Adrift

by Trimboli, TJ

  A woman flew right past her into the bathrooms. Dozens will be getting sick tonight. She felt a tug at her shirt.

  A little girl, no older than nine stood next to her. Her hair looked mottled in clumps, her last shower long ago, dirt accumulated on every surface, her face, clothes, fingernails.

  “Are you okay kid? Where’s your parents?”

  “I don’t feel good.”

  “I’m sorry to hear that. Are your parents around, maybe they have something you can take?” Bobbi asked looking around for any sign of parents. No one was in the vicinity.

  “I don’t feel good,” she repeated.

  “Okay, come on. I know somebody who can help.”

  The doctor housed his operation out of the entertainment level since there was no use for such trivial matters anymore. Normally, the sick bay was on the first floor but no one ventured down there anymore since the shops were the first to be raided days after this nightmare began and sat barren as a wasteland, it was simply decided the doctor would take over that floor. It was a smart move on the Captain’s part since every day more and more people took ill. The close confines without constant maintaining had done no favors to everyone’s immune systems. Tonight was no different. It was packed to the brim. Dozens inhabited the floors that had contracted dangerous bacteria and influenza. They had been here for days but a new influx of sea sick passengers had coasted in the past few hours in desperate need of medicine.

  Unfortunately for them, there was very little to spare.

  “Hey Joe,” Bobbi shouted.

  He took notice of her and sat the patient he was with down on the floor against some pillows. He came straight over. Joe was a good man, smart, loyal, and had a massive crush on Bobbi, so she was able to score whatever she needed with no wait or questions asked.

  “To what do I owe the pleasure tonight?” Joe smirked.

  “This is—actually, I don’t know who she is but she doesn’t feel too good. I was hoping you had something you could give her. I think she’s a little sea sick.” Joe knelt down next to the kid.

  Bobbi knew she would never cheat on her husband but when she watched the way Joe was with children, it melted her heart. He was a catch and some lucky girl on this ship was going to reel him in. She tried to push the jealous thought of that out of her mind but it coursed through her like a river.

  “Hey there, princess. What’s wrong? Don’t like the rocking of the boat?” The little girl with the mottled hair shook her head.

  “Make your tummy spin like a roller coaster?” She nodded her head.

  He pulled out a tiny circular patch. She arched back from him at first but his gentle soothing hum lulled her at ease.

  Bobbi pulled the girls hair back letting Joe stick the patch behind her ear.

  “There you go princess. That will make you feel all better,” Joe said contorting his face into a bizarre caricature of himself.

  The little girl got a kick out of that giggling for the first time since Bobbi found her.

  “Where are her parents?” Joe asked.

  Three dirty men from the bowels of the ship strode up. “Excuse me,” the ringleader said.

  “I don’t know,” Bobbi answered Joe while ignoring the men. “When I found her, there were no adults in sight and she looks like she hasn’t seen them in a while. I’m a bit worried.” “Excuse me!” he said a little louder this time.

  “Well, we can grab a few people, and set out a search party—”

  “SHUT THE FUCK UP AND LISTEN!” the ringleader shouted.

  The entire room went as silent as a tomb.

  Bobbi placed her hand on her revolver as she turned to greet them.

  Just like the little girl, their faces and clothes were muddied with dirt and grime. The ringleader was the closest one to her. Short, lanky, missing teeth, it was a wonder this man could ever afford this trip. The man on his left clutched at his stomach in pain. He was obviously sea sick. The goon to his right was short, stocky, with a scar that traversed the left side of his face like a winding road.

  She undid the flap on her revolver. “Is that any way to speak in the presence of children?” She turned to face the kid but the little girl took off for the wall ripping the vent clean off. She ducked inside of it and was gone in the span of a few seconds. Bobbi had no time to wonder how the child was able to rip the vent off as the ring leader was quickly approaching her. “Hold it right there, sir,” she warned stepping back, showing off the hand she had squared firmly on her piece.

  “I’ve done my holding on. I’ve had just about enough of holding on. My brother here is sick and he needs medicine now.”

  “I understand but so are the rest of these people. Now if your brother will kindly take a seat, the doctor will get to him—”

  “NO!” He shouted. “It’s not fair of you. Decide who gets medicine and who waits. You don’t get the right to just take over and make all the decisions. That’s my baby brother and I will do anything to protect him.” He pulled out a handmade shiv. He had whittled down his toothbrush with deadly accuracy.

  “You sure you want to go down this path son?” Bobbi calmly asked. She didn’t want to spook the kid into doing something he would regret but by the look of his eyes, she could tell he was dead set on making it so.

  His brother and other compadre drew their shivs.

  “Laws as good as dead as far as I see it.” He tossed the shiv to his dominant hand preparing himself.

  The other two crept up beside him.

  She could read their play before they even knew they were gonna make it.

  They had only one option. They had to storm her all at once for even the slightest chance to overpower her before she could gun down all three of them. There was about ten feet between them. It would all come down to speed. Sweat glistened down their foreheads.

  Bobbi waited patiently for them to make the first move. Everyone stood on pins and needles. She could feel Joe’s breath right behind her, but she wasn’t sure if she could count on him being any sort of help when they made their move. The ringleader’s muscles tensed and she could see the snap coming. He leapt into motion like a cheetah storming his prey. Bobbi drew her gun.

  Thunder erupted above them and the room plunged into darkness.

  VALENTINA

  She stood at the door waiting for Captain Jenkins to collect his things. She was now his second in command, a job she didn’t plan on taking lightly. She would do everything in her power to see that justice and democracy didn’t fall apart at the seams, not just for her, or the people, in fact she cared very little about them. No, it was for her children, the two most precious things in the world to her. She desperately wanted to be back in her stateroom with them at this very moment, but if she wanted to provide a new, safe, tolerable world for them then she had to get out and get her hands dirty. She wondered how the nanny was faring at this very moment. It took her almost two weeks of vetting the denizens of this ship to find one but it was worth it. She needed to be at ease about her children while she was out tending to the ship.

  “Shall we?” Captain Jenkins uttered snapping her out of her trance.

  They set off for his stateroom on the fourteenth floor. His quarters were situated on the top most level, just before the bridge. They stepped outside to breathe in the air passing through the pool deck to make their way up the steps towards the exterior bridge. The night felt cool but not so cold where one would need a jacket. The day’s warmth still lingered across the ship. Stars streaked across the sky in abundance, illuminating the waters below. Off to the starboard side, they could see storm clouds quickly approaching.

  “It’s going to be a rough night,” Valentina noted.

  “Same shit, different day.” he replied.

  “Do you think they stand a chance?”

  “Who? The escape pod?” He wondered. “As a matter of fact, I do. I’ve sailed these waters for many years. The surrounding islands off the coast of the mainland are mostly touristy attractions,
never many locals except for the ones tending shops and excursions. Find the right one, and it shouldn’t be too difficult to clear out. Then not only do we have a food supply but shelter, latrines and most importantly, space. The confines of this ship aren’t doing anyone any favors.”

  “What do you think is going on right now? Back on land? Do you think there are any survivors?” She wondered, curious to get inside the man’s head. She didn’t trust easily but the Captain had proven his worth tenfold since this ordeal began.

  “I’m not entirely sure. I imagine that if there are any survivors they’re currently in the fight of their lives. We’ve been divided, separated and cut off from the one source that kept us all in tune with each other. Worse so, many people in this world now have never known a life without technology. Never had to rely on their wits, or a compass, or intuition to get them out of a bind. Millions have died, and I’m sure millions more will before this is all over.”

  “And what if it’s never over?”

  “We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it but for now, let me simply start with this one.” He smiled pointing to the bridge he was currently on.

  Valentina smirked. It was a terrible joke but in light of their situation, any humor that could even for a second, take her away from this hell hole was a worthy cause for laughter. “Good night, sir.”

  “Good night, Val.”

  She watched him cross the bridge disappearing into his bunks. Thunder boomed nearby. It had no effect on her. She was never afraid of storms. In fact, she embraced them. The cool drops of rain, the illuminating spark of lightening, the call of thunder. It all excited her. On the deck, lights flickered. She thought nothing of it, that was a nightly experience. She walked to the railing basking in the smell of the oncoming storm. She knew tonight would be rough, she could already feel the ship rocking.

  Many will be sick including myself.

  She wafted one last smell of the briny sea before setting off to be with her children. She had three sea sick patches on her person for herself and her children. All it took was some quick sweet talking to the doc and they were hers. She felt sorry for the young man, easily manipulated. He wasn’t a bad guy, he was just a sucker for a pretty face, one of the thousands of men who melted under the smile of an attractive woman. She put her patch on.

  She stepped into the dining hall making her way to the stairs. The hall was once a thing of beauty turned barren and desolate since the looters swept through. Paintings had been stripped off the wall, all the ficus’ plants destroyed, carpet ripped up. She found it hilarious that even with the end of the world nipping at their heels, people would still resort to stealing what was now worthless trinkets. The boat dipped sideways under the might of the storm. Valentina lost her balance tumbling forward. She gripped the wall but was moving too fast to gain any traction. Her head ricocheted off it, sending her to the floor. She rolled with the swaying of the ship. She heard screams in the distance. She slid to the glass railing catching it in the nick of time. She pulled herself up peering over the ledge.

  It gifted her sight of the floors below all the way down to the entertainment level, the Doc’s spot. People grabbed onto whatever they could to keep from falling over. She could see the Doc grabbing small children leading them into shops to find a safe place to hide. The lights flickered again.

  The boat dipped further this time. Her stomach dropped like she was on the tower of terror at Walt Disney World. She held on for dear life, the end scene from titanic racing through her mind. A man below was not so lucky and she was unfortunate to witness him collide with the railing flipping him right over it. He tried to reach for the ledge but he was too fat to hold himself up. It slipped his grasp and he fell seven floors crashing onto the elevator below. His body contorted in ways it never should.

  She forced herself to look away and saw Bobbi on the entertainment level, hand on her gun with three men slowly approaching her. Thunder boomed and then everything went dark.

  This is not good. My children.

  She waited for the ship to return to its prone position. She darted for the stairs quickly descending them two at a time. It was pitch dark, and the screams made it feel a thousand times worse. She missed a step tumbling down the flight landing with a thud on the ninth floor. She couldn’t see for sure it was indeed her floor but she tracked how many flights down she went in her mind which had to put her around the ninth or eighth floor.

  Get up. Three more flights to go.

  A light emanated up ahead. It was bright, flickering orbs of orange dancing through the hallways.

  A man came into view doused in flames. His screams were deafening. He ran straight towards Val.

  She rolled out of his path as he tore past her and watched as he took a header down the next flight of stairs. The carpet caught and the fire spread in seconds. People were racing down the hallways.

  “HEY!” she shouted.

  Most continued on but a few brave souls stopped.

  “If we don’t put out this fire, this whole ship is gonna go down and we’re all dead. Find whatever water or blankets you can. Anything we can use to put out this fire. GO!”

  The few darted off to complete the task. She looked around for anything she could use. A few potted plants decorated the stairwell. She ripped the plants from their roots grabbing the soil. She dumped it down the stairs over the flames. It managed to put out a very small portion of the fire. A janitorial closet caught her eye in the corner. In it, she found just what she needed, a fire extinguisher. She grabbed it ripping out the pin. A few of the brave souls returned with buckets of water and one even had another fire extinguisher in his grip.

  They tended to the flames.

  Valentina handed off the extinguisher to a man beside her. “I’m going to find more of these. Keep on it. Get to the entertainment level when you’re done.” She raced down the halls to reach the stairwell at the other end of the ship. The further she got away from the flames the darker the hallway became. She was once more entrenched in darkness. She didn’t even hear the woman crying until she tripped over her. “Hello,” she said in pain gripping at her leg that collided into the poor woman’s face. Now she heard the tears. “Are you okay?” Her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

  A figure sat in the middle of the floor sobbing. In front of the figure was another, smaller shape propped up against the wall.

  “Look, it’s not safe to be sitting here in the dark, we need to move. Is your friend okay?”

  “She’s not my friend!” the girl violently shouted. “She’s my girlfriend and no, she’s not okay.” She sobbed.

  Valentina hated to waste the match but if someone was hurt, it was her responsibility to help. She flicked the match against the book lighting up a small circumference area. The woman crying was a beautiful, petite, red head with big bushy eyes, strong freckled cheekbones, and pasty white skin. Her companion was even tinier, with gorgeous curly hair, the bluest eyes she had ever seen, with a soft ebony complexion. She was also bleeding profusely from her skull.

  There was no need to feel for a pulse, her eyes were as lifeless as a lake.

  The match burned to its core burning Val’s fingers. She dropped it but a soft emanating light remained. Behind her, a light approached accompanied by chatter that grew more pronounced by the second. It sounded at first like the thrum of a bass drum but as it approached, she could hear multiples. It was a group and from their inflection, she could tell they were up to no good. They sounded just like the horde’s of zombies on land. Ravenous. “Kid, we need to go. What’s your name?”

  No answer.

  “Look at me,” she shouted.

  The girl slightly turned her head.

  “I’m sorry but your girlfriend is dead and we are going to join her, unless we get moving right now,” Valentina warned.

  The girl gripped her dead lover’s hands refusing to move. Behind her, she could hear the group breaking into rooms, destroying whatever they found. The hallway grew bright
er, they were quickly approaching.

  “Sweetheart. What’s your name?” Valentina asked soothingly.

  “Becky,” the girl finally replied.

  “Becky, look at me. I’m sorry this happened but we need to go now and if you come with me, when this is all over I will personally come back here with you and help tend to your girlfriend but if we don’t go now, none of that is going to matter, we will be—” “HEY!” a voice shouted.

  She turned to see that a young married couple had exited their room. Behind them, stood the mob. They took up the entire hallway and it stretched on as far as her eyes would allow her to see. The leader of the mob held a make shift torch using a leg of a bed post and sheets as the kerosene. His face was lean and worn like an old catcher’s mitt. His hair looked thinned out and slicked back, most likely to hide his ever growing bald spot. He had a tattoo on his throat of the All Seeing Eye, one would find on the back of money. He handed the torch to one of his mates and set upon the couple. He knocked the guy clean out cold with one right hook. He tossed the woman to the herd. She disappeared within the mob. The man looked in her room but quickly caught eye of Val. “I know you.” He shouted. “Lookie hear boys. We got ourselves a judge and she’s got a friend. Young and supple enough for us all to have a go at her.” He said.

  His mob howled like a bunch of jackals.

  “Get her.” He spat.

  Valentina grabbed Becky by the arm tearing her away from her lover. They ran as fast as they could, the men hot on their tails. Ahead of them, the fire still raged. It had been fought down considerably but it still kept anyone from heading down the stairs.

  “Listen, I need you to trust me here. Whatever you do, don’t slow down,” Valentina shouted grabbing onto Becky’s arm. They crested into the hallway, all of her brave souls that fought the fire were gone. Valentina made no efforts to slow down as she approached the fire, in fact, she sped up. Becky screamed as they jumped over the flames. They just managed to crest the flames colliding into the wall opposite them. They tumbled down to the ground. Smoke rippled off of Valentina’s shoes. They looked up to see the mob standing on the other side of the flames.