Lucas saw it all happen like a slow theatrical play on a verge of a train wreck, only; it was not a train wreck waiting for the falling woman but a very aggressive twelve-foot fish.

"Damn it!" Veins protruded around his neck as he slammed his right fist onto the shaking crates he was on. The base of the piles of wooden crates trembled upon the influx of seawater into the room they were in.

As the surge continued to pour in, it would only be a matter of time before the entire room would be filled with seawater. Other than the lurking apex predator, Lucas had to worry a thing or two more. First, the lady diver hit rock bottom when the shelves got swept by the turbulence, and second, the fact that the room he was in would be a fish tank later on with no air to breathe.

It would only be a matter of time.

A pair of raven eyes frantically swept back and forth around the spot where the shelves used to stand while his gaze also looked for any possible sign of blood and minced human flesh. Lucas could vividly remember the set of razor teeth of the shark that chewed Kristina's tanks.

Lucas clenched his fists as he hovered over the rising water level below him, not minding the splashes of seawater that hit his face from time to time. His hair was now disheveled and dripping wet. "Kristina! Damn, woman, answer me!"

Without the lady diver, Lucas knew that the possibility of surviving this disaster he was in would be close to zero percent. Hence, he could not afford it if a damn fish would eat her.

A series of profanity escaped from Lucas's lips as he stood atop the piles of crates that were on the verge of being carried away by the turbulent flow of seawater in the room. His eyes darted to the swirling and crashing waters below him, slowly ascending.

A knot lodged between his brows before he drew a deep breath, and his right foot inched to the edge of the crate. Lucas planned to jump down and save Kristina when his attention got caught by the flailing muscled hands of one of his men.

"Bernardo?" Lucas knelt on the east side of the crate he was standing on. His left hand provided support as his right hand reached out to the waters only to be drawn back when a large shadow with an equally large fin resurfaced right below his outstretched arm. He withdrew his right arm on instinct.

"Damn!"

Tumbling back, Lucas staggered at the sight of the apex predator. Though it was only wishful thinking, Lucas had hoped that the shark would swim to the newly opened door.

"Boss!" A coughing raspy voice snapped Lucas from his reverie.

The familiar mustache of Bernardo and his ashen face welcomed him when his gaze shifted to the muscled man who was climbing the piles of crates a meter away from him. On instinct, Lucas moved to where Bernardo was situated and immediately reached his right hand while his left hand gripped Bernardo's suit by the latter's back, lifting Bernardo.

Veins protruded around Lucas's forehead as he pulled the grunting Bernardo. A groan elicited from his lips the moment he was able to lift most of Bernardo's upper body.

"Whew! Thanks, Boss." Bernardo laid face plant on the crate, his ankles barely an inch away from the rising turbulent waters. The poor Spanish heaved. Blood dripped from an injury on the right side of his forehead which Lucas nudged to.

"You're a mess," said Lucas. His raven eyes fixated on the trickle of blood as it dropped to the crate.

Bernardo answered Lucas's sarcastic remark with a snort, forgetting for a second or two that he was talking to his boss. "I can say the same thing to you."

"Figures." Lucas sighed. He stood beside Bernardo who remained unmoving from his spot. "Where are the others?"

Bernardo sat up with his trembling yet numbing arms. Blood dripped down his eyes so he wiped it off as he tilted his chin to meet his boss' darkened gaze.

"I-I don't know, boss. The last thing I remembered is being swept by the waters while being hit by the debris underwater right after I got sucked into the current." Bernardo swept his face; his voice trembled upon the little trip to memory lane. He continued, "I thought that it will be the end of me, Boss."

"Rogelio and Sebastian aren't as weak as your pale motherfucking face," said Lucas, "And you better do something about your head. You don't want to attract something you aren't ready for."Lucas stepped forward to tap Bernardo's left shoulder. He swallowed the profanities that threatened to escape. His knuckles itched to lash out. The thought of flipping the crates over, which was a common thing for him, was the least of his priorities at the back of his mind. Not until the shark left for good which was very unlikely to happen even when it was already a good moment since he last caught a glimpse of it.

'Did it spare Bernardo because it gobbled up Kristina first?' Lucas thought. 'But why did I not see any hint of slaughter? Did Kristina get dragged against the torrent?'

Lucas's train of thought got interrupted when a sharp gasp muted the clashing whips of the barrage of seawater hitting the crates and walls. On cue, Lucas shifted his attention to the source of the sound which was situated in his west direction. He was met by a pair of dainty hands. It was not flailing, instead, it was grasping for something – something like the pile of crates to hold onto.

"Help!" A scratchy voice followed when Kristina finally made her face into the air. A series of coughs resonated while her jaws barely ousted the raging seawater – the torrent of the influx of water sucked her into the depths.

"Kristina, hang on!" Turning around the shaky pile of crates, Lucas knelt once again. His right hand was outstretched and half of his upper body leaned to the rising water level. 

A mere one meter separated Lucas's body from the seawater while there was an approximate two meters distance between Lucas's fingertips and Kristina's. "Give me your hand or I swear I will cut it off for being so useless!"

Lucas's frustrated yell earned him a reaction from Kristina. Her unfocused gaze, which was staring up at the blinking reddish emergency light, fixated in his direction.

Kristina started to kick her feet and stroked her arms against the torrential swirl of water. She tilted her chin upward to make room for some air. Not once did she choke from the onslaught of water coming from the newly opened passage.

Kristina's eardrums rang while her eyes reddened. Her vision of the silhouette reaching out towards her started to diminish as the current numbed her barely moving limbs. Since Kristina's gaze remained fixated on the silhouette before her, she failed to notice that the twelve-foot great white shark's fin resurfaced once more as it took a u-turn towards her direction.

Amid the swirl of seawater, its fin parted the raging water.

Lucas gulped upon seeing the incoming predator. A clog resurfaced in his throat, making him want to cough, but decided to do otherwise.

"Damn it, woman!"

"Boss!" Bernardo yelled. He forgot the numb limbs as he stood up to stop his boss, but he was far too late. The wide-eyed Spanish was a meter too late.

The splash of the water followed Bernardo's scream. The latter knelt at the edge where his boss jumped from in an attempt to reach him only to stagger upon seeing the large half-meter dorsal fin of a shark that was approaching his boss and the drowning señorina.

"Mierda!" Profanities spewed from Bernardo's mustached lips as he slammed a fist onto the edge of the crate. 

He could not help but shiver at the thought that he was in the water a couple of minutes ago. And now, his boss was the target of the awfully large shark judging by the direction it was heading. 

"Boss! Señorina! Watch out for the shark! It is coming and it is fast approaching!"

Bernardo's words fell on deaf ears.

Lucas, on the other hand, stretched his limbs and kicked against the waters. It was neither the coldness nor the fear of drowning that made him swim as if his life depended on it; it was the apex predator aiming at them. With its deadly jaws and its unexplainable aggression, Lucas did not have to think the obvious that it was out to get them to mince their flesh.

On instinct, Lucas encircled his firm left arm around Kristina's waist.

"Kristina! You're our damn guide so act like one!" Upon seeing her half-closed eyes, Lucas hissed under his breath. "You selfish bitch!"

Lucas pulled her to his chest as his right arm and his feet swam for the both of them towards the pile of crates. The added deadweight of Kristina, who was on the verge of losing consciousness, slowed him down tenfold. Doubling his efforts, Lucas shifted his gaze back and forth to the damn fish to his left.

The twelve-foot shark trudged its way to Lucas and Kristina. Seawater and sweat intertwined as Lucas swam with renewed vigor. The apex predator was now a few meters away from Lucas and Kristina. Though its direction was towards the two, it held the same distance between the shark and Bernardo.

For Lucas and Kristina, the shark was approaching from their west as Lucas maneuvered himself and Kristina's limp body toward Bernardo. On the other hand, for Bernardo, the shark was coming from his right side. Though the latter focused on saving his boss, sweat trickled from his nose to his wet mustache as his throat bobbed up and down.

With the onslaught of the apex predator between Bernardo, his boss, and the lady diver, Bernardo leaned forward.

Desperation.

Lucas and Bernardo held one thing in common, desperation to survive. They both knew, at the back of their minds that the only one who could create a way out from being trapped to the lowest ground floor of the Poseidon Hotel was through the unconscious diver in Lucas's arms.

Kristina's cheek lay on Lucas's shoulder, totally oblivious to the situation that she came close to being a gigantic fish's food. From time to time, Lucas would avert his gaze from the leaning Bernardo to the woman in his arms. A part of Lucas was cackling at the back of his mind, questioning his decision and why he was risking his precious life to save a damsel.

'Because I damn need this diver to save my life, should I let that damn shark feast upon her flesh, the chances of survival are next to none.' Lucas answered the question that lingered in his mind. Bernardo's yelling voice snapped him out of his split-second trance.

"Boss, come on!" On cue, Bernardo inched his knees closer to the edge of the crate he was kneeling on.

 "Mierda!" He pummeled the crate with his right hand from time to time to release the suffocating tension in his chest. 

This action of his elicited the grunting sound of the crates underwater against the continued swirl of water. Bernardo's uppermost part of the body was now leaning towards the direction of his boss who was now two meters at most away from him.

The distance between the top of the pile of crates and the rapid ascension of waters was no down to less than half a meter.

It was in this turbulent moment that the twelve-foot great white shark decided to swim deeper, hiding its gigantic dorsal fin from the vision of the two men and the two reacted differently.

"Bernardo, step back! Damn it!" Lucas, who was in the water with Kristina, saw the movement of the shark. 

The red-colored illumination produced by the blinking emergency light right above the emergency exit door almost hid the movement of the apex predator as it dug deeper into the water, but Lucas still managed to catch a glimpse of it.

With widened eyes, Lucas screamed. He stopped stroking the raging water and his feet halted its kicking frenzy before he screamed once again.

"Watch out!"

This time, his guttural scream stirred Kristina from the abyss she was trapped in.

A pair of eyes fluttered open and two silvery orbs locked their hazy gaze to the image before her. Kristina screamed her lungs out upon seeing the great white shark, which she had never seen before, resurfaced near the edge of the pile of crates.

"Aaah!"

Blood splattered everywhere. Bernardo, who was leaning to grab them, disappeared from his kneeling spot.

"Stop it, you stupid bitch!" Lucas hissed as he pulled Kristina's trembling waist away from the bubbling red part of the room.

A gasp escaped from Kristina's trembling lips when Bernardo's voice echoed.

"H-Help me!"