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The Rip

Mike Rader

    I was about to die. I’d been in the water ten minutes and now I was being drawn out farther into the Pacific Ocean to perish beneath the waves ...

    At more than half a mile long, Bondi is one of the world’s most famous surf beaches, and just minutes from the heart of Sydney, Australia. Bondi — a weird word, right? Taken from an Aboriginal word, “boondi,” it meant surf. And plenty of it. I’d arrived the day before, on a photo shoot from Miami, and the beach was top of my list of places to see.
    I peeled off my shirt, dropped my book and towel on the sand, and threaded my way through the topless girls to the water’s edge. As I stepped into the shallows, the sun was blazing down from a cloudless sky, stinging my back.
    The water temperature was brisk, sending a shiver through my body. I ploughed through the smaller waves. Ahead the long breakers came crashing in, dotted with body surfers, rising in height as they smashed over an undersea sandbar. But I wanted to swim not surf. I aimed for the calmer water away from the thundering waves, away from the throng of surfers, and plunged into the smooth foam.
    In that instant I knew my fate.
    I was caught in the jaws of the rip.
    I was powerless.
    And I’d been warned!
    Every guidebook rated Bondi 7 out of 10 in terms of hazard. Bondi’s notorious rip current — “Backpackers’ Rip” — is located down from the bus stop where unsuspecting tourists don’t realise the flat smooth water is a rip. It also tempts those too lazy to walk along the beach where the safer water is. Despite reading about it on my flight, I’d blundered straight into it.
    The narrow current seized me, carrying me swiftly away from the shore, slicing through a gap in the surf like a river running out to the open sea. Stupidly I struggled against the rip’s drag. I tried to swim back to shore, against the relentless current, but I was soon exhausted. I lifted a hand, waving frantically, but the lifeguards couldn’t see me because the rip had pulled me behind a wall of surf.
    I gasped for breath, energy drained from every muscle and nerve. Suddenly I laughed hysterically. The words “go with the flow” bounced around in my brain.
    I took stock, saw the rip current would take me beyond another line of breaking waves. I knew the deadly flow would dissipate once it reached the open waters. But then what could I do?
    I’d be left bobbing like a cork in the Pacific Ocean. Or worse, a shark would find me, and I’d disappear in a pool of blood.
    Could I seriously try to body surf my way back to the beach? I was already exhausted. My arms and legs ached. How was I going to survive those towering rollers, line after line of them, all the way back to dry land?
    With one final surge, the rip whipped me out into the deep ocean and died beneath me. Set free, I salvaged some dregs of energy, enough to tread water. Ahead, the Pacific Ocean stretched all the way to California! Behind me, the rollers chased back to shore. I’d have to take my chances surfing to safety — if I didn’t, if I stayed out here, I’d slowly lose consciousness and vanish beneath the surface.
    Something seized my legs.
    I screamed.
    But it wasn’t a shark!
    A new current was stirring beneath me, a wash more diabolical than the rip, and then I saw why.
    The ocean was alive with power as it rushed toward the craggy high headland at the end of the beach! I saw the waves rising, leaping over the tumbled rocks, hurtling against the cliff in massive thrusts of spray. Houses and apartment blocks loomed above the headland, with a dress circle view of my death!
    I lashed out furiously, kicking against the monstrous tide, my arms flailing. The terrors of the cliff swept toward me. The rocks were sharp barbs of certain death. My body would be flung against them like a train leaving the tracks at high speed and plunging into a gorge. There would be no survival. I heard my voice screaming above the deafening pounding waves. Spray blotted out all vision. Water poured into my open mouth. My body twisted, tumbled, helplessly, hopelessly. I was being lifted. Higher. Higher. Any moment now I’d be pulped against the rocks.
    Suddenly I felt my body scooped clear of the water. My heart pounded. I tasted dank air. I was being carefully lowered onto dry earth. My eyes flipped open.
    The gigantic crab edged back into the recesses of the cave, its job done. It was the size of a small elephant, bulging with power. Its claws looked large enough to carry two or three men. No crab could possibly grow so huge! I glanced over my shoulder, saw the narrow slit in the rock wall, saw the massive waves and spray beyond the entrance. I spun back to look at the crab that had rescued me. Its claws were at rest, its eyes locked on mine. Dwarfed by the monstrous creature, a wizened man draped in seaweed had emerged from the gloom.
    “You’ve been saved, my friend,” he greeted me. “Ahab has triumphed over the sea again.”
    My brain was in turmoil. “Ahab?”
    “Our friend here,” the man gestured to the crab as though introducing a companion. “We named him Ahab.” The man’s face was crisscrossed with grooves, as though carved by blades. His eyes were eerily bright, feverish even. “Ahab the Crab. He saved us all. We live in peace now, eating raw fish, drinking rainwater from the fissures in the rock. My name is Liveright. We were all saved from the rocks by the crab.”
    My gaze penetrated the depths of the cave. “There are more of you?”
    Liveright gave me a broken smile. “We were all foolish enough to fall from boats, or be trapped in rips like you, or survive shipwrecks. Ahab saved us, brought us to the safety of his haven.”
    “I don’t understand — why would a crab do that?”
    Liveright waved aside my question. “We are all alive thanks to Ahab. Well, some of us. The others were paid as tributes to him. The least we could do.”
    I let his words find purchase in my brain. “Are you saying you feed survivors to the crab?”
    Liveright shrugged. “We have no alternative. If it weren’t for Ahab, we would all have drowned out there. I believe that Ahab has dwelled in this cave for countless years. From the earliest days of colonisation two centuries ago, he has saved and consumed shipwreck victims and escaped convicts alike. Over the years the nourishment of human flesh has seen our friend grow to phenomenal proportions.”
    “If that’s the case, why stay here?” I demanded, raging against Liveright’s madness. “There’s a whole city out there — millions of people — less than a mile away! Why don’t you try to find a way out?”
    “There is no way out. We’ve looked. This cave is at the base of a solid cliff. It has only one entrance. To venture outside would be suicidal. Each of us appreciates that. We understand that being sacrificed to the crab in exchange for a few months of life is preferable to being left to the mercy of the sea.”
    “And that’s what you’re going to do with me? Feed me to that over-stuffed crab?”
    “No, my friend. You don’t understand. We do not choose who will feed the crab. Ahab makes his own choices. He saves us, and he determines when each of us will die.”
    “No way!” I snarled. “I’m leaving now.”
    But I was too late.
    Figures dashed from the shadows, blocking the cave’s entrance. Slowly they circled me. Wild-eyed men and women, skeletal beings, some still clad in ragged wetsuits or the remains of swimming costumes. Even a young boy in tattered shorts was among them, his ribs almost protruding through his pale flesh.
    I sucked in a breath.
    “If you want to stay here and die, that’s your business!” I shouted, my words dashed back at me from the rock walls.
    The circle closed tighter. “Be patient, friend,” said a stooped man in a bloodstained wetsuit.
    “Whenever the crab saves someone, it claims someone.”
    I swerved my gaze to the crab. Its lazy eyes surveyed us.
    A claw rose, pointing at one of the women. “No, please, not me!” she shrieked.
    But the others pinned her arms behind her back. Still screaming, she was pushed forward as an offering.
    Without warning, a gigantic claw swung down and scooped her up. Her screams died as the claw stuffed her into the crab’s gigantic mouth. Crunching sounds sent bile racing up my throat.
    I lost all fear.
    While the others watched in awe as the crab consumed its new sacrifice, I seized my chance to escape. I raced for the entrance.
    Liveright’s alarm was palpable. “Stop him! He will break our covenant with the crab!”
    I darted through the narrow slit, out onto a slippery ledge.
    An enormous wave heaved down on me.
    My feet left the rocks.
    The lip of the wave possessed me, sped me clear of the headland, dumping me into a swirling mass of water far from shore.
    The shark came from nowhere —
    Its nose striking my thigh —
    Its savage jaws opening —
    Its teeth biting into my thigh!
    I let out one long scream from the depths of my being. Blood gushed from my wound. The shark lunged again — then sank from view, blood streaming from its long sleek body like the tail of a comet. The police launch swung alongside me. Eager hands lifted me from the surf. I heard a voice calling for a chopper.
    I was gasping for breath, losing blood fast, but I knew I’d live.
    I’d cheated death.
    Or had I?
    When my mind swam back to consciousness, I couldn’t move.
    “Steady on, old chap,” said a voice.
    I lifted my head, saw the thick leather restraints pinning me to the bed. Saw the two doctors peering at me as though they were examining an insect in a glass bottle.
    “He’s been delirious,” said one. “Keeps talking about a giant crab.”
    “Delusional, that’s my opinion,” the other observed. “Human offerings to a crab, that’s what he told me. Something about eating a woman alive. I think we should keep him in for a while longer.”
    “Until it’s safe to release him, yes, I agree, can’t be too careful ...”
    Damn fool doctors!

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