Marissa began to head back to the boat. To her left she saw one shark ram another shark. A huge gash was left along the side of the one that was hit. The next thing she knew, the wounded shark was rapidly eaten alive by several others.
Wynn passed Marissa and turned into the channel.. Marissa glanced back, expecting Wendy to be right behind him. Instead, all she could see were Wendy’s flippers, She was still head-down in the same crevice. For a second, Marissa debated what to do.
Then Wendy’s head popped up, looking for Wynn. She immediately spotted the school of sharks, whose numbers seemed to be increasing by the second.
Wendy started for Marissa in a panic. As abruptly, she was forced to stop when several sharks came between them. Marissa started to swim a sort of backstroke toward the opening of the channel, keeping Wendy in sight at all times. Her terror had increased to the point that she felt she was running out of air.
All at once the sharks scattered with powerful sweeps of their tails. Marissa felt it was an answer to a prayer until she saw what had made them flee. Out of the gloomy blue depths loomed a great white shark. It was at least four times the size of the sharks Marissa had previously seen.
When Wendy spotted the leviathan, she panicked. With arms flailing and legs wildly kicking, she started forward. Marissa did the same. At the lip of the channel Marissa hazarded a look back.
Wendy was still following at the same frantic pace, but Marissa could also see the colossal shark cruising behind her. The beast seemed to be taking a keen interest in Wendy.
The shark momentarily paused. Then, with a single sweep, it streaked directly at Wendy. Tilting its head to the side, the huge fish caught Wendy around her chest and gave her a horrendous shake. Wendy’s mouthpiece came out of her mouth and bubbles fluttered to the surface. Then a cloud of blood billowed into the water and obscured the scene.
In total panic, Marissa. turned and swam into the channel. She could hardly think, she was so utterly afraid. She caught sight of the bottom of the boat and the shark cage. Wynn was already inside; Marissa headed straight for him.
As soon as she reached the cage, Marissa grabbed the door and tried to push, but the door didn’t open. Wynn was holding the door on the inside, pushing against it. Marissa couldn’t imagine what he was trying to do. She tried to look into his eyes but his mask only reflected glare.
Turning, Marissa saw the monstrous shark come around the lip of the channel with blood streaking out of its mouth.
With only seconds to spare, Marissa ducked around to the other side of the cage. She pulled herself into a tight ball, desperately clutching the steel bars.
With a sudden, powerful jolt the great white rammed the cage, grabbing it with its prodigious jaws.
Marissa managed to hold on while the shark tried to bite through the steel bars. Over Wynn’s shoulder Marissa could see right into its mouth, studded with rows of six-inch teeth. The titan’s eye was a huge oval of impenetrable blackness.
Several of the cage’s bars bent under the force of the shark’s jaws. The fish shook the cage with such force that Marissa lost both her mask and her mouthpiece. Yet still she held on.
The shark then disengaged itself, leaving behind some of its teeth. Marissa grabbed for her mouthpiece with one hand, still clinging to the cage with the other. With her mask gone, her vision was blurred. But she could make out Wynn as he put in his own mouthpiece and began frantically pulling on a rope that led to the surface. She noticed a large laceration across his arm that was bleeding profusely.
Apparently giving up on biting through the cage’s strong bars, the shark began circling it. Moving in the same direction, Marissa struggled to keep the cage between herself and the great white.
Suddenly, the cage started to rise. Knowing she’d be doomed without its protection, she kicked furiously in an effort to stay with it, clambering up with her hands on the steel bars. Just as the cage broke the water’s surface, she was able to roll onto its top.