“Let me in!” She screamed.
“No! Fuck that!” Someone on the other end shouted.
“Please! Let me in! I’m going to get killed out here! It’s me, Rohini!”
“I can’t, if we let you in, they might get in”.
“Please!” Rohini begged, tears welling up in her eyes as panic overwhelmed her, banging her fists on the door.
“Let her in, quickly!” Someone else shouted.
“But if we let her in, we’ll…”
“Just let her in! Open the fucking door!”
An angel was clearly on Rohini’s side.
After some short shuffling and a click, the door opened and Rohini was pulled inside. The door was slammed back shut behind her and the performers pushed a heavy chest in front of it in order to barricade it.
Hyperventilating, Rohini couldn’t move, but she could talk.
“Thank you…”
CHAPTER 17 - EDWARD, RACHEL & LAKSHMAN
1:38pm - 6 hours, 51 minutes since outbreak in London.
28 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
. . .
. . .
His back pressed firmly against the door and his feet digging into the floor to give himself the advantage, Edward was the only thing preventing that crazy person outside getting in. For the past 8 to 10 minutes he had had his back pressed against this door whilst Martha helped to find things to block the door with, though admittedly there wasn't a great deal besides a small drawer. The furniture in these cabins were designed to remain fixed to the floors in cases of bad weather, not unlike the type of weather now developing outside.
The loose drawers and anything they could find to wedge between the door and the floor, Martha brought over.
“This is all I could find, sorry”.
“That’ll have to do”, Edward whispered back, “Stuff them under the door and then we’ll put the drawer in front of it. I doubt it will hold, so listen up, I’m going to get you across the gap between our balcony and the next, it won’t be at all easy and we’ll have seconds to work with, so we’ll need to be both quick and smart about this, find me makeshift weapons just in case”.
Martha nodded and went scouting around for anything they could use as a weapon, whilst Edward propped the drawer against the door. It wasn't much to speak of and probably wouldn’t hold the door for very long if at all, but anything at this point was better than nothing.
Martha returned with a pair of scissors, deodorant, her pepper spray and her sharp nail file.
“Okay, what’s the deodorant for?” Edward enquired. From her pocket she pulled out a lighter.
“Be creative”, she whispered.
“Ingenious, but how did you… you know what, never mind. Give me those, quickly”. He took the items from her and prepared himself to release the door.
“Quick, head over to the balcony, I’ll catch you up”, he instructed. Martha took off towards the balcony and he waited until she was outside on it, before beginning his mental countdown. Reaching zero, he abandoned the door and dashed across the cabin towards her just as she was turning to face him.
“Edward, I can’t do this”, she protested.
“This isn’t the time to be stubborn, Martha, you have to”, he insisted.
“No, I can’t do this! I’ll fall! I’m an old lady, I can’t do that!”
“Martha, you have to! I’m not fucking leaving you behind!”
“Leave me! I’m old, it doesn’t matter what happens to me now, I’ve lived a good life! I have a few regrets, but I can say I gave it my best effort”.
“Stop talking like that. Get across there, otherwise I’m staying here with you”.
“Just leave me. You don’t even like me!”
“Now when have I ever said that? Sure you’re a meddling, miserable, sour tongued old bat, but that has never given me cause to dislike you. I’ve never had anything but admiration for you, even if I’ve had a hard time appreciating you”.
Martha, for the first time since he met her was lost for words.
“Now are you going to do this or am I going to have to lift you up and attempt to throw you across? One of those two things will happen, mark my words”.
Martha turned towards the balcony railings and took a deep breath.
“I’m only doing this because of your threat, I’m more likely to die being flung. Not because you charmed me with a half baked compliment”, she retorted and attempted to climb the railing, “ hold me, don’t let me fall”.
“I won’t, I promise”, he replied, all the while, the slams at the door only worryingly increasing.
Martha stumbled slightly on the wet railings, which sent her into a state of panic induced aggression.
“Edward, for fuck sake! You’re going to kill me! Hold me properly!”
“I am!” He snapped back.
The cabin door hinges snapped; they had mere seconds left to work with.
“Martha, I don’t mean to rush you, but we really don’t have long left, you have to jump now!”
“I’m not ready, I’m not stable enough to jump”, she replied, looking down at the open ferocious ocean and making herself dizzy with terror.
“Martha, you are as stable as you are ever going to be, jump now!”.
“Okay”, she replied psyching herself up, “on the count of three”.
“No! Now!” Edward snapped and with every bit of strength at his disposal, he thrust her towards the other balcony. She screamed and flailed her arms, fumbling for the opposite railing. She managed to make it, or at least the upper half of her body, but it was more than enough for her to hoist her legs up and over.
Hyperventilating, she lay over there for a second before standing.
“Martha? Are you okay?”
“Do I fucking look okay?” She snapped, turning to him.
“As a matter of fact, you do”.
“Fucking imbecile, that was dangerous! I could have fallen to my death!”
“How unfortunate!” Edward shouted back, but as he had begun to climb the railing rail, the door to the cabin flew open, completely snapping the hinges off and knocking the drawer over, sending it tumbling to the side.
In came a man, sniffing the air and twitching erratically. His clothes were stained in blood, though whether it belonged to him or someone else, Edward didn’t want to find out.
“Martha! The door is open! Run inside and hide!” Edward ordered and that was the very first instruction Martha ever listened to.
“There you are! Why didn’t you open the door? I was so lonely!” The man shrieked, spotting Edward. Edward clambered up onto the railing and just as he was about to make the jump of his life, the man grabbed his leg and Edward slipped, almost falling into the ocean. He just about managed to grab the railing as he hung perilously from the outside of the balcony railings. He almost had a heart attack, but the fight for his life was far from over.
“Come back here, don’t be ridiculous, I only wanted directions, won’t you be my guide”, the man proclaimed, tugging at him.
“Get the fuck off of me you lunatic!” Edward snapped, pulling himself free. One false move and he’d fall into the ocean below.
“Why so brash? I only wanted fucking directions!” He lunged towards Edward in an attempt to bite him, with a look in his eyes that abandoned all connection to the real world. Edward didn’t know what drugs this man was on, but his state of psychosis was unlike anything he had ever encountered. Realising that this man intended to harm him was more than enough incentive for Edward to fight back. Even hanging perilously over the ocean on the outside of a balcony, he was prepared to fight back, punching and pulling away from the crazy man trying to bite him.
One perfect punch to the face and the lunatic released him just long enough for Edward to try and climb back onto the balcony, but the man wasn’t done yet. Without any regard for his life, he charged at Edward, toppling them both over the edge. Edward lost grip, only managing to grab the bottom of the bal
cony with one flailing arm, as the man flew overhead and down into the ocean. Edward, now clinging on for dear life, could barely stretch the other arm back up to hoist himself back up, but just below was the lower balcony, if he could just swing his body just a little, he could probably make it.
His arm already in agony and slipping, he attempted to swing towards the lower balcony, his feet just skimming the railings, before attempting once more as he lost his grip of the balcony above and prayed for the best. He toppled down onto the railing hitting his upper thigh, back and elbow against it, before landing on the balcony aching and in pain from the fall, but at least alive. He stood up and looked up towards the balcony he had fallen from, before peering over the edge into the rough oceans where his assailant had fallen and he too could also have.
That was a close call. His heart was pounding and he still couldn’t believe that he had experienced all that just now, the shock of it overwhelmed him. Just who the hell was that man and what did he want from them?
He already hated boats and this entire trip was so far doing nothing to alleviate that; if anything, it was confirmation that he never wanted to ever be on a boat again.
Holding his funny bone - of all places to knock against the railings - , he pulled the door open - luckily most people left the doors open, or at the very least unlocked - and stepped inside a cabin. It looked as though it belonged to a couple, as there were clothes everywhere and Polaroid photos on the bed next to a vintage camera. In the photos were a young woman and man taking selfies at various locations on the ship. It was a fairly messy cabin, but then who was he as a passing intruder to judge?
He disregarded the photos and approached the door, but before exiting, he pulled out his phone and rang Martha.
“Edward? You’re okay”, she answered.
“I’m fine”.
“What happened? Where are you?”
“I’m in the cabin below ours”.
“What? How the heck did you end up there?”
“It’s… a long story. What matters is that I’m safe”.
“And our attacker?”
“He won’t be bothering us anymore. Where are you? Are you safe?”
“I’m hiding in the bathroom”.
“Okay stay there, I’m going to get Christine and return to you, don’t move and don’t make a sound, there may be more”.
“Okay, return my daughter here safe, or I’ll have your head”.
“I won’t let you down”.
“Oh, and Edward”.
“Yeah”.
“You be safe too”. Her reply caught him off guard, it was the first time she showed even an inch of concern towards him.
“I will”. With that, he hung up and rang his daughter.
1:46pm - 6 hours, 59 minutes since outbreak in London.
36 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
Still standing in the corridor waiting for news, Rachel and Lori were growing impatient, but they weren’t the only ones, by now someone somewhere must have heard something, instead staff had turned their agitation towards the crowd, which did nothing to create reassurance as it did to only further impatience and unease.
Rachel’s phone vibrated in her pocket.
“Hm? Who’s calling me now?” She pondered, before fishing for her phone. Lori glanced at her curiously. Upon the screen, the name Jerk appeared.
“I really ought to change that name”, she said, lifting the phone to her ear, “Dad”.
“Good, you’re okay”.
“Err… yeah, last time I checked. Should I not have been? What’s wrong?”
“Where are you? Did you hear that announcement?”
“We did, we’re outside in the corridor with a crowd just trying to find out what’s going on”.
“Dammit, Rachel, go back to your cabin and stay there, it’s not at all safe right now”.
“How now?”
“I have reason to believe that whatever happened in London is happening here!”
“Wait what?”
“That London infection, it may be aboard this ship!” Rachel’s eyes widened with terror as she gazed towards her girlfriend, Lori in turn tilting her head curiously and forming the words what's up with her lips.
“What… what makes you think that?”
“I went back to our cabin as you know to have a shower, Christine wasn’t there and Martha saw people running and screaming whilst I was in the bathroom. When I spoke to her, she told me that she was strictly told to stay in the cabin and lock the door by a staff member who didn’t stick around for the afterparty. Not long after that we heard the PSA. Naturally we questioned it, until we had a clearly mentally unstable visitor who quite literally broke through the barricaded door to get to us. I managed to get your grandmother over the balcony to the cabin next door and she’s hiding in the bathroom at the moment, I however didn’t even get the chance to jump before I was attacked and the nutter almost threw me into the sea. Not only was he muttering some nonsensical rubbish, he tried several times to bite me and then tackled me off the edge without any regard for his safety. He fell into the ocean and by some stroke of the lucky stick I fell onto the balcony below. I’m aching and shaken up, but I’ll be okay. You two need to return to your cabin now and block the door. Don’t let on that you’re in there and spread the word on your social media thing”.
“Are you serious right now? All of this happened?”
“Word for word”.
“Dad, are you pulling my leg? You’re joking right?”
“Goddammit, Rachel! I’m being serious!”
“But nothing has been said by the staff, surely if something…”
“They’re not going to say anything, Rachel! If you wait for them, you’ll endanger your life! They don’t know what this is any more than you do or I did and even if they did, they wouldn’t want to create panic!”
“So they know…?”
“They know, they bloody well know. I’m going to find your mother. She went to the spa and hasn’t returned. Promise me you’ll return to your cabin and stay there”.
“Dad…”
“Promise me, dammit!”
“I promise”.
“Call me if anything happens or you need me, okay?”
“Okay”, she replied. He hung up. “What the flying fuck?”
“What did he say?” Lori asked.
Rachel recited everything she was told by her father to Lori who simply stood there speechless until she was done.
“So… what do we do?” She asked.
“Go back, stay in the cabin like we were”.
“But you heard him, that man broke through a door to get to him. He’s a fully grown man and he got tackled off the edge of a balcony, what chance do you and I have against just one of those crazed people, far less two or more? Are we just meant to sit and wait in there? Wait for what? We don’t know if they’ve even sent out a mayday message yet, we don’t know a damn thing!”
“What can we do, Lori? Stand here slap bang in the middle of danger?”
“No, but we can’t stay in that cabin either. If shit hits the fan, I want to be somewhere where I can abandon ship easily, whatever that consists of”.
“So outside? Wouldn’t we be more vulnerable out there?”
“I don’t know, maybe”.
“That isn’t helping”.
“I’m nervous and I feel claustrophobic in that cabin, I don’t have the answers, I’m just telling you how I feel about the situation”.
“I’m not saying you’re wrong, maybe you have a point, but you don’t have a plan, we have no idea what’s going on, we don’t know if what my dad said was true or not, but what we do know is that something is happening and staff aren’t saying anything”.
“Regardless of what it is, I’d rather be outside than trapped in that cabin, sinking ship, fire, pirates or god forsaken whatever you want to call them, crazy people”.
“I’m just saying…” Rachel began, but she was int
errupted by screams coming from one of the adjacent corridors. The spine chilling screams and wails were enough to silence the entirety of the rowdy impatient crowd and the security guard sprung to action, bracing himself for something or another.
Men, women and children poured down the corridors, fleeing from someone or something, a look of terror and desperation in their eyes. Some stumbled and fell trying to escape, only to be trampled on by those behind them and if for a second the young women thought that was horrific, the preceding events would top it with ease.
A man was slammed against a wall of the corridor and his throat quite literally ripped out, spraying blood everywhere, by another crazed man, just like the girls had seen in the video and a woman and her two sons were pounced upon and ripped apart by more crazed people. The security guard ran over to help, pushing past the fleeing crowds, but what he intended to do on his own was anyone’s guess. Very quickly, even he was overwhelmed as more crazed people surged down the corridor, pouncing on any stragglers and tearing them apart with their teeth and nails.
Rachel and Lori had never seen so much blood.
“It’s real…” Lori murmured, wide eyed staring and going pale with horror.
“Lori! We have to go!” Rachel screamed and grabbed Lori’s wrist, “We have to go now!”
1:50pm - 7 hours, 3 minutes since outbreak in London.
40 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
“Are you okay? Where are you now?” Lakshman asked his wife, Rohini. She was evidently shaken, he could hear the tremble in her voice.
“I’m okay… but those people”, she replied.
“They’re not well, they’ve been afflicted with something”.
“This ship isn’t safe, we need to get off, now! I want to be home with my son, not on this hellhole!”
Cryptophobia | Book 2 | Hell & High Water [Fear The Unknown] Page 18