“Hey, listen, I’m only ferrying you guys to the other side. I’m not part of your little group.” She explained.
“Ok, but you’ve still made it abundantly clear that you like Naomi,” he reminded her, “So why aren’t you going back for her?”
She sighed, “We’re halfway there already. I’m not turning back. Especially not if you’re right about Worm. If we turn back, who’s to say he won’t pull another stunt like that?”
“He won’t, because we’ll catch him before he does, now turn this ship around.” He tried to take the wheel from her, but she pushed him back softly.
“Listen, I’ll be going back to England anyway. If I find Naomi, I’ll bring her over to Ireland, alright? But I am not doubling-back, ok?” She firmly explained to him.
Without showing any agreement to these terms, Kieran stepped away from the wheel; in the back of his mind, he knew something still wasn’t right.
In the sports lounge, Cora and Mac were discussing alternate theories whilst playing a game of pool.
“What if it was Kieran?” Mac suggested.
“Oh boy,” Cora remarked, completely against this idea. “Alright, let’s hear it.”
“Well, he seemed rather quick to blame Worm, don’t you think?” He hit the cue ball into the solid red one and pocketed it, but also pocketed the cue ball.
“Only because he secretly cares about Naomi.” Cora debunked this theory. “He comes off as a bit of an arse, but I think he really cares about her.” She hit the cue ball into the striped green one and pocketed it as well.
“Hmm…” Mac wondered. “What about Harry and Valorie? We’ve barely seen or heard anything from them. Trying to keep a low-profile, maybe?”
Cora took her next consecutive shot but completely missed any balls, giving Mac the cue ball in hand. “Nope. I can’t think of any motivation for that one.” She didn’t even try to deny this theory, feeling it to be too ridiculous.
Mac took a shot, but also completely missed his targets, thus putting the ball back into Cora’s hand. “Tanika? I mean, she seems really mysterious. She’s the only person on this ship that nobody else knows anything about.”
As Mac said this, Cora pocketed the striped yellow ball.
“Cora?” He hankered for either agreement or disagreement from her.
“Possibly.” She admitted. “But why would she… Oh.” Then, it hit her, “Of course.”
“What is it? Are you alright?” Mac asked, as he subtly took Cora’s next shot for her, cheating to win the game back.
“That’s why she changed her mind so quickly!” She confidently hypothesised, “Naomi didn’t convince her of anything, she just wanted to get us away from the scene as quickly as possible!
Mac pocketed the solid green ball.
Kieran stepped out on deck, where Worm had last been seen. “What were you doing out here?” He mumbled to himself regarding Worm, wondering why he would do something to Naomi and then choose to flirt on deck with Aoife.
There was an odd almost-metallic smell in the air. Kieran sniffed deeply to try and identify the scent; it was familiar, but he couldn’t specify it.
“Everything alright?” Aoife jumped him from behind.
“Didn’t your parents ever teach you not to creep up behind people like that?” He scolded her.
She apologised lethargically, “Sorry.”
“Yes, well… What were you and Worm talking about out here?” He questioned her.
“He was telling me about the Infected.” She answered, trying to prompt further information out of Kieran.
“Infected? What infected?”
“Well, um… Don’t worry.” She broke away from the question after realising that he clearly knew nothing of what Worm had been talking about.
“Did he mention anything about Naomi, at all? Anything that could link to a guilty conscience?” He asked her firmly. “This is important.”
She shook her head cautiously, “No, I don’t think so. I wish he had. That would’ve cleared this whole thing up.”
Kieran turned away from her and stepped towards the railings, looking out across the ocean. To his right, Ireland was now visible.
“What am I missing?” He mumbled to himself again.
Then, he felt something drip onto the tip of his shoe. He looked down, and at first, assumed it was water; but he quickly realised from the way it stained his shoe that it wasn’t.
He bent over to look underneath the railings; there, on the bottom most one, he saw a red liquid dripping from the underside.
“What?” He grunted in disbelief, as his face filled with worry.
Something he had said earlier on came into his mind: “Christ, it’s like he’s hopped overboard or something.”
He traced the railings with his fingers and noticed that they appeared to be rather ‘moist’, with a similar red liquid faintly smeared across them; as though somebody had desperately wiped at the railings.
“Aoife…?” He called out to her, but there was no response. Turning around, he noticed that she had vanished. “Oh, bugger…”
Cora and Mac marched into the wheelhouse.
“Turn this fucking ship around,” she demanded, revealing a far sterner side to her.
“Excuse me? Who taught you to speak like that, young lady?” Tanika taunted her, still smiling as they sailed towards the now-visible Ireland.
“Fucking turn us around!” Cora reiterated, pulling out her knife and reaching around to press it against the captain’s throat.
Yet still, Tanika smiled. “Of course, you’re the one who disposed of Naomi and Worm, aren’t you?” She double bluffed with confidence.
“Quit it.” Cora tightened the knife. “I know it was you. Whatever you’ve done to them, you’re going to take us back. Now!”
“Take it easy, Cora. M-maybe we’re wrong about this.” Mac hesitated.
“You should listen to your friend,” Tanika continued to manipulate her. “I’m really not the bad guy here.”
“That’s it!” Cora wrapped her arms around her, still holding the knife, and threw her to the ground. “Stay down!” She kicked her.
“Stop it!” Mac restrained his friend.
“Get off of me! It’s her! She’s done something to Naomi!” She desperately tried to resist, but Mac’s grip was firm.
Then, from the radio on the control panel next to the wheel, there was a bundle of white noise.
Everyone in the wheelhouse stopped.
“Breaker, breaker,” an Irish voice broke through the static, “This is Dunmore East to unregistered vessel, please respond, over.”
“W-what?” Cora stuttered in shock.
Tanika scrambled back to her feet and rushed over to the wheel. “Dunmore East,” she breathed a sigh of relief, “This is Captain Tanika Bell of the S.S. Aquarius, receiving you, over.” She began to smirk once again.
Mac whispered to Cora, “People? What the hell’s going on?”
“Copy that, Aquarius. Must confess, it’s good to hear from another soul after quite some time. Over.”
Tanika laughed, “I can relate to that, over.”
“I say that accent… Am I speaking to an American? Over.” The man erroneously deduced.
“Aw, and there I was thinking people were done making that mistake. Correction: I’m from Newfoundland, Canada.” She still had a perky smile despite this mistake.
“This is weird.” Mac continued whispering to Cora, “She kills Naomi, she kills Worm, and now she smiles?”
“We don’t know if they’re dead.” Cora leant back and quietly replied.
Then, Kieran came rushing into the wheelhouse. “Where the hell is Aoife?”
Cora and Mac both raised their fingers to their lips, hushing him.
“Was that another voice I just heard?” The man over the radio asked. “How many passengers do you have? Over.”
“Apologies.” Tanika confessed without turning around to look at Kieran. “Excluding myself, there a
re seven passengers on board. Over.”
“Seven?” Kieran mumbled to himself and counted everybody on his fingers.
“My goodness, eight new souls!” The man became jovial. “Allow me to prepare for your immediate arrival. See you in five! Over and out.”
Tanika hooked the transceiver back onto the radio box and adjusted the wheel to set the Aquarius on course for the harbour.”
“You said seven passengers.” Kieran stormed towards her.
“Yes, because there are.” Tanika patronised him once again.
He folded his arms, “Alright then, list them off. List off the names of the passengers on board this cruise ship right now. Go.”
“Oh, ok.” She wasn’t expecting this request, but complied anyway, “Well there’s you, there’s those two,” she pointed blindly behind her to Cora and Mac, “So that makes three, then there’s Aoife, those two middle-aged people, and finally there’s Worm. That’s seven, isn’t it?”
He cast a fractious look at her. “Exactly, seven…”
Cora caught on to what he was suggesting now. “You forgot someone, didn’t you?”
“What?” Tanika was confused; which in turn had given the game away.
“So, you’ve just told that man, with absolute confidence… That Naomi isn’t on board.” Kieran revealed to her.
“Oh, oh no! No, I didn’t—No, look.” She had been caught off guard, and now had to think fast. “I just forget about her, that’s all! Come on, one extra passenger won’t make any difference, will it?”
“How could you forget about her if you like her so much?” Kieran became irritable.
“Look, I was busy focusing on the fact that we’ve met another new person! You’re really going to flame me for forgetting someone?” She tried to reverse the situation.
“Guys, I think she’s telling the truth.” Mac defend her, watching as Cora and Kieran both entered her personal space.
“Exactly! Thank you! Listen to your friend!” Tanika grew desperate.
“Oh, we’re listening.” Cora affirmed. “We’re listening alright… We’re listening to the lies you’ve been spewing ever since we departed from the port.” Grabbing Tanika by the back of her head, she slammed her against the control desk, rendering her unconscious.
“Why don’t we just throw her overboard?” Kieran suggested irritably.
“No.” Cora put her hand against his chest, “She could still be useful. For now, at least…”
Deep beneath the dark blue sea, deep below where the light reaches, deep beneath where the fishes dare to go, deep beneath the coral and the shipwrecks; the seabed.
Lying on the sediment at the very depths of the ocean, there was a mangled corpse. His clothes were all ragged and torn, as though they had been bitten and chewed.
There was a deep cut in the corpse’s throat, but all the blood had already escaped; the poor soul was condemned to the bottom of the sea for the rest of eternity…
Chapter 26: Guerrillas
Nikola and Rubin found a vantage point less than a mile from the power station. It was a small and naturally formed plateau.
“We are in position, Elliot.” Nikola radioed in.
“Roger that. Stand by.” He affirmed.
“Bloody hell.” Gwen remarked as they stepped out onto the open road which lead directly to the front gates. “It’s huge!”
The power station was perhaps four times as large as the town, with two extremely tall chimneys on the left side of the compound, and six reactors on the right.
“It’s odd seeing them not producing any smoke for once.” Alek remarked, having not seen a power station since before the apocalypse.
Gwen turned around, “Is everyone alright?” She asked the other five members of their party.
They all nodded, though it was clear by their faces that the sight of the reactions had unnerved all of them. Two of them were still keeping a quiet James restrained.
“Just remember, it’s charcoal, not nuclear.” She reassured them, having encountered the effects of a nuclear meltdown first-hand.
Elliot radioed in, “Mum, Alek, how close are you guys?”
“We’re approaching the gate now. Less than two minutes, we’ll be on their front door.” Alek affirmed.
“Got it. Stay aware, ok?” He advised them.
“Jázmin, get ready.” Elliot advised her from within the safety of the forest.
There was perhaps one to two-hundred metres of grass between the treeline and the power station.
“On me, everyone.” Jázmin ordered her squadron, as they all formed a line behind her.
“As soon as Gwen and Alek are in, get moving.” Elliot instructed. “You’ve got the map. You know where the side entrance is.”
Jázmin nodded, and resumed peering through the trees, keenly watching the gate.
“Elliot, everything’s quiet.” Alek reported as his team came within just metres of the gate. “There’s nobody at the front. Heck, I can’t see anybody at all.”
“Second that.” Nikola came through on the frequency. “There is a large courtyard, but we can see nobody.”
“Don’t let your guard down.” Elliot emphasised.
James chuckled, “I told you, my brother is going to outwit your little insurrection.”
Gwen spun around and pointed her pistol at him. “That only goes to show that he doesn’t care for you, at all.”
He looked her in the eyes and smirked, “Go on then. Do it. Be brave, and do it… Your daughter--”
“Shut it.” She maintained a firm hand. “I will do it, but not yet. You’ve not outlived your usefulness.”
“Alek, Gwen, I think there is movement.” Nikola warned them over the radio.
“What? Where?” Alek scanned around desperately.
“We’ve breached the back.” Now Jázmin was speaking on the frequency too; everything was happening rather suddenly. “No sign of anyone in the pipe areas.”
“Everyone hold your positions!” Elliot commanded.
“Alek look up! On the balcony!” Nikola informed him worryingly.
There, above the gate, there was a row of perhaps a dozen survivors with firearms, all traced on the party in front of them.
“Whoa, whoa!” Alek raised his hands instantly, “Don’t shoot!”
“Bit late for that, don’t you think?” The man at the centre of the balcony queried.
Gwen stepped to one side, revealing the restrained James. “That depends on how badly you want this fucker back.”
Everyone else on the balcony slowly faced the man in the middle, who quickly became unnerved. “Let my brother go…”
“Oh, so you’re the one they call ‘Jaxon’?” Gwen deduced.
“I told them, Jaxon,” James shouted up to his brother, “I told them you’d be rallying up the other groups, and sure enough, here you all are!”
“Quiet, James.” Jaxon passively commanded, before adjusting his gaze to look towards Alek now. “Are you Elliot?”
“Uh… No?” He replied.
“Where is he, then?” Jaxon requested with his tone dipping into anger.
“Elliot’s not here. You’ll be dealing with us.” Gwen arbitrated.
Growing frustrated, Jaxon traced his rifle on Gwen and peered down the scope. “I know he’s here… Tell me the truth, or else I’ll blow your head off.”
But Gwen stood her ground and insisted, “Elliot is not here…”
“He’s aiming at Gwen.” Nikola commented, paranoid about what was occurring at the front gate.
“It’s alright,” Rubin asserted, “Keep that one in your sights. If it comes to it, I’ll take the one on the far right… That’ll cause enough confusion.”
Elliot awaited eagerly in the trees.
“We’re ready to breach the courtyard.” Jázmin affirmed. “…Wait.” She delayed, as gunfire broke through in the distance on her end of the radio. “Shit! We’ve been flanked!”
Gwen and Alek jumped slightly upon heari
ng gunfire coming from within the compound.
Whilst most of the guards on the balcony also turned in the direction of the commotion, Jaxon continued aiming down at Gwen.
“Jázmin? Jáz! What’s going on?” Elliot questioned desperately.
“We’re being overrun! We can’t hold them off!” She reported back in a flurry, the sound of death cries and bullets ricocheting also breaking through on the channel.
“Jázmin! Are you ok?” Elliot became rather concerned. “Jáz? Please!”
But there was no response.
“Shit, shit, shit!” He mumbled to himself. “Mum! Alek! What’s happening?”
Gwen looked over to Alek with an anxious expression.
“Mum! Alek! What’s happening?” Elliot broke the radio silence in desperation.
“Oh, yes!” Jaxon proclaimed, overhearing the voice on the radio. “Now that sounds like Elliot to me!”
Gwen froze on the spot at a complete loss.
“Mum, get out of there!” Elliot’s voice screamed through the radio.
“Mum?” Jaxon remarked with a huge smile and licked his lips. Then, he pulled the trigger…
Annabelle gasped deeply, as a trembling sensation vibrated through her body.
“Annabelle?” Dawn heard her gasp and rushed to her side. “Are you alright dear?”
“Y-yes, I’m fine.” She replied with uncertainty.
Dawn smiled, “Maybe you should get some rest?”
Annabelle nodded and politely smiled back at her, “Yeah…”
“Gwen!” Alek skidded to the ground, catching Gwen as she fell down into his arms; fresh blood oozed out of her right shoulder.
The rest of their party scattered and opened fire on the balcony; fire which was returned after a slight pause.
But Jaxon remained at the middle of the balcony, “Oh, I don’t think so.” He commented, adjusting his aim. Then, he pulled the trigger a second time.
“Gooh!” Alek cried out, instinctively clenching his own shoulder now; his second bullet wound within two days. With his head hanging heavy, he collapsed to the ground, parallel to Gwen.
Human Nature (Book 3): Human Nature III Page 18