Alexander Dockter thought he was safe after having escaped the trenches. He was wrong.
On its way to England, his ship is torpedoed by a german U-boat and he has to find his way up to the deck. But the rising water is not the only threat that lurks...
Alexander expected the worst. What on god's earth was awaiting him now? An undead standing right before him?
But it was much, much worse.
A little hissing sound could be heard in dark, like someone just lite a match. And indeed they did, candles started to lit up on the floor, showing him the way.
"Oh Lord, give me strength." Alexander muttered. But there was no god here, no one to protect him.
He walked on through the barely lit corridor. Noices could be heard coming from behind the cabin doors. Whispers and cries.
Cries from man, woman and children. Because their brothers, fathers, sons and husbands would never return home.
All because of his selfish actions. Their blood was on his hands and he knew it.
"Murderer... Butcher... Traitor... Deserter... COWARD!" the voices said, getting louder and louder.
Alexander held his hands to his ears but the voices came right through, right into his brain. "No... No! Get out of my head!" he screamed.
"They are all dead... and it is our fault. They should have died for their king, their country. But they died for a you, a pathetic excuse for a human being."
"Shut up!"
With a loud bang, one of the doors was ripped out of its frame. After recovering from the shock, Alexander peered inside. There was just a small table with a letter on it. It read:
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"Execution.... right. I remember." he realized.
After the attack, he was sedated and brought on this ship on it's way to scotland where he would be executed for cowardice. But they offered him a chance to escape the grave if he would volunteer as guinee pig for a new procedure. He also remembered laying on an operation table. Put he couldn't remember what exactly the procedure was all about or what happened afterwards.
When he got out and back into the corridor, the voices were gone and so were the candles. They were still playing tricks on him.
He finally found an elevator and it even worked. He pressed the button but while he was waiting, he heard it.
A whistled melody. Oh god, anything but that!
It was Davis. And he was closing in on him. Alexander pushed the button harder and several times in panic. "Come on, come on, come on!"
The corpse came ever closer, his unnatural long arms began reaching for Alexander. He pressed his back against the elevator gate and prepared himself for the worse. But then he fell backwards. The elevator was here! Alexander quickly pressed the button, hoping he was able to escape in time before Davies could reach him. But the undead was just standing there, watching him as the elevator took him to B-Deck.
Alexande could hear the water rising. These corridors would be flooded any minute now.
According to a map hanging on the wall, the stairs were just up ahead. Only problem? A gate was blocking the way. But Alexander had come so far. He pulled out his revolver and shot the lock two times, breaking it. He opened the gates and ran.
So close to the deck, the boats... survival.
And there he was again. Davies.
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He just stood there, arms crossed behind his back, the water covering his feet. His empty eyesockets stared right at Alexander, piercing into his soul.
Alexander began to loose his nerves. He was so close, just so close, damnit! "What do you want from me?! Why don't you just kill me and be done with it?!" he yelled at the walking corpse.
Davies didn't answer.
Alexander tried to avoid his gaze but he had enough. He was so close to the Boat deck, so close to safety! "Curse you, Davies!" he yelled and stormed forward, ready to punch his way out if he had to. He was not a brave man but he would sure as hell try to survive.
As he lunged forward, Davies vanished in front of his eyes. He couldn't believe it.
"I'm really losing it... The guilt is eating me up." he muttered.
The water level started rising again and it soon reached his chest. At the end of the corridor was a hall and to his right, he saw the staircase to A-Deck. We ran.
