Navis Salubris – Chapter Six – One War Over, Another Begun

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Navis Salubris Serialized Short Stories

by Mel Dawn

This is the continuation of my Navis Salubris serialized zombie short stories. You have now been introduced to all five characters. Please scroll to the bottom if you wish to catch up on the story. 

We now get back to Abdul, who has been fighting for the wrong side in Iraq. His fellow officers have all been killed, and the camp has filled with zombies. 

At the last possible moment, he finds a ticket on the ground and has a good chuckle over his one way ticket to nowhere. Let’s find out what happens next.

A Recap:

He dropped his gun, and it fell down into the dirt. He pitched forward onto the ground and started crying. He wished he’d never left London to join this terrorist cell. What a mistake that had been. He’d been expecting active combat, but instead got sent to a prisoner interment camp. What kind of war was it when the enemy didn’t even have the honour of fighting?

He heard a scuffling noise in front of him. He calmed his sobs and looked up. Surely he would have been bit by now? The zombies were milling around him, but looking confused. On the ground in front of him he saw a black envelope. 

Abdul picked up the envelope, and tore it open. His face switched to a bewildered expression as he saw that it was a ticket. 

Abdul started laughing. 

“A ticket to nowhere,” he muttered to himself in between guffaws.  

Now onto Chapter Six.

Chapter Six—One War Over, Another Begun

Abdul tucked the ticket into his pocket, and punched his way past the zombies. The prisoners were chained against a wall. He was glad he’d held onto the key. He unlocked their chains while they watched, too frightened to move.

“Run!” he encouraged them. “The war is over! We now have a new war!” Abdul ran for the cover of a truck, while behind him, the prisoners scattered. Some were smart enough to find weapons.

Abdul had just hopped in the cab of the truck when three zombies came for him. He grabbed the door handle and pulled. It was enough. Two zombie hands were amputated, but he was safe as he pushed the lock down. He held onto the handle and made a silent prayer.

When he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the truck. Astonished, he glanced around him. He was in what appeared to be a ship’s cabin. It was small, but very clean. He felt the floor gently move beneath him.

“Hello,” said a voice behind him. He jumped, then reached for his pistol, before realizing that it was gone. He patted himself down, but even the knives were gone.

At first he thought someone was in the room with him, and then he realized that the television was on. He moved closer. He hadn’t seen a television since he had left London many months ago.

Blasphemy! It was a woman who was not covered. He averted his eyes.

“Hello, and welcome to Navis Salubris. I’m Sonya, the ship’s cruise director. We understand that you’re confused. Don’t worry, it will all be explained to you. But for now, we invite you to wash up, and join us in the ship’s canteen at noon.” The television went dark. 

Abdul walked up to the TV to turn it back on, but all the channels were fuzzy. He saw clothing on the bed, but it was infidel’s clothing. He would not wear it. 

But then he looked down at his long black robes. They were encrusted with the blood and guts of zombies. It soaked right down to his skin. Shrugging, his removed his clothes and found a small bathroom with a hot shower. It had been a long time since he had experienced hot water.

Later, he looked down at the clothes on the bed. Perhaps they weren’t so bad. The jeans were a dark blue, the shirt was long-sleeved, and there was a hoodie. He could do something with this. 

After dressing, he glanced at the clock and noticed it was nearly noon. Now it was time to find out if he was dead, or not. Either way, it did not matter to him as God had a purpose for him.

Next... Chapter Seven – Nell Onboard. 

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If you enjoyed this story, please Like and Follow me on Facebook & Twitter.

You may be interested in these other chapters:

Navis Salubris – Chapter One – Nell
Navis Salubris – Chapter Two – Abdul
Navis Salubris – Chapter Three – Wei

Navis Salubris—Chapter Four—Ritta
Navis Salubris—Chapter Five—Sam

If you’d like me to write a short story for your site, 

please learn more here.

Navis Salubris – Chapter Four – Riitta

                                ABOUT — HIRE ME — CONTACT

Navis Salubris Serialized Short Stories

by Mel Dawn

We’ve met our three previous characters, and have two more left to meet. They were each carrying on what was anything but a normal day—Abdul was fighting a war in Iraq until he realized he should be fighting for the human side—Nell suffered from an illness and was confined to home until the zombies broke in—and Wei was a young girl trying to avoid the zombies at a market in China. Each has been presented with a ticket—but what type of ticket do you send to five people who are experiencing the end of the world? Let’s see if Riitta and Sam receive a ticket too.

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Riitta of Sweden

Riitta had been running for the Prime Minister of Sweden until zombies had taken over the small town of Trosa, where her parents lived. One by one her family had succumbed to the zombie plague, but the first thing Riitta learnt was that that was no guarantee that one would continue living. One by one she watched as her parents succumbed to the illness, and then her younger sister and brother. 

But instead of them turning into a family of zombies, they each disintegrated before her eyes. What was giving life to the zombies banging outside their doors and windows was not what would give them life. 

Riitta was doing her best to shovel dirt over their graves in the back yard, when she heard a zombie coming up behind her. She tensed and raised the shovel into the air. It was not the first time that she had to knock the head off a zombie. 

The zombie tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to drop the shovel. Since when were zombies civilized? She whirled around to confront him.

This zombie was male, and besides his distinctive glowing blue eyes, he was in relatively good condition for a dead person. He lifted his right hand and held something out to her.

“I don’t want any trouble,” she said to him in Swedish. 

The zombie mumbled a reply in turn. He nodded to the envelope, asking her to take it.

Riitta took it from his hands and watched as he turned and left the yard. How strange. They didn’t do that normally, did they?

She tore open the envelope. Inside was a ticket. She smiled, but had difficulty, as the flesh on her face was toughening up and turning black. Even though her eyes were glowing blue, she could still read the instructions on the ticket. 

Next... Chapter Five – Sam.

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If you enjoyed this story, please Like and Follow me on Facebook & Twitter.

You may be interested in these other chapters:

Navis Salubris – Chapter One – Nell
Navis Salubris – Chapter Two – Abdul
Navis Salubris – Chapter Three – Wei

If you’d like me to write a short story for your site, 

please learn more here.

Navis Salubris – Chapter Three – Wei

Navis Salubris – Chapter Three – Wei

by Mel Dawn

Wei survived the zombie apocalypse by hiding in tiny crawl spaces that an adult could never reach. Or a zombie for that matter. 

Currently her tiny figure hid under some shrubbery, hiding from the swooshing, squishing noises that were coming her way. She pushed back against the bushes, trying to make herself as small as possible. She stopped when the fence blocked her from moving further. 

She jumped a bit when the fence creaked. But the zombies stomping by didn’t take notice, as they were making their own sounds. The zombies comprised a large  population in Shanghai, China. There had been a gazillion humans, so it stood to reason that there were now a gazillion zombies.

Wei hadn’t seen a human being for over three months now. She wasn’t concerned that there was such a huge crowd of zombies, as she was used to staying motionless for hours at a time. She had a few supplies in her backpack, in case she got hungry or thirsty. Many times she would just fall into a slumber and wait for the zombies to pass. 

One time two zombies did see her hidden, and headed her way. They tried to reach into her space, but she was too far back for them to get in. Eventually, they heard other sounds behind them, and soon turned to investigate.

She lived off mostly packaged food from the local markets and braved the overwhelming stench of animal carcasses that hung from the rafters. She would toss aside soy flour, not knowing what to do with it. Fortunately, there were plenty of nuts and dried fruit to be found. She missed the taste of rice but setting up a fire to cook it would draw the zombies to her. She hadn’t had a hot cooked meal for months now.

Wei decided to leave her crawl space after the zombies had passed. She headed down an alley as she saw the sign of another fruit and vegetable market, that may have something different that she could eat. She was tired of eating the same old things. She noticed as she stepped foot in the market that she heard groaning noises coming from behind her. 

She was going to duck further into the market, when she realized that the zombie sounds were actually coming from inside. The zombies soon caught up with her. She had nowhere to run. She looked around while looking for a weapon but all she saw were rotting bananas and bags of rice. 

Just as the zombies were circling her, she felt something touch her head. She brushed it away, thinking it was cobwebs from the ceiling. A red envelope slowly floated into her arms. She grabbed it and looked at it, taking a break from the zombies that were almost within her reach. 

“What the hell,” she said in Mandarin and tore open the envelope. Inside was a cruise ticket. 

Next... Chapter Four – Ritta.

Navis Salubris – The Start of a Serialized Short Story – The Healing Ship

My blog has been sadly neglected for the past year. Paid writing work has taken priority over unpaid fiction. From dealing with a sick cat with hepatitis/liver disease, to a small cyst in my hand that hurts, I've decided to take a few weeks off. This has given me the chance to get my home in order, finish off a few projects, and get back into crafting and fictional writing.

Earlier this year I eagerly followed the serialized adventures of Jason P. Crawford. A blog is yet another avenue for reaching new readers. What a great idea! I decided to give it a try, and now I have time to do so. Hopefully 500 words each day won't slow down my daily chores, and as Isabel the Cat gets better, more time is freed up to do what I want.

Here's a brief summary of what I'm trying to accomplish. Of course it's a zombie short story, as zombies are what I do best. Just what does Navis Salubris mean? I enjoy dabbling in Latin and hope I have my translation correct. Navis means Navy, and I'm sure most people will recognize Salubris for the Good Health toast. Thus we have "The Healing Ship". Check out the futuristic ship photo I found online.

As the zombie threat lessens, remnants of human society have degenerated into in-fighting. Five people from around the world find themselves with an unexpected ticket to the Navis Salubris. Our five main characters wake up on the ship, disoriented, and wondering how they got so far from home. Nell has missed much of the zombie apocalypse, being confined to her Vancouver home. Wei has survived by hiding in tiny crawl spaces that an adult could never fit. Abdul is a terrorist in Iraq. Riitta is a zombie, former politician in Sweden–aren't they all? Sam is a suicidal doctor in Nigeria. Are they in heaven, hell, or something much worse? As our candidates traverse strange waters, they may just find they've ended up with more than they had ever bargained for during their battle for human survival.