011

Chapter Eleven

The next few days are very uneventful. The sky stays a gray overcast with the occasional flurry of cold, pelting rain. The promising fishing of the first day has completely died off leaving them lucky to have one small cod during a given day. The women spend their days putting together their bland meals because of the lack of fish. Flour, potatoes, water and milk at every meal. When not in the kitchen, Orabella spends her free time buried in her books. Religious texts such as The Book of the Seven Seals and the Book of Leviticus and Numbers. Ancient epic poems such as Beowulf, The Iliad, The Odyssey, and The Epic of Gilgamesh. Even more modern works such as Marx's Communist Manifesto, Thomas Paine's Common Sense, and Uncle Tom's Cabin. She is currently deep into Sun Tzu's The Art of War. Alieana has also borrowed some of Orabella's vast library having finished Atonement and started in on No Country for Old Men.

Torri and Faux spend much of their time together in the machine gun nest atop the command tower talking about everything. First about what their parents were like, what their lives were like before, what America would look like, even what things they would do together that night. They even find a black sharpie marker which they take turns with drawing tattoos on each others skin. Faux is an excellent artist, swetching a dove on Torri's hip and a black cat on her calf muscle. Torri's drawings are simple, a black sun above Faux's butt and a peace symbol over her left breast.

Johan mans his usual spot running the hauling winch. In his spare time, he writes in a journal which Orabella offered him to record his thoughts. Fergus and Saul keep the net running smoothy which has been a bigger job then on day one. Fergus has crunched his fingers many times in the winding cable and both of them have taken many spills from legs tangled in the coils. In his free time, Fergus drinks and smokes with Gaahl and swaps stories with Iasan. Saul joins the reading Alieana in their cabin where his aching muscles get massaged by her gentle fingers.

Overall, the positive atmosphere of the first few days has worn off and everyone walks around in a sort of daze. Everyone, that is, accept for the captain. He bounces around the ship with a strut in his step and a song in his voice. It seams that just being on the sea is enough to put him in good spirits, which is a good thing as it keeps the crew moral from dropping to maximum lows.

Late one afternoon on a drizzling, dreary day, the fishing is deathly slow making Fergus, Saul, and Johan all extremely restless. They return to the deck after retrieving some coffee from the galley to warm their iced bones. Fergus lumbers to his position as net spotter on the left side and shrugs his shoulders.

"Less get this o'er with..."

Johan waits for Saul to take his place and slowly begins to haul in the net. The winch laboriously whines as the cables coil around the rotating column. Just as Fergus yawns, the winch bucks and the entire deck shutters. Fergus' eyes shoot open and bulge with concern.

"Christ, don't be a b***h now."

"What was that?" Saul glances around.

"We have something?" Johan turns the winch off.

"Perh-" Fergus begins but is cut off by another jolt as the cables snap with tension. Johan franticly turns to Saul for answers.

"What should we do?"

"Cut some slack."

Johan turns the winch on reverse to help cut some slack, but nothing happens. The tension is still hard as a rock.

"Haul tha f****r up," Fergus barks. Annoyed, Johan begins to real the net in again and it seams to be progressing without a hitch. The outline of the mesh now visible, Fergus breaths a sigh of relief.

Two feet later, just as Fergus drops his guard, the ship once again bucks causing the winch to die. An enraged glare crosses Fergus' face.

"Is there something in it?" Saul asks.

"Go get the captain," Johan orders. Saul hustles off to find the always chipper captain.

"Of all the damn days," Fergus spits. He turns to look out to the gray ocean when the ship bucks once more. The cables snap and the bolted down, revolving column groans terribly. As Fergus turns to observe the creaking machine, a loud crunch is followed shortly by the sound of crumpling metal. Fergus stumbles on the rocking deck and in the blink of an eye is swept into the foaming trail of the ship by the detached hauling column.

The left side of the column has been ripped from deck and pulled out over the water, hauling the large Fergus with it. As he hits the surface, the cold water knocks the air from Fergus' lungs. He franticly scrabbles to keep his large body afloat.

"Cut the engines!" Johan bellows out while letting the winch go free. The captain comes running from bellow deck followed by Son and Gaahl, Saul follows close behind. The captain looks around quickly and stops in his tracks at the site of the wrecked hauling column.

"What happened?"

"Man overboard!"Johan yells. "We need to stop."

"We can't stop the engines."

"What the hell do you mean?" Saul interrupts.

"We have to keep the engines running for as long as possible to preserve our fuel supply."

"We have to do something," Johan cuts back in.

"We circle 'round. Me and Son take the boat and find Ferg," Gaahl explains as he and Son run to the rowboat covered with the tarp. They get it unwrapped and don't even bother with lowering it, they simply toss it down into the water. Son scampers down the metal rungs and hops into the wooden dingy. Gaahl follows with his BAR strapped to his back. He stands in the bow, rifle at the ready, as Son rows viciously sending them skipping across the waves.

Back on the ship, the captain races to the helm and slowly begins to turn the lumbering iron behemoth around. The engine groans loudly as Johan and Saul hurry to the rail and peer out into the pulsing sea in an effort to spot Fergus bobbing up and down.

Alieana emerges from the galley with a concerned look on her face. Orabella, Torri, and Faux follow close behind. Raul is nowhere to be seen. Saul puts his arm around the shocked looking Alieana.

"What happened?"

"Fergus went overboard..."

"Oh no! He's like a brother to me."

"We'll get him back," Saul assures her with a peck on the forehead.

"Where is Raul?" Faux asks worriedly.

"I haven't seen him," Johan shrugs.

"He'll be devastated..."

"Lets go find him," Torri takes her hand and they go back below deck.

"How'd he go over?" Alieana asks.

"The hauling column broke and knocked him in."

"Wow, how did it break?"

"It seamed like it was caught on something," Johan says unbelievingly.

"What do you think it was?" Alieana looks at Orabella.

"I have no idea. We've never caught a fish capable of that."

"You think a fish did that?" Johan asks stunned.

"Or whale if you want to be precise."

"I don't even want to think what the whales look like," Saul rolls his eyes.

The bouncing dingy launches from small waves as they skip closer to where Fergus went over. The net lays limp on top of the water as it has been ripped from the cables. They see Valhalla's Wake slowly circling around for a second pass. Gaahl scans the waves and quickly hears a muffled yell.

"There!" Gaahl bellows and Son propels towards the disembodied voice. Gaahl still scans the water when he finally sees Fergus' head bobbing up and down in the surf about thirty yards away.

"There, there!" he screams to Son who now also spies the bobbing Scotsman. At that exact moment, the small rowboat lurches as if being pushed by a large hand extending from the depths.

"The f**k?" Gaahl whirls around in confusion. He looks down into the water to see a large black shadow stalking them.

"What?" Son barks back.

"Keep 'er steady," he replies calmly aiming the rifle into the deep. As the black silhouette rises back towards the surface Gaahl fires a burst that sends water spraying up into his face. The water surges as the beast quickly dives away from the assault. A faint red tint coalesces in the gray.

Son rows powerfully towards the drenched Fergus who is franticly gasping for air and trying to stay afloat. Gaahl tosses the BAR back over his shoulder and kneels to grab Fergus as they approach. His bobbing red head floats down the starboard side and Gaahl reaches down around his right shoulder. With a slight struggle, the large Fergus is hauled up by the even larger Gaahl causing the boat to rock violently. Fergus coughs and spits up water. He begins to shiver intensely.

"F**k was 'at?"

"Whale?" Gaahl shrugs. They notice the large ship still slowly working its way around and Son reaches under his seat and removes a plastic bag. From it he takes an orange flare gun. Pointing it to the sky it cracks and fizzles into the gray clouds. An orange fire burst erupts, signaling to the captain that they were ready to be picked up and with haste.

They hear the large, water powered engine churn as it's direction is changed. The wind is blowing harder by the minute and Son continues to row to help close the large distance. Gaahl turns back to the trembling Fergus and pats him on his broad shoulder.

"Okay friend?"

"I'll make it."

"Hope it don't come back..."

"I dare it to," Fergus pulls the Desert Eagle from the back of his pants.

"Was she cold?" Gaahl chuckles.

"Christ..."

"We'll get ya warmed up soon," Gaahl continues to scan the deep for the returning shadow. Fergus also stands at the side and peers down into the abyss while fighting the shivers off.

"What was 'at thing anyways?"

"Not sure. Probably a shark..."

"Sushi," Son grins jokingly as he rows.

"It comes back and you'll have all the sushi you want," Gaahl laughs and the small boat creaks and rocks. The shadow zips by underneath. Gaahl jumps to his feet and readies his BAR once again.

"May Odin smite yer!" Gaahl bellows.

"Son of'a b***h," Fergus stands and balances the Desert Eagle in his hand. As the dark silhouette circles back around, Gaahl lifts his machine gun and fires a long burst into the gray water while screams blood and thunder from his lungs. More redness bubbles up and the beast takes the offensive. It breaches to the surface and rams the hull with it's long, narrow, protruding tail. Fergus stumbles and just avoids going overboard a second time.

Gaahl empties his clip into the shark's tail and steps back to replace it. Coming back for another assault, the beast's dorsal fin spikes from the water. Fergus steps forward and sends five .50 caliber slugs into it's scaly, black back. The large shells rip flesh from the beast causing it to thrash violently in pain. The water begins to froth from the agonized beast. A effervescent cauldron of gray water, black scales and bright red flesh. Giant silver teeth gnash as Gaahl gets a new clip into BAR. With a snap of the action, he begins to unload the .30 caliber shells causing more flesh and blood to fill the rolling waves.

The thrashing becomes weaker and weaker as the water becomes redder and redder. Gaahl steps back and empties the last few shells into the air in a victorious battle cry. Fergus sits once more, completely drained. Valhalla's Wake is now very close as Fergus can see Johan and Saul observing the situation from the deck.

The rest of the day is spent hoisting parts of the shark onto the ship to replenish their food supplies. Son loves the prospects of fresh shark, as he even cuts pieces off with his machete and eats it raw as they go. Johan, Saul, Son, and Gaahl help the captain gut the fish and cut it into thin strips in order to dry, all while Raul fawns after Fergus in adoration. Fergus changes into some fresh clothes and takes a mug of hot coffee to warm himself. Orabella, Alieana, Torri and Faux take part of the fresh fish to the galley and begin to make their first good meal in quite some time. The crew will be eating well for weeks now. But what would they do once the food source ran out with the hauling gear completely ruined?

That, however, didn't matter anymore. Tonight was a night for eating heartily and drinking merrily. They all sit in their usual places around the large table in the galley. Gaahl and Fergus laugh happily as the alcohol begins to take affect. Orabella slowly sips some wine when the captain stands and holds his glass of spiced rum in the air.

"Lets all give thanks," he pauses and smiles, "to Fergus for taking that tumble overboard leading us to this bountiful feast."

"Gee," Fergus slurs as Gaahl bellows drunkly.

"Dig in," the captain encourages them to begin eating the meal of fresh shark steaks. The feast is a welcome change as everyone eats and drinks way to much, leaving the entire crew gorged and sloth-like.

Author's Note

Suggestions?