by Trimboli, TJ
He fell onto his back momentarily dazed. Then he recovered quickly, connecting his boot into her face shattering her nose.
She fell to the floor losing all feeling in her face. Stars danced around her head like an old Acme cartoon. Blackness set in around one eye, and she could feel it swelling up. She pushed the pain out of her mind, letting the adrenaline carry her.
The guard had retrieved the knife bum rushing her.
Grabbing the hand the blade was in, she bent his wrist counter clockwise. The man squealed in pain. He was big and burly but had next to zero training in combat exercises where Bobbi had too many to count. She let instinct take over. She lay her palm flat punching into the man’s elbow. Bone crunched, bending in ways it was never supposed to, leaving him with a compound fracture.
The knife fell from his hand and he fell over crying in agony. Upon sight of the bone protruding through his skin, the man passed out.
Bobbi collected her hatchet and their weapons handing one of the blades to Xao.
He refused it.
“They will try to kill you Xao.”
“Then I will die. I made my choice a long time ago to never harm another living soul, even at the expense of my own.”
She didn’t force the issue, there was too much to be done in too short a time to truly care. Besides, he would be locked away in a room safe from all the excitement. They continued up the steps until they made it to the bridge. The Captain’s quarters were to the left just before the door to the bridge. She threw the key in the lock turning it to the right, listening as the lock gave way, and the door pushed open.
Inside, Captain Jenkins hung by a noose. His body had decomposed so badly, only his uniform could identify him.
Vomit raced up her throat. She turned away swallowing it down.
Xao strode past her, ignoring the body completely while heading for the tiny alcove above the man’s desk. There, resided manuals upon manuals of the ships components and hardware. He rifled through each one.
The rotting stench of death hit her like a tidal wave. She held her breath as she reached for the note pinned to his lapel. She unfolded it.
I WILL EAT YOU ALIVE.
Bobbi shook her head as she remembered Trent saying this very thing about being eaten alive. She shook the thought away as coincidence and cut the Captain’s noose, dropping the body to the ground. He landed with a sickening thud of stiff bones and joints. She wrapped the man in a lone white bed sheet covering him.
“Here we go,” Xao said as he pulled out a manual on the ship’s engine room.
Flipping through the pages, she could make out certain pictures and diagrams of large combustible engines, nine of them to be exact, lined in a neat row, one after the other. They were massive. They were nothing like she expected. The only time in her life, she’d ever even seen an engine was in the movies, Titanic to be more exact but she suddenly found herself feeling stupid to think that an engine from a ship over seventy years ago would still be the same. On the diagram was a picture of a full grown man to give the engines scale. Even if the man was over six feet, the engines still towered over him. Skimming the writing above the diagram, she was unable to make heads or tail of the nautical mumbo jumbo stenciled in. “Please tell me you understand this?” she asked, unsure if their plan had any traction left.
“Some, not much,” he surmised. “I am a sailor, not an engineer. I can steer a ship no problem but what makes it work, not so good.”
“Shit.”
They continued reading through pages hoping to catch a glimpse of anything useful. They flipped through diagram after diagram of the different systems in place, how they functioned properly, and worked in unison with each other to keep this ocean liner in perfect working condition. The further through the manual they got, the worse she felt. She’d promised these people this would work. They were counting on her, and she was about to let them down.
Story of your life.
They skimmed the rest of the book when one page leapt out at her. She didn’t know what made her turn back to it but when she did, she smiled. At the top of the page was a written failsafe. Something she’d become used to seeing on the force, a protocol one would initiate when all other options were either unavailable or had failed, hence the name. She skimmed through the page and found what she’d been after, towards the bottom section. A diagram of a huge panel located just behind the rows of enormous engines….The Operating Table, the diagram called it. There were hundreds of buttons and lever’s scattered across the board in all different shapes, sizes, and colors. It reminded her of the control board in the film Inside Out that she’d taken her niece to see. It pained her how while she’d been so preoccupied on this ship, she never once thought about her family back home and their safety.
Don’t let them cloud your judgement now. Focus.
Instructional text had been typed just above the diagram.
The jackpot of all jackpots.
“In the emergency event of power failure, follow this procedure to convert power from the back-up generators to restart the systems and reinstall power back to the engines, appliances, and other electronics housed on board. This is it Xao!” She jumped for joy.
Her excitement was short lived. A hand spun her around latching onto her throat squeezing it like a lemon. She gasped for air hitting at the bulbous arm choking the life out of her. The girth of the man’s arm was massive, connected to the largest man she’d ever seen in her life.
He weighed at least three hundred pounds, round-shaped like the boulder that chased Indiana Jones. He wore thick rimmed glasses, disheveled brown hair, a neck beard that would leave most Brooklyn hipsters envious, and eyes full of hate. He lifted her off the ground.
Her vision blurred, sound muffling. She could feel her lungs contracting for breath that wasn’t there. She was helpless, and could only watch while the man used his other arm to make quick work of Xao.
One back handed forearm to the poor old man crumbled him like origami. He made no move to try a second time.
“You are trying to ruin everything!” the boulder exclaimed, his voice crackling under the stress. “Kendra is trying to make this world, what’s left of it, a better place. Why can’t you see that? Why do you want to ruin that? She’s going to save us, but she can’t do that with infidels running amok.” He squeezed his hand as tight as his sausage fingers would let him.
Bobbi could feel the capillaries in her eyes burst. She cried out but no sound emanated from her mouth. Her vision grew dark, the boulder disappearing from sight, the rush of the night enveloped her.
Then she took a huge breath of air.
She gagged, coughed, and gasped as her eye sight slowly returned to her. She could see.
Xao lay next to her in the same spot he’d been knocked out in. In front of her, the boulder lay face first on the floor, a knife lodged in his spine.
Her neck swelled, pain sequencing the five tips where the man gripped her throat.
She now noticed the little girl standing at the door. The same one that saved her in the stock room, the same one who gave her the Captain’s keys and now the same one who once again, saved her life.
The girl peered down the hallway.
A second later, Bobbi heard it too.
Voices.
She scrambled over to the door, pulling the girl inside. She quickly yet softly closed the door. Moments later, she heard the voices approach.
They stopped just outside the door. “Hurry up, check it all. Kendra wants this ship searched completely during her speech. If we don’t have that bitches head on a silver platter for her by the end of the night, it’s all our asses.”
She reached down at the door gently locking it. The metallic latching of the lock rung out in her ears like a defense alarm signaling approaching doom. She prayed the voices didn’t hear it.
Her hopes faded as she saw the door handle jiggle uncontrollably like gelatin.
Thankfully for her, one of the men opposite her wasn
’t as dumb as the rest. “Forget that one fool. That’s the Captain’s room. No one’s been able to get in there since the night riot.” The jiggling ceased and moments later, they were once again alone.
Xao stirred.
She hobbled over to the man helping him back to his feet.
“What happened?” he questioned but upon seeing the little girl, she could tell he had his answers. “I told you to stay down below,” he said to the young girl.
“Do you know this girl?” I asked him.
“I guess you could say I am her pseudo-father. Her parents died during the night riot and ever since, I’ve watched out for her, kept her safe, and out of harm’s way. At least I’ve tried.”
The girl had a face made of stone. She never showed any hint of emotion, or even understanding of what was being said. She simply stood, stared, and waited. It was unnerving to say the least.
“When I was locked in the stock room, she came through the vent,” Bobbi told him.
“Yes, a habit of hers. Her way of sticking it to me when I try and get her to remain below.
She’s able to get anywhere on this ship undetected, despite my best efforts to the contrary.”
An idea popped into her head. Bobbi stared at the girl. “Can you get me to the engine room through those vents?”
The girl didn’t reply.
“She knows this ship better than anyone I believe,” Xao chimed in.
“Stick to the plan. Get to the bridge. Guards were just searching here, so they won’t be back anytime soon. Lock the door and wait for the signal.” Bobbi ran to the vent that hung on the ceiling. She used her hatchet as a makeshift screwdriver un-wedging the four screws from their home. The vent tumbled down to the floor. She stood on the Captain’s chair to get a good look inside the vent. “Okay, kid. Lead the way.”
The little girl looked at Xao who nodded his approval. The kid took off.
Bobbi held out her arms to help the young-in up into the vent but she bypassed her completely, instead hopping up onto the Captain’s desk then jumping like an Olympic gymnast onto the latches of the vent. Lastly, she hoisted herself up disappearing into the hole. In another life, the kid could’ve been a star, competing at the highest level, winning gold, making her family and her country proud. Instead, she was helping a worn out cop sneak down to an engine room to restart a ship and get it back to land before the less than savory denizens of said ship found them and served them up to Poseidon.
Bobbi gave Xao one last nod then lifted herself up into the vents. The walls were tight and even for a skinny frame like herself, she still got stuck on some corners. She slowed her breathing, thinking of only the task at hand to set herself at ease because all she could think about at the moment was Trent’s severe claustrophobia and how it led to the vigorous deterioration of his mind. She worried the same claustrophobia was now seeping into her brain like nitroglycerin dripping off a stick of dynamite.
Turning the fear to strength, she crawled at a break neck speed towards the finish line.
CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
MORRIS
They had all gathered perfectly like a herd of sheep in the entertainment section, the four hundred or so people that had fallen under the spell cast by Kendra. The corridor was stacked to the brim with men, women and children all nervous, talking amongst themselves, hoping for a salvation that would not come. Dozens of people held candles illuminating small batches of surface area. After the nights Morris spent out on that decrepit pontoon, his eyes were permanently accustomed to the dark. He could make out each and every last individual huddled close to each other, darting their eyes ferociously at one another trusting no one.
All of the citizens in front of him had their backs to him making his job all the more easier. Unhinging the left side door from its rooted spot, the rusted lock creaked effortlessly but no one turned. He slid the door closed sealing everyone inside. He couldn’t see to the other side of the shopping district but he hoped that the men he positioned there were doing the same.
Hector stood at his side taking care of the glass plated door to his right.
The lock creaked same as before but still no one paid them any attention. Their minds were a thousand miles away as his normally would be but he focused only at the task at hand. His plan was simple and twofold. Locking everyone in was the first step. The only step his men knew about. The second was reserved solely for himself and Kendra.
They waited for her arrival.
Hector licked his lips puttering them against themselves making a sucking sound like a vacuum getting stuck on large piece of fabric or on one’s skin.
“I heard enough of that on the boat to last me a life time mate.”
“Creature of habit I’m afraid. Where is she? The sooner we get this over with, the better.”
“In a rush to get back to land?”
“Fuck yeah. I’ve had enough aquatic adventures for two life times, mate,” he said cheekily.
“I’ll drink to that.”
“First round is on me, yeah.”
They laughed. It felt good to laugh again, something which Hector was always good for. If not for him, Morris didn’t think he would have survived their trials at sea. “I believe there was a pub right down the road from the dock.”
Hector grinned. “You cheeky bastard,” he said butchering the British slang.
Not that Morris would ever call him out on it. He found the mispronunciation of his native tongue the sincerest form of flattery his ears had ever heard.
A large, wide, bright white light emanated over the crowd.
Morris stood still to see Kendra stroll out on the walkway bridge that arched over the shopping district. During their trip, it was used by many of the entertainers on board to sing songs, and dance for the crowd as part of their night time festivities. Now it was used as a GOD looking down on its subjects, like a deity atop a pyramid looking down on those it subjugated. The light radiated through her robes giving off an almost bioluminescent light inside her.
She pulled the light from her robe revealing a large lantern and not just any lantern. It was an L.E.D. light trapped inside a blender shaped cylinder held on by a latch Kendra currently held.
He wondered how long she’d been waiting to use that bad boy.
It struck awe in the passengers. Some of them even cooing out loud.
She held it up high over her head, so she could see the scores of people around her.
All eyes were upon her, leaving none to see the snake slithering in the shadows. Morris spotted him a mile away. Richard stood off to Kendra’s right, hiding his frame up against the wall.
“Men, women, and children of the voyager, I come to you now, not with despair but with joy. Not with sorrow but with hope. Not with condemnation but with justification,” she spoke calmly, efficiently, and smoothly, the tranquility of her words discharged over each individual lulling them into her false sense of security. She paused, no doubt letting her words wash over everyone. “I told you that only once we all came together, a united front, would we be shown the way off of this purgatory. Well, I stand here before you today to tell you first hand. Our suffering is at an end.”
The men Morris sent to the other side of the shopping district approached. “Everything’s locked and boarded sir. No way anyone’s getting through unless we let ‘em,” a young black man told him.
“Good.” He turned to Hector handing him the key. Behind him stood Ahmed shaking his head, pleading with his eye for Morris to rethink his next step. Sorry mate. “Lock ‘em up, block it anyway you can, and have a bud for me.” Before Hector could reply, Morris tore open the glass door slipping into the sea of people.
Hector lost him in the shuffle.
Morris kept moving making a point to not look back. It pained him to leave his only friend that way but he had a house call to make to the woman who left him with only one friend left in the world. He blended into the crowd listening intently to every word she spewed like she was Al Shar
pton condemning the latest cop-on-black tragedy to rock the world.
“Each and every one of us has made the ultimate sacrifice in hopes of creating a better future for ourselves, for our children, for generations yet to come. The lord has asked the ultimate test of you and you did not back down against his wrath. No…you stood up and you stood tall, you faced your tests head on. Now, here you stand changed men, changed women, changed children. The world will be a better place for it. We will be a better species for it. For never again, will we allow ourselves to forget the most important aspect of our human development. The role our GOD plays in it. Never again, will we cast him out of our songs, of our schools, of our pride. He will be with us every step of the way.” She said poetically.
Morris had to give her props. Her sermon was one for the ages, full of vengeful wrath, quiet contemplation, spiritual giddiness, and the everlasting threat of our lord and savior Jesus Christ, Amen. He skirted through the crowd making his way closer and closer to the arch. She was practically dead center above him when he stopped.
“And through these tests, he has seen fit to give us hope, to give us an answer, to set us free from our shackles.” She pulled out the map.
The lantern reflected the images across the room making him feel like he was back in the planetarium on his tenth grade field trip. The room illuminated two markings on the map, neither of which he could make heads or tails of.
“This is our salvation. Earlier today, the men Captain Jenkins ordered out to sea to scour the land, returned to us.”
Morris froze. He was down in the fishing room all day and night. No one had come back but him and Hector, he was certain of that. Was this another boast, another lie used to twist and manipulate those around him?
“They found an island not far from our location, uninhabited by any souls, living or otherwise. It has more food than we could consume in a lifetime, enough forestation that we could build shelter, and spring lakes scattered amongst its foliage that can be used as drinking water. GOD has given us this land as a gift for passing his tests, for proving our lives were still worth having.”
