Sea Sick: A Horror Novel(55)
Claire was speechless. She still seemed terrified, but something in her eyes suggested that she was unable not to trust Jack just a little bit. She was probably wondering how he knew all of these things about her life.
“In about ten seconds, Conner is going to turn up and question you and me about why we’re talking. Then he’s going to ask you to come look after him and get hotdogs. I know this, and a lot more about what is going to happen today, which is why you need to stay in your cabin tonight. If you ever want to see Leeds again ,you have to lock yourself away.”
Conner appeared on cue and stared at Jack. “How you doing?”
“I’m good,” said Jack. “How are you?”
“Not bad.” The lad extended a hand out to Jack. “My name is Conner. Who are you?”
“Name’s Jack and I was just moving on.”
“Sounds like a good idea, buddy,” said Conner, letting out a sneeze immediately afterwards. He turned to Claire. “Come on, babe. I need you to look after me, I feel like shit. We’re all getting hotdogs downstairs.”
Claire glanced at Jack for a split second and he saw the shock in her eyes that his predictions had come true. He just hoped he’d done enough to keep her safe tonight. Because tomorrow is finally on its way. Jack walked away from the young couple and passed by the old man and woman kissing at the balcony. Despite getting sick of the sight of everything onboard that had been repeating over and over for what seemed like an eternity, Jack couldn’t deny that there were certain things he was going to miss. It was ironic that he had prayed for the day to end but, now that it was going to, he felt afraid to let it go. He’d begun to find comfort in the things he could predict with certainty. The unknown was now frightening.
1500hrs
As Jack moved around the ship, it became clear that Tally had set security on him again. If he even managed to succeed in stopping the virus, then he would have a bunch of jumped-up sexual assault charges to answer to once he reached the mainland. Wherever Tally was hiding, she’d have hell to pay if he ever found her. He’d trusted her.
Jack wondered again if Tally was the one behind the virus. It made sense that it was released by a member of the ship’s staff. Someone who could move about unhindered and knew the ship’s layout. A young Romany girl didn’t fit the typical cast for a terrorist, but then who knew what was going on in her head? Terrorists could change colour and religion over time, but they were all the same breed of whackjobs in the end. Hatred for humanity was not exclusive to any one kind of people.
After leaving Claire on the Sun Deck, Jack had snuck inside the Mariner Deck. He evaded a pair of security guards by stepping through into the Lido Restaurant. Being the largest eatery onboard, and open twenty-four hours, Jack wondered if the virus had been transmitted via the food. Was there a way he could find out if anything had been contaminated? He looked around the self-service buffet carts, at the trays full of chips, spaghetti, fish fingers, chicken nuggets, beef curry, and a whole host of other edibles, and realised that there would be no way of knowing. It wasn’t like he was going to find a glowing green pork chop on a bed of pus-filled maggots. He had a matter of hours to do something to help the passengers onboard, and prodding through several troughfulls of cheap food would not be a sensible use of his time. Anyway, if the food was the source of the infections, Jack was certain there would be more ill passengers than there were. Most of the ship ate at the Lido Restaurant.
On most nights, depending on what area of the ship he was in, Jack estimated an infection rate of about a third of the total passengers. No members of staff seemed to be unwell, which made it a safe assumption that any of the staff-only areas would be exempt as possible locations for the source of infection. Jack had also seen staff consuming their own evening meals inside the Lido Restaurant, which made his theory about the food being contaminated an even more likely dead end.
Jack realised that Ivor and his family were over in the corner. He’d see them in here before at this time, so should have expected to run into them. Their little girl had the infection worse than anybody else. Perhaps she was the key to solving the whole puzzle. If Jack could find out how she caught the virus he might have the answer to how everyone else caught it. Then he might have half a chance to get things under control before it was too late.
Jack took a seat at Ivor’s table. Poor little Heather was as sickly as ever, snoozing restlessly in her mother’s arms. Vicky looked ill herself – and mortified – while Ivor wore his usual stern expression that Jack now knew was just a front for a frightened father. It was unfair that they were all going through this.
“How are you folks doing?” Jack asked them.
“We’ve been better,” Ivor replied in a gruff voice. “Who are you?”
“Officer Wardsley.” Jack offered his hand. “I understand you’re all planning on fleeing to Germany?”
Ivor’s jaw dropped and Vicky began to sob.
“Don’t worry,” said Jack. “No one else knows that you’re here. I just wanted to say that I agree with what you did, Vicky. Nigel Moot was an evil man and deserved to die. As a mother of a young daughter, what you did was understandable.”
Vicky looked at Jack as though she was hallucinating him being there. “T-thank you.”
“May I offer you some advice, though?”