The Ship

I wake up alone on an old, rusted ship. I know why I'm here, but not what is going to happen. I also don't appear to be as alone as I first thought.

The Ship

As my eyes slowly open, the first thing I notice is the thick fog that clings to the area. It crawls along the metal hull of the ship like a predator slowly surrounding its prey. The second thing I notice is that my back really hurts. It seems getting knocked unconscious and thrown onto a metal floor is not very good for your back. I slowly get to my knees as I fight the urge to write in pain. Every movement sends an electric shock all throughout my back that is just within manageable limits.

One I get to my feet, I begin examining my body for any more signs of injury. Beyond the throbbing headache and an only somewhat functional back, The only odd thing I notice is the yellow markings running along my naked body. They are thick double lines that originate from the chest and spread throughout the rest of my body. I find a puddle on the ship caused by the near constant rain to get a better look at myself. It is here that I notice my hair has been completely shaven off. I thought it was a bit chilly up there. My green eyes are the only thing I can recognize about myself, it is almost like staring at a stranger that just happens to look very similar to you.

Well, this confirmed what I already expected. I take a few tentative steps to test out my back before finding it adequate. And by adequate I mean that as long as I walked like a particularly stupid duck, then I could deal with the pain. Deciding to put my new stupid duck walk to the test, I began exploring the outside of the ship. While moving slowly was my only option, it was also the best option. The sun was completely covered by thick, grey clouds that were thankfully not raining, though that would likely change. This made it quite difficult to see and with metal rusted out and sharp edges everywhere, vision was quite important.  

After circling around the outer edge of the ship, I determined I’m not getting off here by swimming. While I could see a beach off in the distance, it was probably a good mile away. Even if I was fully healthy I doubt I could swim that, and I certainly know I couldn’t swim it with the raging ocean waves that have become a staple of Whisper Island. Since I wasn’t going to be finding anything out here, I began exploring inside the ship, slowly making my way down.

Just as I was about to enter the ship, I heard a slight whisper.

“No”.

It was very quiet, almost lost to the heavy winds.

“This way.”

Just as quiet, but I could tell it came from behind me. I turned just to see strands of thick fog disappear into a door opposite of me. I watched it dance out of view and decided I had nothing to lose. I would either die by tetanus, starvation, or a creepy fog monster. Creepy fog monster would at least make for an interesting story in the afterlife.

Sighing, I followed the fog. After climbing down to flights of stairs I just catch a glimpse of the fog turning right at the end of a long, narrow hallway. Down here, the only lights came from the red, flashing emergency lights that were doing nothing to help my headache. With few options, I begin the narrow trek to follow my new fog friend.

The ship groans.

The sound resonates from my feet and makes its way up through my entire body like I’m standing on one giant speaker.

The ship rocks.

I’m thrown from my feet as the entire ship grumbles like I’m in the belly of starving dragon. The red lights stop flashing and become a solid red as the vibration intensifies. I try to get to my feet but I am immediately thrown back down to the cold metal below. I begin sliding down the hallway, the broken bits of metal cutting into my flesh like tiny knives.

The rocking stops once I crash face first into the wall. I clutch my bleeding nose in a pointless effort to dull the pain. I can feel the warm trail of blood as it drops down from my back and nose. Out of all three options, it seems tetanus has won the honor of being the one to kill me.

“Come.”

Of course. Sitting here and accepting my fate of a tetanus-induced death would be far too easy. I certainly can’t do anything the easy way.

“Hurry.”

Apparently my fog friend has grown tired of me sitting on my a*s and wants me to hurry up. Oh well. Not much to lose at this point.

I get to my feet quite slowly. I don’t care how fast that damn fog thing wants me to move. My back felt terrible before, now it feels like and I was tossed to the ground and stabbed repeatedly. Funny how that works.

Once I do get to my feet, I continue down another flight of stairs. The lights have resumed their flashing, which is quite aggravating and if I gave enough of a s**t, it would be quite perplexing.

At the bottom of this set of stairs, I was gifted with the sight of another long hallway, this one with a giant hole in the wall at the end. The fog gracefully dances down the edge of the hole. Probably leading me to my death. Only one way to find out.

Quite unsurprisingly, the lights stay on and quite their flashing as the rumbles and screams of metal on metal once again fill the air. They are even worse this time around.

I don’t even bother trying to stay standing this time. I immediately drop to my a*s to try and spare my back any more abuse. I slide down the hallway trying to reach the light on the other side. The vibrations are so intense now they almost hurt.

Reaching the end of the hallway is very slow going. I keep rocking from left to right, occasionally being slammed into the sides. Still, I make it. Looking down I see an open pod floating on some oddly docile ocean waves. The fog is pouring into the pod and it isn’t hard to figure out what it wants me to do. Still, jumping at least fifteen feet down into a random floating pod doesn’t exactly sound like a great idea.

On the other hand, staying on this metal death machine as it continues to rattle so hard that I feel the floor creaking beneath me. Death by random pod? Or death by metal death machine? These are truly the hard choices in life.

“Jump.”

Well, why the f**k not? It’s only my life at stake. Taking a deep breath, I jump from the edge. The fall knocks the air from my lungs as I land in the pod. I writhe around as the rain slowly begins to hit my face like tiny teardrops. This doesn’t last long, however, as the lid begins closing. What little light that was entering the pod is quickly cut off and I’m alone with my thoughts. My heart pounds in my chest as my body finally begins to succumb to exhaustion. My eyes flutter closed and I realize. For once, I’m truly terrified.