Free Dead Calm by Jon Schafer Page B

in his
hand.
    Regaining consciousness, Tim's first sight was his
sister leaning over him with tears streaming down her face. “Mom?”
He asked groggily, but his sister couldn't speak. She shook her
head and mouthed the word, “No.”
    Pain welled up in him. Looking around, he tried to
focus on something besides his grief and hiding his tears, when he
noticed that they were in a cabin. Connie finally got herself under
control and explained what happened after he was knocked
unconscious.
    When the red shirt struck Tim down, the crowd surged
forward in rage at seeing a small boy abused. Tim's attacker and
his partner were outnumbered twenty to one, but they carried clubs
while the passengers were unarmed. With their backs against the
doors leading to the cabin area, the red shirts used these
bludgeons to menace the mob and hold them at bay. Despite this, the
angry crowd inched forward until it looked like the two men would
be pulled down anyway by sheer weight of numbers. Suddenly, screams
erupted from the back of the group. Turning to what they thought
was another crazed attacker, the people in the mob were astonished
to see half a dozen men in red T-shirts knocking passengers to the
left and right with an assortment of sawed off pool cues and broken
off table legs. Seeing their rescuers coming to save them, the two
red shirts at the door joined in by striking the passengers nearest
them with their own clubs.
    The crowd scattered under the assault, and Connie
took advantage of the distraction to run toward her brother and
pull him away from the melee. After dragging him a short distance,
she covered his body with hers so no further harm would come to
him.
    When the noise of the short lived battle was over,
Connie looked up to see the red shirts grouped in front of a man
wearing a three-piece suit. Those clustered around this new man
called him Reverend Ricky, and from what Connie could see, he
appeared to be their leader.
    When the red shirts finished explaining what had
occurred and how they even had to lock their own people in the
cabin area to keep the infected contained, Reverend Ricky raised
his hands up in benediction, as his followers bowed their heads. In
a deep, bass voice, Ricky intoned, “Thy will be done Lord. Make me
a tool of thy will and use me as you see fit on this Earth until
you call me home at the rapture. My faithful Ushers have vowed
their obedience to you, oh God, so I ask that you protect them as
they go about your work, Amen.”
    The Ushers intoned, “Amen” and looked to their leader
for further instructions. With a tight smile, Ricky ordered them to
lock down the cabin areas on all the remaining decks but not to
clear them of the passengers first since they couldn't afford to
risk losing any more of their people. Not questioning his orders,
the red shirted Ushers went to do his bidding.
    When they were gone, Reverend Ricky looked around
with contempt at the few moaning, bloody people left behind. With
venom in his voice, he warned them not to stand in the way of God's
will again or risk an even more severe form of punishment. As Ricky
glowered at the beaten passengers, his eyes fell on Connie crouched
next to her brother. Instantly in motion, the scowl on his face
changed to a grin as he walked toward her and asked in a soft
voice, “What's the matter child, do you need some assistance?”
    Tim's friends were always telling him how beautiful
his sister was, but he thought she was a pain in the ass. She was
nineteen and still living at home and had taken it upon herself,
since graduating high school, to make sure her little brother
didn't get into any trouble while their parents were at work. As
far as Tim was concerned, she had ruined the past summer.
    When he found out they were going on this cruise, he
hoped she wouldn't ruin that too. Luckily, she had been distracted
by all the attention she received from the guys her own age and
hadn't tried to keep track of him. Tim had even heard one of