Red at Day

“I hate this. It's cold.” Jackie moans from underneath the covers. She's curled up in a ball on our bed.
“I know. I hate it too.” I reply, getting dressed. We need to stop somewhere and wash our clothes because I've been wearing the same thing for over a week.
“When are we going to land?” Jackie asks.
“You mean dock?” I ask.
“That.”
“Ask Carter. He's about to go on duty.”
“Hah. You said duty.”
“You laugh every time Carter or Honey go to steer the boat.”
“'Cus it's funny.” I roll my eyes and smirk. But, it is true- we need to dock soon. It's not a matter of gas but the fact that we've been on this boat for a week. Ever since we left Sachs Harbor on Bank Island, we've been on this boat for a week.
“I wish we could go faster. We could've been there in a hour or a few days.” Jackie says.
“I forgot why we have to go slow, but we have to go slow.” I reply. Jackie sighs and lays back down to sleep more. I put on my shirt and leave the room. Outside, Paris is still laying on her bed. She looks in my direction, glares, then goes back to staring at nothing. I shrug off her look and sit at the table with Reed and Kasmira. Honey must be sleeping and Carter's steering the boat. Angel's in the kitchen, preparing dry bowls of cereal for Reed and Kasmira.
“Jackie's still sleeping.” I announce.
“Rose doesn't want to leave the room.” Reed sighs.
“James is still working.” Kasmira says.
“How late was he up?” I ask.
“I guess around three.”
“Usually he finishes at two for the night.” Kasmira glares at me with rosy cheeks. Reed looks back and forth between us but it doesn't quite click for him on what they were doing. I smirk while Angel gives Reed his dry bowl of coco pebbles and Kasmira her cinnamon toast crunch.
“What would you like?” Angel asks.
“Coco pebbles.” I answer.
“Yeah, the good stuff.” Reed says with a mouth full of cereal. Angel pours cereal into the bowl and hands it to me.
“Thank you.” I say.
“You're welcome.” Angel smiles, sitting down to enjoy her frosted flakes with us.
“Did Carter say when we were docking?”
“He said by the end of today we might.”
“I hope it's not dark when we dock.” Kasmira sighs.
“What? Are you telling me you don't want to fight zombies in the dark?” Reed jokes.
“I hope there aren't any zombies like at Sachs.” I sigh.
The boat arrives at Nuuk, Greenland. Everyone anxiously standing on deck dunks down. This place is crawling with zombies. I look over seeing a sign saying “Welcome to Nuuk, Greenland. Population: 19,752” and feel a bit regretful about choosing to stay here.
“Should we even dock here?” Angel asks quietly.
“This place is as good as any. Just because we haven't run into any zombies lately doesn't mean we should run.” Carter whispers. “We just won't get off the boat.” Carter smirks and crawls over to the rope. He takes hold of it and ties it to one end of the boat. He then jumps over to the next boat, rope in hand. A zombie, hearing the bang of Carter's landing, looks our way and he hisses at us. He turns to us and begins to limp over. As he does so, the other zombies look our way and notice us too. Their gurgles turn into growls and their walking turns into sprinting. Carter drops the rope and runs over to the ramp on the other boat. He kicks it off then runs back to the rope before it falls overboard. The zombies reach the boat and jump. Their hands take hold of the railings on both boats.
“What?!” Jackie screams.
“No, no, no!” Rose yells.
“Carter!” Angel shrieks, jumping over to the other boat.
“Just try and keep them off! Push them into the water and let the sharks get to them!” I yell.
“Isn't there a specific shark in Greenland called 'The Greenland Shark'?” Reed asks.
“Don't know, don't care.” I yell, kicking the zombie's heads. The zombies kick the side of the boat, trying to climb their way up. Jackie uses her sword to slice into the zombie's heads, killing them. The rest of us kick them and hope for the best.
“Honey, Rose, I need you both to jump onto the other boat and help Carter and Angel out!” I order. Honey nods and jumps over while Rose hesitates. She looks at me for a moment then at the other boat. Rose sighs and jumps over to help the other group.
“We can't do this for all nineteen-thousand!” James yells.
“I know, any plans?” I ask.
“Leave?” Jackie suggests.
“It has me!” Kasmira yells. We look over and see a zombie holding onto Kasmira's leg, trying to put her ankle in it's mouth. Reed runs over to Kasmira and stabs the top of the zombie's head with his knife. Even though it's dead, it's clutch still holds. Another zombie attempts to bite her leg but Reed puncture's it's head as well.
“Jackie, I need your sword!” Reed yells.
“Hell no!” Jackie yells.
“I need it to cut this zombie off her leg!”
“Then I can do it!” Jackie runs to Reed and Kasmira. She swiftly cuts one arm off at a time. Once free, Kasmira jumps back and falls on her butt. She picks the zombie's fingers off to free herself of the zombie's clutches and then joins the group.
“What the hell are we going to do?!” Honey yells. Paris walks up from the lower deck. She looks around and smirks a bit when she sees everyone struggling. Paris slowly walks over to the second boat and jumps over.
“Start the engine.” She mumbles with a smirk. Carter looks behind him and sees Paris. Paris grabs the handle of the engine and pulls to start it.
“Paris, what are you doing?!” Carter yells “Someone on the other boat, start the boat and Honey, try to drive in the same direction as Paris! We could crash if just one goes! We're tied together!” Jackie runs to the side of the boat and cuts the rope.
“Not anymore!” Jackie yells.
“Paris, this tank is almost empty! If we run out, we're screwed!” Carter yells. The engine starts and the boat Paris is on moves forward. Carter runs to the wheel and begins moving the boat so it stays close to the other boat. Honey jumps to our boat before theirs drifts off and lands with a hard thud. She starts the engine of the boat we're on and runs do the same thing, making sure not to move too much so we don't waste gas. As the boat first moves, we all fall, struggling to keep on board and away from the zombies that are clinging to the railing. One zombie manages to jump on board and pin Reed to the ground.
“Reed!” Rose shrieks from the other boat. Jackie's quick to run over and cut the zombie's head clean off. The body falls on Reed, with dark blood spilling over him, and the head bounces off Reed's face and rolls away.
“Ew, gross!” Reed yells, pushing the body off of him “Can I get infected this way?!”
“We've been covered in blood before.” I say between breaths.
“Where's the head?” Jackie asks.
“Who cares, shouldn't it be dead?” Kasmira asks.
“Don't you read or watch “The Walking dead”?” Jackie asks “The Gov. kept zombie heads in fish tanks! They heads were still moving and- ew I can't go back to that right now! Find the head!” Jackie, Reed and I all work to find the head while James and Kasmira fight of the three zombies still attached to the boat. I look up while searching and see some zombies running into the ocean while other zombies stay on the land or dock watching us. I chuckle a little. It'll be easier to dock now.
“I found it!” Reed yells. Jackie and I run downstairs and find Reed pointing at a zombie head under the table. The zombie head is trying to use it's neck to roll around as it's eyes look back and forth from each person. It growls and snaps at anyone who it thinks it can take.
“Oh, gross!” Reed says. I kneel down to look at the zombie head while Jackie and Reed stand behind me.
“Poke it.” I order.
“Ew, I'm not going to do that!” Reed yells.
“Do it. Do it or you're fired.”
“What am I, Spongebob?”
“Can you feel it now, Mr. Krabs?”
“Oh my god, no. Stop.”
“I've found the real meaning to that.”
“Annabelle, you're going too far.”
“I've gone a correct amount.”
“There's the line and then there's you.”
“I am within bounds of said line.”
“You're within bounds of the line but you've crossed it. I won't be able to watch Spongebob anymore without thinking of a zombie apocalypse.”
“I think that goes for everyone now.” We look over and Jackie has tears in her eyes. She's holding a bloody sword with a zombie head attached. It's like a shish kebab for the necrophilia lovers. I'll have to show it to Paris later.
We all walk back up deck to see multiple people yelling at each other. Carter's yelling at Paris, Rose is arguing with Angel, and we have the peanut gallery filled with Honey, Kasmira, and James.
“So, uh, what happened?” I ask.
“Carter yelled at Paris for what she did, Rose yelled at Carter for yelling at Paris, then Angel began yelling at Rose for yelling at Carter. I honestly don't care but they're kinda loud.” James informs.
“Who wants to stop them?” I look around and no one raises their hand. I sigh and walk to the side of the boat which is closest to the other boat.
“Y'all need to shut the fuck up.” I call over.
“Who the fuck asked you?” Rose yells.
“The group did. They say you're loud and kinda annoying. They also say you're going to attract zombies.”
“I don't care what the group says. And how the hell are we going to attract them in the middle of the god damn ocean?”
“I dunno. They could be on a dead whale, floating along the ocean until they find a nice boat to jump upon. Crunch, crunch you're gone.” Rose just looks at me like I've gone crazy. I really don't blame her but haven't we all with all these zombies? In fact, everyone at this point is looking at me and just like James, I really don't care.
“So what do we do now? We can't drift.” Angel asks.
“We could dock back over there and lasso a rope to the piling.” Paris informs. We look at each other confused. First of all, why is she talking? We all thought she went mute after Jackie killed Bruce. I mean, I'm proud she defeated her depression but still. Wow. Second, what is a piling?
“You know, the wood thing that sticks out of the dock?” Paris informs.
“Oh.” We all say in unison.
“That boat is stupid so jump back on here and we can do Paris's plan.” Jackie orders. Everyone chuckles at Jackie as the four jump to our boat. Honey steers the boat so that it turns towards the mob of angry zombies. Jackie finds a new rope and turns it into a lasso. As we reach the dock, she tosses the lasso and it wraps around the piling. With one good tug, the rope's stuck firmly on it. Carter, ties the other half of rope to the boat and we all sit down in relief.
“We're glad to see you're up and around again, Paris” I smile.
“Thanks.” Paris smiles back “But, I think someone took my gun? I know I have a bow and arrow but are there any spare guns for just in case?”
“Yeah, I can grab one downstairs now if you want.”
“That's be perfect!” I walk downstairs to look for a spare gun and Jackie follows me from behind.
“Do you think she's okay?” Jackie asks once we're out of an ear shot.
“I don't know but she's acting friendly and wants to be part of the gang again.” I reply, eyes searching for a gun.
“Do you think she's still mad at me?”
“I don't think so. With Bruce out of the picture she can stop hating everyone for no reason. I mean, you're not there to ruin it, everyone else is not there to take your side on the hate, and Rose can go back to liking you. This could be a good thing- not that Bruce's death was a good thing. Just the after effects.”
“Yeah, I guess you're right.”
“Maybe you two will become friends again.”
“I hope so!” My hands wrap around a spare revolver and I wave it around to show Jackie. She laughs and we run back upstairs to give Paris the gun.
Paris smiles when she receives the gun. She looks it over then sticks it in the back of her pants.
“Thanks!” Paris says with a smile. I raise an eyebrow. Is it me or does that smile seem forced? I don't say anything but it does get me a bit worried.
“Annabelle, are you okay?” Honey asks, getting down from the wheel.
“Yeah, just tired.” I reply with a smile. Half of the group shake it off but the other half look me up and down. This is the cycle of suspicion and I hate it. When I was depressed I either complained of being tired or having a stomachache. I guess they figure old habits have resurfaced.
“So are we just going to jerk off until tomorrow and leave because there is no way we can go on that island.” Carter asks.
“Yeah, seems that way.” I reply.
Around three in the morning, I wake up a the sound of someone pacing. I don't want to open my eyes, but I force them open. The pacing doesn't stop and it's almost haunting. I prop myself up on my elbows and listen more in case it stops. It doesn't. I shake Jackie to wake her up but she just moans. I sigh, straddle her, and shake her more until she wakes up.
“I'm sleeping!” Jackie mutters.
“Listen!” I hush. Jackie listens with narrow eyes which become arched.
“Who's up?” Jackie asks.
“No clue. Let's find out.” Jackie nods and we both exit our bed. As we silently open the door, a few others are awake as well.
“Do you two hear the pacing too?” Honey asks. I nod in response and look around threw the dark. Carter, Angel, and Rose are behind Honey. Paris isn't in bed. We all quietly go up the stairs one by one and see Paris walking up and down the boat. She's holding the gun I gave her with her hands behind her back.
“What is she-” Rose asks.
“Shhh!” everyone shushes. Paris looks over and sees us all.
“Oh.” Paris says.
“Paris what are you doing?” Rose asks.
“Oh, nothing.”
“Bullshit. What are you doing.”
“Nothing, just thinking.” Her voice sounds airy, as if she's dreaming.
“Then why do you have a gun?” Honey asks.
“I'm thinking about Bruce.” Paris smiles “I'm thinking about Jackie too.” Jackie turns a bit pink but her eyes look concerned.
“And what about them?” Angel asks.
“Well, about how I miss Bruce, about how Jackie killed him, and how you guys didn't justify his death. Tell me, how can a group of people call themselves heroes when they let a young man, their friend, be murdered? How can you keep a murderer in your group without a second thought. You see, this has been on my mind ever since Jackie was declared innocent.” Paris explains.
“It was an accident.” I say.
“No it wasn't!” Paris screams. We're all silenced.
“She's a traitor and a liar and she has you people wrapped around her little finger.” Paris mutters. She laughs wildly like a killer soaking in blood. She instantly stops laughing and puts the gun to her head. Her face cold and emotionless. At his point the rest of the group comes running up the stairs.
“Paris, don't do this!” Rose yells “You're my friend, remember? I've tried helping you threw everything! I've-”
“Stop talking!” Paris screams, rocking back and forth “Stop talking! Stop talking! STOP TALKING!” Paris hyperventilates for what seems like an eternity but is actually a minute. She begins to cough and gasp for breath, holding her neck as she does so. Paris, bent over, stops coughing and stares at the ground, smirking.
“I miss him. I miss him so much... and you took him away from me.” Paris smirks, looking wildly at Jackie “My darling... oh, my darling. My love. My love. Oh, my love. How I've waited to see you. I'll find you, my love, oh I will. But first.” Paris points the gun at Jackie. Everyone gasps and I throw myself in front of Jackie, arms up, ready to block.
“But what fun will it be if you meet him first?” Paris ponders “Oh, my darling Bruce, I will find you. When I do, our twisted fates will come and part as it pleases. We will dance, as Adam and Eve did in the Garden of Eden.” Paris puts the gun in her mouth, pointing it at her brain and cocks it. Rose tries to break threw the wall of people and stop Paris but as soon as Rose moves, Paris points the gun at Rose.
“Don't try to separate us like the rest of them. You're an awful friend.” Paris says, then puts the gun back in her mouth. We stand there, helpless and unable to anything. With the gun in her mouth, she smiles ear to ear. She's biting the gun and she's staring straight up to heaven. Paris lets out a twisted laugh and pulls the trigger. The sounds was earsplitting. Blood sprays everywhere like a volcano would in the movies. Brain chunks fly into the ocean and Paris falls to the ground with a heavy thud, blood still pouring out, covering the boat with it's red tentacles. A few people scream but everyone flinches. Rose is unable to stop crying. Being a zombie's victim seems more likely to happen than this.