The Ship (Romance / Horror)

The Ship

Originally posted on FA on: Apr 17, 2021 

A story in continuity with, but not necessarily a sequel too 'C.S.U.D', following Sammy and Varuna as they investigate a ghost ship and meet Yara, a character who will have a much, MUCH larger role to play in future stories... also Sammy falls for her hard. 

CW: Off screen violence and vampire horror

The Ship

“What is that thing?” Sammy asked, the tiger shark pushing her cap back as she stared up at the massive boat towering over her friend's small fishing trawler.

“Cruise ship.” Varuna answered as she slowed her approach. “One of those big luxury liners they're always yammering on about on the telly. Noticed it out here the other day and thought I’d bring ya along ta check it out.”

“We’re crashing a party boat?” Sammy gasped, a smile spreading across her scared face. “Varuna, you should have told me! I’d have brought my CD!”

Varuna raised an eyebrow. “Ya think I’d be here with you and not Maru? And for that matter, do ya really think I want to hear ‘bout bloody Margaritaville when I’m tryin’ ta have a good time?” She poked at Sammy. “Sides, I ain’t the type to go crashin’ in on folks just trying ta have a good time and you shouldn’t be either!”

“I was joking, joking!” Sammy laughed and stepped back, holding up her hands. “But seriously, why are we here?”

The powerfully-built great white turned to look up at the ship and shielded her eyes as the sun gleamed off her cleanly shaven scalp. “Cus yesterday it didn’t seem ta be movin’ and today it’s in the same bloody spot. If that’s normal for these boats then I’ll eat my hat.”

“You don’t wear a hat.” Sammy pointed out.

“Then I’ll eat your feckin’ hat, you pedantic wanker!” Varuna snapped. “You know what I mean! Something’s wrong and if these people need help, we’re gonna give it to em! You're a mechanic and you used to be a cop, this should be in your wheelhouse.”

Sammy frowned at the mention of her former profession, but nodded tugging her cap back down before pointing to one side of the cruise liner. “Bring us around the side, there should be a way up somewhere on this thing.”

It took the better part of an hour for the pair to find a way aboard the cruise ship and then to successfully ascend onto the main deck. By the time they had, the late afternoon sun had already begun to dip below the sealine, bathing the empty deck with beautiful reds and pinks. Though under normal circumstances, the colorful sight might have made for a prosaic image, the two sharks could not help but feel uneasy as the seemingly abandoned metal rails gleamed gold and crimson.

“I think I dreamed about a place like this once.” Sammy muttered as Varuna led the way down towards the cabins. “It was really nice till zombies showed up and ate me.”

Ignoring her Varuna raised her voice and called out. “Is anyone here? Hello! We’re here to help!”

“I should have brought my gun.” Sammy glanced about, feeling a chill creep up her spin. “This place is giving me the worst kind of vibes!”

“There’s a name for people who board cruise ships uninvited carrying guns.” Varuna pointed out tersely. “Do you WANT to be a pirate?”

“Do you NOT?” Sammy shot back. “Because pirates are awesome, super sexy AND don’t board spooky abandoned ships without guns and big swords! That’s like, three reasons to definitely be pirates!”

Varuna sighed. “Look, we’ll cover more ground if we split up. You check the cabins down below, I’ll check the resort areas and the dinning hall. Just keep your phone on and call me if you find anything.”

“Splitting up is another thing pirates wouldn’t do!” Sammy shouted as the larger shark walked off. “That’s four things! Fuck…” She looked back at the darkened stairs leading to the guest cabins and took a deep breath. “I wish I was a pirate…”

-

Sammy pushed open a door and lifted her phone to shine its flashlight into the shadowy room beyond. “And yet another abandoned cabin.” She sighed. “This is a damn ghost ship!” She looked back the way she had come and noted how many doors she had already left swinging wide. “There’s no way they just took off with an empty ship, so either Varuna is going to find everyone throwing a big old party in the dining room or else…”

Sammy trailed off as the faint sounds of running water caught her ear. Feeling a surge of excitement, she took off after the sound, ignoring the doors along the way as she followed the first sign of possible life she had heard since descending the staircase. Her heart sank when the sound began to fade, but she thought she knew which door the sound had come from and burst through it without thinking!

The crash of the door was matched a second later by a startled scream from deeper within the room, followed by a heavy thump and pained moan. Sammy winced as she looked across the cabin to what was obviously a bathroom and realized she may have been a little over eager in her approach.

“Sorry!” The tiger shark called, raising her phone a little higher to point at the closed bathroom door. “Didn’t mean to startle you, I’m… Here to help?”

“Help…” A muffled voice called back.

“Yes, me and my friend saw your ship was in some sort of trouble so we-” But she was cut off by the voice.

“N-No I mean… Help! I’ve fallen and I can’t get up!”

“Oh, shit!” Sammy grimaced and pushed forward, opening the door and peering inside. Sure enough, a dark figure lay half sprawled out of a shower stall, one arm bent painfully as the other appeared to be, well, missing! Fortunately, after a moment of panic, Sammy noticed a prosthetic laying on top of a pile of clothes set onto the bathroom sink. Reassured that she had not somehow cost the stranger a limb, the tiger shark knelt to check on the injured passenger. “Hey, sorry about startling you, are you alright?”

“It's okay…” The stranger muttered, their voice a bit on the deeper side, but soft and a little hesitant. “I was sort of… Afraid you might be someone else, that’s all.” She rolled onto her side, giving the shark a fuller view of her body. She was a tall, strongly built woman, though not as heavily muscled as Varuna. Her equine face was pretty, though the fall had bloodied her nose and the shower had dampened her fur, giving her a disheveled look. However, Sammy’s eyes were drawn to the donky’s own, and there she became instantly arrested by the startling quality of them. One of her eyes was green, a dull but soothing shade of jade, while the other was two-toned, brown and icy blue combining to create a truly astonishing gaze.

The stranger saw Sammy stare and apparently misinterpreting her blush, moved to cover not her bare breasts, but something else between her legs. Noticing it, Sammy’s blush grew a little deeper and she quickly grabbed a towel from a nearby rack. “Sorry, wasn’t meaning to peek.” She offered the covering, but then remembering the woman’s injury, instead carefully wrapped the towel around her waist so as to avoid requiring her to put herself out further. “There now your covered up a little. Its not much, but better then being naked from the waist down.”

“T-Thanks.” The donky blushed and awkwardly sat up. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to make you feel uncomfortable.”

Sammy waved a hand. “Oh please, nothing I haven’t seen before! If it’ll make us even I can strip down as well so you don’t have to be the only one...uh, wardrobe-ly challenged?” She grabbed her hawaiian shirt and began unbuttoning the top buttons.

Blushing harder the donky woman stammered, “That’s really not necessary!” She laughed nervously. “I swear, I’m fine, really! I just… Prefer not to introduce myself to people like that.”

“Well if it makes you feel better.” Sammy said, continuing to unbutton her shirt. “I sort of barged in on you so if there was ever an excuse to make someone's acquaintance, tits and dick out, this would be it. And as for this…” She pulled off her shirt and slid it over the woman’s shoulders. “Much as I’d love to repay you for the privilege, I’m not sure I can get your t-shirt back on without aggravating that shoulder of yours. So, sorry to say, you're going to have to deal with my amazing hawaiian for just a little while. Hope you don’t mind the smell of motor oil?”

“I actually don’t.” The donky smiled slightly as she allowed Sammy to help her get back to her hooves. “It reminds me of my old air force days. Kinda nostalgic in a way.”

“No shit?” Sammy laughed. “I used to date a girl who was in the navy and she had the same reaction! You two would have loved each other, I’m sure.”

“I probably would.” The donky smiles cautiously. “I’m Yara, by the way.”

“Samantha, though no one calls me that.” Sammy chuckled. “My friends call me Sammy, so why don’t you just go ahead and use that? And it's a pleasure to meet you Yara, happy to put a name to that pretty face.” She grabbed the prosthetic and clothes. “Oh don’t want to forget these!”

“Thank you Sammy.” Yara glanced at the bundle. “Could you… Help me get into my pants? I’m feeling a little… Exposed right now.”

“Oh ya, no worries at all!” Sammy grined and led the donky girl back to the cabin area proper. “Need a hand with the arm? I can’t do much about the shoulder, but I can at least try and help with the prosthetic. I actually have a little experience with them.”

“From your ex?” Yara asked before flushing. “I mean, if your ex - I didn’t mean to assume, I’m sorry!”

Sammy waved off Yara’s embarrassment with a snort. She had begun to fall into her rhythm as she focused on the problem at hand, everything else fading slowly into the background of her mind. “Nah, we split years ago. And no, someone else I know has a leg sort of like this. And she has a bad habit of doing stupid things that require it to be fixed and reattached more often then you’d imagine. Lucky for both of you, I’m pretty good at what I do!”

“Are you a handywoman?” Yara asked, blushing as Sammy helped her into her pants. “That’s funny, I actually do a lot of carpentry myself!”

“Well more just a mechanic, but I sort of dabble in a bit of everything I can get my hands on.” Sammy snorted. “I just like being useful and helping people when I can. I guess that’s why I thought being a police officer would be a good fit for me.”

“You're a cop?” Yara asked, smiling slightly. “Is that why you dress like Magnum PI?”

“Ouch!” Sammy laughed. “That’s a low blow! But no, I actually quit pretty quick, before that ex I mentioned.” She sighed. “It's normally not something I bring up, but, well… I did see you naked so can’t really be all secretive, now can I?”

Yara looked concerned. “You know you don’t HAVE to share things with me you don’t want to just to make me feel better about that, right? I seriously don’t hold it against you, promise.”

“I know,” Sammy blushed a little herself. “I guess I also just… Want to tell you a little about myself. I can stop if you want though.”

“Oh no I didn’t mean it like that!” Yara’s eyes widened. “It’s actually really nice talking to someone and you seem really nice, Sammy.” She reached out and placed her recently reattached prosthetic arm on the sharks shoulder, causing Sammy’s heart to skip a beat. “If you’re alright telling me more about yourself, I’d love to-”

The donky's request was cut short as the muffled notes of a song buzzed out from Sammy’s breast pocket. Sammy sighed. “Sorry about that, sounds like my friends checking in.” She reached up and withdrew the phone, being careful not to brush the donky's chest anymore than she had to in the process.

“That’s alright.” Yara said, flushing a little at the contact. “And is that… ‘Cheeseburger in Paradise?’” She glanced down at herself. “I guess that explains the hawaiian shirt…”

“Oh don’t tell me you're not a Parrothead? That’s a total dealbreaker!” Sammy stuck out her tongue, getting a giggle from Yara before hitting the answer prompt on the screen. “Varuna, what’s the good word?”

“They're all dead.” The great whites voice came through from the other end, tinny and hollow.

“Sorry, could you… What?” Sammy’s smile faded as she turned and walked to the door, lowering her voice so as to not alarm Yara. “What do you mean ‘they’re all dead??’ Who’s all dead???”

“Everyone! BLOODY EVERYONE ON THE WHOLE BLOODY SHIP!” Varuna roared, peaking the speakers and forcing Sammy to yank her head back. “Their bodies have been torn apart and all their bloody blood is gone!”

“Wait like… Their actual blood is missing? Like… Like vampire blood drinking missing?” Sammy felt an icy hand grip her heart as she heard the bed Yara had been sitting on creak. “Varuna, are there Draculas on this boat?? I need you to tell me if this is a Dracula situation!”

“God damn it Sammy, can you not take this fucking seriously for one… OH SHIT!” The call suddenly ended, the phone screen darkening as behind her, Sammy heard footsteps approaching.

“Is your friend alright?” Yara asked and Sammy spun around to see the donky woman looming over her, her enchanting eyes glittering in the light of her phone. “Did she say something about a vampire?”

“Ya she did…” Sammy backed up, but found herself pressed against a wall. “A vampire who's been picking off everyone on the ship and eating them! Probably by luring them into a false sense of security and then chomping into their necks!”

Yara blinked. “You… You don’t think I’m a vampire, do you?”

“Oh no…” Sammy laughed nervously. “On a ghost ship, I just happened to run into a stunningly beautiful woman who just so happens to be a badass ex-soldier and amateur carpenter who knows Jimmy Buffet songs off the top of her head! That definitely doesn’t sound like a vampiric trap designed to lure me in to drink all of my blood!”

Yara’s eyes went wide and her face turned scarlet. Her jaw dropped and for a moment she seemed lost for words before finally weakly offering, “Thank you? But also… Screw you, I’m not a vampire?” She rubbed her injured shoulder. “I really don’t know how to respond to that…”

Sammy glanced about. “Well… That’s admittedly not what I thought a vampire would say. A lot less… ‘Rarr I’m going to drink all of your blood!’ than I was prepared for.”

“Maybe because I’m not a vampire?” Yara offered, frowning, though she was still beet red. “Do you really think a vampire would have slipped in the shower?”

“I mean those things are basically death traps.” Sammy shrugged awkwardly. “Creature of the night or no, it's really easy to get hurt in one.” She coughed. “Besides, that doesn’t explain why the only survivor I found was so… Hot and cool and suspiciously adorable?”

Yara seemed torn between laughing, screaming, and fainting from embarrassment, but still managed to squeak out, “I’m sorry, but you came to rescue me from this horrible nightmare wearing a hawaiian shirt and an orange bikini, how is THAT any less suspicious? Miss, ‘I’m just going to barge in and shower you with compliments and nice things and be all…” She waved at Sammy. “That and then act like I’m somehow the one who’s too good to be true!?”

Sammy flushed. “Wait… Does that mean you like the hawaiian shirt?”

Yara’s eyes began to sparkle with tears as she began to giggle uncontrollably before backing up to the bed and flopping down on top of it. Her giggles turned to laughter as the familiar notes of ‘Cheeseburger In Paradise’ began to play again.

“Sammy?” Varuna pantted. “Sorry ‘bout before, got in a wee scrap with the vampire.” She paused as a guttural hiss sounded and was quickly silenced by a stomp. “It's dead.”

“Oh.” Sammy grimaced. “And it wasn’t… Doing the whole ‘Dracula seduction’ thing?”

“What is it with you and- NO!” Varuna growled. “It was a giant bat and tried to attack me on sight! Huge beastie too, must have had to wait for passengers to come up to pick them off, probably got most of them at some sort of event.”

“Ah…” Sammy glanced back at Yara who was still laughing. “Sooo definitely wasn’t using Dracula-like powers to try and seduce victims by appearing like their hearts desire?”

Varuna sighed. “Look Sammy, this has been a long day for me, can we please just… Whatever this is you’re on about, please just drop it and meet me back at the boat.”

“Roger Captain.” Sammy sighed. “I’ve got a survivor with me, but we’ll meet you there soon.”

“Am I cleared of vampirism?” Yara asked from the bed, still shaking with suppressed giggles.

“Ya, seems like you're all checked out.” Sammy smiled awkwardly. “Sorry about that.”

“Oh no, it was very flattering.” Yara tittered. “That’s the first time anyone has ever accused me of being a seductress. It was sort of… It was a little endearing.” She sighed. “Stupid and insulting, but also sort of endearing.”

“That’s basically everything I do.” Sammy gave her a crooked smile and extended a hand. “Can I make it up to you with dinner?”

“Really?” Yara blushed and took Sammy’s hand with her prosthetic one. “Are you asking me out to apologize for accusing me of trying to murder you?”

“Well that and because I’d like my shirt back eventually.” Sammy winked. “Come back to my place sometime and I’ll trade you for something more your style.”

“What?” Yara looked down at the shirt as she let Sammy lead her back towards the deck. “But I like this shirt! I’ve gotten really attached to it now! Can’t we just share it?”

“And make me have to spend more time with you?” Sammy asked, putting an arm around Yara’s waist. “Fine, but only because I really want to anyway.”

“Alright, but I’m only doing it because I like the shirt so much.” Yara giggled as the two exited the cabins and took off into the night.

The Beginning