eight;
After plenty of wandering around, turning corners, lost around this maze, the four finally found a stairwell. It was a bit more confined than the main one but this one would do just fine. They darted up two floors but were stopped by yet another steel gate had them locked back, a smaller group of people already there yelling at the stewards to open up the gate.
"Go to the main stairwell with everyone else," said the steward. "It'll all get sorted out there."
Jack was much too fed up with these stewards locking the third-class out, causing him to lose his temper and curse out at the steward. He grabbed a bench which was nailed to the floor, Fabrizio and Tommy joining in to help. They pulled with all their strength, the bolts popping off the bench and breaking it free.
"Move aside, people!" Janiyah shouted at the group which were still demanding the steward to open the gate.
Everyone quickly moved away from the gate, clearing a path for the three men holding a bench. They ram the bench against the gate with all the strength they had, which was enough strength because the gate jerked loose and fell toward the steward, barely missing him. The group rush outward, but they had no idea where to go to reach the boat deck.
"You better lead us to the boat right now," Janiyah growled at the steward. She could tell he was frightened. "If we drown here, I'll make sure you drown with us."
The steward nodded, obviously wanting to live as he agreed to lead the group to the boat deck.
"Hold on, we're not done here," shouted a familiar voice. Ray.
He appeared, immediately aiming for Jack and shoving him against a wall. Jack still felt enraged by the previous moment with the steward, and so he landed a punch on Ray's face for the first time.
"Ray, now is not the moment for this, okay?" Janiyah said, an irritated tone in her voice. She glared at her ex-best friend as she stepped between Jack and Ray. "We're all trying to survive here, so it'd be best to leave this for some other time."
"How did he get out?" Ray growled, "That kiss, that was a fake kiss, wasn't it? You just wanted to get the key out of my pocket! I knew there was something off about-"
"Ray!" Jack yelled, now stepping in front of Janiyah to face Ray. "Like Janiyah said, now is not the time for this! I'm trying my best to get her out of here alive, okay? You're not helping by doing this."
"Guys, you see that?" Tommy pointed out towards where the stairs took them downstairs. Water was rushing in more rapidly than they'd like it to. "That's what," he stated sarcastically, "and if we stay here a moment longer, we're dead. We need to get the hell out of here and off the ship!"
Jack pulled Janiyah with her, now ignoring Ray. The red-head reluctantly followed along, the steward then leading them to the boat deck.
"Music to drown by," said Tommy as he spotted the band of classical musicians, playing some calming music, but nothing here seemed calm at all. "Now I know I'm in First Class."
They watched as boats lowered down, neither of them in full capacity. "Why are they not filling up the ships?" Janiyah asked.
"Because they put the comfort of the First Class in first place, second goes the lives of the rest," Jack stated, an irritated tone in his voice.
Janiyah looked around at the hundreds of people trying to make their ways into the boats. At the moment they were only accepting women and children onto the boats, the men struggling against the stewards who were holding them back. "There's gonna be a bunch of people who aren't gonna get out of this alive..." Sudden realization hit her. "Possibly hundreds."
"And I'm gonna make sure you do get out of this alive, okay?" Jack said, taking her hand and pulling her along to one of the boats.
"No, no, Jack, I told you I'm not leaving you again," she pulled her hand out of his, stepping back.
"J, I'll get on one of the boats once the men are allowed on," Jack reassured her, as he took a few steps closer to her, his eyes practically begging her to get on one of the boats.
But no, she wasn't gonna leave without him. She couldn't. She told him they were gonna get off the ship together and travel the world, she wasn't gonna leave him here, unsure if he'd actually be able to find a boat to get on.
"J, get on one of the boats," Ray insisted as well. "It's the best thing we could do right now."
No it's not...
One of the stewards pulled her back towards one of the boats, she struggled against the stewards grip but he managed to place her into one of the boats along with a bunch of other people. "Jack..." she began to climb out, but Jack softly pushed her back into the boat over the railing.
"J, stay in the boat, okay?"
She held onto his hand, giving it a tight squeeze as they stared into each other's eyes. The boat soon began to drop, the two grasping each other's hands until they no longer could and had to let go. Ray came in, watching her with Jack as the boat dropped down into the salty water. Janiyah's attention only seemed to be on Jack, completely ignoring Ray who stood beside him. She was still annoyed with him.
This is possibly the last time I'll see him...
No. It won't be.
Now turning her attention ahead of her, she spotted the gunwale of the ship which was just a deck lower than the boat deck. Without hesitation, she leaped across from the small boat to the gunwale. The women on the boat screamed when they saw her leap off, one of them telling her to get back onto the boat but she wouldn't listen. She couldn't get back on it. Now she hung from the rail right over the freezing water, as she was then pulled up by a couple of stewards.
Immediately, she ran for the stairs to head back up to the boat deck and to Jack. Once Jack had seen her jump off the boat, he ran for the stairs as well, leaving Ray alone on the deck. He didn't know what to do anymore. He'd just loved his best friend, the woman he loved. Did it even matter if he lived anymore? There was just no point. He stared along at the vast, dark ocean, then...
BAM!
A gun shot caught his attention, and that's when he saw the lifeless body of Tommy on the floor, blood spilling onto the deck. Soon after, the steward who'd shot up commit suicide due to all the pressure on him, the revolver which was previously in his hand then slid to Ray's foot. He picked it up in his hand and held it.
He knew what he'd have to do.
The fastest way to the lower deck was through the grand staircase. But they were free to go there since no guards were around to keep the third-class out, everybody was evacuating at the top deck. Once they saw each other at the bottom of the staircase, they embraced each other in a hug, Jakc holding her tightly against him. "Why did you do it, J? Why?"
"I couldn't do it," she breathed, out of breath from all the running. "What if I never saw you again?"
Jack sighed, kissing the top of her head. A gunshot was heard, causing the two of them to leap in fright. They quickly turned their heads to the source from where the sound came from, to see... Ray coming at them with a revolver in hand from the staircase? It was obviously aimed directly Jack. Janiyah gasped, pulling away from Jack, grabbing his hand as they both ran towards the next stairs in sight.
There really couldn't be a worse moment to be caught in a love triangle like this, is there?
Another gunshot was heard, both of them instinctively ducking their heads. The bullet hit right past Jack and hitting a wooden panel behind him, if he hadn't ducked he would've been killed. "Where the hell did he get a gun?!" Janiyah asked as she looked back to see Ray coming down the stairs as well.
They continued racing towards the next set of stairs, this time the bottom of them was flooded with water slowly rising to the next floor. They had no other choice than to jump into the piercing cold water which reached up to their waists. "Ahh, that's... that's cold," Jack said between his teeth.
"It is," Janiyah agreed, laughing, which she thought was weird because they were in such a serious situation. Jack laughed along with her until two more gunshots were heard, both the bullets missing it's target.
The two looked back, seeing Ray at the stairs, but he hesitated once he saw the water. He continued shooting desperately, but his aiming was horrible. Jack and Janiyah were soon out of sight from him, and the way only he'd be able to get Jack was if he jumped into the water as well.
He cursed out, before retreating and heading back up the stairs.
"Jack, I'm so sorry," Janiyah apologized once they reached the dining saloon, which wasn't flooded. Yet. "This is my fault, I thought Ray was my best friend. I've known him since we were small children, I never thought he'd be capable of doing something like this, I-"
"Shh, J," he hushed her softly, "none of this is your fault, okay?" He pulled her in, giving her a passionate kiss. She kissed him back, and pulled away after a moment. "We have to find a way out and onto one of the boats."
By now the water came rushing into the dining room in large waves, Janiyah and Jack sprinting towards a set of stairs they spotted which led upwards, hopefully to the boat deck. Once they reached the end of the stairs, they were met with a steel gate in front of them. Behind the gate were more stairs, but when they tried to open it was locked.
There was as teward on the other side as well, but as soon as he saw the water gaining up on them, he became terrified and began running up the stairs. "Wait, wait, help us! Unlock the gate!"
The steward hesitated, as he watched the large wave slam Jack and Janiyah against the gate. He could see the desperation in their eyes. "Help, please!"
The water now reached their waist, and it continued pouring through the gate. "Bloody hell!" Yelled the steward before returning back to the gate, slowly pushing against teh force of the water to get there. He struggled for far too long to get the gate unlocked, eventually cowarding out and dropping the key, leaving them there.
"No, damn it!" Jack dived into the water which now reached their necks. His arm went through the gate, grabbing ahold of the keys which, thankfully, were in reach. He floated back up to the top to grab a breath but realized there was barely anymore space to breath. Janiyah stayed at the top to try and breath the more she could.
"Take a deep breath, okay?" Jack told her.
"I can't," she managed to say. "I can't hold me breath very well."
Before they could say anything else, the water submerged them completely, Jack swimming back down and attempted to unlock the gate under all the pressure he was currently in. Suddenly, the situation got a whole lot worse when the lights flickered off. Now he'd have to do it by feel. The lights then began to flicker on and off repeatedly, so at least now he'd be able to see for a short period of time before they were in the darkness once again.
All of a sudden, the gate swung open, the current pushing Jack and Janiyah towards the stairs where they were able to take a big breath of air. "Oh my god," Janiyah breathed. "I almost didn't make it."
"Come on!" Jack said, grabbing her arm and getting themselves out of the water as they climbed up the stairs. "Let's hope this leads us to the boat deck."
(11.2.20)
author's note !
the fic's almost complete! just one more chapter and an epilogue following after.
-zap.