Love Bites

Jae: Six

He saw Jack out of the corner of his eye and followed his arm to the side of the boat. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out what he was referring to. The radio blared to life, and Jae's hand was going to the lever to stop the boat just as the words came out.

Jae snatched the radio up and yelled. "I'm going over! Keep Bo in!"

He tossed his shirt as he left the bridge, grabbing a life preserver. He shucked off his shoes and threw the preserver before diving off the side of the boat after it, too late to see the great white next to him.

It was freezing, and with the rush of water around him, he couldn't tell where the animal was. When Jae surfaced, he kept his movements smooth, looked around, and finally caught sight of a head barely above the water. The waves were tall, powerful, and as each crashed over Jae, he dove under it and pushed on. He couldn't think about the shark right now or that cameraman was going to die. Long, careful, powerful strokes, well practices from years in a pool and competing at a collegiate level made Jae quick and concise. During the summer, he had trained to be a rescue swimmer so he could work as a lifeguard on the beaches in California. It wasn't like Baywatch at all, and in all his summers combined, Jae saved more lives than he could count...and lost a few as well.

Each time he raised his head from the water to breathe, he eyed the guy, until he reached him and pushed the life preserver over to him.
"You're going to be okay, but you can't fight me." It was as if those words meant nothing, and the nerdy little buck twenty-five camera guy started to climb Jae like a pissed off cat, and Jae could barely get him off. "I said don't fight me! Stop! You're going to kill us both! Damn."

The guy couldn't hear him, the panic in him too far gone.

They went under, and as soon as they did, a large push of water turned them around, and Jae knew it wasn't a wave. It was the shark.

The cameraman screamed when they surfaced, arms flailing and legs kicking, one hitting Jae in the shin, an arm slapping him in the face, and he cursed loud, trying to get his arm around nerdy boy's body.

But the little shit wouldn't stay still, making the two of them sink again. Jae'd barely had time to get a breath, and even though he was good, not breathing wasn't something he could handle.

Jae kicked, tugging the man up with him, feeling his foot brush over a solid surface, and he could tell the animal was circling them. He could do nothing to stop it. Most people believed that white sharks circled their prey, but that was an urban myth perpetuated by cartoons. When a shark circled something, it was simply getting a 360 view of whatever it was curious about. It was a crap shoot whether the big guy or gal would decide if he and nerd boy were lunch or not, but Jae knew from experience that if that shark had any doubt, he'd probably go for an exploratory bite...which to humans is not that exploratory. Like, taking off a limb isn't exploratory. Jae considered for a second just giving the behemoth animal the nerd in his arms, but that was wrong. Right? Or was it survival? Anyways, they were all getting back to the boat alive, including Jaws. He just had to stay calm.

When they broke the surface this time, Jae coughed, sucking in lungfull after lungful of air, and the nerdy sidekick pulled his freakout thing again, but this time Jae realized that if they didn't get out of the water soon, they were going to die.

So he did the only thing he could think of. Jae threw his elbow at the kid's head, knocking him out cold.

He went limp in Jae's arms and once Jae was able to look around, he caught sight of the shadow. It was coming straight for them. Welp. Exploratory bite it was. Distant voices could be heard, the whir of a boat motor, but that wasn't going to help right now. Amidst the waves and the evening darkness, he could barely make out the shape, but he watched closely as he swam backwards with the kid tucked securely under his arm and close to his body. When white sharks attacked, they closed their eyes, so Jae knew the only chance he had to avoid being shark dinner was, at the last minute, move and avoid the teeth.

He could hear the rescue boat, but he couldn't turn around. It wouldn't get there in time.

Seconds seemed like minutes, and inches seemed like football fields, but finally, the shark broke and dove toward Jae and the kid, and as Jae watched the whites of the shark's eyes roll back, he dove to the opposite side as fire blossomed over his calf. He didn't want to look. Did it take his leg? Some reports say you don't feel it when a limb is severed. So maybe hurting like a bitch was a good thing. But blood--not a good thing. The stereotypes of blood in the water were most certainly true. It was what Chanel No. 5 was to a boytoy golddigger. He and the kid wouldn't survive another attack.

As if right on time, the rescue boat drove up beside them.

Jae handed the guys the kid, then used all the rest of his strength to grab the side rope and pull himself up and over into the boat, and he hollered over the storm.

"GO! Now! White shark, three o'clock."

The ship's mate on the wheel turned swiftly and pushed the throttle, and they were heading back to the boat at breakneck speed.

Jay lay at the bottom of the rubber boat, a little more than woozy, looking up at Michele. She was talking, but he couldn't quite make out her words. You're stupid? No...well, maybe. You're wheezing? No, out of breath but...really? You're weeding? I am... Oh...

"I'm bleeding." Jae repeated, then looked down at the gash in his leg. "I'm...well, shit. It's fine. Just put pressure on it. It's just a scratch. The tooth probably got me."

Michele was already raising his leg and applying a tourniquet close to the knee, and Jay just lay back, sighing as he wiped his face.

"This is great. Just fucking great."
All he could think about was safety meetings and lifesaving technique classes, and putting a child gate on the bow of the ship. Rules. He needed more rules.

But the one thought that really got through was that Jack was going to be so pissed.