by Trimboli, TJ
“Here they are, as promised. Where would you like them to start?” Richard asked.
“Any of you good at tying knots?” she asked.
One of the bald giants raised his meat hook.
“I need the ends of the ropes threaded through the loop on the pulley over there and tied to the opposite railing,” Bobbi explained. “We need to get this boat to safely hang over the railing for tonight. Take your buddy there with you and get to work.” The bald twins collected the rope and went to work.
She turned to the other two. “When they finish, you two will help lift the pod into the air and safely rest it over the side of the ship. Understood?”
They nodded and turned to the bald men watching them work.
Richard walked over to her. “Are you sure about this? There’s no turning back from this
Bobbi.”
“I need to finish up a few things before tonight. Can I trust you to watch over them and see this done?” she asked ignoring his concerns.
Richard sighed knowing full well she’d made up her mind over tonight’s events. “Yes, I will make sure it’s done.”
“Thank you. I’ll return at sunset with Trent and the sick,” she replied as she hustled away.
“Before you go, if I may pass along some advice?” he asked.
Bobbi paused. Now wasn’t the time for poignant lessons and sharply worded wisdoms, there were tasks to be completed but still…she stayed. She owed Richard that much. He’s done a lot for you since this party started. You owe him your ear. Without his advice, you would have never even made it this far. She turned back to him.
“A couple of years ago while I was working at the University of California, I had this student, his name was Charlie. He was a very smart kid with a bright future ahead of him. His only downside was his temper. He had a very short fuse and I often found the kid lashing out at the tiniest little things.” Richard broke out in an uneasy laugh. “The lashing he gave me one time over a ninety on his test, boy let me tell you.” The choppy laugh subsided into a sense of foreboding. He dabbed the sweat out of his eyes and continued. “He had this girlfriend, I forget what her name was, but she was a beautiful young woman. Smart like him, popular unlike him. Everyone loved her and she got along with most everyone, something that consistently got under Charlie’s skin. He didn’t make friends as easily as she did. Where she was humble and gracious, he was jealous and egotistical…” Richard sighed as he shook his head.
Bobbi wondered where the hell this was going as she stood still.
“…He came to me very troubled one day over her. You see, she had a childhood friend that also went to this school that she was very close with, and this friend was a man. It took many, many, many private talks with Charlie to keep his jealousy intact over their friendship but one day, he came to me and could no longer take it. He told me that he suspected, no, that he knew that she was cheating on him with her childhood friend. I asked him how he knew for sure and he told me that a friend of his told him, a Mr. John Baker. It was written all over her forehead he told me. She was spending less and less time with Charlie, evading him to sneak off with her childhood friend. He told me that he even caught them sneaking into her father’s office one day. I told him that he needed to talk only to her about this matter and get to the bottom of it. To ask her flat out if she was in fact sleeping around behind his back. He told me he would do just that and before he left he told me that he didn’t think he could live without her, and then he left. That was the last time I saw Charlie alive. Later that night, he stole his father’s carbine rifle, found his girlfriend and her friend and shot the man right between the eyes and then minutes later killed himself in front of his girlfriend.”
“And how does any of this help me here Richard?” she wondered aloud.
“What Charlie didn’t know and would have found out if he had taken my advice was that the reason she was sneaking around behind his back with her friend was because she was sick. She had contracted ovarian cancer and was too afraid to bring it up to Charlie because of his temper. She didn’t know how he would react, so she hid it from him, confiding in her closest friend, who in turn was taking her to all her doctor’s appointments. The same one’s Charlie claimed he saw them sneaking around for. He put his faith and his trust in the wrong people and because of it, people died. Everyone has their own agenda on this planet Bobbi. Mr. John Baker sure did. He passed along a couple of white lies to Charlie just to see where it would lead his fragile mind and he killed a man and himself, then twelve months later when Charlie’s girlfriend was cancer free and just finally ready to move onto another relationship, there was John Baker, flowers and all, to make her feel special again. They got married out of college and I imagine were together until the epidemic hit. But my point is that everyone on this ship has machinations of some kind. Most are good, but some…some are in it for themselves. Some are in it for power and some are in it to finish off what the land started. So be careful who you put your trust in, especially your own mind.” He said turning back to the men at work.
Bobbi stood there wavering for control. His words filled her mind, racing around uncontrollably. She felt top heavy. In two minutes, he managed to have her questioning everything she was doing on this ship. Had she put her trust in the right people? Could she even trust her own mind at this point? She took a deep breath pushing out every word he spoke. She needed to stand resolute, be firm in her decision that her faith in herself wasn’t misplaced. “How do you know you’ve made the right decision trusting in me?” she yelled to him.
He turned back to her smiling. “I’ve been preparing for an event like this my entire life. I’ve studied sociology since I first read, The Course in Positive Philosophy as a boy. I know people. I know liars when I see them and I see the good in people even when they don’t see it in themselves. That’s how I know I haven’t misplaced my trust.” With that, he turned his back on her, howling after the men to put their backs into it and get the job done.
She took that as her cue to leave and made her way for the kitchen. Along the way, she noticed a shift in the dynamic of the citizens of the ship. Where once she would pass these empty halls, they now bustled with people.
Word of the alliance must have spread fast.
A shaved follower of Kendra sat with a gifted in a tense game of chess, children ran down the halls giggling, chasing after one another. A group of women scrubbed at the dirt and grime on the walls doing their best to tidy up the hallway. She made her way down a floor to see the doors to the mess hall had been locked.
Well, that’s new.
Valentina and Kendra had been very busy the past few hours. She tugged on the lock. There would be no chance of entering here. She peered in through the porthole looking around the mess hall. The surrounding wall of the room was made entirely of glass giving her an idea. She walked around the corridor passing through the sliding doors to the pool deck.
Blocking her access to the walkway was a bathroom.
“Shit,” she muttered.
It became apparent to her now that the walkway surrounding the mess hall was for employees only and it would take time she didn’t have to locate it. She walked to the railing, peering past the bathroom to get a lay of the land. The railing ran along the side of the bathroom, all the way to the walkway. An idea coursed through her brain. A terribly dangerous idea. She felt the rail judging if it were just wide enough for her feet to rest on it.
“There’s only one way to find out.”
Grabbing at the top ledge of the bathroom, she hoisted herself up. She stepped up onto the railing just barely fitting her feet. She peered off the ledge at the ocean below. It was a long way down to the bottom. Far enough to think three times over the mistakes you’ve made on the way to your grave. She forced herself to look away, looking only at the destination. Judging with her eyes, it was ten steps to the other side.
Ten steps to success.
She took a deep breath and took her first step
.
She peered along the top ledge of the bathroom to see a pipe ran across. She grabbed it to use as leverage. It was shoddy and rusted but as long as she didn’t make any erratic movements, the pipe would hold.
She took her second step.
Leaving the safety of the pool deck, the wind kicked up, doing its best to push her off the ledge. She latched herself against the bathroom wall, holding onto the pipe for dear life. Her palms were damp making it damn near impossible to get a good grip. The corrosive nature of the pipe scratched at her fingertips. She ignored the pain focusing only on the task at hand.
Eight more steps to go.
She took her third step and then her fourth. So far, so good.
Her fifth step was a breeze as was the sixth. She found herself in a rhythm and pushed ahead quickly to finish the task. The thought made her sloppy and as she took her seventh step, her shoe slipped on the rail sliding off. She grabbed the pipe as best she could as her feet fell from the rail. The pipe couldn’t handle the pressure and broke free from its placement. It fell outward pushing Bobbi away from the railing dangling her over the ocean below. She screamed but no one came to her rescue. The small piece of pipe that remained connected to the bathroom started to bend, ripping itself free. She dipped a few inches. Her stomach lurched. She looked at the railing beside her, terrified to release a hand from the pipe in an attempt to reach the ledge. She looked at the edge of the pipe seeing she had a minute, maybe less before it tore itself free and she fell to the ocean below.
It’s now or never Bobbi. Reach out or die!
She reached for the ledge and the pipe tore free from the wall. She fell latching onto the ledge beside her. She gripped it as hard as she could wrapping her legs against the rail for better leverage. Then arched her head back to see the pipe fall to the water below. She gasped for breath. Slowly, she crawled like a sloth on a tree branch towards the walkway. She passed the bathroom reaching the walkway. She threw herself over the railing, landing with a thud on the floor of the walkway. She caught her breath, laughing to herself at the absurdity of what she just attempted.
Bobbi stood up facing the back of the bathroom shocked to discover a door situated there.
You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.
Pulling on the door, it opened with ease, to discover all she had to do was enter the bathroom and she would have avoided that near death experience. “That’ll teach me,” she said jokingly. She slammed the door shut. Looking in through the windows, she could see the room where they stored the rations. She took a step back, searching the walkway for any kind of object she could use to shatter the window. The path looked barren. She put her hands on her hips in despair only to gleefully feel her hatchet at her side. She pulled it from its holster kissing it. She arched her arm back and as smoothly as a Native America had a hundred years ago, she sent the hatchet flying into the window. The blade struck it perfectly, however it did not shatter. Instead, it cracked only a small surface area around the hatchet. She stared at it in dismay. “Today is not my day.”
Grabbing the hatchet, she kept trying to pry it free from its placement but it did not budge. It was thoroughly stuck in the window. She latched onto the handle with both hands pulling as hard as she could. Cracks in the window stretched across the length of the window slowly giving way to the stress of the fracture. With one last heave, Bobbi pulled the hatchet out as if she was pulling sword from stone. The window caved in, and shattered. She lost her balance falling through the hole, landing on the glass below her. She rolled herself off the debris picking away at the small fragments of glass cutting at her skin. As she stood up, she heard the jangling of keys approaching. She peered at the entrance doors, through the porthole, to see figures approaching.
“Just my fucking luck!” She ran towards the center counters dipping underneath them for cover. She heard the lock come undone and the chain rattle free from the handles.
The door opened and in walked Valentina trailed by Kendra and a passenger, she was unfamiliar with. She was a small, older woman, hair grayed, thick rimmed glasses, with a slight limp in her step. She held a clipboard and paper in her hand.
Bobbi knew immediately her role to play. Didn’t take long for them to replace Becky.
Luckily, they were, so far, unaware of the shattered glass. They walked towards Bobbi.
She sank backwards sliding down the length of the counters away from the storage room they were headed toward.
“And this Doris, is where we keep the food. Every day, at this time, before lunch, you are to take stock of the rations,” Valentina instructed. “You do this now and at night, so we can be aware immediately, if someone is pilfering from the stash.”
“Understood,” Doris replied. She may be old but her voice was unwavering and she seemed to be more full of life than any of the rest of them.
“Prepare yourself for what you are about to see Doris,” Kendra spoke. “You are a strong woman and we need you to continue to be in front of these passengers. You are about to see how close we are to starvation and terrifying thought it may be, we need you—”
“Say no more Miss. I am no stranger to the hardships of the times. I have lived through too much and survived it all to be dismayed by a perceived lack of food.” She said showing off her arm for them to see.
Bobbi could barely make out the tattoo on her forearm but she didn’t have to, she knew its significance.
Valentina said nothing as well. She strode to the door unlocking it. Pushing the door open, she turned back to Doris. “We will be sitting right over there if you need us.”
“Thank you. You have given this old woman a purpose again and I won’t forget it,” she said lovingly before disappearing into the room.
Valentina and Kendra took a seat in the back of the room. From where they sat, the counter blocked the shattered window but it was only a temporary respite. Sooner rather than later, they would feel the breeze and they would investigate.
She didn’t have much time. She slid along the edge of the counter towards the storage room. She could hear Doris rummaging around inside. She sat back against the oven ruminating over a plan of attack when she heard her name come up in Valentina’s conversation.
“If you trust her than I shall as well Mother, it’s just…I fear that after all she and I have been through that she may never give me the chance to prove how mistaken she was about me,” Kendra lamented.
“Bobbi is a headstrong one, I will give you that, but you just have to give her time,” Valentina replied. “She is a huge asset to us even with all the emotional baggage she carries with her all the time but that’s to be expected when you’ve suffered the life she has.”
Bobbi slid away from the storage room towards the end of the counter for a better position to eavesdrop.
“She was a New York City Police officer for five years. They are trained to distrust anyone and everyone who isn’t one of them. It’s in their nature, it’s what keeps them alive. It’s what has kept her alive on this ship that’s for sure. You were a perceived threat to her safety, it was only natural you two would butt heads, but she’ll come around.”
“I hope so Mother,” Kendra said. “The last thing I want is to be framed again, for any of the atrocities that’s happened on this ship.” “You won’t,” she replied.
“How can you be sure? She’s done it once before and she obviously has it in for me. What’s to stop her from doing it again?”
“Because this time you have me,” Valentina said matter of factly.
Bobbi scoffed. She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She hadn’t been gone more than a couple of hours and already, Kendra had brainwashed her way into the most important person on their council. Time was quickly fading from her and she had to get these sick off this ship pronto before the newfound two woman power trip saw fit to take matters into their own hands.
“I guess I can’t really blame her. If I were in her shoes, it would be really hard for me to hear that my si
ster was a murderer. I’d probably do the same thing, try and pin it on someone else,” Kendra said.
“I don’t think she purposely tried to pin it on you,” Valentina explained. “I think she honestly believes that Trent is innocent. I know that if someone tried to tell me that my son or daughter was killing people, I would have an impossible time rationalizing that. Her mind is fragile. She was trained her entire life to only trust other cops, only to have the one cop she could rely on here, turn to a murderer. She doesn’t know whom to trust. Chances are, she doesn’t trust any of us.”
Bobbi refused to listen any further. Wiping away the tear at her eye, she slid her way back towards the storage room.
Doris walked out leaving a clear sight between her and Bobbi.
Bobbi ducked to the side into a broken cabinet. She held her breath, afraid even the tiniest mummer of her heart beat would give her away.
“Do you mind if I go to the bathroom quickly?” Doris asked.
“Be quick about it,” Kendra replied. “We have a lot to do.”
Bobbi listened, as Doris’ footsteps got quieter and quieter. When she could hear them no more, she slowly arched her head out from the cabinet. The space was clear. She crawled her way into the storage room. It was dank and reeked of the fish that was once stored here. She stood up dusting herself off, looking around for what she could take. She was shocked to discover there were simply five cans of beans left on the shelves and nothing more. She stared at them in horror.
This is SO not good.
She stood at the beans facing the hard decision she would have to make. Whichever way I cut it, one group of people will starve. Either I take it for the sick and the healthy starve, or I give the sick nothing and they starve out on the ocean in the hot sun.
