Amanda's choice

by AmandaYoungFan

For years, she's done the Entity's bidding, thinking somehow, her doing so was also doing the bidding of the man she respected most, John Kramer. But seeing the survivors outside of the trial have made her question if what she's doing is right. What happens to a killer in the realm who no longer has the drive and stomach to do the Entity's bidding? (Feel free to comment)

67. The Point of Know Return

The Sunset Bar was like walking into a nightmare.

The flickering emergency lights only partially illuminated the already darkened area. The floor had been swept clear by gravity. At the far side of the room was a jumble of tables, chairs, broken glasses, and broken bottles that had crashed over once the ship's list had grown too great. Amanda looked at the pile of jumbled tables, chairs, broken liquor bottles and glasses. She carefully walked, avoiding the glass with her bare feet, to one of the smaller piles of smashed chairs and tables, and snagged a broken chair leg to pound on the doors.

Leaning like she needed a V-8, Amanda made her way through the room and up the two flights of stairs to deck eight. She would start here, and then she would work her way down as far as she felt she could. If anyone was on a deck that was below what she felt she could reach safely...She had no choice. She was terrified of drowning and would not risk being cut off from safety to drown in the dark. To her right was a deckplan in a rectangular glass case. She smashed the glass and pulled it from the case. While she felt she knew this deck better than any other on the ship, she was taking no unnecessary chances.

Really? No unnecessary chances? The ship was sinking more rapidly and it was becoming clearer by the minute that she was putting herself more and more risk going off on this tangent. For fuck's sake, she'd taken an unnecessary chance the minute she untied the rope from the rail and dashed off into the creepy, darkened Sunset Bar.

Yes, it was. So there was no sense adding a truckload of gasoline into the already burning building she'd dived into. Take the fucking plans and get going, Amanda. Time is fucking wasting and you're already running out of it. Get your shit done and get out of here before you reach the point of no return and can't get the fuck back out of here.

She felt like her body was lowering. Instead of leaning forward and to the right, the angle was changing. She no longer leaned to the right, now she only was leaning forward as the Ocean Princess eased out of her list. The ship was leveling off. Was it a good thing or a bad thing? She didn't have Shaw to ask. She tried to convince herself it was a good thing. After all, it made walking and running a lot fucking easier.

So, she started doing what she'd come there to do, and darted back and forth among the closed doors and hammering on them with the chair leg and screaming for anyone who was potentially inside to get the fuck out of there and out to the deck.

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The water had stacked up to the barriers that had, up to now, kept the water mostly to the starboard side of the forepeak. Those walls finally collapsed under the pressure. The tons and tons of seawater had finally breached the bow bulkheads and flowed into the port side and filled up the empty compartments. With water on both sides, it slowly twisted the ship to an upright position and she once again resumed her normal cruising position, albeit with her bow entirely under the surface of the water.

That was both a good thing and a bad thing. The many, many feet of water that had been collecting against the starboard hull on the inside of the rooms now shifted, pulling doors off of hinges and swamping the sections of the ship on the port side that up until now, had remained dry. And the drains and toilets and sinks now gushed water in varying levels all the way to passenger deck four. And now instead of only flooding those sections of the ship to starboard, it now had unfettered access to flood the ship on both sides, collecting in the front of the ship and slowly coming backwards, filling the ship like an ice cube tray being slowly shoved under a sink full of water.

On passenger deck two, the water filling the even numbered staterooms flowed unimpeded across the halls to either flood the odd-numbered cabins under the doors, or through them, as in many cases towards the front of the ship, so much water had collected that it not only broke the doors of the starboard cabins off at the hinges coming out, it came in such a deluge on the port side that it broke through those closed doors coming in. If anyone had been left in them, and by the grace of God, no one was, they'd have been killed by the impact of the doors, or if they weren't that lucky, would have had no time to get out of the cabins before they were buried under the walls of water to drown.

It was the same on deck three. Water poured from cabins 3000-3108 across the hall from 3001 to 3011. The water pouring under the doors of the destination concierge and Shaw's office had added several more feet of water since Amanda's initial trip to observe the bow, and it first flooded the guest relations office before moving on to flood the wine cellar and the Captain's Club, then moved further sternward, cascading down the staircase of the grand foyer to help flood deck two and the crew decks below.

The descending of the bow underwater lifted, at an angle, the Tuscan Grill, conference center, and the stern staterooms on the deck, 3122-3144 and only they remained above water, but it poured from the restroom fixtures of the midships men's and women]s bathrooms and slowly, patiently, kept rising up the slanted deck. It was unrelenting, and it would eventually drown those water-free areas.

On deck four, the seats on the lower level of the theater were all underwater and it was rising slowly and steadily up the bottom of the movie screen. Michael's Club was flooded by water from the photo gallery and studio, and three feet of water now swamped the floor of the Fortunes Casino. Further aft, the seawater poured out of the midships bathroom fixtures and water kept pouring down the grand foyer and forward to keep flooding the movie theater and the other shipboard locales. Whereas the water from deck three flooded decks two and below, The tons of water on deck four now rushed down to not only flood the lower deck, but add to the seawater flooding the ship wall the way to the bottom. The water eventually rose enough to start shifting the heavy card tables around in the Fortunes Casino, and water lapped at the coin returns of the bolted-in-place slot machines.

Even more water was being added to the deck from the starboard men's bathroom outside of the Cosmopolitan, which helped flood the, until-then, dry Rendezvous Lounge. There were to be no more shipboard assignations planned. It crept up the upturned deck on this level as well, steadily building and creeping its way towards the Cosmopolitan. The place which had served the best steaks on the high seas would soon be a distant memory.

The gents bathroom among the specialty shops on deck five had already made the starboard shops awash, and it, and the equalizing water flowing back out from those shops already flooded now added to the port side shops as well, spilling forward in increasing volume through the upper seats and balconies of the movie theater to add to the water collecting among the lower level below. Water poured down elevator shafts on all the decks, and the midships ladies room fixtures added to the influx of water on the grand foyer, Cafe Al Bacio, Gelateria, the office to plan future cruise vacations, and the Emporium. Anyone trying to get a last-minute gift from the Emporium would be in a nightmare version of "Supermarket Sweep." They'd have only moments to fill their baskets. The penalty for not beating the clock would have been death by drowning.

Collected water in the starboard men's restroom outside the Cosmopolitan's upper level snapped off the door and poured across the deck to flood Cellar Masters and Sushi on Five. As the forward sections kept filling, the stern of the Ocean Princess rose further and further from the water. Thanks to the increased pitch forward, both levels of the Cosmopolitan and Blu, on deck five, were now even safer from the water's onslaught for now, but their continued survival was marked by minutes, not hours.

Water had tapered on deck six before the ship settled upright, but now water was once again coming out of starboard fixtures again, and the port and starboard side cabins from 6001 to 6051 were soon awash with a foot of water or more, with the water levels deepening the further one moved towards the bow.

But in all the darkness, a small respite. The settling water actually, for a brief moment, lowered the stern section of the ship, and the Ocean Princess' bow actually rose in the water, but the bow anchors remained submerged, and soon only the Ocean Princess' name on both sides of her bow, and the hull above it, was visible above the waves, and the water insistently lapped right below it, threatening to cover her name.

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If Amanda had been there to ask him, like she'd thought of in that brief moment before she began pounding on the closed cabin doors with her broken wooden chair leg, she'd have found that Brian Shaw was not happy with this recent development much. They'd all felt the forward and starboard-leaning deck slowly return to upright, albeit with a forward angle, and after being pitched forward as the stern raised up, it had now leveled back somewhat and it improved their ability to stand without having to rely on the harnesses alone to keep them from falling.

"Why are we not listing?" Jake looked forward, and then around, as the things finally subsided. His heart began to ease up on its rapid-fire pounding since Amanda had disappeared into the Sunset Bar, but he would not allow himself to be completely at ease until Shaw told him he could be.

Rogo was also looking around as Jake was, his blue eyes wide as he took in the new angle. "We're definitely settlin', dat's for sure. Dis is the first time I evah felt like I wasn't gonna slide off her on my ass in a hot minute."

And then Shaw, who was assessing the situation, put a complete damper on any joy Jake and Rogo may have allowed themselves to feel. "The water has breached the bulkheads and has flooded the bow on the port side. That makes things easier for moving around but that also means the bow has completely turned into an anchor that is going to drag the whole bloody ship down. Amanda needs to hurry," Shaw shouted back to him.

He glanced at the door Amanda had disappeared into. "I'm going to try and pay attention closely, and if I give you the word, remove the harness and go after her, do you hear me? I don't want to leave anyone behind either, but after all this, I certainly don't want her to die when we don't even know if there's anyone left in those cabins. I thought we had more time but I'll be shocked now if we last even one more hour!"

He wanted to run after her now, but he trusted Shaw's judgement, and he knew Amanda was not a fool, and if things went south, she'd get the Hell out of dodge long before Shaw had to tell him to chase her down. Jake nodded and waited..

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After rushing and pounding on every door, there had been no doors opening and no surprised faces. If anyone was here, they were in a coma. She found the stairwell again and went back down to deck seven and made her way into the corridor. The deck plans for this deck were in roughly the same spot as the deck above, and she once again broke the glass, putting the rectangular sheet of paper on tope of the one for deck eight.

She was terrified, it was only half lit. There was a heavy, dull stillness in the air that seemed to be choking the air out of the place. She was terrified the ship was going to suddenly lurch and pick up speed and she might be underwater before she made her mental call to the Entity. She feared drowning and she was once again angry at herself for the impulsive decision she had made to do this and take what more and more was looking like a totally unnecessary risk. What the FUCK was she thinking?

Her face was she was here now. She started sprinting down the darkened corridor, back and forth, pounding on each closed door and yelling for anyone who may be inside to get the fuck up and get the fuck out, NOW.

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The Ocean Princess continued to settle by her bow, and the water weight pulled her under at a steady pace. Her name disappeared under the sea again, and the water rushed over the top of the deck until it was once again entirely underwater. It It kept moving across the deck backwards towards the main superstructure below the bridge, and soon would be right against it.

But there were still more people waiting to leave, and the Ocean Princess kept clinging to life, even as the surging sea tried to rush her towards her eventual death.

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Rogo, Shaw, and Jake saw the last two passengers being hauled up the winch to the Chinook to bring it to full capacity, and the pilot relayed a message from the first helicopter. The Ocean Princess' bow was completely underwater, and it was now moving slowly up the superstructure to the bridge.

One helicopter. That was all that was needed now. There were a little more than 20 souls left aboard the Ocean Princess, and the grand dame seemed to have thrown away her grudges and clung to life on the surface, trying to buy time for the last group of survivors to escape. Her metal hull creaked and groaned in protest, but her slant forward as her bow dived under was only incrementally increasing.

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Amanda cleared deck seven and raced down towards six. This was the last deck. She was not going to venture any deeper down inside the ship. She was through the door, to the deck plans. There was a smash of glass, and they were soon in her hands. She moved around the aft cabins banging and screaming before starting for the forward ones. She sprinted forward so quickly that the water swamped her feet past her ankles until she grabbed the railing to stop herself. She came within a hair of landing in the water on her ass. In the dim emergency lighting, she saw that the water got deeper and deeper the further forward one went. So she was not going to go any further forward. Nuh uh. No fucking way.

She hollered several times and then decided it was high time to get the flying fuck out of there. She started backwards. She had no way of knowing that the location of the battery back-ups was located at the front of the superstructure, below the bridge. Superstructure that was now settling into the sea.

As she made her way to the still-dry carpeting in the corridor, water surged into that main room that housed the emergency battery back-ups and shorted them out in the blink of an eye. The emergency lighting throughout the entire ship failed immediately. There was no tell-tale warning blink. They were lit, and then they were entirely off, and she was left in darkness. Amanda froze in terror. Even though she had just stepped clear of it, the water rose and she could feel it sloshing over her feet once again.

She panicked. She whimpered. She started crying as her brain frizzled and threatened to shut itself down. She feared she was going to die. She could not contact the Entity because if Jake came looking for her, she would be unable to tell him she was gone and he might wait until it was too late to send himself back. She would not allow him to kill himself after she had to pull the emergency plug and flee back to the realm. The realm was meaningless without Jake in it, and she could not live without him. He might be able to find a way to live without her. She was trapped. She was trapped here and she couldn't see and this is where she would die. She didn't even like the number six but deck six was now going to be her coffin. If she didn't risk Jake's own life and try to get the Entity to save her, her body would float around in the submerged, pitch-black deck on the ocean floor until the fish and water turned her into a skeleton.

She could picture herself, immersed completely in the water. Her money and documents and Jake's wallet and dead cell phone in her pocket. Floating and dead and only maybe being discovered by some oceanographer exploring the wreck. Would they find her while she still had skin on her bones? Would the three Ziplocks keep the papers dry enough for them to be pulled from her pocket and taken to the surface to be viewed by those that discovered her? Would they collect her remains as well so she could be properly buried?

The realm was forgotten and her brain continued to shut down in her terror as she imagined this oceanographer and his crew shaking their head at her stupidity in getting herself killed. She stood frozen until the water submerged both of her feet and rose slowly up her ankles.

Then Amanda let out an angry scream of rage and slapped herself as hard as she could three times to get her fucking shit together and think. She had to get some fucking light in here. HOW!? Then she wanted to slap herself again for being such a fucking idiot. THE SHIP IS SINKING IN BROAD FUCKING DAYLIGHT YOU STUPID FUCKING BITCH! She slammed the wooden leg in her hand on the nearest cabin door next to the doorknob until the lock broke free and the door swung open. The sunlight streamed through portholes in the cabin and splashed into the corridor. She kept breaking open the now more easily-visible doors, flooding the hallway with sunlight until the wooden leg snapped in half.

Amanda looked fore and aft in the light and spotted a glass case further down the corridor and ran to it. It was a wall-mounted emergency station containing a first aid kit, a blanket, and the real prize: A large battery-powered flashlight with a strap on the end. She yanked the metal door of the cabinet open with a strangled cry and pulled the flashlight free and clicked it on.

Behind her, the water sloshed and kept following her. Amanda pictured it as a killer in the realm. Relentless. Determined to chase her down. It would chase her wherever she ran. She could not hide from it. It would not stop until she was sacrificed. She'd gotten a flashlight and it knew it and it wasn't going to let her go. It wasn't going to let her shine the flashlight on it to blind it so she could escape. The Ocean Princess was clinging to life, but the water flooding her was luring the stricken liner to the dark side, trying to convince the royal majesty of the high seas to succumb to her fate. After all, how could the Ocean Princess allow herself to sink all the way to the sea floor without claiming even one passenger for all of eternity.

She could almost hear the two unthinking things, the creaking ship and the water, having a debate. This one was stupid enough to come back into the interior of the sinking decks. Claim her. She belongs with us. After all...She's a VIP...

And the Ocean Princess gave a shuddering lurch and the deck slanted forward at a deeper angle. The Ocean Princess seemed to be listening and was now maliciously trying to finish what she'd started. It hadn't drowned her with the deck chair, it hadn't killed her with that picture that had pounded into her head like a guillotine. But the third time could be the charm.

Amanda shined the flashlight at the rising water. She stared at it, then stared at the walls and ceiling of the corridor. "Fuck you, bitch." She bolted up the hall, then she made her way further to the interior entrance of the Sunset Bar.

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Water surged and finally submerged the deserted Ocean Princess' bridge. The water killed the automatic emergency distress signals as the separate battery back-up submerged, and the radiophone was knocked off of the handset and twisted and turned at the end of the cord in the swirling water in the water-filled bridge.

The empty water bottle Amanda used to clean her head wound, and which she had absently capped after dumping the remaining water and tossing into the bridge, rose upwards until it was pinned by the water to the bridge ceiling.

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"Adrianus."

Vandenberg looked up as he heard the quiet voice of Captain Gomez. He and the other crew members had been providing blankets and hot coffee to the survivors they had collected from the lifeboats. Some of the passengers had already been offloaded at Puerto Cortes, and the Norwegian Star had collected this fresh batch of lifeboat passengers only two miles from the dying Ocean Princess.

"The EPIRB has disappeared from the radar screens," Gomez told him sadly. "I do not know if that means the entire ship is gone, but it confirms the bridge is flooded and she has little time left. I have started a course there, but do not know if we will make it in time. I wanted you to know. We've turned course and are moving at all possible speed. Even if we don't make it in time, we may be able to rescue anyone that couldn't be taken off by helicopter from the water."

He turned away from Vandenberg and started back out the doorway. Vandenberg stopped him. "Captain?"

The Captain turned back. Vandenberg asked him, "What was the last status report? How many people are still left aboard the Ocean Princess?"

The Captain thought for a moment. "The final helicopter was approaching to load the last of the 22 passengers into the final helicopter. Reports were that the bow was underwater but now we can assume the bridge is as well. One of the pilots observed a woman go into the interior and Shaw informed him that she was trying to do a final sweep to make sure no one had been left behind. We are making haste. I will alert you when we are within sight, if the ship still remains on the surface. No matter what Adrianus, we did the best we could."

He was gone. Vandenburg felt a tinge of sadness and hoped the cursing American woman had made it safely off of the ship. But he knew in his heart that there was no way. The woman who the pilot had seen, he was fully aware, had to be Amanda. He was not a praying man by nature, but his lips moved silently in a prayer for enough time for her and the rest to escape as he passed another cup of coffee to a grateful passenger.

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On deck 10 of the Ocean Princess, the party was over for good at the Constellation lounge. The tables and chairs were completely submerged and piled forward. The games in the video arcade broke free of their moorings from the angle and the surging seawater and smashed into the wall in a pile before breaking through it to crush the already underwater pile of tables and chairs in the Constellation Lounge. It kept surging further and further backwards as it filled the corridors towards the jogging track.

On deck nine, the heavy exercise equipment smashed through the floor to ceiling ocean view windows. Some of it bounced off the deck above the bow before it all sank like stones into the dark abyss. The massage and acupuncture tables joined them as both rooms flooded and the walls collapsed. The weight of it all sent it in a freefall and the broken windows did nothing to stop any of it as it sank out of sight. The surging waters claimed the amenities of the Persian Garden and also the tools, equipment, and bottles of hair products for sale at the hair salon. Bottles of nail polish surged in the water like bullets fired from a gun. Water filled the ladies' and men's changing rooms and surged towards the solarium.

Amanda and Jake's deck, deck 8, was also rapidly filling. The captain and crew's cabins, as well as the forward staterooms from 8001 to 8043 were underwater and it was making its way to the remainder, including Amanda and Jake's own. Virtually every door was ripped from its hinges as the seawater crushed into them and filled the cabins, one after another, in mere seconds. Personal effects and clothes twisted to and fro, soaked in the seawater.

Had anyone been able to see in the dark and breathe underwater, they'd have gotten a similar view in deck seven. There were muffled bangs as doors burst open and a washing machine effect tossed and turned the things that weren't solidly in place. in the entirely submerged corridors as the water crept backwards

On deck six, rooms 6001 to 6031 were totally underwater. Portholes shattered and some of the personal effects caught up in the water surged from the portholes to surround the ship like pieces of party confetti.

On deck five, the entire movie theater was now submerged. Daniel Craig as Ian Fleming's James Bond 007 would no longer grace the screen. Nov. 14 had been the Ocean Princess' last ever picture show. Half of the specialty shops and boutiques had also been claimed fully by the unfeeling and unrelenting seawater.

Beyond the submerged lower portion of the movie theater on deck four, the studio and Michael's Club had drowned. Tables floated briefly, then sank. The photo gallery was only a minute or two from being underwater itself.

Half the front cabins on deck three were fully submerged. The water filled the ship more and more and moved to claim the guest relations office, Captain's Club, and destination concierge's office. On deck two, cabin by cabin, the water kept claiming the Ocean Princess and the grand dame was finally ready to stop fighting and let herself be pulled from the surface to her death.

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The final helicopter arrived. The pilot informed Shaw over the radio that the water was well past the bridge...But they would have enough time. Shaw said a silent prayer in relief and kept stealing glances at the Sunset Bar door. Come on Amanda, it's time to go.

Jake did more than steal glances. He started at it nervously and only stopped when he helped put a passenger in the harness only to stare at it again. Two-by-two they were lifted, and two by two they disappeared into the helicopter. Finally, there were only five people left on the deck, including himself, Shaw, Julie McCoy, Dr. Bricker, and Rogo. When the helicopter began winching up Dr. Bricker and Julie McCoy, Shaw shouted, "Jake, go. We'll wait for you. Go get..."

The door of the Sunset Bar leading to the deck flew open and Amanda darted through it. She fell on her knees on the tilting deck and leaned forward and kissed it as the sunlight streamed on her. he raised her head to the warm sunlight and let the tears of relief stream down her face. She'd made it. She'd fucking made it. Fuck you, princess. I'm done and I'm fucking out of here.

Above her, Jake, Shaw, and Rogo cheered and Jake shed tears of relief. Julie McCoy and Dr. Bricker, free of the harnesses, hugged as they saw Amanda once again appear on the deck through the helicopter's bubble observation windows.

The strap of the flashlight was looped over her arm and she left it hanging as she grabbed the bottom of the rope and started hauling herself up. In her mind was a litany of words: Fuck you princess I'm gone fuck you princess I'm gone fuck you princess I'm gone fuck you princess I'm gone...

The harness dropped. Shaw looked at the two men with him and allowed his lips to part under his moustache in a relieved smile. It had been close, but by bloody God, they had done it. "Jake, Rogo, it's your turn."

Jake shook his head furiously. "You go." He made no effort to move or unclip his harness. He didn't even look Shaw's direction, he was fully focused on watching Amanda's progress up the rope below them.

He'd suspected this situation might happen, and even as he said the words he knew they would do nothing to budge the man who was completely ignoring him at the moment. "Jake, I'm crew, I'm captain, I can't leave you and Amanda alone..."

Jake raised his head in a flash and looked at him intently. "I'm not leaving here without her, even though she's right down there. I can't. I won't. come on, you have to understand. Please. You've defied the rules to get us to here, defy this one rule. The helicopter is right there. The harness will be back in two minutes. You can't make me leave here without her. I can't leave here without seeing her face across from mine in the harnesses. Please Brian...We're VIPs..."

Shaw was silent. "That's the first time you haven't called me Mr. Shaw. I suppose my tenure as the Ocean Princess' captain is at an end. Because you're right, and because she's right here, I'll honor your request. Don't dawdle. The sea doesn't care that you're VIPs." Shaw and Rogo unclipped themselves from the railing.

"We'll be waitin' for ya in the copter, Jake. We all done real good. We saved everybody and now we're gonna save ourselves."

Shaw reached around Rogo's back to secure his harness to the rope, and Jake attached Shaw's. "Hurry the bloody Hell up!" He shouted down the rope to Amanda, "You've got minutes, Amanda. Minutes! Hurry! Climb like your life depends on it because it bloody DOES!"

His pep talk was cut off as the helicopter winched up Rogo and himself.

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The Ocean Princess canted higher and higher into the air as the flooded, heavy bow pulled the ship under deeper. The solarium was submerged, the guest relations office, Shaw's, the concierge. The water was hungry and ate everything in its path.

The single smokestack of the Ocean Princess dipped under the waves and gave the water direct unfetter access from the top of the ship to the bottom, and the surging seawater crashed into the depths of the dead ship like a tidal wave.

The metal hull, while immensely strong, was not built for the ship to be canting higher and higher with it's stern out of the water. The poor Titanic had not been either. It might have held out when she was brand new, but the Ocean Princess had seen too many years. At the bottom of the hull, all the way up the superstructure, the ship weakened and rivets sprung as the metal began to separate.

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As the harness lifted Rogo and Shaw to the helicopter, Amanda suddenly found herself playing the ultimate game of get the goat with Jake. She had pulled herself close enough to shout, "Hey! We're the last two people left on this ship! You wanna fuck?! I could go for it!" She grinned at him in both exhilaration and terror.

Jake stared at her, and couldn't believe it. "Really, Amanda!? Really? Even now?" Jesus fucking CHRIST she had to be fucking joking, right? Surely the woman's libido HAD to be shut off from the absolute fucking danger and terror of the situation.

She continued to grin wildly at him, and her eyes were wide, mixed with something like excitement and derangement as the roar of the water approached them more and more. "How many fuckin' times are we ever gonna be on a cruise ship alone? Bet it would give poor Rogo a coronary! Better not though, we don't have a lot of time and you know I don't like quickies!"

And he burst out laughing that she had managed to zing him with that joke of hers. Jesus Christ. This woman. Jesus Christ. Oh God do I love this woman. There is no other woman like her in the world and she is mine. Come on baby, I might be willing to fuck you in the rescue chopper in front of God and everybody and yes, I don't care if Shaw and Rogo faint at the sight of it. Hurry, honey. Please hurry. We've got this. You've got this. I can almost reach you honey. I've almost got you.

Jake clipped his harness to the hook that held the empty one, as he didn't need to use it with one already securely around his body. The rope stopped for final time and he made his first attempt to reach for her but couldn't now that he was locked into an almost-upright position from being clipped to the rescue rope. The winch operator noticed and gave the rope five extra feet of play as Jake held onto the rope with one hand.

Above them, Shaw looked down through a bubble window of the helicopter that allowed him to poke his head beyond the hull and get a clear view of the deck below him. Rogo stood beside him and nervously chewed his lip.

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Deck two: Cabins 2001-2150. Underwater.

Deck three: Cabins 3001-3108, guest relations, the Captain's Club, shore excursions, the grand foyer, the wine cellar. Underwater.

Deck four, in addition to all that was already submerged, had also lost the photo gallery, Fortunes Casino, the grand foyer, and the Crush Martini bar in addition to everything forward.

Deck five's losses past the upper level of the movie theater included all the specialty shops and boutiques, the Emporium, future cruise vacations office, Gelateria, and Café' Al Bacio. The final level of the grand foyer was also submerged. Never again would anyone's feet walk down the ornate marble stairs.

Deck six: Cabins 6001 to 6056. Underwater.

Deck seven: Cabins 7001 to 7140. Underwater.

Deck 8: Cabins 8001-8106, the crew quarters, bridge, and the library. Underwater.

Deck 9: Everything forward plus the solarium, spa café, and the pool grill. Additionally, the massive swimming pool was refilled and then some by the seawater. It was completely submerged.

Deck 10: Beyond the Constellation Lounge, the sea had claimed the jogging track, Mast Bar, and Qsine, a restaurant Amanda and Jake had never attempted to dine at, preferring their steaks and conversations at the Cosmopolitan with Mike Rogo.

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Jake hung onto the rope in a crouch, ready to reach for her when she was in range. He urged her on "Come on honey. I love you come on you're so close honey. Please honey hurry please." She got closer, and closer, and was only a few feet from him. When she was down to only a foot or so, she started stretching out her hand as Jake stretched out his own towards her. Their hands closed around each other.

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The breeches in the hull expanded deeply, as the remaining half of the ship was halfway to perpendicular. With an ear-shattering crash, the front half of the Ocean Princess separated from the lower half and began its rapid descent to the ocean floor

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The now-freed rear portion of the Ocean Princess slammed into the waves. The sudden movement jerked Amanda's hand from Jake's own. Amanda screamed, "FUCK!" Jake screamed, "AMANDA!" The deck dropped under him by five feet, pulling Amanda away from him, and his feet were now back to brushing the ship's deck as the rope stretched out completely.

Amanda had her feet planted on the deck and had only been holding the rope with her left hand. With the sudden, almost immediate drop, she didn't have time to grab the rope with her right hand, as she'd been caught by surprise. The remaining portion of the ship bobbed up and down like a cork violently, and her feet went out from under her and she slammed her face into the wood. Stunned, she lost her single handed grip on the rope.

Time, for a minute, seemed to stand still. Amanda slowly raised her head to stare at Jake wide-eyed, her mouth opened in a silent scream as she slid backwards on her stomach down the still-sloping deck before her feet slammed into a ventilator housing. It slowed her decent and for a moment her feet rested on it. The rope, hanging from the railing, was two feet from her. She could reach it with her outstretched hand. And so she started to reach for it.

But the Ocean Princess had decided it was going to kill her. There was the sound of a boom from the bottom of the hull and the stern started rising back out of the water as the sea flooded in. The combination of the shuddering of the ship and the increase in the slant of the deck knocked her feet loose from the ventilator housing and she rose bodily in the air about a foot before she thudded back to the deck on her back. There was nothing else in front of her to stop her forward momentum. She screamed Jake's name in terror as she slid on her back, feet first, disappearing into the open doorway of the Sunset Bar.