Jaws of Love

Chapter 7

Samantha watched the still water for a few minutes, allowing herself to calm down. Her attention was caught however as Hooper came to the surface, coughing and rushing to the latter.

For a moment her heart stopped, thinking the bastard really did get eaten.

"Matt!?" She yelled, rushing down to the deck. "Are you ok?" She asked, helping him over the side.

"Yeah..." he breathed. "Yeah, I'm ok."

She let out a breath. "What the hell was that about?"

"I saw him." Hooper panted out. "Ben Gardner... he's dead."

The next morning, Samantha, Hooper, and Martin were all trying their damndest to convince the mayor to close the beaches.

"This is a Great White Larry, a big one." Martin said. "And any shark expert will tell you it's a killer." He motioned between Hooper and his sister. "It's a man eater!"

"Look the situation is that apparently a Great White Shark has staked a claim in the waters off amity island. And he's going to feed here as long as there's food in the water." Hooper interrupted.

"And-and there's no limit to what he'll do." Martin rushed.

"We've already had three incidents." Samantha nodded. "Two people killed in a week, and it's gonna happen again."

Martin jumped back in. "It happened before in Jersey in 1916."

"There were five people chewed up in the surf!"

"In one week!"

"Tell him about the swimmers!"

Hooper and Martin were talking over each other now and it was beginning to get annoying. Samantha sighed, butting into the conversation.

"A shark is attracted to the exact kind of splashing and activity that occurs whenever humans go swimming. You cannot avoid it." She explained.

"If you open the beaches on the Fourth of July, it's like ringing the dinner bell for Christs sakes!" Martin yelled.

"Look Mr. Vaughn, Mr. Vaughn." Hooper stepped in front of the man. "I pulled a tooth the size of a shot glass out of the wrecked hull of a boat out there, and it was the tooth of a great white."

Samantha glared at Larry who still hadn't said a word. He really was a jackass.

"It was Ben Gardners boat, it was all chewed up. I helped tow it in, you should've seen him!" Martin yelled.

"Where... where is that tooth?" Vaughn asked. "Did you see it Brody?"

"No... I wasn't out there. But Sam did! Didn't you Sam!" Martin turned to his sister.

She sighed. "No I didn't see it, it dropped it on the way up."

"I had an accident!" Hooper defended himself.

"And what did you say the name of this shark is?"

He paused for a moment, staring at Larry before answering. "It's a carcharodon carcharias."

"It's a great white." Samantha put it into simpler terms, seeing the look on Larry's face.

"But... you don't have the tooth?" He raised an eyebrow. "Look, we depend on the summer people here for our very lives."

Hooper started to speak over Larry now. "You are not going to have a summer, unless you handle this problem!"

"We're not only gonna have to close the beaches, we're gonna have to hire someone to kill the shark! I mean we're gonna have to tell the cost guard!" Martin was yelling to.

Samantha was getting annoyed at everyone yelling over each other. All this was doing was getting them back to square one and she was fed up with it.

She was about to say something but the mayor beat her to it. "I don't think any of you are familiar with our problems!"

That sent her temper right over the edge.

"Uh, I think that I am familiar with the fact that you are going to completely fucking ignore this particular problem until it swims up, and bites you on the ass!" She yelled, leaning up to get in Larry's face.

Her brother tried to push her away but she fought back.

"Now wait a second, wait a second. There are two ways to deal with this problem. You're either gonna kill this animal, or you're gonna cut off its food supply." She finished.

She looked over to see Hooper was just as angry as she was. She recognized that look in his eyes all too well.

"Larry we have to close the beaches!" Martin was exasperated.

"Brody..." Larry pointed up to the billboard. "Sick vandalism. That is a deliberate, mutilation of a public service message. Now I want those little paint happy bastards caught, and hung up by their busted browns!"

Hooper walked up to Samantha, practically laughing. "That's it, Sam. Goodbye. I'm not gonna waste my time arguing with a man who's lining up to be a hot lunch. I'm gonna see you later Brody."

"Mind if I come with you." She muttered under her breath, also tired of the arguing.

"Please don't do this." Martin pulled Hooper back, trying to calm him down.

He sighed. "Mr Vaughn... what we are dealing with here, is a perfect engine. Uh... an eating machine. It's really a miracle of evolution, all this machine does, is swim and eat, and make little sharks. That's all." He looked to Samantha, silently asking her for help.

"Larry why don't you take a look at this sign. Those proportions are correct-." She was cut off.

"You'd love to prove that wouldn't you? Get your name into the National Geographic." He walked away.

"Fuck you." She said, drawing out the words. Hooper walked towards her laughing bitterly.

"Oh man." He sighed as Martin continued to talk with Larry.

Samantha looked at Hooper as he sat on a rock. "This might be crazy... but we're gonna patrol these beaches aren't we?"

He looked back up at her. "We are crazy, Sam."