by JE Gurley
Elansky picked up the weapon. “It looks like a Cugir 9 mm, made in Romania.”
She handed it to Josh, who turned it over in his hands, examining it. His hands came away covered in sticky blood. Germaine snatched it from him, handing him the Remington shotgun instead. “Here, you take this.”
Elansky rubbed the toe of her boot in the pool of blood, smearing it along the deck. “Whatever happened, it took place recently. This blood is still wet.”
“Why are there no bodies?” Odette asked. His eyes darted around the deck, peering into the shadows.
Josh had wondered the same thing. The silence surrounding them was unnatural. They should be able to hear the throbbing of engines and generators running, conversation, the clanging of doors. The only sound was the waves lapping at the hull. He thought of the Neptune’s demise and feared the same thing had happened to the black ship.
“Let’s try the bridge,” Germaine suggested.
As they ascended the stairs to the bridge, something large lunged from the shadows, slammed into Odette who was following last, and dragged him screaming to the deck. Both flashlights swung to pick out the features of a twelve-feet-long Bristle worm. Elansky fired four .45 rounds into the creature’s head with little effect. Josh raised the shotgun, waited until the creature faced him, and fired at its eyes. It bellowed in pain as one of the eyes exploded, reared on its hind segment, and struck the stairs with a hard blow. Josh grabbed the railing to keep from tumbling over the side. He steadied himself and fired twice more, blowing a large hole in the Bristle worm’s head. It fell across the bottom of the stairs.
Odette suffered a deep cut to his right leg where the fore claws of the Bristle worm had grabbed him. He ignored his pain and scrambled up the stairs and away from the creature on his hands and knees. He stared back at the creature’s lifeless body, his eyes wide with fright.
“That be a devil,” he moaned.
Germaine climbed the stairs to the bridge deck and yelled back down to Bodden.
“Start the engines and pull away. Circle the ship until we signal you.”
“Shouldn’t we go back?” Josh asked, alarmed that Germaine was sending the Miss Lucy away.
“I wouldn’t,” Elansky said. She pointed back the way they had come. Now, four of the creatures crawled across the deck toward them. She glanced at the .45 and shoved it back into its holster. “I need something bigger.”
“Here,” Germaine said, handing her the Cugir. “You’re a better shot than I am.”
Germaine led the way to the bridge. The wooden door had been smashed and shards of broken glass littered the deck. Like the rest of the ship, the bridge was deserted, but not all of the crew had escaped. A streak of blood ran halfway across the deck with bits of human bone discarded like so much garbage. Josh fought down a rush of nausea.
“This is some set up,” Germaine commented, admiring the array of electronic apparatus not normally found on a tramp freighter. All of it was dark, powerless. Not even the emergency lights were on.
“Maybe they’re all below decks,” Elansky suggested.
“Only one way to find out,” Germaine replied.
“Not me,” Odette protested.
“Do you really want to stay here alone?” Germaine asked him.
He stared at Germaine, and then shook his head.
“Okay, then stay close.” He looked at Odette’s leg, still bleeding profusely. “Let’s find a first-aid kit and attend to that wound. There should be one somewhere around here.”
While Germaine attended to Odette’s leg, Elansky kept watch, staring at the creatures below, busily cannibalizing their dead brethren. Each bite took a serving platter-sized chunk of meat from the creature. They appeared content enough devouring their own, so they ignored the humans. Josh came up beside her. “Do you think they’re still alive?”
“No, but we still need bigger weapons to get off this ship. We’ll find them below.”
“How do you know?”
“The Cugir. If they have one, they probably have more.”
Her reasoning made sense, but he wasn’t eager to test her theory. “The ship’s probably infested with Bristle worms.”
She smiled. “You did a good job on the last one.”
“I’ve had experience, but I’m not trying to become an expert.”
After Germaine finished bandaging Odette’s leg, he walked over to Josh and Elansky. His face was grim, made even harder by the harsh light of the flashlight. “The bite’s not too deep, but his leg is already turning red and swelling. He’s going to need more help than we can provide.”
Remembering the passengers on the lifeboat, Josh said, “It’s infected. Maybe there’s more medicine in the infirmary,” he suggested.
“Ammo first,” Elansky replied, “then the infirmary.”
They followed a passageway off the bridge until they reached a companionway leading down into the bowels of the ship. The rooms along the passageway, mostly filled with communications equipment and electronics gear, were empty. Standing at the top of the companionway, the beam from her flashlight was swallowed by the blackness below. Recalling his nightmare, Josh fought his imagination, which saw monsters in every shadow. Cautiously, Elansky led the way down the steps to the next level. More blood and bits of human flesh showed the creatures had indeed reached the interior of the ship. As they rounded a corner in the passageway, they came face to face with a dead Bristle worm blocking their path.
“Somebody got lucky and killed this one,” Elansky said.
Josh was more worried that men armed with submachine guns had died. Faced with crawling over the dead creature or backtracking, they chose to search for another way down. They soon located a second companionway leading to a wider passageway. The overhead was a maze of pipes and electrical conduit. A steel rail used as a hoist track to transport heavy material ran down the center of the passageway. They passed several machine shops and a carpentry shop, not bothering to check them. Germaine closed and dogged each door they passed. Someone had pinned one creature against the wall with a steel girder using the overhead rail system and killed it. Josh applauded their resourcefulness.
They paused at the entrance to a small galley. A single long table ran down the center of the room. A grill, a microwave oven, cooler and a cupboard covered one wall. Untouched food remained on plates on the table. Glasses and cups filled with water and coffee sat beside the plates. There were no bodies or signs of struggle. It looked as if the diners had simply gotten up to fetch silverware and vanished. Josh felt the coffeepot sitting on an electric burner and found it was still warm. He picked up a slice of bread from a plate and nibbled it.
“Still fresh.”
As they left, Germaine locked the galley door as well. The passageway ended at a set of double doors, both smashed and hanging askew from their hinges. Beyond the doors, they found signs of an epic battle – pools of blood on the deck and smears on the walls, a second dead worm, partially consumed, and hundreds of shell casings. Overhead pipes were bent and ruptured. A steady stream of water poured from a broken water pipe. Odette gasped and backpedaled when he discovered a severed human head lodged amid the tangle of pipes, as if one of the creatures had rammed the body into the ceiling and yanked it down, headless. The eyes were open and staring. The group quickly discovered more carnage. Several detached limbs lay scattered up and down the passageway, the remains of a grisly feast. Two weapons had been left behind as well. Elansky picked up a second Cugir and tossed it aside.
“Empty.”
She found an odd-looking, short-barreled weapon, examined it, and smiled. “A Daewoo K7. It fires 1,100 9 mm rounds per minute.” She checked the clip. “Full. A nice weapon made by the South Koreans.” She seemed pleased by her find. She offered the Cugir to Odette, who was equally pleased to have a weapon in his hands.
Three quick shots echoed down the passageway ahead. Josh stiffened.
“Someone’s still alive,” Elansky said.
W
ithout waiting for the others, she began running down the passageway toward the sound of the shots, her flashlight dancing on the bulkheads. The others raced to catch up. Josh caught a glimpse of her head as she disappeared down another companionway. As he caught up with her, he found her standing on the stairs above a Bristle worm facing away from her. She fired a short burst from the K7 into the back of the creature’s head. Then she fired a second burst into the damage that the first burst had created. It was enough. The bullets dug into its tiny brain, and the Bristle worm collapsed at her feet, shuddering briefly before it died. Two men stood opposite the dead Bristle worm, their weapons pointed toward Elansky. The flashlights taped to the end of the barrels played over her. After a few tense seconds, they both lowered their weapons and flashlights.
“Glad to see you, corporal,” the older of the two said. He wore slacks and shirt, both covered with splotches of blood and gore. He removed a black wooden cane tucked in his belt and leaned on it.
“Are there any more of you?” she asked.
The man with the cane shook his head. “I don’t think so. They came up through the pool in the cargo bay and up the hull of the ship. They were on us before we knew what was happening.”
“Who are you?” She spoke to the older man, clearly, the leader by the way the younger man deferred to him, but her eyes fixed on his companion.
“My name is Simon Knotts. I’m the captain of the Pandora.
19
Oct. 31, Pandora, Cayman Trench, Caribbean –
Josh was amazed that they had found someone alive on the death ship. He looked at the older man called Knotts, and saw a man who had resigned himself to death but fought to live, because that was how he had been trained, as a former military man. He had the bearing of a ship’s captain, sharing some of Germaine’s drive and determination, tempered by a hard edge, like forged steel.
“This is Bates, a specialist,” Knotts said of his companion.
Elansky stared at Bates rather than the captain, and Josh had to admit that he cut quite a figure. Bates was slightly taller than Knotts, younger, leaner, and more muscular. He wore black slacks and a muscle-hugging black t-shirt. His sandy-colored hair and facial features reminded Josh of the old movie star, Tab Hunter, but with colder eyes, the eyes of a killer.
“What kind of specialist are you?” she asked.
Bates grinned. “Same kind you are, I think.”
“Pandora?” Josh commented to stop the game of mutual admiration between Elansky and Bates. “An apt name for your ship.”
“I’ll wager this ship’s had more than one name in her lifetime,” Germaine said. He still kept a firm grip on his .45.
Knotts ignored him. “Are you from the schooner? Can we get to it? We need to get off this ship. It’s sinking.”
“Why is it sinking?” Germaine asked.
“Some fool decided to ignite a propane tank in a forward machine shop to kill the worms,” Bates snapped. “He blew a four-foot wide hole below the waterline. He also blew the fuel feed to the generator. Now the bilge pumps are out.”
“I sent my boat off after we boarded,” Germaine replied. “I’ll signal it when we reach the deck.”
“Good, let’s go,” Knotts said.
“We’re going to need more ammo,” Elansky said.
Bates spoke up. “There’s a weapons locker and extra ammo in the sub hold, but it’s two decks below us and closer to the stern. We’ll never make it.”
“We’ll never make it without ammo,” Elansky insisted. “They’re all over the deck.”
Knotts glanced at the dead worm, and then back to Elansky. “Okay.”
Bates turned and trotted back down the passageway. Elansky followed him. Josh was concerned by Elansky’s quick trust of Bates and Knotts. He didn’t trust either of them, but he trusted Elansky. Odette leaned on Germaine and limped along beside Knotts, who also struggled to maintain the fast pace set by Bates and Elansky.
“You said they came up through the sub hatch. Where is your sub?” Germaine asked.
Knotts’ face clouded for a moment. “It’s gone.”
“When will it be back up?”
Knotts stopped and turned on Germaine. He stopped with his face only inches from Germaine. His jaw clenched and the grip on his cane tightened. “It won’t. The monster you’re after destroyed it. I sent them to their deaths.”
Knotts failed to see Germaine’s .45 pointed at his stomach. When Knotts didn’t attack, he lowered it. “You mean the monster we’re both after.”
Knotts shook his head. “Not any more. I’ll kill it if I can.”
Germaine nodded, as if he understood the captain’s plight.
“What were you diving for?” Josh asked. When Knotts didn’t reply, he continued, “You were after the Russian warheads, weren’t you?”
“That’s classified.”
“Not if they’re on this ship,” Josh insisted. “It’s sinking.”
“They’re safely stowed away in a vault. We found them once. We’ll find them again.”
Josh shook his head in disgust. “You people make me sick. You weren’t salvaging them. The Navy could have done that. You wanted them for your deadly toy chest.”
“It’s a dangerous world out there,” Knotts replied.
“Yeah, thanks to the likes of you lot,” Germaine said.
“Keep up,” Bates called back to them.
With Bates leading the way, the group continued down the passageway and descended a longer companionway to a large open area serving as a garage. The room was too cavernous to distinguish all of its contents by flashlight, but several five-ton trucks, various automobiles, ranging from a brand new Mercedes SLS AMG GT roadster to a beat up, rusted out old Ford Bronco, and a dozen or so motorcycles almost filled the great space, leaving just enough room for a black 2006 Monaco RV. The crew of the Pandora was equipped for any vehicle necessity. Josh was willing to bet that most of the vehicles were bulletproof, prepared for any nefarious activity. A large door against the outside bulkhead allowed access for easy unloading.
“You don’t happen to keep a helicopter handy?” Germaine asked Knotts, eying the garage’s contents.
Knotts ignored him as they threaded their way through the neat rows of parked vehicles. Josh brushed against one car and his leg came away covered in the same slime that was on the Bristle worms. He instantly became more alert, but the only sounds he heard were their footsteps echoing in the cavernous compartment. He rubbed the slime off on a clean spot of another vehicle before the parasites could penetrate the material. They had almost reached the far end of the room, when Bates suddenly went into a crouch. He waved for the others to do the same. Josh lowered his head and cowered behind a green Toyota. A minute later, two large Bristle worms appeared from a side passageway, their multiple legs scratching at the metal deck. They paused, lifted their front sections into the air, and moved their heads back and forth, as if sensing the presence of food nearby.
Josh held his breath and tightened his grip on the shotgun, hoping they would go away. He had no desire to become a worm snack. The group was so intently focused on the two worms in front of them, they failed to see a third worm enter the garage from behind them until it banged into a car and set off the alarm. The high-pitched squeal and honking horn drew the first two creatures’ attention. All three converged toward the six people crouched behind the vehicles.
Bates rose and fired at one of the two creatures. Elansky joined him. Bullets stitched a line of holes up and down its body but didn’t stop it. Josh pumped a shell into the Remington and began firing at the second one. His shots, too, were having little effect. He was too far away. He rose and began walking toward the creature, pumping shell after shell into its head. Finally, one shot hit a vital organ. The creature thrashed wildly against the RV, smashing its window and caving in the side of the vehicle. It collapsed dead. Following Josh’s example, Bates and Elansky concentrated their fire at the remaining creature’s head and swiftly disp
atched it as well. Elansky tossed him a questioning look at his foolhardiness. He didn’t know what had come over him. He wasn’t trying to be brave, He just wanted to retrieve the ammo and get off the ship.
Knotts and Germaine took the third creature, firing shot after shot into it, but Odette, pushed beyond his limits of his courage by fear, dropped his Cugir submachine gun and hobbled away between two trucks, quickly disappearing into the darkness. The worm, smelling the bloody bandage, ignored the ineffectual fire from the two men and followed Odette. Germaine’s .45 clicked on empty. Knotts continued firing, but he had no clear shot at the creature’s head as it weaved in and out of the row of trucks. Odette’s wound was too great to allow a rapid retreat. As he crossed the open space between two rows of vehicles, he stumbled and fell. The worm was on him before anyone could get close enough for a clear shot. Josh broke out the driver’s side window of the Toyota, reached inside, and switched on the headlights. Its alarm joined the others. The headlights silhouetted the creature rearing above Odette as he screamed in terror. Before Josh could fire, it sank its mouth into the hapless Rastafarian’s chest. He gurgled out one last breath before dying.
Josh moved toward the creature, but Elansky grabbed his arm. “He’s dead. The sound will draw others. We have to leave.”
Josh stared at the Bristle worm as it slowly devoured Odette. His blood was racing. He wanted to kill it, but Elansky was right. They couldn’t waste their ammunition. He had only three shells left. Bates picked up the Cugir that Odette had dropped, removed the clip, took out the remaining bullets, and handed them to Germaine.
“Reload your clip with these.”
Germaine slipped the bullets into the clip of his .45 and shoved it back in. He nodded to Bates. “Thanks.”
At the far end of the garage, Bates raised a round hatch in the floor. Josh peered into a sea of blackness. Bates’ flashlight picked out a metal ladder, but it didn’t penetrate the gloom to the floor. Josh had no idea how long the ladder was.