Sailing Away

Chapter Five

A few days had passed by since the altercation between Madison and Victor. Strand had confirmed to everyone that in a few days, at most a week, they would arrive in Mexico. For Madison, it was finally a relief since she wasn't feeling better at all. Everyone was worried about Madison's condition, but Victor knew there was probably a doctor or someone knowing the least about medicine out there which could help Madison. Because of how she was feeling, Travis and she had spent several sleepless nights. However, they weren't the only ones. When Madison was throwing up or moaning from pain, it would wake up the majority of the people on the boat. Nevertheless, Madi could take those hours without sleep and take them back during the day. She was so weak that her mind had no problem shutting down when she wasn't feeling sick and could easily fall asleep. But it wasn't the case for everyone on the boat, so everyone was excited to get back on land and get a full night of sleep once and for all.

It was another morning during which Madi had only fallen asleep around 6am and Travis accompanied her for one or two hours.

Around 7:30am, Travis was woken up by some screams outside. Those screams also woke up Madison who seemed a bit disoriented.

She moaned from incomprehension. Travis turned to her, trying to understand what those screams were.

"Have you heard that, Trav?" Madison asked him, lowering her voice to be able to perfectly hear what was happening on the deck.

"I have. What are those? I mean, why would everyone be talking as loud as they are right now at 7:30?"

"We should go find out," Madi declared, getting out of the bed.

She suddenly felt dizzy and put her hand on her head.

"You okay, Madi?"

"Yeah, I'm alright..." she sighed, closing her eyes.

"I'm gonna go check that out, stay here. I'll be back in a few minutes," he said, getting out of the bed and walking outside without forgetting to close the door behind him.

Madison resigned, knowing that she would probably not be able to get upstairs without throwing up or fainting. She decided to lay back in her bed and try to relax and let this unpleasant lightheaded feeling which seemed to be stuck with her forever disappear.

When Travis arrived on the deck, what he saw he couldn't apprehend. Some people had got on the boat and we're now threatening everyone with their guns. Strand was the only one up with his hands on his head, probably because he told them he was the captain, and everyone else was on their knees or sat on the floor. Travis was still hidden behind the wall. He had to do something, but not before he was certain that his fiancée was in a secured place. So he silently got back down and entered his cabin. Entering, Madison wanted to ask him what was happening, but he made her sign not to talk.

"Follow me," he whispered, waving her to get to him.

He brought her to the engines room. Once they had arrived, Travis explained the situation to Madison.

"What are you gonna do? Going back out there and get yourself killed? Isn't it safer to stay with me?"

"There are children up there and I can't sit and do nothing knowing that."

"Why wouldn't I have the right to come with you? My kids are out there too!"

"Madi, you know you're too weak to defend yourself up there. Nick and Alicia are like my kids too. Chris is also outside and I'm in better condition than you to use self-defense, alright? Stay here and be quiet, I'll come back when everything will be okay."

She nodded and let her boyfriend go. She stayed quiet only to be able to discern what was happening upstairs and be sure that everybody was still alive.

Travis got upstairs and, on his way, he stopped where Daniel used to cook and picked a knife which he managed to hide. Then, he got to the front deck.

"What the hell's happening here?!" Travis exclaimed.

One of the unknown men turned and pointed his gun at him.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" he added, showing his hands to prove to the man that he was unarmed. "Who are you and what are you doing on our boat?"

"Shut the fuck up and get on your knees!" the man shouted.

Travis executed what the man told him, it wasn't the time to mess up if he wanted everyone to get out of here alive.

Another man turned, but this time to Victor.

"Vic, I've been looking for you for too many years. Too bad we're in an apocalyptic world right now..."

"I've told you I have no money!" Strand replied.

"But you have that boat. Look at ours, it's not the greatest, but yours..."

"You won't have anything, Gavin."

"Where are you heading to?" the man who threatened me asked.

"It's none of your business, Mark. None of you is going to know anything."

"Alright, then. Michele, who should we kill first?"

From downstairs, Madison couldn't hear everything, she couldn't even discern to whom the screams belonged to. She closed her eyes, constrained to wait for Travis. She was starting to relaxing when a gunshot was heard which alarmed her. She wasn't sure if it was a gunshot, but a second got heard which confirmed what she heard. She then heard some people screaming. Who had shot? That wasn't the most important question right now. Is everyone okay? Who was shot? Those were the questions she had to ask herself right now. She couldn't just stay there and wait, she had to do something.