"Slow down!"
"Who's the one driving here!" Maureen's knuckles were white around the steering wheel. "I said I wanted to save our daughter, not get a ticket for curb crawling!" She sharply turned the wheel to dodge past a white van, causing her to scrape into a passing vehicle in the other lane, which beeped furiously at her.
"These people know nothing of road rage!" Maureen growled. Her husband sitting next to her was cringing in his chair, and was tightly gripping the edges of the passenger seat.
"Maybe I should drive?"
"-Too late hun, I'm already at the wheel."
"Pull over the car...and we'll swap."
Maureen twisted her head round. "No!"
"-Eyes on the road!" Maureen jerked to one side, steering the car from right to left. Dodge watched in horror, as a they narrowly missed a school bus. "Jesus Christ!"
"You could say that again." Epps sighed.
Dodge eyed her, to see if she had calmed down. "Maureen, are we heading out to the airport or the coast."
"The coast...we're taking the Arctic Warrior 2, it's the only way I can think of smuggling weapons"
She side glanced at Mike wearily. "...And the explosives."
"Explosives?"
"They might work, you said shooting the bastard would slow him down...so I'm assuming good old TNT might totally destroy him."
"Oh so you're going to light a stick of dynamite and just hope he would be stupid enough to pick it up, and just hold it for a little while, good plan!"
"I was thinking more along the lines of blowing up the ship...with him on it."
"-And that would make Catrina- oh let me think- DEAD!"
Maureen narrowed her eyes at Dodge. "I would get Catrina off first."
"We're supposed to kill Jack first...then get Catrina. Jack's not going to just let her walk off the boat Maureen." Dodge settled back down in his seat, and stared out of the window. "You better slow down, there's cops up ahead." He felt the sudden pressure on his back leave, and the rumbling of the car around him reduce. The inside of the car fell silent, as if someone had literally pressed the mute button on a TV remote. As always the cops would stare out any passing vehicle suspiciously, waiting to take chase at any unusual activity. Maureen remained focused on the cars in front of her as she felt a policeman's eye burn into the side of her head. After 40 seconds, she heard her husband sigh with relief, she put her foot down once more and weaved through the traffic.
"What do you think would of happened if they had pulled us over and searched the boot (trunk)...they would have found a load of guns and a load of TNT!"
"We could of said we work for a demolition company?"
"-With guns!"
"A mafia demolition company?" Maureen suggested with a hint of laughter, Dodge gave her a disapproving look. "Oh come on you're no fun anymore."
"I thought we were focusing on our daughter's crisis?"
"Yeah..." She said rather high pitched. "But I was just squeezing in that little bit to lighten the mood. Jeez-Louise, I can't wait to reunite you with Munder...now that'll get your sense of humour back."
Dodge rubbed his rugged patch on his jaw line. "Everybody kind of lost there sense of humour after the incident Maureen." His voice dropped slightly and he shrunk in his seat. "Experiencing death - the pain of it, the sensation of your heart stopping, the intake of your last breath." His wife took her eyes of the road for a second to look at him sympathetically. "-And finally you take your last look at the world around you, then darkness falls."
"It must of been horrible." Maureen hesitated before patting his shoulder. "I would ask how you died...but I don't think I want to know."
"After all these years, we've never really came to the subject. It seemed every time we were about to go to the subject, one of us would leave the room...before the other asked questions."
"Yeah. After I had made the deal, it was kind of sereal, we knew what we had to do- fix the boat, even though 'you' weren't asked to, and you weren't totally aware about the deal. We just got on with it like zombies, we didn't talk...we never saw Jack, but soon as the boat was fixed we sorta..."Epps closed her mouth and stared straight ahead at the up coming junction. She didn't know how to explain it.
"-Went to sleep." Dodge finished, at almost a whisper. His wife steadily nodded still staring mystically ahead. "Then we woke up, sitting in that bar with a..."
"-Hangover."
"Yeah. We all went our separate ways from then on, except for us...and Murphy. We only contacted the others through letters, I remember sending them each a picture of Catrina when she was five years old. The last time I wrote to them was 6 years ago, and now, we've arranged to meet them at the coast, to prepare to go to back to very thing that screwed our lives up."
"I wouldn't say screwed our lives up, if we hadn't of gone, we would have been still working on the Arctic Warrior, day in and day out together, but 'apart', never getting on with a normal life."
"We don't have a normal life now, we would have been better as we were just the six of us as a family on a boat."
"What...and not be married, is that what you mean!"
Dodge realising he had said it in the wrong way, elaborated aggravatedly. "Err...no, we still could of got married, but we would be still on the boat."
"Dodge, you wouldn't of had admitted your feelings me if we hadn't had gone through the Antonia Graza ordeal. And your missing the point if I would of married you then, I wouldn't have wanted to spend the rest of my life with you and the other 4 men on board." Maureen heatedly jerked the steering wheel to one side, as her husband cringed at her angered form.
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Catrina sat with her back against the wall under the porthole, focusing on the door, praying no one would come through it. No matter who it was, she didn't feel like talking to them, she wanted to be alone, alone with her thoughts, and fears. Her eyelids slowly fluttered closed, she felt herself drop and she suddenly jerked awake. Catrina felt like if she did nod off, something unpleasant would happen to her. She still found it hard to believe what Katie had told her, and yet she was sitting there fearing it. Darkness began to fall within the room as little by little the sun began to set, the atmosphere was bitter and she imagined her own screams piercing the deadly silence. Then as if on cue - she heard a distant door creak open, slow footsteps padded along the landing -she jumped up leaning against the wall. The patter went by her door and quickly faded away further into the ship. Her heartbeat quickened at the returning peace.
'Where was he going?'
Catrina pushed her trainers away from her, and slid down the wall. The remaining light in the room made her eyes sparkle a little, and gave the impression she had teared up.
After a while nothing happened. She had grown a fascination in scratching her name on the wooden flooring, as she did this she mumbled. 'Oh lord...why do you hate me.' She looked upwards, and found herself inspired to speak out loud.
"Somebody help me, I know I'm only a young maiden with a heart like a withered old woman, and on some occasions a foul mouth, but I'm not all that...I'm frightened, in need of a prince to sweep me of my feet." A faint smile came on her face as her childish mind wound up. "Robert maybe -yeah Robert...whatever, I have been imprisoned by a so called demon." She clamped her mouth shut to prevent her from saying '..with a nice neck.'. She drew a deep breath before continuing. "Why mother have you not come, are you still angry with me...or are you just accepting the fact that I have been taken because of a deal you made years ago?" She hugged her knees to her chest, her eyes surveyed the door once more. "Maybe I don't need your help...maybe I can get out of this situation on my own." She released a sigh and looked off to the side.
As Catrina sat there alone in the dark, she felt lower than her age which was the first time for her. Normally when she reached a new age she would have the mind and the attitude of someone three years older than her, her childhood had somehow felt rushed. She could speak in full sentences before she reached 3, by the time she was 6 she could read any book and every book in her house, when she was 9 she began planning life after school, when she was 11; apart from getting braces, Catrina dyed her hair black and went through a gothic stage, which lasted 2 years, by then she had developed a little interest in boys, and sex had become a big issue at school. Everybody was doing it with no thought of commitment or even the consequences. Catrina had a few boyfriends just like every other girl, while she would be walking hand in hand with a guy from a science revision class, other girls her age would be screwing members of the football team in the same night. After she got her braces removed, she was known to all the guys in school as a stunner. Various boys from all over the neighbourhood fancied her, but they mainly fancied her because she had a few things some other girls didn't have; her virginity, self respect, pride, and a natural pretty face. When she was sixteen, and the upcoming prom was getting closer, various boys were falling over each other to get to her first, but she knew better, she knew perfectly well they would try and drag her to a 'after prom' party -get her pissed, and try to screw her in a cupboard. So she decided to accept Derek Johnson's hand when going to the prom. He was a library squatter -someone that spent 85 of their time in the library, 10 playing football, 5 eating. He looked so innocent... until he gave her a ride home, which put her off boys for a year. That's until her best friend Emma' dragged her to Adam's house party, the first ten minutes were fun, then she collapsed onto the sofa with a bunch of other teenagers to rest, while her mates danced or 'went upstairs.' Then as if by magic she locked eyes with a man laughing with his friends by the fire place. Robert. Turned out he was one of the Goths she used to hang out with at a cult when she was 11, and he had had his eyes on her since the prom.
'Robert, sweet Robert.' Catrina hugged her legs tighter to her as if it were him.
Suddenly a scream surged upwards from the bow of the ship, Catrina jumped up with a start and pressed herself further into the wall behind her. It was a woman's scream. Her eyes were shining as she stared awkwardly at the door, not knowing whether to attempt a rescue. Another scream erupted from the bow of the ship, it rung terrifically in her ears, and her stomach plummeted as it abruptly finished. Something started in Catrina, she had a leap of faith, she ran forward and began kicking at the metal panel attached to the bottom of the door. Pain shot through the bones of her toes, as her feet continually connected with the solid metal. Then the metal finally gave way and flopped uselessly onto the landing. Catrina scurried through the gap, and she was already running ahead before fully standing up. The corridors were long and dark, and she hurtled through them like no body's business. She ran through Francesca's form which had suddenly floated out of a side wall to try and prevent her from running any further.
"Come back 'ere at once!" She ignored Francesca's command and ran into another corridor. Catrina knew she wouldn't forgive herself if she didn't save that persons life. From out of the blue - a ghostly hand came through a door on her left followed by the rest of the body, Katie grabbed her arm in mid run.
"No Catrina don't! Normally I would encourage people to rescue innocents, but this time it's a no no - Don't go when he is working...he would be in the wrong mood." Catrina whipped her arm away from her.
"Katie...I can't let them die!"
"You can't stop Jack...he's in the middle of the draining process." Katie shrieked desperately trying to keep up with her.
"Are you still on about the soul thingy again!"
"I would let you go and see it for yourself so you can believe me, but now is not the time." Katie was skipping through corners to stay by Catrina's side. And as always ghost heads would be popping out of walls at any bit of commotion.
"I'm sorry Katie but I can't sit around waiting for people to get hurt-"
"Sometimes you have no choice!" Katie clutched Cartina's forearms, close to tears.
"Sorry Katie." Catrina jerked her arms away, while rushing past her. Her heart was breaking at the desperation in the little girl's voice, but she had to do what she thought was right. Her determination had brought her this far, she couldn't turn her back on it now. Even if it meant tackling Jack to the ground to get the woman to run ahead she would strive to do it. She heard murmuring further down the hall, her trainers padded on the rough flooring and they came to a dramatic stop in front of a door. Her muscles twitched slightly as she eyed the door knob. She placed her hand on the brass handle. Even though the brass was ice cold, she could feel pulses of energy igniting within her palm. She sighed before forcefully opening the door. The heat in the room was intoxicating, and it came at her in waves, which blew her hair back from the side of her face. She looked about her - full of ease but uncertainty, and she remained dithering in the doorway as if preparing to back off. The room was a type of storage room, cardboard boxes were stacked on top of each other right up to the ceiling, and newspapers littered the floor, apart from that...the room appeared to be empty. Catrina turned towards the door, to retreat into the corridor...when suddenly a blood curdling scream rung out, she froze in mid-step - the colour drained from her cheeks - the sound was coming from right behind her.
She spun around, she couldn't see anything, then she peered around a stack of boxes. Catrina stared horrifically at the scene before her. Jack was topless, and he had a semi nude woman pinned under him, she was hoarsely screaming, trying to push Jack away from her, who was jerked into her forcefully. Jack seemed to be concentrating on what he was doing, ignoring the woman's pleas and efforts of escape, he hadn't even noticed Catrina standing behind him, the woman on the other hand was reaching out to her. Catrina stood frozen to the spot her mouth hung open in shock, then as if an invisible hand had slapped her across the face, she leapt forward onto Jack's back. Her arms came up around his neck and she pulled all her weight back, trying to prize him off the woman.
"GET OFF HER YOU SON-OF-A-BITCH!"
Jack wasn't paying attention, so she kicked, scratched and bit. The woman had now gone pale, and her eyes were rolling in their sockets. Catrina in panic cried. "Stay with me, don't pass out!" In her desperation she covered Jack's nose and mouth with her hand. "Why are you doing this Jack, why"
She suddenly sensed him come out of his trance, and his hands released the woman, she sunk to the floor. His hands then flew up to prize Catrina's hands away. Her worry over the woman's life had gone, and she was now concerned about her own, he was going to be pissed. He was staggering around the room dragging Catrina with him who was still hanging off his back and attached to his face. Jack then unexpectedly bent forward, causing Catrina to flip over his shoulder and onto the floor. She sat up, her heart was racing, Jack was still bent forward, he had his hands on his knees trying to catch his breathe. He finally looked up, his eyes were blood red. Catrina stared into them fearfully, wondering what was going to happen next. Jack was looking her up and down hungrily, then his eyes softened into a fearful stare and he averted his eyes towards the lifeless woman behind him. He zipped himself up and walked across the room to retrieve his shirt, he could feel Catrina's gaze burning into his bare back. He slipped into his familiar green shirt feeling slightly angry and ashamed. He brought his attention back to Catrina who was spawned out on the floor, her eyes were staring off to the side at the woman sadly. He didn't feel like saying anything. Jack took a step forward, and her eyes rushed back to him her chest heaving.
"Catrina." He felt annoyed at the concern and guilt he was feeling. He took another step forward trying to look as innocent as possible. "Cat?"
Then just what he was expecting, she her eyes widened as she screamed in terror. Then he made the mistake of coming forward into her recovery zone. Jack's heart skipped a beat as his attempt at trying to comfort her failed as she bolted out the door.