When a soft knock sounded, Wendy moved down the hall and stepped over a body. Keeping her finger off the trigger of the spear gun, Wendy held it up like she would any gun; aiming where she looked.
Reaching the stairwell, Wendy opened the door and almost coughed as the stench of death washed over her. Suppressing the cough, Wendy eased the door open and slipped inside to close the door softly behind her. Thankful for the emergency lights, Wendy stepped over and around the bodies in the stairwell as she headed down.
When she reached the level she wanted, Wendy froze when she heard a muffled thump below her. Waiting for several seconds and not hearing it again, Wendy gripped the door handle to open the door when she heard the thump again below her.
Letting the door handle go, Wendy rounded the stairwell landing and headed down, hearing the thump several more times. Each time she heard it, the thump sounded further away into the ship as she went down the stairs.
Stopping two levels lower, Wendy froze at hearing a voice. “Come on, girls. I need to play with you.” The voice was male and was definitely on this level. “I played with Timmy and now it’s your turn.”
“Fuck,” Wendy breathed out. More than once she had doubted the twins about Anthony but now, she knew they had been telling the truth and not talking about some hallucination.
Gripping the door handle, Wendy gently eased it open. “Girls, you’re making me mad. Uncle Anthony needs to break you in,” Anthony grunted and Wendy heard the thump again. Now that she knew Anthony was further down the hall, Wendy peeked out the door and saw the doors along each side of the hallway were open.
Glancing further down the hall, Wendy saw a rather round figure stepping out of a room with a long pole. Pulling her head back, Wendy felt her pulse speed up. “I’m going to find you,” Anthony sang out and Wendy heard the unmistakable sound of a card being slid into a card slot and a door opening.
Easing up to the door jam, Wendy eased one eye out and saw Anthony walking into a room. When he walked out, Wendy studied him for the first time. The twins had described a hound of hell, but Anthony couldn’t have been more than five-foot-five. Wendy knew he was shorter than her five-foot-six.
But Anthony was fat, a very round fat, and balding. Only a thin strip of black hair rounded his head and Wendy dropped her eye back to Anthony’s body. She was almost certain that Anthony’s girth would surpass his height. Seeing Anthony dressed only in shorts and sandals, Wendy knew that any other time, she would have had to suppress a laugh. His arms and legs while big, were out of proportion with his girth. In her mind’s eye, Wendy saw him working behind a desk.
“Timmy loved the games,” Anthony said, moving to another door to shove a card in and tried to open it. The door only opened an inch as the privacy latch engaged. Pulling the pole up, Anthony put one end in the opening.
“Oh, are you girls being bad?” Anthony cooed and then gave a grunt, leaning against the pole. The door flew open, thumping against the wall and answering Wendy’s question of where the thumps had been coming from.
Wiping his forehead, Anthony stepped in the room. When he was gone, Wendy looked down the hall and saw Anthony was only halfway through searching the row of rooms. Pulling her head back when Anthony stepped out into the hall, Wendy took a few breaths to calm herself.
If she hadn’t gotten sick, Wendy knew she could’ve kicked Anthony’s ass with her bare hands. He may have the weight and might be a little stronger, but she and Arthur had both trained in hand to hand. But she was still weak and couldn’t just go down there and kick his ass.
Hearing another door open, Wendy peeked out the door and watched Anthony walk into another room. Looking down the hall, Wendy saw a few dead bodies under the emergency lights. “I want to see little twin pussy,” Anthony called out as he stepped back into the hall.
A coldness spread over Wendy that she wasn’t prepared for when she heard Anthony. Watching Anthony check two more rooms, Wendy glanced across from the stairwell to an open cabin door. When Anthony stepped in the next room, Wendy eased out the door and closed it softly, then stepped into the room.
“It will only hurt for a little while,” Anthony chuckled, stepping back into the hall.
When Anthony opened the next cabin’s door and walked in, Wendy eased two more cabins down and stepped in the room before Anthony came back into the hall. “You can’t hide forever,” Anthony said, opening another door and it stopped as the privacy latch held. “It’s only us now,” Anthony sang out, putting one end of the pole into the door. “I took care of the others, so they can’t interrupt.”
When Anthony let out a grunt, Wendy peeked around the door jamb and saw Anthony was facing away from her as he pried against the door. ‘Blam’ sounded as the door flew open and Anthony waddled inside quickly.
Stepping out into the hall, Wendy dodged four bodies and she crept down the hall as fast as she could. Darting into an open door of a room Anthony had already searched, Wendy leaned back against the wall, hearing Anthony step back into the hall.
Moving down the hallway, Anthony started whistling softly and then opened up another door. When he stepped in, Wendy moved into the hall. Before Anthony came back out, Wendy was only two doors away when she ducked back inside.
Not risking a
