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Chapter 2

Not long after Joe managed to fall asleep did the knock come at his door, two knocks, quite pronounced. They were enough to stir Joe from his dreams, although he was still half in them. His phone on vibrate, began to rattle. The light from the screen and the noise was enough to force an eye open from Joe.

Another knock at the door. Joe thought he might have over-slept, this was one of the setbacks of living in a dungeon. He looked down at his phone again, he had a missed call from Eddy. Checking outside the one basement window he saw that the sun was nowhere to be seen, the night was still in full effect.

His phone vibrated again. Joe looked at the time 3:00 a.m. July 17th, Joe answered.

"What are you doing? It's three in the morning!" Joe was still in bed.

" The cruise sets sail in two hours! We've got to go!" Joe could hear Eddy outside his door as well as on the phone.

"I thought the cruise left at five?"

"It does!" Eddy said in a panicked tone. "Now let me in, its chilly out here!"

Joe mustered the strength to pull himself out of bed, he never had a reason to exit his bed at 3:00 a.m. before unless it was because he had got called into work to close up because the other manager had forgotten her keys. He let Eddy in, who was wearing a tight white long sleeve shirt with the sleeves rolled up to his elbows to show off his muscles and a pair of expensive jeans that had been ripped on purpose. Joe put on the kettle and got dressed while the water boiled.

"That's what you are wearing?" said Eddy when he saw Joe's outfit.

"Yeah, it's my lucky shirt. Why?"

Eddy shook his head, it's like Joe didn't pay attention to anything he said only hours ago. Joe had paid attention however, he just wanted to wear his comfortable white sneakers, not too loose fit jeans and his "lucky" Dead maiden t-shirt.

When he was comfortable, his anxiety was less likely to appear (and it did appear when Joe would try new things). Joe was in good shape as I've said before, he worked out regularly, he had to wear suits and the like all the time for work and knew how to look good; so he wasn't worried that his shirt was not as tight as Eddy's. He knew he looked good and was comfortable, all he had to do was put some gel in his hair and he looked casually well dressed. He preferred comfort to tightness at least until he got acquainted with his setting (which was going to be the party death boat).

After the coffee was drank and Joe had himself a quick shower, they were in a cab heading down to the waterfront with suitcases loaded in the trunk. The cab ride was quiet, Joe couldn't shake the sense of dread that had been growing ever since last night. He felt sick, like the kind of sick you feel when a cop car pulls into your driveway. Eddy did not help the uneasiness either, his cologne was enough to make you nauseous without any dreaded gloom growing in your stomach.

When they arrived at the waterfront the sun wasn't even thinking about rising yet, The docks were covered in a pall of fog, not unusual for the coastal city. Eddy had been leading the way at a break neck pace, Joe kept up with him dragging along his suitcase and the nearer they got, the more dread filled him.

It was unusually quiet on the docks and the fog made it difficult to find the ship. Joe could swear they were being followed by not one, but several figures that disappeared as soon as he looked in the direction of their shadows. Or maybe he was still just waking up?

They found it eventually, the ship was an ocean liner, one of the biggest in the world, it carried six thousand passengers comfortably. The XX Stacy was an impressive sight even when shrouded in fog it was massive with 5 decks above and maybe five below. The quiet of the morning vanished as soon as they found the ship, the noise level cranked up by a thousand, hundreds of people were filing onto the cruise ship.

Some were playing music from portable speakers some were drinking already, girls and guys in bathing suits carrying nothing but their drinks. It seemed the hype of the world's greatest party cruise was living up to expectations, there were hundreds of people all talking excitedly and some dancing, young and old alike. The sight of the people helped lessen the sense of dread within Joe but it still lingered in the small parts of his stomach.

"It's as I imagined it would be." said Eddy in a hushed tone, still not believing his eyes. They walked to the back of the line, Eddy was searching for the two dream girls who had gave him the tickets. He may have been slightly disappointed upon not finding them, but Joe was not at all, he had never seen so many good looking people in queue before, some girls watched him just as he watched them in passing. "This was a good choice" he thought, suppressing the sense of dread further with the possibility of hooking up.

As they reached the back of the line, they followed behind two other bachelors, one with red hair and red beard and the other with thick frame glasses carrying a briefcase. They were discussing the reputation of the XX Stacy.

"I've heard that the cruise actually makes port on an island in international waters, a private island controlled by the Russians" said the red-haired man. "That's when the real party begins, prostitution, gambling, big game hunting, you name it.'

"Big game hunting? It's a cruise ship. Nowhere in this itinerary does it say mystery island murder fest." replied the man with thick frames. Joe wondered if there was any truth in what the red-haired man had to say, he wasn't ready to go hunting any endangered species anytime soon.

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