SPACESHIP ZOMBIE CRUISE

FILE ENTRY 24.0

Bella Starr

I have a general idea how to find the bridge of the Celestial Sea. It has nothing to do with the blueprints I reviewed the night before boarding the ship, and everything to do with the image in my mind of the behemoth vessel's arrival when it docked with the Neptune Shores Beach Resort. How to get to the bridge is another rift in the data stream altogether. Access to that part of the ship is probably off limits to passengers, so finding the entrance will be tricky. But first, we need to check the sick bay. With everything we've encountered so far, I'm not optimistic, but we have to at least try to find help from a doctor or a nurse. Someone who might know what's going on and how to treat the infected, people like Caprica. They might be zombies, but I can't give up hope. From what I recall, the sick bay is one floor above the crew deck where our staterooms are located.

Halo takes point as we leave the engine room and enter the stairwell. We head back up to the landing of the crew deck level and then on to the landing of the next floor. This floor is the first level of staterooms for regular passengers. Fortunately, cruise ships are all about the people that pay to enjoy the experience of a vacation. That means most everything is labeled with passengers in mind. If you have a case of AG Sickness, finding the doctor is no different. We discover an auto-door identified as SICK BAY over the passage and it wisps open. A row of cot-like beds are turned over on their sides. IV stands lay draped over them at odd angles, the drip lines snaking to the floor.

At the back of the room on the floor, behind a capsized bed, we find a body. At first, we see legs, then arms. Then a metal rod of some kind driven into the infected's chest.

I grimace and feel sick to my stomach.

There's no help for anyone here. There's not even a doctor present. With the auto-door, I guess that anyone being chased by the infected would flee this room in hopes of finding a hiding place somewhere.

So, on we go.

Back in the corridor, Halo holds a finger to his lips, gripping the broom handle, the sharp and splintered end aimed ahead. I catch myself holding my breath as we move, inch by inch. I brace myself, following Astra.

The rest of the corridor is clear save for a few corpses scattered along the floor, all of them well past the crossway with the elevators. A terrible odor wafts through the air, the smell of death. My nose wrinkles and my stomach twists as I near the point of loosing my dinner.

At the intersecting hallway, Halo peeks around the corner to make sure it's safe to proceed. After a brief hesitation, he waves us forward and we enter the passage. As we break into the open, a man sprints down the other hallway in the direction of more staterooms. Thankfully, he never looks our way, disappearing down the hall.

A scream pierces the silence, and I flinch.

"We can't save whoever that is," Halo says. "We can't go out of our way to save anyone."

At the elevator doors, he waves a hand over the sensor and waits. Above our heads, the numbers light up, counting down one at a time.

The floor indicator dings. It sounds like an explosion in the short hallway.

An infected shrieks. Footfalls thud toward us.

The elevator opens and we shuffle inside. As I wait for the doors to close, I expect the infected to appear at any moment, but the doors close and seal us inside.

My jittery nerves fade and I feel safe if only for a short time.

"We need to check the next floor," I say. "We need to find Adrianna."

"Have you lost your mind?" Astra replies.

"No, I haven't, have you?"

"Astra's right," Halo says. "We barely made it out of the engine room. We can't take any unnecessary risks."

"But she's a little girl."

"But where do we start searching? She could be anywhere. And if the girl's parents are infected, if they turned..."

"Don't say that. I can't bear the thought."

"Just listen to him," Astra says. "Think of the big picture. If we don't get to the bridge and somehow stop this ship, children all over the Federation could be infected. Millions of them."

"Billions," Halo says.

I realize we haven't selected a floor in the elevator, but I don't care. I lean against the back wall, my face falling to my hands. An incredible dark hole eats at me from the inside out. As I contemplate what Halo and Astra are telling me, I come to a sudden conclusion...I might be willing to sacrifice my own life for Adrianna. It's a call of duty. A call of the heart. I've never felt like this before, and I barely know the girl. But even though I might surrender my life, I can't sacrifice the lives of my friends. They're right. The risk is too great.

"We hit the Atlantic Deck," I say. "It's one floor below the Sea Breeze and one above the dining rooms."

"Why that floor?" Astra replies. "Earlier, there were tons of people kicking it up on the dance floor. They could all be infected by now."

"Not to mention the lounge and the bars." Halo raises a brow and bites his bottom lip.

"I don't wanna run into drunk zombies."

My eyes flick to Astra. The warmth of a smile flushes my cheeks, but doesn't quite surface. The truth of what that means punches me in the stomach for allowing myself the satisfaction of entertaining the thought of an intoxicated, infected passenger.

Two people flood my mind. Caprica and Adrianna. And I might not be able to save either of them.

When the sobering thought flees away, I look up and say, "It'll be dangerous, but it's the best way to reach the front of the ship. One thing I remember about the layout is that you can't access the bow by way of the dining rooms. That deck stops short. And the Sea Breeze Deck was a war zone earlier."

"Which leaves the Atlantic Deck," Halo says.

"Think we could swing by the casino, hit the slot machines?" Astra smiles smartly.

"I doubt we'll have time," I reply. "But you never know." I pause and clear my throat. "Atlantic Deck, please."

And the elevator begins to move.