I decided against investigating the Starlight Buffett. Seeing the mangled corpses of my family would break me even more than I already was.
Instead, I pulled out the map and memorized the route to the lower decks. Deck 4 was accessible through one of the hallways only used for staff. This was located near the elevators on the other side of Deck, near the Theater.
Instead of walking through the open space, I could go through a hallway behind Poseidon’s Bar and use that to go around the stores and it would drop me off near the hallway. From there, I would have to take the stairs and use that to go down to Deck 3, where I would have to go across the Staff Quarters and go straight down the hallway to access Deck 1 and 2. That should be where the Engine Room was located.
Hopefully, that was also where they were.
I folded the map back up and put it away. I sat for a bit trying to muster up the courage to go back out there. I also tried hard not to stare at the corpse on the floor, but I couldn’t help but notice that something strange about it.
It wasn’t wearing one of the usual Hawaiian shirts nor those outfits that crew members wore. Instead, it was covered in black pads, and it was wearing a helmet. It was similar to that of a SWAT team member or something like that.
I walked over to it and tried to roll the body over so I could see it better and immediately regretted it. Half of his face was missing, as if something had taken an effortless chomp.
I fell backward and started gagging horrifically. I closed my eyes and took a deep breath before opening them again. I wanted to just leave but a green blinking light from his pants caught my attention.
I crawled over and reached for it, pulling out a small black box with buttons on it.
It was a walkie-talkie.
A fucking walkie-talkie.
I pushed the button and tried to make an attempt that I was here by tapping on the mirror. However, I didn’t know what to do so I just tapped a couple of times.
Then I had the brilliant idea of using my phone to dictate what I wanted them to hear. I pulled out my phone and quickly typed out the words.
Am deaf. Stuck in Martini bathroom on Deck 5. Please help.
And I think someone was trying to reach me because I could feel the rapid vibration coming off from it. But my excitement quickly died off when I saw the doorknob of the bathroom jiggle violently. I slowly left the radio back on his body and shut myself into one of the bathroom stalls.
I shut off my flashlight and waited and waited. The bathroom floor was made of cement so I couldn’t feel any vibrations. I didn’t know if it had broken through or not and I couldn’t make out anything in the dark.
I think I waited in that bathroom stall for about 5 hours.
Eventually, my legs were starting to fall asleep from being in that uncomfortable position and I decided to turn my flashlight back on and peek out through the cracks of the stall.
Normally I always questioned as to why bathroom stalls had such large gaps that could easily let pervs peer in, but for once I was grateful for them. It allowed me to shine the light and I could see that the bathroom was empty once again.
The corpse was even more destroyed than before which meant that one of those things had broken through and fed on it. I slowly opened the stall door and looked at the bathroom door to see that it had been completely busted.
Thankfully, whatever had come through was also gone.
I walked towards the body to see that the radio was busted.
It had been broken and bent and the light was no longer shining.
Fuck.
Fuck my life.
I decided that it was time for me to check outside because I was no longer safe in here. I crawled out of the hole in the bathroom door to see something I hadn’t seen before.
There were flashlights turned on laying all over the floor of the open space outside of the Martini bar as if people had gone through and dropped them. I looked closer and saw that there were several of those things feeding.
They were so focused on their meals that they didn’t notice me crouching behind a table. I turned on my flashlight and shone the light on the scene before me.
They were eating the bodies dressed up in more of the SWAT gear as the same guy in the bathroom. And those flashlights weren’t just flashlights.
They were guns with flashlights attached to them.
I think during the time that I was stuck in that stall, they had answered my call. But they were overwhelmed by the sheer numbers of those things.
I began to freeze up at the realization that if those men didn’t stand a chance, then neither did Jason nor Akio.
That would explain the lack of power.
How long was it since they left?
A full day? I spent a couple of hours locked in that dryer and more hours spent in that stall than I did outside. Every corner I kept running into those things and if a full team of men with guns couldn’t push through then Jason and Akio were already dead.
I was going to die all alone in a floating ship in the middle of the ocean, hundreds of miles away from land.
Maybe I would have had a quick death if I walked into the feeding frenzy of those things.
My death would be quick.
No more pain.
My thoughts were quickly interrupted by a force pushing me back and holding my mouth shut. I almost fought back but I saw through the window reflection that it was a man dressed in that same gear.
Holy shit.
One of them survived.
He practically dragged me away further into the Bar where the kitchen was, quietly opening the door and motioning me to walk in. He trailed in after me and I saw that he was pointing at a hallway. He took lead and began to walk in, pulling up his gun and aiming it at down the hallway. We walked and walked until we reached the end of the hallway, which led out in front of the theater and the elevators.
All we had to do was cross an open space and go through to reach the hallway and go down the staircase.
He looked at me and nodded for me to go across first and so I did.
Those couple of feet felt like a mile. I carefully walked making sure that nothing was moving around me. Those things were in the far distance still distracted by their feast and I had that dude aiming his flashlight around me.
Once I made it, he began to hurry to make his way to mine, and we entered through the hallway. Instead of moving on, however, he stopped to carefully open a maintenance closet before peering in.
Once he did, he motioned for me to enter it with him. He then shut the door behind him, and I took out my notebook and pen to communicate with him.
I think he was saying something until he saw me scribbling something on the paper. I gave it to him once I was done.
Am deaf. Sorry. Trying to get to engine room downstairs to look for friends.
He nodded before taking the paper and writing back.
I’m trying to get there too. Must restore power. Need to reach navigation bridge. You must stay here until I do.
I nodded my head no before furiously scribbling back.
Fuck that. No. I’m coming with. I can help. Your entire team is dead, and you need help. I can help.
He nodded his head, and I could see the sweat tricking down from his brow and down the side of his cheek.
He stopped for a minute and looked at the door and raised his finger towards the lip to shush me. He slowly opened the door a crack and quickly shut it back closed. He grabbed some towels from one of the shelves and covered the bottom of the door and took the paper again.
He wrote into it and handed it back to me.
Hallway is full of them. We must wait here an hour or two until they leave. You can sit and rest and we’ll discuss this again.
I nodded my head and sat down slowly leaning my head against one of the shelves. Now I’m just writing into this to kill time before we head back out.
Honestly, as I sit here, I’m beginning to question so many things regarding this man.
Who is he?
Why are they dressed up as SWAT members?
What happened?
What is their goal?
Wouldn’t they have sent the full military to look for survivors?
I’m not even sure where to start. He’s just sitting there quietly staring into a small laptop that shows a map of the ship. I tried to peer at it, but he keeps blocking my view.
Nonetheless, he needs to help me make it through, so I don’t really care if he answers my questions or not at this moment.
Maybe he’ll be truthful and tell me what he knows.
I guess we have to wait and see.
-Miranda Alcalde