Free Survivors (Stranded) by Jeff Probst, Christopher Tebbetts

to see, but
something
was definitely moving toward them. Not a fish. Not a little one, anyway. It was some kind of big, dark shape.
    And then, as a triangular gray fin broke the surface, his worst fear was confirmed all at once.
    “Vanessa, get up here.
Now!
” he said.
    Vanessa didn’t question it. She threw the spear onto the raft and started scrambling on board.
    “Carter, wake up!” Jane said, shaking him out of his nap.
    “What’s going on?” Carter asked.
    There was no time to answer. The raft shimmied hard and tilted under Vanessa’s weight, throwing Buzz off balance. He reached for an edge, or anything to hold on to, but it was no good. As the others scrabbled toward the middle of the raft, it was already breaking apart underneath them. Jane fell in first. Buzz tried to grab her, but his legs slid between two of the bamboo poles. The gap between them yawned open, and he slipped right through into the ocean. The yell that came out of him quickly turned into a mouthful of seawater. Then a lungful, too.
    He choked and coughed under the surface. Sections of bamboo floated free over his head, creating shadows in the water that only confused him more. Twisting around, Buzz tried to spot the oncoming shark, wherever it was. His hand curled into a fist, a pathetic defense against an unbeatable predator.
    From behind him, it whizzed by. Buzz flinched hard, fully expecting the shock of a bite somewhere—his arm, his leg. But no. The thing kept right on moving. All Buzz saw was a receding blue-gray blur.
    He popped up to the surface where Jane, Vanessa, and Carter were churning the water as well, all of them struggling to get out of the way. The bag of fish still hung from his belt loop and twisted awkwardly around his legs. He realized it probably made him a floating piece of bait, but he couldn’t let the fish go—not even now.
    It took some number of endless panic-filled seconds to realize the shark was gone, or at least out of sight. But that didn’t stop the five-alarm dose of adrenaline that was still running through Buzz’s system.
    “Let’s get out of here!” he yelled. Everyone grabbed a piece of raft and started kicking toward the shore as fast as they could.
    It was only as they were underway that Buzz noticed a sharp stinging pain in his leg. He wasn’t sure if it had just happened, or if it had been there all along behind the rush of confusion. But now, it was impossible to ignore. A searing hot tingle ran up from his calf, through his upper leg, and into his entire body.
    “You guys, I think I got bit!” he said.
    “What?”
Vanessa asked. She let go of her own piece of bamboo and swam over to reach Buzz’s. “Where’d it get you?”
    Buzz reached down and touched the spot on his calf where the pain had started. There was no blood, at least none he could see. But it was hard to tell with all the movement around him. One thing he knew about sharks above all—they could smell tiny amounts of blood over huge distances of water.
    “There’s nothing we can do out here. Can you make it back?” Vanessa asked.
    Buzz only nodded. There was no choice, but the pain and the panic were nearly overwhelming. It was all he could do to kick toward the shore—and pray that he didn’t see any signs of a return visit.

    As soon as they reached the mouth of the cove, Jane worked with Carter and Vanessa to help Buzz up onto the rocks at the shoreline. His face had gone pale, and his jaw was set in a constant grimace of pain.
    Vanessa knelt next to him. “Where does it hurt?” she asked.
    “All over,” Buzz groaned, and squeezed his eyes shut.
    “Where’d you get bit?” Jane asked.
    He pointed to his left calf, where an angry red blotch showed on the skin. There were no teeth marks or punctures. Just some kind of raised rash.
    “I think that’s a jellyfish sting,” Jane said. “I’ll bet anything.”
    She pointed at the spot, and Buzz raised his head to see. He nodded in agreement and then lay