Zombie Drift

13: Peter, Aida, Prisha

Peter Evers stood at the door inside the starlit lounge. Being on the main deck it afforded him a view of the ship's activity. People seemed to be rushing nowhere fast. Through the glass he caught snippets of conversation. Things about "dead people in water" and "speedboats", and "the guy just slid down the chain." With the last, it made him think of his bodyguard Ethan. In his mind it was just the showboat kind of thing anyone hired by his dad would do. While he didn't wish ill on the man, he thought as soon as he could he was sneaking out of here and getting out from under Ethan's restrictions. There was nothing worse than being seventeen and stuck under an adult's supervision.

He turned to see what the girls were doing. Prisha had stopped crying some time ago, and the lounge singer Aida had turned the TV above the bar back on. Images splayed across the screen showing carnage everywhere. Most of it were single shot live feeds as if the cameraman had strapped his video to a tree and ran for it. What was left behind was a view of the street, zombies walking, crawling, sliding, lumbering,  trying their best to find live food that wasn't escaping. The images were bad enough, but it was the sound that sent chills up his spine. Screams, moans, the crunch and munch of flesh and bone as zombies feasted, sometimes on each other.

He couldn't understand why the girls were torturing themselves by watching it all. Peter guessed it was like driving by a fatal traffic accident. You knew it was horrible, and people were dead, but you just couldn't tear your eyes away. He tried his best not to be drawn to it that way. Other things bothered him. Like what was going on board. It was obvious something was happening with all the flurry of activity. Were the zombies here too? He hated being locked up and out of the way,  which is what Ethan had done with him while he went off running to wherever.

He looked back at the girls again. They could handle themselves, he thought. How hard could it be to keep others out the bar? With that he decided he wanted out. He wasn't going to be stuck in here one second longer, he didn't care how hot he thought Prisha was. He put his hand on the door handle and prepared to open it when something smashed against it.

He jumped back from the frantic face at the glass. It was a man with jet black hair and wild grey eyes. He was trying to look through the door and when his eyes saw Peter they grew wider and he began to pound on the frame.

"Aida!" he shouted.  "Aida! Let me in!"

Peter looked at Aida. She had heard the shouts and beating on the door frame. Turning from the TV, she frowned. Something in her face told Peter she wasn't ready for this. Whatever this was.

"Aida! Tell this little shit to open the door!" He began to thump his palm flat against the glass. The door itself shook.

Aida sighed. "Open the door, Peter."

The boy looked at her as if to ask, are you sure? When she nodded grimly, he shrugged and threw the latch.

The man outside didn't waste time. He shoved the door open, nearly knocking Peter down, and headed acoss the floor of the lounge towards the girls.  'Trying to lock me out, Aida? Again?"

"No one is trying to lock you out, Jerome. You chose not to return last night. Guess you found some other room to sleep."

He grinned. "It was a good room too. Wish you could have been there. Well, on second thought, maybe not." He eyes caught sight of Prisha. " Now, you however...."

Aida slapped him. "You pig."

He seemed unaffected and laughed. "You know everybody is going crazy on deck over something. The three of us could get crazy on something too, you know?" He turned to glance at Peter. "Sorry kid, there isn't room for two guys." Then he smiled at the girls again. "Lock the door." When Peter didn't immediately lock it, the man glared at him with dangerous, almost empty eyes. If Ethan was here this situation would be different, Peter thought.  But he wasn't here. He'd left them here alone to face their own survival. "Lock the door," the man said again, returning his psychotic gaze to the now frightened girls. He listened for the sound of the latch clicking and then smiled. He undid the cufflinks on his shirt and began to take it off. "It's okay," he said. "About time you took your punishment, Aida." His slid his belt out of his pants. "Now which one of you likes to get restrained?" He looked at Prisha, staring hard into her dark frightened eyes, and licked his lips. He took a step towards her.

The chair hit the back of his head so hard the wood shattered against his skull. Peter held the remains of it in his hands as Jerome dropped to the floor with a resounding thud.

"So like, who did I just knock out?" the teenager asked, after they had tied Jerome's hands behind his back with his own belt. "I can hit him again if it would help."

Aida frowned and nodded at the unconscious man. "He's Jerome Stipe. My sad excuse for a boyfriend."

Peter looked up. "Shit lady, i think you need a new boyfriend. My bodyguard Ethan is available I think."

Aida laughed a little, as he was the same man she'd tried to get to dance with her during last night's performance. "We'll probably need a bodyguard when Jerome wakes up."

"I think we should call security," Prisha suggested. "I know he's your guy and all, but...."

Aida had already picked up the phone and dialed the number. She had to be strong while she had the support of others.  Last time she'd called security on him she had been alone and earned a couple cracked ribs for it.

While the Nigerian talked to security, the Indian girl walked over to Peter, who was making sure the prisoner's belt was as tight as he could get it. "Thank you," Prisha said.

"No problem. I couldn't let him hurt either of you."

"I was very scared," she confessed.

He nodded and tried to be cool, but he felt the truth was better. "Yeah, me too."  He looked at her and smiled. "I saw Ethan headbutt a guy unconscious before, but I thought i should use a chair."

She smiled back. "Good decision. Why hurt your cute head, right?"

Peter raised an eyebrow at the mention of cute, but when she turned her face away in embarassment he decided she didn't mean anything by it. She was just being grateful.
"Well, here's hoping he don't wake up soon," he said getting to his feet. "I'd  hate to break another chair."

Prisha offered a smile. "Well, thanks for protecting us. Not everyone would have done that."

Peter was trying to think of  a zippy one-liner to say that would make him sound like an action hero at the movies, when Aida said, "I can't get the phones to work. Someone will have to go get security."

They all looked towards the door. There was still a lot of activity outside. People dashed by running in both directions, but most seemed to be heading towards the rear of the ship, peering over railings as they went.
It wasn't the same panic as what was occuring on television, but Peter felt nervous about it just the same. He looked at Aida. "I think we should move Jerome somewhere and then all of us go. I got a feeling it's not going to be too safe alone."

"There's my dressing room. It's a glorified broom closet really."

"Can it be locked from outside?"

"No."

"Well shit," Peter mumbled.

Prisha walked over to the glass door and picked something up. "How about this?"
In her hands, she held a wooden doorstop, obviously used to hold the entrance open during peak hours.

"That will work. Come on Aida, help me get him back there."

As they both bent down to hoist Jerome's limp body up, Aida asked, "Where did you hit him?"

Peter looked at her strangely. "In the back of the head. Why?"

Aida looked at both her companions with a look of bewilderment. "Because there's a chunk out of his arm."