Hector sat in his powerboat, rocking on the waves. No one had heard from Sher in far too long, even before that helicopter had landed on the back end of the second ship. He had had a grudging respect for Sher ever since the man had freed him from some Mexican slavers and put him to work with a dignified job and food, but this was madness. The two cruise ships were locked together and definitely sinking, while people died all around. All because Sher’s sister had finally fought back.
Originally, it sounded like a great plan. Come out here, take both ships for themselves, and return to Jamaica, as conquering heroes with tons of supplies, but that wasn’t how things went. They had expected some resistance, but nothing with this level of organization and force. It wasn’t worth it.
At his side, his radio chattered with confused calls from the other men. They didn’t know what to do. Without Sher’s leadership, they were lost.
“They are lowering boats to evacuate the ship,” another man in Hector’s boat told him, watching through a pair of binoculars. “Should we gun them down?”
“No. There’s no point.” Hector pulled out his radio, placing it close to his lips. “Retreat,” he spoke with authority he didn’t really possess. In the chaos, no one would really know who was speaking anyway. “Retreat! Return to Jamaica! There is nothing left for us here! The supplies we came for are going down with the ships! Do not bother with the people, they are not worth the bullets! Retreat! Retreat! Retreat!”
He continued to repeat his message. With his hand holding down the lever, Hector couldn’t hear how other boats were responding, but he wasn’t going to give up. The other men in his boat fidgeted nervously, not knowing if this was the best course of action and definitely knowing it shouldn’t be Hector giving the orders even if it were.
“They are turning away!” the man with the binoculars announced. “Most of them anyway. I think it is mostly Sher’s closest men who are ignoring you.”
Hector heaved a sigh of relief. He had hoped that most of the men wanted to retreat and were just waiting for the okay to do so. It looked like his gamble had paid off.
Continuing his message, Hector modified it with co-ordinates where the fleet should meet up, away from this war zone. They had to gather together and return to Jamaica as a unified force. On their own, who knew what other pirates might show up to pick them off? The flames from the burning cruise ships were likely to act as a beacon.
“Everyone is heading in the direction you suggested,” Hector was informed.
“Good.” He finally lowered his radio and slumped in his seat. “Now, when we meet up with them, it wasn’t me sounding the retreat, yeah?”
The men in the ship nodded. Nobody wanted to be the man who gave commands without Sher’s permission, even if their leader was most likely dead.
“Okay, let’s go join them.”
With a roar, the engines came to life, the boat lurching forward. They made for the dark shapes and the few glowing lights cast by the other retreating boats. Hector didn’t even think about helping the Diana residents, but he knew that to gun them down while they helplessly fled their home was beyond his capabilities. This trip had already turned into a terrible waste of life after so many had already been lost to the undead. Why add to it when there was no gain?
***
There were casualties during the ship evacuation.
A few people had refused to leave their rooms at the back of the ship, only to end up suffocating from the smoke. Although Sher’s raiders were disorganized, the majority of them fleeing after Hector’s broadcast, a few continued to attack. Some shot at the people in the rafts, while others got on board the Diana during the chaos. Ship defenders did all they could to remove them, but a few were cut down by raiders’ swords or gunfire. At least one man committed suicide, jumping from a high window that overlooked the promenade, hitting head first so that his neck snapped like a dry twig.
There were further injuries as well; people being knocked down, or into walls. Thankfully, for the most part they managed not to panic, however there were exceptions. One elderly man broke his hip, while a young woman broke her leg when she was pushed down the stairs.
The submarine had surfaced again, and all the life rafts and lifeboats were gathering around it. A woman who had refused to learn how to swim fell off the life raft she was in. If it weren’t for another life raft close behind stopping to pick her up, she would have drowned. One injured fellow did drown when a lifeboat hit the wake of a raider boat and his unconscious body came loose from his straps, slipping over the edge. The metal poles being used to keep his back straight made him sink like a stone.
Several lifeboats, upon reaching the submarine, discharged both the injured and their supplies, and then quickly turned around to pick up more people from the Diana. With their small engines, they were much quicker than the rafts being paddled. Many lifeboats were now tying a few rafts behind them, towing them toward the submarine.
When the other ship broke loose, it did so with a horrendous squeal. Everyone turned to the sound of grinding, twisting metal. The submarine had parked on the opposite side of the Diana from where the other cruise ship was heading, so everyone on that side was out of its path. Unfortunately, several lifeboats and life rafts on the far side of the Diana were not. Due to the forward motion of both ships, it was safer for them to go around the back of both ships rather than try to cross their course, resulting in a stream of fleeing boats and rafts to be in the new ship’s path. Those in the way were sucked under the ship, along with a few raider boats that had been buzzing them. Other rafts were overturned by the cruise ship’s close passage, its wake throwing them all sideways, but the people in them all managed to climb back aboard or were picked up by other life rafts.
The Diana was sinking, aft end first. As it descended lower and lower into the water, people began to scramble more, and even started to panic. The animals on board had been let loose, chickens, cows, and goats fleeing everywhere. It was mostly ship defenders on board at that point, and a few of them tried to save the smaller animals by gathering them into their arms before leaping over the sides. That’s what it came down to in the end. There was no more organization to load the rafts and lifeboats. Everyone remaining on board was now jumping and praying they’d be picked up.
One of the two horses came bursting out onto the fourth deck—which was low enough now to be the third or second—and leapt over the side and into the water. It splashed around, eyes wild and breathing hard. One man who was alone in a raft went to the horse, and risked life and limb to help it scramble aboard. The horse couldn’t stand on the raft’s soft bottom, and it let a lot of water wash over the sides in the process, but it did get aboard.
A few other large animals were rescued, mostly by swimmers tying lifejackets around them and towing them to the submarine, but the majority were lost.
Zombies claimed a few casualties during the mayhem, on both sides. They took down raiders and Diana residents alike. Many were on fire, and those that weren’t shot, were dragged down with the ship.
Once the remaining raiders realized that the Diana was done for, they finally ceased their attack. Those who had boarded her were left there to fend for themselves. One teenaged boy, who had been abandoned by his comrades, joined the Diana residents. He acted like he had always lived aboard the cruise ship, and no one questioned his presence.
The other cruise ship sank as well. It plunged nose first as it continued to push forward, its engines still running at full power. No one paid any attention to it.
There was silence surrounding the submarine as the Diana went down. All eyes that weren’t busy were on it. A few people gasped when the limited power winked out, but that was all. As the last tip of the ship sank beneath the surface, people began to cry.
Later, when an attendance was taken, no one was able to find Captain Sigvard.
Section 4:
Flight
20
Mathias Is In The Ocean
Mathias saw the Diana go down, but he didn’t pay much attention to it. He was too busy keeping the kids swimming. He was also too busy trying to keep an eye out for sharks. For obvious reasons, he didn’t want to tell the kids, especially Hope that there were sharks in the water, but he knew they were there. They had probably been there for hours, feasting on the corpses of raiders and Diana residents. Eventually, they’d tire of dead meat, or there would be more sharks than corpses, and Mathias’s bleeding leg would become a dinner bell. Earlier, he had felt something brush against him and feared the worst, but it hadn’t happened again.
They were aiming for the submarine. The two cruise ships and the sub had continued to move forward after Mathias and the kids had jumped, and now they were playing catch up. Since the second ship had disengaged, there was no more forward movement, and Mathias was glad for that. Up until then, they had just been falling farther behind instead of getting closer. There was still a long way to go.
“I’m tired,” Hope said for the millionth time.
“I know you are. I’m tired too,” Mathias told her. “We have to keep swimming though. We have to make it to the submarine.”
Hope didn’t respond. Mathias could tell she was exhausted just by the tone of her voice, her choice of words, and the fact that she didn’t even seem to know she was saying them.
His injured leg burned with every kick. Holding Milly with one hand, and Hope with the other, meant he was only using his legs to both keep afloat and move forward. He was strong, but this was wearing him down. He noticed he was swimming lower in the water, and was relying more and more on Hope and Milly’s lifejackets to keep him above the surface.
“Hey!” Dakota called out from her end. “Look what I found.”
Mathias looked over and saw her holding a piece of rope, her lifejacket pushing up around her head.
“Great. That’s a good find, Dakota.” Mathias let go of Hope to reach for the rope. “Hold Milly steady for me.”
The kids all stabilized Milly while Mathias tied one end of the rope around his waist. When he was done, he held out the other end of the rope to the kids.
“I want you all to grab the rope. Can you do that?”
The kids nodded and did as he asked. Peter was going to thread the rope through his lifejacket, but Mathias stopped him. He didn’t want them tethered in a way that would be difficult for them to let go.
“I also need you to keep holding Milly upright for me with your free hands.” Although Milly could swim, the lifejacket and her weight imbalance kept trying to roll her sideways. Mathias wished he could take the lifejacket off her and use it himself, but Milly would never make it. If it came down to it, he’d take the dog’s lifejacket, but he wasn’t ready for that yet.
Once the kids were all holding onto the rope and to Milly, Mathias started swimming for the submarine again. Being able to use his arms was a huge relief, although it felt like the kids weren’t kicking at all now. Still, it was better than it had been before.
Something brushed against him again, and this time Mathias knew it wasn’t his imagination. There was no way of telling if it was a shark or not. It could have been a body below the surface, a piece of debris, hell it could have been a swimming zombie or even a dolphin, but Mathias suspected it was a shark. There was nothing he could do about it. This was why he had stopped Peter from tying himself to Mathias. If a shark was going to drag him down, the kids could just let go and be safe.
Mathias focused on nothing but swimming and the submarine ahead of him. It was so far away. He wasn’t going to give up, but he felt like he was getting nowhere. The idea of sacrificing Milly appalled him, but he’d do it if the time came. With every stroke, it seemed more and more likely that it would be when the time came. Better his dog than his kid.
He swam as long as he could, but eventually his arms tired as well. Soon, he would no longer be able to keep himself afloat, let alone pull the children. He stopped.
“Kids, I need Milly.” His voice felt hollow in his chest.
Milly was floated over to him, her legs lightly paddling. Mathias held the shoulders of her lifejacket, looking her in the face. Her bright brown eyes looked back, confused and scared. She wagged her tail a few times, swishing it through the seawater, unsure what was about to happen. Mathias reached for a strap along her back.
“Ahoy!”
Mathias startled, sinking up to his nose briefly, and then turned around.
Misha, and three other people whom Mathias didn’t know were paddling toward them in a life raft.
“Hey!” Misha was laughing at the forward edge of the raft, dipping his paddle in and dragging the raft forward. “How the hell did you five end up way out here?”
“How did you?” Mathias asked, as they got close enough for him to grab the edge. “Why aren’t you with the flotilla?”
“We boarded on the far side of the Diana. Just missed getting squashed by that other ship,” Misha told him while he helped lift Hope aboard.
Two other men assisted Peter and Dakota. The third was dealing with something Mathias couldn’t see. By the sound of it, he suspected it was a goat, although that confused him having not watched the last of the evacuation. Rifle was also likely on board, or else Misha wouldn’t be anywhere near this cheerful.
“We kept going around the back, not realizing that going around the front would have been faster once the Diana had stopped. We were especially detoured by having to paddle away from the sinking ship so that it didn’t suck us down with it.”
Considering how much Misha was talking, it must have been rather exciting as well as terrifying. Either that, or he was just that happy to have found Mathias, who was certainly happy he found them. Once Hope was on board the raft, Misha reached down for Milly. He began to haul her out of the water but suddenly stopped halfway, his eyes wide and looking at the ocean just behind Mathias.
There was no need for Mathias to ask what was coming. He saw it in that look. Misha’s eyes flicked to his face, about to say or maybe do something, but he never got the chance.
Mathias felt the shark bite into the meat of his leg, felt his hand burn as it was ripped free of the rope he had been holding along the side of the raft, and he felt the ocean invade his mouth as he involuntarily screamed.
Hope was safe though, that’s all that mattered to him. Misha would take care of her, and would find her mother. She was safe.
As the pressure built up around him—the shark was pulling him deeper and deeper—Mathias actually hoped that his entire body would be eaten. If not, then at least his head, so that he couldn’t come back as something torn and dead.
He felt the other sharks close in.
21
Jon’s In The Chopper
The helicopter sped over the ocean, headed for Cancun. It was the closest piece of land they knew about, and there was an airport next to the sea. They could get fuel there.
Jon couldn’t stop fidgeting. He didn’t think what they were doing was right.
The Diana had hailed them, instructing them not to land. They knew by then that there was a good chance the ship would go down, and so they had told the helicopter to fly straight to the nearest airport: the one in Cancun. There, they would gas up, and return to the Diana if possible.
The Diana would probably be gone by then, it would have sunk beneath the waves, and if there was no gas for their chopper, they’d be on their own, trapped in a place the off-shippers had visited only once before, and that was on a short raid. Jon’s team hadn’t even been on duty that day, and as far as he knew, neither Danny nor their other pilot—a man who told them his name was Oliver—had been the ones to do the fly over. It was more than likely that no one on the helicopter had been to Cancun before.
That wasn’t why Jon thought it was the wrong choice. He didn’t think they should have left the Diana and its residents. Not in its final moments like that.
But what other choice was there? The leaders refused to let the chopper try to refuel on th
e Diana; they didn’t want to risk losing it when the ship went down. Without the Diana, where else could they land in the Gulf of Mexico? The helicopter couldn’t fly forever, and if they didn’t get fuel now, they’d crash.
Still, Jon didn’t like it. There was no other option, but he didn’t like the one that was forced on him. He wanted to be dropped off, so that he could help people, but Oliver refused. They needed Jon to help them at the airport.
Looking around the helicopter, Jon knew they needed him. Their group consisted of Danny and Oliver, the pilots, who would have to take care of the chopper’s needs, Brunt, who still had one arm out of commission, Freya, who couldn’t speak or shout any warnings, and Robin and Jon. Robin was currently scrutinizing Brunt’s injury again, trying to determine if there was anything more that she could do. Earlier, she had cleaned the wound on the side of Jon’s head again, and wrapped it in a clean bandage, being careful to keep it away from his eyes. His head had hurt like a bitch, until Robin had given him some pills for it. He could see that this business of sitting still was bothering Robin as well, but at least she had something to distract her.
Jon looked out through the window next to him. As soon as they knew they were going to Cancun, they had slid shut the doors on the sides. Now, it looked like the sun would be rising soon. Though still dark across the waters below, up where they were the sky was beginning to lighten. Jon could see a faint glow on the horizon. This long assed night of terror was finally coming to an end. Too bad, the day that was coming was so full of uncertainty.
While they were flying, Jon tried to sleep a few times. He was exhausted, but his mind just wouldn’t shut down. He sat very still, allowing his body to rest as best it could, but he never actually slept.
Three of his off-shipper teammates, who were also close friends, were badly injured, and another lay dead. More of his friends were dead or injured as well: Misha had suffered a fall, Mathias had been shot in the leg, and poor Tobias had taken a bullet to the skull. How many more? How many more of his friends were injured or dead? He didn’t even know. What about his family? Lauren and Abby and Claire and Peter? How were they? Were they okay? He had no idea. They wouldn’t let him board the Diana to find out.
Survival Instinct (Book 3): Fighting Instinct Page 34