Damn I feel like a statistic

I was on one of my trips in Florida doing some surfing and swimming. The beach I was at wasn't too crowded but there were families hanging out here and there. I was just laying on my board getting some sun and letting the ankle slappers drift me in. I was pretty far out and i was one of the only people with a surfboard in the area. The place wasn't great for surfing but the tickets for the flight were cheap so I didn't mind.

Now all those fire fights I've been in have kind of affected my hearing so when people on the shore were screaming "SHARK!!" I didn't hear them exactly clearly. I did hear something being shouted so I set up from my laying position on my board. While I couldn't exactly hear the people shouting on the shore I had enough situational awareness to realize I should be on land by their gestures. I was really lamenting the fact that there were no big waves to get me onto land quicker as I started to furiously paddle.

On my way in, I was keeping an eye out for what I assumed must be the culprit of the panic on the shore and I happened to see a thin crest of a fin rising above the water. Sadly that wasn't the only thing I saw there was a boy swimming as hard as he could to get back to shore. He could not have been more than 12 years old and out way too far for having no float or board. Cursing him in my head and his parents and as parents parents I took off towards the struggling kid. The splashing he was doing must have excited the shark because he was locking in on the boy as well.

"Hold on kid im coming to get you!" I shouted. Adrenaline was pumping through me I hadn't moved that fast or fluidly in years. I pulled up by the boy and almost had to hit him to stop his flailing trying to get onto my board almost pushing me off in the process. I hooked him by the top of his shorts and lurched him onto the board putting him in the center forcing me to have to sit up so he had room. "Tuck your legs in kid!" I yelled eyeing the fin going around us now in slow circles. I was trying to balance myself and calm down which was a difficult endeavor with a predator so near. It definitely wasn't my first time in a stressful situation, I knew it was a matter of time until the 10 ft Beast decided to take a nibble. I had seen Shark week and I didn't need Sir David Attenborough doing a voice-over to tell me this was a tiger shark.

"Whats your name kid?" I ask the shaking boy.

"I-I'm Stephen" he responds shakily both of us eyeing the fin.

I respond with "I'm Ryan, listen im going to start paddling and I'm gong to need you to not move around okay?" After I get a shaky nod from him I start to move us forward slowly at first. I have a lot less room and I'm eyeing the fin in the water. as we get going I say "Hold tight to the board no matter what happens Stephan. Do you see your parents on the shore?"

"Yeah I see my mom." He crys out with fear gripping him.

"Just keep looking at your mom okay. Don't look at our fish friend here alright." Not 5 seconds later I can see the tiger shark coming in for its first pass I know that they will bump you with their nose first and maybe take a test bite when they do this. I shout "Hold on!" and get ready to go Rocky Balboa on its nose and straight miss to my utter shock and horror as teeth sink in to my forearm. "Fuck!" I scream bringing my left arm across my body with my fist smashing in to the beasts sensitive nose. I hear the bones to my forearm of my right arm break and the shark pull away with my right hand in its gullet.

My training went into effect and I reached for my tourniquet before I realized I'm only wearing board shorts. All I have on me is a key to the place I'm renting in my pocket. That shit doesn't even have a pocket knife on it.

I manage to keep my balance on the board some how and see Stephan is white knuckling the board and wailing. I know if I don't make it to the shore in minutes the rest of me will be fish food too. Sliding into the water so I can lean my chest on the board and kick us to shore I commit to going as fast as I can. We are about 200 meters out when Bruce decides, 'I'm not fish so I can be food' and a chunk of my hip is torn away left ass cheek going along with it.

I am barely moving us forward kicking with my right leg and holding the board with my left arm. We are 150 meters away when I know its over for me, I feel teeth latch on to my left leg encircling my calf. I know if I hold on to the board that when the shark pulls I will launch Stephen into the water to join me as chum. letting go with my left pushing him forward I scream "Paddle Stephen! PADDLE!" I turn to face my attacker and take a deep breath 'probably my last' i think as I grab on to its gills with my left arm. I piss it off by trying to force my fist through its delicate membrane and it swims hard down battering the breath out of me with is muscular tail.

Salt and sea enter my lungs in a rush as I make a fist again grabbing a chunk of the soft flesh of the inside of the shark. I start convulsing trying to eject the sea water from my lungs as I continue to be dragged down by the 10-foot monstrosity. The world gets dark and the pain stops being so traumatizing as I continue to hold an unyielding fist and think 'I hope you choke'.