At the harbor, reporters crowded behind the emergency crews. “What was it like inside?” one shouted. Another called, “Did you think you were going to die?” Elena pushed through them, shouting, “Give him room.” Nathaniel said nothing until paramedics had taken him away.
Doctors found bruises, dehydration, and exhaustion, but no serious injuries. “You’re extremely lucky,” one doctor told him. Nathaniel nodded. “I know.” Yet lying in the hospital, he kept thinking about the whale turning its body against the shark and holding him safely through every impact.