The sickly infected passengers from the infirmary hadn’t fared as well from the move. Two were unconscious, but the real problem began when the newly bitten, who had only put bandages over their wounds, began to show signs of dying.
One of the last ones had been bleeding profusely, but in the confusion no one noticed when he slipped into unconsciousness.
By the time someone thought to check on the state of his welfare, he had become one of the dreaded infected.
Those already wounded were weak and unable to fend off an attack the second time, quickly increasing the amount of infected people unleashed on the third class.
When the newly dead began to enter the hallway, the other passengers weren’t concerned because so many people were crowding the stairs, trying to make it toward the upper decks.
Since there were so many infected, they were able to latch onto a victim and feast without any effort. Their screams were drowned out by the cries of the passengers trying to get the crew to open the locked gates.
When their victims died and turned into infected dead, the panicked passengers realized they needed to move in a hurry.
As they scrambled to leave the infected, several people were trampled only to have the infected kill them, making their numbers rise even faster.
Sensing the fear in their prey, the infected gave chase in a stumbling, grasping fashion, only pausing to grab a quick meal found along the path.
The passengers quickly realized there would be no rescue from above, as they began to form lines of defense to keep the infected far from their women and children.
Only able to dispatch a few of the infected at a time, those holding the lines of defense were overrun as they succumbed to the killing bites from several infected at a time.
Other areas of passengers heard the cries and pleaded with empty gateways to please let them through.
Prayers were wailed as the fear grew when no one answered their calls.
The cabins on the front of the ship began to fill with water, causing the inhabitants to evacuate into the struggle for survival.
The few third class passengers who came toward the main staircase leading up to the lifeboats were only allowed through if they had no visible wounds or bandages.
Women and children were allowed to squeeze through while the crewmembers guarding held onto their axes, and a few brandished guns to keep the growing crowd from escaping to the upper decks.
“This isn’t right. We should be helping them to safety instead of keeping them down there like sewer rats,” Gil protested quietly to the man on his right.
“We are just doing what they told us to do. I just want to make it out of this thing alive.” The man shrugged back at Gil.
Like rats trying to find their way to freedom, as the water rose from the ships collision with the iceberg, passengers emerged into the chaos only to find infected dead chasing them to their doom.
For every man that stood to defend his family or friends, three more died and rose to join the ranks of infected.
The press of passengers trying to outrun the water became almost as great as the infected looking for their next snack.
Pushing through what seemed like certain death, the passengers made it past the infected only to have them pulling stragglers into their ranks.
The old and weak were the passengers left behind, but when they died and became infected their weaknesses left and they gained the strength to chase the pack of food in front of them.
Unable to hold the press of people crowding into the stairs, Gil and his crewmen saw the infected breach the passengers and begin to make their way forward.
“I think it’s time to run, men. Our lives are not worth this.” The man next to Gil glanced at the occupied infected covered in their victim’s blood. “We need to go while they still have other people to chase. See you at the boats, gents.”
“Wait…”Gil started to call after the departing crewmembers, but he quickly realized the futility of staying there. There were other passengers that needed to be protected.
Gil took off toward the rooms Lillian and her family had been staying in, only to discover they were already gone.
Hearing the screams as they got closer to those who hadn’t heeded the warnings to leave quickly fueled Gil’s efforts to make it to the lifeboats before the infected got to him.
~~~~~~
Charlie and James had been unaware of what was going on until the screams outside their cabin woke them up.
Throwing pants on over their long underwear, they threw open the door only to find people running in the hallways.
“Bloody hell! Someone let the infected people out of the infirmary again.” James took off running for the decks in hopes they could stay away from those trying to kill them.
“I’ll jump off the ship rather than let one of them take a bite out of me,” Charlie yelled at James’ retreating back.
They both made it to the deck as a deranged man took a shot at a woman and man running toward the main dining area.
Seeing Cookie in his uniform, they slowed to ask, “What happened?”
“We hit an iceberg. The ship’s going to sink.” Cookie gasped out of breath, trying to move faster than those behind him toward the stairs leading to the deck with the lifeboats.
“Sink? That’s not possible.” James stopped as the realization they could die sank in.
“It’s entirely possible, sir.” One of the harried builders answered in passing.
“Don’t stand there! Come, James, before the boats are all gone.” Charlie yanked on his friend’s arm, trying to get him moving again.
They moved forward only to stop at the stairs crowded with people in line waiting for a boat.
“Let’s try the other side of the ship.” James pointed because the commotion made hearing difficult.
Cookie who had finally caught up with them, realized there wasn’t room for more on the boats, and followed as the boys made a path through the terrified passengers.
They arrived on the other side out of breath, but able to climb to the upper deck. Seeing no boats left, the thin line of people began to move forward to the last two boats on the deck.
Chef Joughin had just stepped onto the lifeboat when the screams erupted from the lower decks.
Handing over Nurse Judith to the Chef, the crewman yelled, “Everyone, climb in the boat in an orderly manner. Men, women, and children, please hurry.”
The line moved forward much faster, but the boat was almost filled and there wasn’t another one on that side.
“I guess we should go around the deck and see if there are more boats on this end.” Charlie moved to go around the ship only to have his feet slip on the blood beginning to pool on the deck.
Charlie slid several feet into the chaos, but every time he tried to stand up, the slippery floor wouldn’t allow him any traction.
James and Cookie watched in horror as an infected moved toward Charlie. Seeing their faces, he turned in time to put his arms in front of his face as the infected lunged to bite him.
Fleeing, James outran Cookie in his haste to make sure he made it onto a boat.
While the boat was lowering and almost out of site, James held onto the edge and lowered himself into the boat as Cookie’s screams filled the night air.
~~~~~~
Gil emerged, running from the other side of the ship only to collide with Nora and Jonathan.
“Get on the boat, now! They’re coming!” Gil shouted to the groups of people standing in lines waiting to board the lifeboats.
Hearing Gil’s shout, Richard wasted no time in shoving the people forward as he climbed in himself. Gil lifted Lillian into her Richard’s arms.
“Wait! The captain told me to take a letter to the other ships that are coming, and we can’t go without it.” Nora turned to go back after it.
“Stay here and I’ll go get it for you.” Jonathan pulled Nora into a crushing embrace and kissed her.
“If I don’t come back in three minu
tes, make sure this boat is lowered and that it’s the last to leave from here,” he demanded of the crew member.
“Yes, sir.” Saluting, he went back to loading the boat as the people pushed and shoved to take the last places on their life saving vessel.
They listened as the screaming began on the other end of the ship.
~~~~~~
Something was clawing at the back of the crowd. The screams were growing closer as Samuel saw a man take a bite out of another man, eating his flesh as if it was a great meal he couldn’t get enough of.
The man who had been bitten slid to the ground, dying, trampled on as others pushed him further into the wooden deck.
“Mother, we need to get on the boat now!” Sam exclaimed.
The panic among the crowd grew as people started to jump from the ship in their haste to escape what was coming behind them.
Seeing an opening, Samuel threw his mother into the open space. Turning, he caught a glimpse of the man who had just been bitten and appeared to die, only to rise off the floor and grab a lady’s leg for a bite.
“Oh, my God.” The empty space closed as the people pushed closer together in their panic.
Samuel hoped the people behind him would protect them until he was able to reach the boat. The only problem was it was hanging from a thread.
The crew tried to correct it and straighten it out, but the cries and screams became earsplitting as more of the people on the decks died, slowing the process of lowering the boats.
“We have to follow Father and Lillian up to where the boats are still leaving.” Seeing his mother’s bewildered expression, he took matters into his own hand and picked her up and threw her over his shoulder.
“What on earth? You put me down this minute, Samuel. I won’t be made fun of this way.” Millie Jean was still concerned about who might see her.
Ignoring his mother’s pleas, Samuel continued forward, racing against the clock to safety.
As he stepped over one of the large coiled ropes that tied the ship to the dock, Samuel didn’t hear the infected man coming up behind him. Feeling a tug on his mother’s clothes, he turned to see the man ripping the sleeve off her dress.
“No one touches my mother,” Samuel shouted.
Dropping her to the deck, Samuel picked up the closest thing to his hand, which was an axe for chopping through the ropes and lowering the boats.
Swinging it at the infected man’s head, it hit with a squish sound as the infected stopped coming toward them and the pieces slid to the ground.
Grabbing Millie Jean’s arm against her protest, Samuel pulled her toward safety, only to be met with another mass of people, fighting those behind them off, unsuccessfully. As each person fell in death, they rose infected moments later to choose a new victim.
“Where should we go? Why is that man eating his wife? We must stop him.” Tears were running down Millie Jean’s face as she survived the chaos around her.
Taking the axe in his hand, he moved forward and hit both the man and his wife in the head, stopping them from hurting others.
“Samuel! You just killed those people,” Millie Jean exclaimed in horror.
“No, mother, I didn’t. They were already dead and we will be too if we don’t get through to the top of this ship.”
Samuel was trying not to hit those who hadn’t been infected yet, but it was becoming more difficult by the moment.
“Stay behind me, Mother.” He turned to admonish her and was shocked when she cringed in fear at the blood splattered across his face.
Shaking his head in disgust, he thought, I was only trying to save her life. What more does she want from me?”
Plunging through the dead until they could make their way through, Samuel turned back just in time for the first man he’d seen become infected take a bite out of his mother’s neck.
“Mother….NOOO!” Samuel wailed.
Swinging the axe as high as he could, he split the infected man in half. He cradled his mother gently as he carried her and placed her in his lap.
“Mother, I’m so sorry I couldn’t save you.” Samuel sobbed into her neck.
“Dear, don’t be sad. You showed courage today. When I’m gone, save yourself. Live so that something of me will carry on and count for something. Can you do that for me?” Placing a blood covered hand on his cheek, she smiled and closed her eyes, not waiting for his answer.
Breathing deeply, Samuel whispered in her ear for the last time. “Yes, Mother, I’ll survive if only to prove to Father that he was wrong about me. I’m sorry. Forgive me.”
Laying her body gently on the ship’s deck, he turned her over and closed his eyes, not opening them until the axe had made a thunking noise as it hit the deck underneath her head.
Wiping the tears from his eyes, Samuel left her there and took off running toward the front of the boat.
~~~~~~
As the chaos grew around the boat holding Nora, the crewmen lowered the ropes slowly so the shaking boat, only half full of people, didn’t tip over and spill them into the ocean.
“Miss, you’ll have to sit down or you’ll tip us over,” The man holding the oars spoke firmly.
“Of course,” Nora responded as she took a seat and scanned the decks anxiously for Jonathan’s return.
Seeing him appear just as the boat was coming close to the top of the second deck, he jumped, causing the boat to shake and almost tip over.
Holding the side of the ship to help it regain its balance, Jonathan handed Nora the letter.
“The captain said it was extremely important that the Carpathian have this letter. It will give information as to the reasons for the ship sinking.” As Jonathan settled himself, the boat was lowered, even with the second deck. Suddenly, they were thrust close to the middle of a battle. The passengers on the lifeboat surveyed the second deck covered in blood and infected dead chasing their prey.
Her hand involuntarily covered her mouth at the sight of what one infected man could do to a ship full of people in just a few hours. Those dying were turning infected much faster, causing the collapse of the ship’s humanity to lose its hold.
Suddenly, their lifeboat started to be pushed and pulled from the people on deck that were trying to get on.
Taking the oars and using them as a blockade to keep anyone else from jumping on, Jonathan turned to reassure Nora and was grabbed from behind as an infected pulled him back against the boat as they were being lowered to the water.
Jonathan was being pulled from the lowering boat, his yell of terror ended as his body flew past them. The infected’s hold on Jonathan’s body slipped as it’s nails sliced through Jonathan’s flesh, causing him to lose his grip as his body weight pulled them both toward the icy cold waters below.
Impatiently waiting for their boat to hit the water, Nora looked the crewman in the eyes, wanting to agree with his plea to check on Jonathan.
“Don’t even think about rowing over there. If he got scratched or bitten he’ll turn into one of them, if the fall didn’t kill him. We have to get this to the Carpathian.” Nora spoke firmly as tears streamed down her face.
“We must survive,” she whispered through her tears. “I’ll miss you, Jonathan.”
Chapter 16
Their loved ones were dead. This was confirmed by the silence slowly echoing over the water as the ship continued to slip eerily into its depths.
A whistle sounded out, making those in the lifeboats gasp in hope.
Having filled the boats to capacity, they were only able to move around a few people so that a single boat could return to look for survivors.
The crew of the empty boat had to row carefully so as not to wake the frozen corpses, afraid they would become a mass of infected death swimming for those still alive.
“Look over there by that board. Someone is swimming and using the crewman’s whistle.”
“Oh no, hurry. The dead around her are starting to revive and make their way closer to her. We can’t let her d
ie and become one of them.” Shoving an oar in the brain of a man that become animated, the crewman flinched at what he was doing.
“Miss. Miss, over this way.” Another crewman yelled in a whispered voice so as to draw only her attention.
Weaving through to reach her, she noticed the sound of the whistle was attracting the infected’s masses to her. Dropping it from her mouth, she renewed her efforts to make it to the lifeboat before being consumed by those around her.
Pulling her over the side and wrapping her in a blanket to restore her temperature, the crew scanned the corpses and bodies left for any signs of real life.
“I think we had better take her and return to the others before these fellows follow us back to the survivors.”
The crewman crossed himself and whispered a prayer in French for the dead they were leaving behind.
As soon as they were clear of the still corpses, the oarsmen put out a burst of speed and quickly returned to the other lifeboats that were tied together.
There was nothing left to do but wait until the Carpathian showed up to rescue them.
As the Carpathian arrived and they began to bring the members aboard the ship, Nora took charge and made rooms for the survivors to strip and be checked for scratches or bites that would put this new ship in danger.
“Captain. Here is a letter from the captain of the RMS Titanic, detailing the reasons our ship was sunk. I need to examine each person you allow on the ship. Otherwise, you will have an epidemic on your hands we can’t take back to the rest of the world.”
“I’ll get the crew lined up to help you and we can get everyone into dry, warm clothes at the same time.”
“Thank you, sir. This is very important.” Nora bowed out of the room and went to set up the examination area.
The captain of the Carpathian turned away and began to read the letter from the Titanic in trepidation of what horrors had occurred on the other ship.
To whom it may concern:
The events that I am describing in this letter are not for the faint of heart. While leaving Southampton we had no idea the danger that we were carrying would be our doom. There was no other choice but to order the ship to collide with the iceberg and sink this terrible infection before it reached the shores of America. There is no cure for this disease except for certain execution and decapitation of the infected individuals, burning the bodies of the dead in the hopes that we could contain this epidemic.
Infected Waters: A Titanic Disaster Page 15