Stone Virus by Jacqueline Druga

Author:Jacqueline Druga [Druga, Jacqueline]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

TWENTY-ONE - WAITING

Harold fell asleep.

Just before it got light, he passed out. Arms folded, legs extended and head tilted toward his shoulder. I didn’t sleep anymore and just watched the shore, waiting for us to move.

They brought us in breakfast and coffee. More than they realized I appreciated the coffee. The muffins in plastic not so much, but it was good. I put it in my bag.

Time seemed to crawl by. Finally, around eleven in the morning, an hour before we were supposed to dock, they opened the door and told us we could wait on the deck. Not long after we stepped out of there Nika showed up. I gave her the biggest hug.

Jed was sluggish. I asked him if he was alright and he said he was fine. Harold’s prediction kept running through my mind.

Twenty minutes past eleven the ferry began to move toward shore. I knew it wouldn't be long, I envisioned getting off the boat, being greeted by buses or trucks or something. They would take us across the bay and say good luck, but would they?

I knew when I saw the first body that everything I hoped for wasn’t going to happen.

There was one body, then two. And before I knew it there were hundreds of them. All floating like someone had dumped them.

“Don’t look,” I told Nika.

“They’re gray,” Jed spoke up. His hands gripped the railing as he peered over. “Look they have the rash.”

“The question is,” Harold stated. “Did they fall in, jumped in or were they pushed ...” His words trailed to a whisper and he went pale.

“Harold?” I called his name. “What is it? Are you getting motion sickness?”

“No,” Harold replied, still staring down. “That man. The body in the blue striped shirt.” He pointed. “He was on this ferry yesterday. He was one of the ones that got off.”

Immediately my heart dropped to my stomach and without thinking I looked at Jed.

“What?” Jed asked. “What is it?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Why are you asking again?”

“You just seem peckish.”

“Peckish?” he replied. “I look hungry?”

“Huh?” I was confused.

“You said I look peckish,” Jed said.

“Yeah.”

“How does someone look hungry?”

I shook my head and just when I was about to ask what he was talking about, Harold nudged me and whispered.

“Wrong word. You mean peaked.”

“Sorry not peckish,” I corrected. “Although you may be, that muffin wasn’t very inviting. Peaked. You look peaked.”

Jed nodded. “I feel … peaked. Probably because I finished off that brandy and am hung over.”

“How can you be hung over from something that doesn’t count as alcohol?”

Jed grumbled.

Harold whispers again, “You might wanna stop while you’re ahead.”

Just as I nodded the ferry stopped.

Harold held out his hand. “See I predicted we weren’t going to the bay, things are bad.”

Nika spoke up. “Maybe a body is caught in the engine.”

We all looked at her.

She shrugged. “I saw it on a tv show.”

We only paused for a moment then the ferry turned, it didn’t head back to New York, it was moving south as if looking for another place to dock.

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