Madly

Chapter 1

France

Loud thuds sounded echoing throughout the ship startled me, I looked up from my book and wondered what caused it. Was it gunshots? Or maybe the toppling of cargo in the bowels of the ship? Perhaps even a malfunctioning component or system? On this ship gunshots seemed the less likely, a fight maybe but not gunshots. The sound did terrify me though. The sounds rang out at least three times and appeared to originate from across the ship, they didn't seem to have come from below. Suddenly footsteps were rushing down the corridor, I expected them to pass by the door but there came a knock.

"It's me."

It was Max's voice and although she was my room-mate we always knocked out of respect and did so even if we knew the other was out of the room.

"Come in." I told her and she entered hastily.

"Come quickly, bring bandages, someone's been shot." She quickly explained.

I was shocked, I wondered what happened, the men on this spaceship often had falling outs and occasionally came to blows, but never shots. I reached under my bed but realised that all my medical supplies where at the makeshift medical ward a few rooms away.

"My kit is in the ward. Where did happen? What happened?" I asked her so confused and panicked.

"The lounge area. I think that maybe some are trying to take over the ship." Max told me as she took out her pistol and carefully loaded two bullets into the ammunition magazine.

There were only ten onboard this vessel including me and Max, five were passengers that had joined the ship from the last port they had been at three weeks ago. I was pretty sure they all knew each other before they boarded, maybe it was them that decided to take control of the ship. Or maybe the first mate to the captain wanted to try his hand at being in charge; they had always had arguments and it was no secret that they both held differing opinions on the running of the ship, although I had never seen them come to blows, whilst sober at least.

"We'll go there and then there, I'll cover you." She told me.

Max opened the door and motioned to me to stay close. We entered the ward and I took a kit; upon exiting the room a roar of shots rang out, this time they sounded clearer and closer. I stayed against the wall and looked down both directions of the narrow hallway, Max was gone. I opened my mouth and was about to cry out her name but I bit my tongue. I immediately became frightened and my mind began to fear for her life.

I had known Max a year before we had both joined the crew of The Revenant and so we had been firm friends for just over three years. My mind then turned to myself, was I going to die, I wasn't armed, out of the ten people on this tin can I was the only one that didn't brandish a handgun, shock weapon or blade on my belt. I hate guns and now I needed a gun because I felt like my life depended upon it. Sour thoughts of Max suddenly filled my mind, she knew I was defenceless why would she leave me? But suddenly almost out of a different dimension she appeared several feet away from me near a turn of the corridor. My negative thoughts of her faded as soon as they appeared and seeing her pistol in her hand at her side gave me hope. She waved a hand and I followed.

We managed to make it to the closest hallway to the lounge and there was the first mate on the floor against the wall, the captain standing over him and the another newer crew member on the opposite side of the corridor firing shots into the lounge area.

"France check him please. I think he was hit pretty bad." He said.

I knelt beside him and realised he had lost so much blood as it appeared most of his own was pooled around him. I figured he had been hit in a major organ. I tapped him on the shoulder and got no reaction I checked his neck for a pulse and found none. Upon lifting his head from his chest I realised he had been shot directly in the chest, I quickly concluded that he had perished much before the blood began to pool.