EDEN (22 page)

‘What’s wrong?’ Seth uttered. ‘You got a problem with my cooking?’

‘That depends,’ Cody uttered.

Seth laughed out loud, grabbed a fork and stabbed it into a small chunk of meat before shovelling it into his mouth. He chewed loudly as he tossed the fork to clatter onto Cody’s plate and sat down to his own meal. Seth scooped chunks of meat into his square head and stared at the table top as he chewed.

Bethany and Charlotte ate in silence.

‘Eating without your boyfriend?’ Seth asked Charlotte around a mouthful of food.

Charlotte did not reply. Seth laughed, shaking his head as he shovelled more mush into it. ‘Shame, it would have been so romantic.’

Jake stared down at his plate. ‘What is this stuff?’ he asked.

Seth looked up as he chewed. ‘Last of the polar bear. It’s getting a bit chewy ain’t it?’

Cody hesitated as he held his fork in his hand. Something wasn’t right but he couldn’t put his finger on it.

Bethany stood up and grabbed the lid of the serving pan. She lifted it and scooped inside with her fork. Moments later she lifted out a small bone that was floating in the greasy sauce within.

‘What’s that?’ Charlotte asked.

Bethany held the bone in her fingers for a few moments and then she dropped it onto the table as her face blanched.

‘What is it?’ Jake repeated Charlotte’s question.

Bethany’s hand flew to her face as she spoke. ‘Proximal phalanx.’

‘A what?’

‘A human finger bone.’

Cody spat his mouthful of food out almost as quickly as Jake.

Charlotte coughed out a piece of meat and then covered her mouth as she dashed out of the cabin and through the hatch into the galley, slamming it shut behind her.

***

Charlotte staggered through the half-darkened galley to a large plastic container with a small tap attached to the bottom. She crouched down beneath it, opened the tap and swallowed a mouthful of water. She drank more, then swilled it around before spitting it out into a sink.

Charlotte rested her hands on the edge of the sink and hung her head, thick locks of red hair dangling either side of it as she tried to control her breathing and avoid vomiting.

Something scratched the floor behind her and she whirled to see Denton looming over her.

‘Hush now, little missy,’ he whispered.

Charlotte opened her mouth to scream just in time for Denton to shove a ball of canvas into it. She gagged as Denton leaped forward and his weight slammed into her, preventing her from getting her hands and nails into his skin as he buried his face into her neck. Her spine arched painfully backwards over the sink as her legs lifted off the deck. Denton pulled her against him and whirled, swinging her around and thumping her down on the worktop behind them.

Charlotte’s legs were forced up into the air as Denton landed on top of her. He grabbed her wrists in his hands and slammed then down onto the table, tying them with another strip of canvas that he yanked tight. Denton leaned his weight fully down on her body as from his belt he produced a large blade that he rested against her throat. The touch of the cold steel froze her as she looked at Denton.

‘Your friends next door are at gunpoint right now,’ he sneered at her, ‘so you be good and quiet or there’ll be a bit of an accident, if you know what I mean?’

Charlotte felt sick again as Denton reached down and struggled to undo his jeans, his foul breath quickening as he loosened them. He chuckled maniacally. ‘Believe me, this won’t take a minute.’

*

Jake leaped out of his seat as he spat bits of flesh from his mouth and lunged across the table at Seth, who laughed in delight as he jumped backwards and out of the way.

‘What’s wrong?’ the sailor sneered. ‘A little gristle never hurt anybody!’

Taylor looked up questioningly at Seth, who screwed his tattooed face up at the big man. ‘Chill out you asshole, yours is a bear.’

Jake tore around the table and reached out for Seth. The sailor whipped a knife from his belt and waved it at Jake.

‘Easy now, old timer,’ he chuckled maniacally. ‘You don’t want to be next on the menu, do you?’

‘Who the hell was that?’ Jake roared. ‘A sailor who died? Who the hell was it?’

Seth’s eyes shined with malicious euphoria. ‘Well, I can’t rightly remember but I think he was one leg short of a pair.’

Cody’s blood ran cold through his veins as he stared at the sailor.

‘We buried Bobby at sea,’ he uttered.

Seth’s cruel smile spread across his face, jagged teeth glinting in the light. ‘You buried the polar bear’s leftovers.’

Jake whirled for the cabin door. ‘I’ll have Hank string you up from the goddamned yards for this.’

Seth leaped across the cabin and slammed into the door, blocking Jake’s way as he pressed the knife against the old man’s belly.

‘Don’t think so,’ Seth snapped. ‘He knows.’

Cody shook his head. ‘He wouldn’t have.’

‘Why not?’ Seth grinned. ‘This is survival, douchebag! Bobby didn’t need his body anymore and it preserved real well in the powder store with the rest of the polar bear meat. The captain gets what you idiots don’t: his crew have.., needs.’

Seth looked at Bethany and licked his lips.

‘Hank’s no animal,’ Bethany shuddered as she retreated from the sailor’s probing gaze. ‘He’d string you up if you even thought about it.’

‘Doesn’t matter much,’ Seth said as he shoved Jake away hard enough to make the old man stumble against the table, ‘because if he doesn’t like this I’ll shoot the bastard myself. We’re about done with him and all of you.’ He looked at Bethany again. ‘So how about you put out for me honey or I’ll send your friends for a swim?’

Bethany stared at Seth in disgust.

‘I’d rather freeze out there than let you get your stubby little dick near me.’

The sailor gritted his teeth in a tight smile as he moved toward Jake. ‘Either you give me some of that sugar, or McDermott here loses a finger.’

‘This is insane,’ Cody snapped. ‘Even Denton wouldn’t do this.’

Seth smiled. ‘Who says so?’

Cody stared at Seth for a long moment and then called out toward the galley. ‘Charlotte?’

The silence said it all. Cody looked at Seth, who grinned at them. ‘You girls have got to pay for your bed and board, don’t y’think? Denton’s probably humping her right now down in the galley and…’

Seth’s knife tumbled from his grasp as Taylor lurched out of his seat and punched a huge fist straight into Seth’s face. Seth flew like a rag doll into the wall of the cabin and slumped out cold onto the deck.

‘This ain’t right!’ Taylor boomed.

Cody did not wait to see what happened. As Seth was hurled aside he leaped over his body and made for the galley door.

*

Charlotte twisted away from the blade and sought a weapon, but the table had been cleared and Denton was too heavy to hurl off her. He jabbed the tip of the blade into her flesh and she felt a sharp pain.

‘Don’t you move,’ he hissed and then chuckled again. ‘You only want one weapon inside you, right?’

Denton, one hand still gripping her bound wrists, brought the blade down with a thump. The weapon pinned the excess canvas to the table, fixing her wrists in place. Denton leaned forward further, his chest pressing against her breasts as he pulled her zip down and began yanking at her jeans. She felt his hands rasp against the soft skin of her thighs, and then he yanked her panties down.

Denton gasped as he unhitched his own jeans, his breath rasping in his throat and his heart thumping in his chest. Charlotte could feel it reverberating inside him as she tried to shut her mind off to what was coming.

Denton shuffled out of his pants and grabbed at his manhood with his free hand and shoved it against her. Charlotte winced as she felt the tip thrust painfully inside her body as the door to the galley burst open with a deafening crash and Cody charged inside with Jake right behind him.

Denton lurched away from her and yanked the knife from the table, the blade whipping around toward Cody.

Cody grabbed a heavy steel pan from a hook on the wall and swung it with all of his strength into Denton’s hand. The heavy pan smashed into his wrist and Denton cried out in pain as the knife spun from his grasp.

Jake ploughed into him and swung a punch that knocked the sailor off his feet and sent him sprawling across the galley as pans and cutlery clattered down around him.

Denton scrambled backwards on his knees away from Jake as Charlotte pulled her panties up and saw the sailor grab his knife from where it had fallen and lunge at Jake. Cody hit Denton again with the pan, smashing the weapon aside. Cody slammed his boot down across Denton’s wrist, pinning the knife against the deck as he raised the pan to bring it crashing down on the sailor’s head.

Cody froze, unable to move as he stared down at Denton laying on his back with one arm desperately shielding his panicked face.

‘What are you waiting for?’ Charlotte snapped. ‘Finish him!’

A gunshot burst out loud enough to hurt Cody’s ears. Everybody whirled to see Hank Mears standing in the doorway of the galley with a heavy pistol in his hand. Wisps of blue smoke spilled from the barrel. Behind him stood Taylor, clearly out of breath after what Cody assumed was a mad dash for assistance.

‘Drop the knife,’ Hank growled at Denton.

The sailor dropped the blade, his flaccid penis still dangling from his open jeans. Hank took in the scene and glared at Cody. ‘And you, drop it!’

Cody lowered the pan and lifted his boot off Denton’s arm. The sailor scrambled to his feet and back away from Cody, pointing and shrieking.

‘They’re insane, all of them!’

‘What the hell is going on?’ Hank demanded.

‘Rape,’ Cody uttered.

‘That’s bullshit!’ Denton screamed. ‘They’ve had it in for me since they got here. They did this, were going to cut me up and say I attacked her!’

Cody stared at Denton in amazement. ‘Seriously?’ he uttered. ‘You’re going with that?’

Denton looked past the captain to where Seth stood, blood trickling from his nose. The seaman nodded slowly.

‘Been talk of mutiny,’ Seth said to the captain. ‘They want to take the ship from us. McDermott hit me, tried to take my knife.’

Cody looked at the captain. ‘We survived for six months in the high Arctic without attacking Bethany, Charlotte or anybody else, but now you believe that we’d suddenly turn against the very people who got us out of there?’

‘They want to head for Boston,’ Denton uttered, ‘get us ashore and then take the ship.’

Hank’s gaze skipped from Seth to Denton and Cody as if unsure of who to believe.

‘You saw what happened,’ Cody said, pointing at Taylor. ‘You stopped it.’

Hank looked across at the big man, who remained immobile and impassive.

‘I ain’t no part of this,’ he uttered.

‘Is anybody going to ask
me
what goddamned happened?!’ Charlotte snapped in disgust.

The captain considered her for a moment but then Bethany spoke up. ‘Seth claimed that he was going to take the ship from you. He had a knife at Jake’s belly until Taylor floored him.’

Hank looked at Saunders, who shrugged but remained silent. The captain lowered the pistol and looked at the first mate.

‘Irons for two,’ he murmured.

Cody did not understand what the captain meant until Saunders hurried off and returned with two sets of steel hand cuffs.

‘Denton and Ryan,’ the captain instructed him.

‘What the hell are you doing?’ Charlotte demanded. ‘Cody protected me from Denton!’

‘They attacked us!’ Denton snapped in outrage.

The captain said nothing, watching as Saunders cuffed Cody and Denton. Cody noticed a change in the atmosphere in the galley, a hunger in the eyes of the rest of the crew as they stared at Cody.

Charlotte stepped up to the captain. ‘Your goddamned crew are all enemies,’ she hissed. ‘They’ll kill you and all of us if it suits them.’

Hank smiled at her without warmth.

‘Then it’s time to find out who I can really rely on.’

*

Cody was jostled out of the galley and through the ‘tween decks to a large hatch, aft of where the mainmast descended through the ship and down through the hold to the keel.

The hatch was yanked open by the crew, who then stood back eagerly as Cody and Denton were shoved to the edge of the hatch. Jake, Charlotte, Bethany, Reece and Sauri followed just as Bradley burst into the deck.

‘What the hell’s going on?’

Cody had felt the Phoenix heave to in the darkness, the watch bustling down as word spread of whatever was about to happen. Denton stood on the opposite side of the hatch to Cody, his features twisted with a volatile fusion of excitement and rage.

Below, the hatch opened into the hold, which was largely empty but for some barrels and rope cordage. Most of the diesel taken from Alert was stored in the aft hold, beyond the bulkheads that sealed one section from the next. The abyss below was perhaps fifteen feet square and dimly illuminated.

The captain walked onto the deck, the crew parting for him as he passed through. In his hand he held a silver pistol that looked to Cody like some kind of ceremonial weapon. Into it, he loaded a single bullet as he stopped at the side of the hatch and looked at Cody and Denton.

‘We no longer have the luxury of court martial, of due process or the Geneva Convention,’ Hank announced. ‘These are difficult times and though none of us chose to be here and none of us can be blamed for what has befallen us, we all must learn to work together. We cannot risk the lives of those around us in our own pursuit of power.’

The captain paused as he looked at each and every person on the deck.

‘Our lives, our futures, will be judged by what we do in the here and now. I have no time to delve into what really happened tonight. Frankly, I don’t care. All that matters to me is the survival of this ship and its company and for that I need the strongest, the fittest and the most honourable of human beings alongside me. Only Providence can judge us, for there is no greater power remaining.’

The captain nodded to Saunders, who moved behind Denton and unlocked his cuffs before shoving him forwards. Denton jumped and dropped into the hold below, landing like a cat in the dim light.