On cue, Kristina's attention snapped to the direction opposite to where she was aiming at. It was at this moment that she met a pair of molten charcoal-colored eyes burning with intensity as he stared at her. A surge of relief flooded her lungs when she saw that he was not in the waters.

'He's safe,' Kristina sagged at the back of her mind. 'But who is the person in my peripheral vision?'

Kristina shifted her attention to her left direction and was left with a gaped mouth when she saw a familiar patch of brown hair.

'Chad!'

Her mind screamed for her friend whom she had known ever since she started as a diver in Poseidon Hotel.

Chad was a young man, barely at the age of twenty-two. He was a Mexican who was born and raised in Yucatan, Mexico. Before he was hired as a bartender, he worked as a janitor at the port. An employee, who knew of Chad's talent in bartending recommended him to the hotel management and the rest was history.

Ever since Kristina knew of Chad, she could only describe him as a hardworking young man with a tropical personality. He brightened up the day around him with his sunny disposition and a set of pearly white teeth.

Because of this, Chad was the first one who became Kristina's friend when all she wanted was to be left alone as a newbie diver. Though their first meetings were unwelcome for the grieving Kristina, eventually, she learned to open up to the young man whom she started to see as a younger brother.

'Why? Why are you here, you dimwit?'

In a tear-stricken gaze, Kristina screamed in anguish at the back of her mind. Her knuckles were now numb from being clenched as her jaws locked to stop herself from screaming her lungs out. She knew that the moment she would make a noise, her camouflage would be discovered by the twelve-foot apex predator.

'But what about Chad?'

A part of Kristina's subconscious knocked the air out of her.

'I talk big about not repeating what happened to my little sister, but why is every fiber of my being screaming for me to use this chance and let Chad be the final bait? Are all of my righteous talks just... talks after all?'

A shiver ran down Kristina's spine as she realized the darkness within her. She was afraid of herself and she was scared of how the human mind works. When push became a shove and when prey was cornered with no chance to escape – would it devour its brethren for the sake of surviving alone?

A single cold sweat trickled down her throat amid the wetness of her skin from being submerged in the water.

"The fuck are you waiting for, woman? A freaking holiday before you swim here?"

Lucas, who watched Kristina's ashen face spewed profanities.

He hit the water below him with his harpoon intending to wake the fuck out Kristina, creating big and small splashes around him – sending ripples down below. With his arms supporting his body as he leaned forward, Lucas witnessed how Kristina went from relief to a complete mess of terror.

"Kristina!" He screamed her name again. Veins protruded around his neck as droplets of saliva left his cracked lips. But to no avail, Kristina remained lost in her world.

Completely bathed with the flickering red illumination produced by the emergency light hovering above her, Kristina gasped at Lucas' scream. Her gaze continued to switch alternatively between the swimming Chad, who was completely oblivious to the apex predator approaching him, and Lucas who was beckoning her to come to safety.

She was torn between the sense of duty to continue and protect Lucas and the sense of humanity to save Chad.

It was at this specific moment that Kristina's little sister flashed into her mind. On instinct, she knew what she had to do.

"Lucas!" Kristina screamed at the top of her lungs.

This action earned her Lucas' widened pair of eyes as if he was telling her to shut the hell up. He was like that because he knew the consequences of making noise while being submerged in the same waters with a twelve-foot great white shark who had already got a taste of what human flesh was like.

But Lucas was too late to stop her, for Kristina had already chosen before she even uttered his name. Kristina turned around to the frowning Chad.

"Swim to the bar counter, Chad! And don't look back!"

As Kristina's splashes were profound, her surrounding waters created waves and waves of ripples in all directions. It was what she had intended. On cue, she shifted back her attention to Lucas who was now getting ready to swim back to get her from the waters. Kristina raised her right hand from the water.

"N-No! No! Lucas, stay there!"

Upon Kristina's frantic screaming even amid the waters splashing against her face, Lucas momentarily froze. He was about to jump back into the dark waters with the harpoon in his right hand. A knot lodged deep between Lucas' brows.

"What the fuck are you planning, woman?" Lucas could not help but tug his wet shoulder-length hair as he scanned for any sign of a shark's dorsal fin.

It was also during this moment that the brunette young man, who acted on instinct, started swimming towards the bar counter where Lucas was standing.

A series of profanity spewed from Lucas' mind after putting two and two together. His gaze shifted from Kristina who started swimming towards him and to the ashen young man who looked scared as he swam towards the bar counter that Lucas was standing on.

"Damn it!"

Fear.

Four letters and one word.

It could be a shackle that would render even the strongest of men immobile, but it could also make the weakest of men the strongest – fear had that impact. For a good moment, Kristina's limbs numbed. Even though strong with her strongest kicks and fastest strokes, she had felt nothing as if she had no limbs for a good fraction of a minute.

 It was terrifying.

Like a mockery of what her choices could lead her, the memory of Bernardo's struggling last moments of his life flashed at the back of his mind. Shivers wracked her body. As the dwindling red luminance of the emergency light bathed Kristina, the flickering illumination overlapped with the crimson blood that painted the last memory she had with Bernardo.

It was as if she was seeing herself in the jaws of the twelve-foot great white shark instead of the anguished Bernardo.

'What am I thinking? This is not the time for this!'

Shaking her head, Kristina focused on Lucas after seeing through her peripheral vision that Chad was swimming toward the back counter like the devil was chasing his ass.

Kristina stopped swimming towards Lucas when she was only a few meters away from her north direction. "Lucas! Throw me the harpoon!"

"Have you gone mad? Why are you stopping? Fucking swim here, woman, or I swear I will drag your ass here! I am not kidding!"

Before Kristina could answer Lucas' frantic yelling, her hackles raised. On instinct, Kristina looked behind her only to gasp sharply upon seeing the dorsal fin coming straight at Chad. This reaction of hers made Lucas follow where she was looking at.

"Fucking fish," muttered Lucas under his breath.

There was no more time, he needed Kristina to safety. Without her, he would be trapped at least fifty meters down the surface. He did not want to die, not after so many sacrifices and pains he had endured.

Never.

'Right. There is no more other reason why I am doing this,' a thought lodged at the back of Lucas' restless mind.

Lucas knelt on the bar counter.

His hands supported his body as he leaned down. With the harpoon in his left arm, he flipped it. Now, he was holding the blade – careful not to draw blood – as he aimed the blunt part of the harpoon at the water. Its direction was pointing at Kristina who resumed swimming to him.

"Faster! You're a diver for Christ's sake! Swim faster!" With the faint illumination provided by the emergency light, Lucas could see the dark waters parting as the dorsal fin pierced through the direction of the splashing Chad.

Compared to the diver, Kristina, Chad's strokes and kicks were a mess. It was no brainer why he attracted the shark first; he was practically announcing his presence to the apex predator – called it a fool's luck or a prey's instinct but Chad, who did not even look back, fastened his swimming frenzy. Lucas was snapped from his reverie when Kristina screamed once more.

"Lucas!"

With widened eyes, he snapped back. "Are you purposely calling the attention of that damn fish?" He noticed it earlier. 

Lucas saw how Kristina's kicks and strokes were only a mere level ahead of Chad's. It was entirely different from what she did a couple of moments ago when they were chased by the apex predator.

Not minding what Lucas had said, Kristina screamed as she swam towards him. "Throw the harpoon! Quick!"

A momentary pause took place for Lucas as his mind whirled into static.

Clicking her tongue, Kristina glanced at the shark's dorsal fin which was close to five meters to Chad. Approximately, Chad had to swim three more meters before Lucas could help him climb up – if Lucas would help him.

After all, Kristina knew why Lucas was worried about her and never at Chad who was the most in peril between them. It was because she was more useful than Lucas. She had the necessary survival kit that could boost Lucas' chance of survival compared to Chad who did not know much about the waters and the apex predator's behavior.

"Throw me the harpoon, Lucas! Now!" Veins protruded around Kristina's neck as she screamed as she stopped swimming towards him.

"Fuck it!" He stood up.

 If Kristina would die, he might as well die with her. If she died, there would be no more chance of survival for him. Lucas knew that the submerged part of the Poseidon Hotel which was fifty meters down the surface was like a big wet maze.

"Don't jump! I'm not dying. I promise! But I will be if you keep on delaying it, so throw that dam harpoon right now!" Kristina's words fell on deaf ears when a loud splash muted Chad's splash.

"What did you do?"

With his diving gear still hanging around him and his mask down his chin, Lucas swam in Kristina's direction.

"Fucking swim back to the red light!" Lucas needed not to turn around just to know that the shark had changed its route.

Kristina, who saw how the dorsal fin swam past Chad as it turned near the bar counter, trembled.

"Oh my god!"

On cue, she pivoted in the opposite direction.

Gone were the heavy strokes and the flimsy kicks she did earlier to draw the shark earlier. After all, she was somewhat successful in beckoning the twelve-foot great white shark to her midst.

What changed in her plan was the fact that Lucas, one of the people she should save, was holding the harpoon without an ounce of an idea of her strategy to kill the shark. Kristina could not help but bite her lips as she swam at her limit towards the part of the waters which was bathed with red luminance.

"Just a little more," whispered Kristina under her heaving breath. In her peripheral vision, she could see that Lucas was catching up to her.

"Kristina, swim faster! Damn it!"

'I am trying!' Kristina answered at the back of her mind. 'Why does it seem so far right now? Am I getting slower?'

Lucas had already caught her pace. With the harpoon on her left side, the sound of the waters parting as the dorsal fin came for them seemed to surpass her struggling strokes and kicks. Kristina's eyes squinted when the red light grew bigger and bigger before her.

She screamed in her hazed mind, 'Almost there! Hang in there! I'm almost there!'

"Fuck it!" Lucas growled as he snatched Kristina's waist with her right hand, careful not to stab her accidentally with the harpoon in his hand.

With this, he doubled the strength in his strokes and kicks.

"What are you doing? You are slowing us both!"

Kristina tried to pry away Lucas' grip around her waist while still kicking her legs and stroking her right arm. 

Now, her left arm had to balance her body so she encased it around Lucas' torso. 

There were two pairs of legs and one pair of arms propelling the both of them as the twelve-foot great white shark approached them from behind in high precision for their dangling feet.