Dead in the Water
Authors: Nancy Holder
WELCOME TO
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Abyss is for the seeker of truth, no matter how disturbing or twisted it may be. It’s about people, and the darkness we all carry within us. Abyss is the new horror from the dark frontier. And in that place, where we come face-to-face with terror, what we find is ourselves.
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UNSOLICITED
BLURB (I CALLED
YOU
) AND THE FIRST TIME I HAVE BLURBED A WHOLE
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OF BOOKS. IN TERMS OF QUALITY, PRODUCTION, AND PLAIN OLD STORYTELLING RELIABILITY (THAT’S THE BOTTOM LINE, ISN’T IT?), DELL’S NEW LINE IS AMAZINGLY SATISFYING … A RARE AND WONDERFUL BARGAIN FOR READERS. I HOPE TO BE LOOKING INTO THE ABYSS FOR A LONG TIME TO COME.”
—Stephen King
CRITICAL RAVES FOR
NANCY HOLDER
best-selling author of
Making Love
and winner of the Bram Stoker Award
for Best Short Story
from the Horror Writers of America
“A nasty tale well told, infused with the eerily surreal quality of fevered nightmares. Discovering Nancy Holder is like finding a vein of true horror gold.”
—Cheri Scotch, author of
The Werewolf’s Touch
“Man the lifeboats. Don your life jacket. Nancy Holder takes you on a cruise you won’t soon forget. Scary stuff.”
—Maxine O’Callaghan, author of
Dark Time
“
Dead in the Water
is saturated with brooding, claustrophobic, hallucinatory menace. Nancy Holder’s vivid voice and sharp characterization make it all real. I’m never going on a boat again!”
—Poppy Z. Brite, author of
Lost Souls
and
Drawing Blood
“I couldn’t put it down! A whale of a tale. A page-turner—the first sentence will hook you and what follows will reel you in.
Dead in the Water
is fast-paced and exciting, mysterious and spooky! Nancy Holder is a writer who’s going places. I can hardly wait to read her next novel!”
—Chris Curry, author of
Panic
“Nancy Holder enshrouds fascinating characters within a chilling atmosphere and creates a relentless tale of terror at sea. Holder is one of my favorite writers.”
—Elizabeth Massie, author of
Sineater
“
Dead in the Water
is an involving and truly frightening book. This is the kind of horror that gets underneath your skin and works its way into your soul. Real terror … for those daring enough to take the trip. I enjoyed it immensely.”
—Rick Hautala, author of
Ghost Light
and
Dark Silence
“With
Dead in the Water
Nancy Holder proves why she’s an award-winning author. Eerie—effective—excellent! A chilling combination of
Lifeboat, Ship of Fools
, and John Carpenter’s
The Fog
, Holder keeps you treading water with every page, gasping for breath, sucking you under. A nightmare cruise into black waters and terrifying depths.”
—Lisa Cantrell, author of
The Manse
“
Dead in the Water
is a superbly inventive mix of sea-lore old and new. If you’ve ever wondered what sails within the fog, beyond the horizon, or drifts beneath the deceptive calm of the rippling surface, then climb aboard. Nancy Holder has charted these waters with a master’s touch.”
—Brian Hodge, author,
The Darker Saints
Also by Nancy Holder
MAKING LOVE (with Melanie Tem)
ROUGH CUT
Published by
Dell Publishing
a division of
Bantam Doubleday Dell Publishing Group, Inc.
1540 Broadway
New York, New York 10036
Copyright © 1994 by Nancy Holder
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without the written permission of the Publisher, except where permitted by law.
The trademarks Dell
®
and Abyss
®
are registered in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office.
eISBN: 978-0-307-79698-1
v3.1
For:
Kathy Ptacek and Charlie Grant,
who manned the lighthouse;
Joe Elder,
who held the compass;
Leslie Jones, Elise Jones, Joan Mohr,
and Ashley McConnell,
who packed the supplies;
and most of all, for my husband, Wayne,
who yelled, “Row, damn it, row!”
I would like to thank those who helped, encouraged, and inspired me during the writing of this book: Joseph Elder, Jeanne Cavelos, Danielle Clemens, Kathy Ptacek, Charlie Grant, Russ Boelhauf, Ashley McConnell, Wayne Holder, Leslie Jones, Elise Jones, Rick Anderson, Matt Pallamary, Doug Clegg, Kathe Koja, Rick Lieder, Cheryl Sayre, Eric and Stinne Lighthart, Debi and Scott Nelson, Steve and Melanie Tem, and Jeff Saar. Thank you, S.K. and P.S.
And for great writing music: John Carpenter, for
The Fog
; and Goblin (thank you, Doug Winter and Craig Shaw Gardner); Aerosmith, Led Zeppelin, and Oingo Boingo. And a special thanks to Michael “Misha” Newton for the “Strange Brew” tape.
AUTHOR’S NOTE
As of this writing, the
Queen Mary
, while still docked at Long Beach, remains a tourist attraction but is no longer a hotel.
It is, reportedly, still haunted.
He went to hell in his own boat,
having no need of the ferry of the dead.
Epitaph by Prefect Juliannus
Message Found in
a Bottle, II; or,
An Invitation
from Your Captain
This is how it will be when you drown:
You’ll start out, of course, in water. The particulars really don’t matter, but for the sake of argument, let’s say you’re swimming. Of course, your boat might sink, or your plane may go down, and then there are ponds and lakes and rivers. And bathtubs. Or hot tubs. Dreadful things can happen in Jacuzzis. Have happened.
But imagine that it’s a dazzling, warm day at the beach. You’ve arrived not half an hour before with friends, and you decide to take a dip while the others lie in the sun, play cards, and roast the weenies.
You shuffle through the velvet sand, watching the water roll ever closer to your toes. The rippled flow is frosted with bubbles that remind you of champagne; beneath the crystal-clear curtain, seashells glisten in the sun. You look up and down the deserted coastline at patches of grass and lavender boulders, planted by Nature in a thoughtful breakwater pattern,
and you’re grateful no one else bothers with the five-mile trek on the unpaved road that leads to this secret spot.
A breeze ruffles your hair, tickles the hair on your arms. The water laps at the end of your toes; you jump playfully back, daring it to touch you. While it recedes into the ocean, you write your initials in the wet sand with your big toe, blot them out, jump back as the water rolls back in. It catches you this time, and licks your foot like a puppy; to your delight it is cool and refreshing, not cold at all. And quite clear: you can see your toenails as you wade deeper, up to your ankles, your shins, just below your knees.
You call to your friends—they’re missing out! But they’re hungry, and busy preparing lunch, and they tell you to go ahead and enjoy yourself. You, after all, are the one who loves the water most.
Knowing you’re amusing them, you move faster, going deeper and making little noises because now the water’s a tiny bit chillier. You prance up to your thighs and then you rise up on your toes as the swell gooses you. Then one, two, three big steps farther out, you dive into the rolling wave as it curls chest-high.
