Sea Sick: A Horror Novel(9)

“He’s not,” said Jack. “He is definitely not okay, but that isn’t my doing.”

“He needs me.”

“If you go out there, you’re going to get hurt – maybe worse.”

Claire seemed to hesitate, half in the door, half out.

“Just let her go,” said one of the other passengers from behind Jack. “We need to get those doors closed again.”

Jack couldn’t do that. He made eye contact with Claire and pleaded with her. “Just come back inside and we’ll work all of this out, okay? Whatever help Conner needs, he won’t get it by you placing yourself in danger.”

Claire seemed to mull things over. Eventually her panicked expression softened slightly into something a little calmer. Finally, she nodded to him. “Okay…okay. Just let go of my wrist and I’ll come-”


Before Claire could complete her sentence she let out an agonised scream. Jack was about to let go of her wrist but now squeezed harder. He pulled with all his strength, but she was being tugged equally as hard from the other side. Jack pulled with all his might, crying out under the strain. Just when it seemed like his arms would give up completely, Claire flew towards him. The door closed shut behind her as the other people inside locked it again and immediately started reforming the barricade.

Jack fell to the floor, Claire trembling in his arms. She was bleeding. Badly.

“Jesus Christ!” Jack cried out, cradling Claire in his arms. “Goddamn it.”The girl’s left wrist was torn right open, spewing forth blood like a geyser. Already her eyes were misting over as shock seized her nervous system. The wound was deep. It looked like a bite-mark. Jack shouted at the others in the room to help him – he needed towels to wrap the wound – but they were only interested in securing the doors. They didn’t know Claire and were obviously not willing to help her if it meant endangering themselves.

Outside, the crazed passengers had become aware of the group’s presence inside the Lido Restaurant. They were hammering at the doors, trying to get through. Jack knew it wouldn’t take long for them to bust inside. He looked down at Claire, wanting to reassure her that all would be okay, but it would have been pointless. She was dead.

Jack looked down at her in shock. He’d never heard of someone bleeding out so quickly. She must have had a weak heart. It’s the only thing that makes sense. He eased her down onto the floor and hunched over her, ready to perform CPR. He pumped the heels of his palms against her chest rhythmically, trying to keep the oxygen going into her system, trying to jumpstart her heart. Every now and then he would place his ear against her mouth, trying to see if she was breathing on her own.

“She’s gone,” the chef told him. “You can’t help her.”

“Shut up,” said Jack, still aware that nobody had offered him any help when he’d asked for it. These people were selfish and he didn’t like them. But he did like Claire, and he wasn’t ready to give up on her. He scowled up at the Chef. “Just shut your mouth and give me some space.”

Jack pumped harder at the girl’s chest, close to cracking her sternum, but there was nothing to lose by being rough. After performing a dozen compressions he stopped and leant forward, to see if she was breathing.

“Hey, she’s moving,” someone said. “Look at her hand.”

Jack looked down at Claire’s twitching hand and was confused. She was certainly moving, but when he leant down by her face there were no breaths whatsoever coming from her nose or mouth. He moved his ear even closer, right up against her lips, close enough that there was no way he could miss any breathing.

“Shit!” Pain exploded in the side of Jack’s head. He pulled back from the girl and felt his ear rip clear away from his skull. He looked down at Claire and saw her chewing it between her bloodsoaked teeth. Everyone around Jack was screaming in terror, just like people had been in the High Spirits lounge. He felt like he was going to pass out.

Claire twisted and turned on the floor in front of him, bunching up onto her hands and knees, before straightening up to her full length. In many ways she looked just the same as before – a pretty young woman – but Jack could already see the wells of bloody tears forming in her eyes. She came at Jack with her arms outstretched, exactly like her boyfriend had earlier. Jack was so horrified by what was happening that by the time he even managed to consider an appropriate reaction, Claire’s teeth had already begun to sink deep into his windpipe.



Day 3

Jack awoke with a start. The fuzziness that filled his head and covered the back of his eyelids was a feeling he had not experienced for some time, yet it was vaguely familiar. The vibrations throbbing through his skull were akin to a hangover and Jack tried to remember if he’d gone for a drink after boarding the ship. Strange as it was, though, Jack remembered going to bed almost as soon as he’d been shown to his room.

Jack sat up in the bed and blinked his eyes. The room was dark. The light from the cabin’s window was blocked by the curtain dividing the bedroom from the living area. There was a cube-shaped alarm clock on the bedside table displaying the time in glowing, red numerals. It read: 1400.

Jesus! I slept for 24 hours.

Jack got up and moved around the edge of the bed, then headed over to the area near the room’s door. He fumbled for the light switch and somehow knew almost exactly where it was. The room lit up and Jack blinked his eyes for a moment as they adjusted. Once he could focus clearly, he saw that it had been his luggage crashing against the wardrobe door that had woken him. The ship must have crested a rough wave. As if to confirm his suspicions, the room tilted again and the luggage bashed against the door.