Richard Brown - Titanic With ZOMBIES

Then she lost her footing and fell to the wooden deck, sliding down two or three feet before grabbing back hold of the railing. The infected man was still attached to her ankle, but now that she was down at his level, he could more easily pull himself up her body. As the woman squirmed, Smith finally saw the real reason for her cries—bundled up in a blanket against her bosom.

A baby.

The infected man saw the baby too, its tiny pink face the only part not covered by the blanket—but first he took a mouthful of meat off the woman’s leg, chewing it like it was the most delicious thing in the world. She screamed in agony as he took another bite from the same spot, and then went for the baby.

Deciding she’d rather fall to her death then allow her or the baby to be eaten, the woman let go of the railing. She began to slide down with the infected man still on top of her, picking up more and more speed as they went.

Smith leaned down against the wall and grabbed the woman by the arm as she passed, stopping her from going down any further. The infected man slipped off during the sudden stop and continued downward in an uncontrollable fall.

The woman looked up at the captain, her eyes red and filled with tears, clutching her baby with her free arm. Smith took hold of her with both hands and pulled her up and around the corner of the tank room.

With no fear of falling, the woman handed the baby over to Smith. “Please. Keep her safe.”

“I’m sorry there’s nothing I can do for her. If we had more time...”

Smith stopped gazing into the poor woman’s eyes and looked down at the baby bundled in his arms. Despite the sound of madness all around, this beautiful little girl remained perfectly silent. While her mother cried, knowing their lives would soon end, this child had no idea anything was even wrong. She barely had a chance to know life.

Give it your best shot, old man, Smith thought. What have you got to lose?

The young mother already looked like the infection was getting to her.

“I’ll do what I can,” Smith finally said, and stood up with the baby.

Just around the corner of the tank room was the engineers smoke room. Smith carefully shimmied along the wall and ducked through the door. A stoker lay in the center of the room covered in soot from head to toe. He smoked from a pipe and stared up at the ceiling, his lifebelt lying on the bench beside him. Three stools and a small circular table had fallen over into a heap in the corner.

“Well, look who it is,” said the stoker, noticing Smith enter. “I didn’t know you had a baby, Cap.”

“It’s not mine,” said Smith. “What are you doing in here?”

“Where should I be? Out there ? Can’t a man enjoy one last smoke?”

“I suppose,” said Smith. “Are you gonna use that lifebelt?”

The stoker smirked. “For what...to die slowly? Take it if that sort of thing suits you, I reckon I’ll stay right here.”

Smith hurried over and grabbed the lifebelt with his free hand. Then he left the engineers smoke room with the same careful method in which he had entered, leaning at an angle against the ship and staying close to the wall.

He stopped at a railing that separated the first-class promenade section from the second-class. The infected man who had attacked the baby’s mother had become caught against the railing. Instead of passing by him, Smith chose the safer route, down a flight of stairs between the reciprocating engine casing and the third funnel.

A door at the bottom of the stairs led out to a hall that connected the first-class lounge to the first-class staircase. The lounge down on the right was completely underwater, so Smith continued straight through another door back outside and on to A-decks partially open promenade. Many of the large windows had been opened to help with the loading of the boats, but now only a handful of passengers remained on the deck.

Smith carefully crossed over to the outer edge and looked out upon the water. Most of the boats were far away, but there was one he thought maybe he could reach.

“Are you ready for this?” he asked the baby in his arms, and then waited for the ship to sink a little further before leaving it for good.

LIGHTOLLER

Lightoller and Bride helped hoist more swimmers on to the overturned boat, many of them crew members. They were determined to get as many people on the back of the boat as they could without disrupting the balance. They had fifteen on board right now, and more were coming.

Suddenly, a collective roar echoed into the night as the lights finally went out, thrusting the ocean into darkness, and leaving the ship merely an outline against the star-spangled sky.

Upset by the new darkness, the Titanic made a loud bellowing sound like a gigantic sea monster.

“Christ, what is that noise?” asked Bride.

“Her back is breaking,” answered Lightoller.

The ship began to split between the third and fourth funnels. Wooden decks splintered apart. Metal railings twisted into new shapes. Glass shattered and fell inward. The cables connected to the two remaining funnels snapped and flew forward like fiery whips, slicing a number of passengers into two pieces. Then the third funnel collapsed into the water and a huge gash opened through each deck and down into the hull, sending the stern, and the hundreds of frightened passengers assembled there, rushing back down to the ocean.

The water hurried to fill the split bow, forcing it downward at a sharp angle. The ship’s propellers once again lifted out of the water as the stern was slowly pulled back upright.

Except for the sound of the water splashing at the base consuming the ship, the night was soundless. Those passengers who had managed to hold on during the sterns sudden plunge, no longer screamed or cried out anymore, as though they had all decided as a group to hold their breath. Lightoller and everyone hanging on to overturned collapsible B, as well as all the other lifeboats scattered around witnessing the Titanic go down from different viewpoints, all joined in on the moment of silence.

A moment that would change them forever.

One they couldn’t turn away from.

One they would never forget.

The stern stopped straight up in the air and seemed content to just rest there for a spell before beginning its final descent. Less than a minute later, the Titanic was gone, the stern’s flagpole the last thing to go under. Large pockets of air rushed back to the surface causing the water to bubble up for many seconds after the ship had disappeared.

The moment of silence officially ended.

The cries of those left in the water were heartbreaking to hear. People begged for the boats to return. Some even blew whistles. In no time, however, their cries developed into a mash of noise like a crowd at a train station, making their individual voices less audible.

Lightoller helped three more helpless souls in the water on to the boat, two of them passengers and one more crew member, and could see another slowly swimming up. Unlike the majority of others they’d rescued, this one didn’t have a lifebelt on. Instead it floated out in front of him like a raft. As the man got closer, Lightoller saw why.

There was a baby bundled up in a blanket lying on the lifebelt to keep it from getting wet, and it was being guided across the water toward collapsible B by the most senior officer of the Titanic.

“Captain, is that you?” asked Lightoller.

“Good to see you again, Charles,” Captain Smith said, approaching the edge of the boat. “I have something for you.”

“That’s incredible.”

Smith pushed the lifebelt up against the boat so Lightoller could reach down and pick up the baby. “Isn’t she wonderful?”