Part 311: Bait and Switch

Mia struggled as she tried to get to the surface. She poked up her head and breathed the air, as she waded in the water. Ana-Lucia was right by her. Dutch was already grabbing Karleigh and Shanna was in the back screaming. Marita coughed as he tried to doggie paddle toward the boat. She never was a good swimmer and she cursed, especially at that moment, that she never learned to swim good. “MARITA!!” Tony screamed.

“Tony!” she called, “I’m here!”

“Swim, baby! Swim, to me!!” the blind doctor begged.

“Mia, come on!” John screamed toward.

Mia turned briefly but she realized Shanna was panicking. The redhead was freaking out so much that she was in the water, she wasn’t concentrating to swim. Ana-Lucia then noticed Mia turning around to retrieve her friend. As Dutch began to swim with Karleigh hanging onto him, he grunted as the boat was hit again by the shark. This time it sent it forward about a good 7 feet.

Beyond their reach.

“Oh, God,” Dutch whispered.

The boat skidded on the water, then slowed down. The group got up as quickly as they could. John stared in horror as Mia and the others were a good 11 feet away. Then the shark slowly produced it’s dorsal fin. The archer then grew angry; it was if the shark wanted them to see their friends get eaten. John then started to grab the remainder of his arrows. Chance then stormed down the stairway to try and find a weapon of some kind. Sawyer then immediately began to take off his work boots, dropping them on the floor. “Sawyer, what are you doing?” Tony asked, hearing the sound.

“Shanna ain’t gonna make it unless someone pulls her in,” he said, pulling off his flannel, “I’ll hold off the shark as along as I can.”

“Are you crazy?” Tony gasped, “You won’t last two minutes against that thing!”

“Everybody’s dies some time, Cochise,” Sawyer laughed, grabbing McKay’s sword, “I ain’t gonna let no shark choose mine.”

“SAWYER!!!” McKay screamed as his friend leaped into the water.

The redneck dove into the water and began to swim toward the people trapped out in the ocean. The giant fin then turned to the swimming southern man. “John,” McKay blinked, “if you are going to take your shot, take it now.”

John pulled back his bow and fired it at the shark. The arrow stuck in it’s side but it didn’t stop moving. John fired again but nothing happened. “John?” Tony asked.

“I hit it twice and it’s still moving!” He said scanning the bottom floor, “I need to hit it’s head but . . .I only got three arrows left!”

“Then I’ll get you the shot.”

“Tony, what-“

“No matter what happens, you get them on this boat.”

By the time John turned around, his blind friend was diving into the water on the opposite side of the boat. The archer screamed for his friend to come back to the boat. Tony swam for a few feet and then flipped around as he swayed under the water. He began to press his hand, putting blood into the water. “Come on,” he grunted, “Smell it.”


Sawyer continued to swim toward the group who stayed in one spot. The group was screaming at him to watch the shark, who seemed to be slowly moving toward him. It freaked him out that the shark wasn’t rushing him; like a predator stalking it’s prey but enjoying the stalk more than the future meal. Sawyer hoped that Kate would forgive him but in the end, he had never forgiven himself. He saw no other recourse but to die defending others. Perhaps that could make up for all the bad things he had done in his life. Sawyer then swirled around and grabbed McKay’s blade from his belt, ready to take out it’s eyes the moment it bit him.

Then the shark stopped. It held it’s position for a few seconds, then started to swim away. Sawyer then looked into the distance at the lone figure swimming as hard as he could away from the boat. He immediately recognized it as Tony. The others began to swim toward the boat when the shark went away. Marita wasn’t sure but she thought she couldn’t see Tony.

The group began slowly get back on the boat. Sawyer helped Shanna get up there, as she continued to cough water. Mia looked up for John but he didn’t help her into the boat; he was too busy taking aim. She looked in the distance to see her blind friend swimming hard into the distance. “Why is it going after him?” she asked.

“He’s bleeding.” John whispered.

“TONNNNNYYYYY!!!!” Marita screamed as she got on the boat.

Tony continued to swim as hard as he could. He was thankful for Marita’s scream cause he knew it meant she was alive. He turned around and couldn’t see a thing. He was hoping he could at least spot a blurry gray image but not even that; it mixed in too much with the water. Then he heard a whisper into the wind and one of John’s arrows skidded into the water. He then heard someone firing a gun trying to get the shark. Tony hoped they could get it but he only managed to get everybody in the water. John fired a second time but the arrow still didn’t have any effect. The shark was in too deep of water for it to stick. Tony hoped they could outrun him as he finally saw the blurry image.

Then a massive surge of water exploded near him, sending him down in the undercurrent.


Back on the boat, the group shield themselves from the massive surge of water. No one knew where it came from. John stared out into the distance, waiting for his good friend to pop out of the water. McKay stared in disbelief, not thinking Tony could have died this way. Shanna and Mia held onto Marita who cried; wanting to leap out into the ocean to bring her boyfriend back. Sawyer just simply looked angry; he didn’t have much to live for but Tony had plenty. He was ready to buy them time but Tony went instead. “Always think of others before he thinks of himself,” the redneck whispered under his tongue.

“Please come up,” Marita whimpered, “Please come up.”

Then a large swelling of blood began to surge up into the water. Marita screamed at the sight of it. Then the shark came up, floating on itself. Then more chucks of it and then it’s tail floated up. Jenny was the first to point out that the shark had been ripped in half. John was wondering what kind of creature could have done such a thing. Then a large brown turtle like shell emerged out into the water, with Tony’s on it’s back. The blind man reeled over and coughed out the salt water in his lungs. “TOOOONNNNYYY!!” Marita screamed in utter joy.

Tony flopped back onto the shell; holding up a thumbs-up to let them know he was okay. Then the shell began to swim back toward the boat. The others were flabbergasted at the sight of the creature that had saved Tony. It took them a while to put two and two together, realizing they didn’t recognize the creature cause they never actually seen him. “How . . .how did the Polliwog get all the way out here?” McKay asked.

“Don’t tell me that monster is gonna follow Tony home like a damn stray dog!!” Sawyer grunted.

By the time Tony reached the boat, he reached out for his friends. John took one hand and Marita took the other, helping him on boat. Tony sat down and Marita immediately embraced him, crying onto his shoulder. John then looked as the shell disappeared into the water. The blind doctor then turned back as he heard it. The group gently looked down into the water and they were able to see was a large pair of yellow eyes. It looked up blinking slightly. “Thanks for always being there for me,” Tony whispered.

A large grouping of bubbles came from the area that could be the Polliwog’s mouth. Then the large shape began to swim away, back into the direction of the Island. After a few feet, then the water around him exploded. The group stared in disbelief. They looked around at each other, just then remembering there was a carcass of a shark in the back of the boat with them. Ana-Lucia looked at them and then back to the water. “Why did the water explode around him?” she pointed.

“Water displacement.” Tony whispered.

“What do you mean, Tony?” asked Marita.

“It teleported.” He whispered, “I can barely believe it myself but a long time ago, I was following it to the Black Faction and it up and disappeared right in front of me. It’s . ..the only logical explanation.”

“You took a hell of a chance, Tony,” Sawyer mentioned.

“So did you, my friend,” the blind doctor said, nursing his wound, “But our best odds to get everybody on the boat safely was to move the shark away from them. I am glad that Polliwog was going to be there.”

“Did you know . ..the Polliwog would be there?” Marita asked.

Tony took a deep breath. He wiped the water back onto the hair and then he turned to face her. “No, I didn’t.” he whispered.

Marita then slapped him, knocking some of the water off. John gasped at her reaction but Tony didn’t budge. He turned back to face her, in case she needed to slap him again. She then grabbed him and embraced him, crying into his shoulder. “Don’t do that again!” she cried.

“I won’t.” He whispered, “The threat is over.”

“We’ll get you another blindfold, Tony,” John said, patting him on the back.

“Oh, man,” Tony said, holding his face, “I never even realized my sunglasses were gone.”

“Seems to happen when we face sharks,” Karleigh smirked, in an attempt to ease the tension.

“Whoa.” Seth said.

The group the turned around and saw Seth and Kate holding Kellye as all three of the wounded with standing at the entrance. Kellye looked more awake than she had in the past few days. She had one arm around Seth and the other around Kate. The young musician pointed toward the dead carcass of the shark. “Is that . . .is that . . .WHO killed it?” Seth asked.

“It was a group effort,” John smiled.

“Everybody’s having fun but us.” Kellye whispered.

“GUYS!!!” Taylor screamed over the loud speaker, “Can we . . . .go now?”