Dangerous Shores: Book Three; The End of the Road

by Christine Conaway

  Ellen finally said, “I agree. We approach with caution and fully armed. At the first sign of trouble we get out of the area. We’ll just have to eat from cans and save the water for drinking. Hanna, you figure out what our water requirements are for each of us to stay properly hydrated and it will be up to you to see that we get only what we need.”

  “I already did that. I thought that would be the outcome so the way I figure it is you, Alan and Frank will need the most. You guys are out here in the sun all day long. Olivia and I tend to spend more time below and use up far less energy and body fluids so we need the least. We have enough to last three weeks at two cups a day each.” She looked down at her empty hands.

  “That’s not true! You need as much or more than we do. You have two people to think about.” Alan was practically yelling and had stood glaring down at Hannah.

  Hannah cringed in surprise. He saw what he was doing and sat back down. “Sorry, It’s just I think I know you and you’re like Ellen; you would put everyone else’s needs before your own. You have to stay hydrated. Think about the baby.”

  “I am thinking about the damn baby! How can I not when I’m reminded every single day?” Hannah burst into to tears and hurried below.

  “Well I am not surprised that finally came out.” When Alan started to follow her, Ellen said, “Leave her be. It’s about time she started acting like a normal Mom to be.”

  Alan, sat back down. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “Geez, and you were going to be a doctor? Hormones! She has to be on a rollercoaster ride right now. She’s stuck on this tiny boat with three other adults and a kid, with the world’s problems trying to drag her under. Think about it. How would you feel? And an unplanned pregnancy to boot.”

  “Maybe it’s time we all took a break. We’ve been going non-stop for nine days and maybe after we visit the ship we’ll head into shallow water and rest for a couple days.”

  “No!” Ellen and Alan sounded like they were speaking in stereo one on either side of Frank.

  Frank sat straighter and gawked at them his mouth half open, eyes wide. “What? I thought you guys would like that.”

  Alan nodded at Ellen to say it, “Do you know how hard it would be to have to start again? We’re at least acclimated to the movement and having to go through the getting used to it all over again would be far worse than just going. I’m afraid if we stop, none of us will want to leave. It would be like we gave up on ourselves.”

  “And I for one don’t want to be somewhere we don’t know the language or the customs of the people. Hell, they have huge snakes in the jungle on shore. No sir, I vote we go on. I want the baby to be born on American soil and I am pretty sure Hannah feels the same way.”

  “Yes she does,” said Hannah who was standing on the ladder listening to them. She sniffed loudly and wiped her eyes, “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to be such a bitch. I guess it’s time I tell you all what’s going on inside my head.”

  “You don’t have to say anything to us. We’re all a little on edge right now. You have more reason to be upset than the rest of us put together.” Alan said and patted the seat beside him, inviting her to sit with him.

  “Actually Alan, let’s let her speak instead of trying to put words in her mouth.” Frank said. After listening to Hannah crying out in her sleep, he thought he might know what her problem was. He and Ellen had talked about it and both had wondered when she would finally lose it.

  Hannah sat and after blowing her nose on a half paper towel, began, “Every time I think of this baby, I am reminded how he or she was made. When I close my eyes I see them, I panicked the other day when the door stuck on the head. I try to push thoughts of those guys aside, but how can I do that when I’m going to have a baby by one of them?” She placed her hand on her still flat stomach, “I am so afraid that I will take my feelings out on this baby. This tiny little person we haven’t met yet.”

  Ellen laughed softly and shook her head, “I don’t think you have anything to worry about. If you had started screaming about not wanting it or some shit like that then I would worry. All you care about is if the baby will know how he or she was started. What’s important is how he or she lives after they’re born. How you raise your child is what counts. The values you pass on, will decide who this baby is going to be.”

  “Ellen’s right. You have all of us backing you up. But there is no way you could ever be a bad mother. Every time I see you with Olivia, I have to remind myself that she’s not your biological child. Hannah, you are a natural mother and will be a great mom, no matter how your children began.”

  Frank stretched and groaned, he rubbed both hands on the small of his back to relieve some of the strain. He’d been at the wheel longer than their normal shift. It was Alan’s turn to take over, but he was occupied and Frank would give him a few minutes more and then remind him.

  Alan helped Hannah up like she was an invalid. However, she did look tired and Ellen wondered if she was okay.

  She had hoped Hannah was going to talk about what had happened to her. When she said she wanted to say what was going on in her head, Ellen had thought the rape is what she wanted to talk about. Keeping it all inside, couldn’t be good mentally for her. She would remember to ask Alan if she’d talked about it at all. They weren’t rape counselors or anything, but she thought it would be beneficial for Hannah to talk, but apparently Hannah still wasn’t ready. Maybe she never would be, but pretending it never happened couldn’t be healthy.

  Lost in thought, she’d been watching the water slide slowly by and the way the moon played on the surface of the water when she thought she saw a turtle.

  “Look at that,” she said to Frank and pointed. “I would have thought turtles slept at night.”

  Frank turned around to look, it was so seldom he heard Ellen excited about anything. “What are you…” his voice trailed off. “Aw geez!” He turned the wheel so they would pass the floating body so that Ellen couldn’t see what her turtle really was.

  “What’s wrong; why’d you do that?”

  “That wasn’t a turtle.”

  “Yes it was…wasn’t it?” She turned and leaning forward, she stared at what was floating in the water.

  Frank saw when it dawned on her that what she thought to be a sea turtle was not. She sank down to the seat as if she had been deflated,

  “Is it a body?” she asked barely above a whisper.

  “Yes it is. Someone seems to be putting bodies in the water and I suspect they’re from the ship.” He watched as the body drifted by. “I wish I knew what they died from.”

  “Is it important that we know?”

  “Maybe. It would mean that someone is cleaning up the ship or someone is eliminating people. I’d like to know which. We don’t want anything to do with the ship if there’s a killer on board.”

  “Okay, then we need to find out. There’s another one over there.” Ellen pointed to a second floating object.

  “Can you do this or do you want to steer?”

  The body was floating up ahead on the port side and Frank wanted the sails dropped. “Alan!” he bellowed. “We need some help up here. Right now!”

  Alan came topside. “What’s up? And you didn’t have to yell.”

  Frank pointed around them with a wave of his arm. “That’s what’s going on. Get that sail down and hurry. We’re going find out why these bodies are out here.”

  Alan looked around him and as soon as he’d identified one, he saw there were more than he could count. It reminded him of when he saw, the movie Titanic. There were bodies all around them. Right before his eyes he saw one pop up as if it had been shot from below.

  He hurried to the mast and dropped the mainsail. He lashed the billowing Dacron to the boom with the sail ties. The Annie-C slowed without the sail to move her. While they still had momentum Frank steered around one body while Ellen grabbed the boat hook. As soon as the body went out of Franks sight he swung the bow hoping to place the st
ern where he thought the body would come out. Ellen was ready and managed to hook the man’s shirt. With one hand holding to the top rail, she pulled the body close.

  Even with the salt air the body reeked of decay. His body was puffed up with gas that said he hadn’t died that day. Frank stepped down to the transom and as much as he didn’t want to do it, he grabbed the guy and rolled him over.

  Ellen vomited into the water beside him and he gagged along with her. The guy had obviously been in the water a while. His face was mostly gone. Something had been eating on his nose and lips and the empty eye sockets looked back at them. He pulled the guys shirt apart to see his torso. He saw no gunshot wounds. He grabbed a handful of hair to turn the body over while he pulled the shirt off to check his back. One handed, he pushed the body over and the handful of hair pulled away. The body did turn, but Frank was left with his hand full of hair and putrid scalp. He shook his hand vigorously, gagging all the while. He couldn’t hold it in anymore and spewed vomit onto the man. He wiped his hand on the shirt and flung it away. The bloated corpse bumped the stern reminding him he was still there. He tasted bile in the back of his throat and swallowed it down. He pushed the floating cadaver away with his foot.

  He stood, unconsciously rubbing his hand on his shorts. He looked off into the distance. There were floating bodies everywhere.

  Finally, he said, “We need to get another one. We can’t make a diagnosis off of one body.”

  He stepped into the boat and started the motor. He set the rpm’s just above an idle and slowly moved on to the next body.

  It was a woman and she was in just as bad of shape as the man was. Somehow it seemed wrong to rip her top off, but he needed to see if she’d been shot or if there were any trauma wounds on her body. Frank tried to not look at the faces as they checked body after body. They found no open wounds that could be associated with someone killing them. He wondered if from the level of decay if they hadn’t died from the sickness. But he would have thought they would have already rotted away.

  It had been over two months and if they were right on their dates, closer to three months, since this whole thing had started. From what Chuck had said, people started dying right after the lights went out.

  Finally, he pushed the last body, a child this time, away. He turned from the carnage in the water and stepped back into the cockpit. Frank shut the motor down and sank to the seat. He sat with his head resting in the palms of his hands. He remained still for several minutes and finally he looked up. His eyes were glassy as if he had shed tears but his voice was firm.

  “I don’t think any of them were killed. I think they died of the flu or something natural and I think someone is trying to clean the boat up. Which says there is at least one survivor.”

  Chapter Six-Mutiny of a cruise ship

  “We need to approach them with caution. At this point we don’t know what we are dealing with.” Frank sat, his chin resting on his chest, his shoulders slumped. He appeared to carry a heavy burden. His voice was almost too low to hear his words.

  They were all in the cockpit, including Olivia. The decision they made would affect all of them so it had to be a group decision. Too many times they had left her out of the group discussions and as soon as she saw them grouped together she would go down below to the V-berth. They didn’t have to say anything to her; she just gathered her things and went.

  She wasn’t a typical child at all. They didn’t know if it was the whole situation she found herself in or if her parents had raised her the way she was, but her attitude was that of a more mature adult.

  Once she had gotten past the nightmares and thumb sucking she was the first to volunteer for anything that Hannah said needed doing. Whatever task she took on she did her best even with cleaning the head which was a task they all hated. When Frank had offered to show her how to clean a fish, she had informed him with quiet dignity that she already knew how and proceeded to show him. She handled the filet knife like a pro.

  She had taken to calling Alan, Poppa Alan and Hannah, Momma Hannah as if the titles, Momma and Poppa, put them in a place of honor with her but the title alone was still reserved for her parents. Frank and Ellen were still Miss and Mister, but the way she said it was a compliment.

  Hannah was teaching her to cook their simple meals and for a seven-year old she caught on quickly. Her quiet endearing nature made her a favorite with them all, but she had aligned herself with Hannah.

  “First off, Alan, don’t interrupt until I’m finished. Before we get close I want Hannah and Olivia to be down below. Alan, and I know you aren’t going to like this much but you are going to remain on the boat. We can’t anchor out here so someone needs to be at the controls. If the opportunity arises, Ellen and I will go aboard the ship.” He stopped talking and was surprised when Alan didn’t have anything to say.

  Alan put his arm around Hannah and pulled her closer. “Okay. So we just putt around until you guys come back or what?”

  “I have to say you’ve surprised me but that’s about it. Just don’t get too far away in case we need you.”

  “I thought it would but I applied the same guidelines we used at Flamenco and realized you’re right. I will stay while you two go off and slay the dragons.”

  “Well I for one hope there are no dragons and we don’t have to slay anyone. I’m sick of all the dying and killing. If it wasn’t for our water situation I would say to pass it on by.” Frank said his expression grim.

  “How many people do you think were or are on that ship?” Ellen looked at Frank as if he would be the one to know.

  “I don’t know off hand. I’ve never been on a cruise but I think that is one of the smaller cruise ships so it may not be so bad. Maybe twelve to fifteen hundred plus the crew.”

  “But there has to be that many…bodies out here floating around.” Alan exclaimed. He grimaced when Hannah put her hands over Olivia’s ears. “Sorry!”

  Olivia reached up and pulled Hannah’s hands away, “Momma Hannah, I have seen dead people. A lot of them at home. People would put them on the side of the street. Some guys came around at first and picked them up and then they didn’t come anymore. Momma said prayers for them every day. Poppa prayed too, but he prayed someone would come and get them.”

  Ellen figure that possibly Olivia had seen far more death in her short life than the rest of them combined. She wondered if those statistics were about to change. She hadn’t counted the bodies, but for a couple of hours they had drifted by in groups and alone. Occasionally they had simply popped up from the depths surprising whoever was watching that particular piece of water.

  The closer they moved to the ship the fewer they became. Hannah had explained that when the bodies were put in the water they sank but as gasses formed they bloated and floated back to the surface. When the gasses were finally released, they would probably sink again or be eaten by marine life. Ellen didn’t want to think how the gasses would be released and Hannah didn’t say.

  She did wonder why it would have taken this long for someone to throw them in the water. Wouldn’t they have begun the decomposition process shortly after they died? They should have been in far worse shape if they’d died months ago. With the heat and humidity, she didn’t understand how anyone could have carried them topside to throw them over. If decomposition had started immediately, they would have needed shovels to move the bodies. However, she didn’t really have any firsthand knowledge on the subject.

  With Olivia and Hannah safely down below they motored to the ship. There appeared to be three passenger deck levels above the main deck with a top deck that looked like where the pool and other outdoor activities were held. Two rows of windows stood out against the blue hull below the main deck with a row of what only could be considered portholes below that. To Ellen the ship looked huge. The closer they motored the more she felt dwarfed.

  “Well the good news is, that it’s not as big as I thought it was. It looks like one of the Panama Canal cruise liners. Th
ey had to be specifically built to fit through the canal.”

  “So for us that means what?”

  “Frank answered Ellen, “It means there may not be as many as I originally thought on board. That could be good news in terms of the bodies we’ve seen already. Someone is obviously cleaning up the ship. I guess we find out in a few minutes. Care to do the honors?” He held up the air horn she usually used to get the bridges open on the inter-coastal.

  She took it and held it up in the air so their ears wouldn’t be assaulted by the loud sound. She pushed the button, the can blared out an obnoxious squawk.

  Nothing happened on the deck of the ship. No one came forward either aggressively or in acknowledgment of the horn.

  “Again?” Ellen questioned. At a nod from Frank, she let lose another long blast on the horn.

  “I don’t want to go any closer. Right now we’re out of rifle range, not that I expect them to have one…but who knows what some people consider travel gear.”

  He laughed and relieved much of the tension on deck. He sighed and told her, “We’ll give them one more and if they don’t acknowledge us we’ll be on our way. I was really hoping to replenish our water supply.”

  Ellen gave another long blast followed closely by two shorter ones, if that didn’t get their attention then nothing would. They waited and nothing. No movement on deck nor did anyone hail them.

  “Okay, I guess we’re out of here then.” Frank turned the Annie-C away from the ship. Alan and Ellen stood on deck watching the ship for movement.