The Disappearance of Andrea Sanchez

The Disappearance of Andrea Sanchez

Catherine Navarro

04/23/2026

The Disappearance of Andrea Sanchez


The sound of a running motor boat engine filled Andrea’s ears as she tried to position her face away from the splashing sea water. Though when compared to the blaring hot sun it was an improvement, she turned to the rugged driver and spoke.

“Can a girl get a hat here! I'm practically being burned alive!”

“No”. The ship drove said with a sour grumble. “Frankly, you burning alive would be compensation for taking away my free Sunday.”

“Awwww come one pal, why the hostility? Is that anyway to treat a nurse” Andrea gave a full blown smirk “At least I'm offering something to society, I help people, I make them better. What do you do? Driving this rusty shit bucket of a ship to wherever your bosses tell you. Her tone went down a significant amount “ Honestly if anyone one of this ship deserves to be at threat of becoming excess its you” Andrea gave a full condescending smile as the driver met her with her bright blue blue eyes, the type of blue eye that made people uncomfortable if they stared for too long. The driver stopped the boat and approached
Andrea lifting her whole body up in anger as he held her above the water.

“You wanna drown bitch! Cause I'm not above killing a smuggler.”

Andrea remained surprisingly calm for someone brushing with death as she jokingly respond
“No, I asked for a hat, though if you did drown me here I dont think you bosses would be happy with you sir. Besides why the sudden hatred for smuggling, it's not like I killed people”

In a complying annoyance the driver dropped Andrea onto the floor of the boat and slammed her black hat onto her head, disrupting her dirty blonde hair. He grabbed a bottle as he spoke.

“Youre lucky that the overseer of the Ansa requested not a single scratch to come to you. For someone so lucky though, makes me wonder how you got caught” the boat began moving again as Andrea answered.
“Got too cocky honestly, tried smuggling a family to the New Confederacy”

“The New Confederacy?!” The diver interjected. “With all those racist, slave-owning, inbred assholes!”
“Hey my job was not to judge it was to smuggle, besides like we have not given the New Confederacy food, guns, soldiers, and slaves. After all it's either work with them or get ourselves conquered and forced to fight those hivemind hippie fucks up north for them.”

“I guess the driver shrugged his shoulders as he agreed since while the people of Florida were divided in almost everything, many were united in their fear of the south and disdain for the north. He continued on “So how exactly did you get caught if I may ask?”

Andrea leaned back and let out an angry sigh. “Everything was going smoothly I had gotten the mom and her two brats to south and was so close to getting my payout”

“They were paying you?” The driver interjected once again.

“You think I, on a nurse's salary, was risking my life and freedom smuggling out of the kindness of my heart? Please.” Andrea snorted.
“Apparently some distant cousin in Kentucky was paying 5k for each member I got out and I would have had a happy pay day if it weren't for the dad, useless fatass.”

Andrea sneered under her breath as she recalled the memory of border guards pinning her to the dirt as they handcuffed her and draped a cloth over a middle aged man.

“The bastard chose not to inform me he had a heart condition that required specific medicine only delivered by medical experts, by the time we got to the drop off site he was painting like a dog and just dropped on me. I didn't care at first until I noticed the fucker had a tracker implanted into his heart that was transmitting an SOS the entire time. By the time I noticed the border guards had found me. Honestly I don't know what I was more angry with, the fact I got caught or that a heart attack killed that bastard before I could. Andrea’s voice went cold as her hands scratched along her handcuffs
.
“Well remind me not to have a heart attack next to you.” The driver remarked.

An uncomfortable silence remained as Andreas tried to imagine where she was going. All she knew was that it was a community ship for the lower class that traveled along the key west seas and the archipelago and its name. The Ansa, an interesting name for a boat. Before she could imagine it more a figure began to appear in her eye. A massive yet old renovated cruise ship that had dents and rust as far as the eyes could see and written in black with the same name. The Ansa.

“Looks like we're here” The drive said as he began reaching for his radio

“Ansa this is drop-off boat #77305 do you copy,over”

A silence lingered until a voice came through
“ #77305 this is captain Milton of the Ansa for what brings you to our ship, over”

“Im here to drop off a new resident a woman by Andrea Sanchez, over”

“Roger, will send someone down to retrieve her immediately, over”


“Well looks like this is where we say goodbye” The driver smirked as he brought Andrea up
“Before you go though” The driver pulled out a red box and pulled out a black collar with a tracking module attached, Andrea braced herself for what came next.

The driver placed it around her neck and with a clamp Andrea felt a sharp sting around her neck. The Driver at the same time freed her of her handcuffs.

“A little gift from the government, can't go losing track of you.”

Before Andrea could punch the driver the drop and splash of a boat appeared next to them, when the water calmed a man in a captain outfit pushed away his silver hair and spoke in a cheerful tone. The type of tone that reminded Andrea of her grandfather.

“Well hello there miss! My name is Captain Milton, welcome to the Ansa!” Milton extended a hand as he spoke. Andrea grabbed the captain and gave it a good shake

“Happy to be here, captain.” Andrea said as she put on a fake smile. She was always good at pretending to look happy, one of those skills nursing has taught her. Well that and how to stand for 24 hours straight.
She leads herself onto the lifeboat on which captain Milton has descended from and sat down
“Bring us up!” Milton shouted to a crew member Andrea couldn't see and she jolted as the lifeboat began to be pulled up.

“Impressive use of the lifeboats captain” Andrea sarcastically remarked

“Thank you, let me say you couldn't have arrived sooner. We have been in desperate need of a medical professional." Captain Milton remarked as his once jolly face showed a sliver of worry.

“What do you mean?”

“Will talk more later, for now let me give you a tour” Captain Milton's face returned to its usual jolly as the life boat stopped. Andrea turned her head and saw pools, slides and lounge chairs, all old of course. Though it did look like an average cruise ship and certainly smelled like it. The fragrance of alcohol, seawater, and sweat.

“Here is Mountain class, you are free to come here whenever you like though I'd warn you the people here can be quite egotistical. Our pools are cleaned regularly and our wait staff responds to your every command. We also have a couple of automatons if people aren't your speed.”Like a magic trick, as soon as captain Milton spoke of automatons one appeared in front of Andrea and within its a black screen face Andrea clear anger was reflected. The bot spoke with its generic male voice.

“Hello my name is Kyle,I am here to serve any request you have. Remember, the best help is autohelp.”
“I request you to never speak to me again.” Andrea gritted through her teeth.

“Request acknowledge, enjoy the rest of your day” The Automaton responded and with rhythm left to attend whatever next guest required its assistance.
“I suppose you are one of those traditionalists, aren't you?” Captain Milton gave a nervous chuckle.
“Damm tin skins are gonna be the end of us all, I don't want anything to do with them”

“Noted, let's get you to your cabin, it's in Valley class. Follow me.” Captain Milton ushered Andrea to a sleek gold and white elevator and with a press of a button, nothing happened. After 4 more pushes the doors finally closed and descended to Valley class. When the doors opened Andrea was met with red victorian carpeting and grey walls lit by the warm glow of lights, she was met with the smell of alcohol Awful to some but to Andrea it was an odd comfort.

“This way” Captain Milton said as he led Andrea through the hallways. After some time they stopped at Cabin 13.

“Here are your keys.” Milton spoke as he dropped the keys into Andreas hand

“Thanks captain.” Though before Andrea could close the cabin door the captain interjected

“I suggest you make friends with your fellow boat mates, they're having a show later tonight, jazz apparently.”

Andreas face remained uninterested

“There will be booze” The captain sighed in disappointment.

“Ah, now we're talking, I'll make sure to come”

“Just don't get too drunk, I need you down at Coast class to attend to our patients in the med wing tomorrow ”

“Relax, I drink responsibly”

Andrea closed the door and quickly settled herself down. Her cabin had a bed, a bath, and a TV. Not too bad honestly. Though the constant red,gold, and ivory across her cabin was a bit eye straining. Reminded her of her time in Vegas. She decided to leave what little luggage she had on the floor and planted herself on the bed for a very much needed nap.

When Andrea awoke she found it had become night, when she looked at her clock she realized the show the captain had told her about was just starting. So brushing herself up and cleaning the dust off her coat she headed down to the lounge. When she arrived she sat herself down at the bar and before she could make a request a male voice called to her.

“So you must be the smuggling nurse,” A young man dressed in a bartender outfit with black long hair and brown eyes spoke as he cleaned a glass. “Names Andrew.”

“How do you know that?” Andreas responded with a slight threat to her tone.

“Boat gossip, besides you're the only nurse on this boat. Anyway, what can I get you?”

“Whiskey”

“Coming right up”
Andrea relaxed herself as the performance started, a small band began to play a jazz song as a woman dressed in scarlet sang and walked around the stage. Hypnotic..Andrew bought Andrea her glass of whiskey and turned his attention to the singer.
“Pretty aint she.”

“Indeed, so Andrew right? Tell me about this place”

“Well the Ansa is like your average community boat, filled with people at threat of becoming excess and practically always falling apart or running out of resources.”

“Isn't that Overseer Milton's job to ensure that doesn't happen.”

“Oh, Milton's not the Overseer, he just drives the boat. No one actually seen the Overseer apparently they don't like to be seen”

Andrea pondered over her drink. “Why did the Overseer request me?”

“Your guess is as good as mine, though if I had to suspect it's probably to handle the plague that's been going around.”

Andrea almost choked on her drink

“Plague? What plague.”

“Not sure honestly, Just been hearing that some folks have gotten sick with some weird disease, it makes the bodies stiff and they start laughing. Freaky shit if you ask me”

“Any idea where this plague came from?” Andrea asked, while she was never the most engaged nurse. The possibility of a plague that she would be working with got her attention. More importantly, she did not want to catch whatever this plague was.

“No clue, but now everyone is on high alert.”

The sound of singing and music and singing dimmed as the singer headed off stage, the sound of one light lobby music filled the room as guests began to indulge in their conversations.

“Well, this has been fun but I should get to bed. Got a long day ahead of me tomorrow.” Andrea sighed as she began leaving the bar.

“Wait!” Andrew slightly shouted, making sure to get Andreas' attention.

“Can I interest you in some meat sticks? We have a pretty good sauce here, maybe a salad?”

“No thanks, I don't really have a big appetite” Andrea pondered for a second before she spoke again.
“Though do you guys have nutrient shakes?”

“Oh Yeah we got those, do you want me to send those to your cabin.” Andrew replied in a slight surprise in the rejection of meat sticks.

“That would be nice, Thank you, Andrew.” Andrea left the bar in a slight sluggish mood. She wanted to eat something, but she knew she couldn't anymore. She needed a cigarette… and badly. As she approached her cabin door she opened it to find the room's lights were dimmed to a seductive mood and the smell of roses lingered. Atop her bed lay a woman with brown wavy hair, freckled skin and light brown eyes. She wore a flirtatious red lingerie that matched her lips. Andrea had felt feelings of arousal only a few times, but at this moment she was entranced by this beautiful woman. Though her logic quickly brought her back to reality and she began to question the stranger.

“Who the hell are you?”

The woman lifted herself from the bed and spoke in a soft yet clear voice. Her hair covering one of her eyes.

“The name's Irma, I'm your escort for the night.”

“How very kind of you Irma, but I didn't request an escort.”

“The captain assigned me here, he saw you eyeing that singer and believed some personal fun would be beneficial to you.”

Andrea questioned further, “Why not bring the singer then.”

“She Mountain class sweetheart, you're not able to access her. Also she's not an escort.”

Irma crossed her arms as she huffed. “If your not interested in doing anything then please inform the captain so I can get back to my cabin, it's been a long night.”

Andrea was about to tell the escort to leave till a thought crossed her mind. She was stressed and perhaps a conversation would do her some good. Additionally this escort could have some information about the overseer and plague escorts were good at gathering info. However, that info would be hard to gather. It was time to ease the mood and Andrea knew the perfect thing.

“You smoke?”

Irma's eyes went wide for a slight second then her brows furrowed “Why? You tryna get me in trouble?”
“Not at all, just simply want to talk. Besides it seems like we've both had one stressful day” Pulling a lighter from her coat pocket. “So, what do you say?”

“As much as I would kill for a cig, they're banned in the states, even more so on boats. Where would we get one?”

Andreas gave a smug smile. “Youll see, for now I need you to get something sharp.”

Irma's face went to a confused look at her head to the cabin bathroom and emerged with a pair of scissors. She dropped them into Andreas' hand

“For the record you are freaking me the hell out.”

“Well, best look away now.” Without a hesitation or a flinch she jammed the scissors into the side of her stomach.

“WHAT THE FUCK!” Irma shouted as she tried to pull the scissors away. “Are you insane!”
Andrea's face remained calm as ever as she spoke, Irma looked at her and was a mix of surprised and horrified as she noticed Andrea showed no sign of pain despite the sharp scissors inside her. Andrea pulled out the scissors and dug her hand into the wound and to the surprise of them both pulled out a box of cigarettes.

“How?” Irma spoke.

“A simple trade really, I gave half of my stomach and intestines and in return I got the perfect smuggling place. So, wanna smoke?” Andrea pulled out two cigarettes and lit the one she placed in her mouth. Reluctantly Irma placed the second cigarette in her mouth and allowed Andrea to light it. She gave a deep breath and sighed a cloud of smoke.

“Alright, let's talk.” Irma said as she walked to the nearby open window canopy that showed the endless void that was the miami sea at night. Andrea joined her.

“So, tell me about this plague going around.”

“It's been popping up more recently and no one knows where it came from. Poor fish-eyed Franklin got infected just last week.”

“Fish-eyed Franklin?”

Irma's eyes saddened as she took another breath of her cigarette and let out another cloud of smoke. “He was a young fella who had glasses that made his eyes look huge, hence his name. He took care of the fish in the aquarium up in Mountain class. He loved water,could stare at it for hours… He was different from most people, apparently his parents gave up their money and freedom to get him on the Ansa.”
Tears began to well up in Irma's eyes. “He was the only man who I know saw me as a friend and not just a tool. We would eat candy while he talked to me about fish…now he's dying in the med wing. What a fucked up life we all live.”

Andrea kept a cold look but her eyes showed a drop of shame. “Im sorry for your friend, I can only hope that whatever this plague is there is a way to cure them.”

“What about you? You lost anyone?”

Andreas eyes went wide as she took as she let out a large cloud of smoke. “Yes, an old friend. Her name was Robin.

“What happened to her?” Irma's gaze softened.

Andrea finished her cigarette and dropped the burned butt to the dark void below her. “What needed to happen, no point in looking back.”

Before Andrea could be questioned a knock scared both of them as they quickly rushed to throw away the evidence of their crime. Andrea answered the door and to her disdain was met with an automaton.
“Here you go miss Sanchez,here are your-”

Andrea yanked the nutrient shakes from the tray the automaton was holding.

“Fuck off clanker!” Andrea yelled as she slammed the door.
“Well this was nice, thank you for the cig break.” Irma said as she began to leave, though before she could fully close the door she spoke one last time. “Try to help them down there okay or at the very least ease their pain.”

“Ill try.” Andrea was left alone in her cabin as she chugged one of her nutrient shakes and planted herself on her bed. Luckily for her, nutrient shakes were good at helping her fall asleep fast. When she awoke she headed downstairs to Coast class, endless hallways of light green and sand that had the faint smell of mucus. Reminder her to much of the old hospital she worked at. When she headed to the med wing she was surprised to find two people already there, a pair of twins that consisted of a slim male and an athletic female both having the same birthmark above their left eye.

“Hello” Andrea spoke, allowing the two to register her existence.

“Ah, you must be the nurse, thank the heavens you're here.” The male spoke. “My name is Andrew and this is my sister Katrina.

“Sup.” Katrina spoke with a voice clearly showing she was not the speaking type.

“Names Andrea, glad to be here” Andrea looked around the sea foam room and noticed the lack of patients.

“Soooo, where are the patients?”

Andre gave a nervous response “they're in the next room, though I warn you, they aren't in exactly the best conditions.”

“I'll be the judge of that.” Andrea made her way to the door of the room that the patients were supposedly in. She noted a small glass window into the room and peeked through it. To her horror she noted at least 7 patients in deplorable condition, constantly shaking and some were laughing but no noise came out. It was clear that this plague was serious, and there was no way to help these people. She returned to the twins and sat down.

“They got Kuru”

“Kuru, what the hell is Kuru?” Andrew responded with a slight tone of fear in his voice.

“It's a prion disease, slowly destroys the brain. Everyone in there is a walking corpse.
Katrina scowled “That's it, you're not even gonna try! You were brought on this ship to help so help!”
“There is no cure for Kuru!, and even if there was any way to treat them I doubt this shit ship got the necessary drugs and equipment. So respectfully, I'd advise you to send those bodies to the furnace before everyone on this ship gets sick.”

Andrea stormed off and headed to her cabin, she never was a germophobe but she did fear the incurable. Her hands trembled as she lit her cigarette. Kuru was a cannibal virus she knew from her days of nursing school, a virus only obtained by a human eating the brain of another. As the dots scattered around her head her fear increased. She decided to drink herself unconscious in an attempt to quell her fears. When she awoke she was startled to find her door wide open with a note attached.

“Head to Trench class, Overseer R”

Andrea complied and headed to the elevator and began her descent to the trench of the Ansa. When she arrived she found nothing but the darkness and the inner workings of the ship and lots of deactivated automatons. It looked like the set of an ocean horror movie. However what caught her guard was a single door labeled Excess Processing . The door opened and Andrea stood still as she saw a face she thought was long dead. But even with the same dirty blonde hair as her she could make the face of her old friend.

“Robin!, how…you're dead.”

The woman spoke but no human voice came out instead a ramble of horrible mechanical noise came out of the box in her throat that slowly collected itself to a harsh machine voice.

“What's wrong Andrea, surprised that I found you.”

She placed her hands across the meta box over her throat that her voice came from. “I guess you can't hide your tracks as well as you thought, Old friend. Come now, I believe we are overdue on a discussion."

Before Andrea could even react Robin pulled out a remote and pressed a button. In an instant a sharp pain surged through Andrea.

“Glad to see this works, can't have you pulling a fast one on me again.”

Robin headed inside the room and with a reluctant obedience Andrea followed. To her horror she was faced with a large blood red tank filled with the bodies and viscera of the Ansa’s people. Robin sat in a chair, her creation behind her watching over like a dragon. She gestured to Andrea to sit opposite to her and Andrea sat.

For the first time in Andrea's life she was forced to confront her sins. As Robin dressed in her onyx black suit stared at her with the type of hatred only made from years of imagining this exact moment, Andrea could only stare back at her once close friend. The illumination of the excess tank dressed the room in a bloody red before Andrea could truly wrap her head around what in front of her the overseer spoke with her harsh machine voice. “I'd say it's nice to see but I would be lying, tell me hows the smugglers life?”


“It's been fine, can't complain. Though if I may ask why bring me here? If you hate me so much, why didn't you let me rot in the work prison?”

Andreas mind went back to the very moment she was informed about the Ansa, about how she called and wanted there, how she could consider herself lucky for avoiding the work prison. The overseer reached for a wine bottle behind her slick leather chair with one hand and two beautifully carved glasses with another. As she placed them down she chuckled her response


“Well you know us floridians, we don't make sense. Besides, I wanted to see you die first hand.” She arose from her chair and placed one wine filled glass to Andreas side and like a serpent slithered to the tank placing a hand on the glass.


“I want you to suffer and be humiliated the same way I was by you. I also want to make sure your story ends in a fitting way, the nurse slash part time smuggler who left her best friend to die meets her end at the bottom of the people's stomach! No legacy. No name. Not even bones for the historians of the future to find.”

The overseer hands bled with a mix of blood and wine as the glass she held was now nothing but shards in her hand and on the floor. At that moment Andrea knew that she did not play cards carefully, she too would become meat for the people of the Ansa. Ironically fear for the people was not on her mind, instead she feared never securing the freedom she desperately wanted. As that thought crossed her mind Andrea already calculated all her moves, now all she had to do was wait… And provoke.


“Well for someone who I suppose cares about the well being of others, feeding people human meat doesn't exactly scream caring leader.”


“The people of the Ansa are alive because of this! Without this meat we would have starved years ago. Besides, when did you care about others, everyone is just a pawn for you to use or insult.”

“Ooooh, yeah you're right! Like how I used you. I must say you had real potential but then you had to ruin it all by getting you caught. You may not think it but killing you that night was a mercy, otherwise you may be the one stuck on a ship with your once dead friend now plotting a shitty revenge plan against you.”

“What did you say?” Robin said as she slowly moved closer to Andrea.
Andrea now had her caught in her hook, now she just had to reel her in.

“What, surprised that I don't regret killing you and cutting out your throat? Surprised that you still can't scare me even now? Surprised that after all you've been through, the one thing keeping you going is blowing up in your face as we speak!?”


“You're really cocky for a dead woman walking, you just can't accept that I have the high ground. I've secured my freedom, you have nothing but your lies.”

“Youre right, but at least I'm still me, you practically nothing compared to the Robin I knew. If anything you've turned into me, You're even changing yourself to me. Admit it Robin, despite wanting to kill me. I wont die…. Because I'll live through you and that's something no amount of time will erase.
Robin grabbed Andrea and pushed her to the tank so hard a crack had formed. Both her hands grabbing Andrea so hard she was breaking her skin. Andrea stared back to see robin glassy eyes as hate filled her.

“YOUR TIME IS UP ANDREA!!!, ANY LAST WORDS.”

Andrea went cold as she stared directly at Robin.

“All this time, and you still haven't learned anything about me.”

Robin's eyes went blank as she let out a gasp, when she looked down she found a dagger plunged into her. She dropped Andrea and fell as she began to bleed.

“HOW!!”

Andrea patted the side of her stomach. “You weren't the only one to get an upgrade, mine was just smarter.” She kneeled down at her now dying friend.

“You know what your problem was Robin? You believe in change in an already changed world, the morals of man have been decided and those morals are to survive in a world that's half drowned. I learned that lesson a long time ago and I will never forget it. Now look, here I am still breathing while you're dying.”

“You are still a crook! You will never see freedom again!” Robin spouted as blood began to fill her mouth.

Andrea went and picked up the remote that Robin had dropped and with a push of a button she was freed of her collar. “You were saying? Now I'll be honest I was still working out how to just escape but you presented me with the perfect opportunity.” Andrea said as she with one hand played with Robin's dirty blonde hair and with another placed the collar on her neck.

“Like you said Robin, the nurse slash part time smuggler who left her best friend to die meets her end at the bottom of the people's stomach No legacy. No name. All while the secret overseer of the Ansa lives on.”

As Andrea grabbed her glass of whiskey, she stared at the tank as she realized that under her leadership. Several changes were going on. The people though would never know since they would assume she died of the plague. She smiled at herself in the reflection of the tank one thought came to her mind. She still knew how to leave no track behind.