161 Meters Down

Oxygen Meter Going Down

"Oh my god!"

On cue, Kristina hid her masked face onto Lucas again as her knuckles turned white while she clutched his chest.

"Fucking fish!"

A warm pair of hands hugged Kristina back. His molten black gaze followed the shadow leaving his line of vision. The way it rapidly swam only meant that the twelve-foot great white shark would come again for them.

The groaning of the metal railings of the staircase was a dead giveaway that two or three attacks from the shark's jaws and it would crumble, leaving them defenseless against the apex predator.

Bubbles left rapidly from Kristina's diving mask as she heaved. Knuckles white and eyes closed tight, Kristina swallowed the lump in her throat to ease the tightening of her heart. In a wavering voice, she continued what she was saying.

"As far as I remember, there is a sturdy bar counter inside the Casino Royale. With only half of the room's height submerged with water, we can climb to it and use the bar counter as a temporary defense against the shark. We can buy time as I remember the layout of this floor."

As a diver in the Poseidon Hotel, Kristina did not particularly memorize the layout of every floor of the hotel. She was only accustomed to the places where the divers usually stay like the hatch floor which was the bottom floor of the Poseidon Hotel and the minimart located above the exhibit floors.

The exhibit area for the pieces they found in the Mayan ruins was displayed right above the Casino Royale. The exhibit area was divided into four floors. Above the exhibit area was the minimart which was divided into three floors. And above the minimart was the parking lot which was a floor below the ground floor where the reception hall was located.

Kristina was now aiming for the reception hall – totally oblivious of the tsunami that swept past the reception hall. She failed to realize that the moment the water had been sucked back to the ocean was also the moment that the current swept them off. And when the tsunami hit the hotel first, their unconscious bodies were swept back by the torrent into the opened hatch of the Poseidon Hotel.

Lucas nodded. "We cannot stay here. Any minute now and these metal railings will give up," he paused as he looked at his oxygen meter. "And I am down to thirty percent."

On instinct, Kristina looked at her oxygen meter. She bit her lower lip upon seeing the percentage of her remaining oxygen.

Lucas saw how Kristina's face dimmed as she loomed over her oxygen meter. A knot lodged between his bushy brows upon sensing that there was something wrong. The last thing they needed right now was a shortage of oxygen.

"What? What is it, woman?"

He did not wait for her to answer his question. Instead, Lucas grabbed Kristina's left hand which was holding her oxygen meter. Lucas saw the gleaming numbers and muttered profanity. "Fuck."

The corners of Kristina's lips curved into one bitter smile upon hearing the Russian mob leader curse in his rough accent. "Yeah. I am totally screwed with twenty percent."

Lucas, who was yet to let go of Kristina's hand, continued. Gone was the sarcasm from his voice as his tone dropped.

"How long is twenty percent?"

When Kristina's head remained cast down, Lucas raised her chin to meet his dead serious gaze beneath his diving mask. Though the darkness clouded most of their faces, the level of distance they got from each other helped them makes out most of their face's expression. As they stayed in the dark, their vision had adjusted for them as a means of survival.

"Kristina," he called.

Snapped from her reverie, Kristina's eyes dilated upon the gentle yet firm call of her name. Drawn by the voice, her wavering gray eyes met a pair of black ones that reminded her of the predatory eyes of the twelve-foot great white shark swimming around them – waiting for them to move away from the railings of the staircase. 

"I, uh, have thirty minutes at most."

"Fuck."

Lucas closed his eyes shut for a moment. He hated that all he could do was to wait again. He hated this kind of feeling – helplessness. A thought strayed at the back of his mind.

'Nothing really changed, huh? I am still as fucking useless as before, goddamnit!'

Kristina, on the other hand, willed herself that if she lost her determination then there would only be death waiting for them.

'I rather die trying than watch Lucas dies in front of me!' Kristina thought at the back of her mind.

On cue, she nodded her head which elicited a curious-laden gaze from the man encasing her body. She was about to open her mouth when her oxygen tank was grazed by the shark's tail as it swam past them. A gasp escaped from her lips as she was pushed onto Lucas' chest.

Since her back was against the open dark waters, it would be likely to be touched by the tail or the snout of the shark. The presence of the metal railings around them stopped the twelve-foot great white shark from eating them like what it did to Bernardo.

"That damn fish knows that we are still here even if we are almost unmoving," said Lucas.

His chin was placed atop Kristina's head as his hug around her trembling shoulders tightened – to seek comfort, for it was the only thing that he could do for her right now. It was in this time that he regretted not having a fucking gun. He wondered where the fucking harpoon went.

"I have an idea," said Kristina against Lucas' chest. Though her heart was pounding, her voice was firm. She continued, "We need a bait to make this successful."

Lucas pushed Kristina's shoulders to see her face as she laid out her plan for the both of them. "Bait? Do pray tell what will be our bait? I am sure that we failed to grab Bernardo's limbs."

Kristina rolled her eyes at Lucas' sarcasm. "How fast can you swim?"

"I don't know. The last time I swim was two years ago. Why?"

"It is decided then. I will be the bait."