Cradling her arm, Tamara hopped off the bed and pulled the tape from her mouth and rushed over to Darla. “I’m going to take the tape off. Don’t scream, okay?”

Her friend nodded. Her pupils were dilated and different sizes, which told Tamara she had a pretty nasty concussion. Hopefully she’d be able to walk to the medical clinic. That would be their first stop before she hunted down Security. As she fought to loosen Darla’s ropes, she cursed at the uselessness of her right hand. It was her shooting hand, too.

Finally, her friend was free. “How many fingers am I holding up?” Tamara asked her.

“Can you ask another question?” Darla groaned, gripping her head. “The entire room is spinning.”

“Do you remember what happened?”

Panic filled Darla's eyes and her hands flew to her mouth to cover a cry. And Tamara could see a million questions passing through the look her friend gave her.

“It’s okay, hun. We’re going to be okay,” Tamara said, patting her friend's leg.

Knowing they didn’t have much time, she banked the questions and they hurried towards the door, her with a droopy wrist and Darla in a drunken state. Leaning against each other, they tried to fit through the door and got stuck.

“Sorry, you first,” Tamara said, waving her friend through.

They made it a few doors down before a man behind them yelled, “Hey stop!”

Spinning around, she saw it was that young kid who had his girlfriend killed. She debated about sticking around and trying to reason with him, but they couldn’t risk getting caught again.

When she saw him pull out a radio, she grabbed Darla’s arm and pulled her down the hall. They raced towards the stairs. Her wrist ached each time her foot hit the ground.

When they reached the stairs, Darla stopped and hunched over. “Oh god.”

Then and there, her friend spewed the food remains in her stomach on the ground. Over and over she heaved, all the while the guy getting closer. But there was no moving until she was done. The man, named Frank, came around the corner and stopped, aiming a gun at her.

“Wow, hold on,” Tamara said, holding her hands up. “Frank, right?”

The young man shrugged his shoulders, not willing to divulge the truth. “Come on. Let’s go back to the room,” he ordered.

Trying to think quick on her feet, Tamara placed an arm around Darla. “This woman needs a doctor or she’s going to die. You don’t want to be responsible for that, do you?”

Conflict passed over the man’s features, and the gun lowered slightly. For a second, she thought he was going to let them go, but he pointed the weapon at them again and moved a step closer. “Back to the room. Now!”

“Don’t worry about me. Save yourself.” Darla whispered. “I’ll distract him.”

“I’m not leaving you behind. Jason would kill me.”

A bewildered look filled her eyes. “Who’s Jason?”

Oh, please don’t tell me. “You remember me, don’t you?”

Her friend scrunched up her nose and frowned. “Should I?”

This was not good. She had to get them out of there if it was the last thing she did. She leaned closer to Darla’s ear. “I wanna to pretend we’re going back with him, but when we get close, I’m going to tackle him and I want you to run. Run, and find someone. Let them know what's going on.”

Darla hiccupped and let out a little cry. “But I don’t know what they're planning to do. You should go.”

Tamara took her hand and began the dredging walk towards the guy. “We don’t have time to argue,” she whispered. “Just do what I say.”

“That’s right!" Frank exclaimed. "A woman should always listen to a man.”

And that’s when she saw red. She didn’t take kindly to men who talked down to a woman and treated them like they were the poo on the bottom of their shoe. Tamara took a step forward, but found herself being shoved aside by Darla, who tackled Frank instead.

She fell to the ground, momentarily stunned. Damn it! Why can’t that bloody girl listen to anything she had to say?

Think, Tamara. What next? What next? She couldn’t very well leave her friend behind. It wasn’t right.

Just then the gun went off.

***

The siren on the ship sounded, telling everyone that they needed to meet at their muster stations. Since their rooms were on different ends of the ship, Jason and Logan would have to visit separate stations. Logan didn’t want to break up now. Something felt off.

They hadn’t hit anything. The boat was still cruising along as though nothing was going on. The sky was clear, letting him know that no storm was rolling in. He was certain that this had to do with the strange occurrences that were going on.
“What do you think?” Jason asked.

“I think we need to take cover somewhere until we know what’s going on.”

“Agreed, but where?”

“If I’m correct, all the staff will go to the muster stations, too. We should be able to hide behind the customer service desk or one of the offices in the back of customer service.”

“I really wish I had my weapon,” Jason complained as he followed behind Logan. “I feel naked without it.”

“I hear ya. I haven’t been without mine for years. Let’s just hope it’s not a situation where we need them. I want to see if we can get our hands on an employee card, so we can move through the ship.”

“Do you think this is a drill?” Logan heard one girl ask. Her partner just shrugged his shoulders and continued to follow the group ahead of them.

The monster of dread descended upon Logan. He knew without a doubt that someone was up to no good, but he wasn’t sure why. If they had time, he’d try to scout around, but they were stuck between a rock and a hard place.

“Do you think we should go to the muster station first and see if the girls show up?” Jason asked as he watched all the people rush by in herds. Everyone was chatting with each other, all trying to figure out what was going on.

“I don’t think it will do us any good getting stuck in the middle of a crowd. We won’t be able to escape if this is what I think it is.”

He wished they had found the girls before the muster call. Now, they would have no way of knowing if the girls were safe without going to the stations themselves.

“Come on, let’s move,” Jason said, as he took the steps two by two up to the plaza with Logan fast behind. 

Reaching the top of the stairs, they glanced around and saw more people moving down the hallway on either side. Staff members were standing in the middle directing them down the hall. Slipping back down the stairs, they climbed behind the deli stand that was already empty. It would have to make due as they couldn’t get to the customer service desk. They’d have to stop in after. It would be the only place that would have keycards. They needed to be able to move through the ship if they were going to be able to help.

“Should we call 911?” Jason asked.

“I don’t want to do that yet. I want to see what we’re dealing with first.”
There was no point in calling someone else in if they had no idea what was going on. Maybe it was a drill or maybe it wasn’t. He had an inkling that it wasn’t, but there was no way he was going to call people in and not be able to tell them what they were walking into.

Pulling out his phone, he checked his reception. There were 0 bars, so they’d have to find a landline somewhere anyway, best to chill and wait while everyone gathers. It was killing him not to know where Tamara was though. He wanted her by his side, so he could watch out for her. He knew that she could take care of herself, but it was written into his very being to care for the ones he loves. There was no greater duty in his mind.

After what his dad did, he made a promise to himself when he had kids, they would know that they were loved. And he’d be there every step of the way, helping them through whatever life threw at them. He already had one baby, and he was hoping to have more with Tamara in the future…that is, if the stubborn woman would stop running away from him.

They stayed in their hiding spot for an hour until the plaza grew quiet. Logan slowly raised his head above the counter, taking in their empty surroundings. “Okay, it’s clear.”

Quietly hopping over the counter, they silently moved through the plaza to the stairs. Standing at the bottom step, they stopped, listening for any activity above them. It was silent, which was a little strange as one muster station was just down the hall from the plaza. Were they moved to another location?

Climbing the stairs, Jason hopped the customer service counter while Logan walked over to the hallway, looking to the left and right. The place was deserted, so they had to have been taken elsewhere, but all the life-rafts appeared to still be in place.

Joining Jason behind the counter, they took it upon themselves to search for access cards. There had to be a stash somewhere for employees. If they were empty, he knew how to assign a card to someone. He’d had to do it before on another mission. Hopefully the system was much the same.

A loud clang from the lounge caught their attention and it had them ducking just as another person stepped out. In the split second that Logan saw him, he noted that he’d been carrying a gun. “Armed,” he mouthed to Jason.

His friend’s face fell. “Hostage situation?” Jason whispered quietly.

“Maybe.”