With fear breathing its icy cold finger down her neck, Ciara ran through the cemetery dodging head stones and monuments. She had just been at a party dancing to her hearts content when her face had gone from laughing and joy but moved swiftly to severe panic as screams made their way above the music. Unknown creatures not of her world came out of no where and began attacking people. One of them had spotted her as she ran for her life and went into pursuit.

She could hear it breathing heavily behind her, getting ever so close. The moon was full and bright, guiding her deeper into the death grounds. Her first sarcastic thought was this would be a perfect place to die as tears ran down her face... she quickly picked up her pace.

There it was. The growl above Ciara before it came down hard on her.

xXxXx

Waking up to the gentle rocking of the cruise ship and the crying of gulls over head, her first thought was that she was still dreaming. This notion was disabused by the insistent pain she felt in her back. She sat up gingerly, trying to shake the feeling of unease as she looked over the deck of the cruise ship, blood covering it, pooling about in the mid day sun.

"This isn't right." She said aloud. Her thoughts trampled back to the previous night, she had been…

Music trailed its way through the metal of the vast boat, rocking everyone that touched it. It was club music with loud bass and vacationers dancing their lives away. Ciara had been dancing with her fiancé, grinding against him, loving her life. That was when all hell broke loose. In the midst of her dancing and laughing, shrieks of terror filled her ears. Ciara couldn’t see anything as the fear filled the back of her throat with a metallic flavor. Her lover, David, pulled at her to get her to run with him, but her grip slipped as she was pushed to the ground by the terrified mob of dancers running for their lives. Trying to make her way to the side, she got kicked and pushed even more. She screamed out in pain as that final blow came and through her out of the race and down for the count.

Now, looking out over the ship, blood covered everything in a new paint. Not one person was in sight, or even a body part. How she remained was another thing to add to her fears… or luck…

But the more she thought over the events, she remembered a boy grabbing her arm and saying to her in passing that she was going to get hurt while everyone else died. She looked at him as though he was a plague and ripped her arm from his grip, giving him the most disgusted look ever as David pulled her on, telling her to ignore him.

“But that was just too creepy. Didn’t you see his eyes? They looked serious…” Ciara replied.

“I know, but he’s probably just a retard,” he responded, getting punched in the arm and scolded for using that word.

Now… she knew that he was telling the truth. Wondering if he was still alive considering he knew this was coming, she got to her feet and unruffled her skirt and slowly made her way to the cabins to look around.

More blood was found even inside the ship, down the alleyways and across the glass and items in the gift shops. The metallic smell became rancid as it filtered its way into Ciara’s nostrils leaving an acidic flavor in her mouth. Running back outside to the deck, she threw up into the ocean letting the salty air take away the spiteful smells. Looking down into the water, she noticed something peculiar… the water was black… not blue like it had been the previous day. Something was off about all of this.

After a few minutes of staring out into the dark waters, Ciara returned to inside of the ship and continued her search for other survivors. Passing a mirror, she realized that she was a real sight to see. Her hair was shambled while her dress was covered in blood.

“I look like death… walking amongst the living. Now if there only were others alive, then that saying would sound right,” she spoke softly, trying to unravel her hair.

She made her way into one of the shops to get a change of clothing. Having blood on her made her feel disgusting and she decided to make her way back to her room to take a nice hot shower. She found herself a pair of low-rider faded blue jeans and a dark green tank top with a built in bra. When she had gone on this trip, she didn’t think to bring regular clothes. She had only brought fancy dresses and shoes. Now as she left the store, she grabbed a pair of regular white sneakers and made her way down the alleyways to her room.

Steam made its way over the top of the shower and into the bathroom. Blood dripped down into the drain as Ciara scrubbed hard on her skin to relieve herself of someone else’s life. She wondered why she wasn’t going to pieces considering she had never been good with blood, but decided that maybe she was in shock. After making sure that she had no known cuts and her skin had turned into the color of strawberries, she removed herself from the shower and dried off.

The ship had the word silence written all over as Ciara made her way through it to find other people. The only sounds that could be heard were those of the machinery kicking in every so often. Lights were on and blood could be seen trailing off into other rooms that she did not care to venture into just yet. She made her way into the casino area where the slot machines and craps tables were everywhere other than where they were supposed to be. Chips and quarters lay strewn across the floor with blood even covering this large room. Gazing overhead, she could see two more floors.

“This is going to take forever…” she mumbled before moving on, but stopped when something moved out of the corner of her eye.

Glancing over towards roulette boards and poker tables, she saw nothing but a few scattered shadows before hearing something moving on the opposing side of her. Turning around quickly, her heart began pounding roughly in her chest.

“Who’s there?” she yelled, hoping for a response but got deathly silence. After a few more moments, she went to start walking when a sinister laugh rang into her ears above her head. Looking up, something flew over her as she ducked. Her heart started pounding like the hooves of a racing horse.

Standing in front of her was a man that looked deathly pale. His eyes locked with her, leaving her terrified and yet slightly hypnotized. He just stood there, not making any effort to speak or move. He had a sinister smile on his face that made Ciara’s blood curdle. He was one of the ship crewmembers, yet he hadn’t looked like this. She could tell who he was by the navy blue sailor’s outfit he wore. It was covered in dust and dried blood, ripped from what Ciara assumed to be nails.

“What’s going on?” she stammered.

Nothing… he just stared at her with an odd look… a hungry look…

She looked towards the floor, feeling inferior. That was when she saw something. He wasn’t even touching the floor! He was just hovering there, slowly moving towards her. She screamed out at the top of her lungs as she fell backward to try and escape. It became ear piercing to even her. Her terror was too much. The man in front of her screamed as well while putting his hands to his ears, yet his scream was shrill and inhuman which made Ciara screamed even louder.

She stopped though, when she realized that Doren, the man in front of her, stopped screaming and stood there frozen, something sticking out of his chest. Little by little Ciara scooted backwards away from him. She heard a large boom and covered her face, making no attempt to move out of her upright fetal position. She heard a loud thump, the sound of bones cracking, and footsteps.

She kept telling herself that it was just a dream or a practical joke that someone was playing on her. This couldn’t be happening… the hyperventilating and fearful woman rambled to herself.

Another shrill scream filled the air. This time, someone touched her arm. She stumbled backwards to get as far away from the person or thing touching her, banging into a slot machine, quarters spitting out over her.

“Calm down, my lady,” a man in awkward clothing spoke smoothly, gradually inching himself towards her. He had an odd accent that Ciara couldn’t place

“No… no I will not calm down! What the hell is going on here and what the hell was he?” Ciara spit out.

“My lady, I really need you to calm down. You are hyperventilating. Calm down before you pass out. Then I will tell you anything you want to know.”

Standing up, Ciara moved farther away from him. She chanted to herself that everything was a figment of her imagination… a dream and nothing more. She looked over where Doren had been before she curled into a ball. He lay on the ground, neck broken with bone pierced through his skin. The thing sticking through his chest became more visible and looked like a stake. Panic became more dominant.

“I’ve got to get out of here… I have to get out of here now… off this ship…” Ciara ranted, pacing back and forth. Her breaths were short and hard to complete. She hadn’t even known the stranger came up behind her.

“I am sorry to do this,” he apologized as he pinched the back of her neck and she went down to the floor. Picking her up, he threw her over his shoulder and told someone who was hiding in the shadows that it was time to go.