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Suddenly Memories: GDChick
By Dac
She stood at the railing as the waves lapped at the side of the boat, the cloudy sky above her stubbornly refusing to illuminate anything. There wasn’t even a hint of what they were leaving behind, no sign of the destruction and death that had so ensnared them. She rested her chin on the railing and watched the water below, black and unfeeling. The man beside her yawned.
“I don’t know about you but I would kill for a whiskey right now,” he said. “Does that make me a bad person?”
“You’re already a bad person, Henry,” grunted another voice in the dark. This one was female, younger and brash. GDChick couldn’t see Cara’s face in the dark, but she knew from the tone exactly what it looked like.
“Don’t be like that,” said Henry heavily. “I just want a drink. Nothing wrong with that.”
“Both of you, quiet down,” said GDChick quickly. “Not tonight. Just save it this once.”
“Anything you say, GD,” replied Henry calmly.
Leaning over, Murdock gave Henry a light smack upside his head. Henry chuckled even as the large hand clipped his ear and gave the larger man a playful shove back. Murdock laughed himself as he recoiled, and Cara sighed with disdain. GDChick couldn’t help feeling similar. The darkness of the night was more than she could stomach, and the two men weren’t helping. Murdock, barrel-chested and in his fifties, was jovial enough, while Henry’s brand of humour was a more backhandedly mournful. Cara didn’t like Henry much, but GDChick liked him. Most of the time, anyway.
“Keep it down,” said a quiet, brooding voice further along the railing. Both Henry and Murdock’s laughter dried up and the four of them looked up the railing at the silhouette of Lauren in the dark. Her head rested on her wrists as she bent over on the railing, staring at the idly tossing waves in the darkness. She didn’t turn to look at them. She didn’t need to; Lauren was a calm, loyal person, GDChick knew that well enough, but her demeanour was humourless and icy. The others were wary of her; despite their good natures, neither Murdock nor Henry made their friendly jibes at each other if Lauren said not to, and the hot-headed Cara didn’t snap at Henry’s bait. GDChick didn’t fear her, but she couldn’t speak for the others. Lauren was nothing if not unsettling.
The boat pitched and turned in the darkness. Murdock raised his head and peered into the gloom, straining his eyes. The others rocked slightly as he spoke up in his gravelly voice, the first time he’d said anything all night beyond his cheeky laughter.
“Westward,” he said. “We must have passed Black Point. With any luck we’ll be past the northern tip of the island and head due west for the mainland.”
“Wonderful,” said Henry. “Any chance we could hijack a fishing trawler on the way?”
“I swear to God, I will throw you over right now,” muttered Cara.
“Guys,” said GDChick warningly. “Seriously. Enough.”
Cara didn’t respond. Henry smiled and shrugged in the darkness, illuminated by the deck lamp, before stretching himself and yawning. “Conversation’s what I’m best for. If it’s not needed here, I think I’ll turn in for the night. See you guys at dawn.”
He wandered down the slick deck and stepped inside, vanishing from sight. The others stood silently, watching the water below. Murdock gave GDChick a knowing smile, while she mustered a smaller one in response. Both Cara and Lauren were silent, brooding. The night dragged on, and none of them said a word for a long time. One by one they all vacated the deck, heading back to their two cabins. The boat had converted most of its storage areas into makeshift accommodation for all the rescued survivors, but it was still cramped. Murdock and Henry shared a cabin with a few regular crew members, while Lauren, GDChick and Cara squeezed into a smaller room together, huddled under blankets. Eventually, only GDChick and Lauren remained on the deck, and Lauren finally raised her head, looking over at GDChick.
“Are you still having nightmares?” she asked quietly.
GDChick tried not to swear, reluctant to talk on the matter, but it was no use trying to deny it. “Yes,” she said. “Fire. Explosions. Screaming. The usual.”
“I’m the same,” said Lauren. “All the people.”
“Not all,” GDChick corrected her quickly, instinctively, vehemently. “We made it. Everyone else on this boat.”
“For now,” replied Lauren ominously. “How long will it last?”
“Long enough to reach the mainland,” said GDChick. “Then we’ll be OK.”
“They will,” said Lauren. “The people with family. Friends. Homes to turn to. But you, me? Henry, Murdock, Cara? We don’t. We won’t.”
“We could stay on the boat,” suggested GDChick wearily. The conversation was familiar. The few times Lauren spoke during meals, it was usually the same thing. She brooded on her future as though she was running from her past, and more than once GDChick and the others wondered quietly why together.
“The captain won’t want that,” said Lauren. “The crew won’t. They-”
“Don’t want to be reminded,” GDChick finished. “I know. You’ve said it before.”
“You don’t listen.”
“I’m optimistic.”
Lauren never snorted in derision; that was one thing GDChick liked about her. Even if she thought someone was ignorant, or naive or foolish, she never condemned them for it. If it were Cara she was talking to, she would have received a biting retort. Lauren simply looked at her and gave her familiar mournful smile, the only one GDChick had ever seen there. “I’m going to go to bed, too,” she said. “You coming?”
“Not just yet,” said GDChick quietly. “I’ll be down in a little while.”
She didn’t hear Lauren’s light footsteps as she disappeared. She stared out across the waves again, watching the darkness as though expecting to see the explosions flaring up in the darkness again. The wind was not as savagely cold as it had been two nights ago, when rough hands heard her screams and hauled her up out of the water and on deck. Someone had wrapped her in a blanket as the sound of huge explosions continued erupting past them. Mercifully she hadn’t been burned; many other rescues hadn’t been so lucky, and there was a mass funeral at sea the next day. She remembered helping pry crying children away from their blackened, waterlogged mothers, and the sound bit at her soul, gnawing and hacking away. Even that was more relieving than the darkness, surrounded by water colder than she could have fathomed, unsure if there was a surface to break through as her lungs screamed. She was saved by a small cargo transport named the Drifter and her crew as behind her, the small town literally burned to the ground.
The boat was heading from the harbour and pulled as many survivors as it could from the inky depths, making its way north and then west, to go around the island back to the Canadian mainland. None of the survivors knew why there had been an attack, but in one swoop their lives vanished in the ashes behind them, and they travelled back. GDChick reflected bitterly on her situation, rough as it was, stripped from her after carving it herself. Now she was here, on this boat, with only four other people without homes, families or friends in the world as her sole companions.
She spat over the side of the boat and moved towards the cabins.
***
The galley was empty as the five of them clustered around a small table. It was too small for all the survivors that had been picked up, so the survivors were assigned shifts for meals. GDChick’s small group always volunteered to go last; there were no children or sick to feed in their group. They spooned servings of porridge into their mouths, talking idly among themselves. Predictably, Henry led the conversation, reminiscing fondly and yet dryly about life back home.
“The guy just stepped out in front of me and I had to slam on my brakes,” he said. “He only noticed me when my tyres squealed, and he dived backwards to avoid me. Imagine the tombstone if I’d hit him. ‘Here lies such and such, run over by a hooligan in a McDonalds drive-through.’ Now that’s degrading.”
Murdock and GDChick laughed. Lauren stared wistfully into her bowl. Cara studied her spoon intently.
“That guy’s probably dead now,” she observed. “Cremated in one hit with the rest of them.”
“You never know,” pointed out Murdock. “He might be on this boat somewhere. Wouldn’t that be a shock?”
“Or he might have died before,” added Henry. “He might even have been booked into the crematorium. Imagine that, he got it done for free.”
Cara’s eyes blazed. GDChick put a hand on her shoulder before she got started. Cara had seen too many outbursts already. All mirth gone from her face, GDChick eyed Henry severely.
“Not cool,” she said.
Henry shrugged again. He was wearing the smile he often wore when Cara took something he said to heart, the one that screamed ‘don’t get angry, I’m just saying. Lighten up’. GDChick never knew what to make of that smile. It only ever irritated Cara all the more, but then Cara had a hair trigger temper and flared up at almost anything. For all his uncouth mannerisms, Henry was a pleasant enough man. The most willing to talk about his past, he often gave long-winded anecdotes about small experiences in his past, jokes and stories that always ended with some kind of punchline. More than once GDChick found herself wondering how much of it was true, and the more she thought about it the more she wondered it about all of them.
Murdock had been a clockmaker, he told them, born and raised in Toronto before moving further out for peace and quiet. He had served in the army but been discharged after a knee injury, and he did walk with a noticeable limp. He was in his mid-50s, and was always in remarkably good spirits for someone who claimed to have buried both parents, two siblings and a wife, only to see his residence of 20 years explode.
Henry told similar stories, of his parents dying in a car crash not long after he turned 21, a year a half prior, leaving him alone in the world without family, and his friends having long since moved away. He had never sought to leave the town, remaining there in menial jobs, enjoying a quiet life, until it all went to hell that dark night and he found himself telling jokes to four strangers on a boat.
Cara was a stranger case. None of the others could guess how old she was, presumably somewhere between 19 and 23, but she never gave any hints. She spoke haltingly about her mother who ran off years before, and her emotionally-bankrupt father, and never said much about her past. At times, GDChick wondered if Cara really regretted the attack. She was angry, bitter, raging at the injustice of it, yet the way she spoke of her past some part of her, buried beneath the stewing pot of unbridled emotion, celebrated the freedom, the push away from a home she saw herself as trapped in.
Lauren never said much at all, claiming she had left her previous life for one less morally stunting, choosing the quiet town on the island as a place where the past was separated by a body of water and eventually several years. Whenever she mentioned it, GDChick wondered more and more whether she ever stopped running, or if she ever thought a locked door would be enough to keep the past at bay. She suspected that Lauren, thanks to being vague, was the only one wholly honest.
GDChick was well aware of her own story, such as it was. She, like Lauren and Cara, was vague wherever possible about the details. She spoke in half-truths only she was aware of, such as being forced out of her home and having no friends or family, the one trait they all shared. It was true enough, but the truth of it was too ludicrous to speak aloud, so she never did. Like the rest of them, she avoided the real truth. The explosions and the flames had burned away what she knew of the present, and anything left of the past was immolated at the same time. She was even more adrift than before, and she had a feeling the other four were the same.
They were all of them deceiving each other, she knew. They were all honest about having no friends or family, and everything that entailed; no one could prove they weren’t being honest, or cared enough to try. They were free to make up their own pasts. How much of Henry’s anecdotes were invented? What was the truth about Cara’s family? Questions frequently boiled around inside her head as Henry spun another story about a spider in the shower, garnering even a slight chuckle from Lauren. Cara sullenly poked a spoon in her porridge.
“Do we know how long until we reached the mainland?” she asked.
Henry’s voice slowly died away as the question hung in the air. It was the big question; when would they have to leave, and step into the world where none of them had a place. It was a question GDChick avoided wondering. She found comfort wondering about the past, while Cara found it easier to be wary of the future. The past had too many demons for her.
The question quieted Henry. Apparently even he didn’t like to think of it. Lauren’s eyes narrowed and she said nothing. Only Murdock, the seasoned veteran, was not overtly bothered by the question, but GDChick knew he dreaded their arrival too.
“About a week,” he said. “Give or take a couple of days.”
They eyed each other uneasily. Henry put on a smile.
“Plenty of time,” he grinned. “Plenty of time to get sick of each other and try to kill each other in our sleep. Don’t worry, Cara, you’ll have plenty of chances to throw me over the side before we get there.”
They all managed to crack a smile, but no one laughed aloud. GDChick looked around at her companions, lost souls adrift at sea. In a week they would all be in Nova Scotia, homeless and alone. She knew the same thought ran through all their heads: what then?
***
The days passed slowly, but none of them seemed to notice them. They all went the same way, helping the cook prepare meals, helping move equipment where it was needed. The five of them alone of the survivors helped the crew in their duties, each of them silently wondering if they might find employment once the journey was over, although it was a shallow hope. The sailors were just as devastated by what had happened as their unexpected charges and were determined to put the whole thing behind them. They spoke to the survivors as little as possible and refused to talk about the town at all.
“They deal with it by forgetting,” explained Murdock one afternoon. “They came to do business and saw nothing but death and destruction. Yes, they saved us, but they’re used to things no longer being their responsibility once they’re off the boat. Once we’re all on shore, we’ll be like a bad dream, fading into nothing. They’ll never forget the story, but they’ll force themselves to forget how bad it was.”
Cara felt resentment at the words, and GDChick found it hard to disagree with her, but nonetheless they still toiled in the hopes of earning credit among the crew. They never said it to each other, but they were all afraid of what lay at the end of the journey, and each of them knew the fear was shared. They toiled and hoped. ‘What else can we do?’ thought GDChick bleakly.
***
The fog was thick one night when they heard the horn. Looking over they saw lights cutting swathes through the fog as another boat drew up astern. They were anchored a few miles offshore, the captain unwilling to navigate the fog, and were prepared for another quiet, gloomy night when the horn came. The other boat, a smaller one, dropped anchor nearby, and eventually GDChick spotted several men climbing aboard their boat. The captain had already moved down to join them. GDChick and the others stared as he spoke to one of the other men, a lean figure in clothes as dark as the night. They spoke animatedly, but were on the lower deck, too far to hear what they were discussing. Soon enough, the captain moved with the other man belowdecks. The other men hung around as GDChick and the others watched.
“Think the secret police finally caught up with us?” remarked Henry, breaking the silence.
“Looks like the men in black,” snorted Cara. “Where were they when it all burned down?”
“Never mind that, why are they here now?” wondered Murdock. “Who are they? What are they doing here?”
“Did anyone even know we were out here?” asked Cara.
“They would have had to,” answered Lauren. “The captain would have radioed in with the news.”
GDChick barely registered the conversation, looking down at their crew. More of them were emerging on deck, and from the way they were moving she guessed none of them were taking the intrusion very well.
“I think we’re about to see a fight,” she said.
The others looked where she pointed. The crew were gathering into a large knot, and several of them were holding rods and bars and rope. Slowly the gang walked towards the newcomers, who watched them warily. Some reached for their belts while others backed towards the railing. Only one stood perfectly still, watching the advancing crew calmly. GDChick stared at him closely.
“Oh, shit,” said Murdock. “They’ve got guns.”
One of the newcomers had pulled out a small handgun. He wasn’t aiming at anyone, but the lights glinting off the metal slowed the crew somewhat. Heartened, more of them withdrew their weapons, more as a warning than a threat, but even so the crew only seemed to get angrier. A ripple ran through them as they continued advancing. They moved slower, but they kept moving. GDChick tensed.
The loudspeakers all over the boat crackled into life. Both groups below jumped as the captain’s voice echoed over the boat. GDChick and the others looked up in surprise. They hadn’t heard it used before. The captain’s voice was raspy and metallic amplified through the old, unused system, but still easy to make out.
“All survivors to the lower deck. All survivors, pack whatever possessions you have and move to the lower deck now.”
The term ‘survivors’ rankled GDChick. She hated how the crew had come to call them all that, as though they were nothing more than a category, but it proved what Lauren said, if nothing else. It was only when she quashed her irritation that she realised what the captain had said. The others all looked as surprised as she was.
“What?” she said blankly.
“Pack up and go to the deck?” echoed Henry. “Seriously?”
“Maybe they’re getting rid of us early,” suggested Murdock. “Letting the government deal with us so they don’t have to?”
“That sounds like this crew,” said Cara darkly.
GDChick inclined her head as she looked over the deck, her eyes raking the men below. Something about them didn’t sit right with her. “I don’t know if they’re government,” she said. “Wouldn’t they have warned the captain they were coming?”
The others went silent uneasily, but before they could say anything one of the crew appeared behind them. He was wearing rough-hewn, weather-beaten clothes that showed up every hole, fray and tear under the light, and his face was irritable.
“Down to the deck, guys,” he said. “Grab what you need out of your cabins.”
“We don’t have anything else,” said Cara warily.
“Then go straight to the deck,” he grunted. “Move. Now.”
The five of them reluctantly walked towards the lower deck, looking around suspiciously. More and more of the survivors joined them, most with their hands in their pockets, and they all shuffled out to the lower deck. The crew stood off to one side, arms folded, while the captain and his visitor stood in the centre facing them. The other men all stood behind him, and GDChick’s attention was drawn to the man directly behind the captain. She recognised him as the one who had not backed down when the crew had advanced on them; he still stood with the perfectly upright posture and folded arms she had seen from above. Closer, she could see he was a heavyset man with a sullen expression on his face and close-cropped hair. He didn’t notice her as his eyes raked back and forth across the line of refugees, standing perfectly still when the captain began to speak.
“These men are going to take you the rest of the way,” he called flatly. “Their ship is smaller but it’s more accommodating than ours, so you should be more comfortable the rest of the way. If you have your possessions, wait over starboard, they’re going to bring the boat up alongside. If you haven’t, go and get them, then come back up here.”
He turned his face to the man beside him, the man in charge of the newcomers. He was wearing a suit, strangely, but otherwise seemed perfectly at ease. He was a lean, lithe man with a pleasant smile that did not reach his eyes. GDChick felt a shudder go through her at the sight of them; they were cold and hungry, even at this distance she could see that, which unnerved her.
Several of the survivors had already begun to walk towards him and his men, and they could hear the other boat already coming about. GDChick tapped Lauren on the shoulder and jerked her head sharply towards the door. Lauren nodded and tapped the others on the shoulder. All three followed, Henry looking confused, as they walked inside and headed for the small cabin GDChick shared with Lauren and Cara. Cara closed the door behind them as they all squeezed in and faced each other.
“What’s up?” asked Henry. “No one in the mood for cocoa and animal crackers?”
“Something’s not right,” GDChick said. “If this boat was coming out here to get us, the captain would have mentioned it sooner. These guys just came out of nowhere.”
“Maybe they couldn’t contact us in time,” said Cara, although her tone made it clear she didn’t believe the words even as she said them.
“That guy in charge,” mused Lauren. “I feel like I’ve seen him somewhere before. I can’t think where, but I don’t like him.”
“To be fair, you don’t like a lot of people,” said Murdock. “Still, I think you’re right. I don’t trust him either. Something’s up.”
Henry looked around at them all, false incredulity awash over his face. They all knew he felt the same way. GDChick hoped he wouldn’t keep playing coy; they didn’t have time. If the crew came down and found them, they’d be ordered over. Her tension must have showed on her face, as Henry simply shrugged and smiled. Before anyone could speak, she held up a hand.
“Wait here,” she said. “Their boat should be alongside by now. I’ll climb on, look around, see what I can find.”
“What?” exclaimed Cara, startled. “I know something’s not right, but...sneak on? You think it’s that bad?”
“Yes,” said GDChick tersely as she turned to go. Lauren reached out and grabbed her wrist, a shadow crossing her face.
“I’m coming with you,” she said.
“No,” replied GDChick urgently, twisting her arm out of Lauren’s grasp. “Wait here with the others. I’ll be back soon. Lock the door and don’t let anyone else in.”
“What if you’re seen?” growled Lauren.
“I won’t be,” said GDChick flatly. The movement came naturally to her as she shot with liquid grace through the door and slammed it shut behind her. Before any of the others could peek out she had already darted down the corridor, onto the deck and over the port side railing. No one was nearby, but if they were, she knew she wouldn’t have been spotted. She clung to the side of the hull and slowly began to edge her way towards the bow. She kicked off her shoes and gripped with her toes on the sleek metal, ignoring the biting cold in her feet. Hastily she crawled horizontally across the side of the ship and halted at the bow. Peering around, she saw the smaller boat directly nearby. It was far enough away to warrant travel between both boats by lifeboat, but even so, GDChick judged it close enough.
Stealthily she moved her limbs around the bow and down towards the other boat. It took a few minutes, moving as slowly as she could, avoiding any lights that caught the dark metal she clung to. When she finally drew level with the other boat she hesitated. The water was calm, and she could cling to the wet metal, but the distance still daunted her. She drew a deep breath and leapt over.
She slammed into the metal with a loud thud. The wind was knocked out of her, but she still held fast to the side, forcing herself to scramble away in case anyone looked over the side and saw her clinging to it. Her secret would be out then, the one secret she concealed fiercely. She crawled astern, regathering her breath, searching around for an open porthole. As soon as she found one, she made a quick glance inside to be sure the room beyond was empty and hauled herself in. The room was little more than a storage compartment full of ropes and wooden crates. She sat there for a moment, still struggling for breath, before moving out into the corridor beyond. It was poorly lit, the few bulbs far darker than they should be. She crawled up onto the roof and slowly crawled around them. Her hair she kept tied away so it didn’t hang too low as she slowly manoeuvred between the lights and doorways. Her unease grew; there wasn’t much movement in the gloom. There hadn’t been a lot of men from this boat that they had seen, but nonetheless, she felt she should have seen someone by now.
No sooner had the thought crossed her mind than a shadow moved in the T-junction ahead. She shrank up against the ceiling as a man walked idly past the door. Her eyes narrowed as she watched intently. It was the heavyset, sullen man. He moved slowly, aimlessly, as though bored. GDChick stared at him as he vanished further up the corridor. Straining her ears, she heard something up ahead, from the hallway he’d emerged from. Voices, too faint to make out the words, and a series of beeps, followed by a dull thump.
He was guarding something.
She crawled further, keeping her eyes on the doorway in case he or someone else appeared in front of her. Every so often she checked behind her to make sure no one was coming up that way, but there never was. When she reached the junction, she peered slowly around the corner to the right, in the direction the heavyset man had gone. He was still there, further up the corridor, his back to her. He was leaning against the wall, staring intently at something in his hands. GDChick guessed he had a handheld game or something similar. Warily keeping an eye on him, she turned to the left and saw another doorway further up. Unlike the dingy corridors, the room beyond was brightly lit, and from the wrought-iron staircase she could see, she guessed it was a cargo bay. She crawled towards it, casting a glance back at the heavyset man every so often, but he was preoccupied. When she reached the doorway, she dropped down and slipped inside, crouching inside the doorway where the light didn’t quite reach, and stared down past the railing into the cargo area.
Three of the men were there, a trio wearing combat fatigues, as well as one of the survivors. GDChick recognised her, a woman named Mary. One of the men stood off to the side, near another doorway, leaning against the wall. The second stood directly behind Mary, his arms folded behind his back, and the third stood in front of her. GDChick stared; the man looked like he was brushing her down with a metal detector wand. He was chatting amiably as he worked, and GDChick heard soft, toneless beeps issuing from the wand.
“You have family on the mainland?” he asked.
“Yes, I have a cousin,” replied Mary uncertainly. “In Toronto. I was going to call him as soon as we reached the mainland, and get a bus there.”
“I see,” replied the man. His wand gave a loud, harsh beep and he lowered it, nodding to the man behind her. Mary looked over her shoulder, then back at the man with the wand.
“What does that mean?” she asked.
GDChick didn’t even have time to gasp. The man behind her swung a wrench and hit her in the side of the head with the dull thump she’d heard before. She fell to the floor without a sound as he lowered the wrench deftly. “It means, negative,” he grunted. His voice echoed eerily around the bay as the third man stood up and sauntered over, seized her by the legs and dragged her towards the doorway he’d been next to. GDChick could see a trickle of blood seeping from where the wrench had collected her and trembled violently.
“Another one bites the dust,” said the man dragging her in a spritely tone.
“We’ll find him, sooner or later,” said the man with the wand. “Bring the daughter next. If it comes up negative we should at least keep them together.”
“Sure.”
The two men in the centre of the bay stretched out and yawned. The man with the wrench flexed his arm. “How many do we have to go?”
“A lot,” replied the man with the wand. “They’ll still be shuttling them over. Why, is your arm getting tired?”
“A little,” admitted the man with the wrench. “I can hold it.”
A strangled cry broke out from the edge of the bay. They turned in surprise and saw Mary’s prone form lying on the ground by the doorway, but of the man dragging her there was no sign. The two men exchanged a wary glance and the wand man pulled out his gun.
“Quinn?” he called. “You alright?”
Something shot out of the shadows in the doorway and flew at them. The man fired twice when it slammed into him and dropped him to the ground. The other man ran to help, wrench held high, but a foot flew out on caught him in the throat. He fell choking while the other man felt his head lifted up and smashed into the metal floor. The first hit bloodied his face. The second knocked him out. GDChick left him and sprinted back over to Mary and shook her vigorously.
“Hey, wake up,” she hissed. “Mary, come on!”
There was no response. GDChick checked her pulse, but Mary was already dead. The blow with the wrench was stronger than it had looked. She crouched over Mary’s body, looking around anxiously, wondering what to do, when she heard something hit the floor behind her. She looked over the shoulder and her eyes widened.
The heavyset man had dropped to the ground from the top railing. His eyes were levelled at her malevolently as he straightened up slowly and advanced on her. He moved with a powerful surety, as though confident nothing in the world could hurt him. His head was lowered and his hands balled into fists. It was the fists which held GDChick’s attention. They looked like they were surrounded by small typhoons, swirling in a spiral formation as he walked. When he was about 20 feet away, he raised one fist and a violent gust of wind shot out of his hand. GDChick ducked as the burst shot straight over her. There was a violent cracking noise as it ripped a chunk out of the metal door frame behind her, and GDChick turned and ran.
She bolted up the stairs through the doorway, panicking. Her own abilities couldn’t compare to that, not in a one-on-one fight. She ran faster than she could ever recall running, and heard the telltale clanging of the wind man’s pursuit. Wrenching open a door, she found herself on deck. Her own boat was still alongside, and she ran towards it. A burst of wind from the doorway ripped part of the railing away as she ran, and she gave a cry of fright. The wind man sprinted towards her, his wrists still swirling as he raised them. She felt a chill up her spine. If he hit her while she was in mid-air, she’d plummet to the icy water below. She tried to shut out the thought, but it stabbed into her mind and her pace faltered.
A gunshot echoed across the deck and the wind man jumped aside, cursing. GDChick willed herself to run faster in the reprieve. She could hear shouting voices but thought nothing of them. She ran to the railing, leaped up, pushed herself off it and sailed through the air towards the other boat. She hit the side with another loud thump and her scrabbling hands missed the railing, when more hands shot out and grabbed her. She was hauled over the side and fell gasping to the deck. Looking up, she saw some of the crew holding rifles, aiming at the other boat’s deck, while Murdock and Henry, both pale, dragged her aside. Lauren was prowling the railing, staring at the enemy boat. Cara was behind her, plainly fighting the urge to yell profane threats at their attackers.
“Killing people,” GDChick choked out. “They’re killing us.”
“We noticed,” said Henry pleasantly. “Cutting the throats of half the crew was a pretty good indicator.”
“What did you see?” asked Cara.
GDChick took a deep breath before continuing. “Scanning us,” she said. “With some kind of wand. They’re looking for something, and killing us if the scan is negative.”
Lauren looked over curiously, but Henry spoke up before anyone else got a chance.
“If they want coins, surely they’d have more luck robbing a bank.”
“Shut up, Henry!” snarled Cara. One of the crewmen put a hand on her shoulder before she could go any further. GDChick looked over at Murdock, staring at her fervently.
“Scanning for what?” he asked. “What was the device?”
“I didn’t hear,” she replied. “I saw them scan Mary, and when it came up negative they hit her with a wrench. The blow killed her on the spot. I think they were about to dump her over the side, but I thought she was still alive and tried to step in. I knocked them all out, but that other guy...that thing...attacked me straight afterwards.”
“He’s a superhuman,” said Lauren darkly. “He’s not one of the old heroes, but he’s definitely a superhuman.”
“We need to get out of here,” said Murdock tonelessly. “Put some distance between us and them. We can outrun them, right?”
“More than likely,” said the nearest member of the crew, a grizzled man named Hooper. “But we’re not going without the captain. He’s still over there.”
“And how do you plan on getting him out?” demanded Murdock.
“Wait, hold on, I missed something,” said GDChick, struggling to her feet. “Where’s the captain?”
“Their leader took him over there,” said Hooper. “If we’re right, they plan to sink us and leave us all for dead, and use Captain Brody to corroborate the story. We’re not leaving without him.”
“Right,” said GDChick slowly. “How many of us are there left?”
“You five are all that’s left of the survivors,” said Hooper gruffly. “The rest have already gone over. They might already have been killed by your scanner men. Half our crew are still alive, but some of us are injured. We’ve got guys on the bridge ready to move at a moment’s notice, but as far as fighting back goes, what you see is what you have. Four of us.”
“How do you like our chances?” asked Henry.
“I don’t,” said Hooper flatly. “But it’s not like we have a choice.”
He fired at a shadow moving on the other boat’s deck and was rewarded with a yelp of pain. The other three men didn’t stop sweeping back and forth, eyes peeled for any sign of movement. GDChick looked across at the other boat and shook her head.
“No, we don’t,” she said. “We need to get everyone back.”
“How?” asked Murdock.
“We go in and get them,” she snapped. “Hooper, do you have any more guns?”
Henry held out a small handgun to her. She looked at him in confusion; he shrugged amiably. “A lot of those assholes are lying dead all over the place,” he explained. “They won’t miss these.”
He withdrew another from his belt and indicated Murdock and Cara, both of whom were armed. She looked over at Lauren, but her hands were empty. Lauren ignored the exchange and stared over at the other boat.
“We need to get closer,” she said. “We can’t all jump that, and the little boat will take too long.”
“You’re right,” said Hooper slowly, turning to one of the other crewmen. “Get up to the bridge, tell them to drift us in as close as they can. Then get back down here and wait with Shaw. Vaughn and I are going over.” The man scurried off as Hooper looked over at GDChick and the others. “I assume you are, too.”
“Damn right,” said Henry. “I want to see if they have any macaroni.”
“Murdock and Henry will help you get the captain out,” said Lauren. “He’ll be under guard, so you’ll need more people there. GD and I will go after the survivors, if there are any.”
“What about that wind guy?” demanded Hooper.
“I can handle him,” said GDChick and Lauren in unison. They looked at each other warily. Henry laughed, but no one else did. Before either of them could say anything, Cara broke in angrily.
“What about me?” she snapped.
“You stay here,” said Lauren. “Help these two get everyone across when we bring them out.”
“Bullshit,” growled Cara. “I’m coming with you.”
“No,” said Lauren softly. “Wait here.”
GDChick, Murdock and Henry all caught the warning in her tone and edge towards the railing, but Cara missed it. “But-”
“Enough!” roared Lauren, her voice cracking like a whip. Cara visibly recoiled as Lauren stared daggers at her. Neither of them said a thing, but Cara hung her head in submission. Lauren turned back to the railing.
“We’re drifting,” said Murdock. “Getting closer.”
“Fire some warning shots,” said GDChick. “Just in case they’re hiding.”
Hooper and the crewmen gave them a volley, but there was no movement on deck. All of them readied to jump, and GDChick led the charge. She gave a full leap and landed neatly on the deck. Hooper and Vaughn tossed their rifles over to her before jumping after her. She caught the weapons deftly and handed them back as the two men hit the deck heavily. Vaughn nearly fell over, but he managed to hold his balance. Lauren jumped over next to them, followed by Murdock, and finally Henry, looking around fearfully. For once he held his tongue. Everyone except Lauren had weapons out, looking around. No enemies came to greet them, and no guns went off that they could hear. Hooper eyed his allies.
“Make it quick,” he said. “We’ll leave without you if we have to.”
“We will,” said GDChick darkly. She and Lauren turned and headed for the stairwell GDChick had emerged from, while the others walked for a doorway astern. GDChick led with her gun out, aiming straight down. GDChick wondered how on earth she’d managed to run up the metal stairs as fast as she had with no shoes. She wondered just how tough the soles of her feet had become.
“Are you ready for this?” she asked Lauren.
“Yes,” said Lauren calmly. “Are you? You’re waving that thing around like a flashlight. You’ll never hit anything like that.”
“I’m fine,” said GDChick, steadying her aim. “I’m just worried. There’s a lot less of them over here than there should be. I noticed that before.”
“That’s because half of them are dead or dying back on our boat,” said Lauren coldly.
Something in her voice made GDChick halt. She looked back over her shoulder at her friend cautiously. “Did you kill anyone?” she asked.
“Eyes forward,” said Lauren tensely. “I’ll watch the rear.”
They advanced slowly, the silence ringing heavily around them. Eventually GDChick couldn’t stand it any longer. “Did you?”
“Did I what?”
“Kill anyone.”
“Yes,” said Lauren. “And it’s not the first time.”
GDChick’s movements slowed even more. Her arms went loose as she slowly pushed herself forward. She didn’t say any more, but neither did Lauren, letting her last sentence hang in the air between them. They progressed further and further down, GDChick thoroughly unnerved the whole time. She wondered what she could say, how she could respond, but nothing came to mind. She had a strange urge to turn and aim the gun behind her, but she stayed her hand. She couldn’t do that now. She forced herself forward, forced herself to ignore what she’d just heard. She could deal with that later.
They reached the bottom of the stairs and saw the doorway into the cargo bay. GDChick looked around. Neither Mary’s body, nor that of the first man she’d knocked out were there. Slowly, they edged into the cargo bay. It was devoid of life, containing only the same sparse containers it had before. They both looked around.
“That’s where I came in the first time,” said GDChick, pointing.
“Let’s go,” said Lauren, and they ran towards the stairs. As they reached the centre of the bay, the door behind them slammed shut. Turning, they saw three men standing behind them, and more emerged from behind the containers. The nine men surrounded them hurriedly, all of them brandishing handguns except for one. GDChick recognised the man whose face she’d mashed into the floor, still holding his wand.
“What have we got?” called one.
The man held up the wand, pointing it at the two women, and a loud ping echoed around the hold. The man grabbed for his own handcuffs as the others all laughed triumphantly.
“We have a superhuman,” he grinned. “Stay calm, ladies, this will all be over quickly.”
GDChick felt a pang of horror at his words. Superhuman. Mary and the others, however many were dead, had all been killed because these men had been hunting her. She felt like the bottom had dropped out of her stomach and stood there mutely for a split second, when the emptiness gave way to rage.
“All right, you bastards,” she hissed. “You want a superhuman, come and-”
A bright light exploded beside her, so bright she had to shield her eyes. The men around them cried out, and all hell seemed to break loose. The light spun dizzyingly fast and shot towards the man with the wand, knocking him to the floor. The other men tried to aim, but GDChick instinctively leapt into the fray, tossing her gun aside and leaping at the men she came near, aiming for the neck and genitals. Within seconds, four of them were on the ground in varying states of consciousness, and GDChick looked over at Lauren.
In her hands she held two brilliant shafts of light, each as long as a pool cue, swinging them with the ease of kendo sticks. Her targets lay on the ground before her, staring up blindly in terror. She raised the lights above her and swung them downwards, bludgeoning the downed men in their heads. Several spat blood as they lost consciousness and Lauren turned to GDChick. The lights dissolved into nothing as she walked over. GDChick stared at her, and Lauren held her gaze.
“You’re a superhuman?” asked GDChick blankly.
Lauren exhaled heavily. “I wish I wasn’t,” she sighed. “I used to be a criminal and I used it as a gimmick. I went by the name Kraken. I couldn’t keep it up, though. I always had to deal with superheroes. I fought with so many, and I kept fucking up. The men wouldn’t hit me, they’d only restrain me, and the women always considered themselves above hitting, and that hurt. It felt like I wasn’t worth it, you know? Not even superheroes could be bothered beating me up. I felt like shit, and in the end I quit the life. The gimmick always made it obvious who committed the crime, so I could never get away with it, and then they wouldn’t even dignify me with a proper capture, so I quit. I moved away from it all, settled down. I tried to forget all that. Tried to be better.”
She looked around the cargo bay mournfully. GDChick stared at her, astounded. There was more emotion in her voice than she’d heard any other time on their journey together.
“And I wound up in a rut where nothing happened. Ordinary life. It was so boring. I couldn’t work out which was worse. Being a joke of a supervillain, or being an ordinary schmuck.”
GDChick put a hand on her shoulder. Lauren looked over at her and GDChick fought to keep from gaping. There were tears in Lauren’s eyes.
“I haven’t used my power in years,” said Lauren, her voice trembling. “In years! Now everything I was running from, every humiliating memory, it’s all fucking come back!”
GDChick shook her roughly and she choked in surprise.
“I’m going to say this once,” said GDChick. “You’re not a failure. You might have been a criminal once but that’s over. You’re going to save lives now, so don’t break on me. We’ll talk when we get back on the boat, but don’t you fucking dare lose it until then. Keep it together so we can get the survivors-”
The door crashed open behind them. They spun on the spot, Lauren igniting her light bars in one swift movement, as two shapes fell into the cargo bay and wrestled on the ground. Immediately there was a loud gunshot and the two people stopped writhing.
“Get off me,” snarled a male voice, and he stood up, his gun smoking. GDChick recognised him instantly: the man who had used the wrench. She looked to see who he had shot, and the bottom fell out of her stomach.
The next few minutes became a blur. She did not recall closing the distance between them, dodging the bullets or diving on the man. All she could remember was how his skull felt as she pounded it into the door frame, every sickening crunching noise, and the enraged tears streaming down her face as she pulped his head into a bloody, unrecognisable mess. She stood slowly and looked back at Lauren, who had gone pale, cradling the bloody form of Cara, gasping for breath.
“Couldn’t-” she gasped. “Couldn’t...wait...”
“Cara,” GDChick whispered. “No, no, no, why did you follow us?! Why?!”
“Had to,” smiled Cara bleakly. “Had to...”
She let out another ragged exhalation and her eyes closed slowly. She went still in Lauren’s arms. Lauren stood up and stared down at her, breathing heavily with tranquil fury. She and GDChick looked at each other, and GDChick knelt to gather up Cara’s limp form.
“Find the survivors,” said GDChick. “If there are any.”
“I will,” promised Lauren faintly. “Get her out of here.”
Lauren ran across the cargo bay for the other door, up the stairs. GDChick watched her go, then turned back to the stairs behind her. She made slow going as she carried Cara up, taking care not to bump her head on anything as she went. She murmured softly as she went, looking down at the girl. With the faint, still smile on her face, she looked barely older than 17. She had said she was older, although hadn’t been specific, and GDChick couldn’t help but wonder.
“Who were you?” she asked. “Who were you really? How old were you? Who was your family? Where were you from, Cara? Why did you do that? Why didn’t you keep safe?”
She slowly emerged at the deck, barely lit by the dingy bulb above her, and walked blindly towards the doorway outside, staring at Cara. She paused to brush a stray hair out of the girl’s face when something slammed into her from behind. Cara’s body hit the floor as she fell forward, tripping over her. Rolling, she turned back in a rage and saw a familiar figure coming up the stairs. The wind man, only visible by dank silhouette, pointed his fist at her. As she stared, he spoke to her in a doleful voice.
“Just stay down,” he said. “I’m not going to hurt you.”
The words ignited something in her and she leapt on him in a fury. Caught offguard, he fell to the ground with her on top of him, punching him furiously in the face.
“Bullshit!” she roared. “Don’t give me that ARGH!”
A blast of wind knocked her off him and she slammed into the wall. Falling to her hands and knees, she spat something to the ground and moved between him and Cara’s body.
“You’re all fucking murderers,” she growled. “These people did nothing. Nothing!”
“What the hell are you talking about?” he groaned, standing up. “We only wanted you superhumans. Aside from that, the rest are going back on the old boat.”
She stared at him, dumbfounded, and as the light bulb flashed he saw her expression and paused. “Are you fucking retarded?” she said. “I saw what was going on down there. I saw your men kill a civilian!”
“We didn’t kill anyone!” snapped the men. “We came to retrieve you superhumans and send everyone else on their way!”
“Well good fucking job!” she screamed, and scooped up Cara’s body. “Is this what you call sending them on their way?! Look at what your men did!”
The man froze. In the dim light she saw the look on his face, one of abject horror. He stared in shock at the body in her arms, and for a full minute neither one of them made a move. His jaw hung open, his eyes were held wide, and the wind around his fists died down. GDChick glared at him furiously.
“Where are they?” she spat. “Where are the other people you all brought over?”
His hands clenched and unclenched. His eyes twitched and his mouth opened and shut. He could not keep himself still. He was trembling from shock, unable to wrench his eyes away from Cara’s body. The light caught his face again, and she saw him clearly. Unless he was feigning shock better than anyone she’d ever seen before, he was telling the truth as he believed it. He hadn’t known.
She turned her back on him and walked out onto the deck. He didn’t try to stop her.
She walked towards the railing, hurrying. The men on deck gave a shout, but she called out to them and they raised their rifles. They reached out for her, and she managed to pass Cara over before jumping across. The gap was just narrow enough. She pulled herself onto the deck and came face to face with Murdock, who had gone pale. He was staring at Cara’s body, whispering to himself.
“Oh no...” he said. “No, not you too...”
“Did you get the captain out?” she asked.
Murdock didn’t even hear her. He fell to his knees and stared at Cara in front of him, still smiling in a way he had never seen. Tears streaked his lined face. GDChick seized his shoulder.
“Did you get the captain?” she demanded.
“Yes,” said a gruff voice. Hooper limped up beside her. “He’s in the medical bay. We waited for you. Where’s the other one? We need to go.”
“She’s getting the survivors,” said GDChick. “She won’t be long.”
“She better not,” growled Hooper. “Your other friend has nearly had it. He wanted to see you all back.”
“Huh?”
She looked over at where he was pointing, and her heart seemed to stop. Henry was leaning against an oil drum, spattered with blood everywhere. One look told her all she needed to know; his wounds were fatal. He was bleeding out in front of him. She sprinted over to him.
“Henry!” she cried. “Come on, we need to get you to the medical bay!”
“Cara,” whispered Henry. “Cara.”
GDChick looked up. Murdock was walking over to them, carrying Cara in his arms. Henry held his arms out for her and Murdock place her gently on his lap. Henry held her close with a tenderness GDChick never expected of him. She stared blankly as he held Cara tight, a warm smile spreading across his face. He didn’t seem aware of his surroundings any longer.
“He refused to go down,” said Murdock. “He knew he was going to bleed out. He wanted to do it up here where there’s a breeze.”
GDChick knelt beside him, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Henry...” she whispered.
His eyes flicked over to her as tears dribbled from them. “Hi, GD,” he said. “I’m going now. But it’s OK. Cara’s here. We both lived alone. But we won’t die alone.”
He closed his eyes and buried the side of his face in her hair, smiling gently. GDChick bit back a sob and turned away. She stood up and moved away, and Murdock put an arm around him. He was lost for words, and they stood there, their situation forgotten, nothing in the world relevant but their two dead friends behind them.
They heard a shout. GDChick opened her eyes in time to see Lauren sail across the gap and land in a heap on the deck. Hastily, she and Murdock moved to pull her to her feet. She nodded in thanks and shouted to Hooper.
“Get us out of here,” she ordered. “There’s none left. They killed them all.”
GDChick felt faint. How much more death could one night hold? She felt a lump in her throat and leaned on the railing. Whatever the conversation was beside her, she didn’t even hear it. She stared into the black water below as the boat began to rumble away. She breathed heavily. Murdock and Lauren leaned on the railing beside her. They both looked worse for wear. Murdock was bleeding down both arms, and Lauren was cradling her left hand as though it was broken. GDChick eventually realised she herself had a gash across her forehead, and the blood was dripping down past her left eye. She ignored it, just as the other two did. She raised her head to look back at the boat that had brought so much death.
The wind man was standing on the deck, watching her.
She straightened up, staring at him coldly. Murdock and Lauren noticed her gaze and stiffened. Slowly the man raised one fist, which was surrounded by swirling air. Murdock raised his gun but GDChick pushed it aside.
“Wait,” she said hastily. “Wait.”
For a moment the man stood there, unmoving. Slowly, surely, he opened his fist and uncurled his fingers. He pointed his palm at the stern of their boat. Murdock thumbed the safety off his gun but GDChick still had a hand on it. There came a blast as a gust of wind shot out and slammed into the stern of the boat. It jolted ahead several feet, and behind it the recoil sent the other boat pitching, aiming it off course.
“Are we breached?” cried Hooper anxiously from somewhere on the upper deck.
“No,” came the reply. “All fine back here. He just gave us a push.”
GDChick stared back at the man, who remained still on deck as the boat receded into the fog and vanished. Overcome by exhaustion, she moved over and sat down beside Henry, putting an arm around him. Lauren did likewise on the other side, and Murdock sat down beside her. Their boat pushed on through the fog as the five of them sat there together for the last time.
***
The wind man stood on deck long after the other boat had disappeared into the night. The few remaining crew were frantically struggling to bring their boat about, but when the enemy captain had been retrieved, something had gone awry in the bridge, and the boat was damaged. He stood on deck, unheeded by anyone else, staring into the fog when he heard a toxic voice behind him.
“Great job, son.”
He turned. The man in charge stepped out, his suit still immaculately pressed, if drenched from blood. He was puffing calmly on a cigarette and offered one to the wind man, who scowled at him in response. The man in the suit shrugged and pocketed them.
“This was supposed to be a simple operation,” he complained. “In, out, dump off witnesses and retrieve superhumans. Instead we have a lot of dead men, which is going to be great to explain away, and they all died for nothing because our take got away. We could have salvaged something, but then you pushed the boat away. Why? Why is that?”
“You should have told me you were going to kill them all,” snapped the wind man.
“This is why I didn’t. I knew you’d act like this,” shot back the man in the suit calmly. “That’s the problem with superhumans. Your ethics, your morals and your loyalty are all like a fucking revolving door.”
A gunshot echoed across the deck and the wind man sank to his knees, gasping. The man in the suit lowered his gun and cocked his head.
“Not enough air now, is there?” he said, and shot the man again. The body fell with a satisfying thump. He called out and two of his remaining men ran over. “Take it down to the medical bay, I’ll dissect him later,” he ordered. “And get this thing ready for pursuit, I’m not giving up now.”
“Yes sir, Dr Lionel,” said one as they gathered up the corpse. The man in the suit stared out into the fog and exhaled, seeing his cigarette smoke mingle with the fog. He swept one hand through it and watched it dissipate, smiling. He threw his cigarette overboard and walked away, humming.
12/30/2011 6:21:49 PM
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