Jack and Hiccup's path through the passages and corridors of the Titanic was blind, navigated only by the fact that sooner or later they would find a staircase, and that moving further towards the stern kept them away from the ingress of the ocean. The plan had been succeeding until the two men had turned a corner, only to find a locked door barring their way.
"Shit!" the American shook the handle in futile frustration.
"We can try another door, one of the others we passed might be a way out." the Scotsman reasoned.
"There's no guarantee any of those doors will get us out of here." The artist put his ear against the woodwork. "I can hear people on the other side."
He took a few steps back and rammed his shoulder into the door, shaking it in the frame. "Stand back." Jack instructed as he stepped further back and rammed the door again. "Aggggghhhhh!" he bellowed as he crashed into the door for the third and final time, sending splintered woodwork flying as it flung open. Grabbing Hiccup's hand, the American stumbled out into the longest passage on the ship, Scotland Road, amidst a crowd of surprised steerage passengers.
"Here! What do you think you're doing?" a steward barked as the two young men tried to get their bearings. "You'll have to pay for that you know! That's White Star Line Property!"
"Shut up!" both Hiccup and Jack shouted in unison, startling the crewman. As they walked the gathering of steerage passengers grew until it had became a swell at the base of one of the main stairways, the exit barred by several members of the crew and a locked gate.
"For God's sake man there are women a children down here! Let us out so we can have a chance!" a familiar Irish voice cried out in desperation above the chorus of angry voices. From the throng, Tommy appeared, his eyes locking onto Jack as he descended the stairs. "Jack!"
"Tommy! Can we get out?"
"It's hopeless that way!"
"Jack!" the American, Irishman and Scotsman all pivoted to see Fabrizio emerge from the crowd around them.
"Fabrizio!" the artist leapt forward, giving his friend a relieved hug.
"The boats are all gone!" the Italian protested.
"This whole place is flooding, we've got to get out of here!"
"There's niente this way." Fabrizio indicated the passage behind him.
"Alright." Jack nodded. "Let's go this way, alright? Come on!" he charged ahead, leading the group away past the stairwell.
The fellowship of differing nationalities raced from one hallway to the next, finding more locked gates and overwhelmed passengers, lost in their own panic or by the language barrier. The artist paused at a doorway with an unlocked gate, before he led the group toward a new set of stairs.
"This way!"
"Go back to the main stairwell and everything will be sorted out!" a steward's voice echoed from above as Jack and the others raced up to a crowd gathered around a gate to D-Deck. "It will all get sorted out back there... go back to the main stairwell!"
Overland, the first on the landing approached the gate and addressed one of the two stewards. "Open the gate."
"Go back down the main stair-"
"Open the gate right now!" Jack interrupted, pointing at the lead steward.
"Go back down the main stairwell like I told you!" the American turned away in angry frustration, his eyes meeting with Hiccups' briefly before he spun back, his face a mask of fury.
"God damn it son of a bitch!" he bellowed as he fiercely shook the gate, scaring the two crewmen.
"Stop that!" the steward instructed shakily as the angered artist darted away, looking for anything he could use to get through. His gaze settled on a large wooden bench that was bolted to the floor, and he quickly stepped over to it. As soon as he was beside the fixture he began to pull at it, hoping to rip it free.
"Fabri! Tommy! Give me a hand here!"
"Move aside... Move aside!" Hiccup shouted, clearing a path to the gate as the American, Irishman and Italian tore the bench from the deck with a lack crack. "Move aside! Move aside!"
"Put that down!" the steward urged desperately as the crowd cleared and the men primed the improvised battering ram at the gate. "Put that down!"
"One! Two!"
"Stop that!" the steward protested as his shipmate ran, abandoning his post.
"Three!" Jack shouted, initiating their charge. With two further passengers lending their strength, they slammed the bench into the gate, shaking it fiercely. "Again!" they pulled back and charged.
This time, the gate broke open under the brunt of the attack, sending the steward stumbling backwards as the trapped passengers began to climb through. "Let's go! Let's go, Hiccup!"
"You can't go up there! You go there-" the crewman's speech was interrupted as Tommy's left fist connected with his jaw, sending him to the deck.
The released steerage passengers spilled out onto the Boat Deck from the Second Class entrance, the aft-most housing on the deck. Jack and Hiccup, at the front of the group, looked out at the davits for lifeboats No. 10, 12, 14 and 16, which all stood empty.
"The boats are gone!" Hiccup cried disheartened as Jack rushed past. He clambered up to the aft railing of the deck and peered forward towards the Titanic's bow. Behind them Colonel Gracie materialised from the crowd, in the process of escorting two women when he caught the young Scotsman's attention. "Colonel! Are there any boats on that side?"
"No master Haddock, but there are a couple of boats all the way forward." he pointed towards the bow. "This way, I'll lead you."
Hiccup grabbed Jack's hand and pulled him forward with him, leaving the Colonel behind them in their race towards the bow. As the group passed the raised roof of the First Class Lounge, Tommy noticed the musicians of the ship's orchestra who were still playing.
"Music to drown by, now I know I'm in First Class!" he observed dryly.
Beside the Officers' Quarters they could see lifeboat No. 2 was still in the process of being loaded, however they could also see that the boat was surrounded by passengers and in danger of being swamped. Without hesitation, Jack and Hiccup entered the crowd and pushed forward towards the front, only pausing when Officer Lightoller unloaded his weapon into the night sky.
"Women and children only!" he barked with authority. "Get back sir! Come through, madame! This way! Step back sir! Let the women through!"
Jack spun to Tommy "Go check the other side!" he urged the Irishman. "Go!" Tommy nodded, and with Fabrizio, they disappeared towards the starboard side of the deck.
"Give her to me." Lightoller calmly instructed a man who was holding his daughter.
"Daddy!" the girl, only a few years younger than Hiccup, protested as the Officer seated her in the boat with her mother and sister.
"It'll be fine darling!" her father dressed only in his pyjamas, dressing gown and a hat insisted. "Don't you worry!"
"Daddy, get in the boat!" the man's other daughter pleaded.
"It's good bye for a little while, only for a little while... there'll be another boat for the daddies,this boat's for the mummies and the children. You hold Mummy's hand and be a good little girl."
The young Scotsman turned away from the scene to face his lover, unable to bear any more.
"I'm not going without you." he insisted.
"No, you have to go." the American was equally insistent. "Now."
"No, Jack." there was a determined edge in Hiccup's voice.
"Get on the boat, Hiccup."
"Yes, get on the boat, Hamish." a voice rose from over Jack's shoulder as Pitchiner and Lovejoy appeared. The younger of the two Englishmen glanced disapprovingly at Jack before turning his attention to his employer's son. "My God, you're absolutely soaking!" he pulled Hiccup's dripping suit jacket off and flung it into Jack's hands. "Put this on." Pitchiner instructed curtly, shrugging off his long grey overcoat and helping Hiccup into it. "Your father would never forgive me if I let you perish from the cold." he offered an unconvincing smile.
"Go on, I'll get the next one." the artist insisted.
"No, not without you." the younger man tried to keep his voice low amongst the other passengers.
"It'll be alright... listen, I'll be fine, I'm a survivor alright... Don't worry about me. Now go on... get on!"
"I have an arrangement with an officer on the other side of the ship. Your father is already off, and we can leave safely as well..." Pitchiner paused, casting a sideways glance at Jack. "Both of us."
"See? Got my own boat to catch." the American assured his companion.
"Hurry, they're almost full." the Englishman nodded towards the lifeboat. Hiccup studied both of their faces, uncertain and not fully convinced, but without a further word he turned towards the boat, Pitchiner leading him toward the edge of the deck.
"Only women and children!" Lightoller instructed sternly upon seeing the young Scotsman.
"He's fifteen, only a boy!" Pitchiner lied. "Please."
The Officer scrutinised Hiccup as Jack watched, worried that the crewman might not be convinced. Although his face seemed sceptical, he nodded.
"Very well, but no more."
"Thank you." the Englishman smiled.
"Step aboard, lad!" Chief Officer Wilde instructed, lifting Hiccup up and over the bulwark into the lifeboat. The Scotsman looked back at Jack and reached out, briefly grasping the America's outstretched arm before they were pulled apart by the officer. "Clear the rope, please!" he raised both arms and in a loud, clear voice, ordered: "And lower away!"
The boat suddenly dropped as the davit mechanisms sprang to life, causing several of the passengers sitting around Hiccup to cry in surprise. Jack and Pitchiner remained at the bulwark and watched as the subject of their attention was lowered toward the water.
"You're a good liar." the Englishman muttered to the American as they watched Hiccup's boat depart.
"Almost as good as you." Overland returned, not looking at the man to his right. "There's no... uh... there's no arrangement, is there?"
"Oh, there is." Pitchiner replied smugly. "Not that you'll benefit much from it." the artist turned to glower at him, bristling at the tone in the rich man's voice. "I always win, Jack. One way or another." he chuckled, accompanied with a cold, thin smirk.
Unwilling to endure the sight, Jack returned his gaze to Hiccup. The boat was almost level with the A-Deck promenade.
Jack nodded sadly and silently down at the Scotsman as the gulf between them grew. The younger man's desire to stay and the instinct to survive clashed inside of him, and in an effort to take his mind off he trained his eyes on the other passengers in the boat. The effort was futile, and he returned his gaze to Jack, just in time to see a fountain of sparks shoot up into the sky behind him. The sparks gave way to an explosion of light, which in turn metamorphosed into a cascade of flares which drifted down, framing the American's head and face against the darkness.
The young Scotsman suddenly acted on instinct, surprising even himself and the other passengers as he scrambled towards the side of the lifeboat.
On the Boat Deck, Pitchiner and Jack watched in disbelief as the younger Haddock forced his way back towards the ship.
"Hiccup!" The artist bellowed, just as the Scotsman launched himself out of the boat and onto the curved bulwark on A-Deck. "What are you doing?!"
"Stop him! Stop him!" the Englishman protested loudly as Hiccup scrambled over the wooden rail and onto the deck. Jack pushed away from the side of the ship and ran for the entrance to the Grand Staircase.
The young Scotsman barged his way roughly through the gathered passengers and crew as he sprinted for the staircase. Dashing through the nearest open door, he dodged more passengers as ran towards the stairs. Jack had already reached the landing and threw his arms around the younger man.
"Hiccup!" the American embraced his lover in a fierce hug. "You're so stupid!" he quickly kissed him, not caring if the other passengers saw. "Why'd you do that, huh? Why?"
"You jump, I jump... right?" the auburn-headed lad asked, fighting back tears.
"Right." Jack reluctantly admitted with a strained smile, before he hugged his companion again.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't go..." Hiccup's muffled voice responded, his head buried in Jack's shoulder.
"It's alright, we'll think of something." their words trailed off into silence as they savoured each other's embrace.
Above them, raised voices of alarm drew their attention up to the top of the staircase. In a dash of movement, Pitchiner swung out towards them, a flash of silver in his hand.
"Come on!" Jack sprang to action as he pulled Hiccup and himself away. A split-second later, one of the carved newel post finials broke in two as the report of a pistol cracked throughout the room. As the young lovers raced down the steps to B-Deck, their pursuer reached the landing, slipping and falling to the floor on the wooden debris.
A second bullet whizzed past and embedded itself into the floor of B-Deck, quickening their pace as they ran down to C-Deck.
Pitchiner, his face twisted in fury, continued his pursuit. Shoving passengers out of his way and growling angrily, the well maintained exterior of a Englishman in high society had been replaced by a snarling animal with murder in it's eyes.
A third crack rang out, sending up a spray of water as the American and Scotsman darted out onto the partially-submerged landing of D-Deck.
The Reception Room was flooded several feet deep at the staircase, the wicker furniture around it scattered untidily like driftwood. Above them, several of the ceiling lights had become shorted out from the intrusion of the water.
Jack launched himself into the cold liquid, the sting an acceptable discomfort to evade their pursuer. "C'mon Hiccup!" he shouted as he led the terrified lad towards the Dining Saloon. A forth shot rang out from behind them, sending up a geyser perilously close. On the staircase, Pitchiner skidded as he fired a fifth shot, missing the young men once again.
"Aggggghhh!" the Englishman's anguished howl echoed as they closed in on the swinging doors, followed by a seventh shot that struck one of the floating chairs. The eight and final shot crashed through one of the windows looking into the dining space, sending shards of glass flying as the fleeing American and Scotsman traded ankle-deep water for sodden carpet.
Putting as much ground as they could between them and the madman following them, Hiccup and Jack had crossed the Dining Saloon at a break-neck pace, aiming for the set of doors at the far end of the room. The artist eagerly grasped the handle and pulled... only for the doors to shake in their frame. He grabbed at the locked exit, pulling furiously at the handles and wood in the hope of forcing them open.
Emitting a loud hiss, he let go of the doors and grabbed Hiccup's hand once more, leading the two of them to the port side of the saloon to try the other exit.