Page 86 of Eat Me Alive
Alani’s eyes meet mine. We are basically locked inside the wheelhouse with him and the navigator—surprisingly—is Alani. I never thought of her as a crewmate. I thought all the women here were just captives, given how horrible they had treated her.
I’m dying to give the captain an aneurysm, so I ask not-so-innocently, “Why don’t you have another man as the navigator, Cap?”
“Women follow instructions better.” He mutters as he clicks something that wipes the windows. “Plus, I’m not gay.”
Alani and I shoot each other bewildered looks.
“What does this have to do with having a female navigator?” It’s Alani who asks sharply. “When you use me, you always have the men to look at.”
I want to hide or the world to swallow me whole. This had not been what I expected to bring up. It’s sad how Captain Moriarty cannot accept that he is, indeed, inclined sexually to the same sex.
“Listen,wife, one of the reasons why I came to this mission was to restore my manhood. I, your husband, can actually say I did it for you.”
“You don’t get to call mewife. Awifedeserves better. You do not deserve the title of a husband. You aren’t even fit to be a captain. From now on, this ship is mine.”
That took an abrupt turn.
As if on cue, Captain Moriarty coughs, spewing saliva all over the deck. His skin turns blue as he chokes. He isn’t poisoned though, something was growing inside him, blooming out of his mouth. He gurgles, dropping to the floor as he claws at his throat.
Alani and I just watch him slowly, painfully die.
I guess the foxgloves here aren't just poison. They also grow inside you.
“So…Captain Alani, any instructions?” I squeak.
“We will wait for Dreigg. He will come. We will give Troy’s body as a sacrifice.”
“Dreigg is the Kraken?” The one who stole Laura?
“I don’t think he’s a Kraken. More like a giant sea snake with tentacles.”
“A giant sea centipede?” I feel like throwing up.
“Oh, I don’t know, I haven’t seen him. I just see his tentacles.”
The ship groans loud, but something feels different. Amidst the slamming rain, we hear the crew outside yell. Alani and I watch beyond the windscreen, and the waves are knocking everything on the deck. One crewmate gets swept off, the ocean taking him.
But it’s not just the man that’s possibly dead. It’s all of us.
“This is your new captain, Captain Alani, navigating the vessel Moriarty main ship 62-Z. Dreigg’s passage with twenty-seven crew members, valuable cargo. I see twenty-foot waves approximately ten seconds away from us.” Alani’s voice is calm through the intercom.
I can’t believe she’s taking this so smoothly.
My heart is in my throat as I clutch at her arm. “Are we dying today?”
She gives me a pat on the hand. “No one is dying on my ship unless it’s by my hands.”
My heart’s racing as I wrap my arms around her. “It’s alright, it’s just Dreigg. Hold on to something that isn’t me!”
Hopefully he just doesn’t pluck the first person he sees, and takes the dead captain. When the waves plow into the ship, my vice-like grip on her and the table isn’t enough to keep me stable. My ribs slam onto the dashboard, and I topple to the ground.
Breath knocked out of me, I watch as Alani hold on to the handles of a drawer. Papers scatter all over us, but at least there isn’t water leaking into the wheelhouse.
“You good?” I shout.
“Fine! Just hold until the ship stabilizes again.”
Our center of gravity changes once more, and I’m back on the floor, my knees, arms scraped and bloody.
