5.q.
“What’s
this? A conference room?” asked Senior
Executive.
“I think it’s
a convention hall,” said Business Woman.
By this point
the water was almost to their knees. Progress
across the convention room floor was hindered by the necessary exaggeration of
their steps and the weak, almost limp form of Supply who was dangling on the
shoulders of Senior Executive and Corporate Man.
A chorus of snapping
supports and falling metal grates sounded throughout the grand hall, dropping
dozens of sharks in the ever deepening water.
Makos and bullsharks and hammerheads and tigers and white-tips slapped
hard into the shallows all around them.
The big fish seemed dazed after the long fall, but quickly regained
their predatory focus and cut through the water in stuttering, wriggling
spurts. Some of the smaller sharks were
almost fully submerged with only their upper back and dorsal fins jutting above
the surface.
The sharks
made darting runs at the splashing, frantic humans but arched away from the
thrashing, stomping legs and feet when they were within a few yards.
A door to the Union ’s
rear exploded from its hinges as the Great White crashed into the conference
hall amongst splinters of inexpensive hollow core paneling. The water was
thigh-deep now and three quarters of the massive shark was beneath the surface. Sheets of water sheered up and over its sleek
back as it barreled toward them.
“Move! Move! Move!” Business Woman cried out.
The Great
White slammed into a circling blue shark, knocking the smaller fish out of the
water. It flailed helplessly through the
air then splashed down with a frantic slap. The Great White snapped at an
approaching reef shark and then careened toward a hammerhead and bit down on
the unwary fish’s tail. Blood spurt from
the hammerhead’s thrashing body and the water became a boiling froth of scarlet
and panic.
“Blood in the
water!” Franklin Buck screamed. He tried
to quicken his pace but the water was up to his waist and he couldn’t move any
faster. “Swim for it!”
He dove
forward, kicking and stroking the water; fervent and mad. Most of the sharks were busy feasting on
chunks of the destroyed hammerhead, but the sudden thrashing from Franklin Buck
drew their attention. Corporate Man and
Business Woman yelled for Franklin
to calm himself; to stop.
He didn’t hear
them.
A mako shark
cruised through the water, its movements agitated and quick. Hungry.
It sped toward Franklin Buick and snapped. The bite was exploratory and tentative but on
the mark, ripping away a large swath of green jacket fabric and scratching a
line of shallow cuts in Franklin ’s
side.
He screamed
and flailed. The fish circled around for
another run and then shot through the water toward The Dollar Man.
Fair Wage dove
between the shark and his colleague, patting the water and humming a low
warbling sound. The shark flinched and lurched
toward Fair Wage. The old man pivoted
and chopped at the water as the fish went streaking by, his hand clipping the
shark’s sensitive nose.
“Get everyone
to the door,” Fair Wage said.
“What about
you?” asked Senior Executive.
“I can handle
whatever Professor Inflation sends our way,” he said pulling a hank of his wet silvery
hair from his forehead and then elbowing an aggressive bull shark.
The water in
the conference hall was chest deep when the team arrived at the large metal
door. They pried it open. The water level on the other side was higher
and gushed out, nearly washing them back into open water.
“Hurry! Close the door!” Franklin Buck shouted as
they fought their way into the little room.
“Fair Wage is
still out there,” said Business Woman.
“He’s as good
as–” but Franklin Buck did not finish.
His eyes widened with terror as the great white shark barreled toward
the door, cutting through the water like a u-boat. Riding on top was a man in a brown suit. When the big fish was a few feet from the
entrance Fair Wage reached down and poked the shark in the eye. The fish jerked to side, angling away and back
out into the conference room. Fair Wage
leapt from its back and in through the door.
Corporate Man
and Senior Executive muscled the door closed.