dorsal fin was approaching them, "no motion."
"No, it's okay," Jiuming told him, "that's Haiqi."
"Who cares which one it is?"
"She'll listen to me." After all they have been through, Jiuming had still carried around that button that he had used to 'train' the meg.
"Let's spread out so that thing don't get us all."
"I got this!" He submerged himself as Evelyn readied herself to fight for her life once more as the demon of the seas has them in its sight as the next item on the 'Casa de Tiburón' menu.
The shark inched closer and closer and her heart wanted to stop then and there before it dropped to the sea floor below. But instead of opening its jaws to eat them alive, it moved past them and changed direction.
"Yes!" Jiuming exclaimed once he resurfaced, "I knew it! I told you! We have in special bend."
"It went after the dolphins," Jonas argued.
"No! She obeyed my command.
"Ridiculous. I didn't believe it before and I don't believe it now. Hey. Mac, back me up."
"I'm getting out of here before she changes her mind," Mac delcared and turned his back on them, choosing to swim away instead.
"Mac!"
"You guys stay there and argue."
"Eve? He turned to her.
"Jonas, I love you both but see ya. I'm not sticking around when she gets bored of the dolphins." She kicked ler legs and followed after Mac, while the other two argued on what was the real reason the shark had left them and chased the dolphins.
"She obeyed my command!"
"Dolphins."
"No!"
The swim back to shore was more energy draining than the walk through the Mariana Trench and two of them were victims of a near drowing situation, so it took them a couple of minutes, tops, to get back.
She finally felt stable ground underneath her boots and she stood up, clothes, boots hair and all sopping wet, relieved that it's all over.
Meiying came out to meet them there, wading into the water. "It's not my fault," she said as an excuse, "sometimes, there's a situation and bad things are happening, and you just have to get involved."
"I'm glad you finally understand." Jonas told her and she smiled back at him, "I'm proud of you." He then gave her a peck on her forehead and Evelyn's heart swelled with awe for the two of them
"Next time, don't run around, ok?" Jiuming relayed next as he played with her hair buns.
Next time? When there will be a next time? No thank you.
After they get dried up, the survivors all sat on the shore as they looked back of the ocean with glasses in their hands. Evelyn was sitting down next to Jonas while his arm was wrapped around her neck and she was pulled in close.
"What about Haiqi?" Rigas asked, as Mac joined them with a bottle of whiskey and poured some of the drink into their glasses, "she's still out frere. Maybe pregnant."
"Oh, preferably not."
"I hope not."
Jonas and Evelyn locked eyes with each other, before they burst out into sniggers.
"That's tomorrow," Jiuming stated, "today, we count our blessings."
"Amen to that," she took a swing of the alcohol and let the bitter taste pleasantly burned the back of her throat.
"Here's to being alive." Mac made a toast by clinking his glass with everyone's, then he sat down by Evelyn.
"Here's to dolphins." Jones added.
"To Meiying being safe."
"To the deaths of both Hilary and Jess!" Evelyn added enthusactically, earning an eye roll from Jonas.
"And here's to Sal, Lance and Curtis."
Meiying came to sit between Jonas and her uncle. "So... am I still grounded?" She asked the two of them while looking at them innocently.
The two men looked down at her in silence for a couple of seconds, before they simultaneously glanced away and responded with, "absolutely."
They then burst into laughter while Meiying looked of them incredulously. "You two are ridiculous," she shook her head, and went in to give her uncle a hug, "but I love you anyway." She also went to hug Jonas as well, and then she caught Evelyn by surprise by giving her one as well.
"Looks like you got a little reckless out there," Jonas told him.
"No, everything was totally under control."
DJ then joined them, using his bag as a pillow as he laid upon the sand, using the bottle in his hands to clink with their glasses while he commented, "well, everything's about to be totally not under control."
As she sat there admiring the damage done to the docks, she was taken aback by how similar the outcome was. Now, and six years ago, with her being alive at the end to tell the tale.
And she'll make sure that others will hear her story.
Loud and clear.
=...𝙴𝙽𝙳...=
A/N- ANDDDD THAT'S THE END OF DIVE INTO THE DEPTHS!
WOW THIS IS A LONG AF CHAPTER
I KNOW, ACTUAL TEARS BECAUSE THIS IS THE LAST BOOK IN THE SERIES!
THANK YOU TO ALL MY LOVELY READERS WHO HAD SUPPORTED ME FROM THE BEGINNING OF 'THE MEG' SERIES, RIGHT DOWN TO THE END!
YEAH, IDEK WHAT ELSE TO WRITE FOR THIS LAST AUTHOR'S NOTE EXCEPT MERRY CHRISTMAS AND HAVE A HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!
©D_Day21