The Hand or the
Drink?
Saltwater invaded Gerard's nostrils as he awoke to the
laughter of his captors. It seemed the
guards had chosen to wake him less than gently that morning; the day of his
trial. His sentence would be decided
upon by a tribunal consisting of three different ships' captains. Unfortunately, the only vote that actually
mattered was decided by Admiral Moore, the self-appointed captain of the
massive cruise liner named The Hyperion and the Savior of The Fleet. Once the U.S. was overwhelmed with feeders,
Moore's group had no choice but to look to the sea in hopes of finding an
uninhabited island to hold out on. His
savior moniker was earned by leading an exodus of ragtag ships off the coast of
Florida nearly five years ago in search of such a place. Some say he had killed as many humans as he
had feeders. These were stories that
Gerard had heard growing up as a child that seemed heroic if not so
apocryphal.
Moore was not a forgiving man however, and
Gerard had accidentally killed a captain's son in the galley two days
prior. Working late, Gerard was in the
kitchen when a drunken stranger had approached and insulted him for working
such a lowly job. Gerard had quipped
back, “Not everyone can be born a captain's son.” The man's face had gone blood red with that
jibe and he waited til Gerard finished his shift to resume the
hostilities. However, it wouldn't have
ended the way it did had the man not pulled a knife on him. Gerard would have been hanged and thrown over
the bow of the ship immediately for his crime had he not been only 15 years
old.
