Dead Calm (41 page)

“Brain and Connie are on The Usual Suspects?” Steve
asked quietly.

Susan nodded and said, “You didn't rest for very
long.”

“When you gotta go...”

Susan smiled and asked, “Can you do me a favor? Can
you go into the Ship's Store and grab me a bottle of water?”

Realizing he had put Susan out here with no one to
relieve her, he apologized for not being more on the ball.

“You can't think of everything,” she assured him.

He replied, as he left to get her water, “But I still
have to try.”

***

A jolt of fear shooting through him, Tim froze and
when he saw Steve come out of a store.

Don't let him spot me, he prayed, trying to make
himself invisible.

He had managed to slip behind Susan and made it all
the way past the stairs to the registration desk that dealt with
people who wanted to book activities at one of the ship's ports of
call. Sadly, Tim remembered his dad standing at this very same desk
when he signed the family up to go horseback riding on the beach.
With a flash of anger, he also remembered seeing Steve here for the
first time as he tapped his rifle on the counter to see if any dead
were behind it.

Hoping the shadows would conceal him like they did
when he cut the chain used to secure the cabin doors on deck five,
Tim crouched and backed up until he felt his tail bone hit the
front of the desk. His heart pounding in his throat, he barely
dared breathe lest he give himself away.

I'm so close, he thought. Please don't let them spot
me now.

Tim looked around for a direction to run if they
noticed him, then watched with relief as Steve turned away and
headed down the Centrum while Susan followed his progress. He used
this distraction to slip over the desk, freezing when he
accidentally knocked the bolt cutters against the counter top.
Looking back to where Susan stood, he saw her interest was still
taken by Steve. With a quiet sigh and a, “Thank you,” said under
his breath, he continued on. Once on the other side, he found
himself in complete darkness. Pressing a button on the side of his
watch, he saw by the glow that it was ten minutes to ten.

More than enough time to make it, he thought with
relief. In a crouch, he went to the far end of the counter and
slipped back over. The nearest emergency light was twenty feet
away, which left his area in darkness. The doors to the cabin area
were only a few quick steps away.

***

Heather glanced at the group of Faithful making their
way down the Centrum as they searched the rows of high-end shops on
deck ten. She had just finished searching each of the royal suites
and was exhausted. There hadn't been any sign of Ricky, but she was
relieved when she came across the younger of the Hungarian girls
and her sister trying on clothes in a boutique. She escorted them
up to the pool deck so Ricky wouldn’t come across them too and left
them with two older women. After explaining the situation to them,
they assured her that the sisters would be looked after until she
returned. Heather would have to tell Steve that the sisters would
be staying with them, and he was now a foster dad, but she knew he
wouldn't object, since it was the right thing to do.

Resuming her search of the high-end cabins reserved
for Ricky and his Head Ushers, Heather was repulsed at how dirty
everything was. Soiled clothes and half eaten food lay scattered
around most of the rooms and they all had an underlying odor of
dried sweat and body waste.

Now, breathing the semi-fresh air of the Centrum, she
decided to call it a night. Checking her watch, she saw it was a
few minutes to ten. Heather unclipped her radio, pressed the
transmit button and asked, “Tick- Tock, where are you? Over.”

“Deck six, over,” came his reply.

“I’m calling it a night,” Heather told him. “I want
to check on Steve anyway, and then I need to go up to the pool deck
and do something, over.” Heather didn't want to get into explaining
about the new additions to their group until she had to.

Tick-Tock replied, “I’m almost done with deck six and
then I’m going to go through seven real quick. Shouldn't be more
than an hour, I’ll see you downstairs, over.”

“Over and out,” Heather acknowledged.

Securing her radio, she slowly headed for the stairs
thinking; as much as I’ve gone up and down these damn things, I
should have the butt of an eighteen year old.

***

The Reverend Ricky Rose looked down at the switches
that controlled the watertight doors and suddenly had a change of
heart. He still planned on flooding the ship with the living dead,
only now he decided he didn’t want to die after doing it.

Considering the layout of the ship for a moment, he
quickly came up with an escape route. He wasn't too worried about
his Faithful trying to stop him since, with what he had planned for
the ship, they would be too busy trying to save their own lives to
bother. Ditto with the people from the sailboat. All he had to do
was set his final plan into motion.

Ricky looked at his watch and saw it was one minute
to show time.

***

Steve handed the bottle of water to Susan who opened
it and took a long drink. Eyeing him, she asked, “Aren't you
supposed to be in bed? You're looking a little rough. And besides,
I just heard Heather say on the radio that she's on her way.”

Steve nodded, the thought of bed sounded enticing.
While he felt like he still had a million details to go over, the
idea of lying back on the mattress and relaxing was almost
overwhelming. Combined with the fact that his other half would kill
him if she found him up, he decided it would be in his best
interest not be standing around when she showed up. He had gotten
up to answer the call of nature and figured that while he was
awake, he would take care of a few things, but as he looked around
he realized that there wasn't anything that couldn't wait. Heather
would be back in a little while and she could sort out who would
watch the stairs. Together they could gather up their belongings so
they could leave the Deal Calm the next day.

Steve nodded again to Susan and was about to agree
with her when a metallic rattling sound coming from the area by the
doors to the cabins stopped him. In the silence of the Centrum, the
noise stood out.

Instantly alert, he motioned for Susan to stay where
she was as he brought his rifle off his shoulder and held it ready
at waist height.

Crouching slightly, he went to investigate.

***

Tim looked down at the discarded spray-paint cans
he’d kicked and cursed under his breath. He thought he was home
free as he moved toward the cabin doors to cut the chain off, but
with his first step he’d blown it by kicking one of the canisters
left lying on the carpet by whoever had painted the crosses on the
doors. He knew the noise would alert Steve so he had to move
fast.

He took another quickstep forward, opened the bolt
cutters and closed them around the lock holding the chain
together.

***

Steve circled the grand staircase and instantly
spotted the shadowy figure standing in front of the doors leading
to the cabin area. At first he thought it was Ricky and raised his
rifle, then realized that the shape of the person was wrong.
Shorter then Ricky, this person was slim where Ricky was fat.

In a flash he realized who it was. Holding his fire
but not lowering his rifle, he barked out, “Whatever the fuck it is
you're doing, Tim, you need to stop.”

Then the chain around the door handles rattled and
Steve knew exactly what he was doing. At first he didn't believe
it, but when Tim turned slightly, he saw the bolt cutters as the
youngster pushed their handles together.

The chain parted.

***

Quite a few of the dead in the cabin area on deck
four were attracted to the doors leading into the Centrum since
they could sense food on the other side. With the scent of fresh
meat being so strong for the past few days, the short hallway that
led to these doors was now packed wall to wall with the living
dead. They milled about, with the ones in the front constantly
switching places with those at the back. Occasionally, when the
urge struck one of the creatures, it would reach out and move the
push bar to see if it could free itself and get at the food waiting
beyond.

Up until now, the chain had always restrained them,
but after hearing something rattling against the doors and the
sound of a voice calling out, one of them tried again.

This time the doors opened.

***

Ricky's hands moved quickly as he activated the
switches that opened the watertight doors on every level of the
ship. He had originally planned on just opening the doors to decks
five through nine but in the end flipped all the switches. Looking
down at the rows of green lights that showed across the console,
indicating that all sections of the ship were now open, he barely
felt the slight lurch, as the Calm of the Seas seemed to settle at
the stern.

The excitement of what he had just done bubbled up in
him, insane laughter burst from his throat. Ricky quickly spun
around and ran for the door leading from the bridge.

***

The engine compartment and deck one had flooded
completely, leaving those dead inside to float weightlessly,
trapped in a liquid prison. With the watertight doors shut, there
was a benefit to the living on the ship that they were unaware of
besides keeping the dead locked in. No more water could enter the
ship so the pressure had equalized, effectively stopping the Deal
Calm from sinking. Although this circumstance was only temporary,
and with the pumps out eventually the ship would sink into the Gulf
of Mexico, it gave the living on board at least two more weeks
before they had to abandon the cruise liner.

That was, until Reverend Ricky opened the watertight
doors.

With a pop and a roar, water rushed in from these
flooded compartments at the rate of hundreds of thousands of
gallons per second. The sudden change of pressure also caused the
seals on the screws and the pumps to blow, letting in more water to
add to that already flooding ship.

As the water surged in from below the hatches on the
upper decks that kept the dead imprisoned in the cabin areas parted
or swung open.

At first, only those zombies near the openings went
through. Then the smell of human meat flowed into the cabin areas
and the rest rushed forward.

Water and the dead flooded the Calm of the Seas.

***

Tim heard Steve's warning as he cut the lock. Turning
around, he saw he was trapped. Steve stood with his rifle at the
ready, blocking any chance of escape. His eyes darted around,
looking for a place to hide but saw it was fruitless. There was
nowhere to run. Behind him he heard the chain, as it pulled through
the handles right before the door banged open.

Dirty hands reached out and grabbed him. Tim's last
coherent thought before pain blotted everything out was, I did what
Ricky wanted, so at least now he'll let my dad go.

This thought mollified him for only a second before
the first set of teeth bit into the back of his neck. Twisting his
body around and breaking free, in terror and confusion he saw who
had bitten him.

He could only squeak out, “Mom?” before she fell on
him.

***

Steve watched as the doors to the cabin area burst
open and the dead pushed through. Instinctively, he fired at the
first of the figures that came into the Centrum even as he saw Tim
pulled down and torn apart.

Too many, his mind screamed, as he saw dozens of the
dead stagger forward, with more crowding behind. Hearing rifle fire
on his left, he turned his head slightly and saw that Susan had
joined him and was shooting into the throng of dead. Maybe they
could hold them, he thought as he resumed firing but immediately
saw it was hopeless. The area between the cabins and the grand
staircase already held over fifty of the dead with more pouring
through the doors by the second.

For as long as he could remember, Steve had had the
ability to consider numerous aspects of any situation and come up
with a solution within a split second. Even as he fired a shot into
the head of the zombie nearest him, his mind flashed to the last
know location of all of his people. It was like he had the ships
layout in front of him and he could see where Heather, Tick-Tock,
Mary and Sheila were. He then flashed on Brain and Connie being in
the sailboat and Cindy behind him. He instantly cataloged
everything at their disposal they needed to get out of this deadly
mess. In a split second, the solution to how they could escape came
to him.

Firing into the head of a zombie, he shouted to
Susan, “Give me your radio, mine’s in the clothes store.”

She unclipped the two-way from the waistband of her
jeans and handed it over. Steve started giving out orders, “Get
Cindy and head for the sailboat. Cast off and tell Brain to watch
for us.”

Susan fired twice, taking off half the cranium of one
of the dead coming toward her as she shouted, “We’re not leaving
you.”

“You won't be,” Steve yelled back, his ears ringing
from the noise of the rifle fire. “Tell Brain to sit off the stern
of the ship and watch for us. We’ll be coming down that way.”

Susan started to open her mouth to object when the
deck shuddered under her feet. Wide-eyed, she looked to Steve for
an explanation but he was as clueless as she was. He had no idea
what could make an almost one hundred thousand ton ship shake like
that. The one thing he did know was that whatever it was couldn't
be good.

Having been pushed back to the rear of the grand
staircase by the oncoming waves of dead, Steve knew he would have
to break off or he’d be trapped on deck four. He had to get to the
upper decks right now, since in a moment the stairs would be cut
off. Steve knew he had to reassure Susan or she would never leave,
between firing into the heads of any zombie that got too close he
briefly laid out his plan. By the time he was done, they had been
pushed to the front of the grand staircase. He yelled at her to
grab Cindy and haul ass as he started up to deck five, taking the
stairs two at a time.