FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

Blood, Teeth, and Honor

The sun was slipping under the horizon as the sharks watched their target, a small harbor filled to the brim with Japanese.

"I don't like this, King. They definitely got makos patrolling around here," Private first class Thomas Quint said before he splashed water into his gills.

"Most likely, but command wants as much damage done to the Japs as we can do," Corporal Bruce King responded as he counted the explosives in a pack on the beach.

The tiger shark grunted in agreement before he turned back to observe the Japs.

"Ship's dropped anchor," he called out to the great white as Bruce started fastening the buckle of the bag.

"What's the plan, you take the bombs and I'm the lifeline?" Thomas asked when Bruce took the binoculars and had a look see for himself.

"Sure, we can do that. Unless you want to go?" Bruce asked with a grin as be brought the binoculars down.

Thomas shook his head in the negative before he smiled, "No, no, you got it this time."

Bruce chuckled as Thomas picked up their emergency Speargun.

"Stick to the shallows, if I'm not back when the bombs go, you get out of here. Rendezvous with the nearest marine platoon once the invasion starts. And Quint, don't do anything stupid," Bruce ordered lightly before they walked into the surf.

The pair separated after a few dozen feet. With Thomas waiting in the wings as Bruce swam closer to the enemy.

*

Water rushed through Bruce's gills as he made his approach through the makeshift harbor. His eyes scanned the cloudy depths looking for load bearing columns or any other targets of value, well out of sight of the Japanese guns. He swam slow and deliberate, clutching his bag of explosives close to his chest. He watched for the spotlights, carefully and meticulously combing through the water looking for intruders, looking for him.

The great white found a ship docked close to the beach of Guadalcanal, anchored and unaware as next to them seaplanes were docked. Bruce grinned a delighted grin, as he now had his targets. He moved underneath the ship and looked at its hull. The shark considered his options as he popped his jaws in thought.

"How to go about this?" he thought to himself before he got an idea. He turned and headed for the stern, swimming carefully to the screws on its end. If he failed to sink it, at least he'd disable the damn thing.

Bruce allowed himself to growl in satisfaction as he placed a limpet charge on both the rudder and where the screws met the hull, three in total. The timer was set for ten minutes before he swam away, darting this way and that to avoid a spotlight that nearly passed over him.

Bruce took no more chances after that and made his way below the makeshift docks and towards the float planes. His blue eyes narrowed when he got a good look at the pontoons, trying to make out if they were made of metal. They didn't feel like metal, as his electrical sensory organs didn't feel the pulse of the pontoon in the same manner.

The marine growled in annoyance at this, and slowly raised himself to the surface. The rain didn't bother him as he stuck his head out from the water. Bruce scanned what he could see of the shoreline. He could see several Japanese troopers, some driving trucks towards the interior of the island. Trucks too far for him to reach unnoticed, then he saw it. Out of the corner of his left eye he saw a boat ramp, with a large fuel tank on another dock beside it. Bruce grinned, but froze when he heard voices above him. They chattered loudly in Japanese, standing directly over him as they had stopped walking.

Bruce raised an eyebrow as he angled himself so that he had an eye on them. One stepped away, and then heard the grunt of heavy lifting before the charges went off.

Bruce took this as his queue and dove down before the alarms began to blast. He swam as fast as he could, darting left and right trying to evade the now franticly aimed spotlights.

Bullets whizzed past him, as the Japanese fired erratically into the water. Bruce reached the fuel dock just in time and had to brace himself as he impacted the concrete dock wall. The blow made him grunt in pain before he regained his bearings. Water was sucked into his gills as he reached into the bag and looked up, realizing what he had to do.

Bruce took his last charge out of his bag and let it sink, he turned and froze as he heard the sounds of rushing water, close together from what he could tell. His eyes widened and came to the only possible conclusion, Makos.

"Gonna be close," he thought as he started to swim away from the tank, diving down gradually picking up speed.

Bruce angled himself to swim counter-clockwise. Rising as he started his run, breathing hard and heart pumping in his chest before he breached. He could feel the air as his body rose just over the dock and chucked the charge as hard as he could. The magnet did the rest as it flipped the explosive over and latched onto the tank.

Bruce didn't have time to celebrate as pain exploded in his arm. He roared in agony after he went back under. There was no time to examine the wound as he went right back to swimming. He doubled back to the wreck of his earlier target.

Oil and fuel were in the water now as the ship tilted at a slight angle. Bruce's breath labored in the black mess as he spied an opening on the seabed where a blown in hole was.

His mind raced with possibilities as he squeezed into the just big enough hole in the hull. Bruce swam past bodies and clouds of oil before he came to a rest inside the flooded engine room. The makos were looking for him now, and would no doubt be drawn to his scent, mixed in with oil as it was. He only had a little time before they would realize where he went.

His arm still hurt as he checked it over. The bullet had glanced him but had torn through the outer side of his right arm. Not through the bone, but enough to leave a jagged cut.

"Need to slow the bleeding," he thought as he looked around the flooded compartment.

*

"How could you have let this happen?" Sojiro Yamazaki roared in the face of the supply commander, who had the misfortune of being in the general area of where the enemy had been sighted.

The human bowed pathetically and rummaged through a list of excuses as Sojiro waited for an explanation for this failure.

"W-we did not see him enter, sir. And when he breached, it was too late," he replied meekly only to be met by a snarl of disapproval.

"Obviously..." Sojiro uttered contemptuously, the mako would have continued but his second, Aito, reported in.

"Sir, we have found a scent in the harbor," he said with a salute.

"Does the trail leave the base?" Sojiro asked in reply.

"Not that we can tell, no," Aito answered with a shake of his head.

"He knows that we can out run him then," Sojiro observed before looking to the wrecked harbor as a fuel tank exploded.

He breathed in a calming breath before turning to the supply officer.

"You will help me get rid of this problem, commander. To make up for this failure," Sojiro paused for a moment as he observed the cargo ship, "Aito, bring this man a weapon, he will search the ship."

*

Bruce winced as he finished binding his wound. The shirt of a dead sailor was more than enough for the job, and would at least slow the bleeding. He had made his way deeper inside of the engine room and above catwalks where the watertight hatches were shut. He could see the hole that he made and a bit of the sandy bottom of the harbor.

His ampule was going crazy with all of the metal around him, so he could only use his eyes to know where he was swimming. His eyes were firmly fixed to the hole and readied himself to rush down and at least take one of them out with him. His muscular frame tensed as he held onto a catwalk and waited...

"C'mon whats taking so long?" Bruce thought as he continued to stare downwards, ready for them.

Then the blood drained from his face as he heard a metallic groan and a creak then grinding of metal on metal. Bruce winced as the sound hurt his ears. From his position, he could barely make out the pair of human legs that had entered the water.

His brow furrowed, even as he moved slowly and twisted himself to be below the catwalk now. His right hand slowly reaching for his rigging knife that hung from his black swimshorts as the human sprayed the water with bullets.

The shark carefully propelled himself underneath the walkway as the human doused the room with bullets again, until Bruce was right under him.

He could see the man, scanning the water for any sign of him. It was when he leaned too far over did Bruce strike. The man let out a terrified squeak as he saw an arm pop up and pull him under, the force of which knocked the gun from his hands. He struggled before Bruce shoved the blade into the humans throat and pulled. Blood rushed into the water, making Bruce's head get light from the overwhelming aroma of it.

The great white shook his head before he kicked the body away and allowed himself to sink. His pupils had dilated, and he fought against the urge to devour every mors- thing in sight.

It was only when Bruce opened his eyes and saw through the blood high did his heart really sink. A shadow moved in the distance, first a glint in the gloom then another. And through the oil and blood, did he see a set of pointy teeth smile at him.

"Oh shit," he thought just as the mako rushed him sword aimed for his head.

Bruce flicked himself to the side as fast as he could and let out a savage growl as the sword bit into the corner of his mouth and sliced below his ear.

Rage filled the Great White's eyes as he watched as the sword was pulled back and thrust again. This time, he was ready. Bruce batted the weapon away with a savage strike and drove his head forward. Jaws extended and clamped down, barely missing the mako who retreated. Bruce was mindful as he pressed his attack, propelling himself with every intention of tearing the Jap asunder.

The smaller shark ducked behind a pipe and popped back into the fight, switching hands. But he had misread the great whites readiness, the sword was caught, ensnared in the larger sharks bone crushing grasp. The mako shrieked for his brother as a set of jaws enclosed around his neck and shoulder.

The mako shuddered with an expression of agonized surprise as several bones were snapped in two by the force of the bite.

Bruce wanted to gag as he tasted the smaller fish, only to freeze and release his victim. His bloodlust ceased as he took in what he had done.

*

Thomas watched from the shallows under a dock as the Japanese cleaned up Bruce's mess. The Mako's began to swim back and forth around the hole where his friend had decided to hide. It was the best decision in a, what was in his estimate, shitty situation. As he observed that all of their attention was on the ship, Thomas tried to hatch a plan.

He looked from the makos to the island. There was large amounts of corral growing and rocks for him to lose them.

"Oh no, no, no. You dumbass, don't do it," he chided himself as his breathing accelerated.

Thomas let himself sink, coming to a rest on the floor as he decided on what to do.

"Damn it, if I get their attention and run they will chase me down. If I stay, then King dies. Oh fudge crackers," he mused to himself in anguish before he looked to his speargun for a brief moment then made up his mind.

"I'm gonna regret this," he thought as he picked up a rock from the floor.

He swam slowly downward, closer and closer to the enemy before he heard a shriek and armed his speargun as both makos froze.

He was maybe a yard away when he aimed at the one nearest him, and fired. The spear caught one in the neck just below the gills. In an instant, Thomas dropped what remained of the weapon and took off, the last mako hot on his trail.

Thomas dove down to the rocky bottom and swam towards the shallows. Turning ever so slightly left and right to keep an eye on his pursuer. If he was going to make it out of this, he had to time this carefully.

The mako inched closer and closer to Thomas, darting left and right, opposite of the American. Then he shot forwards in a burst of unimaginable speed. The tiger shark spun in the surf and kicked up a cloud of dust as he turned for the reef.

The mako's eyes widened as he barely missed his target and swam out of the dust cloud. Eyes tracking the slower shark as he did so.

Thomas watched the mako as he prepared to charge again and reached into his web belt for his rigging knife.

Then a vibration entered both of their ears, like a bass drum being struck in quick succession. Both sharks stopped before the water shook and the mako looked to Thomas then out to sea before he darted away in the opposite direction.

*

Bruce let the body sink before he gathered himself again. He could feel the rumble of the navy guns as their shells impacted the harbor. The marine dove down as far as he could in the ship and checked the hole that he had made. Clouds of dust filled and ruined his vision as he slowly swam to the hole. There was nothing moving outside, but there was a small amount of blood.

He swam outside, and checked every which way, just in case the japs returned. Nothing as he exited the ship, nor in the immediate waters of the base. Bruce didn't dare raise his head above the waves for fear of losing it, that was until he heard tapping through the water, Morse code.

Bruce had only a little trouble making it out, but could tell two words out of the bunch, "has begun."

He let out a breath as the form of Thomas came into his ampule and he smiled.

The two surfaced and began the swim to shore, which was a complete wreck from the naval bombardment. Bruce grunted in pain when he sat on the beach. His wounds now bleeding more profusely in the open air.

"Jeez, King. They really did a number on you. Just keep pressure on that hand, and I'll get a corpsman." Thomas said as he jogged to the now landing marines.

Bruce sat down in the sand, and clutched his heavily bleeding hand. The knife had sliced deep and if he didn't get a corpsman soon. He felt his head spin and the world moved sideways just as Thomas returned. The shark could barely make out the words of his friend as he wobbled from side to side.