by Marie Lanza
The alarms echoing across the water stopped as quickly as they had started. Emergency lights from the Appomattox splashed red through the portals and across the walls of the medical ward. Occasional gunfire repeatedly broke the silence. Melody and Jason sat on a cot, hand in hand, while Melody leaned against him, resting her head on his shoulder, Aubrey sleeping soundly on her lap.
Jason watched through the window, into the medical ward as the nurses walked around the floor talking to patients, keeping them comfortable, and somewhat calm. Jason noticed Smith enter from Isolation, check in with a few of the nurses and patients, then make his way to the clean room.
“What do you think is happening over there?” Melody asked in a soft whisper.
“Who knows?
“Do you think we’ll be OK here?”
“No… no I’m not sure we’re safe anywhere.” Jason paused, thinking of the reality of his words. “People are scared. The worst in people comes out in times like this, not the best.” Jason kissed the top of Melody’s head. “Mel, the infected are dangerous, but the healthy can be just as deadly.”
Jason watched Smith make his way through the unit into the clean room.
“I’ll be right back.” Jason got up and left the office.
Smith took his hazmat suit off and walked over to the sink, beginning the usual steps of scrubbing his hands methodically, all the way up to his elbows. Smith made it a ritual, any time he entered or exited the medical unit.
“Have you heard anything?” Jason asked, standing in the office doorway.
“Just the man I’m looking for.” Smith stared intensely at his hands as he continued to wash them down, “Not a word, but not surprising.” He shook his head as he spoke. ”I’m headed up to the bridge to brief the captain on the latest test trial. Wanted to see if you’d like to accompany me.”
“Yes, I’d be happy to join you. Could be useful for me to get more insight into all of this.” Jason turned around to find Melody standing in the doorway. She didn’t have to say a word. Jason walked to her, gently placing his hands on her shoulders. “Babe, I won’t be gone long. Besides, maybe through all this hell, I can find out something to help us get closer to Harmony and Dan.” Jason’s words were soft and manipulative, with good intentions behind them.
“Please don’t leave us for long.”
“I promise.”
Melody closed the office door behind her.
Jason and Smith made their way to the bridge, traveling through the narrow halls and stairways. Jason stayed one step behind Smith taking mental pictures of every sign they passed, every door they walked through, and every staircase they went up.
These ships weren’t Jason’s turf. In all his years of service, he’d never set foot on a ship. The only advantage he felt he had over the civilians was that he knew the language. But, even that small difference didn’t matter at this point. Any confidence was sinking away, and his nerves began to butterfly, causing levels of anxiety to increase the farther he ventured from the medical unit.
“If you ask me, they should have seen this coming,” Smith said, breaking the silence. “These ships are overcrowded; we should have stopped taking in survivors a week ago.” Smith looked back at Jason. “No offense.”
“None taken. I’m starting to regret being here,” Jason replied, staring at Smith’s back as he continued to lead.
“If you want my opinion, there’s nothing that can be done here.” Smith’s tone had an unnerving calmness. Smith stopped before entering the door to the bridge and looked back at Jason. “The only thing you should worry about now is your family.”
Smith opened the door to the bridge, the cacophony of ringing monitoring devices, shouts over staticky radios, and the call outs by sailors to their officers was near deafening.
Smith and Jason walked a few feet in before stopping to wait for the captain.
Jason focused on every word being called out by the officers and sailors; a communications specialist made repeated calls out to the Antietam. “Antietam, this is Appomattox, do you copy? I repeat, Antietam, this is Appomattox, do you copy?”
The bridge was crowded with sailors monitoring flashing screens, shouting back and forth over headsets.
Smith caught the attention of a young sailor. “What’s the status?”
“It’s the Antietam, sir,” the young sailor whispered. “There was reported attacks on board by infected. Contact with them has been sporadic.”
Jason, shocked, looked around the bridge. Everyone stayed focus on their task.
Suddenly, the communications specialist broke through the wall of noise. “Sir, sir, I have the Antietam.”
The captain dodged sailors as he ran across the bridge, “Jackson – over the speakers, I want to hear what he has to say.”
“Yes, sir,” the sailor replied, flipping a switch and replying, “Antietam, this is Appomattox, I copy. Go ahead.”
“Appomattox, this is Antietam, our quarantine has been breached and the infected are among the general population. People are panicking and we are losing control of the situation by the moment.”
The captain took the headset from the communications specialist. “Antietam, this is Captain Burge from the Appomattox, we are sending assistance, please prepare to receive our strike teams.”
“Negative, Appomattox, we are in no position to receive or support your team. We cannot differentiate the infected from the healthy. We will move further offshore and try to stabilize the situation.”
“Sir!” a sailor shouted across the room, “the Antietam is raising their anchor, they are starting their engines.” The captain nodded acknowledgement and turned back to the radio. “Antietam, this is Captain Burge, please advise, do you need an escort?”
“Negative, Appomattox… recommend maintaining your location. Protect your sailors… you may need them.”
“Sir,” the sailor shouted again, “the Antietam is turning.”
Everyone in the bridge stood and looked towards the Antietam. They watched as the aircraft carrier’s giant turbines began to froth the water behind it, and it slowly began to turn towards open water.
“Antietam,” the captain calmly spoke into the headset, “Go with God.”
The radio was quiet for a moment before it crackled to life. “Thank you, sir, I’m afraid we’re going to…” the officer’s sentence was cut short by the sound of an explosion on the Antietam’s deck.
“Antietam,” the captain shouted into the receiver. “What’s happening?”
“Appomattox, the bridge has been breached. You – bar the door, now. Do not let them…” the officer’s voice was silenced by the sound of a gunshot.
“Antietam,” Captain Burge shouted. “What is your situation?” He paused. “I repeat, Antietam, state your situation.”
“Sir,” another voice nervously shouted before Captain Burge, “the Antietam. She… sir, she’s still turning… sir, I think she’s going to hit us, she’s on a collision course with us, Sir.”
“God dammit” Burge shouted. He dropped the communications headset back on the sailor’s lap. “You, try to raise somebody over there. We’ll never get the engines up in time to get out of the way. Get on the ships intercom, tell everyone onboard to brace for impact. Raise the anchor – we need to minimize the damage. God help us.”
“I have to get back to Mel and Aubrey.” Jason turned to Smith. “All those patients.”
Smith was pale, staring out at nothing. He slowly turned to Jason with an expression of pure loss.
Jason realized he was staring into the face of a man that had already given up. Smith stopped caring long before they even arrived at the ship. Now, it seemed he had been going through the motions of what was expected of him. Jason wasn’t even sure if Smith cared whether or not he continued to live. Smith was in a state of just being, that complacent place where the body shifts to autopilot. Jason didn’t have any response for him, nor did Smith wait for one.
“Good luck,” Smith said, and left the room.
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The sirens began.
That was all Jason needed to leave. Without hesitating another second, he ran as fast as he could. There was no time for a quick apology for bumping into others, no time to stop and think how to get back to the medical ward. Jason could only hope his memory would kick in. Familiar signs, familiar doors, stairways. Still, they all looked the same. He had to focus. Focus on what he remembered.
Everything was gray; so much metal.
Jason hated these ships. Maybe that’s why he joined the Army over the Navy – he hated small spaces. Even on a carrier, the halls were narrow, the doorways were tight. This moment of pure urgency to get to Melody and Aubrey wasn’t helping with feeling claustrophobia. Everything felt like it was closing in on him, even his lungs, as he struggled to maintain his breath while he continued to run.
Through another door, entering another stairwell.
Jason was grabbed. “Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to slow down!”
Jason instinctively jerked away. He was staring into the faces of two sailors. Jason ignored their demand. “Tell me how to get to the Medical Ward from here. Up or down.” The sailors looked dumbfounded.
“Up or down!” Jason urged.
“Uhhh… down this flight. Just that way.” The sailor pointed and moved out of this way.
“Get to the deck. Forget your post. Get to the deck,” Jason urged and moved down the stairs.
Finally, it was feeling familiar. He was getting close. Jason entered into the next corridor – Medical Ward signs. He picked up his pace.
Jason pushed into the door for the Medical Unit, feeling a sense of weight suddenly off his body. He ran down the familiar white floor with red crosses, towards the clean room to enter the ward.
When he entered the clean room, Melody was already waiting for him with Aubrey in her arms.
“We can’t stay on this ship,” Melody said plainly with a slightly panicked tone.
Jason tried to catch his breath. He only nodded in agreement. He knew he didn’t have to give her an explanation as to what was going on, the ship’s alarms sounding again told Melody what she needed. His body language only added to that urgency.
Suddenly, a massive BANG rocked the ship.
Jason braced himself against the large sinks, while Melody cradled Aubrey closely with one arm, using the other to steady herself against the doorway.
“Oh my God! Was that a bomb?”
“One of the other ships – the Antietam – it’s out of control – it must have hit us. We have to get to the boats. Now!” Jason reached his hand out to Melody as she hustled to him.
Melody briefly turned back to the medical ward, “What about everyone in there?”
“They’ll figure it out.”
Melody liked this plan. In her mind, they only needed to worry about them. They weren’t going to save the world and she was OK with that.
The Appomattox rocked again, bringing a howling of steel as it bent and twisted.
Melody and Jason froze in their steps as the ship shook, but quickly gained their footing, and continued moving. When they reached the exit, Jason grabbed two life vests hanging on the wall and led them out. It was eerily empty outside the unit, but screams occasionally broke the silence as they echoed through the halls. They entered a stairwell, running into a handful of sailors who were making their way up. Everyone stopped, the sailors instinctively pulled their guns.
“We’re fine, we’re fine! I’m the doctor!” Jason shouted with his hands raised.
The group lowered their weapons.
“Get to the deck,” a sailor shouted and they continued moving up the stairs.
Melody and Jason followed behind them.
The sun was at the beginning of falling towards the horizon, but luckily, the ship’s lights brought back the rest of daylight.
Melody looked at the surreal site of the two massive ships pressing against one another, as people stood on their decks, looking for rescue from both doomed ships.
Black smoke from the Antietam clouded the sky as sailors on the Appomattox blasted the blazes with the fire hoses in an attempt to stop the fires from spreading.
On the Appomattox’s deck, the crowds were overwhelming. People jammed around where the life rafts were kept, while the sailors continued to push them back, aiming their weapons, threatening the civilians to stand down. There was no more order as hysteria took over.
Jason frantically searched the deck, sorting out the situation before making a decision.
Gunfire scattered the mass of people that had collected, sending most to the ground for cover. But, to the soldier’s surprise, the mob didn’t cower away, they moved in unison in a state of fury, overwhelming and ultimately enveloping the sailors.
People screamed, cried, and begged to get off the ship. One life raft was knocked from the boat, inflating as it touched down to the water. People shoved towards the edge, jumping overboard after the small boat, bringing several military with them. The remaining vessels were covered by the crazed groups.
Jason placed a life vest around Aubrey, then tied it, adding extra loops around her little body. Jason didn’t have to say a word, Melody already knew what he was thinking. They had one option, and it wasn’t heading for the boats – they were going to jump. Melody gave Aubrey to Jason when he was done tying the vest, and she put her vest on.
“What about you? We need to find you one!” Melody finished adjusting her vest.
“I’ll be fine. This way.” Jason led his family away from the chaos.
When they got to the edge of the ship, Melody grabbed Jason and pulled him towards her. “Jason, look!” she pointed out past the lights where a group in a life raft were being attacked by infected, holding onto their boat, pulling at the people inside. “The infected… they’re in the water.”
Jason turned around, pulling his family with him. They headed towards the other side of the deck, running up a stream of people rushing towards the crowds gathering around the lifeboats. “OK, OK this is better.”
“No, wait…” Melody held tight to the back of Jason’s T-shirt as she scanned around the ship.
People were throwing themselves overboard; the crowds still gathered around the life rafts, trying to get them off the ship. There seemed to be no military left attempting to gain control of the chaos – they too were running for their lives.
“We should wait here until the last minute,” Melody suggested.
Jason looked around, seeing nothing but hope lost. He knew they didn’t have a lot of time. “Honey, I want you to listen to me. We’re going to jump. It’s going to hurt, but you’ll be fine.”
“Oh my God, you’re serious?”
“You need to hear me, now. This ship is listing, that means it’s taking on water. If this ship sinks, it will pull us down with it if we’re not far enough away. You can’t think about it, you just have to jump.”
Melody tried to listen as Jason attempted to reassure her, but she couldn’t hear him. As they stood there, on the edge of the deck, looking at the water below them, Jason’s voice was muffled under her own thoughts. Everything felt so wrong. Her mind forced her to think about it. Her body rejected every movement she tried to make. Melody tried to shut out the terrified screams, she tried not to look at the bodies falling into the water below. She looked at her daughter. Her baby girl who was focused on her as well, as she gripped tight to her dad. Aubrey’s precious innocence brought the calm that Melody was looking for. It brought the strength she needed to jump, not just for her life, but for her daughter’s life. Her feet glided closer to the ledge.
Melody looked back at the chaos behind them. It was as if she was looking through a fog, a mass of bodies crushing against each other on the far side of the ship, flames from the Antietam rising ever higher as the two massive warships groaned against one another.
Melody reached for Jason’s hand, “We’ll jump together. Don’t let go of her.” Melody’s voice cracked as she looked at their littl
e girl, then down towards the dark ocean water.
“Not on my life.” Jason squeezed Melody’s hand, and stepped off the ledge bringing them with him.
As the wind rushed past her body, a peaceful silence came over her. The sound of screams, buried beneath the rush of air over her ears, the smell of smoke replaced by the damp sea air. Then Jason’s word’s echoed in her mind: It’s going to hurt.
Melody was brought back to awareness by the painful impact of her body against the cold Pacific water as her body disappeared into the waves, in a veil of bubbles. As her descent into the darkness slowed, she opened her eyes as the life vest drew her towards the surface. The salt water stung her eyes and her lungs burned from lack of oxygen.
Melody reached the surface after what felt like an eternity, coughing and gagging on the seawater, screaming out, “Aubrey, Jason!” She flailed in the water, her arms swinging wildly, searching for her child and husband.
Suddenly, a strong hand reached around her body, “Melody, I have you, we’re OK.”
Melody turned to see Jason, treading water with Aubrey gripping his neck, crying loudly out of fear. “Oh my God Jason, are you OK, is Aubrey OK?”
“Melody, it’s OK, we just need to get away from the ships right now, we’re both OK.”
Melody looked at her daughter and wanted so badly to comfort her, but Jason was right, they had to get away from the ships.
Jason took the lead and began swimming, with Aubrey continuing to scream out in distress.
Melody swam behind them, “It’s OK, baby, Daddy’s got you. Mommy’s right here. You’re OK.” Melody tried in vain to comfort Aubrey. Repeating over and over everything would be fine in between spitting out ocean water.
Jason eventually stopped swimming and tried to comfort Aubrey as best he could. She was freezing, shivering uncontrollably, and her little lips had a slight hint of purple. Jason and Melody were lucky for the adrenaline pumping through their bodies that seemed to keep them from being as affected by the cold water.
“Take her for a sec,” Jason said, delivering Aubrey to Melody. His clothing pulled at his body, causing him to work extra hard to tread water. Jason removed his top shirt, leaving his undershirt on, giving more mobility with his arms. He took Aubrey, pulling her around to his back, wrapping her arms around his neck.
