Miles James Barnett

Miles James Barnett was played by Carter Jenkins.

Miles found several eggs while he was in the sea. He brought one of them home and put it in his family's fish tank, where it hatched. After eating all the fish, it exploded the tank and escaped. He caught the creature with the help of his best friend Phil. He named it Nimrod (often shortened to Nim). They fed Nimrod and for a while hid him from their parents. Miles' parents later find out after Nimrod eats a dog. In a crazy series of events, Miles is finally forced to release Nim into the ocean. But to do this, he steals a car. He is then sentenced to six months parole.

Miles' sister, Savannah, convinced their parents that Miles really cared for Nimrod. Thus, they ensure he spends his parole work at an oceanographic institute. This is where Miles meets Caitlin, the daughter of one of the oceanographers, and the two eventually start dating.

Miles later attempts to find Nimrod near the docks, but instead finds the rest of the eggs have hatched. The creatures attack and wound him, sending him to the hospital. Miles nearly dies, but Nimrod returns and saves his life, accidentally giving Miles some of his species' abilities (e.g. electronic surges, primal communication with the creatures, and possibly self-healing). The creatures attack and kill some other people as they proceed to come to land, but Miles returns and leads them out to sea.

People began to get scared, and they put Miles up as a scapegoat for the deaths caused by the creatures as well as putting a strain on their local ecosystem. He accidentally shocks a bully at school when he attacks him, and the town abuses the event and literally tries to lynch him to make him pay for what happened. But the coming of the tsunami stopped the attempt (the tsunami was caused by adult creatures, who were warming the ocean above so they could live at higher altitudes under water).

As the tsunami got closer, Miles returned to Wilmington to save his girlfriend. He finally meets Laura and Richard, the other two main characters of Surface. They all survive the tsunami by climbing to the top of a church steeple, but discover they are now surrounded completely by water.