Rebirth in the Apocalypse: Third Time's a Charm



The guys detached themselves from me and quickly turned out so that all of their backs were facing me. I didn't know if Liu Yu Zeng and Chen Zi Han had taken scuba lessons before, or if they were like me and watched way too much shark week on TV.

Either way, I wasn't going to complain. They were standing between me and the sharks, and that was exactly where I wanted them to be.

We floated up off of the sandy ocean floor, and the boys seemed to know exactly the direction we wanted to go in. I wasn't so sure, but I was willing to follow them. After all, Wang Chao and Liu Wei had been in the Navy for several years before transferring to the Army. I hoped they had learned something in that time, like which direction was land.

The sharks swam around us, checking us out. I was going under the assumption that they were trying to figure out what we were doing in their territory, wondering if we were zombies or thinking that we were something edible. I was just keeping my fingers crossed that they weren't going to take a bite to find out.

Mind you, knowing that zombies ate the sharks, I was hoping that they would think we were of the undead variety of random things found in the ocean and leave us alone.

We continued to swim for what I considered to be a long time. Nightmares popped up in my mind that we were actually swimming further out than we were making our way back to land, which was why it was taking us so long to get back.

However, if I took into account how fast the zombies actually moved underwater, it didn't seem to be that great of a distance after all.

I knew it was probably my mind playing tricks on me, using my fear of being underwater to make things seem different from what they actually were. I would just have to put my faith in the guys that they knew what they were doing. And maybe if I told myself that enough times, I would actually start believing it.

I would like to take this time to say that I enjoyed the scenery around me. As if swimming at the bottom of the ocean was no different from walking around a giant aquarium on land. However, that would be a complete and utter lie.

I kept my eyes out for the great white sharks that continued to swim up close to us before disappearing into the darkness where our lights couldn't reach. I knew that they preferred to attack their prey from the bottom, so I was pretty thankful that the guys had us swimming maybe a foot above the floor.

Far enough up to avoid stepping on something that we shouldn't be, but closed enough to the bottom that nothing big could get under us. I think that we startled a few stingrays, because every so often, they would shake off the sand that was keeping them invisible to predators and glided away on beautiful wings.

Mind you, that was also the time that I saw the coolest thing ever.

When we started one ray in particular, it darted away from us, only to be grabbed by a scalloped hammerhead shark. I would fully admit that as much as open bodies of water terrified me, it wasn't from a lack of knowledge. And hammerhead sharks were by far my favorite shark.I think you should take a look at

I watched as the fish swam back to its school, as they all seemed to be suspended in the waters above me, not moving. I knew that that species of shark was only moderately aggressive compared to the great hammerhead. But I also thought that any shark with the word great in their name had something to prove.

There was only one other type of shark that I didn't want to see in the waters around me, besides the great white of course, and wouldn't you know it? It was swimming right for us.

The shortfin mako shark was normally not found in shallow waters, preferring to swim in the open ocean (really not helping my fear that we were going in the wrong direction). These sharks could range anywhere between 12 and 15 feet long, were known to be extremely aggressive, and were also considered to be the fastest swimmers in the ocean. Yeah, with a burst of speed up to 80kph, we weren't going to out-swim them anytime soon.

They were also highly intelligent, had much larger brains than most other species, and were metallic blue in color.

And if all that wasn't enough to set off warning bells, they were also one of the four species whose genes were used to create the zombies.

Yeah, I really, really wanted to get away. Especially when I could have sworn that I had just made eye contact with the creature. However, just as I was about to send out my requiem (Ha! Dark humor), the shark all of a sudden turned course and started to swim away.

Now, I don't know about you, but when a giant shark, with dinner in its eyes all of a sudden, turns and swims off, my first thought was… what scared it away?

Shortfin mako sharks are apex predators. That meant that there was nothing that preys on them, so what could be that scary as to send it scurrying away… and did I really want to meet it myself? 

I closed my eyes and hoped that it was because we were heading into shallow water where the shark was not comfortable. I opened my eyes and wanted to jump for joy because we were, in fact, in shallower water. I mean, it was maybe about 6 feet deep or so, but it was definitely not the middle of the ocean like I thought it was.

I had complete confidence in my men at all times. Never once did I doubt them.

However, I don't think it was the shallow water that caused the mako shark to hightail it out of here, but the lineup of zombies standing between us and the shore.