Going Down With the Ship

by Eric Douglas

  *****

 

  The feel of the cold metal on her face was somewhat reassuring. Andrea’s world had just shaken violently. And the sound accompanying that movement was deafening. It took her mind a moment to clear. As she shook her head to remove some of the fog in front of her eyes, pain shot through her neck and head. She quickly resolved to never move her head like that again.

  “Where am I?” she asked out loud to the surrounding darkness. There was some dim light coming from the hall, but the room she was in was completely dark. She could only make out the doorframe and the cold gray metal she was lying on.

  And what is that noise? she thought. It was the sound of water rushing. It seemed to be getting louder as the sound of the rumbling from the explosion died away.

  I’m on board the Beauregard, she realized. “And I think it’s about to sink.”

  Andrea said the last out loud as she tried to stand and walk to the door. Her head swam. Then the rope on her ankle pulled taught, just as she realized it was there. She nearly fell, but caught herself against the metal wall.

  “They’re trying to kill me.”