by Trimboli, TJ
“There’s a first time for everything,” Bobbi replied in a level voice staring directly at Kendra who smiled back at her.
“I will be fine Bobbi. You have more important things to worry about than my safety.” “Like how to dispose of fifty three sick individuals?” she asked ruefully.
“Joe, I believe that’s your area of expertise.” Valentina turned to him.
He looked down at his lap for what felt like ages. He was obviously struggling emotionally with the weight laid upon his shoulders.
So much has been asked of all of us. How do you reply to someone who just asked you the most humane way to take a life? Bobbi let out a heavy sigh.
“I was taught only how to do everything in my power to save a life that was failing, not help it pass to the other side. I’m sure all of you have seen much better tactics than I. But since you ask, working with what we have aboard the ship, the quickest, most humane way would be to slit their throats and be done with it.” Joe said matter-of-factly.
“That seems a bit…intense. Don’t you think?” Richard asked.
“You got a better way?” Joe asked him.
No one said anything. The thought of such a barbaric task was too much to offer a particular way of committing it.
“There’s still all afternoon until the ritual, so we’ll worry about the details of the cleanse later,” Valentina spoke. “For now, it’s enough that we have a course. You three are tasked with the cleanse and I trust in your judgement to come up with the best possible solution in guiding the sick from their pain.”
“Great. If nothing else…” Bobbi said kicking her chair out from under her. She turned to leave.
“There’s still one more order of business at hand Bobbi,” Valentina said.
Bobbi turned back towards the table. “Which is?”
“You know exactly what it is. Where is he?” Valentina said while looking incensed.
She glimpsed at Joe wondering if he spilled the beans of this morning’s wrestling match. He stared at her blankly, giving away no inclination of his actions.
Bobbi took a shot in the dark. “No one’s seen him since he was sprung from his cell. He’s hiding somewhere.”
Valentina said nothing as she closed her eyes rubbing at her temples.
Resting her hand just above the grip of her revolver, Bobbi had no intention of shooting anyone but if she needed to make a quick escape, none of them would be foolish enough to make a move with her gun drawn.
Valentina opened her eyes. “You have everyone on this ship at your disposal now. I want a boat wide search done. There’s only so many places he can be hiding and I want him in my custody by the end of the ritual. I will not let him run wild and ruin all the progress that was accomplished here today, is that understood?”
Bobbi looked at Kendra who sat inattentive chewing at her fingernails. “I will do everything in my power to bring him to justice,” she stated never taking her eyes off of Kendra.
“Excellent. We all have our goals. Now get out there and accomplish them. Dismissed,” Valentina said turning her attention to her journal.
Bobbi marched towards the door cracking her neck in the process. She had no intention of killing anyone tonight, especially sick, defenseless souls that never asked for their ailment. Any one of them could be in that position. She had a goal all right but it had nothing to do with murder. She would save lives tonight, not end any and she was prepared to do everything in her power to achieve it. She slammed the door on her way out leaving the council and its petty politics behind her.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
KENDRA
She watched Bobbi saunter her way to the exit categorically euphoric at the thought of ruining her day.
After all she’s put me through, I will repay her tenfold and then some.
So it begins now, with her manipulation of the queen bee.
Valentina sat putting pen to paper in that silly journal she was always carrying.
Kendra wondered what tidbits and thoughts were contained inside. She salivated at the thought of reading her deepest, darkest thoughts, reserved for just that notebook. She had to read it, she would read it, and use her mind against her to sway her away from Bobbi and into the palm of her hand.
She may be the ruler on this ship but every ruler needs a consigliere and my silver tongue could be just the ink she needs to get what I desire. Kendra cast a wandering eye upon the looseleaf, catching only scattered glimpses of words and phrases. Her handwriting was worse than any doctor she’d ever dealt with but one word cropped up multiple times. A clear sign from GOD if she ever saw one. One perfect infallible word that would let her into Valentina’s psyche.
Children. Clearing her throat, she garnered Valentina’s attention.
“You’re still here?” Valentina wondered aloud.
“I just had a thought Mother—” Kendra began.
“Do not say that word to me!” Valentina cut her off.
“Forgive me. A habit hard to break when it comes to authority figures in my life. It all started when my mother died when I was six. My father had left, I’m sure of it, mere moments after finding out about my imminent arrival. Leaving me and my older sister orphans when Mother passed,” she spoke despondently. She took her time with her story, letting each word spill over in Valentina’s mind.
The woman stared at Kendra, an air of melancholy surrounding her.
Kendra hid her smile but beneath the sorrow in her voice, her exuberance danced with wicked abandon. “The orphanage we were placed in was a horror to behold. It had been ages since money last came in, the furniture old, the carpets musty, mold grew in every drain one could imagine. I grew to depend on my sister in those days. You’ll be shocked to hear that I wasn’t always the Christian I am today. No, my sister could lay that claim. Every day, she would read scripture, study bible verses, attend whatever gospels she could sneak away to and every night while getting me ready for bed she would recite what she learned, instilling in me the values that I hold so dearly today.” She glanced to Valentina throughout her story to see the sadness welling up inside her. “It was during those times that I began to call her Mother and then one day, she was adopted. They had tried for years to sell us as a pair but I wasn’t the clean cut, dutiful child like my sister. I lashed out, threw temper tantrums, I even ran away a few times. Not the model child new parents were looking to take responsibility of. So she was gone and I spent the next sixteen years searching for a new surrogate mother, one after another after another.” No tears dropped but Valentina’s eyes glistened, murky with saline.
Kendra couldn’t openly see it but she knew for certain Valentina was choked up, the proverbial frog stuck in her throat. She is a hard, strong woman but every person has a weakness and I found yours, Mother. “…There were a few here and there. A sister came to the orphanage that was kind to me and would sneak me treats when the other sisters were not looking. I was sad to say goodbye to her when I left. I was never adopted, legally leaving when I was eighteen so I never fully got to experience the splendor of having a mother, you know. You probably don’t understand, a strong, independent woman like yourself.”
Valentina practically vomited the word out, “NO.” She cleared her throat before continuing. “I mean. I understand where you’re coming from. I too, lost my mother at a young age. She committed suicide. I was seventeen.”
“You poor thing,” Kendra spoke placing her hand soothingly upon Val’s.
“My father was a hard man. Stern, stoic, I’m sure deep down inside, I was his angel, but he was not the type of man to wear his affections on his sleeve I believe is the term you American’s use. I don’t think he ever once held me, or gave me a hug. I would get a pat on the head every now and again and if I really did something to please him, he would simply smile and nod in my direction. For my mother, it was even worse. What little affection he showed me, she received even less. They didn’t even sleep together anymore, literally sleep.” Valentina said.
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Kendra sat, eyes widened, enraptured by the story. At least, she kept the saddened expression she was hoping Valentina would construe from her posture.
“My father was a military general high up with the powers that be in Russia during the sixties and seventies. I even met Khrushchev at the time of his reign but I was a little girl at the time. Suffice it to say, my father was not home very often, holed up in whatever secret office the leaders of my country were conspiring to that day. This went on for years and years until one day, my mother had had enough. I came home from school to find her dead on the couch, an empty bottle of vodka and pills adjacent to her final resting place. I’m ashamed to say it took me an hour before I realized something was wrong. At first, I just thought her to just be inebriated. In the later years of her life, she was no stranger to downing a bottle or two and passing out. I just assumed it was just like any other day,” Valentina paused wiping tears from her eyes.
Kendra patted her hand with sympathy.
“…It wasn’t until years later after my father died that I found out why she’d taken to drinking in the first place. I was cleaning out his office when I found a key to a locked drawer I never knew he had. Inside were top secret documents spanning the years he spent with the government and the different missions he spearheaded. Even now, I can’t bring myself to say some of the ghastly stuff he was a part of but under his leadership, hundreds of lives were lost. Some he left to die behind enemy lines, others were subject to countless tests in the advancement of human genomes in hopes of winning the cold war, some lives he took himself, the worst being the life of two children whose sole crime was seeing its government snuff out their father who had sold national secrets to the United States. That happened on August fifth, nineteen eighty five. My tenth birthday. The first time I ever saw my mother take a sip of alcohol.” Valentina finished, exhaling a large gust of air. Then she wiped away tears clearly sniffling.
Kendra had the sneaking suspicion that she was the first person outside of her family to ever hear this tale. She said nothing, no words would suffice. She looked to manipulate this hard woman and received more than she bargained for. She reached out holding Val’s hand.
“That’s why it’s so important to me that this alliance work,” Valentina admitted. “Every life I lose is a reminder of the lives my father lost. I want to be better than he was—I need to be better. My father let three hundred and ninety five people die under his command. I have let a hundred and forty six perish so far. After tonight, that number will be a hundred and ninety nine.
If I lose this ship and everyone on it, that number will be exactly four more than my father’s.
That is not the kind of legacy I intend to leave behind.”
“And we will not let it be. I can’t promise that more lives won’t be lost but I can assure you that with us united, it will be a lot harder to lose one,” Kendra stated smiling.
“Thank you,” Valentina whispered. “You’re welcome, Mother.”
Valentina still flinched at the word.
“I am sorry, the word obviously hurts you and it’s understandable considering what you went through with—your mother. I-I apologize,” Kendra said stumbling over her words.
“No, it’s okay. I’m sorry. It’s not my mother that makes me cringe at the sound of that word.
It’s…” She paused rummaging over her thoughts.
For a moment, Kendra didn’t think she would confide in her, losing her subtle game of manipulation.
“Can I show you something? Something I haven’t shown anyone?” Valentina asked suddenly.
“I would like that very much.” Kendra grinned.
The pawns are down, make way for the queen.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
BOBBI
Bobbi hammered away tooth and nail at the splintered wood perforated against the hull. It had taken the better part of an hour to make any real progress and what little advancement she made had withered her spirits. But it gave her time to think. Thinking long and hard about her next steps was paramount.
The lives of fifty-three—wait, fifty-four people is in your hands. She thought as she mercilessly banged. The thought had yet to occur to her that the answer lay right before her. In all honesty, she didn’t know what dragged her to this spot, maybe the first thought of isolation kicked her feet into gear, dragging her where life needed her to be. Whatever the reason, the monotonous motion of filling in the cracks of the pod eased her mind; helped her think.
I was never good at planning.
All her life, she’d never been this much of a leader, even all her years on the force, she always had a chain of command; someone further up the totem pole to answer to, way up. She never knew a world where there wasn’t more than four men to answer to. Here it was different. She now was the one up the totem pole looking down on men like herself, telling them what to do. She hated it.
I don’t give commands, I take them and I accomplish them.
She had no idea how to formulate a plan, only accomplish others. All her life it’d been the answer to the call, every case, every conviction. She had her orders and she would always execute them.
I need a task, not to sit around and think. Idle hands are the devil’s work and this ship is his boneyard.
With one last heave, the splintered wood was fixed. She grabbed another piece of scrap they had collected and started again.
I should have done this all along, would have finished days before Stuart. The mere mention of his name souring her mood. It made her think of all the lives she’d lost on this ship. She knew every single one of them. Visited their graves personally, made notes, examined them, attended their funeral, watched them sink to the ocean below. Each one dealing a blow to her heart. All the years she spent on the force, she could count on one hand the amount of times she killed someone.
Just once. She put that man out of her mind.
Now wasn’t the time to pour salt on that wound. She wasn’t going to let more names be added tonight. Tonight, she would make sure the sick would live to see another dawn.
She grabbed another piece of wood. There were only three points left where the boat was damaged. The thought flew in one ear and out the other with nary a space between them. She became much too lost in her mind to comprehend she was literally building her answer. The brain was a land of wondrous mystery, a perfect ebb and flow of conflicting and uplifting thoughts and muses. She wondered what Trent would do right now. Regardless of his current state of mind, when they were on the force, he had one of the smartest minds of anyone she knew. If the old adage was a criminal is two steps ahead of you, then he was two steps ahead of them.
I guess you never truly can tell which minds will hold up in an apocalypse.
If this was any other situation back in New York, the first thing he would do if someone’s life was in danger was get them somewhere safe, a safe house, but good luck finding anything like that on this ship. There wasn’t anywhere safe to hide. Just look at Trent. He’s chained up on the first floor of the ship and it’s only a matter of time before they find him.
I can only put it off for so long before the new men come looking for their orders. Time was running out and her thoughts had once again been no help. Bobbi wiped the sweat from her face banging against the hull with agonizing energy. Screaming as she hammered the last nail in, she collapsed on her back panting for air. The sun beat down on her face. It felt intoxicatingly good. She couldn’t remember the last time she just laid back and tanned. She did just that letting the gentle swaying of the escape pod against the gentle swaying of the cruise ship drift her off into a comatose like ecstasy.
With her brain finally turned off, all misery became eradicated from her body, the answer seared into her brain. It was as if a light bulb burned so bright inside her mind, it overpowered exploding the fragments of thought into her brain. She sat upright staring at the newly furnished dingy. She jumped out of it to inspect it, checking for any holes she may have missed
. There were none. She joyously jumped up punching the air with her right hand as if she was Rocky. The edge of the cruise liner stuck out to her. The celebration was short lived. She anxiously ran to the edge looking down below. It was a whopping fourteen stories to the ocean below.
How the fuck am I going to get this down there?
A bird cawed gliding right past her, taking shelter from the sun underneath the davit. She dashed over hoping to find any sort of pulley to use for the escape boat. She was disheartened to see it was mechanical. She shouldn’t have been surprised. Nothing on this ship comes easy— nothing in this world comes easy anymore. The age of the machines rose and fell. So now, she needed to rely on centuries old tactics to ensure their survival.
She raced back to the escape boat ripping off the tarp that concealed it. Beside the pod lay all of Stuart’s tools and supplies that he hoarded since their inception. She felt ecstatic to see his collection of rope and twine was impressive to say the least. He had multiple small threads of twine and the two long ropes that dwindled at the end of the stage in the auditorium. It would be more than enough needed to get the ship down below. But she couldn’t do it alone. She was going to need people to help her lower it to the ground. There was no way she was going to find that.
“Hard at work I still see,” Richard said.
She turned around.
He stood at the head of the pod, caressing the wood with his fingertips. “You did a fine job on this Bobbi.” He marveled.
“Too bad Stuart isn’t here to see it,” she lamented.
“Kendra’s guards are looking for you. They’re waiting for their instructions.” “I know. I just—I needed time to think.” She said sitting against the hull.
“I understand. It’s a hard thing to accept what your husband has become.” He placed his hand upon her shoulder.
She pulled away from it. “I’m talking about the sick. You know, the one’s you’ve condemned to die, or have you already forgotten about it?” She roared.
