"Runner Five, catch!" Paula tosses me a metal bar, and I wedge it into the door handle. My head is pounding from the alarm that keeps going off. They know we're here. They're coming for us. "That should hold then off for awhile."
"You're gonna be okay," Sam assures. "You've just got to cross this ship, which we think is uninhabited anyway, and then a couple more walkways and you'll be in Louise's boat."
"Waiting here for you. The engine's revving," She says.
"What about Caleb?" I ask. "I still have to go get him. I can't leave him here."
Sam lets out a small noise. "Five, we-we can't-"
"No, they won't let me go," Maxine says, struggling in Paula's arms. "They can't!"
The redhead frowns. "The drugs have made her woozy. We haven't had time to go through the recovery sequence." She looks at Maxine with gentle eyes. "You'll have some temporary memory loss, darling, but one thing to remember is how I'm very determined. Maxi, they might not want to let you go, but nor do I. So we'll see which one of us wins."
The curly-haired woman still shakes her head in protest, but still Paula continues to carry her along the corridor. I look down at the gun in my hand. I got it after knocking out one of the guards when the alarm first went off.
I think I may have broke his nose-as in completely shattered in. The sudden rush of adrenaline caused my swing to be much powerful than I meant it to be. So, thanks to Van Arks treatments, I broke a man's face with my knuckles only slightly swollen.
Fortunately for me, with the panic of everything else going on, no one noticed this. Good. I don't want them too. It's already weird enough with what we've already saw on these ships. No need to add more mind boggling things that are really hard to explain.
"We've got that door wedged shut, which should keep any guards from coming in, but I guess this can still come in handy," I state, looking down at my gun.
"You really think we'll have to kill someone?" Paula asks, and I almost roll my eyes at such a stupid question.
"You heard the screams. You really think they won't do that to us if we're caught? I'm been poked and prodded enough in my life, thanks."
"Avoid firing that weapon you stole if you can, Runner Five," Janine says, and my jaw drops in shock. Is she serious? "After that thing we saw on deck-"
"Person," Paula corrects. "He was a person."
"We don't know what experiments they've been doing or what they might have available to fire back with. Don't draw attention to yourself. Just get out of there."
"Don't draw any more attention to ourselves, you mean. How many are after us?"
Sam hums, the sound just barely audible over our footsteps and the alarms. "Yeah, that's uh-that's weird."
"What?" I ask.
"Janine, look. I don't have great cams, but look. Can't see anyone following. There are people moving on the decks of all the ships, but away from you."
Paula and I share a look. "That's... ominous."
But then a small smile crosses my face. "But... it's also good, right? If no one's following, then I can run into the next ship and get Caleb."
"I-I'm not sure," Sam stammers, and I'm sure he's rubbing the back of his neck like he does when he's nervous or unsure. "I don't have the greatest feeling about this."
My face falls. "But-"
"We'll just-we'll see, alright? For now, just-just get back onto that science boat you were on-the Ariadne. Go."
I hesitate at first, wanting to put up more of an argument on saving Caleb, but then I remember how Maxine has always been our main priority in this mission, and we need to at least try to get her back to safety.
And we'll probably have time to save him. I mean, if these guys aren't even trying to pursue us, then I should be able to head back around to find the smaller cryo-freeze room.
Pulling Maxine along isn't too hard, but she keeps murmuring things and trying to pull away. She's too weak and woozy to put up a fight, but I can't understand why she's trying to fight us. She knows who we are, so why doesn't she want to leave?
What did they do to her on this ship?
From the looks of it, it wasn't the kind of torture or experimentation that the man who jumped off the boat was put through. That's good. It means Caleb might still be in one whole piece as well.
God, I hope so.
Irritation and sudden anger forms in my chest at the thought of Caleb being like that man-hurting, rotting away. I grit my teeth. Janine says she doesn't want me firing any weapons, but if I find out that they hurt Caleb while keeping him captive here, then there will be blood on my hands by the time I leave.
We cross the walkway onto the Ariadne, but I can see some people rushing about on deck, so I pull Paula and Maxine into one of the corridors to keep from being seen.
"This way," I say in a hushed voice. "Come on."
I pull them further down, looking back over my shoulder to make sure we're not being followed. But as we keep going, I find myself getting lost in the twists and turns. It all looks so... dreary. There's nothing really discernible about any of the hallways we go through. I try to make a guess on where to go, but each turn leads to another corridor.
I glance down at the gun in my hands, and I bite the inside of my cheek. Maybe I should've just used this instead of trying to not be seen.
"Sam, do you have sight of if anyone's still out there? I think we could try to head back, if I remember the w-"
A scream cuts me off, and I tense.
"No, please! No, you can't!"
I choke on my own breath. It's the same man before, the man that was pleading for mercy.
Haven't they tortured him enough?
"Jesus," Sam gasps. "Have they just like, interrupted their pursuit of fugitives for some light torture?"
"That does seem to be their primary hobby," Janine murmurs.
"What direction did that scream come from? This ship-the Ariadne-she's a sister ship of the Aurora. You remember the Aurora, right, Five? It's where we-uh, yeah-it's where we-"
"It's where we found Sarah," I say, voice empty, the memory hitting me like a brick to the face.
"Um, Sam," Simon says softly. "We're... we're gonna die."
I breathe in shakily as we watch them approach. There's nowhere to run; Nowhere to hide. We're trapped...
I'm scared. I'm terrified because even though I'm willing to die, that doesn't mean I want to. In a broken, terrified state, one word manages to leave my lips. It's soft, and broken, just barely heard over the zombies' moans and Jody's terrified screeching. It's 'help me' and 'please don't let me die' even though I know that's not something he can always do.
"Sam."
Four boats fall, two not crashing through the deck while the other two do. All four of us are too stunned to speak, but Sam isn't.
"You did it! You dropped the lifeboats! Roll that one over to block more from coming up the stairs. Well done, guys."
"Um, Sam," Simon says, still stiff with shock as Summer pushes the lifeboats to block the zoms as Sam instructed. "Those lifeboats... we... we didn't do it."
Jody nods in agreement. "We passed the lever thirty meters ago."
"Then who-"
"Who's that figure on the upper deck?" Janine asks.
Sarah Smith grins down at us, clearly amused at our shocked expressions. "Runner Three, Runner Five, Runner Four, Runner Seventeen, nice to see you all again."
"Yeah. Yeah-"
"It's also where we heard the screams..."
"Oh... you're-you're right. And the captain never did tell us what he was doing there... Oh, God." He pauses, both of us feeling a sense of horror at the realization. "Um, I've got the schematics for the Aurora, which should be right for the Ariadne too. I can try and route you around any dangerous looking area."
"People have been spotted on this vessel. You have to come with us now, Al," Someone says, groaning in annoyance when this man, Al, screams. "Get up. You're comin' now."
Paula stops moving as a pained look appears on her face. "Sorry, I can't. Sorry. Sorry. Maxi, sorry. Five, sorry. I understand if you don't want to help, but whatever they're doing to that man... we can't leave him here."
"I can't wait here for you forever," Louise says.
"It won't take forever. I just keep thinking... he might be what I'm going to turn into one day."
I flinch at that. Is that really what she thinks? Is that really what she might become?
"How's Dr. Meyers?" Janine asks.
"Groggy. I uh-oh, here's a wheelchair." She grabs it and I help put Maxine into it. "How're you doing, Maxine?"
She groans. "I-It's not... I... I can't..."
"It's okay, darling." Paula looks at me with a raised brow. "You with me, Five? We should have time, just to help that man."
"But what... what about Caleb? If I can't save him, why should I..." I shake my head. "You can go save that man. I'm going to head over to two boats over to rescue C-What the hell?"
We're all lurched to the side when the ship rattles. I slam into a wall and let out a grunt from the sudden pain. It takes me a moment to register what the loud boom that reaches my ears is.
Oh, no.
"You don't have time anymore," Janine says, voice stern. "I don't understand why, but the flotilla has set off depth charges around the cruise liner you're on. The boat is going down. You have to get out of there. Along the corridor, as fast as you can. Run!"
•
"Which way now? Which way?" Paula questions as she pushes the wheelchair as quickly as possible.
"The quickest way to the upper deck is along that corridor, then down the-" Sam starts.
"No, she's listing heavily. The Portside will be above the waterline in, I'd estimate about four minutes," Janine says.
There's a pause.
"Oh, no. No! They can't jump. They-they-they can't."
"They can't still be on that ship when it goes down, Mr. Yao. The vortex will drag them under even if they tried to swim to the surface. If they're on deck, they'll die."
"So you want them to jump into the water?"
She ignores his question. "Dr. Cohen, Runner Five, are you able to support Dr. Meyers between you?"
"Yeah," Paula says, and we immediately pull Maxine out of the wheelchair.
"Take her now and run as fast as you can."
"But... she won't be able to jump or swim away."
"We'll work that out when you get there. Go now!"
I put one of Maxine's arm over my shoulder and start running. It's a bit awkward trying to support her, since she is almost ten inches taller than I am and seven inches taller than Paula, but we make it work. We drag her along, our breathing heavy as the ship creaks and groans.
Something flashes across my eyes, only for a half second. Water. Water everywhere. I remember this. Tony told me something about this-a boat, water, it sinking.
Something happens... I can't remember.
"Come on, hurry!" I urge, suddenly fearing the worst of what I don't know.
I can feel the ship moving under my feet, and I drag Maxine along as quickly as I can. But with her barely able to move her feet, just now being able to say more than a few words coherently, it's harder than it looks.
We reach a stairway, and with determination, I wipe the sweat from my forehead and start climbing. Paula struggles to keep up with my pace, resulting in her almost letting go of Maxine's left arm.
"No... we can't.... I can't leave. Paula, I can't leave," Maxine says.
"Yes, you can," I say, irritation begging to bubble up at her words. "You can, Ed can, and so can Caleb. We're getting you out of here."
"Caleb..." She repeats. "He's... Caleb's..."
"What? Caleb's what?"
"He's still..."
My eyes grow wide. "Still what? Still alive? Still on the ship? What?"
"Still sick. He can't stay in the freezers... not for long. Has to get..." Her words slur and become inaudible, but before I can ask another question, I trip. My ankle smacks into the stair as I try to regain my balance. I hiss in pain, but the sound dies in my throat when I see the stairs are... turning.
"What the-Sam, what's happening?"
"She's over. She's rolling over."
"She's breaking apart," Janine says. "See the metal ripping there, and there?"
I nearly trip again as I try to keep going up-or well, forward, maybe sideways.... I can't tell. We're getting into a floor-wall confusion situation. I grab onto the railing to keep myself upright.
"I don't understand why they'd blow it up," Sam says. "They can't have had the time to evacuate everybody. Can't have."
"They didn't," Louise says as I grab Paula's shoulder to keep her from falling on her face. "There are people jumping from the upper decks into the water. I can see them. Zombies are grabbing some of them... Guys, when that current starts to form-"
"I know. Five and I both do," Paula says. "You can't stay. In your little motorboat, you can outrun the vortex. But you can't escape if you stay."
"How close are you?" Sam asks.
"It's hard going with Maxi, getting though the stairs that uh, are sideways and that doors that are downwards."
Maxine lays her head on Paula's shoulder. "Leave me."
She scoffs. "Don't be stupid. Not after we came all this way for you. I don't like to waste a trip."
"I'm starting a stopwatch, guys," Louise says. "If you're not here in eight minutes, I'm leaving."
"Six minutes," Janine corrects. "You should leave in six minutes."
She nods. "We'd better get there before that then. Come on, Five. We can carry her. We can do with a burst of speed about now."
I push myself to go faster, Paula doing the same. My legs feel like rubber as I keep trying to maneuver through the staircase from hell. With each step I feel as if I'm going to topple over and drag Paula and Maxine down with me.
It takes us maybe a minute to get into the next corridor. We have to go up. If I knew where the deck was, I'd head there. I know Janine said it would be dumb to go towards the deck, but if we can't find a way out, how are we going to jump off of this boat? We have to get off this ship somehow, and her plan is not working at all.
There must be a window somewhere on this damn ship, so where the hell are they?
My heart pounds in my chest, the sound like that of a drum, fast and loud and overwhelming. Fear is running in my veins as I scour for any possible way for to get out of this death trap.
God, I really need some help right now. I think it would be a real shame if you were let me die on my seventeenth birthday.
I'm not even seventeen yet-not officially. I won't be seventeen until eleven fifty-eight at night. It's not even six A.M.
Please don't let me die.
The way is getting steeper as the boat keeps breaking apart. The tearing of metal stabs into my ears, like nails on a chalkboard.
I'm slammed into a wall as the ship starts to roll over almost completely. Up is down and I'm suddenly on the ground, having fallen in a split second, nearly dragging Maxine down with me.
"Get up," Paula commands, eyes wide and fearful. "We have to move. Now!"
I push myself up, panting heavily as the world starts to become a blur of gray walls. Where does it end? Every second we stay in the Ariadne is a second closer we get to death.
There's a door up ahead, swung open, almost up to the ceiling now because of how much the ship has turned. My legs are burning. I'm drenched in sweat. There's barely any other places to run now, I think. I'm not sure how much of the ship is even in the water yet.
Paula tugs on Maxine's arm when she reaches the door, climbing up to get into the room. "Come on, Love. Come on. Can you-"
"I can't. I can't," She replies, shaking her head.
"It's okay. Five's got you. It's okay. We're getting out of here. It's all going to be okay." She looks at me expectantly, and I grab ahold of Maxine, lifting her up so she can get into the room with Paula. After Twenty-three gets her secured so she won't suddenly fall out of the room that's all topsy-turby, she gives me a hand up as well.
I gasp once inside the room, eyes going wide when I see windows, and daylight!
"Praise God!" I exclaim, rushing over to them.
"You're doing well," Sam says, wincing audibly when the Ariadne groans loudly. "The ship is-the ship is not doing so well."
"We'll be out of here soon enough," I say, clenching my fists. I'll probably regret this decision, but there's nothing in this room that we can use to break the glass and I want to live.
"I've got my motor running," Louise says. "Just waiting for you. Even got some life jackets and foil blankets. Get out now. Jump and I'll find you."
"What's that?" Janine asks stiffly, and I pause in rearing back to punch the window.
"What?"
"Something's crawling over the side of the boat. Look."
Louise groans. "Oh, my God. I can see it. It's-"
I shriek when a rotting hand slams up against the window, the one I was seconds from smashing through. I then see a head-a rotting, peeling head with moldy teeth and dead eyes.
"You've gotta be freaking kidding me," I say once I catch my breath, backing away from the window. I raise the gun in my hand, ready to fire, but then I see another zombie, this one without a jaw, and another that's missing an eye.
"They must've been inside the ship, or they climbed up from the reef. There are zombies everywhere."
They bang on the windows, causing them to crack. Again and again and again their fists hit the glass, until it shatters, and then they reach out to us, growling and snarling and hungry.
"We can't get out this way," Paula says, and I roll my eyes.
"Thanks for stating such a crucial piece of information, Captain Obvious. Back to the stairs. There might be one staircase connected to it that leads to the upper decks. Go! Run!"
•
"It's only a minute or two now until she goes," Janine says as we frantically run across the deck. "Miss Bailey, you must leave."
"I could stay a little longer," She says.
"You could not. Go now. Dr. Cohen and Meyers, Runner Five, have you found your life jackets?"
"We've got them on," Paula says. The sound of the water and the ship's destruction is deafening. It drowns out my thoughts, my thudding heartbeat, my fearful gasps-it drowns out everything.
"I'm going to need you to go up towards the very top most part of the boat," She says quickly. "Do you see it?"
"Yes. The part where the spinnacle is broken off?"
"Yes. The three of you will hold on there until the very last moment, then take a deep breath of air-the deepest you can. And as you hit the water, you will try to swim upwards. You'll become confused and disoriented. Concentrate on letting your breath out very gradually. You'll have longer than you think. Even the untrained swimmer has up to two minutes of breath in their lungs."
My arm goes around Maxine's waist, and I do my best to pull her up and keep her from losing her balance. She's coming around more now, but her motor skills are still off. She still needs some support.
"Man," Sam says, a small laugh leaving his lips-a laugh that does its best to hide the fear and anxiety that his voice gives away, "whatever training they gave you to run this secret lab facility was comprehensive. Were they expecting a ship wreck?"
Janine clicks her tongue. "I've seen 'Titanic' eight times... twelve." She pauses when we reach the highest part of the boat. We have forty seconds... "Ready, doctors? Ready, Runner Five?"
"As I'll ever be," I reply, slightly shaking.
"I'm-I'm ready," Paula says.
"You three!" A man suddenly cries. "You three! Here! To me!"
I turn my head. There's a man waving towards us on the far side of the deck. I recognize his voice: it's the man who was being tortured. The people called him Al. But his voice isn't all I notice.
"Here! There's an inflatable sealed dinghy here!"
His left arm, it's rotting and falling off. The remaining flesh is gray and dead, just like the man we saw before.
"What the hell?"
"Help me launch this! We only have a few moments. We can all be safe here, sealed tight."
"Well?" Sam questions.
"Any port in a storm," Janine answers. "Five, that boat's still latched to the far corner is the upper deck. You have to untie it. Run now."
I pass Maxine over to Paula, running as quickly as I can towards the rope. The ship, or what's left of it, is moving around so much, making it hard to keep my balance. I can see the water getting closer and closer, and I slide down towards the rope, finding this method of travel much quicker than running.
I reach the area where the rope is latching the dinghy to the deck of the ship, and my fingers frantically make work of untying it. My head pounds at the sound of the waves, my heavy breathing, the screeching of metal ripping and tearing. I can hear it all.
"Maxine? Maxine, is that you?" Al questions, and I take a quick glance over my shoulder to see him helping Paula and Maxine onto the dinghy. They're safe, at least.
I finish untying the rope, but even as I start sprinting towards the inflatable boat, I know I'm not going to make it. Paula knows this too, which is why she tosses out a rubber ring; It's just out of my reach.
"Five, hurry! Grab it! The water is coming!"
"The ship is breaking apart, and you're in the center of it." Sam's voice is thick with fear. "You have to get back there, right now!"
"I'm trying, Sam!" I yell. "I'm tr-ah!"
I'm hit with water, grabbing the life ring just in time to not be swept off. I hold onto it with a vice-like grip.
"I can't tell you. I can't tell you," Maxine says over and over again as I try desperately not to be pulled under by the water's current.
"Was it you?" Al asks. "Not Diana? Not Diana! Oh, thank God! Thank God!"
"That's it," Sam says as I release one hand's grip on the life ring in attempt to paddle towards the lifeboat. "The dinghy's to your right. You have to swim towards it now." He inhales sharply. "But the floor of the ballroom is headed for your head! Go faster! Get out of the way! H-Hold onto the life ring! You're nearly in!"
I reach my hand out, Paula's hand so close to grabbing mine.
"Duck!"
Something hard slams into my entire right side. Pain shoots up my head, and I'm underwater before I can even realize that I let go of the life ring.
"No!" Paula shrieks. "We've lost her!"
"Five, hold on!" Sam cries, but I can't.
I can't move. I can't do anything. I just sink.
That's when I remember-this is what Tony was telling me about.
The cold water engulfs me, numbing my senses, dragging me deeper and deeper down. I can't hear anything, I can barely see. It's so quiet. It's comforting almost, even in this chaos. I can't find it in me to move. I can't find it in me to do anything.
This is it, I realize. This is where I'm going to die.
An amused laugh echoes in my head.
"Come now. We both know that's not true."
I blink, a bubble of air escaping my mouth.
Sarah?
"Runner Five," Janine says through my headset, "you are underwater. The ship is going down. You will be caught in the vortex. Move now. Move or you're going to die."
"Do as she says. It's not your time yet. You know this."
I blink back to reality, and I kick my legs, moving my arms to push myself upwards, towards the light-what I think is light, what I hope is light.
Sarah laughs again. "That's my Five. We're nearly there."
"Head for the light, Five, or you'll die."
I kick my legs harder, faster, my hands reaching up, trying to grasp that small amount of light ahead of me. My head breaks the water, and I gasp, coughing and spluttering and frantically waving in hopes I'll be seen.
Sarah?
I wait, but I hear no answer. She's gone.
"There! There she is!" Maxine yells, and I look to my right. The woman is leaning forward so much I fear she might fall out of the boat.
"Wait there," Paula yells. She tosses out the life ring again, and when I grab onto it, she starts to pull me in.
"Where is she? Where is she?" Sam panics. "Five? Where are you, Five? I can't see anything through these bloody weather cameras."
"I'm okay," I croak when I'm pulled onto the dinghy. Paula nods in agreement.
"We've got her in the life raft with us, Sam. She's going to be alright."
There's an audible sigh of relief, and then I hear him clear his throat. "Well... Good then."
"That was incredibly brave, Runner Five-making sure we were all sealed inside the raft before the ship went down." Al smiles at me in appreciation, and I give him a small nod. "I thought you wouldn't... Caleb said you were a fighter."
I sit up instantly. "Caleb?"
"Well, Maxine did talk about you as well-"
"He's alive?"
He blinks in surprise. "Of course, he is."
"You were imprisoned here with them?" Paula asks before I can ask anything else. She looks down at his rotting arm. "Is that what they've done to you? Is that what they were planning to do with Maxine and Caleb?"
Again, Al blinks in surprise. "No, I-sorry. You think I'm imprisoned here?"
"If you're not a prisoner, why are you like that? What have they been doing here? Why did you stay?"
"Not 'they'. 'We'. I'm... I'm Albert Goodall. I'm..."
"Oh." A shadow suddenly crosses over the redhead's face, and I look at her in confusion.
"Who's that? Who is this guy?"
She looks at me, a certain look in her eye that makes me shrink back. "He's the Chief Legal Counselor of Comansys."
My shoulders tense, and I look at Albert with wide eyes. He nods his head politely.
"At your service."
"You kidnapped Maxine," I state accusingly, tensing up, ready to tackle this man out of the dinghy. "You kidnapped Caleb. You kidnapped my best friend!"
"It's not exactly that simple, I'm afraid," He replies calmly, only fueling my anger. "We took your people, but well, we took them for their own good."
"Bullshit!"
Paula nods in agreement, "I can't believe you expect us to believe this nonsense."
Maxine places a hand on Paula's shoulder. "It's true, darling. It's true. They've been trying to help us."
She scoffs. "If it were true, love, they'd have contacted us to say what happened to you. Any decent person would've done that."
"It wasn't possible. And I'm... not to be trusted."
"What do you mean 'not to be trusted'?" I ask with narrowed eyes. I then glare at Albert. "What does she mean by that? What did you do?"
"We don't have any option, I'm afraid," He says, and I glare harder at him evading my question. "We cannot allow Diana control over any of us. It would spell the end of the human race as we know it, and that's why we had to take your people. That's why we had to keep them from you, and why we've hidden here. That's why I've subjected myself to this terrible flesh wasting. If Diana takes control of us, humanity's last hope is gone."
I shake my head. "Wait. Wait. Wait. I thought... I thought Comansys and Diana... I thought you guys worked together."
He opens his mouth to reply, but Paula speaks first.
"I rather feel we need a longer explanation that just that."
Albert gives her a humble nod. "And you shall have it. You have my word."
A/N: The plot thickens. Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Please be sure to vote and comment! Thank you and have a blessed day!