Page 59 of Waylaid in Whittier

“I can make it. My cabin or yours?”

“We can watch it in mine,” Danielle said. “You bring the popcorn. I’ll grab some sodas and the rest of the junk food.”

“Dawn of the Dead. It sounds like a nice, wholesome family movie,” Millie said sarcastically.

“It’s about zombies,” Danielle said.

“No kidding. What a coincidence.”

“Why is it a coincidence?”

“Because we might have a zombie group booked on one of our upcoming Caribbean cruises.”

Danielle made a choking sound. “For real?”

Millie grinned. “You should see the look on your face. I thought I mentioned it to you. I don’t recall the name of the club or group, although it’s on the tip of my tongue. The coordinator and I even had a zoom call to discuss a few event ideas.”

“Like what?” Danielle clapped her hands. “I have a bazillion ideas for zombie-themed activities. A zombie costume contest. A zombie scavenger hunt. Whodunnit zombie murder mystery.”

“I put all of those on the table.”

“How many passengers are we talking about? Is it a large group?”

“The bigger, the better, if you ask me,” Annette quipped. “It would be fun making zombie dishes.”

Millie eyed them with interest. “You two are really into this zombie theme.”

“It’s all I’ll be able to think about,” Danielle said. “You have the handy dandy group cruise calendar. Can you check to see if they booked?”

“Right now?”

“Sure. Why not? What better place to find out if you have a zombie group booked than when you’re standing inside one of Alaska’s spookiest buildings?”

Millie turned her phone on. She logged into her Majestic Cruise Lines’ account and tracked down the group cruise coordinator app. She scrolled through the screen to the first set of group bookings after their return to the Caribbean. “They did. The zombie group is booked.”

Danielle threw her hands in the air and shimmied around. “Seriously?”

“Yep.” Millie turned the phone around so her friend could see. “Mark it on your calendar.”

“You know it. Can you forward me the coordinator’s contact information? I’ll reach out to them with some other themed event ideas. I can’t wait. A zombie group.”

“Had I known you would be this excited, I would’ve told you weeks ago.” Millie slipped her phone back into her pocket.

“Back to the Dawn of the Dead. Do you want to hang out with Annette and me for movie night?”

“No thanks. Gone with the Wind is more my speed. Besides, like Annette pointed out, we have enough real life action on Siren of the Seas as it is. Thank you for the offer, though.”

“You’re welcome.”

The building groaned and creaked again.

Millie tightened her grip on her flashlight. “Surely, Brody and Sharky have had enough time to scope this place out.”

“Let’s track them down and get out of here,” Annette said.

“You read my mind.” Millie cautiously crept forward, her eyes moving from side to side. “I wonder what sort of critters have taken up residence inside this old building.”

“We probably don’t want to know.”

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