Adrift

by Trimboli, TJ

  Morris looked around to see the smiles, the tears of joy, the sullen appreciation that their struggles on this ship were at an end. He couldn’t bear to watch it any longer, to see the spirits of these people be lifted so high, only to be crushed down to dust when they found out it was a lie.

  “I wish to take you there my children. To shelter you beneath its branches, to shower you in its cold lakes, and warm sea’s. To break bread with you, to drink wine with you, and to start our new lives. But there are those who wish it weren’t so.” She spat.

  Murmur’s filled the shopping district. Parents raised concerns over who would be so daft to say no to Kendra’s oasis. Children cried, men shouted, women scolded.

  Yes, now Morris could see Kendra’s plan. It didn’t matter if the oasis was real or not. All that mattered was if she could convince these people it was and that she could take them there but there was just one thing standing in their way—Bobbi.

  “There is one thing standing in our way, my children. The last standing authority figure of the broken democracy that was the council. Bobbi Shaw has seen it fit to steal the Captain’s keys from my clutches, start the ship up for herself, and bring us back to the main land. She has it convinced that it may yet be prosperous but she is jaded. She has turned a wicked eye to the Lord’s plan and seen it fit to enact her own diabolical scheme. She doesn’t wish the world to change. She is a lost relic in the dawn of a new era and her poisonous words infect each and every one of you. Already she has seen to coerce a hundred or so of our brothers and sisters to her cause. Right now, they seek to take from us that which we have rightly earned, will you stand by and let that happen?” She roared.

  “NO!” The room cried in unison.

  Sneaky little bitch.

  “Will you stand by while she takes us to the hell that walks the earth?” “NO,” they sang.

  “Then I implore you, set forth unto this ship, and bring her and anyone that follows her to me. To be tasked with treason and put to the sword like they did to each and every one of us when they saw fit. Mothers, take your children to bed. Anyone single man or woman worth her salt will bring me that which I desire.”

  “Enough!” Morris roared surprising even himself that the words were flowing from his mouth.

  Everyone around him backed away leaving a small radius open for everyone to stare at him.

  Kendra held the lantern out over the archway fully illuminating Morris’ features. She smiled. “Ah, Morris. The once shameful leader of the bottom dwellers. The only people insipid enough to try and defy the Lord’s decree. Gaze upon him dutifully my children. It is wicked men like him that threaten all that we have pushed towards.”

  A man of medium build, crooked nose, and Eugene Levy eyebrows and a large bull dyke, hair shaved down to the scalp, with sweat and grime seeping down her armpits, stood next to him fuming. They stepped forward, crackling their knuckles, ready to get down to business.

  “Stand down, children. Morris would not have come into the belly of the beast if not for good reason.” As she spoke, she softly walked the length of the foot bridge taking the circular staircase at the far right descending to their level. The sea of people parted for her as she strode towards him. “He blames me for the death of his friend, though I wonder does he know that the very woman he now fights for is the one truly responsible for his buddies demise?”

  “Give it up Kendra. There are no tricks you can pull on me. I know what truly happened.” “You know nothing!” She roared forcefully approaching him.

  He took a step back but the line of people behind him formed a barrier trapping him in.

  “You know what they want you to know. I loved your friend, same as you do. He was the first one to stand by my side during the night riot and all that I have achieved now would be nothing without him, much like your Queen Bobbi is with her murderous husband Trent.”

  Morris feigned confusion. He knew she was trying to manipulate him, but the longer he could keep her focus on him and less on the world outside this room the better. “You lie,” he muttered.

  “A disciple of GOD does not lie. Bobbi planted evidence on your best friend Ahmed in hopes of steering everyone’s accusations away from her dearly beloved. You see, he was found at the scene of the crime, passed out drunk, blood all over him but yet still he lives while our friend is dead.” She lamented.

  “He was not your friend. You manipulated him, same as all these people.”

  “Is that what you hoped to gain by coming in here Morris? I must say I’m disappointed. I expected more from you. You will sway no one’s opinion. The only thing that will sway will be your neck upon a noose. The same noose your leader used to hang one of us.” “Yeah, an eye for an eye,” one of the denizens shouted.

  “String him by his neck,” another cackled.

  A voice he could have sworn came from a young adolescent. Morris smiled. “No. I didn’t come here to sway any opinions. I know you’ve all made up your minds. I came here for two reasons. The first was to kill you.”

  Kendra held her arms out as if she was Jesus on the cross inviting him to do it. “Well, what’re you waiting for Judas?”

  “In a minute. I’m more preoccupied with reason number two.”

  It was now he noticed Kendra listening to the wind or rather the lack there of. The room was silent, all eyes waiting for Kendra’s words to attack him but they never came. Instead, they listened as they heard the metallic kerplunk of a deadbolt locking.

  Morris lowered his right hand to his cargo shorts feeling the soft metal kiss of the Swiss army knife hidden within his pocket.

  Kendra leapt upon him grabbing him by the collar.

  He let her guide him towards the door.

  People parted like the red sea leading them straight towards the double framed, plexiglas doors.

  Hector stood on the opposite side fuming with rage.

  She pressed Morris up against the window scrunching his face against the glass. She passed the lantern off to a man beside her who in turn handed her a large ™Zhen VG-10 series, six point five inch chopping cleaver.

  The very same Morris had used time and time again on the job. The irony was not lost upon him.

  She pressed it up against the nape of his neck turning to Hector. “In three seconds, you will unlock this door. Otherwise, I will kill him,” she said malevolently.

  Hector’s eyes met Morris’s gaze and he nodded.

  Kendra watched horrified as Hector and his men backed away leaving Morris to his fate.

  She pushed Morris out of the way slicing at the plexiglas in front of her. It left not even a scratch.

  “It’s bullet proof. What makes you think a meat cleaver can crack it?” Morris laughed.

  She turned towards him, venom coursing through her veins. One of those veins bulged over her forehead like a wandering river, pulsating. “Kill him.”

  CHAPTER FORTY

  BOBBI

  Inside a ship that swayed endlessly back and forth, Bobbi slid her way down vent after vent, turn after turn, dip after dip, following a small child who crawled through with ease. She held her nausea at bay but for how long, she couldn’t be sure. The storm was right on top of them now and the rocking of the ship had no end in sight. She rubbed at her arms, the dry siding burning her. She soldiered on. “How much farther?” she asked knowing the child was unlikely to answer.

  The kid took a left as she followed and that was how it went the entire way. They took a right, another left, before reaching an access vent housed between two walls. It stretched the entirety of the ship. The slope downwards gave her vertigo like never before. She gave the child one look afraid of the answer but the kid pushed off the ledge sliding down the vent like it was a slide in a playground. Bobbi watched till the kid disappeared from view.

  “Son of a bitch. How do you get yourself in these jams Bobbi? Sliding down a god damn vent like you were twelve? This is ludicrous!” she argued with herself as she built up the nerve to push off.


  One.

  Two.

  Three.

  She kicked her legs forward, careening down the vent. The slits in the vents that flew past her every few dozen feet or so put her in a trance like state like she was slipping from reality. It felt like staring into an oscillating fan. She shut her eyes waiting for this carnival ride from hell to cease.

  A few free falls later, she felt the ground she slid on evaporate. She opened her eyes in time to see herself fall from the ceiling towards the ground below. She pivoted just enough to keep herself from landing on her feet snapping her legs in ways they had no business snapping. She landed on her shoulder with a thud. Luckily for her, there was no tear of cartilage or snapping of bone. She brushed herself off ignoring the welt of a bruise that formed. “Kid?” she called out. No answer.

  Bobbi didn’t think it would be possible for a room to be darker than any other on this ship but then again, she’d never been in the engine room before. There wasn’t a window in sight and the steam reverberating through the room was stifling to say the least. She could already feel the pit stains forming on her shirt. She fumbled in her jeans for her matchbook, pulling it out. She pulled one out, noticing there were only four left.

  That may be problematic.

  She struck the first match illuminating just a few feet around her. The massive engines towered over her. She could only make out two of the nine but they scared the living shit out of her. The bottom had five grates in its steel frame like cheese grater, for what she had no idea but it formed almost the shape of a mouth to her. Dials and pressure gauges sat centered with her line of sight giving the engine a pseudo appearance with the gauges standing in for eyes. In the darkness, it looked like the face of the suck-o-matic robot from one of her favorite childhood cartoons, ™Rocko’s Modern Life. It was scary as a kid and downright terrifying now.

  She made her way around the engines towards the control panel residing behind them. It stood at the far end of the engine room towards the back four engines. As she made her way down, the first of four matches went out.

  Shit.

  Forcing her way forward in the darkness, she judged the distance to be about twelve to fifteen steps. She didn’t want to waste another match just for the walk. She felt around the edges for the base of the board coming upon it exactly fourteen steps later. Holding the manual in her hand, she lit the second match.

  She skimmed over as much text as she could as quickly and succinctly as possible. She found the failsafe page quick enough, skimming down to the steps at the bottom to reset the system.

  Step One: Find the engine key on the side panel housing each individual pump and engine combo. Turn key, shutting off all systems. She scanned the control panel finding the key to the left of the board. It was situated at the top of a set of blinking lights and breakers all marked up to the different engines and their pump stations. It looked like the grid from Jurassic Park that Dr. Sadler had to reset. She was lucky though, she only had dinosaurs to contend with, not zombies, or fellow humans. She flicked the key into the off position.

  Step Two: Find the lever in the bottom right corner of the panel, pumping it up and down a total of five times to charge the system switching power to the backup generators and any other reserves the ship currently uses.

  Bobbi found the lever where noted, pumping it up and down in quick succession. As she did, the second match went out.

  “FUCK!” she shouted audibly.

  Light emanated from the board. Dozens of buttons lit up in either green or red colors like the world’s weirdest Christmas tree. It gave off the tiniest bit of light, not nearly enough to read the manual though. The only thing she was able to ascertain was that there were two steps left.

  She took a deep breath striking the third match.

  Step Three: Turn the key back into the ON position, flipping only breakers eight and nine.

  These are the reserve engines that revert power from the generator.

  Bobbi reached for the key turning it. She ran her hand over all the breakers until she reached eight and nine, flipping them simultaneously. The engines behind her roared to life, the thrum of what sounded like a Gatling gun revving up. She jumped, dropping the match. It was out before it hit the ground.

  “God dammit. Get it together, Bobbi!”

  She grabbed her last match running the tip of her finger gently over the match head. This would be her last shot. She took a deep breath striking it with her index finger. The light illuminated the child standing right next to her, the sight of which sent shivers down her spine dropping both the match and the manual. The match landed at the perfect angle on top of the manual on its course to the ground igniting the book with ease.

  “Fuck. Quick, put it out!” she yelled.

  The kid backed away at the sight of the small fire before her.

  Bobbi stomped out the fire but by the time the flames dissipated it was too late, the manual was ruined. “That’s just GREAT!” She screamed kicking the manual into the darkness of the room. “It’s over!” Bobbi lamented.

  She failed them all. Morris, Xao, the little girl, all the people on this ship. They were all going to die and it was all her fault. She sat down, unknowingly, on top of a red button on the console board wiping away her tears. The thrum of the engine roared again louder than before with no end in sight. She screamed charging the engine kicking it as hard as she could. The room ignited so bright, so quickly she thought it burned her retinas, leaving her permanently blind. The light’s had returned and with it, the hum of computers, and the static cling of a transistor radio.

  She had pulled a Frankenstein and brought technology back from the dead.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  KENDRA

  She frothed at the mouth in anticipation of Morris’ death. Her gatherers had circled around him like a pack of vultures ready to strip clean the flesh of a recently dead marsupial. She held the light up as high as she could manage, hoping to relish in all the gory details of his demise. Kendra wanted to see each and every cut, every bruise, every wound as the blood poured forth from his body. He deserved every slice that was coming to him, he was the chink in her armor. If not for him, Bobbi and Trent would be dead and they would be on their way to her Oasis.

  She stared into his eyes hoping to savior the pain of death he was feeling but something felt off. He neither looked in pain nor afraid of what was to come, in fact, he looked perfectly at peace as if where he was in this very moment was where he was always destined to be. She even thought she saw the hint of a smile.

  The man with the crooked nose and Eugene Levy eyebrows cupped his knife bracing to charge. He looked like a bull stomping its hooves to gain speed.

  That’s when it hit her, when it hit all of them. The blinding white lights encompassed the corridor, the shops, the arcade, the bars, every lamp, every sconce, every fluorescent bulb turning on together blinding them as if God himself had just arrived to the party. Music blared from the arcade machines, one after another, after another. It had been so long since she heard music, even terrible music that she had to stifle the tears back.

  “Welcome to House of the dead 2.”

  “Step right up to Shoot ‘em down, knock ‘em round.”

  Horns blared from racing games, gun shots echoed from shooting galleries, whistles blew from sports games, and on it went.

  Everyone around her had forgotten completely about Morris, including herself. She was so swept up in the ecstasy of warmth from the lamps she lost sight of him. “Do you see?” Kendra yelled over the music drawing her people’s attention. “Do you see what they are doing? At this very moment, they have gotten the power started. They’re mere moments away from turning this ship back for land and destroying our species forever. It’s now or never. Fight or flight. We must quell their rebellion and leave no one who would defy us.” She roared.

  The crowd cheered their approval. She almost missed him but managed to catch his movement out of the corner of her eye. Morris
slipped past a young woman and her son, hand in his pocket racing upon her back. He slipped the Swiss army knife from his pocket and sliced at her.

  Ducking at the last moment, she evaded the blade by half a second. She spun counterclockwise to face him, throwing the lantern in her hand away. The meat cleaver was dug from its holster seconds later. She circled around him, eyes on her citizens behind him that slowly dug their knives and shivs out.

  “Come on Morris. Come die like a man, it’s more than could be said for Ahmed.”

  Morris charged at her ignoring the man behind him stabbing at him. He sliced across Morris’ tricep. It wasn’t a deep enough gash to fatally wound him but it was a start. He switched the knife to his left hand reassessing his strategy.

  “You might as well accept your fate Morris. Any way you slice it, you die here.” Morris feigned charging at Kendra.

  The man with the crooked nose fell clean for it, charging straight for him. He arched his arm over his head looking to slice downward into Morris’ back.

  Morris anticipated this, turning at the last second, dipping to his knees, digging his Swiss army knife up into the crooked noses’ gut. In one fluid motion, Morris rose up slamming the palm of his hand into the bridge of the man’s nose swiping the knife right out of his hands.

  The man went down clutching his stomach.

  She whistled.

  The bull dyke stormed in holding a shiv she whittled out of toothbrushes in each hand. She swung swipe after swipe at him but he dodged each one without breaking a sweat. Morris had obviously spent some time in the gym and had some kind of training whereas most of her followers were ordinary men and women. He could take each one out without breaking a sweat.

  She grabbed a young, athletic runner from beside her, pushing him towards the action.

  Morris deflected a high arch attack by the bull dyke quickly pivoting down to one knee to countermove against the runner. The runner kicked at Morris’ face but he blocked it with his elbows, lifting the runner over him into a fireman’s carry. He quickly used the runner’s momentum to swing up using the runner to kick the bull dyke in the face. She flew back into a group of people knocked unconscious. He threw the runner off him like he was John Cena picking up the knife off the floor as if he was Neo, or The Bride taking on the 88’s.