by Jon Schafer
Walking down the stairs was painful for him so it was a relief to finally reach deck four. Standing at the base of the grand staircase, he was trying to think of anything he might have missed when Connie called out to him from down the Centrum. “Have you seen Tim? He's really upset about something and he ran off. I don't know what got into him. I didn't want to bother you all with it because you already had so much going on and I was sure he'd come back, but he hasn't.”
In the dim light, it took her a moment to see Brain standing there. When she did, she let out a cry of delight and rushed forward to hug him. Speaking in a rush of words, she said, “Oh Randy, I'm so glad you're all right. I was so worried. No one knew where you were.” Backing away slightly, she ran her hands along his arms and chest asking, “Are you hurt? Did they hurt you?”
Slightly embarrassed at the attention, Brain tried to deflect it by asking Connie about her brother, “How's Tim? They didn't hurt him, did they? After what he went through, it's no surprise he's upset. He's going to have to tell me how he got away because Ricky had me taped up like you wouldn't believe.”
Seeing Connie, Susan and Steve giving him an odd look, Brain said in explanation, “They grabbed us both. They stuck me in the room where Tick-Tock found me, and then one of them starting beating Tim as an example of what would happen if I didn't cooperate. When I acted like I was going to help them, they took Tim away and told me they'd keep him around to make sure I did what they wanted.”
Things had been moving so fast that this was the first time Steve had listened to Brain's story about being abducted. The tech had mentioned a few things in passing as they waited for Sheila to join them but no real details of how he'd been captured.
“Tim's been with us the whole time,” Steve informed him.
Brain shook his head, “How? They had us both.”
The question hung in the air as Brain took a deep breath and tried to make sense of what was going on by describing the details of his kidnapping. Only partially paying attention, Steve already had an idea about what had really happened. That Tim had set Brain up. He didn't voice his theory in front of Connie though.
It turned out he didn't have to. When Brain got to the part about Tim being beaten, she said forcefully, “That little shit. He told me he tripped and that's where he got that bruise on his cheek. When I find him, I'm going to beat him myself. Why would he hand you over to Reverend Ricky? Why is he working with that sick freak?”
A sudden thought occurred to her. Turning to Steve, she pleaded, “Please, don't hurt Tim when he shows up. He's a little boy. There's got to be a reason for what he did. I know he betrayed Randy, but...” Suddenly switching back to being mad, she added, “But whatever reason he thought he had, it's not good enough. I'm going to personally strangle him.”
Steve held up his hand for her to be silent and said, “Calm down. We don't know all the details yet, but it doesn't look good for Tim. For whatever reason, he set Brain up, and he could have gotten us killed. He did get Mary and I hurt, so we'll have to do something about it.”
I just don't know what, he said to himself.
Connie started to cry so he added, “I doubt Tim helped Ricky willingly. That'll go in his favor. We need to find him though.”
Calling Heather and Tick-Tock, Steve filled them in on this new development and told them to keep an eye out for Tim. Angered at the betrayal, Tick-Tock threatened to shoot the youngster, which sent Connie into tears again. After making Tick-Took promise to bring him in alive, Steve signed off.
Just when I thought things were settling down, I've got another crisis to deal with, Steve lamented. My chest hurts, I'm dead tired, there are still a dozen details that need to be dealt with, and now we've got to find Tim; who it seems screwed us over.
Sorting through the priorities, he said to Connie and Brain, “Go up and grab the rest of the weapons that Sheila collected from the Ushers in the casino.” He shook his head rapidly to clear it and added. “I forgot where she put them so stop by on seven and ask her. Susan, you stay here. Watch the stairs and don't let any of the Faithful down here. They'll be wandering around looking for Ricky but I don't want them on deck four.”
Turning back to Brain and Connie, he said, “When you get back, start loading everything on The Usual Suspects. We aren't staying here any longer then we have to. Get ready for a quick exit.”
At this, Connie gasped and said, “I know Tim did a horrible thing but I hope you're not thinking of leaving him. We can't just abandon him.”
“We're not leaving yet,” Steve assured her. “I just want to be ready.” He then reminded them that the ship had settled two feet since they first came on board. He stressed that either Brain or Connie needed to be on The Usual Suspects at all times in case they had to make a hasty exit.
“What about Tim?” Connie asked.
“I think he's done all the damage he can do, so I'm not worried about him pulling any other shitty stunts tonight. Keep an eye out for him in case he shows up, and we'll all get together to look for him in the morning. Hopefully by then, the Faithful will have found Ricky so we can get them looking for Tim, too.”
A coughing fit seized Steve that almost doubled him over from the pain. When it passed, he spit onto the deck and was relieved it came out clear. No blood. Despite this good sign, he knew he had to lie down for a little while. They were short handed and he planned on starting the search for Tim himself, but knew it was out of the question tonight. He wouldn't last more than five minutes before he collapsed. It would have to be tomorrow.
As the others moved off to carry out their orders, he went to the Captain's Clothes Store and gingerly lowered himself onto the mattress he and Heather shared. Most men would have had a hard time falling asleep as the thought bounced around in their head of almost being killed by two bullets fired at them from close range, but in a world where the dead had come back to life to feed on the living, this paled in comparison to existing on a daily basis in one of the middle levels of Hell.
In two minutes, Steve was asleep.
***
Tim watched as the group in front of the stairs broke up and went in separate directions, relieved that Susan was left to guard access to deck four. He didn't want Steve to be there since he always seemed to know what was going on around him. It would make what he had to do all the more difficult. With Susan guarding the stairs, she would watch the stairs. If Steve or Tick-Tock were guarding the stairs, they could be counted on to watch everything around them. From helping Steve and the others, he'd learned much about their strengths and weaknesses. He used that knowledge against them now without any qualms.
Glancing down at his watch, the watch his father had given him on his last birthday, Tim saw he still had forty minutes until it was time for him to act on Reverend Ricky's last order. He had been surprised when he heard the Reverend's voice calling to him on the two-way radio, but in the back of his mind felt it was inevitable that they interact one last time.
After running away from Connie, he’d gone to the back room of a shop that specialized in making stuffed animals. Months ago, he had set up his own little hide-a-way that he never told his sister about. Here, he stored his treasures. Some old playboy magazines, a few t-shirts with funny sayings that he’d made up in the Shirt Shack, an old brass compass that he found on one of his scavenging trips, and after Ricky had given him them, the radio and the bolt cutters.
As he sat on top of a flattened pile of dolphins that would never be stuffed and cuddled by a child, he calmed down enough to think clearly. He had to come up with a solution to the jam he’d gotten himself into. Like any pre-teen who didn't know enough about how people thought and acted, he first reasoned that everybody in the whole world was against him. No one understood that he’d been doing what he did to save his dad, and they wanted to punish him for it.
As he thought along these lines, Tim became angrier with Steve and the people from the sailboat. They were the ones who would hang him if they caught hi
m. They seemed so nice at first but then had turned on him and wanted to kill him. At this thought, he decided he hadn't betrayed them, they had betrayed him.
And Ricky had betrayed him too, he realized. He's got my dad and won't let him go. We had a deal and he broke it. And after all I did for him, that fat fucker.
Tim smiled at his use of the curse word.
If Steve and the rest of them had never come aboard, none of this would have happened. They're fuckers too; all of them. Ricky would have never taken dad if I hadn't been caught sneaking around trying to help Steve, he thought vehemently.
His anger turned to sadness at the thought of everything he'd lost and he started to cry. He saw no way out of the dilemma. Curling up in a ball, the emotional strain caught up with him and soon he was sobbing loudly. His tears eventually tuned to sniffles. Worn out from his internal struggle and emotional trials, the tears dried on his face as he drifted off to sleep.
When the voice called out his name, waking him from his restless nap, he jerked upright and started to defend himself. His first thought was that Steve had found him and was going to drag him up on deck to hang him from the yardarm. Looking around blearily, he saw that he was alone. Tim decided he must have been dreaming and lowered himself back onto the soft pile of deflated dolphins. He had just gotten comfortable when the voice came again. This time he recognized it and knew it wasn't a dream. It was a nightmare.
From the radio's speaker, Ricky's voice said, “I know that you're listening Tim. I know that you can hear me. You need to answer me or it's going to be very painful for your father.”
Tim snatched the radio from where it lay on a nearby sewing machine and said angrily, “What do you want? Haven't you done enough? Let my dad go.”
“Ah, young Tim, so good to hear from you,” Ricky purred.
“Let my dad go,” Tim repeated.
“In good time, in good time,” Ricky intoned. His voice growing stern, he said, “But you need to do one last thing for me before you're reunited with your father. The thing I told you about when you were up on the bridge.”
Feeling hope burst in his chest, Tim asked, “And then you'll let my dad go?”
“Do what I told you to do at exactly ten o'clock tonight, and you'll be with him soon.”
In hell, Ricky thought, but didn't say. Instead asking, “Do you have a watch?”
Looking down at the present from his dad, he said, “Yes.”
“What time does it say, young Tim?”
Tim told him and Ricky had him advance it by eight minutes.
“Just like in the movies, we're synchronizing our watches, young Tim.”
'When do I see my dad?” Tim asked.
“I’ll be watching to make sure you do what I told you to. Your father will be with me and I’ll have a gun to his head. When I see that you've completed this last task for me, I'll let him go.”
Tim steeled himself as he considered what was being asked of him.
“Do we have a deal?” Ricky asked.
“Yes, yes” he cried. “It's their fault anyway. They deserve whatever happens.”
“Good boy. At exactly ten o'clock, cut the lock on the doors to the cabins on deck four and open them. Then I'll release your father. You have my word.”
With an amused tone in his voice, Ricky added, “And one more thing, Tim. After you've opened the doors, you better run.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
The Dead Calm:
Steve's bladder woke him and for a minute he lay on his back, wondering if he could ignore it and go back to sleep. He decided that it the urge wouldn't go away through will alone and started to get up when the pain in his ribs stopped him. Cursing, he cautiously rolled onto his side and then on to all fours. Slowly levering himself into a standing position, he noticed that it only hurt when he moved, breathed, or stood still.
With the Head Ushers dead and Ricky in hiding, the time for sneaking around and using the rear corridors had passed. Steve grabbed his M-4 then went out through the front door of the Captain's Clothes Store directly into the Centrum. Noticing with satisfaction that Susan sat in such a way that she could see the stairs and down the Centrum with just a turn of her head, he waved to her and said, “Bathroom break.”
Slowly he made his way to the public restroom halfway down the Centrum. When he was finished, he saw that the toilet wouldn't flush. Then he went to wash his hands and noted with frustration that no water came out of the faucet either. Steve thought back on how they had filled the Usual Suspect's water tank by pouring gallon jugs one at a time through the filler near the bow and to do that on the Dead Calm would take a year, if they could even find that much water.
Tomorrow we help the passengers get the lifeboats ready and then it's time to go, he resolved. No more screwing around here. It's time to haul ass. The accommodations are really starting to suck.
As he returned to where Susan sat he was surprised to see Cindy with her. He hadn't noticed the little girl the first time because she had been curled up asleep on a bench behind Susan. Pointing to her, he raised his eyebrows in question.
“She got lonely,” Susan explained in a whisper. “Brain brought her up here about an hour ago and she talked my ear off for fifteen minutes before she crashed.”
“Brain and Connie are on The Usual Suspects?” Steve asked quietly.
Susan nodded and said, “You didn't rest for very long.”
“When you gotta go...”
Susan smiled and asked, “Can you do me a favor? Can you go into the Ship's Store and grab me a bottle of water?”
Realizing he had put Susan out here with no one to relieve her, he apologized for not being more on the ball.
“You can't think of everything,” she assured him.
He replied, as he left to get her water, “But I still have to try.”
***
A jolt of fear shooting through him, Tim froze and when he saw Steve come out of a store.
Don't let him spot me, he prayed, trying to make himself invisible.
He had managed to slip behind Susan and made it all the way past the stairs to the registration desk that dealt with people who wanted to book activities at one of the ship's ports of call. Sadly, Tim remembered his dad standing at this very same desk when he signed the family up to go horseback riding on the beach. With a flash of anger, he also remembered seeing Steve here for the first time as he tapped his rifle on the counter to see if any dead were behind it.
Hoping the shadows would conceal him like they did when he cut the chain used to secure the cabin doors on deck five, Tim crouched and backed up until he felt his tail bone hit the front of the desk. His heart pounding in his throat, he barely dared breathe lest he give himself away.
I'm so close, he thought. Please don't let them spot me now.
Tim looked around for a direction to run if they noticed him, then watched with relief as Steve turned away and headed down the Centrum while Susan followed his progress. He used this distraction to slip over the desk, freezing when he accidentally knocked the bolt cutters against the counter top. Looking back to where Susan stood, he saw her interest was still taken by Steve. With a quiet sigh and a, “Thank you,” said under his breath, he continued on. Once on the other side, he found himself in complete darkness. Pressing a button on the side of his watch, he saw by the glow that it was ten minutes to ten.
More than enough time to make it, he thought with relief. In a crouch, he went to the far end of the counter and slipped back over. The nearest emergency light was twenty feet away, which left his area in darkness. The doors to the cabin area were only a few quick steps away.
***
Heather glanced at the group of Faithful making their way down the Centrum as they searched the rows of high-end shops on deck ten. She had just finished searching each of the royal suites and was exhausted. There hadn't been any sign of Ricky, but she was relieved when she came across the younger of the Hungarian girls and her sister trying on clothes in a bo
utique. She escorted them up to the pool deck so Ricky wouldn’t come across them too and left them with two older women. After explaining the situation to them, they assured her that the sisters would be looked after until she returned. Heather would have to tell Steve that the sisters would be staying with them, and he was now a foster dad, but she knew he wouldn't object, since it was the right thing to do.
Resuming her search of the high-end cabins reserved for Ricky and his Head Ushers, Heather was repulsed at how dirty everything was. Soiled clothes and half eaten food lay scattered around most of the rooms and they all had an underlying odor of dried sweat and body waste.
Now, breathing the semi-fresh air of the Centrum, she decided to call it a night. Checking her watch, she saw it was a few minutes to ten. Heather unclipped her radio, pressed the transmit button and asked, “Tick- Tock, where are you? Over.”
“Deck six, over,” came his reply.
“I’m calling it a night,” Heather told him. “I want to check on Steve anyway, and then I need to go up to the pool deck and do something, over.” Heather didn't want to get into explaining about the new additions to their group until she had to.
Tick-Tock replied, “I’m almost done with deck six and then I’m going to go through seven real quick. Shouldn't be more than an hour, I’ll see you downstairs, over.”
“Over and out,” Heather acknowledged.
Securing her radio, she slowly headed for the stairs thinking; as much as I’ve gone up and down these damn things, I should have the butt of an eighteen year old.