Darkness and The Grave: A Zombie Novel

by John Tolliver

  Bald Point 3131 was a spar platform; meaning the machinery and accommodation decks were built atop a large metal cylinder that had a diameter of about eighty feet and a height of about six hundred feet. The bottom of the cylinder was filled with heavy ballast and the whole thing was anchored to the seafloor with twelve mooring lines.

  Each cabin had its own bathroom and TV. There was a library onboard and a gym. The rooms weren't luxurious, but they weren't exactly spartan either.

  Below the main deck all of the equipment dedicated to keeping the oil pumping up from the depths of the crust normally whirred almost constantly. It was strange to hear nothing but silence from two whole decks, but the situation demanded such extreme measures.

  Everything appeared to be secured. Tools were strapped to the deck, so there was nothing loose.

  Andy walked over to the driller's shack and verified that production had stopped. Then he walked back out on the open deck to Royce.

  "You think we'll be okay if we ride the storm out here?" his friend asked.

  Andy shrugged. "I think so. I mean we're on a spar platform. So I think we'll be okay."

  "Yeah, I guess I just don't like the thought of this thing sinking."

  "We do have lifeboats."

  "Yeah, but do you really think we'll have time to get to them if the ballast tanks fail? Besides that, I don’t think those lifeboats are designed to float in a hurricane."

  Andy laughed. "You make a good point. The lifeboats won't be much good if we're at the bottom of the sea."

  "That's not funny! I don't like the thought of ending up almost half a mile below the surface!"

  "There are worse ways to die you know. At least we'd just end up being crab food."

  "That's morbid."

  "And unlikely! The mooring lines will probably hold! Besides, these types of platforms are weighted so that they won't bob up and down in heavy seas. If I recall correctly, this platform was hit by Hurricane Ike and it came through just fine. Just don't come out here for a smoke!"

  Royce laughed. "You think anyone smuggled cigs out here?"

  "Better not have!" Andy exclaimed as he watched the sun dip below the horizon. The western sky was painted in brilliant hues of orange, red and purple. The sea below roiled furiously as clouds moved in from the south.

  "You think Shelly and Isaiah are okay?" Royce asked.

  He nodded. "Yeah, Shel probably has the house's windows boarded up and is probably at her parents’ house up in Hattiesburg. I guess I should call her, you know, let her know I might have to ride out the storm here."

  Royce laughed. "You haven't told her yet?"

  "How would I have? We still don't know whether the helicopters are coming or not."

  "Fair enough."

  Andy pulled out his phone and tapped the phone tile on the screen. He dialed Shelly's number.

  The phone rang several times.

  "Hello?" he heard her warm voice.

  "Shel? It's Andy, did you and Isaiah make it to your parents'?" he asked.

  "Andy!" she exclaimed joyfully. "We did, Isaiah slept most of the way. You getting ready to get on a helicopter?"

  "Well, about that. We can't get a hold of Operations or Headquarters. We're not sure what's going on, but the helicopters haven't come yet. They're late."

  "Oh no!" she said worriedly. "What are you guys going to do?"

  "Well, worst case scenario, I guess we are going to have to ride out the storm out here."

  "Oh no! Andy, is there some other way for you to get home?"

  "Well, maybe if they had tried to evacuate us sooner, I'd have a better plan B. I guess I'd better look for a new job when I get home."

  "Eddie said the Forest Service is hiring firefighters up in Idaho," she said.

  "Oh yeah? I guess I could use a change of scenery. Tell your brother I'll look into it."

  "I will. When am I going to hear from you?" she asked.

  "I'll call you again when we know for sure whether we have to stay here or not. I love you!"

  "I love you too Andy. Wait, hey buddy, you want to say ‘hi’ to daddy?" Andy heard her ask. "Hang on honey, I'm going to put it on speakerphone for Isaiah. Hang on," he heard her fumbling around on her phone. "Okay, still there Andy?"

  "Yeah, I'm still here," he replied.

  "Ha! Is that daddy? Is that daddy on the phone?" he heard her say in baby talk.

  He heard a childish laugh and Andy felt himself involuntarily smiling. "Hey buddy!" he said happily. "How are you doing?"

  "Da? Da!" he heard the reply.

  He also heard noise on the call.

  "No no," he heard Shelly say. "We don't hit the phone."

  "I love you Isaiah!" Andy said.

  "Oh!" she squealed. "You should have seen him! He just got the biggest smile ever! He misses his daddy!"

  "I know," he said. "His daddy misses him."

  Andy heard more scratching noises. "Okay, it's off speakerphone," she said.

  "You wish you had a Windows Phone, don't you?" he teased.

  She laughed. "I know you wish I did."

  "Shelly, I love you!" he said.

  "I love you too! Be careful!" she said.

  "I will be. Tell your parents I said hi."

  "Okay," she said. "You're going to call me back once you know what's going on?"

  "Yes."

  "Okay, I love you Richard Andrew Gibson."

  "I love you too! Kiss Isaiah for me."

  "I will. Say 'bye bye daddy!'"

  "Bye buddy!"

  The call disconnected. Andy looked out on the rolling sea as the last vestiges of twilight faded into darkness.

  "I guess we should get back inside!" Royce yelled over the wind and sea.

  “Wait! Let’s go make sure the lifeboats are ready! You know, just in case! I’ll check this side! You check that side!”

  Andy walked over to a stairwell and descended to the lifeboat area. He looked at each of the two lifeboats. The large bright-orange pods looked more like streamlined coffins than lifeboats. He opened the back door of one of the boats and climbed inside. He tested the electricity to make sure the boat powered up and down without any issues. Then he climbed out and repeated the test in the other lifeboat.

  When he was finished he climbed out of the second boat and examined the rails both lifeboats sat on. Each boat faced slightly downward, secured on a set of rails. In the event of launch, the brake would be released and the boat would plummet nose-first eighty feet into the Gulf. The boats were constructed using buoyant materials, so even if the back door was left open, the boat would still resurface within ten seconds.

  Andy found himself hoping the boats would never need to be used. He turned and walked back up to the main deck. Royce was waiting.

  “How’d your boats look?” Andy asked.

  “They looked fine man, yours?”

  “They looked good.”

  “Good, let’s get inside. I think it’s going to start raining soon.”

  “Oh? You’re a meteorologist now?” Andy joked.

  Royce laughed. “You know it man.”

  Andy turned and followed him inside and they climbed the stairs up to the galley. The crew looked restless.

  "Wait here," Andy told Royce. "I'm going up to the Comm Room to see if there's any update."

  "Okay," his friend said.

  He turned and walked back to the stairwell and went upstairs to the Communication Room. The officers were still trying to contact CPG.

  "Any luck?" he asked.

  "No," Carlos replied tersely. "We've tried HQ multiple times and Ops. We've all tried calling the executive staff with our cell phones. Nothing! It's like we've been cut off!"

  "We still looking at Twenty-Hundred hours as the deadline?" Andy asked.

  "Yes," Becker said. "If we haven't contacted anyone by then, we will advise everyone to head back to their cabins and batten down the hatches."

  At 8:00pm Carlos went down to the Galley to break the news to the crew
: they would ride out the hurricane on the platform. Andy climbed the stairs to the helideck and pulled his phone out.

  It was windy outside and clouds obscured the stars. It would probably begin raining soon. He looked at his phone and dialed Shelly's phone number.

  The phone rang several times.

  "Hello?" he heard her ask. Her voice sounded staticky.

  "Shelly? It's Andy."

  "So, what's going on? Am I going to see you tonight?" she asked expectantly.

  "No, I'm afraid not. We're going to have to wait out the storm here."

  "That's ridiculous!" she protested.

  "I know. I'm not happy about it either."

  "When will I hear from you again?" she asked.

  "I don't know," he replied. "It all depends on when Petrocom gets service restored after the storm, if we can get off the platform soon after the storm and if cell phone service is still up for y'all."

  "I don't like that."

  "I don't either, but we'll have to make do. Is Isaiah asleep?"

  "Yeah, I put him down about a half hour ago."

  "Did he go down easily?"

  "He fussed a little bit, but I think he was pretty tired from all the packing and driving today."

  "Okay, well, I'd better go. I love you!" he said.

  "Hello? Andy? Are you there?" he heard her ask. "Hello?"

  "Shel, I'm here, I'm here!" he exclaimed.

  "Hello, Andy? Andy?" she asked. "And-" The call dropped.

  Andy looked down at his phone's display. He had no service. Petrocom must have proactively deactivated their network.

  He growled. Well, at least I got to talk to Shelly and Isaiah earlier and she knows what's going to happen, he thought to himself. He walked back downstairs to the galley. The crew seemed angry.

  "So we're stuck on this rig?" Chef Lester Keel asked angrily. "That's ridiculous!"

  "We know you are all very angry because of this news. We are too. We plan to file formal complaints with Bee See when we get back ashore," Becker said.

  The frustrated murmuring continued.

  "Look, time is of the essence here. Go back to your cabins. It's probably going to start raining soon," Sterling said. "And please, once it starts raining do not go outside on the main deck for any reason except a call to evacuate to the lifeboats. This is a major storm that's going to pass over us with wind speeds of up to one-hundred-and-fifty-six miles per hour. Based on the last weather report we got from NOAA, it looks like the eye is going to pass about thirty miles east of here. Be careful guys."

  The guys all stood up and slowly exited the galley. Royce and Milo nodded at Andy as they walked past.

  "Hey," Andy said, grabbing Royce's arm. "If you and Milo want to kick it in my cabin, I'll be up there in a little while."

  He nodded. "Sounds good man."

  Andy walked up to the Communication Room. Sterling was sitting at the radio still trying to contact Operations.

  "Ops Houston, Ops Houston, this is Sterling Williams, Chief Safety Officer aboard Bald Point Thirty-One-Thirty-One, do you read me?" He sounded frustrated.

  He sat the microphone down on the desk and looked up at Andy. He shrugged.

  "Bee See's going to have a field day with them, leaving ninety-two people on an offshore installation in the middle of a hurricane!" He threw up his arms.

  "I agree sir," Andy replied. “Have you tried contacting the Coast Guard?”

  He nodded. “Nothing there either!”

  Andy frowned. What was going on?

  "It's just ridiculous! You're telling me they couldn't charter any helicopters? They could have just sent a support boat a couple of days ago and we'd be fine!" Sterling waved his arms some more.

  "Do you think this platform will hold?" Andy asked.

  "Well, the spar design's supposed to be pretty sturdy. I reckon the spar itself will be fine. The derrick, however, might get blown over. It's a good thing we shut down production."

  "Yeah, I could see things getting pretty messy if we left the oil and gas going."

  "At least if there was an explosion, I guess, the rain, wind and sea would kill the flames pretty quickly," he laughed darkly.

  Suddenly the fax machine beeped. Sterling spun around and grabbed the printout. He read it carefully and grimaced.

  "What is it?" Andy asked.

  Sterling looked up at him, lowering the paper. "Teddy's been upgraded to a Category Five storm. Maximum sustained wind speeds of one-hundred-and-seventy-four miles per hour. We'd better hang on. If we get through this okay, I'm going to kill whoever's responsible for leaving us out here."

  "Yeah," Andy replied. "This is bad."

  Around midnight it began to rain outside. The winds gradually picked up and began to shake the platform.

  Andy played poker with Royce and Milo into the early hours of the morning. Around midnight, Engineer Blake Meyers joined them. They talked about family back home and what they expected to find when they finally got home.

  "My house is up on stilts, but that won't do it any good if Bay Saint Louis takes a direct hit," Andy said. "The guy we bought it from told us that he had to rebuild it after Hurricane Katrina hit. He said that when he was finally able to return home, all that was left was a plate from his wife's china collection and a single stilt bent at an angle."

  Everyone whistled.

  "That's why you live inland away from the shore," Blake said.

  "If a Category Five storm hits your house, it's going to blow your house down, whether it's made of straw, sticks or stone," Milo said. "I trust that my Momma and stepdad will be alright."

  "Well, my family all lives in North Carolina," Royce said. "So I don't think I'll be seeing anything from the hurricane except higher homeowner’s insurance premiums."

  Everyone laughed as the sea thrashed outside.

  “Hey Andy, did you read the latest issue of Wired?” Blake asked.

  Andy nodded as he looked down at his cards. “I did.”

  “You read the cover story?”

  “About the guy in Macau who got assassinated by Mossad?”

  “Yeah. That’s crazy isn’t it?”

  Andy shrugged. “I guess. I mean, what was his name? Xintao? He’s not the first guy to be iced by a state agency. I’m surprised the DEA wasn’t going after him, with all the drug trafficking he was involved with.”

  “Maybe they’ll make a movie about it one day.”

  Andy nodded. “That’d make for some good cinema, I’d imagine.”

  The crew wound up riding out the storm for five whole days. Andy spent his time reading magazines, playing poker, watching movies, and sleeping. Miraculously, the rig didn't sink and didn't take serious damage. The storm just passed right over them.

  Finally, on November 3rd, at dawn, Andy awoke to see sunlight outside. He walked up to the main deck and saw scaffolders at work up on the derrick.

  "Hey Andy, looks like we were pretty lucky!" Senior Driller Nathan Howell said.

  "Yeah, it does. What are they doing up on the derrick?"

  "Inspecting it. They found a few places where bolts had been stripped away. So they're inspecting and repairing as they go," he said.

  Andy nodded. "Thanks. How'd you fare riding out the storm?"

  He laughed. "Watched movies. Lots of movies."

  "Sounds like a nice break."

  "It was!" He laughed again.

  Andy walked up to the Communications Room and saw Sterling sitting at the radio.

  "I still can't get anyone. It looks like the storm tracked west toward Texas, so it's possible HQ and Operations are pretty badly damaged. I guess we can give them a few days. But here's the thing," he leaned over the desk toward Andy. "I tried reaching the Coast Guard this morning too. Nothing."

  "Hmm," Andy stroked his chin. "You think the damage is that bad?"

  He shrugged. "From Destin to Houston?"

  "I don't know," Andy replied. "Could our radio equipment be damaged?"

  Sterling shook hi
s head. "No, I had maintenance check that out a little while ago. Fyodor confirmed everything was working alright."

  "That's strange."

  "Yeah. And to make matters worse, we've got a number of crew missing."

  "Who?" Andy asked.

  "Let's see," he replied, glancing down at a list. "Hal is missing, so are Tinson, Grubb, Towson, McRoberts, Lucas Fisher and Frank Diaz. Moses is missing. We searched the platform and can't find them. With the missing floor hands, Peter Rivas, one of the other floor hands reported that they all went outside two nights ago to smoke. Why that wasn't reported until now is beyond me! Needless to say, Mister Rivas won't have a job when we finally get a hold of HQ! He may even face criminal charges."

  "Are we going to mount a rescue operation?" Andy asked.

  "With what? We're on a platform that's, thankfully, still anchored to the seabed! We have no way to mount a rescue operation! If they were all knocked overboard, their bodies may be halfway to Louisiana by now!"

  "True," Andy said.

  "And in addition to all of that, Becker has the flu!" He threw his arms up.

  "Geez."

  "Yeah. I guess we'll keep trying to reach shore, and in the meantime work on getting everything here back up and running. Carlos is acting OIM while Becker is sick."

  "Thanks, I'll have my team do a drill this evening."

  "Thanks Andrew."

  "You're welcome sir."

  Later, Andy pulled his phone out to try to call Shelly. He grimaced when he saw that no service was available.

  "Petrocom must have gotten hit pretty hard," he mumbled.

  He walked around his room thinking. If Teddy had caused a lot of damage back home, it was likely Shel's phone wouldn't be working. He decided to try calling her parents from the satellite phone in the galley.

  Andy left his room and walked downstairs to the galley. It was fairly quiet in the large cafeteria. He walked over to the satellite phone kiosk and dialed Shelly's parents' phone number.

  "We're sorry but the network you are attempting to reach appears to be experiencing technical difficulties. Please try your call again later. Goodbye!" the automated message said.