Demon by Erik Williams Page A

the mooring lines. They were not taut but had enough strain on them that snapback still posed a danger. It took only a second or two for the ship to start moving. The stern shifted toward the pier. Normally, the bow would kick away; but ordering five percent on the forward thruster compensated for twist, putting lateral movement on the hull.
    Yusuf lifted a handheld radio and keyed it. “Slack all lines.”
    â€œSlack all lines, aye,” said the personnel at the mooring stations.
    The gap between the ship and the pier closed to only a few feet. Yusuf watched the lines slack. He wanted to see a good dip in them before giving the orders to sever.
    The pier grew closer. Fenders between the hull and cement pylons started to compress. Almost there.
    Satisfied all the mooring lines had enough slack, Yusuf gave the order. “Sever all lines.”
    Crewmen on the weather decks repeated the order. Those holding axes commenced hacking.
    As soon as the first ax made contact, Yusuf turned to the helmsman and said, “Shift your rudder. Starboard engine ahead one-third, port engine back one-third. Indicate zero percent on the starboard bow thruster. Indicate five percent on the port bow thruster.”
    The helmsman repeated back the order and did as ordered. Yusuf turned back to the weather decks. The stern line was separated. As were several of the athwartship lines.
    The lateral movement toward the pier halted. For a moment, the al-Phirosh was completely motionless. Then the recent engine and rudder orders took effect and the ship slid sideways from the pier.
    The midship line parted. Yusuf counted. All mooring lines were free with the exception of the bow. The crewman wielding the ax up forward chopped at it like a madman but to no avail. He kept hitting the line in different areas, his aim off as the ship moved.
    â€œIndicate zero percent on the port bow thruster.” The bow’s movement away from the pier slowed. The stern began to twist. “Rudder amidships.”
    Several men with axes from amidships sprinted to the bow and started hacking. The slack in the line started to disappear. If they did not sever it in another second or two, Yusuf would have to either put forward movement on the ship back toward the pier or evacuate the bow and let the line part under heavy strain.
    Before Yusuf made the call, one of the axmen succeeded in severing the line. It recoiled slightly, hitting the side of the ship but not snapping through the bullnose chock.
    â€œThat was close,” Alwad said behind him.
    Yusuf turned and smirked but said nothing. Instead, he focused on navigating safely out of Basra and avoiding port security.
    S emyaza sighed as the bulkhead vibrated against his back. The ship was moving. It lurched to one side for a few moments and then shifted in the opposite direction. Minutes later, the ship accelerated and the sideways movement stopped.
    Finally.
    He looked at his hands, now only bone. The skin had peeled off up to the elbows but no farther. The blood did not pour out as it had before. Instead, it turned to powder. The red dust saturated his clothes and the floor. The muscles of his biceps had crumbled in chunks. He had slowed the rapid disintegration he had experienced with Henry Prince, though. The cold of the refrigerator seemed to help. Progress.
    Now that the ship was underway, he did not have to work so hard to maintain the flesh. He would find a new host soon. Until then, he would rest and prepare and let this body disintegrate.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN
    A large crane had already removed the infamous section of sewer pipe from the pit. The broken pieces of slab remained down there, though, glimmering under the generator lights. Mike wondered what those pieces were made of. They had a dullness to them, like once-polished stones left in a garden too long. But the way the light danced across the surface reminded him of metal flake paint. Weird.
    The ancient writing carved into the fragments