Survival: The Watery Grave
Chilling suspense hung in the air as I started my descent into the icy water flooding the slope in the dark, damp concrete halls beneath the mansion in which my nightmare began. Checking my map, I noted that the doors before me led to this underground lab’s aqua ring, an observation catwalk for a tank. The tank must’ve broken and flooded the entire area. Carefully, wishing this had never happened, I pushed the heavy metal doors open. With water everywhere, this task wasn’t the easiest.
Sloshing in, I peered into the depths over the flooded catwalk’s edge. The fear of the unknown settled in; it was too deep to see the bottom, and too dark to see anything in it. “Connor!” My entire body froze, searching for the owner of the voice. My eyes fell upon Richard Aiken. Immediately, I noticed something was wrong. He was beaten and battered, and covered in cuts and bruises. Trying to walk towards me, he sloshed and stumbled through the waist-high water. Meeting him halfway, I smiled and helped him stand straight. “Richard, what happened to you? You look like you’ve been through a war zone!”
He sighed. “Chris and Rebecca helped me kill a huge snake in the mansion above. Honestly, it was about 20 feet long and ten in diameter! I was poisoned, but they got the serum and saved me. Anyway, they stayed in the mansion to search for clues. I went down here looking for you. Mission accomplished, I suppose. Let’s get out of here…” I nodded with much agreement. Turning back towards the doors, I started striding through the water. A slight splash. My eyes immediately moved to scan the large circular tank. Was there an infected scientist in the water? If so, one shot was all it took to dispatch it. However, nothing was there but the calm water, hiding murky depths.
Bubbles. I felt a quickly growing sense that something wasn’t right. I peered even more intently into the watery prison and too late saw a large silhouette zooming for me. I tried moving, but I was rooted. Whatever it was, it had me! “Connor!!” Richard screamed, diving at me. As I fell forward, a huge monster erupted from the water and clamped Richard in its enormous jaws. It was the largest great white shark I’d ever seen. Adrenaline and intense sadness for Richard coursed through me as the man’s loud shrieks and cries echoed in the watery hellhole.
Immediately, I stumbled to my feet in this liquid demise and saw the red of blood mixing with the water. Resisting the urge to throw up, I saw a door leading to the tank control room on the opposite side of the circular catwalk. Without thought, I sprinted for it as fast as I could in this now-deadly substance I could once drink. Trembling, the icy water seeping into my soul and freezing my attempts to calm myself, I trudged through, determined to make it without dying. Another splash. It didn’t even take a second for me to register the sound. Instinctively, I dove forward and into the icy water on the catwalk. Surfacing, I heard metal screeching and crunching under teeth. This shark had to be infected!
Before I could tell I’d survived through a football field’s length of waist-high water, I was at the door. I yanked at the door, but it didn’t budge. “COME ON!!” I screeched, looking back at the water. A lightbulb went on over my head. Frantically, I fumbled for the key I’d gotten in the mansion. Pulling it out, I shoved it in the lock and twisted it faster than a tornado. The lock snicked, unlocking. Grunting, I struggled to open the half-submerged door. Finally, it opened and I dove in, kicking the door shut behind me as some of the water washed in with me.
Breathing quickly, I finally realized the fact that I was still alive. Ready for the next set of horrors this undead nuthouse held, I shakily got to my feet and climbed down a nearby ladder to drain the water in the oversized tank of death. Richard had sacrificed himself for me… His face flooded my conscience more than the water flooded outside the room. “They’ll regret this, Richard. The shark, the people who made this virus… nobody in that company will escape what fate they sealed themselves with when they sent us here to investigate those murders. The jails will be full and then some for this, and for you. I promise…” I whispered to him, starting to work on draining the water. I never break promises.
