"Anything?"
"I've only got a weather camera about a mile from where you are. I'll be able to see if people are massing on the deck and that's about it," Sam says.
"And are they?"
"It looks clear," Janine answers.
I nod, and both Paula and I go deathly quiet for a few moments. "I can't hear anything, apart from the screams."
Just as the words leave my mouth, a scream of agony pierces the air. The pain in it makes my stomach twist in knots, but I don't recognize the voice of the man screaming. It's not Caleb; That's something of a relief.
"Guys, it's two A.M. We agreed this was the best time," Sam says. "Louise has highjacked one of their speedboats. She can get you away once you've found our people, but the longer it takes, the more likely it is someone will spot her."
"Why then, it's about time to do it," Paula says, and I nod in agreement, breathing in deeply. This is it. We've got one shot at this, and we've already made it this far. We can't mess this up now.
"You know that Dr. Meyers is-that..." Janine starts, unsure of what to say. "Maxine may not be... You know she may be dead, or worse. The same goes for Mr. Shelly."
Paula looks down, pain flashing across her face before she regains her composure. "We know, but we heard Maxi onboard the Laetitia Greenwald a few weeks ago. We have to try. And as for Caleb, he may have heart problems, but he's a fighter. We can't lose hope."
"No, we can't," Sam agrees.
"Of course. Runner Twenty-three, Runner Five, when New Canton withdrew from the mission, we persuaded the Ministry to carry out one overflight of the Comansys flotilla of ships with an inferred scanner. We've located the heat signature of the cryo-freezers-"
"And they're all on the Laetitia Greenwald?" I question.
"No, it is on another ship, and there is another small heat signature from a ship near that one. We believe the smaller group of the two are extras in case any of the cryo-freezers in the larger group short circuits. The larger group is where we believe our people are.
"Unfortunately, that ship is heavily guarded, so you'll need to breach their perimeter elsewhere. You'll be ascending the side of the Laetitia Greenwald by rope ladder, then turning swiftly to port and running to the first cover zone we've identified as a lifeboat beneath the top wall. From there you'll be running across the walkway from one boat to the next. We'll have to assess the situation and we'll advise on more cover."
Paula swims over to the rope ladder, me following. "We're going."
"Be quick," Sam says.
"Godspeed," Janine murmurs, and we start climbing.
I can feel the water dripping off my body, and I breathe in sharply at the feeling of cold air hitting my wet skin. I hear the droplets reunite with the ocean, and for a moment I fear that we might be heard, but we aren't. The sound of the waves hitting against the ship drown out any other noises. And we've gotten rid of our oxygen tanks so they wouldn't weigh us down as we climb up.
Paula reaches the top of the ship first, and climbs over the railing. She helps me over, silently advising me not to look down. My fear of heights hasn't lessened any, and even with it being water below us-water that I now dislike because of how cold it was-I still feel afraid to see what's at the bottom. There are still zombies in that water. We may have killed a couple hundred, but I know there must be thousands more lurking in the dark water.
Then we start running, water dripping from our wetsuits and wet hair onto the deck as we try to go as quickly as possible to our first cover. It feels as if every sound we make will draw attention to us-every breath, every step, every drop of water that hits the wooden deck. My heart rate picks up; My throat goes tight.
Anxiety threatens to consume me while as thoughts of 'what if' fill my mind.
What if we mess up? What if we were wrong? What if Maxine and Caleb are dead?
We can't mess this up. One shot is all we've got. If we fail, then it's all over.
I take a deep breath, cold air stabbing at my lungs, bringing me back to the present.
I'm not going to let that happen.
There aren't many lights on, making it hard to see, but also making it harder for us to be seen. We've had to get rid of our dive cams, but they wouldn't have helped much anyway. We can't turn on our lights without immediately giving ourselves away, and Paula and I both make sure to stay away from any of the lights around the ships.
The cold breeze of the ocean makes me shiver, and I clench my jaw to keep my teeth from chattering. There are no guards around this area-none that I see anyway-but people like to wander around at night. You never know who you might run into, or what weapons they might have on them.
I can see the lifeboat up ahead, just a few feet away. I pump my legs faster, making sure my steps are as quiet as possible. My eyes are constantly darting around, making sure no one is around to hear or see us. Sliding under the lifeboat that's hung up against the wall, I hide in the shadows, and Paula joins me a second later.
"Very good," Janine says curtly as Paula and I breathe in sharply. Our wet hair sticks to our faces, and these wetsuits are more than just a bit uncomfortable. Running in these are much more exhausting that I thought they'd be.. "You made first cover seventeen seconds faster than I estimated."
"You estimated it to the second?" Sam gapes.
"To the half second. It's become clear to me, Mr. Yao, that if I don't take care of matters myself, I can't rely on anyone else to."
"I know what you mean," Paula says.
"What can you see?"
The redhead squints and I push myself further into the shadows, shoulders caving in in an attempt to look smaller. "One guard to the west of us. Appears to be making a slow circle of the boat-clockwise."
"Excellent," She replies, a small smile in her voice. "As we presumed in our simulations, they've prepared for an air assault or an attack from another ship, but not for infiltration by a small team."
Over my headset, a hear a loud thud, then Louise's mocking laughter. "There are only three people guarding their speedboats. Well, were."
"Good then. Five and Twenty-three, prepare to cross the walkway to the second ship on my mark."
A loud scream suddenly reaches my ears, making me jump. It's a scream of utter pain and torture. It shakes me to the core and rattles my bones.
"What was that?" Sam shrieks in panic. "Are you alright, Twenty-three? F-Five, are you okay?"
"It's not us. We're fine," Paula replies, wincing when another scream echoes onto the ship.
"Don't! No! No, please! Please!"
My God. What are they doing on these ships?
"Someone's not fine," The radio operator quips.
"All the more reason to do our job and get our people off this boat," Janine says urgently. She almost sounds slightly afraid. "Five, Twenty-three, you're heading for cover by the blue awning. Go."
Another scream echoes into the distance as we run. And we both make sure to stay unseen as we go across the walkway to the next ship. The blue awning is not too far ahead, but still I keep my guard up. I don't want to get caught and be put through the pain that the screaming man is going through.
I know those screams. I've heard them before. I've made them before. I've caused them before.
This man is being tortured.
I can tell it's of pain-physical pain. I don't know why Comansys would be doing this, since using mind control would probably be easier and less noisy, but now is not the time to ask those questions.
And even with that being said, suggestions manage to pop up into my mind.
Maybe this man somehow can't be placed under mind control. (I mean, we don't even know who it effects or why it effects them and not others.) Maybe he's somehow resisted mind control. Maybe these Comansys people are just sickos who like causing people pain.
I don't know, and honestly, I'm not too sure I want to. I've seen a lot of things. I've been through and done a lot of things as well, but I know that there is a lot I still haven't seen. I learned that lesson with Steffie and... the rats. A shiver runs up my spine, and goosebumps erupt on my skin. I still have nightmares about that. It was only a few... days ago, wasn't it?
How long has it been? I wonder with a small frown. Four days, I think... God, it feels like it's been so much longer.
Everything's been happening so quickly lately. It's hard to tell when things happened. But that's how it feels with almost everything it seems.
The screams aren't as frequent now. They come every few minutes now. But they still hold just as much pain as they did the first time we heard them. Paula flinches every time he screams, and I know we're both thinking that maybe we should try to save him. We might be able to, if we knew where the sound was coming from. And if we can get Maxine and Caleb and Ed out of here.
But then the screaming stops. It's just silent here on the ships, the only sounds being the gentle ocean waves and the cool breeze that blows by. I don't find that very comforting. That could mean multiple things-such as the tormentors have stopped for the moment, the man being tortured has passed out from the amount of pain he's been put through, or he's... died.
None of them really sound all that great since, if it was option number one, that means the tormentors will eventually come back; If two, then he will eventually wake up and the torture will begin again; And if three, well, he's dead.
I have a really bad feeling about this place.
I look around, eyes looking for any guards as we near the awning, only to find there isn't any.
"That's odd," Paula murmurs as we reach the awning, seeming to notice the same thing I just did.
"Guards?" Janine guesses.
"Just the opposite," I say. "Our path is completely clear... We're ready to go when you tell us."
"Give me a sec," Sam says. "I thought I saw some movement on the other side of the ship. Uh, Portside?"
"I think that's starboard," Janine corrects.
"Doesn't it depend on which way the ship's going?"
Paula squints as she looks up at the awning. "This awning isn't blue. It's lit by blue lights by whatever we're next to-this sealed cabin with a generator."
"Presumably another cryo-freezing unit," Janine says, and I raise a brow.
"The extra ones you saw?"
"No. Those were on the ship directly beside the ship with the larger heat signature. These must be..." She hums. "Well, it seems unlikely they would have another ship with extra cryo-freezers."
"These aren't cryo-freezers," Paula whispers. "They don't make light."
"You're gonna be clear in forty-five seconds, guys. Heading across that second walkway to the-to the... What is that?" Sam questions. "Fishing trolley?"
Twenty-three nudges my arm, and when she gains my attention, she jerks her chin toward the small observation window over to the side. "Want to take a look?"
"I can't see what you're talking about, but I suggest you don't do that. Maxine was just the same when we were chasing Van Ark-looking in places, stopping to examine things." He groans in annoyance. "It's like trying to get a five-year-old to run a mission... But what's in there anyway?"
I giggle, but then go silent as Paula and I squish together to get a look in the window. When I see what's inside, I tip my head to the side in confusion.
"Huh... It's the plants," I purse my lips. "They're the same ones from the Treetop Base, or at least they're something like them. But... they're a dark purple instead of blue. Uh, what's the right word for this color?"
"Violet," Paula says.
I nod. "Yeah, that. What do you think they're being used for?"
"We cannot stop to investigate," Janine snaps. "I see a guard approaching from behind you. They must've changed their routine. Go now. Quickly."
I hesitate for a second, but then I sprint off, staying in the shadows, trying not to be heard. Paula stays right beside me. I can hear the guard's footsteps-slow, steady. It mixes with my quiet breathing as I try to keep going, try to keep from being seen. If he catches even a glimpse of us, we're done for. He'll alert the others and we'll captured, most likely tortured, and killed. Or they might put us under mind control.
My heart nearly stops in my chest at the thought of being like those blank faces people, with glazed over eyes that hold something like a sick joy.
We just have to get over to the next ship. Hopefully he won't follow us and his route only ends there. Problem is, the walkway is in the light. If we try to cross now, we'll be seen, but if we stop we'll also be seen.
Shit. Shit. Shit.
I look around, trying to see if I can maybe find something I can use as a weapon, something that'll knock him out. We could hide him somewhere, like in a closet, so he wouldn't be found. It's a good plan. It could work, but only if I can knock him out, and for that I'll need to find a weapon.
I don't.
This is going south rather quickly.
I flex my fingers, wondering if my five-foot-three frame with very skinny arms has the power to knock a man unconscious. I could try, but this man may or may not have a gun on him, and I would rather not get shot today.
What do we do? God, what do we do?
I raise my hand up to the mic on my headset. 'Sam, a little help here?'
"He's almost on you. Run. Run!"
I deadpan. 'That's not the help I'm talking about!'
"Sorry. Sorry! Uh, to your left, quickly!" He says, voice cracking on the last word.
"That's not a hiding place!" Janine yells.
"Oh, other-other left! Other left! Those oil drums-hide behind them. He's coming 'round the corner. He'll see you!"
Paula reaches the oil drums first, quickly crouching down behind one to stay out of sight.
"Five, over here," She whispers harshly.
I practically dive behind the oil drums, slamming into Paula, which actually cuts down on the noise. She lets out a grunt and glares at me, but I ignore her. I hold my breath as I hear footsteps approaching, silently praying to God he'll just keep walking.
"Don't make a sound," Sam whispers. "He's-"
A loud shriek cuts him off, this one louder and more blood curdling than the ones we heard earlier. My mouth goes dry and my throat constricts at the sounds.
"Oh, God... that noise seems to have..."
I hear the sound of a saw, and the blood drains from my face.
"No! No! Please, stop it! Please!" The poor man from earlier begs.
"You knew this was going to happen," Another replies, and then I hear him scream again, the sound paired with the whirring of the saw and... I think that's the sound of a drill.
Bloody tools of a memory I'd rather forget flashes across my eyes. I hear screams, but these are different.
"No! Please! Don't do this! Don't do this, please!" The girl begs.
"Just tell me what you know, and I'll stop."
I know that voice so well. The sadistic tone in it scares me. It sounds so real, so dark.
"I-I..."
"Tell me about the A.M.T.B. and the pain will stop."
"I can't."
There's a laugh-an evil, horrid laugh. It sounds as if that exactly what it wanted to hear, even though it was the opposite.
I know, because I'm the one who was laughing.
"Well then," I say, grinning. "I guess I'll just have to persuade you to tell me."
"Good God," Janine murmurs, and I swallow thickly, my mind being pulled back to the present. I remember exactly what they made me do to that girl. I nearly tortured her to death. The Torrencers somehow managed to say the wounds were from an accident.
I was lucky I never received that form of torture.
Then again, I might've been the only one who could go through and still keep my mouth shut.
"Yeah."
"It's... not on this boat," Paula says nervously. "It's the next one. Sound carries over water."
We both cringe at the pain-filled scream that follows her words.
"What are they doing?" Sam asks, sounding horrified and unsure if he really wants to know the answer. I blink as something catches my eye, and I look over the ship's railing and into the water.
"I don't know, but um... uh, there's a severed foot floating in the water."
"Could be a zom." His voice tells me he believes otherwise.
"Yeah... could be."
I really, really hope it is.
I've been through a lot of torture, and I've put people through it too, but that doesn't mean I like it. God knows what I did in attempt to make up for what I did to that girl.
Whatever they're doing to this man... he must not deserve it. He can't. This... what it sounds like they're doing...
There's evil here.
"Guards are heading away from the..." Janine pauses as another scream rips through the air. "Well, for a better expression, from the torture boat. You have to cross it. Go now."
•
"There. Dr. Cohen, to your right. Pull that plastic sheeting around the entrance to your hiding place."
Paula does as told, and the two of us crouch down, the sheeting shielding us but pulled back just a little bit so we can see outside.
"There's something behind you," Sam says, and Janine hums in agreement.
"Zombie. I've never heard one make-" She's cut off by a loud wail of pain, and my brows furrow together. "I've never one make that noise before."
"Wait there, just got a few seconds. I-I can only see the pattern of movements, but that zom looks a bit disoriented."
The zom stumbles into view, letting out a gut-wrenching scream. My eyes go wide at the sight. Its face-it looks so hurt, so afraid. Zombies don't feel fear. They don't... but its leg, its arm-there's no way this could be... it can't be human.
Can it?
"I-I can see it," Paula says, and I poke my head out just a bit, to get a better view.
"Runner Five, Dr. Cohen, stay down!" She urges. "If that thing gets your scent, the sound alone will wake the whole ship, and then we'll never get Dr. Meyers or Mr. Shelly back."
The zombie lets out something that sounds suspiciously like a sob, and he-it wipes at its face with its one good arm. Paula frowns at it.
"I don't think it's a zombie."
Sam scoffs. "It looks like it's missing a leg, Paula-"
"And half of its arm is rotten and the flesh is hanging off the bones, but I still don't think it's a zombie. It's not like them."
"I don't get it," I say. "I mean, it looks like a zom, but zombies don't cry. They don't... oh. Crap."
I freeze, realizing that this... thing is looking right at me.
"Oh, God," It-no, he says as my eyes meet his. My jaw goes slack when I see the pain in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I can't go on like this. I can't."
I barely am able to think of words when I see him limping over to the boat's railing. I gasp.
"No, wait-"
He jumps off the boat, and without thinking, I rush over to look. There's a splash, and then his head pops up out of the water as he gasps for air. I see a corpse rise up to grab him, then another and another. They're clawing at him, biting into him, dragging him below. He's screaming but they... the zombies drag his head underwater.
"The zombies-they... they-they ate him," I say, eyes wide. "He wasn't-he was human."
Paula looks at me and swallows thickly. "Why, this is hell."
"Nor are we out if it," Janine says, voice emotionless. I'm not stupid, though. I know this has thrown her just as off guard as it has the rest of us. "You're clear to move again. According to our intelligence, Dr. Meyers should be in the next boat. Go now. Get her quickly and get off that flotilla. All of you."
I nod, taking only a split second to gather my thoughts and stabilize my emotions before sprinting off. Paula trails only a step behind me, but when I look back, I see that she's doing the same thing-looking back at the railing where that person was, wondering just what is going on on this boat.
We're so close now, but that doesn't mean anything. I'm bad luck, or at least, bad luck follows me, so anything could go wrong. And from what we just saw, anything quite literally can happen.
We cross the walkway to the next ship. Maxine should be here, Caleb should be here. In just a few minutes...
I just might be able to see him again.
There aren't many people walking around, so we taking this to our advantage. There are a few signs hung up, and they thankfully point us into the general direction of the cryo-freeze chambers. The hallway is lit up, so we rush quickly down it, looking through the small windows in hopes of seeing the cryo-freezers.
Paula suddenly grabs my arm, pulling me to a halt. "Five, this way." She opens a door and pulls me into a cool room, one that smells something akin to a doctor's office, or a hospital waiting room.
"Sitrep, now," Janine orders.
"We're in the cryo-freezing area," Paula says, taking a moment to look at the room filled with at least fifty of these veto-freezers, while I instantly start looking around for Caleb's name. "The people inside the freezers aren't in a deep coma, I think. Some of them, anyway."
"The two of you will have to carry Dr. Meyers if she's woozy. There's no time to go through a full recovery sequence."
"What about Caleb?" I ask, not stopping for a second.
"If we can get Mr. Shelly, then you will carry him while Dr. Cohen carries out Dr. Meyers. Miss Bailey, sitrep."
"All good here. Sittin' pretty in a lovely little bay liner." She chuckles. "Get down here quickly and we'll be back at Abel before dawn."
"That's the plan."
"I've got movement on boat three," Sam says, and my heartbeat quickens as I continue to desperately look for Caleb's name. My frustration only grows when I don't find it. "Here and here."
"Best guess?"
"Uh, not zom, probably human. Maybe one of those... things. Paula, any sign of our people?"
"I'm looking at the names, but I don't recognize any of them." Her eyes suddenly light up. "No, no wait, here's Ed."
I perk up, but then her face falls. "Oh... it's empty."
"May-maybe they've taken him somewhere else," Sam stammers. "That extra storage of cryo-freezers maybe?"
"Can you see Caleb's name?" I ask, my breath coming in quicker as my mind starts to panic, especially when Twenty-three shakes her head. "I can't-I can't find him."
"Don't worry, Five. We will," He tells me calmly. "He's probably in that smaller room of the-"
"Oh, thank God!" Paula exclaims. "I've got her. Five, here. Help me get this open."
I rush over to her, grabbing the handle to the chamber and pulling it open, grunting as I do so. The woman in the chamber groans, tossing her head from side to side, her dark brown eyes fluttering open, eyebrows scrunching together in confusion.
"What is it?" Maxine slurs out as Paula grabs her arms and pulls her out of the cryo-freezer. The redhead smiles widely, looking close to tears.
"It's me, darling. Maxi, it's me. We've come to rescue you. Five, help me keep her standing."
I go to grab one of her arms, but Maxine weakly slaps my hand away, shaking her head. "No. No, I can't. I can't. I can't go. No. No. I-I can't."
"You can, darling, you can." Paula cups Maxine's cheek. "I'm here for you."
She still shakes her head, holding onto Paula for support, a heartbreaking look on her face. "No. Can't. Can't. Oh, Paula... Paula. Paula."
The poor woman looks like she's about to start crying.
"It's me. It's me." She looks over at me for a split second. "Could you hold the door?"
"Yeah. Yeah." I rush over to get the door as Paula leads Maxine towards the exit, the taller woman protesting wearily the entire time.
"Your path down to Miss Bailey is clear for now," Janine says. "Move quickly and you'll be in the boat in seven minutes and eighteen seconds."
Sam sighs. "Actually, yeah. That accuracy is really reassuring."
"What about Caleb?" I ask, shoulders slumping. "He still might be on that other ship, in the other cryo-freezing units. We have to save him!"
I hear a loud, long sigh of annoyance over my headset. "Runner Five, we do not have-"
"Time? We do. We've made it this far without being caught. And if you're that worried, then... I'll go alone. Paula can take Maxine to the speedboat, and if I don't get there in the correct time you need me to be there, you can leave me."
Sam chokes. "Wha-no! We are not leaving you!"
"You will of I'm not quick enough. Janine, please. Please."
There's a good few moments of silence, and I hold my breath as I await her answer.
"Just get Dr. Meyers off of this ship, and if she is coherent enough to get to the speedboat, then you may go back to to find Mr. Shelly."
"Come on, love," Paula says, pulling Maxine along. Tears are running down the dark skinned woman's face as she shakes her head, weakly trying to pull away.
"Paula. Paula, you don't understand," She murmurs, words slurring together.
"You can explain it to me later, darling. Let's just get out of this room. Runner Five will help you."
I take her arm, but just as I do, red lights flash, and I hear a loud alarm go off. Maxine starts crying harder, and Paula gasps.
"Alert: Unauthorized personal leaving Chamber Three. Alert: Unauthorized personal leaving Chamber Three."
I grab Paula's hand, still holding onto Maxine's arm, and I do what I do best.
I run.
A/N: Cliffhanger! Hope you all enjoyed this chapter! What do you think is going on on those boats? What do you think about the person that looked like a zombie? Why do you think Maxine is saying she can't leave? Be sure to tell me in the comments! Also be sure to vote! Thank you and have a blessed day!