[Danny]

glad you like it! assuming you did...

just two short chaps today...

CHAPTER 19

Looking back, I was sort of proud of the way I handled our problems. Not the Killing part, of course, but the bit after. Only earlier that day, I’d been ashamed at how I was unable to concentrate, unable to stop my mind from wandering. Now, however, I was totally focused, not thinking any unnecessary thoughts. Well, except one, but nobody’s perfect. I just noticed that the sky was getting lighter, and thought that if only that situation had occurred a few hours later, I’d never have seen the Killer, because it would have been light outside. Vint and me would have probably been in the custody of the crew, but there wouldn’t have been killings.

I put the killings from my mind. Focus on the problems in hand, I thought.

We reached the bottom of the ladder. Vint was beginning to stir. I decided that we had to find somewhere to clean ourselves up. I noticed, looking down, that the blood on our feet had dried. That was good; we wouldn’t be in danger of being followed so much. I began to think where we could go to clean up. I remembered the washroom that we had first entered into. That window was already broken, and the crew wouldn’t expect us to go back into the ship, especially not through the same way we came. I decided to head for there. We were on the right side of the ship for that, anyway.

When we reached the washroom, I climbed inside and sat Vint down below the window, out of sight. There were sponges, which I soaked in water, and began to wipe some of the blood away from Vint. He wasn’t badly cut, actually, and very few of the glass shards had stayed in the cuts. The cold sponge awoke him, gently. I paused in my washing, and we looked at each other.

“I’m sorry, Vint.”

He stared at me, then looked away. “You did what you had to do. They would have killed us.”

“No, they wouldn’t. They were probably just going to take us prisoner.”

“Then throw us overboard, or give us to the authorities in whatever city they came to. Then we’d be killed.” He turned back to me. “We’re stowaways, they’d have no sympathy. You heard them yourself. Give me that sponge.” He took it from me, and began to wipe himself. “Clean yourself up, you need it more than me.”

I was quite worried at the way Vint seemed to be suppressing the brutality of what I’d done. Even if they had to die, I could have done it less painfully, with a rifle, or something. What I had done was just gruesome. Numbly, I began to wipe myself with a fresh sponge.

Six. That was my count now.

CHAPTER 20

It always amazes me how easily blood comes off your skin. Even in the state I had been in after I killed Zell, I was still able to sponge off most of the evidence. Of course, in a way, the blood is never really gone; it stays with you, inside. It seeps through your pores, into your skin, and deeper: into your heart, your brain, and your soul. The superficial stain of blood comes away easily enough, but your soul is forever stained. Or for a long time, anyway. At least, it’s a lot harder to remove the blood from your soul. And clothes, for some reason.

But anyway, we’d removed the external blood, which was enough to make me pass for normal in most people’s eyes [the soul blood is invisible to everyone else], and we decided to make a move. We weren’t sure what the crew would do when they found the bodies; they would almost certainly come after us, but where would they look? If they searched the Hold, then the others would be in danger. If they searched the Command Decks first, then we’d be safer in the Hold. Either way, we should return to the Hold as soon as possible.

As we climbed out of the window into the dim morning light, I was struck by a sudden thought.

“Shit,” I said quietly, “It’s all been for nothing, hasn’t it?”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, we came up here to get a map, and we never did find one.”

Vint smiled slightly. “Well, actually…” He pulled a folded sheet of paper form his ragged loincloth, and unfolded it. It was slightly bloodstained, but still readable, and still recognisable as a map.

Once more, Vint had put me to shame. Even in the midst of my madness, in that shower of blood, he had still managed to find and keep hold of a map. He had kept his head many times better than I could have, and never lost sight of our goal. Sometimes I envied him. Sometimes I still do, despite all that has happened.

When he saw that I was speechless, he refolded the map, and replaced it in his loincloth. I recovered, grinned at him, and led the way to the hatchway down into the hold. It was still open, just as we’d left it. We climbed down into the Hold, and closed the Hatchway, to cover our tracks. The return journey to our home crate was as uneventful as the outgoing journey had been.

[ June 04, 2001: Message edited by: Rettick ]