Bug Island

by R. G. Cordiner

  "I can see that," he countered, "but I'm going to help you up anyway, ma'am. That was a nasty fall you just had."

  "I've had worse," she smiled.

  "That was a massive jolt we just had and we seem to have stopped moving. It's almost as if we have run aground," he snorted, "which is impossible. I notice that they carefully avoid ever telling us what is really going on. Don’t want to cause panic! By my reckoning we are still quite a fair way from South America though ... I have an uneasy feeling about all of this."

  "Well, thank you Sergeant for making me feel better. I was beginning to get worried for a moment there," Mary smirked.

  ...

  The fog had begun to creep down the corridors, its tendrils twisting and weaving as it made its way through the ship. It was no match though for the lightning pace at which worry and sheer panic was rippling around the decks like the shockwaves from a nuclear blast. Granted, there were some that simply stood outside peering into the fog, as if it were to suddenly clear and reveal the answers, but the rest of the passengers were running and shouting aimlessly. The crew tried in vain to calm them down - a task made even harder by the fact that they themselves were gripped by fear.

  First Officer Henry knew this and was concerned. He was particularly worried because the Captain was clearly injured and unable to fully exercise her duties with that nasty knock. This meant that he was in charge. It was this that bothered him most. It wasn't that he hadn't dreamt of being the Captain and worked hard throughout his career to get there, it was just that he had only envisaged the happier parts. The last thing he had wanted was to be Captain during an emergency and not really know what to do.

  Obviously Henry's job would have been made a little easier had he been in possession of all the facts. Since all the instruments were not working properly, he had no way of knowing that they were actually only a few miles offshore from an island ... stuck on a reef .... surrounded by underwater mines. Of course, had he known all of this, he still may not have been able to prevent what was to come.

  CRRRK

  The sound echoed through the cruise ship as the engines slowly dragged its ponderous bulk backwards.

  ...

  “What was that?” Sarah Margin had temporarily quit her temper tantrum and was frantically looking out the cabin window, hoping to see something in the fog.

  “Look, Sarah, I don’t know what you’re worried about.” Mark put his hands on his hips. “I’m sure that everything will be fine. You heard the announcement. Let’s just try and stay calm.”

  “But there’s nothing on TV!” Sarah pouted.

  Mark sighed. He looked at his watch. Two minutes was all it took before his daughter was back to her normal complaining self. A part of him almost wished that everything wasn’t fine so that at least he could have a break from all of the incessant whining.

  Tracy sat on the bed with John. She looked across at him as he replaced his headphones and retreated back into his electronic world. How she wished she could join him.

  ...

  In the penthouse suite Countess Davina von Snott was annoyed. She resented the fact that, having just endured a completely embarrassing dinner with her daughter, she was now forced to stay in her cabin with her.

  “Mum, I’m bored. There’s no action. Can’t I duck out and have another go on the zip line? That was SO much fun!” Fiona was bouncing around the room as if she had just had a coffee overdose.

  The Countess was getting a headache from just watching her daughter, so she was severely tempted to just open the door and let her daughter go wild. However the faint glimmer of her maternal instincts flickered back into life.

  “Look I’m sure you will be able to use all of the facilities shortly my dear. Why don’t you just have a seat?”

  Fiona went out onto the balcony. “It’d be much cooler to jump off,” she suggested with a grin.

  “Fiona dear, be sensible. Who in their right mind would jump from this height?”

  However the Countess might have jumped off herself had she known that she only had three minutes left to live. Of course she might also not have chosen to walk away from her daughter at that moment, quietly cursing her.

  Had either Fiona or the Countess actually jumped at that point in time and survived the impact of the water, they would have been shocked at what they found.

  ...

  The mine had been sitting quietly under the water ever since it had been carefully placed there forty years ago. Whilst some of the other mines surrounding the island had been triggered years earlier, this one had, so far, been undisturbed.

  Until now.

  ...

  The giant cruise ship continued to slowly reverse and turn in a smooth, sweeping motion.

  The beads of sweat slowly trickled down Henry’s brow. The First Officer was still nervous although he didn’t know why.

  Captain Paula Young was feeling slightly better so she gradually got out of her seat and, clutching the blood stained cloth to her head, she made her way over to Henry.

  “Look,” she began, “I think that you are doing …”

  It was a sentence she never finished.

  PRRRROOOOSSHHH!!!

  The cruise ship bumped the mine.

  BBCHHOOOO!!

  The sixty diesel engines were obliterated as the fuel ignited.

  As its innards were destroyed and splayed all over the ocean, the ship rose into the air in two sections.

  For the passengers located in the centre of the ship there was no warning, no time, nothing. The enormous explosion simply destroyed everything in its path.

  A jumbled mess of metal, plastic, clothes and people lay floating across the sea.

  The two ends of the ship quickly sank into the large underwater crater that the explosion had created.

  And as quick as that, a living, breathing, floating city was no more.

  Chapter 5:

  A New Itinerary

  Silence.

  The jagged piece of metal was lightly caressed by the waves as it rocked back and forth in time with the water. Suddenly it was pushed further onto the shore where it sat exposed as the large wave retreated. The piece of metal came to rest against a shoe. The shoe was attached to a foot. That is where the connections stopped however because unfortunately the foot was not attached to anything else. It lay in the sun as a grisly reminder, just out of reach of the waves.

  “UUUNGH”

  Henry groaned. He kept his eyes closed as his body slowly registered the pain he was in. It was a lot.

  His eyes flickered. The light was murky. He squinted. He seemed to be lying on a beach. Henry couldn’t tell how far it stretched because the fog obscured the distance. He looked past the waves and could see a lot of debris floating in the water. He turned back, grimacing at the twinges of pain as his body fought him, and his eyes panned across the shoreline. He winced, not in pain this time, but at the sight before him.

  The shoreline resembled a large dump. The smell of oil, mixed with rotting flesh, rose up and snuck into his nostrils, forcing him to choke back an urge to vomit. He glanced behind him and could just make out a few tree branches poking out from the murk of the fog like dismembered hands.

  Henry groaned as he used his elbows to help him to stand … and promptly fell back down as a wave of dizziness and pain hit him. He tried again, more slowly this time, and gradually he stood upright. He swayed a little and regained his composure.

  Henry stepped over a scorched suitcase and tentatively made his way down the beach. He looked behind him and suddenly realised that the trail of blood was actually his! Bending down, he ripped the shirt off of the lifeless body of the nearest corpse, and used it to bandage his upper arm. Henry shook his head. How could he not have noticed that his arm was bleeding? He was still feeling disorientated as he continued his depressing trudge down the beach.

  There were belongings and parts of the ship strewn everywhere - plastic cups, smashed light bulbs, half a wine bottle, a red shoe, a
tooth ...

  “UGGH”

  Henry froze. His head snapped around. He looked down. His foot was still on the arm of the body he had accidentally trodden on.

  “UGGH!”

  Henry jumped back in alarm. It was alive! He bent down, ignoring the pain in his knees and, fearing the worst, rolled the body over.

  It was a woman. Her eyes were still closed and, apart from her torn clothing and face, she seemed to be alright. Henry wasn’t sure though.

  “Oh, my head,” she sputtered as her eyes opened. “Who are you? What ... What happened?”

  Henry tried to smile but his face was hurting. “I’m the First Officer ma’am. To be honest I have no idea what happened. I mean, I know that the ship exploded, that’s for sure. But I don’t have a clue why, let alone where we are. This seems to be an island – but there are no islands this far off the coast of South America. But it doesn’t matter. Are you ok? Do you hurt anywhere? Well, more than elsewhere I guess?”

  The woman grimaced, “My name is Tracy Margin. I was a passenger on board the ship. I don’t remember much … I …” she frowned, “I was in our cabin and then … I don’t know…” She looked up with wide eyes at Henry. “My family! Where? What..” She tried to get up but Henry stopped her.

  “Look,” he said gently, “you’re the first person I’ve found alive.” Noticing her expression he hastily added, “But we will look for your family. Now are you hurt?”

  “Nothing that will stop me.” She frowned and then groaned as she forced her way up. Henry helped her to stand and then she gasped as she saw the destruction lying across the beach.

  “Oh no...!” Tears started rolling down her cheeks.

  Tracy started running and stumbling out into the waves. Henry followed her and grabbed her. She tried to pull free.

  "But my kids could be out there!" She pleaded, with her arm reaching out towards the debris floating in the ocean.

  Henry looked at her. "Tracy ... Tracy!" She turned to look at him. "If they are out there then there is nothing we can do for them - we have to hope that they are here and start looking for them. We have to get moving and look for survivors. Let alone the fact that we are going to have to start thinking about how to survive ourselves – food, water, shelter.”

  Tracy blinked as she refocused on the situation they were in.

  “You’re right,” she said, “We’ve got to get moving.”

  The two bedraggled survivors hobbled along the beach, pausing occasionally to conduct the gruesome task of prodding bodies to check if they were alive, whilst trying to avoid looking at the other bits and pieces lying around.

  ...

  Unbeknownst to them, Tracy and Henry were not the sole survivors. Further down the beach, obscured by the fog, Sergeant Wayne Alter had already awoken. He had quickly assessed the situation and improvised a tourniquet around the piece of metal that was protruding from his side. Despite his injuries and the seemingly bleak situation in which he found himself, Wayne was invigorated. Here was a challenge!

  CRRK!

  Wayne stopped examining the bodies for survivors and looked up. The sound came from the trees that he could barely glimpse through the fog. He got up and headed towards the forest.

  ...

  Mary had been alive for 67 years. She had certainly faced some devastating things in her time, the death of her son came to mind for one, but this was on a whole other scale altogether. Upon opening her eyes she immediately regretted it. Mary felt sick to her stomach at the image that now felt seared into her brain. The death, the devastation! Tears rolled down her cheeks as she sat on the beach.

  "Help!" the voice was faint and indistinct. Mary stopped crying and cocked her head to one side, struggling to hear. Was it her imagination?

  "Help!" She definitely heard it. Her eyes, which were never good at the best of times, strained to make out anything in the fog.

  Slowly Mary forced herself to get up and, regaining her composure, she headed down the beach towards the sound.

  ...

  "HELP!"

  "HELP!"

  Fiona von Snott was screaming as loud as she could but ... nothing. How long should she yell for? She peered into the fog where more shapes seemed to form and disappear.

  "Will you shut up already! I'm getting a headache!"

  Fiona sighed and turned back.

  "Look ... what's your name again?"

  "Sarah," she mumbled whilst pouting, which was quite an accomplishment in itself.

  "Sarah," Fiona continued, "we both have just survived our cruise ship blowing up. We are stuck on some beach somewhere underneath this giant couch. Surely you could help me by calling for help or having another go trying to lift it?"

  Sarah glared. She tried to turn her body to see Fiona but the large couch had trapped her in such a way that movement was almost impossible. She was uncomfortable, in pain and in a foul temper.

  For Fiona however, the couch was currently lying across her waist and so she was not so badly encumbered. Of course this did little to help Sarah's temper.

  "I am SO annoyed," she whined.

  You're not the only one, Fiona thought to herself.

  "Why did this happen to me?" Sarah's temper had gone past mildly irritated and was approaching severely annoyed at a blistering pace with no sign of a brake. "I mean, seriously. How do they crash a cruise ship? It's ridiculous. What am I supposed to do now? I was supposed to be doing a gymnastics tournament when we got to port, but now? Huh. Now, I'm stuck on some stupid island under a stupid couch."

  'I don't know which is worse, being stuck under this couch or listening to her selfish whining' Fiona mused. "HELP!" She screamed again.

  "Hey, shut up!"

  "Don't tell me to...," Fiona began.

  "I'm serious, I hear footsteps," Sarah insisted.

  Sure enough there was the crunching sound of someone running along the sand.

  ...

  Tracy and Henry were continuing their trudge down the beach - each step harder than the next as the futility of their quest for survivors became more of a burden. Henry was amazed at the unusual things they kept seeing - toilet seats, a rubber duck, a sandwich in a plastic wrapper, even a deck chair just sitting out on the beach. But he kept looking across at Tracy and he could see her mounting distress at the bodies, blood and body bits that were strewn over the beach so eventually he stopped.

  "Look Tracy perhaps we should start walking inland and think about shelter."

  She ignored him and kept walking.

  "Tracy!"

  As if coming out of a trance, she looked up with a dazed expression, "Huh?"

  "I was just saying perhaps we should go inland and look for shelter and maybe food. We could be here a while," Henry suggested.

  Tracy frowned.

  "No. No - we must keep looking."

  Henry walked over to her and put his hands on her shoulders. She averted her eyes.

  "Tracy. Look, we have been walking for ages and we haven't seen anyone who is... ok. So..."

  "Look," she glared at him, "I know what you are going to say. And it makes sense. But there is still the chance that the next person we see might be fine. If we go inland we mightn't ever find them."

  Henry sighed. "I'm aware of that. But maybe we could do with a break from all ... this. The fog doesn't seem to be lifting and it will be getting dark eventually. I guess we can't sleep out here so perhaps we should have a look inland."

  Tracy folded her arms.

  "Just for a little while - grab some things that might help us and then come back." Henry hastily added.

  "You've been grabbing things as we go anyway - what could possibly be in there that could help us?"

  "Well it can't be any worse than here," Henry replied

  ...

  The brightly coloured bird swooped down lower. It could see the bug as clear as day. It opened its beak wide in anticipation of a fast food snack. The bug saw the shadow and ...

  GLMP

&n
bsp; ... the bird swallowed it one gulp. It continued to flit through the undergrowth, easily navigating its way through the fog. The bird felt full and flew a little lower to unload the remains of the previous day's meal.

  SPPLTT

  Sergeant Wayne Alter, wiped the white muck off his face and silently cursed his luck. He was now getting a little over it. Initially, about twenty minutes ago, he had felt very enthusiastic about everything. Sure, he felt bad that a lot of people had died. But in his experience death happens. It's how you deal with it that counts. So Wayne had quickly regained his composure and was looking forward to exploring the island. But there was a lot of fog, a lot of jungle, some annoying mosquitoes and now that blasted bird.

  He sighed. So much for an adventure.

  But then he looked ahead in the direction the bird had flown and he stopped in his tracks.

  Wayne stared in disbelief.

  ...

  Mary's body ached as she ran. She could have sworn she heard the voice call again. She paused on the beach. Immediately in front of her was a shattered TV, some bits of metal, and ... a finger. To her left was a large couch with two pairs of legs under it. To her right ...

  ... "Can you stop with the yelling?"

  Mary paused - the voice seemed to come from the couch. She dashed around to the other side and saw two girls wedged uncomfortably. One had red hair and freckles and the other had a foul expression on her face.

  "Who on earth are you?" Sarah snapped.

  "Don't mind her - she's Sarah and yes she's been like that the whole time. I'm Fiona - look is there any chance you can help us get out from under here please?"

  "Mary's my name. And I have a teenager who's very similar." She bent down and grunted as she attempted to move the heavy furniture.

  Both girls and Mary wriggled, pushed, slid and groaned and gradually the couch began to reluctantly move.