"What the hell is in the wine cellar, Lucas?!" Taras asked loudly, beginning to get infected with Lucas's fear.

Lucas looked at Taras somewhat blurred by his tears as he thought about something, then his eyes widened, as if he had discovered the way to never-never land, and his crying suddenly stopped.

He stared at Taras as an ear-to-ear grin spread across his face and his eyes twinkled like stars, saying with the calm of a wanderer:

"If I die, they die with me"

"What?..." Taras could not believe what was happening, not because of the stupidity of the person he had in his hand, but because years of sailing whispered in his ears that this man was not lying, really this time his life was in play.

"You two, you're going to be the first to die, because you're the ones who know the least…" Lucas's smile kept widening.

*Puff*

Red blood stained the kitchen door as Taras gasped, sweat pouring down his face and blood from his hand.

"What the fuck are you saying...!" He screamed at the top of his lungs, but before he could continue.

Lucas covered her mouth and looked toward the door, more afraid of what was behind her than of the man in front of him.

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Next, Lucas looked at Taras, a smile forming on his mouth with few teeth and smeared with blood as he murmured: "Careful, if they hear us, it's game over boy..."

'No, no, no, no, this can't be happening to me' Seeing how Lucas didn't give a damn about the blow, Taras clearly knew that he had walked into the lion's den. His sailor soul told her that only someone who knew he was about to die would be acting so weird.

Ricardo stayed silent, trying to go unnoticed, his heart knew that if he wanted to get out alive he had to kill the one who survived of these two, he would have to take advantage of the right moment and carry out the attack, before the 'winner' could react to his presence.

Lucas stared at Taras with a big smile, the same smile that led him to survive these long years in the ocean, he alone would never have made it, but by parasitizing others... Nothing was impossible.

"Listen, I just want you to explain to me what's in the cellar, understood boy..." Taras murmured with a trembling voice, paying attention to Lucas.

"I don't know what's in the hold, but I know what's in the other crewmen's minds, but if you want to know too, then you're not going to yell from now on" Lucas said smiling at Taras confidently, starting to show an attitude that he never showed on this boat.

Taras didn't say anything, the situation was too abnormal and silence was the best answer.

"All the sailors were infected during the attack, this infection causes your brain to gradually distort reality, causing their behavior to become more and more erratic, so they are all murderers, lunatics, rapists, cannibals, etc…"

"As you said, the captain uses us as shields, but not to give excuses to the disease"

"What the captain wants are men who are willing to give their lives to identify the first lunatics, and to achieve that, he's going to do everything he can to focus the crew's hatred on the three of us."

"Do you think I'm going to believe that story..." Teras murmured with many doubts.

"Tell me, don't you feel like there's something wrong with you, can't you tell the difference in your own body?" Lucas asked, looking at Teras.