Welcome back horror fans. Hope you have been early anticipating this chapter.
On a random note I have been typing so much on my new laptop I have worn out the E. lol not important just a fact. Please enjoy.
Mike looked around at his quarrelling friends. Subjects ranged from direction to the burden of the raft. Trivial things that had not been a problem up until now. Not knowing what to do Mike had tuned out the abuse from Maryse as he tried to think logically about what was going on, and why he hadn't been effected by it. Or had he? Before they all started on one another he had this deep feeling of rage. Beth had managed to calm him down, but now it seemed they were experiencing the same feelings. Grabbing hold of Maryse and stopping her mid rant Mike looked into her eyes.
"Maryse stop, this isn't you, something is telling you to act like this. Think Maryse." Mike pleaded with the blonde as she blinked owlishly once then again. Mike thought for a moment that he had brought her back to rational thought. That idea was soon out of the window though when she spun around and walked off. Straight into the darkness without even a glance back.
"Maryse, Maryse wait." Mike called not knowing what to do. He really should go after her, make sure she was alright, but he didn't want to leave the others either. In the state they were in they could all flock in different directions, leaving themselves isolated and alone. It was then the final penny dropped for Mike that was what this thing wanted. It probably needed time to kill, to take the person's soul. An interruption would probably prevent it from doing it properly, that or it was vulnerable whist extracting a person's soul.
"Enough, come on snap out of it you lot, this is exactly what this thing wants, to separate us. Beth listen to me." Mike said moving towards the person most likely to listen to him as the blonde shook her head.
"Darkness and desire Beth don't let the fear get to you fight it." Mike said doing a pretty bad job of imitating Beth's words from earlier but it seemed to do the trick.
"Oh god what have I done. John listen to me whatever I said I am sorry, please calm down." Beth said reaching out for John's hand as it was about to come down and hit the wall. The strength in his arm was not that of a normal person though and the first changed direction and struck Beth in the face. Going down like a stone Beth landed on her backside and clutched her cheek. The site of Beth hurt on the floor seemed to do the trick though. Mike was at her side first but John wasn't far behind.
"God Beth I am so sorry I didn't mean to." John said barely keeping his emotions in check as he held her tight to himself as Mike looked on, both worried for Beth but relieved that they were back with him.
"Its ok I am fine. At least you're ok." Beth said allowing John to hold her even if it was restricting her breathing somewhat.
"God what came over us, one minute I was all set to go the next I wanted to hit something." John said helping Beth off the floor as Mike nodded. Remembering that feeling and hoping they could get the rest of them to return to whatever passed for normal around here. Looking over his shoulder to where Mickie and Randy were all that was left of them was the discarded flashlight.
"Shit" Mike said under his breath as Beth and John both turned to look in the direction of his gaze and saw the empty space before them.
"And then there were three." Beth said in a dead pan voice which under any other circumstances would have been funny. But right here right now it carried to much truth to it to be anything but funny.
The feelings of rage and anger subsided in Maryse as she moved further away from the group of people in the corridor. She didn't stop though she kept walking until she realised that she was not only lost, but very much alone. The panic set in almost immediately, looking from left to right but seeing nothing Maryse began to shake with fear. It was like her worst nightmare had come true, alone in the dark being chased by something she couldn't see. The only thing missing was the sound of chains being dragged along the empty corridors. Holding her breath Maryse listened for any sound, as the thought that just thinking about what might be after her would bring it down upon her head. There was however only silence and she finally had to breath, the pressure in her lungs too great to hold her breath any longer. The sound of her hurried breathing seemed so loud in the darkness. Even the beating of her own heart seemed to be echoing along the metal walls, while she stood stock still and listened for anything other than her own fear riddled body.
Knowing that staying here was not an option Maryse decided to retrace her steps, hoping to get back to the others before they left without her. Turning around she moved back down the corridor but as soon as she got to the end she could not remember which way she had come. In fact she didn't even know ultimately how far she had come either. Wanting to hit herself in frustration Maryse settled for the wall. The echo of the thud reverberated off the hull of the ship and made her teeth hurt.
"Ok don't do that again." She said quietly to herself as she finally made the decision to turn right. Waking slowly and carefully now Maryse could barely see her hand in front of her face. Every corridor and hall way looked identical, and there was almost no light to help her tell which way she was going.
" I feel like Alice in wonderland." She said not enjoying the silence and even the sound of her own voice was more comforting than the vacuum of silence that currently surrounded her. Turning another corner Maryse spotted the life raft lying on the floor. Its orange hew just visible in the dim light coming from what probably was a window someway down the hall.
"Yes." She hissed knowing that she could at least wait here, the others would have to return at some point for the raft. Sliding down the wall Maryse hugged her knees to her chin and waited.
Randy had walked until he reached the docking bay, it was the place they had been trying to find when they first set out with the life raft. Now though he was alone and had no raft. Not that he would have left without the others. Another thought stuck him as well though. He had been right, they should have taken the left turning at that T-junction back where they had fought. Which meant Mickie had been wrong, the thought brought a brief smile to his face until he considered what that meant.
"Oh god no" Randy exclaimed into the darkness as the ship groaned once more and Randy froze on the spot. The shiver that ran up his spine was not because someone had walked over his grave, the air had cooled and his teeth wanted to clack together. Relaxing his muscles so they wouldn't do just that Randy made for the exit, as quickly as the lack of light would allow. Knowing that the door might not open he pushed the thought out of his mind and pulled on the handle, believing with all his might that it was just how he left it Unlocked. The door opened with the same ease it had done a moment ago stepping quickly into the hallway beyond Randy noted the sign on the wall and made a right turn. The air was warming up, but Randy was under no illusion that he was safe yet. Determined to not only get back to his friends, but to remember the route Randy snatched up a vase containing a bunch of flowers. Pulling the head off one he dropped it at the entrance to another corridor, indicating where he should turn once he came back with the others. Checking behind him he noticed that he could see his own rapid breaths coming out and disappearing into the darkness beyond where he could see. Breaking into a run now Randy dropped another flower head at the next turn and moved further towards where they had left the life raft.
Mickie had made a left turn, she could hear nothing and even more worrying could see nothing. The darkness in this part of the ship was total. She had lost everyone, scattered to the four winds as they had run from each other to stop the rage that had built up inside them. Feeling like she was going the wrong way Mickie stopped abruptly and turned around. Spotting a flower head on the floor she picked it up and looked at it closely. Only able to make out its dim shape and she smiled, someone had been this way and recently. Following the trail now hoping to find someone Mickie moved far more swiftly along the hallways. With a renewed sense of purpose Mickie let herself relax slightly, knowing that all this tension was doing her no good what so ever. Now seeing a dim light up ahead Mickie let out a long slow breath, there was something very calming about even such a small amount of light. Not that it would do anyone any good in the end, light or not they were pretty much all doomed on this ship anyway.
Ted had found a flashlight and a hammer, he had located the storage cupboard by accident, he had thought it a door to another corridor at first, but as he walked inside and almost smack into a shelf he soon realised his mistake. Searching with his hands he finally found a light and switched it on. Mostly the cupboard held paint tins and old signs for ship activities. But in the back behind what looked like a box of hinges was a tool box. The best of which contained a hammer, big enough to do some real damage if necessary. Now Ted was moving down a hallway when he heard voices. Stopping abruptly and pressing himself behind a corner he listened as the voices moved closer.
"They could be anywhere by now."
"They might be dead?" the second voice was defiantly John Cena's and Ted shot out from behind the wall and grinned wildly.
"Hello my god am I glad to see you guys!" Ted yelled as Mike threw a punch at him which landed square on the nose.
"Ouch what was that for." Ted said clutching his poor nose as Beth walked over with her flashlight and pointed it directly into Ted's eyes.
"Its him. Ted where in the hell have you been." Beth said now clutching him tight as Ted went from anger to confusion in a matter of seconds.
"What, where have I been? what about you guys, and why the violence man?" ted asked looking at Mike who looked pretty apologetic.
"Sorry man but we have had a few bad experiences. You see whatever is after us, could be anybody. It kind of possesses people. It was in Stephanie, but we have been thinking its' probably jumped body since then." Mike said as Ted felt the need to sit down. All this information was giving him brain ache, Ted looked at John who had remained silent until now.
"We lost Randy, Mickie and Maryse about fifteen minutes ago, something was causing us to argue and they stormed off. The only problem is of we find them, we don't even know if it will be them." John said as Ted started to get the picture.
"Cody's dead, and I'm telling you this thing can do what the hell it likes. It made a port hole close up on him." Ted said now shocking his new found friends into silence as more groaning sounds came from the ship.
"Poor Cody." Beth said placing her hand on Ted's shoulder as a show of support but her mind was already wondering though the possibilities of this new revelation.
"We figured out that it could do quite a lot with the ship already, locking doors, causing gas leaks, but actually manipulating the metal, that is some creepy shit." Mike said shuddering at the thought of getting caught in what amounted to a human mouse trap.
"I tried to sink the ship after that, I figured that if the ship goes down then so does this thing." Ted said and Beth nodded at him she had had the same suspicion.
"Sorry about the lights by the way, as you can tell my attempt was less than successful." Ted said shrugging his shoulders, but now he guessed they were all pretty happy he hadn't managed to sink the Queen Anne.
"That is ok, but we may need to sink the ship anyway. Do you have any idea how we can do that?" Beth asked now switching tactics the possibility of finding everyone, everyone who was still themselves that was, getting on the raft and escaping was looking less and less likely. The next best option was to go down fighting.
"Not really I tried crossing the wires to cause an explosion but they just burnt out. With no access to the control room, and the engines off line the only way would be to manually punch a big hole in the hull." Ted said as the others all looked at one another as if considering the option.
"I guess it can be the backup plan." John said as Beth gave him a small smile and turned back in the direction they had come.
"I take it you have seen no one else on your travels." Beth said and Ted shook his head as expected.
"then there is no point continuing this way, I suggest we go back to the raft and see if anyone came back there. If not we have to go without them." Beth said it sounded so callous when she put it like that but no one protested her idea. They all knew that they could look for years and still not find anyone on this ship. Also they could run into them around the next bend. Nothing was logical here, it was almost like fate was in control, and the only thing to do was let it play out as scripted. All turning around now and heading back for the raft they walked in silence, knowing that anything they could say now had already been said a hundred times before.
Maryse was still waiting when someone finally came back, there form was dim in the light and see stood up immediately. The cold had seeped into her bones now and she couldn't stop shivering.
"Who's there?" she called unable to make out who was coming, when a voice replied Maryse relaxed immediately.
"It's me Maryse, did anyone else come back yet?"
"No not yet, I am hoping that they all will though, once they realised what happened." Maryse replied as she wrapped her arms around herself to ward of the cold.
"Good." Was the response as Maryse raised her eyebrow. She had no time to react, as dark eyes were suddenly peering into her own, the fire within her now burned, as she forced herself to breath out one last time. Falling to the floor and landing in a pile on the orange raft Maryse tried to snatch at the leg in front of her but it moved out of the way as her heart stopped and her eyes locked open with the last beat.
"One down four to go."
Randy and Mickie turned up at the life raft from opposite directions, each having gone down their preferred route earlier and having turned around once they realised they were alone.
"Thank god Mickie are you ok." Randy said as the brunette virtually leapt into his arms.
"Yes I thought I had lost you." Mickie said burying her face in his warm neck. It was so cold everywhere on this ship now and Mickie felt like an ice block. Settling her down on her feet Randy smiled at her and she returned it quickly as noise could be heard from the other end of the hallway. Light pierce the gloom as not one but two flashlight illuminated the corridor and the body lying on the raft before them.
"Maryse!" Mike yelled as all six people met at her dead body and looked at it with shock. Mike was bent over her holding her so tenderly that Beth wanted nothing more than to leave him there for the moment. She knew though they had no time for that.
"Mike we have to move her take the raft and go. There is nothing you can do for her now." Beth said looking up and eyeing Randy and Mickie with suspicion. Only Randy noticed however as Mickie was looking at the scene before her and Randy scowled at her. Beth chose to ignore it as she turned to John and placed her hand on his arm. Getting his attention and speaking to him in a quiet voice.
"Help me move her." John nodded as he bent down as Beth did the same, with Mike's help the shifted Maryse from the raft and lay her down in the corridor. Mike whipped the tears from his face and looked up at John and gave him a weak smile of thanks.
"Ted?" Randy said finally noting his friend after all of the horror that had just taken place and Ted stepped forward and hugged his old friend.
"Yeah it's me, not goblin is going to keep Ted Debasie down." He said but the sad look in his eyes told Randy everything he needed to know about Cody.
"He's gone Randy, and we need to go to." Ted said as Mickie came over and gave him a brief hug. The reunion was short lived. Each grabbing a corner and giving Mickie and Beth flashlights to lead the way the boys picked up the raft and got ready to move.
"Which way?" Ted asked and Beth looked at Mickie but this time the diva said nothing.
"Left I made a trail with flowers follow it and we will get to the docking bay." Randy said as finally there seemed like there was some good news.
"Cleaver boy." Beth said as she spotted the first flower and moved off into another corridor, followed by Mickie and lastly the boys and the raft.
There you go hope you enjoyed that. Apologies to amazing reviewer, but Maryse had to die or this story wouldn't work at the end. You will have to console yourself with Miz for now.
Next time: will our hapless wrestlers find their way out, will the real diamond please stand up and who will get out alive. To find out drop me a review and I will update asap. Thanks for reading XxX
PS Pixella's story contest ends in one week so if you haven't voted for your favourite I suggest you pop over to her profile and do so. Your favourite story deserves your vote.
