by Jon Schafer
Steve shook his head, “Not yet, I need you to steer the boat while we figure out how to handle this.”
As Brain came on deck, Steve noticed how much weight the man had lost. Before Dead Day, Brain had been grossly overweight. The weight, combined with his arrogant attitude, made Steve reluctant to include him in his plan. Now he was glad he'd asked the young engineer to join them. After all they'd gone through since then, Brain had proven his worth countless times.
“Whatever you decide, count me in,” he said as he took the wheel.
Because of Brain's ego problem before Dead Day, or D-Day as they sometimes called it, Steve was reluctant to tell him that his engineering talents were too valuable to risk by allowing him to board the ship. He didn't want the tech's head to swell up so much it wouldn't fit through the door. Steve didn't want to put any of the survivor’s lives at risk, but he knew that in the post dead world, Brain’s knowledge was priceless in their struggle to survive.
“First, we have to figure out what kind of ship it is and go from there,” Tick-Tock said. “From what I can see it looks like a tanker.”
Brain shook his head, “It's not a tanker. It's a cruise ship. I could tell earlier when I looked at it through the binoculars. Every year on my Mom's birthday, I used to take her on a cruise.”
“Cruise ship,” Heather asked with excitement, “like in ‘The Love Boat’ cruise ship?”
Brain nodded, “It's so obvious I didn't mention it.”
Obvious to you maybe, Steve thought. Scrutinizing the craft in the distance, he said, “That ship could have everything we need. Food, water and even gas for the engine.”
“And showers,” Heather added. “It's getting old trying to wash up with salt water.”
“And shops for Mary to browse through, la-di-fucking-da,” Tick-Tock wisecracked. “But if their GPS is working, we can plot our position and figure out where in the hell we are. Even if it's out, we're not totally screwed. All we need to do is find a sextant, a nautical almanac and an accurate chronometer, so I can plot our position and course by hand. On a ship that big, I’m sure one of the officers will have them.”
“Do you know how to do that?” Brain asked. “Figure out where we are?”
“Haven’t done it since I was a kid, but then again, I haven't sailed since then, and I seem to be doing a pretty good job so far.”
No one could dispute this comment. During the storm, Tick-Tock had stayed on deck for its duration with Steve as his first mate. The two of them brought The Usual Suspects through twenty-foot troughs of water and battering winds with no loss of life or serious damage to the craft.
The conversation turned to the bounty the ship could provide and their mood was charged with excitement until Steve brought them back to earth by saying, “But first we have to figure out how to get on board.”
***
The four who would be in the boarding party, Steve, Heather, Tick-Tick and Susan, sat around the table in the forward cabin as they ran through the possibilities of what they might find on the cruise ship.
“It could be abandoned,” Susan said hopefully.
“Abandoned by the living,” Tick-Tock said. “That would leave us with a ship full of the dead to deal with.”
“Or it might be full of the living,” Heather added.
“In which case we'd be looked on as intruders,” Steve pointed out. “Remember how we were prepared to kill anyone who tried to take what was ours at the bank building?”
“But this is different,” Susan said.
Shaking his head, Tick-Tock spoke up, “No, it’s not, we're just on the other side now.”
The thought of being the bad guys didn't sit well with those gathered around the table. The label 'Looter' wasn't one they wanted to wear.
In their defense, Susan said, “But if someone had come to us peacefully, we wouldn't have turned them away. Look at that Harrison guy, for example. You fed him and let him stay, and he was crazy as a loon.” Looking directly at Steve she added, “And I'm sure we would have helped anyone else who asked. Hopefully whoever’s on board that ship will act as civilized as we did. I think it all hinges on how we approach them. If we go in with guns drawn, then they'll react in kind. If we signal them and ask for assistance, they might be more receptive to helping us.”
Steve inwardly cringed at hearing Brian Harrison's name. The man had been found half insane, holed up in an office on the twelfth floor of the Garnett Bank Building. They had come across him when they swept the building after losing one of their own, Donna, to a zombie who emerged from its hiding place.
Donna was the first person lost under Steve's command and he took it hard. She had been bitten and infected, and he was the one who put a bullet in her heart before she died and came back. The two things that saved him that night from taking his own life were his overwhelming will to never give up, and the appearance of Heather.
Steve didn't know how the dead had breached the defenses of the building, but he had a suspicion that Harrison was involved somehow. The night the dead broke in, they lost three of their number. Jonny G, his girlfriend Marcia and Mary's morning show partner, Meat.
“We might want to seriously consider talking nice first,” Tick-Tock decided. “If anyone’s left alive on that cruise ship and they're armed, we'd be hard pressed to mount any kind of assault against them. We'd take casualties.”
“So, we'll try the soft approach first and ask to come aboard,” Steve said.
“And if that doesn't work, if they tell us to go to hell?” Susan asked.
Steve said with determination, “Then we have no other option than to take that ship by force. I didn't make it this far to die at sea.” Turning to Tick-Tock, he said, “You were in the Marines, any ideas on how we can do this?”
“A few. It depends on how many people we're going up against and how well armed they are. I remember reading that after 9/11 they removed all the shotguns used to shoot skeet from the cruise ships sailing out of U.S. ports. That'll at least cut down on any potential arsenal they might have. The ship's officers will have a few weapons. Maybe a couple rifles or a pistol or two. If this is a normal cruise that got interrupted by the HWNW virus, then we should be in good shape if we have to storm her. On the other hand, if that ship was taken by people fleeing the virus, then there's no telling what kind of firepower they have.”
“I agree,” Heather said. “Look at the weapons we put together. M-4 automatic rifles, pistols, ammunition,” turning to Tick-Tock, she added with a smile, “and that big old .50 caliber machine gun you insisted on bringing along. Why would you want that thing out here anyway?”
“To repel boarders,” Tick-Tock answered in a matter of fact tone. “Let's just hope they don't have one too.”
***
The cruise ship continued to spin around as they approached. When Steve went topside after the meeting ended, he saw that the stern was coming around to point in their direction. Now that the sailboat had closed in on the larger craft, its enormous size became more apparent. Tick-Tock estimated that the ship was around a thousand feet in length. As the rear of the vessel came into view, they raised their binoculars and tried to make out the cruise liner's name, painted on the stern.
“Calm of the Seas,” Steve read aloud before lowering his binoculars.
Tick-Tock relieved Brain at the wheel. After checking their position, he said, “Now I'm sure she's dead in the water.” Glancing at the brass gauges mounted above the steering station, he made a slight alteration in their course and added, “We've entered a current. I can feel the tug on the wheel and we've sped up by a couple knots. Current's moving in the same direction that ship's heading. This has got to be part of the Gulf Stream that loops south of the States before flowing out the through the Florida straits. Since it's pulling us northeast, I'd say we're closer to the coast of Mexico or Texas than we are to Florida.”
'The storm blew us that far?” Steve asked in disbelief.
“We were riding a wind out of the east for
two days. I’m surprised we didn't land in Mexico. I tried to keep us as close to Florida as I could, but without anything to navigate with, except a compass, it was hit or miss.” Pointing off to their left, he said, “If we were to power out of this current and head due west or northwest, we’d hit Mexico or Texas in two to three days. Maybe less. The wind can't stay down forever. I’d feel more confident trying something like that now that I have a general idea of where we are.”
“So are you saying you want to skip this and head for land?” Steve asked incredulously as he pointed to the cruise ship. He thought Tick-Tock would be the last person on the face of the Earth to miss an adventure like boarding a ship full of unknowns on the high seas.
“I just want everyone to know all the options,” he replied.
Steve gave him an odd look before asking, “Don’t you want to check it out?”
A broad grin split Tick-Tock's face as he said, “More than anything else in the world. If you all decide to head for land, I’m going to swim for that ship.”
“I’m not too worried about anyone wanting to skip getting supplies, a hot meal of real food and showers,” Steve said. And then, considering what Tick-Tock said, he added, “Besides, we don't know what we’ll find when we hit land. We could make it to a coastal city, but as far as we know the dead have overrun them all. We could end up being in an even worse situation then we are now. HWNW was worldwide so we can't count on Mexico being safe.”
Switching subjects, Tick-Tock said, “Law states that if you find an abandoned boat at sea, you're entitled to the salvage rights.”
Steve laughed. “I just want what's on it. What in the hell would we do with something that big?”
Tick-Tock shrugged, “Might be a good place to hole up for a while. That ship's got stronger radios than we have on the sailboat. If they're working, we might be able to contact the military and let them know we found someone who's immune to the virus. They could come and pull us off by helicopter.”
“A lot of ifs in that statement,” Steve pointed out. “Let's just get aboard her first.”
Turning to go below, he added, “I’ll let Heather know about being able to make land in a few days, but I think she's looking forward to a shower.”
Steve found her in their cabin cleaning her CAR-15. After he let her know what Tick-Tock had told him, he watched for her reaction.
She frowned before saying, “I’ll go along with what everyone decides, but I say we check the ship out first. It’s a floating hotel with enough supplies on it that we don't have to head for Mexico or Texas. We can make it to Key West like we planned.” She took a breath to continue but Steve cut her off by saying, “That's what Tick-Tock and I decided too. I just wanted to see how you felt about it.”
“I want a shower, preferably a hot one, but I'd settle for a cold one,” Heather said stubbornly. “I'd also like to eat something besides MRE's, and I want to shave my legs. I’m starting to look like a Sasquatch. That's how I feel about it.”
Steve held up his hands in surrender and said, “Then we act like pirates. But if we hit any serious resistance, we back off and head for land.”
With a half smile that had come to be familiar to him, Heather said, “A pirate? You'd look cute with a cutlass and an eye patch.”
Taking her in his arms, Steve reached around and gave her butt a squeeze while saying, “I'm only here for the booty, baby.”
Chapter Two
The Dead Calm:
Brain throttled back to just above idle as they pulled broadside to the cruise liner.
“Keep this distance while we check it out,” Tick-Tock ordered him. “I want to stay out of the range of any small arms fire.”
Brain nodded as he concentrated on the sailboat's controls. At first, he'd been disappointed to find he was being left behind when they boarded the cruise ship. Now that they were near enough to see the tremendous size of the Calm of the Seas though, he found himself a little relieved. He had been on numerous cruises and had always stayed close to his mother, who always stayed close to the casino, so he had only seen the outside of the ships when he was embarking and disembarking. Those ships had seemed gigantic, but as he approached one from the water, he was amazed at how it absolutely dwarfed their little 48-foot sailboat. The idea of searching a vessel that size made his stomach knot up in fear.
Tick-Tock tried to hail the cruise liner on the radio but received no answer. Everyone crowded the port rail to help scan the decks and numerous balconies for any signs of the living or the dead. Tick-Tock took up a position behind Brain and raised his binoculars. The white painted hull reflected on the still water as the sun bounced off it to create a dazzling double image of the Calm of the Seas.
“Holy shit that thing's huge,” Heather said with awe. “My eyes keep losing track of where I’m looking.” Lowering her binoculars, she scanned the huge hull floating six hundred feet away before again finding the area she had been assigned to search.
With only three pair of binoculars, Steve had split the ship into sections so that he, Tick-Tock and Heather could give it a good once over before deciding on their next course of action. With nine decks visible and what seemed like hundreds of individual balconies, theirs was a daunting task. After letting everyone get their bearings, Steve turned to Susan who had been given the job of taking notes and said, “A few of the lifeboats are missing.”
“I can see a lot of the balcony doors are open,” Heather noted.
“Looks like an open hatch down near the water line,” Steve added.
“Oh, this is too wild,” Tick-Tock exclaimed. Leaning forward as if to get a better look at something, he was silent for so long that Susan finally asked, “What do you see?”
“A rock climbing wall, I’ve got to try that. Those things are cool as shit.”
Susan smiled and punched him on the arm. “Be serious.”
“I am serious, those things are a blast.” Tick-Tock fell silent as he scanned the upper decks. Finally he said, “The Bridge has tinted windows so I can't see in. If anyone's up there, I'm sure they've seen us by now.”
“Shit,” Heather suddenly exclaimed. “I’ve got a couple of Z's.”
“Where?” Steve asked.
“Go out to the bow, and then pan back along that first deck. When you come to the superstructure, go up two decks. They're on the tenth balcony back,” she replied.
Steve followed her directions and quickly found what he was looking for.
Focusing in on the balcony containing the zombies, what struck him first was that one of the dead was completely naked except for a baseball cap. Normally, this nudity wouldn’t have bothered him, as the dead were unaware of what they wore or didn’t wear. What caught his attention was that the man easily tipped the scales at three hundred plus pounds. It didn't help that the dead thing’s stomach had been ripped open and it had looped strings of ropy intestines over its shoulder so that it didn't trip over them as it staggered around.
Switching his view to the second walking nightmare on the balcony, Steve decided that it was no prize either. Clad in the remnants of an evening gown that had once been white but was now rust colored with dried bloodstains, fat man's companion was missing its arm from the elbow down and had part of its face ripped away to reveal gray bone around an empty eye socket.
Steve thought he had grown indifferent to the various sights of the tattered and ripped apart bodies of the dead, but after the brief respite of being away from them while on the sailboat, he found himself revolted anew.
The two living dead stood staring hungrily while the people on the sailboat glided past out of their reach. As Steve watched, fat man extended his arms, reaching out as if to give a welcoming hug to the visitors. He leaned too far across the top of the balcony railing and overbalanced. Gravity did its job and he fell about eight stories to hit the water with a huge splash.
Tick-Tock laughed, “That was one hell of a cannonball. Now we'll get to see if dead fat floats.”
“It doesn't,” Heather said. “Right before everything went to hell in St. Pete, we got a call that someone fell off a dock and didn't surface. A road unit went out but couldn't find anything, so they called in the divers. Two of them went down a few hours later to see if it was a false alarm or to recover the body if it wasn't. It was a Z and it killed one of them. The other got away and reported that it was tangled up in a net, just hanging out there on the bottom. As far as anyone knows, it's still down there.”
To prove Heather's point, fat man's body went under and didn't resurface.
“Too bad they're not like lemmings,” Steve commented. “Get the leader to jump and the rest will follow.”
“Maybe we could try something to encourage them,” Tick-Tock said.
He and Steve exchanged a nod to discuss the idea later.
They continued to scan the cruise ship for any sign of life as they paralleled its twisting course. Tick-Tock told Brain to circle around the massive liner to the port side, but the only thing there was more of the living dead. When they first pulled up alongside the ship, only a few zombies came out to look at them hungrily. As they stayed in view though, more and more crowded the balconies until there were hundreds of the dead stretching from bow to stern.
The low angle they were forced to look up restricted their view, but from what they could see there didn't seem to be any of the dead crowding the rails on the open decks, just on the balconies. Eyestrain took its toll so Tick-Tock and Steve handed their binoculars over to Susan and Brain. Mary said she was bored and wanted no part of the search.
Heather helped Cindy hold a pair up to her eyes. Within seconds, she spotted the dead hanging on the balcony rails and quickly turned her head away. She stood silent for a moment before going below. Heather had not been trying to scare or shock her, but in a world mostly populated by the living dead, she needed to learn to accept their presence no matter how hideous they were.
After Cindy was gone, Susan gave Heather an encouraging smile. The two woman had talked earlier about helping the little girl come to grips with the sight of the dead. They didn't want her to freeze up if she came face to face with one of them. They explained to Cindy that she could outrun the creatures if she stayed calm and didn't let herself get cornered.