“I just don’t understand it,” he growled as he poked at the corpse’s eye.
“Don’t do that Finn!”
“Why not?”
“Because that thing wasn’t always like that. He was somebody like us not too long ago, someone’s son. What if he has kids? You could be poking at a little kid’s dad like he’s some sort of sick animal.”
Finn sighed and lowered the hanger. “I guess. Maybe their sense of smell just can’t be fooled. A dog could smell past everything I’ve been trying, so maybe these things can too. Maybe it’s not even our smell that leads them to us. It could be the sound of our blood flowing, or our hearts beating…”
Another hour crept by as I tried to think of something Finn hadn’t already tried. My mind refused to work right, and it was nearly impossible to concentrate in the heat. Our new hideout was much stuffier than the kitchen. Finn had closed the curtains and refused to go near the glass doors that led to the balcony.
“We’ll think better with some fresh air,” I argued.
“And all it takes is one movement of the curtains for someone to spot us and turn our room into Swiss cheese again.”
Needless to say the room stayed hot, and it was hours before I managed to get comfortable enough to rest. I had the most awful dream…
I was sitting at a table with Finn, and we were in the middle of the buffet, surrounded by hungry passengers. I looked around to see everyone stuffing their faces, chatting away without a care in the world. Kids laughed somewhere behind me, and the shouts of cooks could be heard every time food was carried through the kitchen doors.
Finn sat opposite me, and he was gnawing on a piece of meat smothered in BBQ sauce.
“How are your ribs?” I asked, wishing I’d picked something other than the off smelling pile of mussels sitting in front of me.
“Delicious, messy, and everything I hoped they would be,” he replied with a toothy grin.
I was just about to get up for a second plate when I noticed an elderly couple sitting behind Finn. They wore matching Hawaiian t-shirts, and were chatting about an excursion they’d gone on. As the grey haired man spoke, a dark colored slime started oozing from the corners of his mouth. I scanned the tables around us and realized the foul liquid was seeping from everyone’s mouths.
No one seemed to notice, though, and they continued on as if nothing was out of place.
“Lily,” Finn whispered, making me jump, “you have a little something on your face.” He handed me a napkin and pointed to his cheek. When I pulled the napkin from my face a trail of thick, black drool trailed behind it. I cried and held the cloth out to Finn.
Only it wasn’t Finn.
A corpse was sitting across from me, and there was no time to react before it launched, jaws snapping at my neck.
I was screaming when I woke and realized hands were grabbing at me.
“Lily! It’s me! Lily, you have to stop yelling!”
Finn’s voice finally broke through my panic. It took several minutes of his soothing embrace before my breathing returned to normal.
He held me tighter as I told him about the dream.
“It was just a nightmare,” he comforted. “Even though there are actually corpses on the ship, and they do all seem to have that black sludge dripping from every orifice. Doesn’t make it any less of a creepy dream, though.”
“Thanks Finn,” I grumped. “I feel loads better now.”
Finn suddenly jumped upright, jolting me as the bed rebounded.
“The slime,” he exclaimed.
“What about it?”
“Remember the sprinter in the buffet?”
“Yeah, how could I forget?”
“It stopped attacking me and turned on you. Why?”
“I don’t know, maybe because it couldn’t bite you.”
Finn smiled, “I was covered in that black stuff.”
What happened next helped ensure I would need therapy for the rest of my life.
My nightmare had given Finn an idea. He dragged the headless corpse into the cabin and sawed into the rotting flesh with his kitchen knife. He started to smear globs of the black innards onto one side of a towel, and after it was thoroughly coated he wrapped the clean side around his hand.
“Here goes nothing,” he breathed as he held the covered towel toward DZ’s mouth.
I’ve decided to call the head DZ by the way. Finn doesn’t approve, but he can’t really argue. He’s the one who brought the thing inside the cabin in the first place. It stands for “decapitated zombie”. We’ve been trying to avoid calling them zombies, but at this point there is no denying what’s been trying to eat us.
Despite DZ’s eyes, which were fixated on Finn’s every movement, he made no attempt to bite the sludge covered hand.
“Now this one,” he whispered, reaching over with his uncovered hand.
DZ’s jaws snapped wildly as he tried in vain to reach my husband’s flesh.
After several more rounds, Finn turned to me with a satisfied smirk on his face.
“This is our ticket out of here.”
Just In Case
September 1st
Today actually wasn’t too horrible. It’s been a long time since I’ve been able to write those words! Then again, maybe I’m just getting used to the daily horrors that the ship likes to spring on us. We actually left the cabin today to find supplies for our escape plan.
“Should be around here somewhere…,” he mumbled as we edged along the corridor.
We tried several cleaning closets, but each one didn’t have what we were looking for.
“It’s hard to tell if they can’t smell us or they’re just sleepers,” I whispered as we passed a particularly muscular zombie in board shorts. I shrugged as I stepped around the surfer corpse. My chef’s jacket made it hard to maneuver.
It was my idea to put the black sludge in a spray bottle. I mixed it with tanning oil to make it thin enough to spray. “Might help it stay on us longer, too,” I’d explained when Finn gave me a confused look.
We’d sprayed our duct taped chef coats with the mixture and put them through a series of tests with DZ before leaving. His eyes always stayed fixated on the parts of our bodies that weren’t covered.
I was just about to suggest we try a different deck when Finn nudged my arm and pointed to a door a few feet ahead. The words Maintenance Supply were stamped across its front. I opened the door as Finn stood, ready to attack anything that might be inside. We let ourselves breath again after we saw the room didn’t have anything dead inside.
It wasn’t long before we found what we were looking for. I smiled as Finn held one up. It was an off white plastic suit, complete with built in gloves and boots.
“The employees use these when they paint the ship,” he said, patting the material with a satisfied expression.
“The Wellspring is so big they have to paint it almost daily.”
“We can still wear our coats underneath for added protection.” He flipped the suit’s headgear up for me to see. “We should be fine to spray ourselves from head to toe. These things have to be pretty secure; the industrial sprayers they use give off a lot of fumes.”
We headed straight back to the cabin after pillaging the supply room. Our bounty included several brooms, two painter suits, and more duct tape. For some reason Finn thought we could never have enough of it.
The rest of the day was spent getting ready to leave. I set myself to the task off applying several coats of the zombie spray to our suits while Finn carved out more spears from the brooms.
I took the first shift tonight, and Finn is once again passed out next to me. The taste of apple and kiwi is finally starting to fade. We gorged ourselves on most of the fruit before calling it a night. We’d decided to polish the rest of it off since they were starting to go bad.
I’m so tired, but I want to wait another hour or so before I wake Finn. I don’t know why I’m so exhausted. Other than our little field trip to the supply
closet, we were in the cabin prepping all day. It might be because I haven’t gotten a good night’s sleep since the beginning of the cruise; too many things running through my head.
Tomorrow might be the last I ever see, and since this might be my final entry, I want to say a few things in case this journal is ever found…
Mom,
I wish I could put into words how amazing my childhood was because of you. You were always there for me, even when I really didn’t deserve it. You were my rock after Dad’s accident. I wouldn’t have made it if you hadn’t been there for Jenna and me. I just wanted you to know that all your life lessons weren’t lost on me. Please don’t be sad if this message finds you before I do. Finn and I are together, and I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Jenna,
You were the best sister anyone could ever hope for. Remember the time in the place with the thing? Best movie ever! I don‘t think I would‘ve survived middle school if it weren‘t for you. Please take good care of Fizz and Gig for me. Remember Fizz only likes the shredded cat food, not the pate stuff. I understand if Sokka is too much to handle, but I’m sure Finn’s parents will take him.
To Mrs. Datson,
I hope you’re okay, and that nothing bad happened to you for trying to help us. You’re the kindest mother-in-law in the history of forever. That pretty much sums you up. Your son is amazing, and he’s the only reason I’m able to write this to you at all. I would’ve been killed the first day if it weren’t for him. He’s been worried about you since we didn’t hear back. We’ve both been worried. I pray this note finds you well.
To my Finn,
If you survive tomorrow and I don’t, there are a few things I want you to know. First, I don’t want you to blame yourself for what happened on this cruise; none of it was your fault. No one could have known what would happen. I still don’t believe it myself!
Second, and this might sound dumb, but don’t let Sokka chase Fizz or Gig. I know you think it’s funny, but one day he’ll trip and cripple one of them.
Finally, I love you more than life itself, and I wouldn’t trade our time together for anything, not even the parts with dead people in it. I never imagined I’d end up with a guy who lit candles for me, even in the middle of a zombie infested ship, or who got me flowers every time the last bouquet started to wither. I was so lucky to find you, and I’d do it all over again.
I would list each and every one of the amazing people in my life, but I honestly cannot muster up the energy. I’m so tired the words are starting to blur together.
This journal has actually kept me from losing it completely; I’m glad Finn encouraged me to write. If it weren’t for all the time I occupied myself by writing, the long hours spent waiting would’ve driven me insane.
Before we left Finn said cruises go by insanely fast, and before I knew it… it’d be over. For some reason I don’t believe him anymore.
Tomorrow we leave this place… one way or another.
The Last Entry
October 17th
I found this journal stuffed in a side pocket of the duffel bag about a week ago. I almost threw the bag away earlier, I’m so thankful I didn’t. I’ve read through it a dozen times, and I’ve decided to finish it for Lily. She would hate to see it missing the final entry. I still can’t figure how she managed to write so much with everything going on, but I’m glad she did. I’ll never forget what we went through together, but thanks to this journal, I’ll remember it through her eyes, too.
I’m not too sure how or where to start, but if I don’t write this down soon I might start forgetting the little things. Fair warning, though, I spare no details.
It was the second of September, and I let Lily sleep in that morning. I knew she hadn’t been getting much rest, and I wanted her to be as prepared as possible for what was ahead of us. We didn’t do much that morning. Mostly we just sat around, listening to the sound of helicopters in the distance. Afterward we had an early lunch of cookies and potato chips.
“Who would’ve thought we’d run out of real food on our honeymoon cruise,” she said with an overly sexy smile.
I smirked as I washed the last bit of stale chocolate chip cookies down with some delectable room temperature water.
It took an hour to get ready before we left that evening, mostly because Lily was a little hesitant to leave the stateroom. We’d been safe there, and I think it was hard for her, knowing there was a good chance we’d die once we left.
I put my hand around her just before we put on our coats. “We’ll be fine. The camouflage works, which means we’ll be completely invisible to them. It’ll be like a walk through an undead park, okay?”
She nodded and looked toward the vanity.
“Where’s DZ?”
“Umm… I wrapped him in a towel and put him in the room safe.”
She laughed. “Why’d you do that?”
“I figured he’d have a chance in there, when the ship is destroyed.”
She snickered and gave me a particularly inviting kiss.
“You’re crazy, and I love you.”
“Love you too, beautiful,” I replied, feeling guilty. I didn’t like lying to her, but I wasn’t ready to tell her the truth.
The paint suits were lightweight, which was good since we had our chef coats underneath. We made sure to spray each other one last time with the slime spray, just to give ourselves a fresh layer.
By the time we left we were as prepped as two honeymooners on a zombie infested ship could be. I tried my best to carry the bulk of our gear so Lily could travel light. She held one of the spears I’d fashioned out of a mop handle, and a cook’s knife was sheathed at her waist. I had the duffel bag, my spear, and a cleaver I’d snagged before we left the kitchen.
“Are you sure you don’t want me carrying anything else?” she asked as I slung the duffel bag over my shoulder. “Chivalry at this point is kind of just silly.”
“No, I’ll be fine, it’s actually not that heavy at all.”
I still had my Molotov cocktails too, which I’d strapped around my waist with a belt. I actually managed to make one out of duct tape.
We dodged a handful of zombies on our way to the stairs. One was visibly awake, stumbling toward some unknown purpose as it moaned and groaned. Despite our close proximity, it took no notice of us as we passed it in the hall. The built in masks to our paint suits worked better than I could’ve hoped. The only downside was the viewport wasn’t very wide, and as a result it cut off most of my peripheral vision. It gave me a slight case of tunnel vision, and it was already hard to see with the hallways being so dark. Thankfully some of the ocean view cabin doors were open. They let just enough of the evening light in for us to make our way through.
“Are we going straight up?” Lily asked as we walked by a cabin peppered with .50 caliber bullet holes. The carpet near the door was stained with blood, but I didn’t see any bodies.
“No.” I replied. “We’ll go to one of the upper decks then walk across until we’re right beneath the Atrium.
“Atrium?”
“That big enclosed area on the top deck. I’m pretty sure they called it the Atrium. Right outside are the Avenues, which make up the outside areas of the top deck, where the Ferris wheel is.”
Lily nodded. “That’s right. I didn’t get much time to get used to the ship’s layout before things went crazy.”
“Well, I don’t want us walking on the top deck until we have to. Who knows what would happen if the people in the helicopters spotted us.”
“Okay then, let’s get there,” she replied.
I still wonder if Lily was only pretending to be calm so I wouldn’t worry. The more I think about it, the more I think she was actually stronger than I was through the entire ordeal.
We climbed to deck 12 before I decided to lead us toward the stern. It wasn’t long before we realized it was completely deserted. Not a single zombie stood between us and the back end of the ship. We managed to slip by hundr
eds of staterooms and a dozen corridors without spotting a single corpse.
“We should’ve staked a claim here instead of on seven,” Lily commented as we neared the staircase I hoped would lead us to the Atrium.
I sighed as we started to climb. “Probably, but we wouldn’t have come across DZ if we hadn’t of gone to seven, and we wouldn’t have our camouflage.”
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