After weeks of mourning Erich decided to buy a new boat and head back out to sea. But things just weren't the same without his companion and life partner. He would spend 3 weeks at sea and dock for one week to perform maintenance and restock on supply's. He made money by fishing and turning his load over to a local market man who always overpaid him on the count that they were friends. Erich began to have nightmares after about two years. He would dream of the night of the storm and wake up disoriented and forget that his wife had passed and break down crying for hours.
This went on for a couple of months. Then one night his nightmare was so terrible and real that it drove him insane. He dreamed of the night of the storm but this time there was a voice. It was inviting him to join it. In the dream he looked to where the voice was coming from and tracked it to the cabin door. He saw it burst open with the crack of lightning and simultaneous thunder as the pouring rain made it's way into the cabin room. A second strike of lightning and he could almost make out the silhouette of a human being standing in the doorway. "Come be with me", it said in such a harmonious way that it was hard to disobey. A third crack of lightning, this one being the largest casting the longest glow of his surroundings, and he could see the face as clear as day. The beautiful face that he kissed so many times was layed to ruins as deep cracks covered her face. A black tar like substance trickled through the cracks as well as her eye sockets and mouth. Her long gorgeous hair was knotted with seaweed that extended to the floor and flowed freely in the fierce breeze. It was at that moment that he awoke to a real storm. As tragic as the one that took his wife. Still trapped in the mentality of his dream he bolted out the cabin door and ran screaming off the side of his boat. Erich Rhein drowned that night but at least he will finally rest in peace.......
Afterward: Weeks after the storm some boat salvagers spot a boat completely deserted. There was no sign of life. The two salvagers tie the boat to their much larger rig and anchor in for the night. One of the two salvager's awakes in the middle of the night to gargled screams and looks over only to be terrified at the sight of a man choking the life out of his friend. He gets up and hits the attacker in the back of the head with a nearby bottle and the attacker turns his attention towards the terrorized salvager. What he saw was a zombie like creature dressed as a captain of some sort and his words were, "Where's my wife!"
