Ship: Black Hawk
Chapter 2: Shipwrecked
Hey..once again its another boring chapter..so hope u can enjoy..
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As soon as the very words escaped their mouth, a huge gust of wind knocked the ship from its course, and flung it into the air. The passengers on the ship barely had a chance to yell, before they were brought into the waters once again. Everyone on the deck was woozy from the flip upward and tried to regain their balance. Rain had only worsened the problem when a torrent of rain began to fall onto the ship's deck. It is quite fascinating how the sea could be so calm and gentle one moment, and the next a savage beast attempting to tear the boat apart. The wind showed no mercy, as it whistled and howled past the old ship.
The sail had been removed seeing as if it was up; it would do no good in this rain storm. Lightning flashed in the distance, as if it were warning them of the many dangers that lay closely ahead. The mood was tense as everyone was in danger, and the storm looked like there was no end. Since the ship was an ancient model, they had to make sure that there were no leaks in the lower part of the ship. The wind didn't seem to be breaking the ship apart, but the crew among the deck of the ship held on anything they could get a hold of. Their voices were tossed away in the wind as if it was nothing but a kite caught in a storm. The Captain made some hand signals and soon everyone had their own part to play in surviving the storm.
The masts were secured, and the ship was hopelessly trying to remain on it's course. If it were to sail too far off, there wouldn't be enough supplies to get back upon the main course. The wooden planks were creaking with every blow of the wind, every wave of the sea, and every breath that the crew members breathed. They were already sailing too far eastward, as the Captain put it, and sooner or later the wind would stop and they would turn the ship around, and be back on the correct path. How wrong he could be.
The storm continued to blow, and they took shifts looking after the ancient ship. It was decided that Ray and Max would do the first shift while Kai and Tyson did the second. In case of any emergencies, they were all to report to the main deck immediately. The rest of the crew members evenly divided themselves into either first or second shift, while others prepared meals or helped with the repairing of small, undamaging leaks. Although, the Captain had assured them many times that they would be fine, with every creak of the wind entwined with a splash of the wave, and caused them only more and more grief and anxiety.
While Max and Ray were out battling the winds, the others fared no better in the old rotting kitchen of the ship. They quickly fixed meals and others patched small holes that allowed a tiny trickle of water to seep inside. Tyson's stomach growled in protest, and he attempted to help himself to a portion of lunch. The cook caught his hungry lunge at the food, and ordered him out of the kitchen to help with the patching of holes in the lower deck. "Jeez…I've been working all day…wouldn't hurt to have a small piece of bread…" Tyson muttered after the cook, and went down the stairs that lead to the lower deck. Small holes could be seen in the body of the ship, and Tyson gingerly let his fingers glide over the rough wood. Wow…this ship is even worse than the state of my room! He lightly fingered a hole in the wall, and began patching up the leak. There was a small puddle of water forming in the lower decks, and somehow Tyson began to wonder whether it was just a matter of time before the entire ship was filled with water.
Ray's POV:
As Captain Ramberg ushered the divided crew into the lower decks, nervousness crept into me. The storm was absolutely harsh, and I found my hair whipping around in the wind current. I turned around and tried to look for Max, but in the wild mess of running people, I found that I only see blurs of their images. I decided to hope for the best and just wished the storm would blow over and hopefully the ship was still in one piece. The captain was having a very difficult time at the wheel, and I decided to see what I could do to help. He turned and glared at me with the sternest look he could muster in the wind. "Off ye go laddy…there's other parts of the ship that needs someone like you to look after…" Captain Ramberg managed to holler before his words were lost in the wind. The creaking of the masts only grew worse as the wind rammed against them in it's fury to knock them down. Many of the crew on main deck was securing the mast as best they could, but the damp rope did hardly any good at all. I busied myself with anything I could find, and sometimes helping people secure mast lines on the border of the ship. I thought I saw Max scurrying around, and when I turned about, a wave of cold water hit me. I wheezed in the sudden cold, and realized the waves were much too high and dangerous. The Captain yelled something inaudible to the crew, and gasped as another wave drenched us. Looking around, I saw many of the crew who had taken a lunch break had returned to help. With that I was relieved. The Captain told me the waves would probably do no harm if we all held on tight, and he dismissed 3 crew members to take a break. The ones who replaced our positions looked full of energy, and I just hoped it would be enough to keep the ship alive.
Kai's POV:
I had decided it would provide more help to the entire ship if I patched up the holes in the ship instead. I knew Tyson would much rather prefer the job of helping the cook. I myself, had personally not have lunch yet, but I was much used to this already. This was probably the 100th leak that I patched up over the last hour. I was almost getting into a rhythm of the hole patching technique. Others around him seemed to move in a robotic trance, never once stopping no matter how much their stomach growled. It wasn't until one of the crew members had collapsed that made the second mate realize we were all exhausted. He barked in a gruff tone and some lethargic crew member to take the collapsed worker to his quarters, and thank him that we're all truly doomed now. Others began to resume their quick pace of patching and my arm ached in annoyance. As I shifted over a slight bit to pick up after the place of the fallen crew member, I noticed a thin layer of water forming around my feet. The others were much to occupied to notice this, and I slowly traced along the wall to find the source of water. At first I thought it was nothing more than a slight leak and my suspicions were identified when I saw that the water level was slowly rising. I turned slightly and saw a hole that allowed a flow of water to flow in. The full force of the storm kicked in when the small hole soon expanded and the hole grew to the size of my hand. The old wooden materials of the ship creaked and groaned, and soon everyone stopped. The second mate came to take a look at the ruckus. "Hey what do you lazy scallywags think you're doing…why I-" He gasped in horror as the wooden boards collapsed totally and brought nothing but a current of rushing water in.
As Max and Ray took their short 10 minute break, Ray saw many people emerging from the lower decks. The cook hurriedly distributed some bread, and Ray ate his rather hungrily. Max took a second, and was soon finished with that too. We looked around, hoping to find either Tyson or Kai, but neither of them were in the kitchen. Suddenly a burst of footsteps echoed off the kitchen, followed by about 10 drenched people emerging in the kitchen. "Kai!" Ray yelled as he recognized the soaking wet blue haired teen. "Tyson!" Max cheered as he showed up a few seconds later in the same drenched fashion. "No time to talk…" Kai urgently gasped. The other people who were working in the lower deck had moved onto the main deck. "There's a huge leak in the ship…" Kai said as Tyson who stood beside him only looked down in nervousness. Before either of them completed their sentence, Captain Ramberg's voice boomed over the intercom. "ALL HANDS ON DECK!" The 4 teens nodded and rushed toward the upper deck only to be met with a chaotic scene of everyone on the ship running about. The second mate had just finished reporting to the Captain the news, and we looked at him for an answer. "The ship has been calculated to last another hour…" The captain trailed off as the sound of thunder boomed in the distance. "To out best effort…the crew has patched up the damage to the best they could…" Everyone continued to stare at the Captain, lost for words.
The waves had died down, and they only splashed harmlessly against the hull of the ship. The wind had remained at it's same pace, and the rain had slowly began to lose its ferocity. "Aye…old ship is goin' to its watery grave…and unless any of u rascals wanta join it…" The Captain trailed off again, and the crew members who were closest to him, gave his a reassuring pat. The captain turned and stared gratefully at everyone before making one last statement. "The ship is holding way to much load to stay afloat for a long period of time…we emptied out most of the things…but…aye…it is time.."
"If we remain on this ol' ship…we'll die for sure..There's land a couple miles ahead…but aye..this ol' girl wont make it..and I cannot possibly let me crew die…" Everyone was appalled at the Captain's speech, and looked horrifyingly at the water. "We…cannot possibly win against nature…so…" The Captain took a deep breath, and stared sternly at everyone. We all knew what was coming but the truth hit us like the harsh wind. "Mateys…ABANDON SHIP!"
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Okay…boring chapter…bad story…what else is there left to say?
Chapter 3: A Watery Grave