Static. That was all Captain Higgins heard as she held the two-way radio to her ear. The static seemed to grow louder the more she spoke into the radio, practically mocking her. She pictured a snake hissing on the other side, a narrow grin, forked tongue slipping out to display its complete satisfaction toward the captain's dilemma.

"I repeat, the body has been contained. A crewmember has also died." Captain Higgins spoke slowly in hopes of every word making it across the transmission. "The ship has rerouted back toward our departure. We need immediate assistance."

The static crackled. Again, nothing. Her grip tightened over the radio, the plastic cracking under her strength. Why won't any of our communications work?

She stepped away from the two-way radio and stood in the center of the bridge, the navigation room of the cruise ship. Giant glass windows paneled the bridge with a one-eighty-degree view of the ocean. The stern peaked out from below like a giant knife slicing through the dark waters.

Her body stood as a silhouette before the purple sky, shoulders broad and head tilted high, her hat seated nicely on her bun. Trails of clouds stretched across the sky, but a darker set of clouds approached from the horizon. The ship was headed right to them.

Surrounding Captain Higgins were a hundred blinking lights. Red ones. Green ones. Yellow ones. There were countless buttons, dials, and knobs. Numerous screens, scales, and meters. The bridge was where Captain Higgins and her crew managed the direction and speed of the ship. It was where they controlled the ship's mechanical, electronic and communication systems. It was where the magic happened. Or where the nightmares happened, depending on who was in control. But today is starting to feel like a nightmare and I have this feeling that it's only just begun.

The bridge was usually operated by several other crewmembers, but it was just her and Thomas Dunn tonight. The rest had reported feeling ill and she wanted none of that behavior from William Reeds in this room. Not in here. She looked over to Thomas, his back curved, shirt hanging from his shoulders, as he sat hunched over a nautical chart. Captain Higgins walked over to him.

"What's wrong with you?" She had a way with words.

"Huh?" He looked up, blinking in confusion.

"Why the dreary face?" she said. "Why are you moping in my bridge? Why are you staring at that piece of paper?"

"I uh—" Thomas looked down. "I'm just not feeling well."

"Why not?" She raised her eyebrow.

"I have a headache."

"Of course." She threw her hand in the air. "Everyone and their damn headaches. Maybe your head is going to explode too?"

He tried to speak but she cut him off.

"It's fine. Go and rest." She exhaled. "I want none of that nonsense in this room."

Thomas shuffled out of the bridge. It was just Captain Higgins now. The blinking lights in the bridge sparkled around her, growing brighter as the night sky darkened. The lights from the equipment shone like stars, making her feel like she was in space. She wondered what it was like up there. It wasn't too different from the sea. Vast. Endless. And so much more to be explored. Maybe in another life. Then she thought of the astronaut and how he came burning out of the sky. Maybe not. Then she thought of the stump he had for a neck. Definitely not.

The radio hissed, static scraping through the air like steel wool. Her eyes darted across the room and she hustled back to the radio.

"...ship...not...any...please...for..."

Captain Higgins placed her ear against the speaker. Trying to decipher the message. She was only getting bits and pieces. Good for nothing equipment. I thought the radio was supposed to be reliable.

"...stop...do...continue...further...wait...assistance"

Her face twisted in confusion. That didn't make any sense.

"...stop the...do not...further...wait."

Stop the ship. Do not continue any further. Please wait for assistance.

Captain Higgins stepped back from the radio. I've had it up to here with this shit. She walked to the control systems and halted the engines. The ship began to lose speed, the needles on the dials dropping as the ship slowed. The stern began looking like a dull knife, the ocean slicing past it instead.

Stop the ship? For how long? When would assistance arrive? The bridge was starting to feel like it was where all the nightmares happened. This is the second time since the body came down that she had to stop the ship. Captain Higgins has directed countless trips on this ship and never has she experienced something like this.

Without the ship moving, Captain Higgins grew restless. She always had something to look forward to, the next checkpoint that awaited on the horizon. But now she had to wait until assistance arrived. She was a sitting duck. Why do we need to wait in the middle of the Atlantic for help? Something is not right. Captain Higgins felt completely useless, like a log floating downstream, waterfall waiting around the bend. If she didn't escape the strong current, she and the rest of the ship would find themselves plummeting below.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

Captain Higgins thought back to the astronaut that fell from the sky. His corpse. The unexplained illness and psychotic behavior spreading across her ship like wildfire. Something is going on here. Something confidential. But this was her ship. And shouldn't she know what the hell was going on? It was certainly her business. And if anyone should have a say on what was going to happen, it should be her.

Captain Higgins reached for the phone and pressed it against her ear. "This is Captain Higgins." Her voice deepened, not intentionally, but when she took command, her voice did as well. "Can you send two crewmembers to stand watch in the bridge immediately. My night crew is ill and I need replacements. The ship has halted and I simply need them to keep an eye on the systems."

If she was going to get to the bottom of this, she would go straight to the person who felt the most unwell. Ava Castillo had been exhibiting the same symptoms William Reeds displayed in the security footage. Ava was in charge of handling the electronic systems in the bridge. She was Captain Higgins' finest until she started driving her head into the equipment. Security was called and they placed her in a holding cell, for her own wellbeing. The last thing Captain Higgins needed was having Ava get ahold of another flare gun and cauterizing her face.

Captain Higgins left the bridge before her staff arrived. This ship isn't going anywhere anyway. She descended several decks until she approached the hallway that led to the holding cell. This section of the ship felt institutional, like a prison, but there were usually a couple of security guards stationed at the mouth of the hallway leading to the holding cell. The hallway was deserted. Captain heard screams from above. What the hell is going on? Captain Higgins quickened her pace and turned into the room with the holding cell.

She froze. Two security guards lay lifeless on the ground, their bodies in the positions of chalk drawings at a murder scene. A puddle of blood soaked into the floor beneath them. Their faces were mauled and the torso was punctured in a series of craters that looked like they were made of swiss cheese. Blood splattered across the wall.

Captain Higgins looked past them and into the holding cell. No. No. No. Ava stood in the holding cell, her forehead leaning against the bars, her hands wrapped around them as if pleading to be released, except she wasn't breathing. But how could she? Her head was completely gone. Like a roman statue, she stood like a human carved from stone, headless. The rest of her brain matter, bits of skull and hair were stuck to the walls around her, pieces hanging between the bars of the holding cell like a grenade went off. How could this happen?

Human heads didn't just explode. It wasn't a thing. Captain Higgins wasn't a medical professional, but it didn't take years of school to figure that out. It couldn't happen. Could it? Then again, what happened to William Reeds wasn't normal. What happened to him wasn't possible. But yet it happened. What are we dealing with here?

Captain Higgins stepped toward the control panel of the holding cell and released the door, the bars sliding open. Ava's headless corpse tipped to the ground, blood leaking from her neck. Captain Higgins stepped into the holding cell and looked around at the mess. How in the hell?

Her hands were shaking. She clenched them into to fits to stop her muscles from tremoring, her knuckles whitening, bones ready to burst through her skin and cause a gory scene of their own. Captain Higgins wished she stayed in the bridge, a world where she felt comfortable, a place where she knew what to do when shit hit the fan. But this...this is something else entirely.

Captain Higgins stepped back out of the holding cell, her lungs screaming for air. Her heart pounded in her ears, the pressure feeling like she was sinking to the bottom of the ocean. Was her head going to explode too?

She couldn't take it. She needed to leave. Captain Higgins whirled around and froze. Something crawled across the ceiling like a spider, countless arms allowing it to move toward her at incredible speed. She couldn't breathe, the creature seizing the air in her lungs.

The closer it got, the more it looked like something from the sea. Its long arms moved like tentacles, jointless. Something from the deep. But Captain Higgins knew that wasn't true. She knew that it came down in the crash. She knew it was the reason for everything. Yet her body remained still, as if accepting her fate.

The creature leaped from the ceiling, its belly flashing rows of sharp teeth threatening to tear her to shreds. But it didn't bite her. It knocked her to the ground, the tentacles wrapping around her body, tightening around her neck. She was always a fighter, but in this instance, she lost all will. Why draw out her death and make it more excruciating than it needed to be? The fear was paralyzing, stripping her of title, recognition, and authority—turning her into nothing more than the average person. That's all she was to this creature. It didn't recognize her as anything but its prey. And at the end of the day, that's all she was.

She felt a tentacle pierce the soft flesh beneath her jaw. A terrible pain seized her mind as the creature wormed its way into her head. Her vision closed.

Captain Higgins opened her eyes, looking at the ceiling. Why was she lying on the floor? How long had she been unconscious? There was red everywhere. Paint? No, blood. She looked to her left and right and saw the dead security guards. Her body shot up into a seated position. What happened? Her eyes widened as she relived the scenario for a second time. She turned back to see Ava's headless corpse. And more blood. Everywhere. Captain Higgins jumped to her feet.

She retraced her steps. She came down to check on Ava and came across this scene. Yes. But then she blacked out. She couldn't remember a thing. What happened to me? Did I fall and hit my head? She felt a pain coming from her neck and her fingers reached for the raw flesh beneath her jaw. She pulled her fingers back and saw blood on the tips. What the hell.

More screams from above.

"What is happening on my ship!" she shouted.

Captain Higgins bolted from the holding cell and down the hallway. She ran up a stairwell, two steps at a time, launching herself up by leveraging the railings. She peered out from the stairwell and onto the main deck. People were running wild, blood covering their clothes. Her jaw hung open. Everything was falling apart.

The wind rushed past her and lifted her hat from her head for a brief moment, but she caught it and placed it firmly back over her bun. I don't think so.

She saw a woman walking toward a crowd of people, cornered against the railing of the ship. From the woman's head hatched an army of tentacles, reaching for its next victim.

Captain Higgins needed to get back to the bridge. She needed to call for help. This was beyond anything she was capable of controlling. This was pure chaos. It was unbelievable. The headaches. The astronaut. Goddamn aliens. Are you kidding me?

She exited the stairwell and turned toward the bridge to find a man blocking her way. His back was to Captain Higgins, legs wobbling as if the ship was rocking from choppy waters. The man approached a woman and her child, yelling at her. He looked like he would attack them—the cherry on top of Captain Higgins' worst day ever.