Captain Photis’ crew stared at each other in shock, unsure of what to say or do.
“Do you mean you will turn your vessel and come this way? Over”.
“No… we’ll abandon ship, over”.
“What?” Irini snapped from across the bridge, “No… no, we can’t just leave all those poor people behind! We can’t!”
“Did I hear correctly? You plan to abandon ship? Over”, the other vessel replied.
“Confirmation of that statement”, Captain Photis replied, “nothing more can be done here, the ship has been compromised, over”.
“Are you sure that’s a wise decision, captain? Over”
“It’s the only decision, if we die, no one will be able to help any survivors that remain on the ship. Our extraction is critical to saving lives at the moment, over”.
“Okay, if you insist, but just for future reference, I did ask and there is evidence of that. If you can get onto a lifeboat, we can pick you up. Use the lifeboat radio to stay in touch, over”.
“That can be arranged. See you soon, over”.
“See you soon, Captain Photis, oh and good luck, over”. The radio clicked off and Captain Photis turned to face his crew as they all stared at him in shocked and appalled silence.
“I had no choice, we’d all be left to die otherwise”.
“You had a choice! You chose to be a selfish cowardice son of a bitch!” A crew member snapped.
“I chose your lives, is that so wrong, Tai? I can’t guarantee anyone else is alive and mentally sane on the ship. What would you have had me do?”
“A captain should go down with his ship! You didn’t even provide a PSA to inform survivors they could make it here for shelter!”
“Don’t be immature! This isn’t a goddamn movie! I put out that message and I jeopardise the lives of every single one of you in here! Do you think that was an easy decision for me? I’d never abandon my post without good cause, but I have no choice!”
“I don’t like this either, we’re leaving people to die”, Irini argued.
“I don’t like any part of this either, I’m overwhelmed with guilt at the moment, but if we all die, what purpose would remaining here have been?” Captain Photis replied.
“At least we wouldn’t be fleeing like cowards!” Tai replied.
“I’ve made up my mind, I’m saving the people on this bridge”.
“Well don’t expect me to go with you. I committed to the people on this ship. If any of you agree with me, raise your hands”.
Only three people raised their hands, not including Irini, much to his disappointment. He shook his head in dismay.
“Fucking cowardice pricks… I cannot believe I called you my fellow crew members. I sailed with you, I ate, drank and partied with you, I shared beds, had banter and road tripped with some of you. David, I went to your daughter’s baptism, you’re the fucking Christian”, David remained speechless, staring at his feet. “Marla, I helped your elderly mother to the clinic. Charlie, you and I do everything together, what the fuck man? Only 3 of you guys? Seriously? What about you, Irini?”
“Sorry… I want to, but…” Irini replied, struggling to say anything without revealing the relationship between her and Photis.
“You know what, I get it. Well seeing as we’re just flinging shit now. David, I slept with your sister, that is all”.
“What? You little rat!” David snapped, suddenly having something to say. He was held back by another crew member.
“Oh look at that, so the cat don’t got your tongue after all”. He turned back to the captain. “So what now? You just skip into the sunset together?”
“It’ll take some time to lower one of those lifeboats into the water, in the meantime you could put out a PSA, any survivors who make it to us before we abandon ship I promise to take with us”. Captain Photis pushed himself away from the dashboard.
“And the ship? It just keeps on sailing?”
“No, we’ll shut down the engines and let it drift. Someone will decide what to do with it. I can’t risk it reaching western soil, it would be a pandemic the likes of which the world never knew before, a pandemic we could have stopped when we had the chance, that chance is now. If you’ve been keeping an eye on the chaos in London, you’ll know that once it starts spreading, it’s nigh impossible to stop. This morning it was just a secluded incident, a single terrorist attack. Last I checked, London was ablaze and the military were recently called in. We may not have a home to return to, that’s the truth. So Tai, don’t take my words lightly when I say that any life I can save is a life enough. I do this with no ease of mind or heart. Begin cutting off the engine, if this ship must continue, we’ll make sure it crashes somewhere where no people are”.
The crew members sprang to action, disregarding Tai. Shortly thereafter, they had carried out all the necessary procedures to leave the ship and everyone else behind.
“Go on then, just fuck right off! I hope the next time I see you lot is in court, if not the fucking pearly gates. I’ll personally give you your first class tickets to the express to fucking hell!” Tai shouted as they made their way off the bridge and down to the lifeboats.
3:13pm - 8 hours, 26 minutes since outbreak in London.
2 hours, 3 minutes since outbreak aboard MS HotS.
Edward hid at the corner of a corridor, keeping his head down low and taking cover where necessary to avoid the twitching erratic people prowling the corridors.
Getting to his wife was taking a great deal longer than he had anticipated, but she couldn’t be too far away now… if she was
