Captain Higgins reached down and shook the woman's shoulder, feeling boney and frail beneath her hands. She put up a good fight against that creature, but she really had no chance.

"Neil?" The woman muttered in her sleep, her face twitching.

Was he the host to that monster? Captain Higgins pictured the creature, long black cords escaping from his abdomen.

She shook her again and the woman's head shot forward, eyes wide, breathing heavy. The woman held her hand over her chest, feeling it race as if it wanted to hop right out of her sternum and make a run for it.

"You're safe." Captain Higgins said.

The woman looked up at her, still disoriented. "I just had the strangest dream."

"Can't be as strange as what's happening on this ship," Captain Higgins responded.

"Right." The woman blinked and looked around the bridge, a lot of buttons and gadgets that meant absolutely nothing to her. "I forgot to say thanks for your help. I would have been—"

"Don't thank me yet," Captain Higgins cut her off. They were not safe, not really.

The child stirred in the woman's arms, her eyes opened slowly like curtains to another world. Her dream didn't appear to be as strange as the one the woman had. Perhaps she had dreamed she was back at home, before all this. She looked up at the woman and then to Captain Higgins.

"Good morning," Captain Higgins said. She took a step closer and crouched, sticking her hand out. "I'm Captain Higgins, but if that's too much you can call me Sarah. That's my first name."

"Nice to meet you." A little hand reached out. "My name is Sandy."

"That's a great name. Can I have it? I think it would really suit me. Captain Sandy Higgins, what do you think?"

"That's my name." Sandy smiled. "Yours is Sarah."

How this girl finds a way to smile during these circumstances, I have no idea.

"I'm Kerrie," the woman said.

"Are you her mother?" Captain Higgins asked.

Kerrie shook her head.

"That's what I thought," Captain Higgins said. She turned back to Sandy. "Have you ever been to the bridge on a cruise?"

Sandy shook her head, confused.

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"It's not the kind of bridge that goes over water." Captain Higgins turned to all the equipment. "It's where we control the ship. It's kind of like a cockpit, where a pilot flies a plane."

Sandy's eyes took in all the lights, screens, and buttons.

"Want me to give you a tour?" Captain Higgins waved Sandy over.

Sandy stood to her feet and followed Captain Higgins around the bridge, sandals shuffling across the floor. Kerrie got up and followed closely behind, interested in how everything worked. It was like a foreign language, all the equipment and technology meaningless to her. Captain Higgins started from one side of the bridge and moved to the other. She explained all the buttons, what they did, how everything worked.

"But don't touch that one," Captain Higgins said. "That's the eject button. It'll send you flying off the ship."

Sandy took a step back and held her hands behind her back, just in case they had the uncontrollable urge to press the big red button.

"I'm just kidding." Captain Higgins smiled.

"Oh." Sandy smiled, a little unsure about which part Captain Higgins was kidding about. "But why isn't the ship moving?"

"The big people told us to stay put and that help is on the way."

"Where are they?"

"Here." Captain Higgins reached for the binoculars. "Have you ever used one of these? You just look through these two holes and you can see really far. Tell me what you see." Captain Higgins passed Sandy the binoculars.

Sandy rolled onto the tips of her toes and looked out across the ocean. Kerrie watched her and looked back across the water, trying to spot something. They were small but she could see ships in the distance.

"Big boats!" Sandy shouted. "I see big boats!"

"Let me see," Kerrie said, taking the binoculars from Sandy.

"Hey!" Sandy cried.

"The military," Kerrie said, looking toward the steel giants that surrounded them. "But why are they out there?"

"I don't think they're letting anyone leave, not easily at least. You see the lifeboats by the ships?"

"Barely." Kerrie squinted. "They stopped the lifeboats. But why?"

Captain Higgins opened her mouth but Kerrie answered her own question. "They're not here to help us." She turned to Captain Higgins. "What do we do?"

"You need to get off this ship," Captain Higgins said.

"Are there any lifeboats left?" Kerrie asked.

"They're all gone."

"Then how will we get off? We can't swim in the middle of the ocean."

"There'll be some containers on the ship still holding inflatable liferafts. They aren't as apparent as the lifeboats and without a crewmember explaining, the average passenger would have run right by them. I'll help you release it to the water and take you down the gangway where you'll have to jump."

"You'll help us? What about you?"

Captain Higgins pointed to the wound on her neck. "You see this? It's in me, that creature. My head is killing me and I don't have much time left."

Kerrie took a step back. "How do you know?"

"There are just some things you know. I can hear it. I feel it. It's in my head."

"But what if the military can—"

"I'm as good as dead."

"Maybe they know how to fix—"

"I don't think you're really getting it." Captain Higgins pointed to the ships in the distance. "They're not there to help us. They've surrounded us to make sure that whatever is on this ship doesn't make it past them. If it means losing a few people in the process, that's fine. As long as it's for the greater good. My time is up but at least you and Sandy can make it out of here."

"What do you mean—"

"They're going to take the cruise down, Kerrie."

They all looked up to the sound of a roaring jet engine that tore across the sky, their eyes following the sound to the windows, a fighter jet slicing through the clouds. The steel bird did a barrel roll and curved upward, the grey blanket swallowing it whole. It was the last thing Kerrie needed to see to fully process the situation.

"We don't have much time." Captain Higgins walked to the door and unlocked it. "Are you ready?"