by Perrin Briar
“Interrupting a dying man during a peaceful night of painless sleep is indeed a mistake,” Reg said.
“I apologise,” Bill said. “We’ll leave you to your rest.”
“I’m up now,” Reg said. “You might as well tell me what the big deal is.”
Reg reached for a bottle of pills. He tore the lid open. Bill saw the label.
“You’re taking Erlotinib?” he said. “Often used to treat lung cancer patients.”
“Yeah,” Reg said. “So?”
Zack let out a sigh of relief. Rohit frowned with confusion.
“It’s a relief I have lung cancer?” Reg said.
“Compared to what you could have, mate, it’s a Godsend,” Zack said.
“Are you aware there’s a plague making its way across the world right now as we speak, destroying everything in its path?” Bill said.
“Sure,” Reg said. “It’s called capitalism. So what’s new? Don’t tell me you woke me up in the middle of the night to discuss politics and social issues?”
Reg threw the pills in his mouth and chased them with water.
“No,” Bill said. “The virus in Baghdad.”
“That’s just an urban myth,” Reg said. “No one on the rigs takes it seriously.”
“We just heard on the radio about a virus sweeping the world during the time we’ve been at sea,” Bill said. “If memory serves, the first reports were from Baghdad.”
Reg looked from Bill to Zack and Rohit. A shadow darkened his brow.
“What is this?” he said. “Some kind of joke?”
“I wish it was,” Bill said.
“I refuse to be hosed, Bill,” Reg said. “I took you for a serious man. This isn’t funny.”
“I know,” Bill said.
Bill’s sombre expression made Reg think twice. His eyes lowered to their weapons.
“Do you promise on your oath as a doctor that you are telling the truth?” Reg said.
“I do,” Bill said.
Reg leaned back on his pillows, taking in the information and processing it. He pushed the sheets of his bed back, swung his feet over the side and stood up. He wore a knee-length nightgown.
“Who else knows about this?” Reg said.
“Just us,” Bill said. “So far as we know. But we were going to go to the captain after… meeting you.”
“We’d best inform him then, hadn’t we?” Reg said.
A shout rang up outside, a long string of expletives that Bill couldn’t make out. Bill ran outside first, swiftly followed by the others. A man turned in circles on the deck, his elbow up in the air, hand clamped over his neck.
“God damn it!” Dennis shouted out to the night. “Why me?”
“Dennis?” Bill said. “What’s going on?”
Dennis took his hand off his neck, a thick sliver of blood dribbled down his shirt collar. He pointed at Reg.
“It’s his slut on the side!” Dennis said. “She was wild! Her eyes turned red and she tried to rip my throat out! I only just managed to get away. She’s a psycho!”
“Let me take a look,” Bill said.
Dennis removed his hand, his fingers caked in blood.
“She missed your jugular vein,” Bill said. “You’re lucky.”
“It sure doesn’t feel lucky,” Dennis said, grimacing.
“Gloria a psycho?” Reg said. “She has a temper on her, I admit, but she would never have done anything like this unless provoked.”
“I didn’t do anything she didn’t want me to!” Dennis said. “Some apology she turned out to be! Now my jacket’s soaked in whiskey and blood!
“We were making out, about to get down to it, when she started shaking and grunting. I just thought she was getting into it. Then she grew still in my arms, like she’d passed out or something. So I shook her, and she looked at me, but not really looked at me, but through me, like I wasn’t really there. It scared me. A lion looking at a zebra would look the same, blinded by hunger, not really seeing what’s in front of her. I got excited. I imagine we all look the same when we’re really in the mood.”
“Where is she now?” Bill said.
“I don’t know,” Dennis said. “I just ran away as fast as I could.”
“Where were you when she bit you?” Bill said.
Dennis pointed to a darkened alley between the mess and a block of cabins.
“Can you get to Marie by yourself?” Bill said to Dennis.
“I’ll be fine,” Dennis said.
Bill smiled and braced his friend’s arm.
“I’ll check up on you later,” Bill said. “Once we’re done here.”
Dennis turned and headed across the deck toward his cabin.
“If the virus spreads with contact…” Zack said.
“We’ll keep a close eye on Dennis,” Bill said. “He seems all right at the moment.”
“We don’t know what this virus is like, how it operates,” Zack said. “Gloria was fine until she turned. Dennis might be the same.”
“We’ll take precautions after we’ve dealt with Gloria,” Bill said. “Better to deal with the devil you know first.”
“You and Dennis seem pretty close,” Zack said.
He let the question hang. After Bill offered no reply, he tried again:
“If it comes to it, are you sure you’ll be able to do what needs to be done?” Zack said.
Bill was silent a moment.
“I suppose we’ll find out,” he said.
Rohit came to a stop before the dark alley.
“I need to go protect Priya,” Rohit said. “She might be all the family I have left.”
“Help us find this woman and you’ll be protecting her and everyone else on board,” Bill said.
Rohit hesitated, and then nodded.
“Okay,” he said.
Bill, Zack, Rohit and Reg entered the dark alley. They could smell the blood before they saw it, puddling along the base of the wall.
“It appears you boys were right,” Reg said. “There is a monster on board, and I did bring it with me. Let’s find her before she causes any more trouble.”
Chapter Eleven
FELIX SCOOPED up the coins with the crook of his stick and sorted them into tall piles behind him, a re-enactment of the New York skyline. He now had quite a collection. Jenny opened her purse.
“No more,” Ernest said, getting to his feet. “You’ve already lost enough.”
“Fifteen pesos is hardly going to break the bank,” Jenny said.
“Still, I’ll pay you back somehow.”
“Play again and win. That’s how you can pay me back.”
Ernest shook his head.
“I’m missing something,” he said. “Some part of my strategy isn’t working.”
“Then find out what it is. This is your training. And you’re clearly getting better.”
“Not good enough to win.”
Jenny shrugged.
“It’s not all about winning,” she said.
Ernest cocked his head to the side.
“It’s not all about winning?” he said, a smile spreading across his face.
Jenny smiled.
“You’ve got a new strategy, haven’t you?” she said.
“Yes,” he said. “I think I have.”
Jenny took the coins out of her purse.
“Then let’s see it,” she said.
Ernest sat back down.
Chapter Twelve
“CAN I just say for the record,” Reg said as the men crept through the alley toward the sliver of moonlight on the other side, “it comes as no shock to me that she’s an unstoppable dead munching machine. She’s always been that way inclined.”
“How did you end up together?” Zack said.
“I was dying,” Reg said. “A lot of my friends left me, or pretended they were too busy to see me. No one likes spending their free time with death. Gloria didn’t ignore me like everyone else. I clung to her like a man drowning at sea. She never wanted t
o marry me, get everything I had after I’m gone, but just to enjoy life while we’re both alive. I never thought she’d be the one to die first.”
A door banged open and they all started, hopping on one foot like a choreographed move. A pair of children ran from the cabin, down the alley toward the mess. They pressed on and emerged out onto the prow of the boat.
The boat listed to one side and they staggered. Rohit caught Reg, who was weak on his feet. Skittles rolled across the deck, the ball bumping into Bill’s feet. There was no one else there.
“She could be anywhere by now,” Zack said. “We’ll never find her.”
“We have to find her,” Bill said. “If she bites more people we will never be able to stop the virus spreading.”
“She went this way,” Reg said, pointing down an alley to the left.
“How can you be sure?” Bill said.
“I was consumed by her scent for almost a year,” Reg said. “I’ll never forget that sickly sweet musk. It’ll be there waiting for me in hell too, I’m sure.”
Reg raised his nose in the air, breathing in Gloria’s scent. He paused when he came to a door about halfway down the alley. The door was not flush against the doorframe, and when Reg poked it, it popped open.
“She’s in here,” Reg said in a low voice.
Reg opened the door. They waited for something to lurch out at them, but nothing did.
They stepped into the room, fanning out in a semi-circle. As the boat rocked, a wedge of moonlight strobed across the room, illuminating a pale figure pressing itself against the wall, claw-like hands scratching at the wooden surface.
There were voices on the other side of the wall, and Bill realised they were in the room to the east of the mess. There was a raucous laugh, and Gloria groaned and drew her hands over the wall with greater fervour. Her nail caught on a slat and tore off. She didn’t even notice.
“I spent a fortune on those damn nails,” Reg said.
“Give me your jacket,” Bill said to Zack.
Zack took it off and handed it over. They approached Gloria. She paused and then began to turn. Her mouth hung open, thick white saliva at the corner of her lips. Her teeth were clenched tight and she had clown-like red blood around her lips. Her hair was dirty, straggling, and stained red. Her hands were claws, the tendons straining at the surface of her skin.
“Gloria?” Reg said, stepping forward. “Can you hear me?”
Gloria’s head snapped toward Reg. She growled and her shoulders rose and fell with deep guttural breaths.
“If you’re in there, know that we don’t blame you for what you did,” Reg said. “If Dennis tried to kiss any of us I’m sure we’d all try to rip his throat out. There must be a part of you still left inside, isn’t there? Gloria?”
Gloria turned her head to one side, and then the other, like a dog at an interesting sound, and then threw her head back and ran forward, her legs moving in awkward circles with stiff joints.
Reg, shocked by the sudden movement, stepped back, tripped on his nightgown, and hit the ground. Gloria bent down and snapped at Reg’s exposed pale legs, missing by inches.
Bill rushed forward, wrapped Zack’s jacket around Gloria’s head and pulled her back, onto her feet. She struggled, her arms flailing wildly. Her skin was cold and clammy. But Bill held on.
Zack took hold of a length of cable in the corner and wrapped it around her wrists. He drew the hands together and wound the cable tight. Bill pushed Gloria up against a wall. Rohit bent down to help Reg to his feet.
“I guess there’s at least a bit of her left,” Reg said. “She’s been wishing I was dead for months. At least now she’s capable of carrying it out.”
Chapter Thirteen
BILL POKED his head out into the corridor, checking left and right. He stepped out, leading Gloria by the arm. There was a growing wet patch on Zack’s jacket where her mouth snapped at Bill.
“Remind me not to take my jacket back,” Zack said, bracing Gloria on the other side.
“You’re a gentleman,” Reg said.
“Why was she trying to get through the wall?” Rohit said.
“The mess is on the other side,” Bill said. “She was trying to get through to them.”
“Pretty stupid creatures, aren’t they?” Zack said.
“Don’t base your opinion of the rest of these things on her alone,” Reg said. “I’m sure there are brighter ones out there.”
“How could our greatest cities fall to these stupid things?” Zack said. “It doesn’t make sense.”
“Maybe there’s a strength to them we haven’t seen yet,” Reg said. “Another reason to kill her now.”
“We’re not going to kill her,” Bill said. “We need to get her out of here, put her in a cupboard somewhere, and lock her up.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Reg said. “Just kill her and be done with it.”
“We can’t kill her,” Bill said.
“Look at her,” Reg said. “She’s not in her right mind. She’s no more alive than a rock.”
“Someone might come up with a cure,” Bill said.
“There’s no cure for death,” Reg said.
Bill shook his head.
“We’ll lock her up where she can’t harm anyone,” he said.
“You think she won’t escape at some point?” Reg said. “Believe me, she will.”
“We’ll make it so she won’t,” Bill said.
“How?” Reg said.
“One of us will stand guard outside the door until we decide what to do with her,” Bill said.
“These things have overrun cities,” Reg said, “countries for all we know – and you think we can control them on this boat? You’re playing a dangerous game, Bill.”
“While there’s a chance there’s a cure we mustn’t kill them,” Bill said. “We’ll get to a port, get in contact with the outside world, get a handle on how things are, and then take action.”
They turned a corner and walked along the railing. The sea undulated below them like a sheet in a strong wind. They slowed to a stop.
A young couple stood by the railing, pointing up at the sky. They held hands and headed down the deck toward the group. The men surrounded Gloria and smiled at the honeymoon couple as they passed.
“That was close,” Zack said.
“Closer than you think,” Reg said.
He barrelled forward and threw his delicate frame against Gloria, pushing her over the railing. The movement made Bill and Zack lose their grip.
Gloria made a strange squawk noise as she fell toward the dark roiling water of the sea. Bill, Zack and Rohit leaned against the railing and watched as Gloria sank beneath the surface. They turned to look at Reg.
“Danger neutralised,” Reg said, dusting off his hands.
The others glared at him.
“Don’t look so surprised,” Reg said. “Men and women have been killing each other off for years. Usually it takes a gold ring and a lot of time. Gloria got off easy.”
“You killed her!” Rohit said. “You murdered her in cold blood!”
“She had cold blood, all right,” Reg said, smirking. “Always has had.”
Rohit seized Reg by the lapels, fire burning in his eyes.
“You killed one of God’s creatures!” he said.
“That was not one of God’s creatures,” Reg said.
Zack pried Rohit’s fingers off Reg.
“It’s technically not murder,” Zack said. “You can’t kill someone who’s already dead.”
“She could talk,” Rohit said. “She could move, think-”
“That’s debateable,” Reg said. “Would you prefer to keep a tiger on board where we would have to keep an eye on it all the time? And what if she escaped? How many of us would have to die before you accepted that we would have to end her? At least now we don’t have to worry about her. For all her faults she still took care of me. The least I could do was lay her to rest.”
Bill and Rohit looked
unconvinced. Reg offered his wrists to Bill.
“Lock me away,” he said. “You can thank me when you calm down.”
Bill gritted his teeth. His whole life he’d worked to save people. Seeing life so carelessly, and callously, thrown aside was not in his nature.
“You might not agree with his methods,” Zack said. “But you can’t argue with his logic. We are all a lot safer now, with her gone.”
Bill swallowed the bile he could taste at the back of his throat.
“What’s done is done,” he said.
“What do we do now?” Zack said.
“I’m going to see the captain,” Bill said. “Inform him of the events that took place tonight.”
“What about Dennis?” Zack said.
“You check on him,” Bill said. “We’ll meet back at my cabin.”
“My cabin is located beside where Dennis was bitten,” Rohit said. “I don’t feel safe taking Priya there now.”
“Bring Priya to our cabin,” Bill said. He turned to the others. “All of you are free to join us.”
“I’ll join you,” Zack said. “I don’t know anyone else here anyway.”
“Sorry, but I already have plans,” Reg said. “I’m going to return to my luxurious captain’s quarters, quaff champagne and spend the evening shredding up Gloria’s clothes.”
The group dispersed. Zack sidled up beside Bill.
“I know you don’t like what happened to Gloria,” Zack said, “but what happened to her was mercy. If I ever get like her you have permission to do the same to me.”
Bill was surprised to find that when it really came to it, he felt the same. He shivered.
Chapter Fourteen
AT THE TOP of the stairs a warm glow emanated from behind the door. As Bill opened it he was hit by music. The crew laughed and talked, just First Mate Ranj paying attention to the wheel, steering with one hand, half a bottle of beer held between thumb, index, and middle fingers, a cigarette between the others.
“No guests allowed in the wheelhouse,” a half-cut sailor said, waving Bill away.
“This is important,” Bill said, looking past the man to Ranj. “There’s something happening on this ship I think you should know about.”