[ 4 ] Delusions

The Diving Pod, seven miles west of the California coast

“Watch out!” Miles nearly fell on top of Corrine as he retreated back into the pod and secured the hatch.

“What’d you do that for?” Kaeya asked. “We’re not going back down there.”

Miles didn’t answer due to the burst of buoyance that the gigantic wave gave them. The diving pod rose and fell with the surge of water and its contents were thrown about, stumbling and falling onto one another.

“That’s why,” Miles replied, grasping the walls as the pod stabilized itself. “A freaking tidal wave.”

“It must have been from the earthquake,” Ian proposed.

“Is it safe to look?”

After the pod rose and fell in the swell, Ian stood and grasped the door. The wheel on the hatch loosened. Once again the sunlight seeped into the pod, illuminating Malcolm’s sunken face. The man had not spoken for hours, torn between his duty to his wife and the desire to cast her out to sea. His dream of establishing a second mansion beneath the ocean was quickly becoming a nightmare.

“Why didn’t it crash on us?” Kaeya asked.

Ian could see the surge of water growing distant. The larger vessel clearly took some damage from the brute force of the swell, but much of it was still intact.

“Tidal waves don’t crest until they hit some resistance,” Miles answered. “That resistance would be the shoreline and anyone who’s on it.”

“Neptune is still in one piece, but she looks rough,” Ian said, squinting towards the larger vessel that rocked back and forth in the waves. “Hopefully Tucker is still on board.”

Ian ducked his head and fell back into the pod. Reaching for one of the compartments, he pulled out a yellow, plastic satchel.

“What’s that?” Kaeya asked.

Ian glared at her again, answering with his eyes. He climbed back up the ladder and placed both elbows onto the exterior, the satchel still in his hand. Yanking the release cord, the satchel inflated at an alarming rate and flew from his hands.

“Let’s go,” Ian said. “Miles, grab those paddles.”

Ian leapt from the top of the diving pod and nearly missed the inflatable life raft altogether. Miles exited next, tossing a retractable oar in Ian’s direction. The sea looked eerily calm after the expulsion of energy from the tidal wave careening towards the California coastline.

Within two minutes the life raft held five exhausted passengers. Ian and Miles dipped their paddles into the murky water and headed towards the larger vessel.

“And what about the diving pod?” Miles asked.

Ian looked at the pod like he was leaving a sobbing child, never to see them again. “The diving pod is history,” he said. “My boss is going to have my head.”

When they reached the larger vessel they positioned themselves beside the stern. The exterior looked like it had aged a hundred years. Rusty burn marks crept up the side, swirling around the port holes and continuing on a journey upward. Ian reached out and grabbed the side of the metal platform from which they would board Neptune.

“What if they’re all dead?” Kaeya asked.

‘When is this broad going to get the hint and be quiet? But really, what if they’re all dead,’ Miles thought. He squinted to see the railing that wrapped around the stern, waiting for the crew to peek their heads over.

Ian was first to board again. He leapt from the life raft to the access ledge of Neptune. “Throw me that rope.”

Malcolm detached the loops of rope and tossed the end to Ian, who quickly tied the raft off. “Alright, let’s go,” he said.

Ian grabbed Kaeya’s hand and he could have sworn even the contact gave him a headache. He was more careful with Corrine and Miles. By the time the five passengers had climbed up the ladder and stood on the stern section of Neptune, their fears were realized. The vessel deck was empty.

Ian and Miles walked to the right of the Captain’s quarters and peered inside. The cabin was a mess. Navigation maps were strewn about the floor, the radio hung loosely from its cord and a trickle of blood meandered through the navigation controls near the wheel. Miles looked around Ian’s body and peered at the control panel.

‘Shit,’ he thought. ‘Everything is fried.’ 

The flashing oranges and blues and reds that signaled some life in the electronics were all but vacant. Every electrical capability of Neptune was now absent. Ian would have walked around to check the captain’s logs had it not been for the piercing scream that flew through the hallway and into his right ear.

When he emerged back into the sunlight, the zombie-like figure was already running towards Kaeya. She backpedaled towards the starboard side of the boat, but it was too late. Her back ankle abruptly hit a protruding cleat and she went flying overboard. Corrine and Malcolm Hadridge stood dumbstruck near the stern.

Ian would have attempted to tackle the figure if it hadn’t turned, revealing a deformed and burnt face somewhat resembling the Captain, Tucker Stevens. Tucker was never considered attractive to begin with, so the charred lesions bubbling across his skin didn’t help his appearance.

Malcolm whipped around and placed his hands upon the side of the ship, eyes darting back and forth in the swells for any sign of Kaeya. When three more burned crew-members emerged from their quarters, Miles knew he had one choice. Jump.

Corrine and Malcolm followed, crashing into the sea several yards away from the life raft. Ian wanted to help the crew members, to assess their state of mind, or to put them out of their misery, but the four zombie-like figures just turned towards him, eyes wide and mouths agape.

“Tucker? Tucker can you hear me?” Ian said, backing away from the oncoming attackers.

The moan that came from Tucker Stevens’ mouth hardly resembled a coherent response. The man, who once laughed and shared hoppy beers with Ian, now plodded towards him with the intent to kill. Ian couldn’t take all four, so his fate would lie with the rest, to the sea.

By the time the five survivors climbed into the lifeboat and peered around at each other, the burned victims aboard Neptune continued to wander around the deck like delirious sleepwalkers. It took half a minute for Kaeya’s gasps at air to subside. By that time, Ian already noticed the pool of blood forming around the inches of water inside the life raft.

“Who’s hurt,” Ian asked, repositioning himself in the raft.

Kaeya’s arm hung out of the life raft, finger tips dipping into the salty liquid below her. “The bastard bit me,” she said, the chill of the breeze secondary to the painful shocks that ran up her mangled arm.

∞

Vandenberg Air Force Base, California

When Freddy hit the button that would eject the four surviving members of the Etana One out of their spacecraft and into a free-fall, Brody nearly wet his pants. He was the least experienced member of the crew, and the chilling scene of Michael’s death still clouded his mind. Crash landing after losing communication with the command crew on Earth was far from his idea of how their mission would play out.

His fears were quickly replaced with the bombardment of sunlight and the noise of whooshing air as Etana One crashed into the landing strip below them and the four survivors barreled towards the ground. Despite his lack of experience, he was the first to deploy his parachute. It felt as though his shoulders were going to be pulled from his body as his hair bounced upwards and the chute expanded.

He attempted to peer down at his feet to deduce how much time he had left in the air. He’d rather die than lose his legs. The yellow outlines of the landing pad grew larger with each second.

Below him, he could barely see Etana One collide with the asphalt of the landing strip, but the sound of the crash was apparent to all. It took nearly a minute for Brody and the three other survivors to glide towards Earth and much of it was a blur. When Brody’s feet finally hit hard ground, he fell to the pavement.

Eva unlatched her chute and attempted to lift herself up. The feeling of walking was almost as alien to her as the specimens that were probably splattered all over the interior of Etana One.

‘Great, it isn’t enough to crash land,’ Eva thought. ‘Now I have to deal with gravity.’

She hobbled over to Freddy, who started to stand with a groan.

“Goddammit,” he muttered, leaning on Eva’s shoulder. “Did everyone make it?”

Eva peered around at Tallah and Brody as they started making their way towards her from several yards out. It was a wonder their chutes didn’t tangle, let alone the fact that everyone appeared to have survived the drop.

“I think it’s time for a beer,” Brody shouted.

“If the fall didn’t knock some sense into that kid…,” Freddy said, “then my fist will. This isn’t a time for cracking jokes. Could’ve died just then.”

Eva patted Freddy on the back as he regained composure. “We made it. That’s all that matters,” she said.

Just as Freddy’s heaving breaths fell quiet, Brody ruined his moment of peace. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” he murmured.

The large boulders and chain link fence separating the survivors from the coastline didn’t stand a chance. The wall of water careened through both lines of defense and Freddy couldn’t believe his eyes.

A group decision wasn’t needed and there was no time for arguing anyway. The four survivors simultaneously turned towards the control tower and took off in an all-out sprint. They could hear the churning of water behind them as they attempted to overcome their unease of movement and run inside the stone structure ahead.

Freddy wasn’t sure if the defensive maneuver was out of instinct or pure chance, but when he turned the corner and entered the first level of the control tower, the burned woman that ran into him went flying into the stairwell. The thud of the woman’s skull impacting the metal staircase confirmed Freddy’s guess that he’d knocked her out.

Tallah, who trailed the others, reached the top of the staircase just as the leading wall of water crashed into the outer facade and splashed through the entranceway.  The group didn’t stop running. Three flights of stairs later, they made their way onto the roof of the structure.

It would have been the perfect weather if not for the tidal wave that surrounded the control room and glided half a mile into the scorched valley next to Vandenberg Air Force Base. Freddy and Eva examined their surroundings.

“Jesus Christ,” he said. “This is not our day.”

“The structure should hold, no?”

“It should, but who knows,” Freddy answered. “If NASA built this base like they built the Babylon space station then we might be in trouble.”

Tallah walked several paces away from the group, placing her dark hands onto the warm surface of the roof ledge. She couldn’t believe that her rosary was still draped around her neck. Eva watched as Tallah’s fingers wrapped around it. Eva, unlike Tallah, was never religious, but she still read the books.

‘For behold,’ she remembered, reciting a passage from Genesis. ‘I will bring a flood of waters upon the earth to destroy all flesh in which is the breath of life under heaven. Everything that is on the earth shall die.’

∞

Adrift in the Pacific Ocean, seven miles from the California coast

Miles stretched out his arms as he attempted to take the soaking wet shirt off his body. Corrine knew it was rude to look, but she was curious nonetheless. Miles bundled the material up, letting the excess water fall into the sea and motioned for Kaeya’s arm.

“This might stop the bleeding,” he said. “But without antibiotics, that thing will get infected real fast.” Kaeya scowled as he tied the wound above her forearm off with the make-shift tourniquet.

“An architect and a nurse?” Corrine asked. Her attempt at bringing humor to their dire situation failed miserably.

“Is this really the time for jokes?” Kaeya asked.

Miles released her arm. “It’s not much, but it might do the trick.”

Ian was still in shock as he stared at Neptune, which rocked peacefully back and forth in the swells. In less than five hours he had lost his Captain, his life’s masterpiece and his crew. For the first time he felt as though his ghosts had caught up with him and repaid him for a life of material gains and superficial desires.

Malcolm broke the silence. “Do you think we’ll be able to row in?”

Miles lifted a plastic oar and examined the crude tool up and down. “We won’t get far with these. If we hit a bout of bad weather, we’re as good as dead.”

“We can take shifts,” Corrine said. “We can’t just sit here and die. Dad, snap out of it. We need you.”

Ian lifted his eyes and shook his head violently, forcing himself out of his daze. “Shifts. Yes. If the current is in our favor, we could reach the coastline in a few days. If the winds blow us further out, our only hope will lie in a rescue vessel spotting us. Maybe Captain Stevens radioed a mayday in before it was too late.”

“That was your Captain back there?”

Ian nodded. “Something happened to them.”

“Everything is burnt,” Malcolm mumbled. “What point is there of even getting back?”

Corrine didn’t like the sound of that and she made it clear with a worried glare to her father. “What could have caused something like that? Tucker tried to attack us. He didn’t look… normal.”

“A solar flare,” Miles offered.

Kaeya laughed and threw her head back. “Solar, like from the sun? You’re kidding, right?”

“It’s unlikely but it would explain a lot,” Ian said, body hanging over the edge as he started to row. “The loss of function for anything electronic, the scorched marks on the boat, the earthquake that triggered the tidal wave. Solar activity has been at an all-time high for the past three years. Pick up any newspaper, they predicted this shit.”

“And what about the zombie guy back there?”

Ian glared at Kaeya. “That was my Captain. Have some damn respect or get off of my life raft.”

Miles continued. “Solar fluxes can affect our biological system. Like I said, it’s unlikely. But it’s possible. The radiation wouldn’t have reached us five miles below the ocean, which is why the diving pod’s electronics wouldn’t have been affected.”

Miles seemed to be convincing himself with each word as this theory became more likely. ‘That would have to be one huge sun storm,’ he thought. Suddenly he was enormously relieved that the helicopter pilot had dropped him off on Neptune before the diving pod headed towards Seafarer II. ‘I could have ended up like them.’

The first twelve hours were hell. Ian and Miles paddled for the longest amount of time, ceding to Malcolm and Corrine’s efforts when their arms burned. Kaeya, not surprisingly, couldn’t paddle due to the bite mark that was growing uglier on her arm. She did contribute one thing, however: blood.

By morning the sharks had already started circling the life raft and once or twice the paddles hit something hard, which they assumed to be the slippery bodies of the ravenous creatures below them.

“I can’t do it any longer,” Malcolm said. “I’m too damn thirsty. This sun is brutal.”

Kaeya had long since passed out, her arm tucked close to her body. The water in the life raft turned to a rosy pink from the mix of blood and seawater. Corrine did her best to heave the water from the inside of the raft, but it was useless.

Another ten hours later and land was still nowhere in sight. The lips of every survivor were now crisp and flaking from the persistent sun beating down on them. Even Corrine had taken her shirt off, soaking it before tying it around her head in an attempt to prevent heat exhaustion. She was, at that moment, appreciative that she’d wore her sports bra instead of a more provocative choice.

By dawn of the second day, it was clear that Malcolm had been drinking the seawater when the other four dozed off. He clearly didn’t heed Ian’s warnings that consuming salt water could be fatal.

“Don’t drink the damn water,” Ian had cautioned. “More water needs to be excreted from your body to eliminate the salt than the amount of water you’ll get anyway. It’s suicide and you’ll put the rest of us at risk.”

They were soon aware of the physiological changes that occurred with Malcolm’s lack of judgment and his fading grasp on reality. The bouts of vomiting and nausea gave way to delusions and psychopathic rants. The man was going crazy.

Malcolm would continuously wake the sleeping survivors up in victorious bouts of celebration. “Boat! There’s a boat,” he would shout, pointing to the horizon before feverishly paddling. “We’ve been saved!”

“Shut the hell up,” Ian would say, mindlessly paddling the life raft in a direction he hoped was towards shore.

Kaeya would simply lay back and cry at the desperate predicament the group found themselves in and at the hopeless state of her husband. Hours before he eventually slumped into the ocean to be devoured by the sharks, Kaeya already wished her husband would just shut up, regardless of what that meant.

Corrine had never felt such silence before and after Malcolm’s death. The sound she heard of his skin against the rubber sides of the life raft, the simple squeak he made as the sharks tore his flesh and bones apart, and the silence that returned as the bubbles vanished and only four remained in the life raft would haunt her for the duration of her life. She had never felt more alone in that moment, curled up within her own arms as the life raft bobbled up and down, floating endlessly in the middle of nowhere.