The Swimming Dead

In the early 1900’s, the largest ship ever to set sail was leaving the docks of Southampton, Great Britain for an unprecedented voyage to New York City.  This almost 3,000 mile journey was to be enjoyed by over 2,200 of the wealthiest individuals over the course of 137 hours.   This fantastic cruise was cut short, however, by the appearance of a massive iceberg off the coast of Greenland.  The chances of coming across this monster within shipping waters was extremely low, but the Titanic did indeed collide with it, which caused multiple abrasions along the ship’s side, drowning out the engine rooms, and, thus, causing the ships disappearance from the water’s surface.  Only 706 people survived, about 500 of them passengers, caused largely by a limited lifeboat supply.  This is a tale about one of the survivors.

She is a young, beautiful, wealthy woman from the European coast.  She boards the Titanic with her Mother, Father, and annoying brother optimistically looking to the sky to judge the weather, hoping for a safe trip. She’s been known to get sea sick and would also like a tan.   After they board the ship, she finds her room and sets down her things. 

Time passes, and several hours later she finds herself alone, sitting at a table and wiping her lips as she finishes her meal. As she reapplies her bright, red lipstick, a waiter approaches and asks, “Would you like another glass of red wine?”  She denies him, but he insists.  He is charming, she thinks examining his clothes, but he is clearly one of the poor crew members. Her family has gone to the upper decks, and she has been starved for intimate social conversation. She calls the man back as he turns to walk away.  

 The intimate social conversation continues in a car stored in the luggage quarters.  The door opens laboriously, and its fogged windows begin to fade.  As she stumbles out, the man follows behind her, holding her hand as she looks back and kisses him.  Then they run into another room.  Unfortunately, this romance only lasts for a few more days. 

On one morning like any other, she descends to the ship’s lowest quarters and she stands in front of her lover’s metal door, with stark white paint.  Water drips from the ceiling.  She knows a much better life than this, but smiles anyway, loving the thrill of it all.

As she tries the door, she hears a heaving noise, as if someone were struggling to breathe.  Worried for her lover, she bursts through the door quickly and hurries towards him.  But then he lunges at her. There is horrible tearing, ripping noise. The ship is opening like an envelope in the sea.  His eyes are wild, as he tries to bite her! She tears away and up the stairs, screaming for help.  Although she hides a knife in her girder, she can’t bring herself to kill him.  He is not far behind, and someone else will surely end it, she hopes.  As she reaches the top the ship, her lover has stopped to feed on unarmed passengers.  Everyone is heading for bridge, except for the bitten. 

A crewman takes her arm and forces her into a lifeboat, but she can’t leave, she screams.  She needs someone to end the infection brewing.  No one is listening.  The boat lands in the cold, icy waters with only herself and two other passengers.  They take up the oars and begin to row away from the devastation.  It’s over, she thinks. 

            Hours pass, and cold water surrounds them.  She shivers and thinks she will surely freeze to death.   The oars lay steady, clunking against the side of the lifeboat. She can only move her eyes to look around and sees that the other passengers are frozen.  She wishes she could toss them over.  Their white, icy pierce her with their stare.  Suddenly, a warm cloak is wrapped around her. She cannot even move to acknowledge the giver. Someone carries her up a ladder and onto their boat.

            Warm now, she sits with a small crew and is told a terrible tale—worst of all because it is true.  The world has been overrun with the swimming dead.  They emerged from the seas and took over land, eating on human flesh.  The zombies have confined themselves mainly in the cities; however, danger is immanent at all times. 

She thinks to her lover and his wild eyes as he leaped at her.  She knows he was the first infected one.  Her inability to kill him has caused the entire world to suffer.  Ashamed, it paints her to look upon the crew.  Hope is still in their eyes, but to her life is nothing but failure.  She is no longer rich, her family is gone, and she has to live out her days in this hell on earth.