Africa (Complete)

Chapter Ten

It was midday and Kam sat alone on the upper deck. Looking out at the seemingly never-ending expanse of rippling ocean, something caught his eye coming through the fog. He quickly reached for a nearby set of binoculars and held it up to his eyes.

"Bill," Kam called out. "You'd better come see this."

Bill was on one of the decks below, and came up as soon as he could. Taking the binoculars from Kam, he looked out and saw another boat.

"You think they see us?" Kam asked.

"They appear to be heading right toward us."

"How do you want to handle this?" Kam asked.

"Let me see if I can get them on the radio and see what they want."

"Bill, just to remind you, we're not in the Hamptons any more. We're in the middle of nowhere, in an apocalyptic scenario. We need to be cautious and on guard at all times."

"You're right, but until we make contact, we will have no way of knowing. They could be just like us, alone and searching for answers. The larger our crew, the safer we will be."

Kam took back the binoculars and stared at them as they continue to approach closer. Bill went down to the control station to try to make contact.

"What's going on?" Nancy asked, sensing Bill's panic.

"There's another ship out there," he replied. "It's heading right toward us."

"How big is the ship?"

"Smaller than ours, but that doesn't mean anything. We need to know who's on the boat and what their intentions are. I'm going to try to make contact."

Nancy went to the top deck to look for herself while Bill picked up the radio receiver and tested a few different channels.

"This is the SS Litig8, please state your name."

Bill held the receiver by his mouth with anxious anticipation. By now, the ship was close enough to see with the naked eye.

He tried another channel. "This is the SS Litig8, come in."

Still no response.

Bill set the receiver down and ran up the stairs leading to the upper deck. "Kam!" Bill called out with urgency.

"Yeah?"

"I need you to come down here right away, and make sure they don't see you."

The tension was quickly escalating as both Nancy and Kam had not seen Bill behave like this before. Moments later, Kam came down the stairs and remained out of view.

"Did you make contact?" Kam asked.

"No, not yet. Here's the plan. You feel comfortable shooting a gun?"

"You want me to shoot at them?" Kam asked.

"Hopefully it won't come to that. Follow me," Bill said as he dashed down a hallway.

"Bill, you're freaking me out," Kam said, trailing behind in the same hurried pace.

"Here, take this," Bill said, handing Kam the handgun. "...and take these bullets."

Bill pushed on one of the walls, revealing a hidden room. The door was flush and nearly undetectable unless one knew it was there.

"I want you to hide in there. If there is any trouble, you can pop out and shoot them."

"I don't know if I can do this, Bill."

"Listen to me," Bill said, grabbing Kam by the shoulders. "We have one ace up our sleeves, and that is the element of surprise. You can do this. Think of this as a competition. It's us versus them, okay? I believe in you. I trust you will protect us."