Page 16 of If They Knew

“Okay, Tyler, you're coming with me to find him. Julie, can you start getting the passengers who can move to clean up the place as much as possible?”

“Of course, I’ll do what I can. Theo, please be careful,” she says.

“I will. I think we’ve made it through the worst of the storm, and I think it’s a good idea to gather everyone in one place to make a plan,” I say, looking around at all the people standing around. “Logan, do you think you can help the nurses set up a medical station?” I glanced at his leg. “Afterward, you should get yourself checked out.”

“Yeah, I can get that done,” Logan answers, then turns and hobbles away.

I glance at Tyler and motion for him to follow. We make our way toward the stairs and descend three floors. With the power out, the security system automatically unlocked all the doors. When we reach the 1st floor, we walk to the door marked ‘Engine Room, Crew Members Only.’ The door is sealed with a quick-acting watertight hatch that has a manual twist handle. Tyler and I twist it together, and the heavy steel door opens outward. A strong smell of something burning, mixed with the scent of burnt rubber, fills my nostrils. I try my best not to gag.

“What’s that awful smell?” Tyler says.

I quickly respond, doing my best to keep my nose and mouth covered. “I'm not sure. I know the rubber scent, but that other smell is awful.”

I can’t see anything; the emergency lights aren’t working. I reach for my belt, remembering I have a flashlight, and pull it out. I shine the light around the room, and I’m speechless for a moment. The first thing that comes to mind is the powerful lightning strike that hit the ship earlier.

“The lightning strike must have sent a surge so powerful it melted all the wires, and that's the burnt rubber we're smelling.”

Tyler gags. “Can we just find Uncle Mark and get out of here? I’m not even sure if there is anything left for me to vomit, but I’d rather not find out. I don’t think I’ll ever get this smell out of my nose.”

I shine my flashlight all around as we walk, my footsteps echoing through the vast engine room. The space is filled with compartments that control the propellers, and the electrical circuit board sits nearby. As I shine the light down the long corridor, I spot the breaker panel at the opposite end of the room. The panel door swings back and forth with the ship's motion, letting out an eerie, prolonged squeal. The sound is so creepy that the hair on my arms stands up.

“Are you still with me?” I ask, making sure Tyler is still next to me since he isn’t speaking.

“Yeah, I'm right here,” he answers.

As we approach the breaker panel, the rancid smell intensifies with each step.

“I'm not sure how much more of this I can handle,” says Tyler, still gagging. If he doesn’t stop, I’m going to throw up just from the sound.

“We're almost at the breaker panel; let's check if any switches are blown. I think the lightning damaged everything, and I don’t see Mark,” I say, looking around. We finally reach the panel, and I shine the light on it. Just as I suspected—every fuse is blown. “Can you help me hold the light, or come over and flip a few breakers to see if anything happens?”

“Yeah, I can do that,” Tyler says between gasps, holding his breath. As he walks toward me, he accidentally kicks something on the ground. It flies across the room and hits the wall with a loud thud.

“What was that?” I ask.

“No idea,” he answers, sounding as confused as I am. “I can't see anything down here. Bring your light closer.”

I walk toward him, roughly ten feet away, and illuminate the ground where the sound originated. As I scan the area, I suddenly freeze when my light lands on the object.

“Is that his shoe?” Tyler asks as soon as he can see what has my attention.

“I think it is.”

“Why would he leave with only one shoe?” Tyler asks, his voice soft, confused.

I turn away, and my light falls on the scene in the distance. I can’t bear it anymore, feeling my stomach churn as I realize the source of the terrible stench. Suddenly, I vomit uncontrollably.

“You okay, dude?” Tyler asks from behind me. I stand back up, wiping my mouth and watery eyes.

“I don't think he did,” I whisper.

“What? What are you talking about?” Tyler walks up behind me. Before he gets to me, I try to stop him from getting any closer.

“No, Tyler. Don’t…”

Tyler snatches the light from my hand and shines it where I was just looking. I watch as his shoulders drop the second he sees what I saw— Captain Mark Whitaker's body on the ground, burned and blistered. Whitaker's shoeless foot is unrecognizable from the burns, and his clothing is singed in multiple places, exposing his charred skin. His eyes are open wide, showing a look of fear, as if his final moments were terrifying. As I continue looking at the rest of his body, I see that his right hand is tightly gripping pliers that are missing their rubber grips.

“He must have been trying to fix these breakers when the second lightning strike hit the ship. That's the only thing that could have electrocuted him this badly,” I say, doing my best to keep the sadness from my voice. “Let's head back up; none of these breakers will work now. The entire panel is wrecked.”