Chapter 2: Disaster Strikes
Hay Lin and Eric had just returned to their stateroom after the magic show and were fast asleep.
Will, Matt, Taranee and Nigel were still in the ship's nightclub dancing the night away.
Cornelia and Caleb were in the lobby getting their access pass for the ship's pool and spa area.
Irma and Andrew were in the ship's mall walking around and enjoying the atmosphere.
"So, what do you want to do tomorrow?" Andrew asked.
"I don't know, maybe we can take a dip in the outdoor pool." Irma replied. "Sounds good, we can do that." Andrew happily replied.
Elyon had been exploring the ship's observation decks, enjoying the sight of the night sky.
Meanwhile, in the ship's bridge, the bridge lookout was looking around for anything that can affect the ship's course.
"No...!" he said as he stared wide-eyed into his binoculars towards the left side of the ship. What he saw terrified him: a huge wave at least 110 feet high was coming straight towards the ship at high speed!
"HARD TO PORT, PORT SIDE ENGINES FULL ASTERN!!" the lookout ordered. "Port side engines, full astern!" a crew member replied as he pulled the left-side engine speed levers to "FULL ASTERN".
At the same time, another crew member activated the bow thrusters and directed them to turn the ship's bow to the left.
"Come on, turn, TURN!!" the lookout muttered as he stared at the navigation display, which showed the ship turning to the left.
"Sound the general alarm!" another crew member ordered as another pressed the general alarm button.
Cornelia and Caleb were heading back to their stateroom when the alarm began to sound. "All crew members report to your emergency stations immediately, this is not a drill! All passengers brace for immediate and heavy rolling!" the captain announced on the ship's PA system.
"Oh, no! We'd better hang on!" Cornelia said as she and Caleb braced themselves against the hallway wall. In the nightclub, the music was so loud that no one could hear the alarm, that is, until the music was shut off.
"What do we do?!" Taranee asked in a concerned voice as some of the others began rushing around in a panic. "I don't know, we should just stay calm until we find out what's going on!" Nigel replied.
The captain's announcement was repeated every thirty to forty seconds.
In the mall area, Irma and Andrew were rushing into the nearest exit, which lead to the nightclub.
Meanwhile, the alarm stirred Hay Lin and Eric from their sleep and they sat up looking around."What's going on?" Hay Lin asked.
"I don't know, but it can't be good!" Eric replied. Elyon rushed back to her stateroom, which was in the interior of the ship.
Meanwhile, in the bridge, the crew members watched as the wave came closer and closer by the second. Hay Lin and Eric went to the balcony of their stateroom to see if anything happened. They were both shocked to see the wave coming right at the ship!
"Oh, shit! We gotta go, NOW!!!" Eric said as he and Hay Lin rushed out of the stateroom and towards the hallway in the center of the ship. They braced themselves against the wall and prepared for the inevitable.
One minute later, all hell broke loose as the crest of the wave struck the top row of stateroom balconies on the ship's port side. The trough of the huge wave slammed into the hull of the ship.
The crew members in the bridge were thrown off their feet by the force of the impact. They began sliding down the floor as the ship began to roll. Elyon was struggling to stay upright as the floor tilted at an insane angle. Oh no, what's happening?! She thought as she found herself standing on the wall, which was still tilting.
Meanwhile, the nightclub was in chaos as the ship rolled onto its right side. The structure with the colored lights mounted on it fell down as the ship continued to roll. Will and Matt narrowly avoided getting hit as passengers and debris tumbled around them.
Cornelia and Caleb were thrown against the wall and onto the ceiling as the ship rolled past the upside-down point. Irma and Andrew had just ran into the nightclub when the wave hit, and were now laying on the wall as the ship finally stopped rolling, resting on its left side.
Elyon had narrowly avoided being hit by debris and was shocked to see that she was standing on her stateroom's door! After a few seconds, the ship began rolling again, but in the opposite direction.
Meanwhile, Andrew slid along the ceiling of the nightclub and into the light structure, which pinned his legs down, rendering him unable to move. When the rolling finally stopped for good, the ship was upside down. The lights flickered out as small explosions erupted inside.
Ten seconds later, the emergency generators kicked in and the lights flickered back on. Cornelia and Caleb had been knocked out when the ship rolled over.
Two minutes later, they regained consciousness and were shocked by what they saw around them. "Holy...we're upside down!" Caleb said when he noticed that the floor was now above them. "Yeah, that can mean only one thing." Cornelia realized.
"What?" Caleb asked.
"It means that this ship has been capsized!" Cornelia said. "Where are the others?" Caleb asked.
"I don't know, but we need to find them and get the hell out of here!" Cornelia replied as they headed towards the nightclub, which was now one deck above them instead of below.
Meanwhile, Hay Lin and Eric were rushing towards the nightclub because they knew that the others were there. "I hope the others are OK!" Hay Lin said as they reached the nightclub entrance.
"Yeah, me too!" Eric replied as they went in. What they saw horrified them. Debris was scattered all over and the area was littered with bodies of unfortunate passengers that did not survive the capsizing.
The ceiling had many puddles of water from broken sprinklers all over and some of them had broken wires sparking dangerously close to them. "We'd better avoid those, they can give us a deadly shock!" Eric said as they carefully navigated through the carnage.
Just then, they heard a voice calling for help. "Come on, he sounds like he's in trouble!" Eric said as they rushed towards the voice's origin.
"CAN SOMEBODY GET THIS DAMN THING OFF ME?!" the voice called out. Hay Lin and Eric got to the area and saw that Andrew was pinned by the light machine. "Oh my, are you OK?" Hay Lin asked.
"Where's Irma? I need to know if she's OK?" Andrew asked. "I'll find her, you stay here and help him." Hay Lin said as she went to search for Irma.
Meanwhile, Irma was looking around for Andrew, unaware that he was in serious trouble. "ANDREW! ANDREW, WHERE ARE YOU?!" she called out in desperation.
"IRMA!" Hay Lin's voice called out from her left. Irma saw Hay Lin coming towards her, a look of desperation on her eyes.
"Hay Lin! Do you know where Andrew is?" Irma asked. "Yeah, he's pinned down by the light machine! Eric's trying to get him out!" Hay Lin replied as they rushed over.
"Oh my...Andrew, dear, are you OK?!" Irma asked when she saw Andrew's condition. "I am now that I know you're OK." Andrew replied.
"OK, let's get him out of this." Irma said as they grabbed a part of the light machine. "On three, one...two...three!" Irma instructed as they tried to lift the machine at once.
Unfortunately, it was too heavy and they could only hold it up and inch before it became too much. "OK, let's try this again, one...two...three!" Irma said as they attempted to lift the light structure again.
Unfortunately, it proved to be too much and they were still unable to lift it high enough for Andrew to get himself out. "This isn't going to work, we need more help!" Hay Lin said.
Just then, Taranee and Nigel noticed their situation. "Uh oh! Looks like they need help!" Nigel said as they carefully rushed towards them.
"Yeah, looks like Andrew's in a tight spot!" Taranee replied. "Taranee, Nigel, thank goodness you two are OK!" Hay Lin said as Taranee and Nigel got into position.
"Yeah, it looks like you guys could use a hand." Taranee replied as they got a good grip on the bars. "OK, on three! One...two...three!" Irma instructed as they all tried to lift it with all their might.
Unfortunately, it still did not work. "OK, maybe we can pry it off with something." Taranee suggested. "Good idea, let's find something we can use to pry it!" Eric said as they began searching for a suitable object that can be used as a pry bar.
Nigel managed to find a support bar that had a bend in the end. "Will this work?" he asked. "Perfect, that should do it!" Irma replied. Taranee had managed to find a speaker that they could use as a leverage point.
The men positioned the bar on top of the speaker and wedged it under the light machine. Taranee and Hay Lin positioned themselves by the machine and got ready to lift. Irma grabbed the end of the bar and got ready to push down.
"On three; one...two...three!" Irma ordered as they all pushed down on the bar. The others began lifting with all their might at the same time and finally they managed to lift the light machine up. Andrew quickly slid his legs out from under it before the others dropped it.
"We did it!" Taranee said as Andrew struggled to stand up. "Are you OK?" Irma asked as she helped Andrew up.
"I think I may have a couple of cuts, but I'll manage. Just then, Will and Matt came up to them. "WILL! You're OK!" Taranee said in excitement as she hugged Will.
"Are you guys OK?" Matt asked. "Yeah, Andrew was in a tight spot, but we got him out." Irma replied.
"Do you know where Cornelia and Caleb are?" Will asked. "No, I don't know where Elyon is, either." Irma replied as a tear formed in her eye. "Don't worry, we'll find them." Andrew said as he wiped away her tear.
"Yeah, we will." Irma replied with a hopeful smile.
Meanwhile, Elyon was shocked to see that she was standing on the ceiling of her stateroom. I'd better head to the nightclub and see if the others are OK! She thought as she went out of her stateroom.
Eventually, she found herself in the lobby, and was shocked to see that water was beginning to fill the area below. She quickly found the door that would lead to the nightclub, where most of the others were located.
Meanwhile, Cornelia and Caleb had found an elevator shaft that was open. "We need to find a way to get up there." Caleb said pointing to an open elevator door one deck above them.
"Hey, maybe this could work!" Cornelia said as she grabbed an end of a long silver bench. Caleb grabbed another part and together, they managed to shove it so that the other end would catch onto the ledge on the other side of the shaft.
"Looks like it'll hold!" Cornelia said as they began to carefully walk along the bench.
Above them, they could see the elevator car dangling precariously as a fire raged below them.
"Gimme a boost up." Caleb said as Cornelia bent down carefully. Caleb stepped onto Cornelia's shoulders as she stood up, allowing Caleb to reach the ledge. Cornelia reached up and pushed Caleb's feet with her hands, making it easier for Caleb to pull himself up.
"Come on!" Caleb said as he turned around and reached his hand out to Cornelia. She took his hand and he pulled her up into the corridor leading to the lobby.
Meanwhile, the others were heading towards the lobby to find a way out. After leaving the nightclub, they saw Elyon running towards them.
"ELYON!!" Irma said as they rushed towards her. "IRMA!!" Elyon shouted with joy as she ran towards the others, happy tears building up in her eyes.
Elyon and Irma ran into each other's arms and nearly cried. "I'm so glad you're OK!" Elyon said. "I'm glad you're OK, too!" Irma replied as she wiped away her tears.
"Do you know where Cornelia and Caleb are?" Elyon asked. "No, we couldn't find them anywhere, but I'm sure they're OK." Irma replied. "Now what do we do?" Will asked.
"Now, we need to find a way to get off this ship." Taranee replied. Hay Lin and the others found a map of the ship's decks and studied it to try and figure out an escape route.
"I've got it, if we go up through the lobby and head towards the bow, we can escape through the bow thruster tubes!" Andrew suggested.
"Good idea, let's do it!" Irma replied. Now that they had a solid escape plan, the group began making their way to the lobby to begin their dangerous trek to the bow thruster room.
Unfortunately, some of them will not survive the dangers that lie ahead.