The intercom message finished with a click and the irritating soothing music resumed.
“What in the world?” Christine exclaimed, pushing herself up from the table.
“You wait here”, her Malaysian masseuse insisted and simply abandoned her there.
“Oh come off it, are you serious? Wait here after we both heard that announcement? You've got to be having a laugh”.
She sat up, swung her legs off of the table, covering her exposed upper half and slid off.
“They're not serious, they could have at least helped me get my clothes, this is ridiculous”, she muttered to herself. She walked across the room and grabbed her gown. Her things were in the changing room. Her mother or possibly even Edward were probably calling her after hearing that.
She covered herself and stepped outside of the massage parlour with her soft slippers on.
A crowd of people had amassed in the Zen room, all from different parts of the spa, like her, wondering just what the hell was going on. One particular man in his white gown who appeared as though he was in his late fifties, seemed most displeased, as he shouted over everyone else.
“This palaver is ridiculous, I've never seen such incompetence! Does no one communicate? How could none of you know what is going on? Is this a drill?”
“Sir, we are just responsible for the spa, we can’t provide any information beyond what we just heard as well, I sincerely apologise for the inconvenience, but this is the most we can do right now. Please don’t panic, just return to your cabins until further notice”, a female spa worker replied.
“Bloody ridiculous, clearly some people need to be fired”.
“Sir, please, we are only capable of handling what we have jurisdiction over. If you have any further complaints, please take it up with ship staff”.
“We’ll definitely be sure to!”
Mumbling and grumbling, the spa guests were advised to retrieve their belongings from the lockers and make their way back to their cabins, but the crowds made it something of challenge to do so, with Christine stuck at the back, waiting for most to collect their things and leave, but that was made more difficult with stubborn people deciding that this was the best time to attempt to get change and in doing so, fuelling irritation and creating arguments that could have been avoided.
Eventually Christine managed to weave her way through people entering or leaving the locker room to collect her things, but on the way back out to leave the spa, the Zen room erupted into screams and people leaving poured back in, running in the opposite direction.
Christine was left bewildered, uncertain of what she was running from or why, but people screaming and running was never a good sign. She took off running in the opposite direction with others, most of the crowd backing into the locker room, others taking off into the hot tub rooms and massage parlours, and she and others running towards the sauna room.
As she came to the sauna room, those ahead of her dived in and slammed the door behind them, sealing themselves off from those outside.
“Open it up! There are still people out here!” A man next to Christine snapped. The two of them pounded on the sauna door, as those inside held it closed, refusing to open it.
“Open the door, you fuckers! Open it now!”
A fruitless ambition, the two quickly realised that this wouldn’t do, so turned to head back towards the Zen room, the man running in front and as they returned.
It quickly became apparent that they were in graver danger than Christine could have imagined. There before them were corpses littered across the ground, blood everywhere and people hunched over other people ripping them apart with their teeth.
Just what manner of horror was this?
Stopping dead in her tracks, as the man ran towards the locker room in hopes of finding something, Christine was left standing there, uncertain of what to do. Foolishly she turned back around and made for the sauna room again with hopes that this time they would open it for her, but they didn’t. Banging on the door, they shouted obscenities at her through the glass window and refused to open it. Christine, terrified and certain she was going to die at this rate, turned to see a cupboard opposite the sauna room. She ran over to and opened it, finding inside neatly folded towels and gowns, with just enough room for her to hide. She slid in and closed the doors, praying that whoever had killed those people outside didn’t find her.
She could see through the doors of the cupboard, so did that mean that those outside could see her?
She began reciting words of the bible to calm herself down, praying to God that he protect her and guide her to safety.
It was only a few seconds more before three erratic behaving people covered in blood entered the room, so Christine's fast decision making and stroke of luck may have paid off. They twitched and muttered words under their breath, before discovering the people in the sauna room, which in turn increased their twitching and excitable aggression. They slammed against the sauna door with a tremendous and terrifying determination to get in.
“Please let us in, we just want to… kill you… I mean use the sauna room. Don’t keep it all to yourselves… motherfuckers!”
Petrified with terror, Christine remained as quiet as she could possibly be, covering her mouth in case even so much as a squeak escaped her lips and gave away her hiding spot. There she would remain for as long it required, silently praying.
1:28pm - 6 hours, 41 minutes since outbreak in London.
18 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
Edward and Martha stood in the centre of the cabin trying to make sense of the situation. They had heard screaming coming from the corridors outside of their cabin and the intercom message from the captain instructing everyone to remain in their cabins until further notice, but not even so much as a murmur of just what the hell was going on.
Pirates? Had they been hijacked? In the Atlantic ocean? Was that even a possibility? By who? Thoughts surged like a relentless tide.
“I told you something was going on, I told you!” Martha snapped.
“Yeah, okay, you were right, hush, you'll give us away!” Edward whispered back. “Christine, I'm going to find out if she's okay”.
“Oh, so now you want to talk to her?”
“Stop being a pain in the ass and help me”. He ran over to get his mobile and dialled in Christine's number, ignoring the multiple messages and voicemails left by her, but despite several attempts to reach her, he was met with the answering machine, so as a final ditch effort to reach her, he left a message.
“Christine, if you get this I'm at our cabin, I'm not angry, just come back as soon as you can, I'm worried. It's Edward”. He hung up.
“Nothing?” Martha enquired.
“You heard for yourself, no need to ask”. He stepped out onto the balcony and gazed over.
The skies were grey, a sleet stung his face as a heavy atmosphere clung to his skin and the seas began to swell, stirred by a brewing wind. This didn’t look good, a case of pathetic fallacy or sheer coincidence?
“Now isn't the time to be admiring the view”, Martha scorned.
“I'm checking to see if it’ll be at all easy to jump to another balcony, as we may need to”. It wasn't; not for Martha anyway. The ones to the side they could probably reach a little easier with some careful consideration, although a single slip up could result in a plummet several floors high into the high seas below, a nasty death to say the least. Below and above would require some degree of athletic aptitude, it would be no easy feat for him, far less Martha.
He ventured back into the cabin and looked around for something, anything that could make both their lives easier. They both froze on the spot when they heard something or someone outside of their door talking, but it didn't sound normal.
“I don't know where I am, won't someone show me the way? I don't… like being lost”.
Martha urged Edward to check it out, peer through the peephole, but not open the door. Initially he refused, despite her
insults directed at his manliness, but when the voice began to sound more desperate, he changed his mind, what if someone out there genuinely needed his help?
He crept up towards the door and stopped just short of it, enough that he could lean over and peer through the peephole, but not enough that whoever stood outside would be able to see his shadow too clearly beneath. Doing exactly that, he peered through the keyhole out into the corridor, but could see no one. Strange, he was certain he had heard someone just outside that door.
“Well?” Martha whispered. He turned to her and shrugged, to which she shook her head doubtfully.
He turned around to peer again and his heart almost broke through his ribcage and leapt into the world with fright upon seeing and eye peering right back at him.
Yelping and stumbling backwards, he was immediately furious with himself, he had given off their presence.
“I know you're there, why don’t you come out… out… help”, the person outside suggested, they sounded male, the voice wasn’t deep, but deeper still than that of a female’s.
Edward turned to Martha, as though half expecting her to have all the answers, but she just shook her hands and formed the word no with her lips, instructing him not to open the door.
Infuriated by their unwillingness to open the door, the man outside became increasingly more hostile, knocking at the door becoming banging at the door, banging at the door becoming throwing the full force of his body at the door in an attempt to break through.
Realising the potential threat to their lives if that man managed to get through those doors, Edward did the first thing that came to mind, threw his back against it, using his own body weight to keep the door standing.
“Little pig, little pig, let me come in. What did you say? Not by the hair of your chinny chin chin? Then I'll huff, and I'll puff, and I'll blow your house in!” His attempts to get in became more aggressive, it was as though he was backing off as far back as he could go and throwing himself at the door.
“Martha! Find something, anything to block the door!” Edward ordered.
Terrified Martha looked around, desperately. It was only a matter before that man broke in.
CHAPTER 16 - LORI, WENDY, ROHINI
1:30pm - 6 hours, 43 minutes since outbreak in London.
20 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
. . .
. . .
Lori stood at the cabin door peering out into the corridor. The problem with being in a cabin like this and hearing news like that from your captain, was that the thought of having nowhere to escape to in the worst case scenario, created and compiled the unavoidable feelings of claustrophobia, anxiety and consequentially, panic.
Not used to these circumstances, Lori had begun to feel restless and nervous, compelling her to find out what was going on. She had peered through the peephole to see nothing but staff and other guests walking by.
Shortly after having opened the door however, she noticed a crowd of angry and confused people beginning to amass towards the end of the corridor.
“Lori, come back in, baby. Shut the door”, Rachel pleaded.
“There’s a crowd gathering at the end of the corridor”.
“Don’t get involved”.
“Maybe they have information or something, I should at least go and check, I might find out something crucial”.
Rachel sighed.
“And what if you don’t? What if there’s a damn good reason the captain wants us to stay in our cabins?”
“And stay here none the wiser with nowhere to escape to if something major is happening? We might as well be seals in shark tank”.
“Lori!”
“I’m going, stay here if you want”, Lori insisted, slipping out of the cabin and venturing into the corridor. She marched down the corridor towards the crowds and heard raised voices as a particularly heated situation neared boiling point.
“Why hasn’t the captain told us what is going on?” One man shouted.
“Yeah! This is some bullshit! Is he keeping something from us?” A woman snapped.
“Ladies and gentlemen, please calm down, the captain will alert you when more news has been provided, until then, the only option is to wait”, a security guard instructed.
“Wait? When the ship might be sinking? Wait until it’s too late?” Another man replied. Lori stopped at the back of the crowd.
“The ship isn’t sinking, I can assure you, but your safety comes first and as part of protocol, it is our duty to make sure you are all in a safe space before we investigate, inform you of and resolve the issue and then resume the rest of the voyage as normal. This however only slows us down and endangers you”, the security guard replied.
“You know something, so why won’t you tell us?” A woman demanded.
“Ma’am, please”.
A situation was clearly developing into something more than it needed to be here, the staff’s coyness was doing little to alleviate the nervousness of those onboard and if anything, invited more questions.
Someone placed their hand on Lori’s shoulder and she turned to find Rachel.
“Any news?” She asked.
“No, nothing. They’re being tight lipped”, Lori replied.
“I told you we’d most likely discover nothing”.
“Yeah, but I can’t stay in that windowless, escapeless cabin with no indication as to what’s happening, because if something is, we’re trapped”.
Rachel sighed.
“I’ll stay with you until they do”.
“Thanks”.
1:32pm - 6 hours, 45 minutes since outbreak in London.
22 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
Wendy and friends had been in the pool at the upper quarter of the stern of the ship shortly before the chaos began, cooling off and recollecting thoughts. What had happened in London was truly tragic, but it did no good dwelling on it in the middle of the ocean where she was unable to do anything to change it. Her family and girlfriend were okay, shaken up, but okay and they would evacuate if they deemed it necessary.
This trip was supposed to be a treat for the massive promotion she had attained, position upgrade, pay rise, more respect and responsibility and of course a massive lump sum bonus, what more could she ask for?
In order to commemorate that, she gathered five of her friends, three males and two females and together they booked the trip, wanting nothing more than to leave work behind and head out on vacation, but here they were now wanting nothing more than to go back.
It was whilst she and her friends were in the pool that she had heard the public service announcement from the captain, instructing them to return to their cabins. Of course this only made people nervous, including her. It didn’t help that she also had the added pressure of having to collect her things from the lockers before heading back. Honestly, she should have just left them in the cabin like her friends suggested.
Being in the pool during this overcast weather, teasing with the prospect of a storm, was a spontaneous and equally ridiculous decision, made purely to clear their heads and calm their nerves in light of the events in London that they had no control over. It did no good to just be inside looking at news articles and watching videos that would only serve to tank their emotions and fuck with their rationality. Normally there would probably be staff up here to stop them, but after hearing that announcement, it made more sense as to why they weren’t.
They had collected their clothes and quickly rinsed off, before beginning the journey back to their respective cabins. That was when they spotted people running in their direction, screaming. Confused, she and her friends stood there amongst a fleeing crowd of people, looking for what had spooked them. People jumped behind bar counters, others fled down either side of the ship. It was akin to something they had seen in a disaster movie.
They didn’t have to wait too long to find out what the cause of the commotion was, when shortly afterwards a fleeing man was tackled to the ground by an
other and it certainly didn’t look as though they were play fighting, as the man on the ground flailed and screamed, trying to push the attacking man off of him. One of Wendy’s male friends instinctively sought to help, lunging at the attacking man and punching him in the face. He himself was a kickboxer, so he was more than used to confrontation, to some extent, revelled in it.
The man fell to the ground, seemingly stunned by the attack, giving Wendy’s friend a chance to free the man being attacked.
“What the fuck is your problem, dude?”
The downed man slowly looked up towards them, twitching erratically as he did so, a menacing grin spread across his face and blood trickling from the side of his mouth he had been punched. It was then that they noticed what looked to be a bite gash on his neck, he had been bitten, but by who or what? That was no love bite and if it was, it didn’t do to imagine what kind of kinky bullshit this guy was into.
Much to their shock, the man began shrieking like a wild animal and threw himself at both the man and Wendy’s friend without regard. The three tussled, before another of Wendy’s female friends, the girlfriend of the kickboxer, got involved.
“Stop it! Stop it!” She cried, but her words went on deaf ears.
As Wendy stood watching in horror, someone pounced on her back, catching her off guard and knocking her to the ground. She found herself face to face with a woman twitching and chattering her teeth in an attempt to bite her. Warding off the woman’s incredible strength with her arms, she screamed for help and two of her friends rushed to her aid.
Cryptophobia | Book 2 | Hell & High Water [Fear The Unknown] Page 16