by Brad Knight
As she kept watching, Stephanie witnessed the two armed men open fire on Josiah. The big man went down to one knee. Then he started laughing. Much to the surprise of not only his attackers but Stephanie as well, Josiah stood back up. He rushed the men and beat them to death with his own hands.
Oh no. Stephanie looked at the floor. There was black oily blood where Josiah was shot. Only the infected bled that color.
How did he…? If he's infected, how is he not a mindless monster? Is he like Mack? Stephanie stare in disbelief at Josiah who finished off his attackers with boots to their heads. He looked up and saw that he was being watched.
“Stephanie?” Josiah smiled at her with blood splattered on his face. “It is Stephanie, right?”
Horrified she backed away. Once she was out of Josiah's sight, she ran back to Amber, grabbed the teen by the arm and dragged her in the opposite direction.
“Whoa! Where are we going? The armory is that way.” Amber pointed in the direction where Josiah brutalized two members of the Galatea strike team.
“We can't go that way. It's blocked. We can go up a floor and go over it,” said Stephanie. She purposefully kept what she saw to herself.
“Are you sure? Mack said...”
“Trust me.”
Stephanie led the way through the hallways, up a stairwell and to the floor above. Amber noticed that she knew every twist, turn and door. How, she did not know. But she didn't care. That was a whole can of worms that could be opened at a later date.
The plan was simple. They'd go up one floor and bypass Josiah. Carrying out that plan was a different story, because in order to do so they had to make it to the stairs.
Haven's decks were set up in such a way that there were four stairwells per floor. One on each end of the ship were the main means to change floors. In the middle of each side of each floor were narrower stairwells. Those were what Amber and Stephanie had to take. But to get there they'd need to travel the equivalent of several city blocks.
Things were getting worse below the main deck. Amber could hear gunshots followed by screaming, that echoed through the cramped hallways. People ran back and forth in every direction. Most had no idea what was going on.
Stephanie pointed at the stairwell that was within view. She and Amber managed to push their way through the throngs of Haven residents. Just as they thought they were almost there, a hail of bullets halted their progress.
Yedlin and the remains of the Galatea strike team reached their floor. Having faced heavy resistance throughout Haven up till that point, they changed their strategy. Instead of trying to discern between innocent residents and defenders they just opened fire on anyone they saw.
Amber and Stephanie were lucky enough to have plenty of bodies between them and Yedlin's strike team. Though they didn't feel that way as they briefly watched Haven residents get gunned down. They snapped out of the shock from witnessing so much death at once and hurried up the stairs.
The first thing that Amber noticed upon exiting the stairwell was the smell. They both smelled the sickening mixture of coppery blood, urine, gunpowder and a fourth unidentifiable aroma. Then they saw the source.
Blood splattered the walls, ceiling and floor of the new hallway they found themselves in. Dead Haven residents were pretty much everywhere they stepped. From the state of their corpses it was evident that bladed weapons were used to dispatch them.
Both Amber and Stephanie didn’t have to say anything to each other. Both of them realized how terrible what they were seeing was. In place of the panic that such a sight might induce in most people, they focused on making progress towards the end of the ship. When they got there they would be able to descend back down to the level with the kitchen and make their way to the armory. It was a goal that seemed less and less worth it the farther they went.
The whole ship felt like it was hit with a battering ram. Sounded like it too. Unbeknownst to most of the people on board, the freighter was being bombarded with rockets from the circling Galatea helicopter. It was an all out assault.
The missiles from the helicopter knocked out the emergency power. Haven was completely without electricity. Lacking Mack's enhanced eyes, Amber and Stephanie had to move slowly.
In the distance, Stephanie could see the end of the hallway. The stairwell at the end of the ship was open to the elements, though the moonlight didn't provide much light.
A strange silhouette appeared at the end of the hall. It was strange because the shape of the silhouette kept changing. They weren't obvious and blatant alterations but more subtle ones. Whatever it was, it wasn't human, but it looked like it was trying to appear like one.
Stephanie held out her hand to see if she could touch Amber. When her fingers made contact, she grabbed Amber's arm, then she pushed the teen towards the wall and did the same herself. She hoped that whatever was at the end of the hall couldn't see them in the dark.
What Stephanie didn't realize was that it was an Alpha at the end of the hall. The creature started to walk in their direction, and when it reached them it stopped.
By then, Stephanie and Amber saw the glowing yellow eyes of the feminine Alpha as it examined them. They realized that they were dealing with the infected but they couldn't really see and had no weapons. Basically they were at the creature's mercy.
After it determined that the two humans in the hallway weren't a threat, the Alpha moved on. Both let out audible sighs of relief when they were sure the Alpha was gone. Already taking way longer than they wanted, the two of them hurried to the stairwell.
Stephanie looked out over the water when they reached the open end of the freighter. Judging from the direction the waves were breaking around the hull, she determined that they were at the bow.
“What are you doing!? Come on!” yelled Amber as she stood halfway down the stairs. Stephanie broke away from the railing and joined her.
***
Yedlin led his strike team downwards. He and his superiors figured that if Mack was on Haven it would likely be somewhere hidden away. At least that was if the residents of the freighter knew who and what he was. It was a risk but a calculated one.
The strike team kept descending from floor to floor. It was like the freighter was endlessly deep. Finally they reached what appeared to be the bottom. If their target was on the ship, he had to be there.
With their night vision goggles equipped, getting around wasn't an issue for Yedlin and his team. They saw everything in the darkness of Haven's bowels. So they were surprised to see a group of scared looking men, women and children stumbling towards them.
“Sir?” asked one of Yedlin's men. He wanted to know what to do because the group was getting closer and they wouldn't have been able to just pass by them.
“Should we shoot?” asked Harris who was right behind Yedlin.
Before Yedlin could answer, he saw someone run out of the group of people and rush straight towards him. It was a big man that fit the description of their target.
Knowing that bullets might not work, Yedlin took the EMP gun off his back. The plan was to incapacitate Mack with the same weapon they'd use on the Alpha, but he never got the chance to pull the trigger.
Mack hit Yedlin so hard with the back of his fist that the strike team leader's jaw dislocated. As he fell, Mack went to work on Harris and the other remaining members of the team.
Through the brief muzzle flashes from the strike team, the prisoners that Mack freed saw him strike Harris in the neck hard enough to push his Adam's apple into his throat. As he rapidly asphyxiated, the remaining member of the team got his head grabbed and smashed into the wall.
Yedlin slowly got up. Blood streamed out his mouth. His vision was blurry. Not that that mattered. The night vision goggles he wore before getting hit were broken. He felt like he got hit in the head by a sledge hammer.
Mack turned and saw that Yedlin was still moving. He calmly walked over and picked the strike team leader up by his Kevlar vest with one hand. Yedlin, not on
e to give up, unholstered his pistol. He emptied it into the Viking's gut. It didn’t kill him, but made him let go.
Yedlin, from the rusty grated floor, aimed his gun at Mack. He didn't realize he was out of bullets. Annoyed and hurting, Mack kicked the strike team leader in the face, knocking him out.
Now I need to find Amber and Stephanie and get these people off this ship. Mack approached the group of prisoners he liberated from the hidden room under the laboratory floor. He didn't stop to think how that might have looked to them.
In the dark all that the group of former prisoners saw were Mack's glowing eyes (which happened unintentionally). That is after they caught glimpses of him killing two men, so they were scared.
Shit. “I'm not going to hurt you. We need to get out of here.” Mack held his hands up and tried to look as non threatening as possible, but it didn't work. They were terrified.
I can't stay here and try and convince them. There's no time. Who knows how many more of these assholes are on board. Plus there's Jeanine and her people. No, I need to get to Amber and Stephanie, and get the hell off this ship.
Mack backed away from the people he saved from below the hatch not ten minutes before. He had to accept that he couldn't help them anymore. With that said he believed he could still save his teenage charge and Stephanie.
***
Amber and Stephanie reached the pantry that served as a pseudo armory. It was almost empty. All that was left were a couple of machetes and one small caliber pistol that was so useless that no one bothered to take it. So the duo took it all.
Neither Stephanie nor Amber spoke about whatever they ran into outside the stairwell minutes earlier. Part of the silence was due to the fact that nether of them really knew what they saw. It wasn't like any meat puppet they ran into before. The fact that it didn't kill or even attack them was somehow more disturbing.
Once armed with what little weapons they salvaged, it was time for them to look for Mack. They figured they'd start at the deck and go from there. From what they could tell, that's where whatever was going on in Haven started.
Amber and Stephanie crossed through the kitchen. The room was a complete mess. In a panic, the residents raided it for food and knives.
“I'm afraid I can't let you go any further.” They both heard a voice as they made their way towards the front deck. Someone stepped out in front of the doorway that led to that last set of stairs. It was Jeanine, alone.
“Sorry lady but you can't stop us,” said Amber as she readied her newly acquired machete.
Jeanine made eye contact with Stephanie. “I thought you believed in the work we're doing here, Stephanie. I thought you believed in God's work.”
“God's work? Are you kidding me? Look around you, Jeanine. What do you see? Me? I don't see anything holy or divine about any of this. It's just people killing people.” Stephanie didn't buy into Jeanine's weak pitch.
Jeanine gave a wicked smile. “I'm sorry you feel that way. But like I said. You two aren't going anywhere.”
Stephanie aimed the pistol at Jeanine's head. “We are going to find Mack and then we are getting of this death trap. Move! Or I will shoot you!”
“Go ahead.” Jeanine opened her arms wide. She dared Stephanie to pull the trigger.
“Okay.” Stephanie shot Jeanine in her left eye. The mother of Haven stumbled backwards and bent over a stainless steel counter.
“Good riddance crazy lady,” said Amber as she led the way past Jeanine and towards the stairs.
Stephanie followed. Her heart jumped up into her throat when she felt Jeanine's cold hand grab her by the arm. The grip was so hard it hurt, causing her to drop her pistol.
Jeanine rose up from the stainless steel kitchen counter. There was an oozing wound where her left eye used to be. It was rapidly healing itself.
“No...” Stephanie stared at Jeanine in disbelief. She'd only seen anything like it before with Mack. “That's…”
“Impossible?” Jeanine finished Stephanie's sentence. “It was, before we found you three. Thanks to your boyfriend, God's ultimate gift was bestowed upon me and a select other few. And now that we have our new and improved bodies we can be the Lord's hand and burn this worldwide Sodom and Gomorrah to the ground. From the ashes we will rebuild and populate the planet with the pious and righteous. It will be glorious!”
“That's why you took us in. You were waiting for us, weren't you? You wanted us aboard so you could somehow take what's inside Mack.”
“We didn't take anything. We were given it!” Jeanine wrenched Stephanie's arm and violently threw her to the kitchen floor. The impact was so hard that she felt a couple of her ribs crack. It induced a labored grunt.
“You cunt!” cursed Amber. She lunged at Jeanine with her machete. It found it's mark, cutting through the mother of Haven's collarbone.
“Amber...” Stephanie slowly got up of the floor while holding her ribs.
“You may be able to heal but that doesn't mean it won't hurt,” said Amber with a smile as she removed the blade of her machete from Jeanine's collarbone. Viscous black blood sprayed from the wound before it started closing.
Jeanine screamed as her wound closed. Stephanie and Amber passed by her as the mother of Haven's was in a pain driven frenzy. For such a reportedly religious woman, she cursed up a storm. They didn't stop hearing her until they reached the deck.
Once there, Amber and Stephanie were hit by a wave of intense heat. The far side of the deck, where the livestock were kept, was an inferno. A helicopter did circles around the freighter, sporadically firing at anyone in it's spotlight.
“Ah damn,” said Stephanie, wincing in extreme discomfort.
***
Mack sped through Haven's hallways. He passed by people who probably could have used his help, but as far as he was concerned the residents of the freighter deserved their fates. Besides, he needed to find Amber and Stephanie. They were his first and only priorities.
Some of the panicked Haven residents stood in Mack's way. He simply shoved them out of his path. There wasn't going to be anything or anyone standing between him, and getting off that freighter.
“Mr. Mack!?” someone yelled. For the first time since leaving the prisoners he freed behind, he stopped moving. He turned around and saw Josiah standing in the hallway picking something from his skin.
That's not good. Upon closer inspection, Mack saw that Josiah was picking bullets out of his own body. He discarded them onto the floor.
“I'm getting off this ship. So move!” said Mack as he walked in Josiah's direction.
The big dirty looking and smelling dread locked man didn't budge. He just smiled. That was fine with Mack. It gave him an excuse to exact some vengeance on one of Jeanine's top cronies.
Well I fucking warned him. Mack cocked his fist back. Still Josiah didn't move. So the Viking punched him in his jaw.
The strike that Mack delivered was one of the finest he ever threw in his life. It would have killed a normal man, and that was indeed his intention. As Josiah's head snapped to the side and spine cracked, that was what Mack thought happened.
Like a scene from “The Exorcist”, Josiah's head spun back around to face Mack. There was a sick crunching sound that sounded like stepping on a pile of cereal, if cereal was made of meat and bone. And just like that, Jeanine's henchman looked as good as new.
That was very unexpected. So this is the fruits of their labors here. Ted had the same nanite virus in him too. And his corpse is in the middle of the Oregon woods.
Mack prepared to hit Josiah again. Then he felt his shirt get grabbed. In a swift motion, he was tossed bodily into a wall. The unexpected impact rattled his metallic bones.
Josiah picked Mack up by the back of his neck. Then he slammed him face first into the floor. That was flowed by a powerful kick to his midsection.
“Come. Get up. I need to properly thank you.” Josiah forcefully picked Mack up again.
Mack tried to punch Josiah in the gut on his
way up back to his feet. The blow was caught mid swing and his arm was twisted back behind him.
“Thank god you were brought to us,” said Josiah a split second before smashing Mack in the face with the bottom of a closed fist.
I'm not going to be able to fight this guy hand-to-hand. He's too well trained. Hopefully he hasn't realized the full potential of the nanite virus yet.
“You're going to die now, Mr. Mack. But don't fear. The lord will reward you for this gift you've given us and humanity.” Josiah moved in for the kill.
In the same motion Mack swung his arm around. The side of his hand transformed into a blade. And that bladed hand took Josiah's head right off his shoulders.
Mack watched as Josiah's severed head rolled across Haven's hallway. There was look of shock on it's face. Then it blinked.
Yeah no. I'm not taking that chance. Mack raised one of his booted feet up above Josiah's head. With a mighty stomp, he splattered it under his sole.
Mack was ready to move on when he heard the loudest screech he ever heard. It made his hair stand on end. Something was different about it, more menacing somehow.
Lets not stick around long enough to find out what that was. Mack continued through the hallways of the now slowly sinking freighter. He was almost to the quarters that he shared with Amber and Stephanie. It wasn't that he actually thought they'd still be there, but it was a good place to start his search. Perhaps they left behind some clues, intentionally or not.
Wait. Mack stopped running. There's an easier way to do this. I can track them with my nose. It'll be like in the jungle. I just need to concentrate and pick out their smell.
Mack tried to find Amber's scent through the cornucopia of aromas in the Haven hallways. He managed to picked it up. She was in the direction of the kitchen. That's where he needed to go.
Though on the same floor he was, Mack had to cross the length of the ship to reach his destination. So he bent down and ran as fast as his enhanced legs could take him. But he didn't get all the way there.
