Day Four

by Sarah Lotz

  The ship shuddered beneath her, and then the lights flicked on.

  She didn’t care. It was too late.

  Better together.

  The Angel of Mercy

  ‘Wake up. Wake up, doc.’

  Jesse covered his face with his arm as light pierced his eyes. ‘Go away.’

  ‘Jesse.’

  He was lying on his back, something digging into his spine. A silhouetted shape was standing over him. The floor rippled under him. Gah. He swallowed. His mouth tasted of bile. ‘Who’s that?’

  The dark man.

  ‘It is me. Bin.’

  A low hum, and then the lights came on, sputtered out, then shone at full wattage. A growling sound came from somewhere. The floor was vibrating.

  ‘Are you hurt, doc? I thought that you had left with the others.’

  Jesse’s gorge rose as he raised his head, but there was nothing in his stomach to throw up. ‘Martha?’

  ‘I don’t know, doc.’

  ‘There’s power?’

  Bin nodded and grimaced.

  ‘We’re moving again?’

  ‘No. But soon.’

  ‘How do you know?’

  Bin pulled a face again. ‘There are crew down there. I saw them when I came here. Not everyone left the ship.’

  ‘They can make it work? Drive it?’ Did you drive a cruise ship? He didn’t know the word. Christ, his head . . .

  Bin helped him to his feet. The place was a tip. Files and vials everywhere. A tangled mess of drip stands. A flood of panic as he glanced at the pharmacy door. It looked intact. Thank fuck for that.

  ‘People are hurt, doc.’

  ‘Where?’

  ‘The atrium, the main deck. They’re being take to the Dare to Dream Theatre.’

  ‘Anything serious?’

  ‘Nothing that is life threatening. Maybe some fractures. I have done what I can. One I think has a concussion.’

  Bin grimaced again, held up a hand, then stepped away neatly to be sick in a kidney bowl. Jesse noted that the nurse seemed to do even this with grace and precision. He handed Bin a cloth. ‘Bin. You go on up. You’re in no state to be helping anyone. I’ll bring whatever I think we might need.’

  ‘You are sure?’

  ‘Yes.’

  Jesse held his breath while Bin left the room. Fingers trembling, he hurried over to the cabinet.

  Then it hit him. He’d just survived a major storm at sea relatively unscathed. Did he really want to continue along this path?

  Fuck it.

  He shoved the remaining ampoules in his pockets, and pulled the plastic wrapping off a syringe with his teeth. Within minutes, he’d have his armour back.

  They were gathered in the foyer of the theatre, lying on the stairs and the carpet in front of the door. The interior of the ship hadn’t fared too badly: he’d crunched over broken glass, and water had pooled in places, mostly in the crew decks, but it was nowhere near as bad as he’d imagined it would be. If anything, the storm had freshened the ship; it now smelled salty and damp, instead of like the inside of a sewage farm. And the wind would have swept away the blight of red bags that had followed in its wake.

  Crew members were handing out water – reverting to old habits – and those who could walk were helping others out of the theatre. Safely swaddled in his pethidine embrace, he scanned the passengers, looking for who might be in the most need of his services. Bin was right. There didn’t appear to be anything too serious. Several people looked green – but whether this was from seasickness or the ongoing effects of the noro he couldn’t say – and there were a few minor contusions. A large woman who was sitting next to a guy with a bandaged arm gave him a tentative smile of recognition. He smiled back automatically, trying to recall where he’d seen her. Then he got it – the hysterical passenger from the VIP deck. She’d tried to hit him, and he’d meant to bring her some Xanax. If she hadn’t have lashed out at him, would he have been tempted to fall into his old habits? But he knew the answer. Ja, he would. He would have found an excuse sooner or later.

  The rumbling of the engines stopped, there was a moment of silence as everyone appeared to hold their breath, then they started up again. Those who could gave a watery cheer.

  Jesse supposed he should do something other than hang around like a spare part. He was heading for the VIP passenger, when someone shouted: ‘Doctor!’ A pretty Filipino guy standing at the top of the stairs was waving at him. Jesse made his way through the casualties and over to one of the pillars, against which a guy in a blood-soaked white shirt was leaning. Christ. Jesse realised it was Devi, the security guard who’d helped him sort out that kak at the morgue. The left side of his jaw was swollen, and the cut behind his ear would need stitches. He barely flinched as Jesse examined the wound behind his ear; his eyes darted around, grazing and assessing everyone around them.

  ‘Looking for someone?’

  ‘That man. Gary Johansson.’

  The man who’d invaded his hiding place last night. Jesse hadn’t given him a thought until now. He’d had more important things to worry about. ‘Now that I can help you with.’

  The Keeper of Secrets

  Devi gripped the railing, which was slippery with moisture, clunked down the steps and staggered out onto the corridor that housed the laundry room and the morgue. Every muscle throbbed, every time he moved his elbow a spike of pain jolted to his fingers, and his head was a dark blur of ache. He touched his lip with his tongue – it felt like it was the size of a cricket ball.

  The vessel trembled around them. Rogelio had been to the bridge and said that Baci, one of the few officers who had not abandoned the ship, was scrambling to assess which port they should make for. The storm could have pushed the ship far from the last known navigational point.

  Rogelio held onto the back of his shirt as he shuffled along, and Devi was grateful for his support. Rogelio had stood by him every step of the way. When this was over, Devi promised himself he’d make it up to him.

  Finally, they reached their destination.

  Devi opened the storeroom door, stepped inside, and tapped on the morgue hatch with a finger.

  An anguished howl came from within. ‘Letmeoutletmeoutletmeout.’ Then, sobbing.

  Rogelio joined Devi in the storeroom. If he was frightened or horrified by what he had heard, it didn’t show on his face. ‘You are sure it is him, Devi?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Will he die if we don’t let him out?’

  ‘I don’t know.’ But he will suffer.

  ‘Can you live with yourself if you do this, Devi? Will it be over?’

  Devi didn’t need to think about the answer. ‘Yes.’

  The Wildcard Blog

  Fearlessly fighting the fraudulent so that you don’t have to

  So I’m alive. Made it. Thought I was going to die for sure, but I didn’t go down with the ship after all. I’m back in The Predator’s cabin with Maddie. Caught up with her when she came back to the suite an hour ago. She found me lying on the carpet. Still don’t know how I made it here. Feeling a bit better now, but that’s a recent development.

  Maddie isn’t looking so good. Not sick exactly, but spooked. She didn’t even look that surprised to see me.

  Here’s how it went down:

  Wanted to die after a major bout of seasickness which was almost as bad as having the noro. Wrote a will if you can believe that, but I’ve deleted it.

  Maddie saw lights out in the water, and assumed that rescue boats were on their way, but I could see straight away that they were inflatable lifeboats and we needed to get the fuck out of the cabin. We ran out onto the main deck, and I tried to grab a couple of life jackets (and got punched on the ear by some bastard in the process) and Maddie and I got separated.

  One of the security guards was trying to get everyone organised. Some of them listened, most of them didn’t. The lifeboats are up on the main deck, and that’s a long drop, they have to be winched down. Not easy if you don
’t know what you’re doing.

  The adrenalin stopped the pukiness, but I didn’t have any sense of balance, and I was slipping and sliding everywhere.

  Saw some bad stuff.

  A lifeboat falling, people clinging to the top of it and hanging off its sides.

  Some fucker lit a flare inside one of the boats that was being lowered into the water. It hissed and sputtered and burned like a firework. Could hear the screams of the people trapped inside it even above the wind.

  I’d almost made it up to the lifeboat deck, when someone bashed into me, and I skidded, slipped into the pool and inhaled a ton of water. Got out, slipped into the pool again, this time almost got eaten by one of the mattresses that had been swept in there.

  By that time, all of the lifeboats on my side were gone. Tried to make it across to the other side, but the panic was full on: Pushing and shoving and people were just throwing themselves into the remaining boats. Missed the last one by seconds, although the woman next to me went for it and leapt on it as it was dropping. Unbelievable.

  I don’t know what happened to her.

  By now, the sea was beyond rough.

  Heard someone shout: ‘Come to me!’ Looked over and saw the security guy waving his arms over his head just below me. People were trying to make it over to him, stragglers like me. Don’t know how I got down the stairs to him without breaking my neck. Shouting at the top of his lungs, the security guard made it known that there were inflatable rafts on the crew muster station. Told us to follow him back into the ship.

  I don’t know for sure how I lost him. It was dark in there, and the movement was so bad by then I literally couldn’t walk. I crawled. And I mean crawled to what I hoped was at least a railing or something I could hold onto. Managed to wrap myself around one of those angel pillars. The ship was groaning and screaming and it sounded like it wanted to rip itself apart.

  How long did it last?

  I don’t fucking know. How long is forever? Fucking glad I’m not on one of those boats though. We must have got caught in a hurricane or something, because it

  holy fucking jesus the engines I can hear the engines how the fuck did that happen?

  DAY 8

  The Witch’s Assistant

  Maddie and Xavier sat side by side on Celine’s balcony, their legs propped up on the railings. The ship had started moving an hour ago. She looked out into the darkness, listened to the swoosh-slap of the water against the ship’s side, the low thrum of the engine. A breeze tussled her hair. It was almost pleasant.

  Xavier opened his mouth to speak.

  ‘Don’t,’ she said. ‘Just don’t.’

  She took his hand and intertwined her fingers through his.

  Together, they waited in silence.

  IT’S BACK!

  Missing cruise liner found near Key West

  Breaking news: Yacht Captain spots The Beautiful Dreamer

  At 4.30 a.m. EST, Jose Ferrigno, the captain of the yacht Instant Fame, reported seeing a ship floundering five miles east of Key West. Ferrigno informed the Port Authority that the vessel was listing dangerously to port side. It has now been confirmed that the stricken vessel is the cruise ship The Beautiful Dreamer, which has been missing for five days. Despite extensive searches of the Gulf of Mexico and surrounding waters, no trace of the vessel or its passengers has been found until now, and the ship’s disappearance has baffled industry experts. With estimated casualties topping even those of 2012’s Black Thursday air disasters, the disappearance of The Beautiful Dreamer was already being dubbed the biggest maritime disaster since the Titanic.

  Follow our up-to-the minute report and live blog:

  Our reporter Jonathan Franco is at the scene.

  @jonf667

  Ship listing badly. Looks like lifeboats are all gone.

  Some damage evident to hull.

  @jonf667

  Rescue vessel & helicopters on scene. Still no word on survivors

  @jonf667

  Rumours spreading that Jose Ferrigno saw survivors on board.

  @jonf667

  JF’s recorded message to the CG: ‘[There is] a light

  on the port side. I think there are people on board.’

  @jonf667

  Jose Ferrigno allegedly has a history of substance abuse.

  @jonf667

  No sign of survivors being airlifted out but reports coming

  in that there may be bodies on board.

  Update:

  10:32 a.m.

  An NTSB spokesperson has now confirmed that no survivors have yet been found. The Beautiful Dreamer’s parent company, Foveros Cruise Lines, has disclosed that there were 2019 passengers on board, of which 716 were British, two German, and the remainder US citizens. Most of the maritime officers and engineers were Italian, whilst most of the service crew were from developing nations. All 2964 passengers and crew are still listed as missing.

  Update:

  10:57 a.m.

  A spokesperson for Foveros Cruise Lines says he is reluctant to speculate at this point in time, but went on to say, ‘Structural damage and the deployment of all lifeboats suggests that the ship must have encountered severe weather and ocean conditions, precipitating an evacuation order. This is standard maritime protocol for such an eventuality. The fact that the vessel is damaged and all the lifeboats appear to have been lost at sea, suggests an Act of God is the most likely cause of this terrible tragedy.’

  Meteorologists confirm that there was a mild to strong tropical storm brewing a few miles west of the Bahamas three days ago. Official reports on weather conditions in the estimated vicinity of the vessel have not yet been released by the authorities.

  Bodies Found on Nightmare Cruise Ship

  The Dade County Coroner’s Office has confirmed that the bodies of two women have been found on board The Beautiful Dreamer. One of the deceased has been identified as Kelly Louise Lewis (32) a hair salon receptionist from Essex, UK. The second, that of an elderly female, has not yet been identified.

  Melanie Zindell, a close friend of the Lewis family asks that the press respect the privacy of the bereaved family. She did, however, say that Ms Lewis’s parents send their condolences to the families of the other missing passengers and crew.

  A spokesperson from Foveros Cruise Lines, the cruise company that runs the line of ‘Beautiful Class’ ships, including the Dreamer and the Wonder, which was stranded for two days last year in Cozumel after its propulsion system broke down, said the company extends its sympathies to Ms Lewis’s family and friends and will do all it can to cooperate with the NTSB in their investigations.

  Voices from the Deep?

  Long Island, NY.

  Hundreds of mourners flocked to the streets of East Meadows, Long Island last night to pay tribute to controversial psychic medium, Celine del Ray, who is believed to be one of the victims of The Beautiful Dreamer maritime disaster.

  Del Ray hit the headlines in 2014, when she publicly stated that ‘she had proof from her spirit guides’ that Lori and Bobby Small, two victims of one of the four Black Thursday plane crashes that occurred on January 12, 2012, were alive and suffering from amnesia. Lori Small’s mother, Lillian Small, reportedly exhausted her life savings hiring detectives to search for her relatives, despite DNA evidence confirming that her daughter and grandson had died in the crash. Last year, Lillian Small gave notice of her intention to sue del Ray for emotional distress.

  Among the mourners was Elisha Cobalt (47), a ‘psychic healer’ from Brooklyn, New York, who said she has been receiving daily ‘updates’ from Archie, one of Celine del Ray’s spirit guides. ‘Archie says that he and Celine are together now, and Celine wants everyone to know that she’ll be sending through information about the missing passengers soon.’

  Cobalt has offered her services to the families and friends of those who are believed to have drowned when the cruise ship hit troubled waters in the Gulf of Mexico.

  The Beautiful Dreamer:

 
A Modern Day Mary Celeste?

  It’s been a month since The Beautiful Dreamer suddenly reappeared, after five days of mysteriously being lost at sea. And it seems the NTSB still has no idea what has become of the 2962 people on board.

  Could the crew and passengers of The Beautiful Dreamer have suffered the same fate as those of the Mary Celeste and other ghost ships throughout history?

  After all, in this day and age, how does a ship that could comfortably house three thousand people simply disappear? There were extensive searches for the ship during the five days following its mysterious disappearance, yet no traces of its whereabouts were found. Conspiracy theorists are already polishing their foil hats, and there are predictably many whispers online and in the media about The Beautiful Dreamer falling victim to the notorious Bermuda Triangle, despite this myth being debunked on numerous occasions.

  According to a statement from Foveros Cruise Lines, the Captain’s log, CCTV footage and GPS black box seem to have been compromised and ‘have nothing conclusive to add’. And the only thing experts seem to agree on is that the captain must have ordered an evacuation, as all lifeboats were missing. However, no one can explain why an unmanned ship in the middle of the Gulf Stream wasn’t sucked out into the vast Atlantic Ocean.

  There are also signs that a norovirus raged throughout the ship. A salvage expert, who has asked not be named, said, ‘The place was a mess. There was no food, there was broken furniture everywhere and the place stank like a mix between a sewage plant and a binge drinker’s bathroom.’

  The official line is that the ship must have drifted off course, a fire briefly disabled the propulsion system, and mindful of the bad press and drop in profits Foveros Cruise Lines has been suffering recently, and fearing a reprisal from Foveros Cruise Lines’ executives, the captain held off on sending a distress signal. The ship was caught in a storm, and an evacuation was then ordered.