LIFE AND DEATH

As the thousands of beating hearts and pulsing fins continued to overload the Megalodon's sensory array, the albino creature gently ascended to the surface.  Darkness had finally fallen.

The hunter quickly closed the distance to the calf.  The mother blue stopped feeding, detecting the danger approaching rapidly from behind.  She rose to the surface and forcefully nudged her young to remain in tight formation.  Mother and offspring propelled their bodies faster, less than a mile separating them from the jaws of their pursuer.

Minutes later, the female had closed to within striking distance.  Jaws agape, the Megt aimed for the smaller fluke, careful not to venture too close to the larger mammal's tail.  And then, just as she was about to strike, something happened.

The Megalodon shook wildly, her back arching in an uncontrollable spasm.  She abandoned her prey, descending rapidly to the canyon floor.  Her muscular body quivered and she began swimming in tight circles, her internal organs twitching out of control.  And then, with a mighty shudder that shook her entire frame, a fully developed Megalodon pup emerged from its mother's left oviduct.

It was a male, pure white and eight feet long, already weighing fifteen hundred pounds.  The teeth were smaller but sharper than its mother's.  With its senses fully developed, the newborn was fully capable of hunting and surviving on its own.  It hovered momentarily, icy-blue eyes focused on the adult, instinct warning the pup of imminent danger.  With a burst of speed, it glided south along the canyon floor.

Still circling in convulsions, the female shuddered again, expelling a second pup, tail-first, out of it womb.  This time a female, larger than its sibling by three feet.  The pup shot past its mother, barely avoiding a mortal, reflexive bite from the jaws of its uncaring parent.

With one last convulsion, the Meg birthed her final pup in a cloud of blood and embryonic fluid.  The runt of the litter, the seven-and-a-half-foot male twisted toward the bottom, righted itself, then shook its head to clear its vision.

With a flick of her caudal fin, the Meg pounced upon her newborn from behind, severing its entire caudal fin and genitals as she snapped her jaws shut.  Convulsing wildly and trailing a stream of blood, the dying pup writhed to the bottom, out of control.  Giving immediate chase, the female finished her offspring in one last bite.

The Megalodon hovered near the bottom, exhausted from the efforts of labor.  Opening her mouth, she permitted the canyon's current to circulate through her mouth and over her body, allowing her gills to breathe.  Slowly, the head rotated for side to side, nostrils flaring, channeling water.  Now the predator could "see" the sanctuary through her olfactory senses.

Once again, the female detected the maddening vibrations of the migrating whales, and something else—blood!  The Megalodon swung her caudal fin back and forth, regaining her momentum and rising.  She resumed her northerly movement, passing within thirty feet of the concrete canal entrance that connected the Tanaka Lagoon with the Pacific Ocean.