Marcus broke the surface, gasping, dragging his mask to his forehead. The world above was chaos — Aaron’s boat rocking hard from the blast’s aftershock, spray still lifting from the water. And there, moored beside it, was a second vessel he hadn’t seen before.
Two men stood aboard it. Strangers. One held a crude harpoon gun slung over his shoulder, the other rummaged through a crate, tossing small explosive charges into the sea with casual precision. Each detonation below sent ripples of stunned fish drifting upward in limp waves.