Kerrie and Sandy emerged from the passenger cabins onto the main deck. The night sky was covered in a blanket of clouds, not a star in sight. The wind rushed against Kerrie's skin like sheets of ice, piercing the thin cotton of her shirt. Sandy looked up at Kerrie to see her hair dancing in the wind, dark tendrils twisting and splitting like the arms of the spaceman.

Sandy leaned into Kerrie's side, half of her face pressed into Kerrie's hip. The cruise was in the same state of frenzy as when Tom pulled the body from the ocean. Fear pulsed through the air and seeped into the skin like radiation poisoning.

Sandy flinched as a family ran past. The mother was carrying a baby and the father was dragging his son at a speed too fast for his little legs to keep up, his knees scraping against the deck. The mother's eyes darted around, dark grooves carved beneath. She looked like she hadn't slept since the spaceship rocketed down from the heavens. Her and the rest of the cruise.

"Get up," the father said.

"I can't, you're moving too fast," the boy responded.

"Well move faster."

The father held the boy's arm higher, his skin twisting like a wet towel.

"Ow!" the boy cried.

More people hurried behind the family. Eyes wide. Mouths open. They were completely disoriented. They bumped into each other, fumbled with their belongings. Kerrie was sure they would soon be crawling over one another like ants scurrying beneath a great shadow.

"Come here," Kerrie said. She reached for Sandy and picked her up. "Let's see where everyone is going."

They wrapped around the corner to find a swarm of people near the edge of the ship. The crowd was loud and pressed tightly against the railing like animals in a slaughterhouse. Before them was an orange lifeboat. It was suspended from cables beneath a pulley mechanism. The crowd squeezed into the lifeboat, pulling each other out of the way. A man knocked a child to the floor, another man grabbed him by the collar of his shirt and yanked him back. The shirt ripped from his shoulder to his ribs. Fists began to fly.

"Let's get you on this boat," Kerrie said, moving into the crowd from along the railing.

"No, I don't want to," Sandy said.

"You'll be safe," Kerrie said. "It's a way off this ship."

"No don't leave me, Kerrie."

"I'm sorry. I have to stay behind and find my boyfriend."

Kerrie and Sandy pressed deep into the crowd.

"Let my family in!" a woman cried from the lifeboat. "My son! Let my son in!"

"You bitch," someone shouted.

"Please let my children on."

Kerrie wormed her way to the front of the crowd. A man was hoisting a child into the lifeboat. Sweat ran down his jaw and dripped from his chin. He turned back to the crowd. His eyes were glazed with fear or something else entirely, something greater, something darker.

"Please take this girl," Kerrie said.

"We were here first," someone shouted from behind.

The man looked to Kerrie and then the raging crowd behind her.

"Please, she's lost her family. She needs to get on the lifeboat."

Sandy shook her head and wrapped her arms around Kerrie.

"Take her." Kerrie pried Sandy from her neck. "I'm sorry, Sandy. It's safer for you this way."

"Okay," the man said and reached for Sandy.

"No!" Sandy screamed. Tears rushed down her face. "No! I want to stay with you!"

She squirmed from the man's hands and fell to the floor.

"Sandy!" Kerrie shouted.

Sandy vanished beneath the bodies and the shuffling legs. Kerrie pressed through the crowd, searching for the red polka dot dress.

"How do we know someone on this lifeboat doesn't have it?" someone cried.

"The cruise hasn't moved in hours, we need to get off!"

"Stop. Stop. Stop."

Someone pulled Kerrie back by her hair. She whirled around to meet dozens of contorted faces. Kerrie was knocked to the ground and someone hauled her back up.

"WHERE IS SHE?" Kerrie screamed and shoved everyone back. Panic seized Kerrie by the neck and dunked her into a pool of anger. Her arms wanted to swing. Her legs wanted to thrash. She could hurt someone right now and she didn't care. Rage was thumping in her temples, threatening to burst from her skull and completely level everyone.

"Where is she?" Kerrie repeated.

A woman pointed outside the crowd and Kerrie broke from it. She saw Sandy running down the ship. Kerrie called for Sandy, but she didn't stop. Her skin was now hot against the ocean air. She weaved and pivoted around people that ran past. As Sandy turned a corner into the miniature golf course, Kerrie whipped out behind her and caught Sandy by the arm.

"What are you doing?" Kerrie asked.

"You're hurting me," Sandy said.

Kerrie let go of Sandy's wrist and saw the white imprints she left behind.

"Sorry." Kerrie took a deep breath. "Why did you run like that? I was trying to help you."

"I don't want to go," Sandy said.

"But I have to stay on this boat. I have to find someone."

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"I don't want to go," Sandy repeated. "I want to stay with you. You said I could watch your back and you could watch mine." Sandy's eyes swelled with more tears.

"Hey." Kerrie pulled Sandy in. "I'm sorry, okay? I'm sorry."

That was it then, Kerrie had to find Neil and keep Sandy safe. She wasn't even sure she could keep herself safe, but maybe Sandy was better off with her than running across the ship by herself.

"You're one brave little kid," Kerrie said, looking into Sandy's eyes. "But it may be dangerous. Are you sure you want to stay with me?"

Sandy nodded.

Boy, she really trusts me, Kerrie thought. How did I end up with this kid in the first place?

"Okay, if you say so." Kerrie gave Sandy a hug.

Kerrie and Sandy stood on the green of the second hole of the miniature golf course. What would have been bustling with kids trying to get their hole in one, was now deserted and ominous. Wires of festival-like lights draped over the course. Golf clubs lay across the turf and golf balls were scattered throughout like an Easter egg scavenger hunt.

"Have you played mini-golf yet?" Kerrie asked, reaching for one of the putters.

"No," Sandy said.

"Here." Kerrie handed her the putter and kicked over a ball. "Give it a shot."

Sandy took a step toward the ball and gave it a tap—as gentle as you'd expect her to. The ball rolled slowly at first but gained speed as it hit a decline. The ball rolled around a bend and sunk into the hole.

"Woah, hole in one—" Kerrie saw a bloody footprint where Sandy was originally standing. "Your foot, Sandy."

Kerrie picked Sandy up, the putter slipping from her hand and hitting the floor like the mop in the maintenance closet. Kerrie placed Sandy on an artificial rock and lifted her foot to find the sole sliced open.

"Did you step on anything sharp when you were running?"

Blood ran down to the heel, a river of red that dripped onto the rock.

"I don't know," Sandy said. "Do we have to cut it off?"

"We will not be amputating your foot." Kerrie smiled.

"Am-boo-tating?" Sandy asked.

"But we need to get bandages and clean the wound."

Kerrie exhaled and ran her hand through her hair. Where could she find a first aid kit in a time like this?

"Stay here." Kerrie moved to the stand where they kept the putters, golf balls and scorecards. There were a few towels in the stand, but they were filthy. They were used to clean the equipment and the last thing Sandy needed was an infection. Kerrie dug through the shelves. No bandages. No first aid kit. Nothing.

Kerrie looked to the sleeve of her white tee and grabbed the knife from her back pocket, slicing open the seam at her shoulder and tearing the rest of the fabric free. Kerrie slid down the white ring of fabric from her arm and split the ring open with the knife. She placed the knife on the stand and moved back to Sandy.

"This should stop the bleeding for now." Kerrie crouched and wrapped the fabric around Sandy's foot. "We need to find something better." Kerrie tightened the material, the white already soaked red. "Does it hurt?"

"Not really," Sandy said.

"Good." Kerrie sat next to Sandy. "What a day." Day. Night. Week. Time seemed to blend, pause and accelerate all at once. How long has it been since the crash happened?

Kerrie could still hear the crowd of people screaming by the lifeboat. She sat in silence with Sandy, the wind howling over the ship, sometimes hushing the yelling passengers in the distance. Kerrie looked down at Sandy and wondered if she was always this quiet or if she was hurting.

Of course she was hurting.

She lost her parents. Kerrie couldn't even fathom something like that at her age. Yet there was something strong and resilient about her.

"How do you know the spaceman got your parents?" Kerrie broke the silence.

Sandy was quiet.

"I saw," Sandy said.

Kerrie nodded.

"The spaceman might have gotten my boyfriend, but I have to make sure."

"I'll help you find him." Sandy looked up, eyes fierce and true.

"Are you sure?"

Sandy nodded.

Kerrie looked ahead and saw a cut-out piece of wood next to the miniature golf stand. Painted on it was a kid trying to putt a ball on a green surrounded by water. Shark fins poked from the waves. That's how I feel right now. Trapped.

"How did you know to wrap your shirt around my foot?" Sandy asked.

Kerrie broke from her trance. "I'm a nurse."

"Really?"

"Really, really."

"Does that mean you give needles?" Sandy's mouth hung open in shock.

"Yes, really big needles." Kerrie laughed.

"I don't like needles," Sandy said.

"I'm not sure anyone does." Kerrie smiled. "But lucky for you, we just need to find some disinfectant for that foot. That's going to hurt a bit though."

"Better than a needle."

"Yes." Kerrie ruffled Sandy's hair.

"I know there's a doctor's office on the cruise, why don't we check there? I wish you had some shoes though, I may have to carry you."

The passengers from the lifeboat were getting louder. Then there was screaming. It became hard to tell which screams warranted more concern than others, but Kerrie's gut started twisting. She let out a slow and controlled breath, trying to calm her mind. It felt like an electric current ran through her body, her muscles jolting at any sudden sounds or movements. She felt rigid and on edge.

More screaming. Kerrie heard something hit the water with a heavy splash. The lifeboat? Are the screams getting louder or closer? People ran past Kerrie and Sandy covered in blood. A man followed them, he was stumbling, and his face was dripping red. He looked at Kerrie and Sandy.

Kerrie stood and moved in front of Sandy.

The man made his way toward the miniature golf, his right leg limping. He rubbed the blood from his eyes with both hands. Kerrie had never seen someone covered in so much blood. He turned from them and walked to the stand, muttering and grunting something incoherent.

Kerrie reached for the knife in her back pocket, but it was missing. She saw it glimmering on the counter in the stand, right where the man was rummaging through its shelves.

"Never ends," the man muttered. "Never ends."

He grabbed one of the towels from the stand and wiped his face. He rubbed the cloth over his forehead, across his cheeks, and along his jaw. He started using the other towel and threw it to the floor.

"Why me?" he said. "Nobody even cares."

Blood still streaked his face, but he was no longer dripping in it. His white eyes looked up at Kerrie from the stand, catching her staring at him.

"Do you have a problem?" He asked, stepping out from the stand.

Kerrie stepped back, shielding Sandy.

"You don't get it," he said. "You don't know how it feels."

Kerrie watched the knife, sitting next to the man's arm.

He reached up, holding his palm against his forehead. His teeth were clenched, white against his red face.

"It hurts so bad." The man moaned and leaned his head against the stand. "I want to smash my head open. I want it to stop." His eyes met the knife on the counter, and he reached for it, his bloody fingers wrapping tightly around the metal handle. "Or maybe this could end it?" He held the knife up, examining it. "This could end my pain."

He stepped toward Kerrie and Sandy. They stepped back again.

"Is there a problem?" The man raised his voice. "Is my suffering too much for you?"

"There's no problem." Kerrie's voice was shaking.

"See, there it is." He pointed the knife at Kerrie. "I see it in your eyes. I see it in everyone's eyes. You want nothing to do with me. You just want to let me suffer. Let me die. It's easier for you that way."

"Sandy, run," Kerrie muttered the same words Sandy's mother did during her final moments.

Sandy's feet pattered across the course. Kerrie kept eye contact with the bloody man.

"How would you like it if I carved you open?" The man with the knife began walking toward her. "Then it could slither inside of you too. Then you could understand my pain." His white teeth flashed at her like a wolf standing over its kill.

Kerrie reached for a putter from the ground and held it like a baseball bat.

"You going to hit me with that?" he said. "Go ahead."

"Stay back." Kerrie's voice cracked. "I don't want to hurt you."

"I'm already hurt. I'm already in pain." He walked closer, a few feet away, the knife pointed toward Kerrie's chest.

"Please!" Kerrie cried, cranking the putter back.

"End my suffering," he said, raising the knife. "But you're going to—"

Kerrie's body twisted as she swung the club in an arc, the head of the putter cracking right through his temple. His eyes rolled to the back of his head and his knees buckled. The knife hit the green. Kerrie's eyes flooded and she screamed, pulling the club out from his head. His body collapsed forward, and she brought the club up one more time and slammed it into the back of his head. His skull gave a crunch and pooled with blood. Kerrie let go of the club and stepped back, tripping and falling right on her tailbone. The impact rattled up her spine.

Kerrie stayed seated and watched the blood pour from the man's skull. Tears trailed down her face. She heard Sandy's feet approaching from behind her. Sandy wrapped her little hands around Kerrie's arms and tugged at her.

"Kerrie?" Sandy called.

But Sandy's voice sounded distant. So far away.

"Come on, Kerrie." Sandy pulled her again. "We need to go."