Jilda's Ark by Verity Croker

Author:Verity Croker [Croker, Verity]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: young adult
ISBN: 978-1-64080-600-9
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Published: 2018-12-17T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven: Day Ten Ship

DURING THE night, one by one my cabinmates complain of diarrhea as they have to continually rush to the bathroom. They keep me awake half the night—if it isn’t one of them it’s another. Fortunately, I don’t seem to have caught that particular bug. Cross fingers. I’m so grateful for Mum’s first-aid stash, because as soon as I have the first sign, I’ll take some of her antidiarrhea tablets to stave it off. Meanwhile, I give some to Sheryl, Marta, and Simone. They thank me profusely, gulping the pills down, and eventually their dashes to the loo slow, then cease altogether.

Before we leave our cabin for the day, I squirt some body shampoo down the toilet again to try to clean it, as it has become foul so quickly. At least I don’t throw up when I’m bent over the bowl this time, although I have to fight against it. I’m worried about what we’ll find when we return in sixteen hours for our next shift in the cabin, as the other inhabitants might be ill as well. Seeing as the diarrhea pills seem so effective, I decide I need to share my limited supplies with those on the other shifts in our cabin too, or it will become completely uninhabitable.

I give a packet to the shift coming in after us in case they need it, and then duck off to my old suite to leave the note there about the item I found in the suitcase. I know I will have to go there again for the next shift to leave another note, and also go back to my current cabin to give the next shift a packet of antidiarrhea tablets too. At least our groups in our cabin can hopefully stay well. As for those on the rest of the ship, I’m afraid it has to be every person for themself. My few packets of tablets can’t help the thousands on board, and it soon becomes clear this disease has pretty much spread throughout the whole ship. If those in our cabin stay healthy, we can be of some use to others.

As the day goes on, it appears the vomiting is getting worse, and it seems more and more people begin to get diarrhea as well. It’s much more than seasickness. Sure, the weather is rough and the seas high, but that won’t give you diarrhea.

I’ve heard of an illness called norovirus, or something like that, that passengers on cruise ships sometimes get due to lack of hygiene, which is why they have so many huge hand-sanitizer dispensers around the ship. But I’ve noticed they must have finally run out of supplies. I’m once again so glad of Mum’s fixation with hygiene, as I’ve been using her little bottles and sharing them with my cabinmates.

I manage to make it to our meeting place at the back of the ship today and am relieved to see Jade is already there waiting for me. She says she’s been worried about me, not having seen me for a couple of days.

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