Sailing Away

Chapter Four

Madison furiously entered the driving area where Strand was. Victor was surprised to see her arriving and was scared to catch what she had. So, as she was getting closer to him, he was walking back.

"You... Ugh!" Madison declared.

She had to stop herself because she didn't want to get too impolite. At least, not yet.

"What?" Victor asked her, completely ignoring the reason why she was so mad.

"You knew from the beginning!"

"What are you talking about?"

"Mexico."

"Why are you talking that?"

"For how long have you been planning that?"

"Madison, listen. I have a contact out there who is waiting for me. He has the money to get me there. And it's a safe place. But he only has the money for two people."

"Okay. What are you planning to do with us? Killing us? Letting us die on the sea? Letting us die on the land, maybe? Why not throwing us overboard?" Madison asked, angry.

Victor gasped.

"What? What is it?"

Victor thought about what he had said earlier and wondered if she knew what he'd said.

"Um... Nothing. We're heading to Mexico and I have a plan to make you all get there."

Madison knew this look.

"I know there's something. What is it?"

She examined him to know more about his thoughts.

"What? You were planning on killing someone?"

Strand tried no to change his facial expression but failed when he had a small spasm in his upper lip.

"Who were you planning to kill?"

Still no answer. Madison tried to think about everybody. Alicia hadn't done anything to upset him or anything. Plus, she was in charge of looking for lands and boats approaching. Nick had been on drugs but was sober before he got on the boat and hadn't taken drugs or medicine since they had left. And Strand was the one who helped Nick before they all got on the boat. If he wanted to kill him, it would already be done. Travis was an asset because of his abilities to repair almost everything. Chris was courageous and helpful. And he was learning pretty fast from his father and from Daniel. Daniel had some skills in cooking and fishing, plus he seemed to be Strand's confident. And Ofelia was quiet, but helpful since she had learned some medical skills from her mother. Who was left?

"You planned on killing me, didn't you?" Madison asked, understanding everything more clearly. "It's because I'm sick. You're scared. You're scared to catch what I have. You're scared to die, aren't you?"

Victor nervously laughed.

"If I was about to turn, I wouldn't be talking to you right now nor would I be lucidly thinking, which I'm doing right now."

Travis had followed her and was ready to intervene if something was to go wrong. But he knew his fiancée was able to control herself, but to a certain point only. Then, she would explode from madness and could get pretty aggressive even if she was the most patient human being he had met in his entire life.

"You just have to kill me right away then. But I know you don't have the guts to."

Victor moved his hand to his pocket to pick something. He was pretty enraged and picked out a knife. Travis was only listening and found it was weird that there was no sound at all. Seeing the knife, Madison remained calm. She didn't want to worry too much and she was ready to fight back if anything had to happen. Victor slowly walked to her holding the knife tight. Madison was immobile and only her heart rate and breathing went a little bit faster than usual. Travis was worried, so he got out of his hiding place to find Strand threatening his girlfriend. As Victor was standing at only a few feet from him, Madison strategically moved forward to make her assailant drop his knife. With a skillful movement, she picked his knife and threw it away. Angrily, Victor hit Madison in the face which made her fall on the floor holding her bleeding nose. Travis ran to him and made him fall on the floor and laid on him to immobilize him.

"What do you think you're doing, captain?" he asked Strand.

He didn't answer yet. Madison got up, rubbing her forehead. There was blood all over her shirt and some drops were slowly falling down the floor.

"Okay, mate... Ugh... Let's start over, alright?" Strand declared as he was scared that Travis would dislocate his arms.

"This was on your plans since the beginning to kill her?"

"I swear it wasn't! I thought she was sick! I thought she was also going to turn!"

"Well, she is not."

"But if what she has is contagious, I want her to stay the hell away from me."

"You should stay the hell away from her," Travis sharply advised, letting him go.

Victor painfully rubbed his shoulder as Travis ran to Madison. With her hand she made him sign that she was alright. Travis took off his shirt to compress Madison's nose which was heavily bleeding. They bother went back to their cabin without going unnoticed. Madison went straight to the bathroom as Travis followed her.

"You okay, Madi?"

She wiped the blood off her face and remarked the damages caused to her face. With the tip of her finger, she gently palpated her face, more precisely her swollen lip and eye. Travis walked to her to help her.

"I'm fine," she declared to reassure her fiancé. "It's only a minor cut to my lip and a black eye."

"We can't let this happen!"

"Trav, listen to me. We have to trust him."

"Madi, are you aware of what you're saying? This guy wanted to kill you like minutes ago and if I hadn't intervened, he would've probably killed you, and you're asking me to trust him? Come on!"

"Travis. He wouldn't have killed me. I saw the fear in his eyes. He was into survival mode and was trying to protect himself from any dangers. Plus, do you have any plans? You want me to get on your back as you swim across the ocean to the nearest and safest place? Strand has a plan. He told me it was safe in Mexico. Humanity has shut down, where do you want to go? There's nowhere else to go which we are sure is safe. Nowhere."

Noticing that her nose wasn't bleeding anymore, Madison removed Travis' t-shirt from her face and handed it back to him.

"I'm sorry for your t-shirt covered in blood," she muttered before walking away.