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Joe appeared to be an average guy, He drove to work 5 days out of the week, he lived in a basement apartment, he paid his taxes yearly and he brushed his teeth twice a day. He appeared average even to himself, though this was not the case.

He was a handsome guy for someone so average, he had light brown hair a chiseled jaw line and stood around 6 foot tall. He had hazel eyes and a beauty mark on his cheek. He kept his hair short and shaved every day, being clean and proper made him feel accomplished somehow.

His goal in life was to run his own restaurant, successful people had goals and ambitions and he thought it would be a good idea to have one too. Just one restaurant would be good enough for him, a feather to put in his cap, it would be open 5 days a week, fine Italian pastas and pizzas with a sociable bar and respectable clientele. He knew the ins and outs of the restaurant world and he knew he could run a business, for he had done it for others for so long. He worked his way through the ranks in the restaurant system, from bus-boy, to server, to supervisor, to manager.

He'd stay a manager for longer than he expected, still working under the general manager and executives, he had been a manager for five years now and was turning thirty. Unhappy with his stagnation he would drown his sorrows at local pubs, bars, and occasionally a nightclub. The numbing of alcohol helped Joe cope with the lack of accomplishment, he had become addicted to the high of the night life where he was often praised by those lesser and more unfortunate.

Recently he had been dumped by his girlfriend Charlotte because of it, they had been together three long years and only just moved in an apartment together, in the third year Joe spent more time at the bar with his "friends" than he did with her. Charlotte broke up with him only four weeks ago, she kicked him out of the apartment and he got lucky enough to find this basement on short notice. She was a nice enough woman, Charlotte, she loved him, and he loved her, once. That was some time ago.

Indeed, everything appeared normal in Joe's life, he had problems just like everyone else he thought, everything was normal in Joe's life. Up until today.

Two knocks on the front door, it was Tuesday and Joe was off work, maybe not an average day off for most, but it was average for Joe, whose schedule was always changing.

"Who is it?" Joe asked, already knowing the answer .

Another two Knocks, he didn't bother to look out the peephole, he knew the only people who ever visited him was his good friend Eddy who he had worked with for ten years (their friendship expanding many restaurants); and his parents, who usually called in advance. Sure as it was Tuesday, when Joe opened the door, there stood Eddy with a big enigmatic smile, you could tell he was up to something.

"Hey buddy" said Eddy grinning ear to ear. "Don't be mad, but I got you the next two weeks off of work."

"You got me off of work? How??"

"I talked to Jerry." Eddy pushed passed Joe and made himself comfortable flopping down on Joe's couch."He approved it!"

Joe's house was neat, he cleaned twice a week and didn't have too much furniture unpacked yet to clutter his hole in the ground.

"He approved what?"

" Your two week get-over-your-ex vacation! Consider it a late birthday present." Eddy was proud of what he'd done. "Here look at the schedule." he pulled up an app on his phone that showed the schedule for the month. Sure enough, Joe saw that he had two weeks booked off. He didn't know whether to be angry that Eddy was able to take liberties with his schedule or relieved that for the next two weeks he wouldn't have to go to work, and Eddy obviously had something planned for those two weeks. He decided to stay impartial, it was his natural instinct.

"How did you get him to book my time off without my permission?"

"I showed him these." At that moment Eddy produced two tickets from his pocket. These tickets were not your average run of the mill tickets, they were golden with two big X's in red ink. Joe had never seen them before and therefore the effect Eddy was hoping for did not come to pass, instead what he got was:

"And? What are those for?" Joe was trying to conceal his curiosity.

"Two tickets to board the XX Stacy, the wildest, hottest, most notorious cruise ever to exist on god's green!"Eddy was pumped up, Joe, not so much.

"The XX Stacy!? Didn't ten people die on that cruise last year?" he worried. In the news headlines last year he remembers something about a cult suicide aboard a private party liner.

"The very same! Exciting isn't it?" Eddy was now up and almost hopping about Joe's apartment. "Let the wild sex-filled misadventures begin!"

"I thought the cruise was banned? Isn't that what happened? It got banned." Joe was pretty sure.

"Yes it was banned, but it isn't anymore. Obviously, otherwise I wouldn't have these here tickets." Eddy could always convince Joe, and Joe never really resisted for too long when Eddy had a harebrained scheme; he usually went along because he could not see anything better to do. This instance was also another one of those cases where Joe gave in and let Eddy convince him, for he did have nothing better to do and felt like a party on a cruise ship could be quite fun, he had never been on one before.

"The cruise ships out tomorrow morning so you had better get packing, bring lots of condoms you're going to need them." Eddy said with a wink. Joe not believing him, rolled his eyes and packed his clothes under Eddy's supervision, Eddy made sure he didn't pack any "lazy clothes" which sweatpants, T-shirts and hoodies were classified under. Whilst Eddy was busy searching through Joe's closet for a good shirt, Joe packed away a box of condoms, just in case. He was in good shape and took good care of his body and people often referred to him as handsome. Then it occurred to Joe.

"How did you get these tickets? I thought they were impossible to get a hold of?"

Eddy smiled, a very Eddy smile.

" You won't believe it, The sexiest little blonde thing came by the bar last night wearing a tight black sparkling dress, she was nearly bursting out of it. She sat at the bar with her friend who was also a fox (dark skinned and jacked), and they were asking me all these questions like, do you have a girlfriend, do you live with anyone blah blah blah, they were really interested you know, they were licking their lips and eye-balling my stuff."

"Eye-balling your stuff?"

Eddy pointed to his entire body starting with the lower frontal region.

"It was like they wanted to eat me," he said in the best way possible. " They asked if I had heard of the XX Stacy cruise, (which I had) and they gave me these tickets, for free! On top of that they left a hundred dollar tip!" Eddy was beaming, "This is destiny calling my friend." He had no idea how on the nose that last comment had been.

"That's not what happened, tell me how you really got those tickets?" Joe's disbelief lasted only for a moment, of course this happened to Eddy, he was the most interesting person Joe knew.

After hours of grooming tips and fantasy 'what if' situations Eddy had left Joe's apartment in a whirlwind of lustful joy, leaving Joe alone to contemplate what he had just gotten into. "The XX Stacy was the world's greatest pleasure cruise," he thought. "A party that never stopped. Even if people died on board." and with that thought lingering and a small sense of dread in his stomach, he went to bed.

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.

Chapter 3

After a few moments of waiting in the line and a couple more conspiracy theories, a group of six women passed and joined in line behind Joe and Eddy, they were beautiful, and paid no attention to the men around them. One girl was especially eye-catching to Joe, she had a nose piercing, dark hair, she wore a Heavy metal t-shirt and short shorts, her legs went on for days, he couldn't help but stare.

"What did I tell you Joe? Sex, drugs and rock and roll." Eddy said as he noticed Joe's jaw dropping, "All our lives we've been preparing for this one cruise, and after it we can die happy men." He was right, at least about the preparation part, it was not guaranteed that they would die happy or not.

"Excuse me, ladies?" Eddy started out planting seeds as he called it, getting the women's attention. "Have you been on this cruise before? We're new to the whole party cruise thing and could use some pointers." Eddy finished with a suave smirk.

"Well we've never partied on this cruise before but we've got some experience on party cruises, first thing you need to know: figure out where all the bathrooms are, never know when you are going to spew." The babe with the nose ring said.

"That's good advice," Joe butt-in "I'll make a map of all the bathrooms first and I'll share it with you." Eddy squinted at Joe and Joe dropped his eyes, he was nervous. All of his years and his managing experience disappeared when he was outside of work. He brought his gaze back up, he remembered to look them all in the eyes at once knowing that women were like a wild animal, he couldn't show any sign of weakness or he'd be ripped apart.

"You're so useful," Eddy said with a big smile on his face, "Joe here actually won us the tickets in a competitive usefulness competition." Eddy was clearly making fun of Joe now and Joe's face turned a bright red.

"We won a contest too, for dancing." said a Hispanic brown-eyed, brown-haired, angel. After which the other girls giggled amongst themselves.

"They were gifted to you?" asked Joe.

"Dancing? Joe here is quite the dancer himself, He can teach you a thing or two." said Eddy with conviction, the girls looked at Joe, he could feel himself begin to sweat.

"Is that so?" replied the Hispanic angel.

"I usually charge for lessons but for you guys I'd do it for free." Joe tried to say in the coolest way possible.

"Sounds like a challenge." said the dark haired heavy metal goddess who smiled at Joe, noticing their common interest in at least wearing heavy metal T-shirts.

Joe suddenly felt the coolness leave his body, her green eyes cut into his soul, he froze.

"It is a challenge!" Eddy stepped in. "Isn't it Joe?" Eddy nudged him.

"it is." Joe said matter-of-fact.

"Well then, there's only one way to settle this." stated the Hispanic angel "With a dance-off!" she and her friends laughed, all of them beautiful and flirty and tattooed. Joe was in heaven and he hadn't even made it on board.

As they waited in line, Eddy managed to use his favorite line "Do you come here often?" then he got the names of the six girls and introduced himself and Joe. The dark-haired green-eyed heavy metal goddess was Caroline, the Hispanic angel was Mercedes , their friends: a tall blonde with a full sleeve of tattoos and a lip piercing was Natalie, the shorter one with thick hips and luscious lips was Emily, The one who had no interest in the men at all was Karen and her close friend with rainbow hair was Zoë.

During the waiting process the red-haired man and thick frames also managed to get themselves into the conversations, but the conversations ended abruptly after that and they never got to introduce themselves.

The red-haired man was the Eddy of the two Joe thought, he was excited and eager to board the pleasure cruise and add to his sexual interaction repertoire . Thick frames was more cautious like him, he relayed the stats he had heard about the XX Stacy and how over a thousand people have died or went missing on this cruise because of over-partying or other nefarious means. Facts like these brought back the dread that had sunk away upon talking with the ladies.

By the time they reached the boarding ramp, the girls were busy talking to another group of guys behind them and Joe kept checking back to see if Caroline was looking at him, she wasn't not that he saw (but she was when he wasn't looking). The security guards were big burly men and Joe had spotted that there were some guards carrying sub-machine guns, which he pointed out to Eddy who told him it was for their protection.

The dread came back and grew, to the point when the security guard checked his ticket, his instincts told him to turn back, hop in a cab, and go home. Why was he so nervous? Was he afraid of being confined to a ship for almost 2 weeks? The cruise itself was a ten day cruise, five days to get out to the international borders and then another five days back.

The only thing that relieved his dread was the treasure trove of beautiful women around him, some noticed him and others were licking their lips at the sight of him. He wondered if his casual, cool dress made him stand out, he had thought he'd been special but then...

"It's happening again." Eddy stated.

"What's happening again?" asked Joe

"I feel like a piece of meat! This is going to be the greatest thing ever to exist. Ever. These girls look hungry." Eddy said as he flexed his Pecs.

Finally, they made it out of the queue and were free to find their room. The tickets read 1308, they exchanged their tickets for keys at a kiosk. The key was an electronic key-card.

Joe managed to find Caroline and Mercedes and the others one last time before heading to the room to drop off his luggage.

"I look forward to our dance-off! he yelled out over the crowd, they laughed to themselves and Caroline blew him a kiss before disappearing into the massive ocean liner crowd.

"Smooth, don't forget to make a map of all the washrooms." Eddy chuckled. Before Joe could retort he went on, "Didn't I tell you this was going to be great!? I've never seen so many hotties in one place, and we are going to be stuck on a ship with them, for ten days!"

"It's almost too good to be true." said Joe.

"But it is true, look around." Eddy said as he gestured to the crowd of people all around them. The sun was rising now by the time they made it onto the lower deck. The day was only just starting but all Joe could think about was getting into his bed and catching up on the sleep he never got.

Chapter 4

There was another line just to get into the cruise itself, people were everywhere and Joe was starting to feel claustrophobic out on the lower deck. Eddy's head was on a swivel his head turned and followed every hot body until he saw another one cross his path.

"Look!" Eddy said, pointing up at a higher deck. It was a stunning blonde woman in a ravishing red dress.

"It's her! She's the one who gave me the tickets!" Eddy was in love, and secretly so was Joe.

She was nothing like he had ever seen, big blue eyes, long legs, juicy lips and curvy hips. She was on another level, literally and figuratively. Joe couldn't believe it.

"That girl? She was licking her lips at you!? She gave you the tickets?" he said exasperated.

"Yeah, of course" replied Eddy slightly offended at Joe's amazement.

Then as if she knew they were talking about her, she stopped mid-conversation and looked down at Joe, he was sure her gaze was locked on him, although Eddy thought that she was looking at him. Joe was frozen, the dread came rushing back, she was beautiful but Joe couldn't help the sense of danger. Eddy waved to her.

"Hey, I made it!" he yelled out, which would have been impossible to hear over the racket of the party people crowding onto the boat. "This is my friend Joe!" he kept trying to converse over the noise. And with that she turned away and went back into conversation, peeking back at Joe curiously. She was talking with a wealthy looking pretty boy and another beautiful woman who looked like she could kick most people's HIP, man or woman.

Joe stared up at her until she and her companions left from the balcony. As soon as the sunlight shone on the upper decks, the three strangers melted away with the shadows.

"She stared right at me." Joe said a bit unnerved.

"You? She was looking at me. that's the girl from the bar. I'm going to get to know her real well these next ten days just you wait and see." and with that Eddy claimed her as his in terms of the friendship code. Which was a bit annoying but didn't matter to Joe too much, for Eddy had set him up for a dance contest and any of those girls were hotter than he thought he deserved.

Eddy wanted to wait and watch the departure from the bay but Joe convinced him against it, he just wanted to sleep and hopefully he would wake and the anxiety would disappear and all would be good and fine in the world. It took them longer than they had anticipated to find their room, the ship was large and the lower deck was a maze of stairways and crowded hallways. The crowd moved slowly and some people who had already started the party were doing beer-bongs in the hallways slowing the pace even more.

While Eddy used his size to plow his way through, from behind him Joe had heard a sniff next to his ear, he turned and there she was, yet another gorgeous woman, red hair, red lipstick and for a moment Joe thought her eyes were red too but they were actually a darker brown. She was wearing tight blue jeans and a tight white shirt, Joe gulped at the sight of her like a cartoon character would, she smelled delicious he thought," like coconut and cocoa." She could have been a model, but wasn't because she actually smiled at Joe and started a conversation with him.

"Sorry." she said "I've got allergies." She scanned Joe from head to toe, looking like she liked what she saw. Joe was freaked out, no way this girl was into him, she was almost too gorgeous, almost as gorgeous as the blonde who stared at him earlier.

"No need to apologize." Joe said trying to play it cool and keep eye-contact "I thought for a second someone was sniffing me." he joked. She bit her lip and twitched an eyebrow.

"Well I usually introduce myself before I smell people." she smirked.

Joe's jaw dropped again, she was into him! This was going to be the greatest thing to exist, ever!

She introduced herself as Maria and Joe gave her his name, they exchanged smiles and before she turned a corridor to head off toward her room she got in close and smelled Joe. She looked like she wanted to jump on him there in the hallway. Then she smiled once more and left.

"What the HEL?" Joe thought, she was really into him, his ego couldn't possibly handle another attractive woman looking in his direction this morning.

After that there were no more flirtatious confrontations or strange smelling encounters, Eddy found their room and used the key-card to open the door.

"Here we are! Home at last!" sighed Eddy.

"I need to sleep." said Joe.

Their room was bigger than either of them had expected, two beds on either side and a window out into the ocean, the room was nicer than Joe's basement apartment. He put his suitcase in the closet before he had laid down on his bed and made himself comfortable, still thinking about the beautiful women surrounding him aboard the liner. As Eddy turned to Joe to tell him of his plans he saw that Joe was already asleep with a smile on his face, undoubtedly dreaming of beautiful, curvaceous vixens. So Eddy let him be and left the room closing the door behind him.

Joe never dreamt when he was at home in his bed, but this time sleeping on the cruise he did dream, he dreamt of beautiful women, blonde hair and blue eyes, and an island shrouded by night. There were other things in his dream like wolves and people with tails but those parts went by so quickly that he didn't remember them, not entirely. What he did remember most about his dream was the sinking feeling of helplessness and a dark cave he wound up in, The cave was small but cozy, there was a fire and a naked woman laying next to the fire. This would usually make Joe happy but for some reason he couldn't shake the dread feeling inside.

Chapter 5

When Joe woke the dread remained with him for only a few seconds before altogether dissipating. The room was empty, Eddy was still out and about, five hours had passed and Joe was hungry. The room was silent, sound-proof walls made sure Joe could sleep uninterrupted but as soon as he opened the door out to the hallway all sound rushed in, the sound of partying, music, shouting and tom-foolery.

At the end of the hallway was a blown up map of the entire ship, there was an older couple stood in front of it drinking drinks with little umbrellas in them trying to find their way back to their room. Joe had found the floor he was on (the lower deck) and saw there were six other decks to venture as the map decreed.

The dining hall was where he could get food, it was on the main deck (one above), he could order room service but that would cost him as to where the dining hall was an all you can eat buffet. The choice was easy, he knew where he was going but he didn't know where Eddy went, by the looks of this map Eddy could be anywhere from the strip club to the casino; he decided he would check the party deck, it had a pool and knew Eddy would use any reason he could to take his shirt off.

"Food first" he thought as he made his way toward the nearest elevator, he would take the stairs but they were on the opposite side and he didn't want to walk further out of the way. As he waited for the elevator a group of party boys surrounded him, they were young, early twenties, they smelled like a seven day binge, whiskey, vodka, beer and a slight lingering stench of vomit.

Joe had to plug his nose in the elevator, he didn't care if they took offense and to be honest they were not paying attention to him. They were preoccupied with themselves debating who would win the fight that was to take place on night three.

An MMA fight was booked in the casino, The reigning defending light heavyweight champion of the world was on board and was going to have an exhibition against a young up and comer who was undefeated in twelve fights. The young men were very excited and the majority were rooting for Tye Samson "The king of MMA."

Luckily the elevator ride was only one floor up and Joe didn't have to hold his nose very long, he and the young men all piled out as twenty or so people crammed in. The dining hall was impressive, even full as it was, there was still room to walk with a metre of space on either side. The buffet was exuberant, Joe grabbed a tray immediately, focused only on food, of which there was a lot.

There were fruits of every color and shape, all types of seafood from lobster to shrimp and octopus, there was an egg station, sliced meats and cheeses, sushi, pizza, pasta, salads of every kind, lamb, pancakes, soups, a chocolate fountain and a multitude of sandwiches (which were Joe's favorite).

After an hour of stuffing his face with countless eggs, pancakes and two sandwiches Joe was ready to unbutton his pants and take a nap again, he drank some pineapple juice to help it all down and then decided he needed to walk off the five pounds he had just gained. He found a map posted on the wall in the dining room and made his way to the Party deck, one level up.

This time he made his way over to the stairwell, he couldn't bear being locked in an elevator with another vomit-smelling party kid whilst on a full stomach. The stairs were nice, red carpeted and he could tell they were steam cleaned everyday and vacuumed often. The hand railing was a smooth chestnut, it was warm and felt good on his hand. The smooth railing probably saved his life because he was holding on to it when a grim looking man knocked him back as they met in the midsection of the two floors.

"Watch it! Or I'll send your HIP over the railing, head first!" said the man, he was wearing a sweater and Joe had knocked his hood down when they bumped into one another. Joe said nothing, the grim man was flanked by two others just as grim as he, also wearing hoods. "Not party-goers that's for sure, maybe off duty security guards" Joe thought.

He watched as they went on the man was bald his eyes were sharp, he had a very distinguishable tough face. He saw a holy cross on the back of the grim man's neck, it stood out to him because it had a little Jesus on it, crucified and bleeding, the man pulled up his hood and they were off to the lower levels.

As they disappeared out of sight, the dread in Joe's stomach had come back and a terrible thought entered his mind. "Cultists" was the thought. Last year the news was ten people had died on the XX Stacy, claimed to be a cult suicide by reporters and the media, what if they were here to kill others along with themselves? He couldn't bear the thought of stumbling into a room where a mass suicide had taken place, bodies strewn about. Then something strange happened.

A flash in Joe's mind, he saw what he was fearing, bodies, torn and bleeding in a luxurious room with a golden rug and white pillars, the bodies were in suits and ball gowns and the like. The flash was only a burst of a moment but it was enough to cause Joe to panic, he had never experienced anything like that before, was it his imagination? It felt real in that moment, the smell of gunpowder and blood in the air.

"What the HEL was that?" he said out loud to himself.

Flustered and feeling suffocated he made his way out the stairwell and through a lounge area bar. It was nice, blue carpet with white pillars and couches and people lounging and drinking, looking happy and content and not murderous or suicidal.

He spied the bartender and made eye contact, the bar wasn't full, but it wasn't empty either there were a few seats vacant. He decided to help calm his nerves he would have a rye with ginger ale and ice, the one drink he thought most calmed him. Upon approaching he was greeted by a smile and a "What can I get you?"

He ordered, received his drink, which was free, and stood at the bar for a spell, letting the dread sense fade before he dared continue and have some kind of anxiety attack. As he stood there looking out over the lounge room and out the large glass wall onto the party deck, a sniffing from the bartender caught his attention.

He looked over at him and the bartender smiled again, wiping down a freshly washed cup, Joe thought it might be his imagination or maybe he had a cold or, like the tight white shirted vixen Maria, he had allergies. Joe downed his drink and ordered another, with it he ventured out to the party deck.

Chapter 6

It was one in the afternoon, the sun was shining and the weather was a beautiful 30 degrees Celsius, everywhere he looked were beautiful women in bikinis and one-piece bathing suits, everyone out on the party deck had a drink in hand and seemed to be having a good time. He wondered if they had all gotten sufficient sleep before boarding at four in the morning, or maybe they were just staying awake because of the alcohol and the loud hip hop playing from the DJ booth?

It wasn't long before he had finished his second drink and wandered over to the outside bar for a refill where he met Mercedes, who remembered him from the morning and gave him a smile and a nod, he wandered over beside her.

"Come here often?" He said, trying to be funny while stealing Eddy's line.

"No, this is my first time!" She replied, not getting his joke.

"Where are your friends?"

"They went to sleep, we boarded the ship right after finishing work" she said.

"Oh, you all work together? As back-up dancers?" he said, another joke. She laughed politely.

"We are dancers!" she exclaimed.

"Like ballet dancers?" He thought they might be too curvy for ballet dancers, but it was the first dance-related job he could think of. She laughed again, this time genuine.

"No, we're dancers... For money." she smiled, it took him a while before he got the message and then found himself staring at her body imagining her at work. She laughed again and he snapped out of it, embarrassed, he laughed it off.

"It's a good living! Pays well, right?"Joe said, desperately trying to keep the conversation rolling.

"It does!" She finished what looked like her fifth drink and then yawned. "Think I'm going to get some sleep too, you should find us later, we'll be on the dance floor tonight! Dance-off!"

"Dance off!" he repeated. Before she could get away he asked her: "My friend Eddy, have you seen him?" She pointed towards the pool. Before he could say thanks she had disappeared into the crowd.

When Joe found Eddy he was talking to two party girls at the poolside (he was shirtless), they were taking shots when Joe walked over which earned him a shot too. Eddy introduced Joe to Tasha and whatever her friends name was.

They were good looking girls but nowhere near the level of Mercedes or Caroline, and definitely nowhere near the level of Eddy's blonde mysterious dream girl who Joe couldn't stop thinking about the most. Eddy was touching Tasha's leg and they were getting closer and closer, it wouldn't be long before the two were off to the room Joe thought, he was starting to feel the buzz of the alcohol after the shot, and decided he would ask Eddy.

"Did you find her?"

"Find who?" asked Eddy.

"The girl, the blonde." both girls Eddy was talking to had blonde hair. Joe went on, "The one who gave you the tickets."

"No sign of her. I looked everywhere, I saw that Spanish girl by the pool not long ago." Tasha and her friend were not amusing talk of other women in front of them and Tasha pulled on Eddy's arm.

"Let's go, show me your room." She said, half slurred. Eddy was about the same level of drunk and accepted the duty of showing her his room.

Eddy mentioned Tasha's friends name again and told Joe to "have fun," before leaving with Tasha under his arm. Joe still didn't remember her name or care to pretend he had any interest.

"So do you party?" The girl asked.

"What do you mean?" he asked. She made a gesture for nose candy, Joe shook his head, he didn't like drugs, they always had a dissatisfactory effect on him. She shrugged.

"Do you want to have sex?" she asked while feeling Joe's Pecs.

"No, I'm good thanks." he tried to say in the most polite way possible, upon hearing his answer she casually got up and walked over to a group of dancing guys and started making out with the first one who danced with her. She was attractive, but Joe could get a girl like her at any point in time, he didn't want a girl on his level he wanted a goddess, a queen of beauty, Aphrodite. If he were to hook up he thought, it would be with someone not from his world. He didn't know, of course, how on the nose this thought was.

He made his way toward the edge of the party deck and stood overlooking the first deck where the mysterious blonde had been standing this morning looking down at him. Her blue eyes flashed in his mind's eye, her red dress, her hair blowing in the wind, she was looking at him this morning, he was sure of it.

Then at that moment he felt eyes on him again, he turned and scanned the crowd of party and dancing, no one was paying attention to him.

He looked passed the crowd and realized the true scale of the cruise ship, there were still 3 decks above the party deck. The deck above didn't have a balcony overlook it was just dark tinted glass, what was most probably the concert hall, he remembered from the map. Then there was a deck above that which had people on it, except they were in suits and fine clothes which was definitely the V.I.P. level and there was another level yet above that which was too high to see what was going on.

Upon bringing his attention back down, he stopped at the tinted glass and saw a figure he thought was looking right at him. His skin crawled, the figure wasn't moving, that confirmed it, he was being watched! Joe finished his drink, not taking an eye off of the figure unmoved.

He wanted to let the figure know, he knew it was staring at him he thought. Then he imagined it was the woman, the one who had spied him this morning, the blonde in the red dress, a woman who was always on a higher level, literally and figuratively, the one who he couldn't stop thinking about above all others.

Chapter 7

Suddenly what he thought sounded like a dog barking caught his attention, he looked over only to see two people arguing at the edge of the party deck next to him. A man and a woman, he was a big burly man with his hair in a ponytail and tattoos covering his jacked physique, she was a babe, with half her hair shaved and a sexy tattoo of a skeleton on her leg, (Joe did not find skeletons sexy but her leg was). After pulling his attention away from her sexy legs he looked back to where the figure was standing and it was gone, vanished like a ghost.

"I smelled him Clayton! His scent is on board this cruise!" He overheard her say.

"He's dead Diane, you have nothing to worry about." Clayton said.

'What in the world could they be talking about?' thought Joe.

"I caught his scent." She sniffed the air, and upon sniffing her gaze was brought to Joe, she seemed confused at the smell as if he had flatulence. He looked away pretending not to be eavesdropping, and they spoke in hushed tones to one another. Joe finished his drink and was about to head over to the bar for another rye and ginger (it was keeping the dread away) when Clayton stopped right in front of him, sniffing him.

"What are you?" asked Clayton, half quizzical and half threatened.

"What do you mean?" said Joe trying to put some distance between he and Clayton, backing up into the railing.

"Your scent, I've never come across it before, Are you a hunter?" Clayton growled, literally.

"My scent? I've never gone hunting, I like animals!" said Joe as he held on to the railing tight, afraid his HIP was going over, head first for real this time.

"Animals!? who are you calling an animal!?" Clayton got right in Joe's face before Diane stepped in, pulling him back.

"Let's go Clay, you know what Alpha says about fighting on board these things." She said.

"This guy is hiding something, he's not telling us! You smelled him!" argued Clayton.

"We'll keep an eye on him, Clay lets go to our cabin." She pulled away the brute and looked him dead in the eyes calming him down, Clayton looked back before they headed for the cabins.

"I'll be seeing you." Clayton said. He turned and left, Diane looked back at Joe curiously, she smiled to him, Joe smiled back. He didn't know what to do, apparently he had a smell? He sniffed under his arms and smelt only the 'cool breeze' deodorant he had put on, "maybe this scent was stronger than the usual one ?" he thought.

He replayed the events that had just occurred in the last minutes, the figure in the window watching him, the two tattooed buff couple talking about smelling a dead man on board and then sniffing the air and coming over to him.

That's three people including the bartender that had sniffed him today, four if you count the red-haired vixen Maria before taking his nap. What was going on? "I'll be seeing you" played again in his head, and then "you know what the Alpha says about fighting", and the dog barking and growling.

Maybe they were furries? Joe thought. He would never have been able to guess what they actually were, or why people seemed to be sniffing him, he wouldn't have guessed it in a million years.

The gut sinking dread soon came back after all of these 'interesting' social interactions he had been having this afternoon and Joe needed another drink. He had been feeling on the edge of drunk before the growling man had sobered him right up, and as soon as Joe had another drink all the tipsy came rushing back. He was at the bar outside watching people swim, then he spotted her, Maria in the pool.

She got out and grabbed a towel, Joe couldn't take his eyes off her, she had the body of a 'dancer' and he wondered what she looked like without her red bikini. She spotted him next to the bar and smiled, then she walked over and Joe had a different feeling in his stomach, the feeling of nervousness, the type of feeling you get when a super attractive woman smiles at you and makes her way toward you dripping wet. She was hot, red hot.

Joe said nothing as she approached, he just stared at her magnificence, she was a goddess. Her scent of coconut and cocoa lingered over toward him, he got a big whiff, it smelled delicious. "Now I'm smelling people" he thought.

A few men tried to stop her on her way over to the bar area, she brushed them off, it seems whoever she walked near noticed her close and drooled over her, even with a girl on their arm. She stopped next to the bar, next to Joe and licked her lips, which caused Joe to tremble.

"What are you drinking?" She asked him.

"Uh-rye and ginger" said Joe, stammering, trying to find his cool again. he did. She ordered two rye and gingers and two shots of tequila.

"Tequila Joe, that's what they call me." Joe sounded like an idiot he thought. She laughed though, and handed him one of the shots.

"Here you go tequila Joe, drink up!" then she got close to his ear and asked "What should we cheers to?"

"To you!" Joe said "and that red bikini!" He couldn't help but picture her naked again, the bikini didn't leave much for imagination. They touched the tips of their shot glasses together.

"To you!" She said "Being the only guy outside wearing a shirt!"They took the shot and shook off the after taste, then she assisted Joe's shirt off of him. "That's better she said. She put her hands on him and Joe was helpless, she felt his muscles and bit her lip as she looked into his eyes, Joe was putty in her hands, he could only smile from ear to ear.

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