Where the Roots Begin

Chapter VII

She was bitten again. This time, it was her side. She pushed back tears, and drew her elbow back to where she supposed the shark was.

She elbowed a shark in the face.

The thought almost made her giggle, but she stopped herself, realizing she would choke on the water.

Her left ankle felt numb, thanks to the salty water, or maybe just the adrenaline from shark fighting.

Shark fighting. She almost giggled again.

Get it together, she scorned herself.

She heard another scream.

And coldness took over her.

She didn't turn around. She didn't stop. She didn't even worry.

Actually, she even felt a little better. Three down, at least. Maybe when all but one had died, the simulation would stop, like the maze. Maybe that was surviving. Not making it to safety, just living longer than the others. And anyway, dying would give them a small pain-less break.

Think.

Kaiya was the first to go. And one of the screams she had heard was a girl's. So that made her, and two other boys the survivors. Nirav was fast, and Sewell was strong. But Zachary was brilliant. There was no way of knowing which of them had died. She hoped it was Sewell and immediately felt ashamed. So she just kept going.

She risked a fast glance around. She saw no one, but the two sharks surrounding her, one on each side, and a third coming. She had to stop bleeding, or even more would come.

Think.

The shark to her left attacked.

Well, what's the worst that can happen?

She made a choice. So when it was about to bite her, Alessandra reached for his face and she went underwater. The salt burned her eyes, but she kept them open. She was still holding the shark, by its jaws and without thinking too much about it threw him into the shark to her right. The shark's fins scratched her stomach as it quickly moved towards its shark friend. They weren't really smart sharks either, since the one to her right looked into the shark she was holding's void dark eyes, as if trying to understand what he was doing, and he didn't move as it's jaws closed on his face. The shark she had kind of thrown, quickly stopped when he realized he was biting his mate, instead of the human girl, but it was too late. The shark's feelings were hurt and he bit back. In less than three seconds both sharks were fighting and biting each other to death.

Alessandra remembered she was underwater when the last breath left her lungs. She quickly went up to the surface again to breath and cough a little.

She couldn't believe it had worked.

She had to stop herself from giggling. Again.

The third shark was still pretty far, but she resumed swimming urgently.

Alessandra was in pain. She didn't know for how long she had been swimming, but her muscles hurt. Her eyes burnt. Her side hurt. Her ankle hurt. Her hands hurt. She had small scratches from the shark's teeth. And the salty water made it worse. It was a huge surprise the shark hadn't struggled that much, or even thought about closing its jaws on her fingers. But then again, these were simulations. They weren't smart.

She glanced around again, trying to see someone. She saw one more head. She wasn't able to recognize whose head, but she got comfort from the thought that she was getting closer.

If I'm not wrong. If. She reminded herself.

The blood. Fix the bleeding.

She considered tearing a piece of her clothes, but that would leave her more exposed. Still, it was better than bleeding and calling the sharks to her.