Zombie Cruise Part IV

“Pam! Pam!”, Olivia yelled out in the living area in the cabin. There was unsettling silence.

“I don’t think she’s here”, Olivia raised her arms in frustration.

“Where is she then?”, Mitzy asked while taking off her designer boot heels because her feet were sore.

“I don’t know, but I’m going back to the party. Maybe I’ll steal enough time away from Porscha to get a date”, Olivia impatiently said while heading towards the door.

“I’ll stay here in case Pam comes back”, Mitzy said.

“You do that”, Olivia replied. Olivia rushed out the door without saying goodbye.

Mitzy took a deep breath, laid her head on the goose feather down pillow and turned on the television to see if there was anything worth watching.

Suddenly, in the corner of her eye, she saw Pam dragging herself out of the dark bathroom. At a glance, Mitzy was relieved to see her safe, but something was'nt right. As Pam approached closer Mitzy realized the old Pam was gone.

Pam’s hair was a rotton knotted nest of jumping maggots, her droopy bloodshot eyes oozed inky crud and her pruned sandpaper lips quivered with one jagged tooth sneaking out. Her skin appeared death sheet white with parts of her flesh detaching from the bone. Pam’s once flat iron tummy now bloated like she was carrying triplets and she reeked of trash cans neglected on a hot summer day. Mitzy had seen zombie movies before, but reality seemed a bit more paralyzing, a bit more too close to home.

“What’s wrong with you?”, asked Mitzy knowing Pam probably wouldn’t respond.

Pam just gave her a long look and tilted her head sideways with a slight creepy smile. Mitzy knew this look all too well. Pam had a delicious secret and was not telling, even though Mitzy was burning to know it.

Mitzy jumped off the bed and tried to get out of the cabin, but Pam just mirrored her every move waiting for the perfect moment to attack.

Mitzy moved against the wall as Pam crept up closer. You could hear her bones crackle, her teeth happily grinding and her gasping, rapid breath calmly terrorizing.

Suddenly, Pam lunged forward to attack Mitzy against the wall, but Mitzy darted out of the way and Pam hit her head. Mitzy knew this was her only chance to take back the cabin so she free dropped Porscha’s heavy suitcase on Pam’s head.

This stunned Pam as she violently twitched her rolling eyes into pearl jelly.

“Now what?”, Mitzy asked herself. She glanced over to the sliding glass doors that led to the balcony and she knew that somehow she needed to lock out Pam.

Petrified, Mitzy grabbed Pam’s rotten blistered arms and dragged her towards the sliders. Pam’s legs kicked in revolt so much that she lost a knee cap giving Mitzy the upper hand.

Mitzy had to let go of her to unlock the sliders and as expected Pam tried to get up.

“Oh no you didn’t!”, Mitzy shouted.

Mitzy drop kicked Pam square in the face, just missing her wildly chomping teeth.

“Stay down b*tch !”, Mitzy bravely yelled.

Mitzy unlocked the sliders, just opening them enough to squeeze Pam through.

Mitzy pulled Pam up to her wobbly feet, swiftly shoved her out the sliders and locked the door just in time.

Pam, in a fit of rage banged her head against the sliders because she desperately wanted to be back in the presence of her luscious smelling friend. Mitzy pulled the curtains over and dashed for the phone, but first she had to wash her hands, they looked like she played with raw chicken. She had no idea who to call, how many people were infected and if it was safe to open the cabin door to call for help.

She started by trying her cell, but there was no signal, next calling Guest Services in the Lobby, but the line circuit was busy, then she tried housekeeping, but the phone just rang off the hook, last, it was the casino. A man with a deeply disturbed voice answered the phone. She tried to explain what was going on and he laughed at her until he was no longer on the other end. Mitzy was left all alone with a zombie eating and swallowing her own hair because she couldn’t get to hers.

Mitzy sat in a corner, bent her legs and started to cry. She didn’t move until she heard someone enter the cabin. It was Porscha.

Porscha was heavily breathing with a look of bewilderment.

“You have no idea what is going on out there”, Porscha cried.

“Oh, I think I do”, Mitzy said while wiping her tears to the ground.

“There I was having a good time when people started to act weird. I waited for Pam to come back with my lucky pin, she deserted me, I waited for you and Olivia to come back, but you guys never showed up…so I decided if you want to get something done right you have to do it yourself. On the way here some ugly, smelly guy tried to forced himself on me, I only got away because he tripped over his own broken leg”, Porscha complained without being too traumatized over it.

“Where's Olivia?”, Mitzy asked.

“ H*ll if I know, I thought she was with you”, Porscha said while brushing some lint off of her dress.

“She was, but she decided to go back to the party after we couldn’t find Pam”, Mitzy said.

“Well I guess I’ll go back to the party too after I find my lucky hair pin”, Porscha noted.

“I don’t think that is such a good idea”, Mitzy cautioned while pulling Porscha away from the door and dead bolting it.

“Why not, jealous ”, smartly sassed Porscha.

Mitzy grabbed Porscha and marched over to sliders. With a snappy tug of the curtain she introduced the new and improved Pam Scooterberry.

“Who is that?”, Porscha asked while almost having one of her bulimic spells.

“It’s Pam, you idiot”, Mitzy said

Pam began to swab the glass like it was a sugary sweet lollipop and gave Porscha a pathetic stare because she wanted to be released for a meal.

“Why do you have her out there?”, Porscha asked.

“She is not herself and quite frankly she’ll have you for a late night snack without blinking”, Mitzy strongly warned.

“Are you saying that Pam is a zombie or something?”, asked Porscha while pulling out a nail file.

“I think she is something far worse”, Mitzy stated while holding Porscha back from unlocking the sliding door.

“I’m letting her out”, Porscha said without regard to Mitzy’s legitimate claims.

“Then the first thing you will lose will be your fingers, then maybe your high cheek bones, she seems to like hair too….so go ahead do it and see what happens, maybe if you are lucky she will eat you quick”, Mitzy concluded while allowing Porscha to make her own choice.

Porscha placed her hand over the lock to slide it to open, but hesitated. Porscha pondered the idea that if Mitzy was right, opening the door would have dire consequences, not to mention the serious plastic surgery she would have to get done if anything happened to her perfect face.

“Well…..”, Mitzy said waiting with her hands on her hips.

“I’ll have to wait and see if she gets any better”, Porscha said

“She’s only going to get worse and if we smell that good to her it will only be a matter of time until she breaks through the glass crazed just to get to us.

Porscha and Mitzy both agreed that staying in the cabin would be the best temporary option.

They tried to sleep, but Pam kept desperately charging the sliding glass door to shatter it in a million pieces.

Before sunrise, it finally happened, the glass could no longer withstand Pam’s fury and they only had seconds to react.

“We have to get out of here, we have no choice”, Mitzy said

“We can’t, we don’t know what’s lurking out there”, Porscha cried.

“Well… if you want to take her on its up to you, but I‘m out of here”, Mitzy said while racing to the door.

“Wait! I’m coming with you!”, Porscha squeaked.

“Fine, just keep up”, Mitzy huffed.

Mitzy stormed out of the cabin running for dear life. She knew zombies had strength in numbers and preying was the name of the game.

Porscha lagged behind with her clumsy brisk walk. Porscha tried to speed up to compete with Mitzy, but her stiletto heels had their own plans. She perfectly snagged herself on the generic carpet she hated and went for a tumble. Porscha called out to Mitzy for help, but when Mitzy turned around she saw a herd of zombies heading straight for Porscha, including the first one on the scene, their friend Pam.

“Help me ! Why won’t you help me?”, Porscha sobbed.

“It’s like you said before, it’s survival of the fittest….sorry”, Mitzy grinned and ran into the darkness of the corridors while hearing Porscha’s horrified screeches.

****

Monica waited in agony by the phone wondering what to do. She checked her watch and it was now 3:00 a.m.

“I should try to get some sleep if I want to make that afternoon spinning class”, Monica thought.

Just as she was dozing off the phone rang and the zombie housekeeper hiding in her room retreated in the dark depths behind the bathroom door.

“Hello”, Monica answered.

“It’s Buster”, Buster whispered

“I can hardly hear you, there is so much static”, Monica replied.

“Don’t leave your cabin, I repeat don’t leave your cabin”, Buster ordered.

“Why?”, Monica inquired while breathing a bit more heavier, and feeling the pit of her stomach flutter with moths.

“Just trust me”, Buster convinced

“You have to tell me what’s going on Buster”, Monica firmly spoke with a seriousness he dreaded, she wasn’t going to budge.

“Look it is hard to explain….”, Buster said.

“I have the right to know, tell me”, Monica pressed on.

“Alright, there are zombies on this ship!”, Buster revealed.

“There is what on this ship? Speak louder your breaking up”, Monica shouted.

“There are……”, Buster began to say but then the phone went dead.

“Hello… Hello… Buster”, Monica repeated, noticing she was only hearing her own voice echo back.

“What was he trying to say? Maybe there are terrorist on the ship, maybe that is why he does not want me to leave my cabin”, Monica asked herself.

She decided to hone in on any unusual sounds, maybe gun shots perhaps, screaming people or grenades going off.

There was a bit of noise coming from the cabin next to hers, but she couldn’t quite make it out to be anything unusual. Monica was inquisitive, she had the overwhelming urge to open her cabin door to take a peek, so she did. As expected she saw nothing but a few housekeepers letting themselves into cabins.

She closed the door and thought to herself “Housekeeping at this hour…..” no sooner did she have that thought she heard a loud sound like someone’s starving stomach growling and smelled a putrid mix of an abscess with spoiled apples.

“Housekeeping”, a voice belched and then Monica was attacked from the side by the zombie housekeeper that was hiding behind the bathroom door. Monica tried to fight her off, but she had incredible strength.

Monica reached for the lamp on the dresser, but it was too far away, Monica frantically screamed for help but no one could come to her rescue, they too were fighting for their lives.

Monica prayed as she could feel the life being stripped away from her. She felt frozen and hopelessly watched as her blood spray painted the walls. Slowly wasting away, she could see what appeared to be black snow falling from every direction. She gazed at the dead creature that was feasting on her and felt pity. Once a Latina housekeeper named Lulu Martinez, she was now unrecognizable. She had scaly,foiled skin, and a sucked in face exposing her skeletal detail that reminded her of a mummified Pharaoh. She was bald with a translucent cranium showing off blood vessels and she had a turtle like neck. Her saliva was thick, lumpy and had an ammonia odor. The last thing Monica saw was the zombie’s empty, jaundice eyes that watered a foul green sludge.

Monica no longer existed enough to even re-animate.

*****

Lawrence slowly paced the Lido Deck observing more of the Masquerade and decided to call it a night by ordering one of his free cocktails. He approached the bar and called out to the bartender. The bartender ignored him and strolled along the length of the bar collecting empty glasses and tossing them into the trash.

“So I take it tips were not good tonight?”, Lawrence asked the bartender.

“Will be soon, will be soon, will be soon”, the bartender repeated like a broken record.

“Hey buddy are you feeling okay?”, asked Lawrence.

“Feel good soon, feel good soon”, the bartender responded while glancing at him with a crooked smile.

Lawrence noticed his raccoon eyes and limping body. He appeared sickly, but had enough energy to pace back and forth, bobbling his head constantly.

“Well, nice talking to you too”, Lawrence sarcastically commented while getting up to leave.

“Leaving so soon, leaving so soon”, the bartender said while suddenly giving Lawrence his best attention.

“Yes I am, I’m tired and this party has died down”, Lawrence admitted.

“You have no idea, no idea, no idea….action around the corner…action around the corner”, the bartender chanted.

“I believe you pal, have a good night”, Lawrence exited.

Lawrence could feel the bartenders eyes following him after he left and Lawrence just could not put his finger on it, but something was off, way off.

Lawrence rushed back to his cabin, trying to avoid the people that were acting funny.

“I’ve got to get some rest my schedule is booked tomorrow”, Lawrence thought.

He took a long hot shower and buried himself in the down comforter on the bed. He fell asleep without a problem, but was awakened around 5:00 a.m. by a loud rapping sound on his cabin door, he was oblivious to the time and thought it was housekeeping coming to make up his room.

“Leave me alone, come back and make up my room later!”, Lawrence yelled with a grouchy attitude.

The knock on the door only got louder and more persistent. Lawrence snagged some ear plugs from the nightstand next to him that he had gotten for the flight and placed them in his ears.

“That’s more like it”, Lawrence said to himself while drifting back into his slumber.

A few moments later a male room steward accessed his cabin. The zombie marveled at Lawrence’s perfect washboard body, wetting his lips, sucking on his rotten fungus infested fingernails and trying to decide what morsel to dine on first.

The anticipation grew in his gut and the salivating juices just were overflowing. The zombie straddled over Lawrence in the bed with his bare contused chest nearly touching his, savoring his scent of a satisfying dinner and mesmerized by his carotid artery pumping the tastiest ruby red gravy a zombie could ask for. Tension was building; the zombie unchained his thirsty decayed mouth and prepared to rip him open.

“BEEP, BEEP, BEEP”, a loud sound alerted. It was Lawrence’s alarm clock on his cell phone; he had forgotten to re-set it.

Startled, Lawrence knocked the zombie clear off of him. Lawrence thought he was dreaming as the zombie tried to collect himself off the floor.

“What are you?” Lawrence screamed.

“Hun…Hun…Hun..Hungry”, the zombie wheezed.

Lawrence ran to his cell phone to try to call for help, but the zombie had him in his sight and was determined to take a bite out of him if it was the last thing he would ever do.

Lawrence realized he had no time for it, and tried to escape the cabin, but the zombie pounced on him, using his own weight to counteract Lawrence. The zombie gnawed at the nape of his well exposed neck. Taking a modest chunk of muscle, the zombie thought it he had Lawrence pinned for the whole meal, but Lawrence faced much worst things. He had been kidnapped and tortured by the drug cartel, stabbed by a misunderstood African tribal medicine man, beaten to a pulp by paranoid rebels and had to fen for himself when he was lost in the Amazon for ten days. It goes to say, a measly walking dead bag of bones was not getting the best of him.

Lawrence wrestled the zombie and managed to get on top of the gritty undead feaster. He rabbit punched the zombie in the face a few times and then strangled him until he oozed a black tar greenish blue liquid from his mouth, but the zombie was still very lively. Lawrence knew from all the zombie movies that the only way to kill him for good was to shoot him in the head, but there were no guns and little resources.

After kicking and punching the zombie for a few more rounds, Lawrence decided to steal the bathroom shower certain rod to use as a weapon. As the zombie came back for seconds, Lawrence thrusts the rod into the zombie’s brain and cranked it. The zombie got a little mouthy, but eventually stopped moving.

“I’m getting out of here”, Lawrence said while adding pressure to his neck wound with a tee shirt.

Lawrence swiped his cell phone and ran out of the cabin.

Lawrence was amazed that he couldn’t see any zombies around him. He felt like taking a victory lap, but he couldn’t be so lucky.

Lawrence was attacked by three engineer zombies who exited the elevator right beside him. Even though he was a fighter, he could barely deal with one, let alone three frenzied ghouls. Lawrence just allowed them to tear him apart, anything was better than living in fear.

****

Drew Koffkey woke up in the public bathroom disoriented and feeling like a truck ran over him a thousand times, and then reversed it just for giggles. He tried to unlock the bathroom door, but the inside lock was jammed.

“This is not happening”, Drew thought.

Drew scratched his head for ideas, but there was nothing he could use to fix it.

“If I scream loud enough, someone should be able to hear me”, Drew thought.

“HELP!” he shouted with his hands cupping his mouth.

He kept calling out, hoping someone, anyone would hear him.

Suddenly after about five minutes of screaming his head off, he heard someone at the door.

“Need….. Help….?” slurred a voice on the other side of the door.

“Yes! Yes! Help would be a life saver!” Drew begged.

A few moments later he heard violent scratching at the door and he was hoping it was a maintenance man working to release him, but he it sounded like something different.

“Help is here…help is here”, the man rambled.

Drew could not see the rows of famished zombies trampling on each other to try to get to him and didn’t realize the help was not for him, but for the starving drone to get a reward for locating him.

****

Hailey Koffkey awoke on the sofa, wiping her dry mouth against her arm. She felt a little dizzy and nauseous.

“I over did it again”, Hailey thought.

She gave a generous stretch with a yawn and stumbled her way into the bathroom. An uncomfortable pressure lay heavily on her lower abdomen and she vomited in the toilet.

“Drew!” she yelled. She needed him to hold her hair back.

“What kind of wife am I? I should have stayed behind and taken care of my husband”, Hailey thought.

“Drew!” she yelled again, but Drew was not coming.

“Maybe he is angry with me for staying out so late”, Hailey thought.

She finished up in the bathroom and searched out Drew.

The cabin was eerie like no one had been in there since the cruise departed. Hailey tip toed to the balcony, thinking he already had the Champagne breakfast set up out there, but neither Drew nor breakfast was waiting for her. She thought for sure Drew was snoozing in the bed, but the bed appeared to be never slept in and the Swan towel was still in the same spot. Drew always made a fresh pot of coffee wherever they were, but the coffee pot hadn’t been touched, it was still clean as a whistle, furthermore, the coffee packets were undisturbed.

Feeling a bit worried, she called down to room service to see if the champagne breakfast was delivered or if Drew had been down there, but no one answered, Hailey got upset. Then she heard a woman screaming in the cabin above her.

“Yeah tell me about it”, Hailey murmured without being concerned.

Hailey decided to take a shower, but there seemed to be no hot water. She placed on her robe and called down to the Guest Services desk to report the problem, but the lines were tied up. She frantically got dress and decided to go all the way down there to complain with a pit stop at the Spa to confirm her appointment for late afternoon.

“This is what you get on a singles cruise, everybody showering with everybody and using up all the hot water!” commented Hailey.

Dressed, she left her cabin, and realized she had locked herself out.

“Well now I have to ask for another card key too”, sassed Hailey now seeing red. She passed a few zombies on the way, but most of them could not quite figure her out. She was running pretty fast and did not fear them. Just before going up the stairs she ran right into a zombie aerobics instructor and knocked her to the ground.

“Sorry!” Hailey uttered without looking directly at her hideous half eaten face crawling with Japanese beetles.

Hailey kept moving without paying attention to any of the zombies around her, she was on a mission.

Hailey stopped at the Spa and buzzed the reception desk. Everything seemed a bit strange. She vividly heard the Zen water fountains around her, smelled the lemongrass lavender scented lit candles and heard the copier try to work, but there was no paper left in the tray. She called out for service, but nothing.

Hailey tapped her fingers on the reception counter while slouching and waited, suddenly a murky shadow appeared from the back office area.

As Hailey’s eyes came into focus, she viewed a tall woman dressed in a long white lab coat. The woman’s face looked as if scorching steam peeled the outer layers off. Her light wispy hair fell dead to her shoulders and Hailey did not notice she was missing an ear.

“What happened to your face?” Hailey asked as the woman moved towards the front of the reception counter.

The zombie walked maliciously trying to hide the fact that her right leg was separating from her hip bone and gave Hailey a ghoulish smile, “chemical peeeeeeel!”

“Alright, I’m thrilled I’m not getting that done”, Hailey remarked while taking her hand off the reception counter.

The zombie gave her a look of missed opportunity, Hailey’s hand was to be the appetizer.

“Right……..okay, I’m here to verify my afternoon appointment. I’m suppose to get a massage and body scrub done, my name is Hailey Koffkey”, Hailey explained.

The zombie didn’t say anything she was so enchanted by her long toned legs, velvet skin and wavy sun kissed hair.

“Excuse me… HELLO… could you check your little computer there and confirm it for me, thank you”, Hailey snapped.

The zombie roared out of nowhere and reached for Hailey’s hair, but Hailey jumped backwards just in time.

“I’m going to report you!” Hailey said.

Hailey ran down the hall again and took the stairs down to the main dining room, a short cut to the lobby, but when she turned a corner she was snatched up by some people who were hiding from the zombies.

“Get your hands off of me!” Hailey demanded, not knowing they were trying to help her.

“Are you crazy? Your practically ringing the dinner bell” a man said while removing his hands from her wrists.

“What are you talking about?” Hailey asked while trying to rise up just to be forced back down again.

“Are you blind? This ship is crawling with zombies”, the man whispered.

“That explains a lot, the cruise ship seemed a bit dead”, Hailey said while not taking anything seriously.

“Look, we are not fooling around…..this is really happening”, the man said while looking out of his barricade

“ By the way, have you seen my husband? His name is Drew Koffkey. He is in his early thirties with a medium build, has dark hair with sideburns, and loosely resembles Elvis with big feet”, Hailey described.

“No I can’t say I have, but if you want my advice, don’t search for him… he probably didn’t make it”, the man whispered in gloom.

*****

At 10:00 a.m. Miles woke up in his cabin feeling a bit sick and exhausted. He was distracted by all the moans and groans coming from every direction and just thought the sounds he heard were the making of the love boat.

“Man, sounds like everyone got some action last night except for me”, Miles said with envy in his voice. He chuckled a bit and glanced at his watch.

“Man, haven’t slept this late since, well…ever”, Miles said to himself.

Just as he was getting dressed he heard a faint knock at his cabin door.

“Who Can It Be Now”, he sung while parading over to the door. He was in a chipper mood to not have to report to work.

He slowly opened the door and was aroused at what he saw.

The woman of his dreams had called on him. She had glossy fire alarm red hair that magically floated in the air. Her one eye was colored a pool blue and the other a playful green with brown specks. She boasted plump amber lips that sparkled more than the glitter on her showgirl costume. She wasn’t the poster child for zombie, but she had her own little secrets. Her concave frontal skull was concealed by her perfect bangs, her morbid festering hands covered by long back silk gloves and her wicked tongue disclosed by her freshly painted mouth.

"You legs must be tired cause you have been running through my mind all night", Miles chanted.

His cheesy pick up line didn’t seem to bother the zombie; after all she was there for a late breakfast, not conversation.

“Can I come in?” she panted.

“I like me some fast women, sure baby…” Miles said while inviting her in.

“I can‘t thank you enough”, the woman grinned.

After she entered the cabin Miles introduced her to the bed, preparing to seduce her, but he couldn’t ignore the stench that followed her. It was pungent, so pungent it brought tears to his eyes.

“Baby, not to be rude, but you seem to be suffering from body odor, I hope you don’t mind using the shower”, Miles said while worrying she would take offense.

The zombie was tempted to prey on him sloppy right then and there, but she wanted the suspense to last, he would be tastier that way.

“Okay, only if you join me”, she stuttered.

“You’re my kind of woman”, Miles smiled.

“You have no idea…” she said.

Miles did have a sense of something was fishy, besides her smell, but he wondered why a too good to be true thing could not happen to him.

Miles walked over to her and tried to help her along to undress.

“Let me help you remove those heavy clothes”, Miles politely offered while reaching out for the zipper near her cleavage.

“Not so fast, you go into the shower first with your eyes closed and wait for me”, the woman cleverly said.

She was well spoken for a zombie, she had to hold back all the drool and say all of her words very carefully because her voice box was decomposing.

Miles did as she wished and waited for her to enter the shower, he did not have to wait long.

Still fully dressed, the zombie entered the shower; Miles opened his eyes disappointed to find her still wearing her showgirl dress, gloves and even her stockings.

“What’s the matter baby?” Miles asked.

“I want sweetbreads”, the zombie dictated.

“We can go to the bakery after we are done here”, Miles stated while confused, these were his last words.

“No, I want your sweetbreads!’ snarled the zombie.

Miles was still clueless, even as the zombie munched on his body to retrieve his sweetbreads. He didn’t even have a chance against this special kind of zombie, the only one of its kind on the ship, the most intelligent and the most dangerous, she was the first infected.

*****

Wally woke up right on time as he always did, despite passing out. Routine was his friend and he was determined to meet some single women this time.

“It took a good night’s rest to be ready for the ladies”, Wally yawned.

He glanced over to see the room service tray still sitting there as he left it, but the sweet tea was gone and the bottom of the glass had a sticky, black goo in it.

Wally swapped his morning vitamins for a cotton swab to inspect the goo. He had never seen such a specimen.

“Fascinating”, Wally said while adjusting his bi-focals.

Wally was a science freak and always prepared. He got out his traveling microscope kit and started to analyze the goo.

It swabbed some on a thin slide and placed it under the microscope.

“It’s alive!” he exclaimed while prancing around in his boxer shorts with hanging suspender straps.

“Wait…it’s dying”, he said.

Wally scratched his stubble and tried to theorize what the goo needed to survive.

“I guess I could try water”, Wally thought.

Wally collected some water in a paper cup and used a dropper to dispense the water directly on the goo on the slide, then re-evaluated the goo.

“It’s coming around….what ever this is…it survives on water”, Wally concluded.

Wally tried to call the ships doctor to tell him about a water thriving parasite he found, but his phone was dead.

Wally got dressed and decided to look at the goo one last time before collecting it into a medium transport tube, what he found was astonishing.

A progressive and resilient virus showed up within the parasite, Wally had never seen such a thing.

“What does all this mean?” he asked himself.

Then suddenly someone was fiddling with his cabin lock, desperately trying to get in.

“They had problems with my key at check in, don’t worry I always open the door for housekeeping”, Wally said.

Wally approached the door and heard loud huffing and puffing, he wasn’t going to open it, but he changed his mind.

“You’re running a little late this morning”, Wally said.

The man violently pushed him back into the room and dead bolted the door.

“Who are you…Where’s Monica!!!” The man yelled, his sanity was wearing thin.

“I don’t know who Monica is, my name is Wally Burke and I was assigned to this cabin”, Wally cried while concentrating real hard not to allow his weak bladder get the best of him.

“I checked the passenger registration report and it said she was assigned to this cabin!” the mad man pointed out while shoving Wally against the wall trying to scare answers out of him.

“Look, the guest services lady said that she had to assign me a different cabin when I checked in, I was happy to get the upgrade”, Wally explained.

The man walked away from him and sat hopelessly on the bed holding his head in his hands.

“Look I’m sorry I got out of hand. Monica was my high school sweetheart and I don’t know if she is still alive”, the man said while shaking his head.

“Are you part of the crew?” Wally asked while lowering his defenses.

“Yeah, I’m Buster an assistant chef”, Buster mumbled.

“Hey what’s on the menu for lunch today?” asked Wally not having a clue that the ship is in chaos.

“We are”, Buster shortly stated while looking up at him with his face sweaty and eyes tiresome.

“Very funny, I like your joke….I’ll have to use it sometime in when my LARP club gets together next week”, Wally laughed.

“Do you even know what’s going on?” Buster asked while not wanting to repeat the gory details again.

“Yes, the ship may be infected with a rare parasite that hosts an aggressive virus that can only survive in water”, Wally summed up.

“Wait a minute…you know what is causing this?” asked Buster with interest.

“I think I do. I suspect the parasite entered the ship’s main water supply tank, if it did, it multiplied substantially”, Wally theorized.

“Do you know how to stop it?” Buster asked.

“I think it does not like salt, salt would dehydrate it, however it seems adaptable”, Wally guessed.

“We have to stop the zombies, there are not many people left alive”, Buster revealed.

“Zombies?” Wally questioned.

“Yes, Zombies!” Buster confirmed.

“Well I guess that is feasible, the brain does contain a high water content for the parasite to live in, but dead people walking, I’ve got to see this for myself”, Wally said.

“Believe me, you don’t!” Buster said.

“Does the captain know about all this?” Wally asked while snorting up his daily decongestant.

“ He has to know. I am heading up to the bridge to see if I can call in the Coast Guard for help”, Buster planned.

“How are you going to get there without being seen by the zombies?” Wally asked.

“I’ve been using the air duct vents to travel from place to place and trying to be light on my feet, hard work for a big man that I am”, Buster said.

“Here, take some of these salt packets, they may help if you encounter one of them”, Wally said.

“Okay, thank you. Wish me luck my man”, Buster sighed.

Buster left the cabin and Wally locked the door behind him.

“Oh pick up sticks, I forgot to ask where the ship keeps all the salt”, Wally said to himself.