161 Meters Down

12-Foot Apex Predator

Barely a hair's breadth away from the twelve-foot great white shark's snout, Lucas escaped the oblivious death from his side. He was able to avoid a truck-like force that was about to hit his blind side. With a pair of widened eyes, Lucas' unmasked face was pulled by a firm and precise grip underwater.

Though surprised by the sudden grip of Kristina, he did not fight back. For him, it only meant one thing and that was the presence of the pesky shark. On instinct, Lucas looked around him under the water but he was only met by sheer darkness – an eerie darkness welcomed him as if someone was watching him under the water.

Lucas' train of thought snapped when a pair of hands pushed him deeper. The firm grasp of Kristina's hands clutched her shoulders as she pushed him. This sudden action from the petite woman earned his nape and waist a sharp throb after being hit by a cylinder-shaped metal. With the darkness that still blinded him, his arms stroked against Kristina's force.

A pair of small hands moved from his shoulders to his arms, stopping him from stroking wide. His eyes focused on the person hovering over him. With blurry vision, Lucas took his hand from her hold and pulled back his mask. Before he could draw his air, he heard Kristina scream before she pushed his chest downward.

"Stop resisting!" Kristina screamed beneath her diving mask. 

Bubbles surged behind her as she drew oxygen faster because of her heaving. Heart pounding, her gaze kept darting back and forth around her. Kristina knew that the shark had to turn around before it could come back again – which gave her enough time to tuck Lucas between the railings of the staircase. With it around them, the shark's jaws could not tear their bodies into chunks. If only Lucas was not resisting so much, everything would have been easy. But no, the Russian mob leader had to open his arms and paddled against her! It was an open invitation for the incoming apex predator in their midst! 

'This man! Really!'

With gritted teeth, Kristina placed both of her palms on his chest before she pushed him between the railings of the stairs. In between railings that were in a curve shape, Kristina chose this place to protect themselves before she could find a safe place to swim. She could only hope that Chad was not here in the Casino Royale which had long lost its luxurious splendor.

"Tuck yourself in!" Kristina yelled in a whispered voice. 

Her eyes dilated as she stared down at his struggling form. She knew that she should have explained things to him but they were tight with time! Anytime soon, the shark would be back for them.

'Fuck it!' 

Lucas screamed his profanities at the back of his mind as bubbles escaped his lips when his nape and elbows hit a hard metal. Eyes half-closed, Lucas held the metal at his both sides to steady himself. His bottom and feet touched the staircase's floor as he finally sunken from Kristina's forceful push.

Kristina watched the sea snake swimming away from her. She needed not to look back as she pulled herself down – both of her hands gripped the railings as she curled her head and kicked her feet one last time to add momentum.

Lucas, who was now sporting his diving mask, pulled Kristina's body to his by encircling his right arm to her waist while her left had pulled her nape down to touch her forehead to his. With this fraction-of-a-minute intervention, an opened jaw as wide as his single warm missed Kristina's shoulders.

"Oh my god!" 

Kristina gasped when she felt the heavy ripples behind her left shoulder followed by the groans of the metal railings when the shark's tail hit it as the shark swerved to make a second turn. A second turn meant only one thing: a second attempt to tear them into tidbits like what it did to Bernardo.

On instinct, Kristina hugged Lucas's shoulder as she curled up against the open dark waters. With only the metal railings stopping the shark's jaws, Kristina's breath beneath the diving mask wavered as her arms around Lucas trembled. No matter how she willed herself to keep calm to avoid what happened with Bernardo, fear gripped her like shackles after making sure that Lucas was safe under her.

"Thanks," whispered Lucas. 

His hand on her nape did not budge as he kept her against him. He guided her head to the slopes of his right neck – a short reprieve to calm the pounding of her heart against his chest.

 Patting Kristina's head as his hold against her waist tightened, Lucas froze after realizing something: was he comforting her?

'Why am I doing this?' Startled by his action, Lucas wanted to push Kristina away had it not been for the presence of the shark that immediately stopped him. 

Shaking his head as he stopped patting Kristina, he consoled his anxious mind. 'Yes. I am doing this because I need her to get out of here. If I let this woman collapse, I might as well be good as dead. Yes. That is the reason why I did that.'

Unbeknownst to Kristina, who was calming herself to think straight out of their situation as the shark lingered around them, the man holding her was also having an internal struggle. She used this chance to speak. "Lucas, listen."

Kristina's voice snapped Lucas from his foolish frenzy inside his mind. The first thing that registered in his mind was the fact that Kristina's voice was sharp and firm. A sigh of relief escaped his lips which he immediately closed after realizing what he was doing again – he was prioritizing the woman that he was only using to get out alive from the shithole he was in.

"What?" Lucas snapped under his breath. Jaws clenched and both hands were fisted tightly.

"We have to leave here before we lose all our oxygen." Kristina turned her head to both sides simultaneously – hoping to see a glimpse of a way out.

Lucas could only bite his tongue since he knew that they got no other choice. It was either they sink to the floor or they sink inside the shark's belly and Lucas did not like it. "So what do we do now?"

Kristina closed her eyes tightly. She recalled the last time she visited Casino Royale. She hoped that through her memory, she could get something useful. Opening her mouth to explain her memories to Lucas, a sharp gasp escaped instead when the railings surrounding them shook upon the contact of the shark's jaws.

"Oh my god!" On cue, Kristina hid her masked face onto Lucas again as her knuckles turned white as she clutched his chest.