Chapter 6: Despair


The mood among the hostages on the Sky Deck was grim. They had just witnessed a young teenaged boy gunned down right in front of them. He had seemed to be trying to help them. None of them could figure out what, exactly had happened to cause the pirate to just... explode, but it didn't really matter. The boy was dead. His lifeless body was being pulled out of the hot tub by the three men who'd killed him.

Zack Martin, whose brother was leaning against him, unconcious and bloody, watched the men in fearful silence. Like most everyone else on deck, he was in total shock. As the body was pulled from the hot tub, Zack caught a glipse of the boy's face. For a second, he thought he recognized the boy, but didn't get a very good look as the pirates carried him. Zack watched as the men carried the body toward him and then...

Audible gasps were heard all across the Sky Deck and several people could be heard as they burst into tears, crying at what they witnessed next. As if killing the boy hadn't been enough, the three pirates carried him over to the rail, just a few feet away from where Zack, Cody, and Bailey were sitting, lifted him into the air, and tossed his body overboard into the sea.

Alex Russo, who was tied up next to her brother against the towel station in the center of the Sky Deck, buried her face in her knees as tears rolled down her face in a steady stream. Justin tried to fight the tears, trying to stay strong for his sister, but a few managed to escape. He felt like he might vomit as watched the men toss his brother overboard like a piece of garbage. Knowing this would be the last image he would ever have of his little brother hit him like a dagger to the chest.

In the ship's communication room, two men who were covered in blood dragged London Tipton, also covered in blood, across and tied her up in a chair. Two other men were already in the room, holding the ship's communications officers hostage. One of the bloody men took out a video camera and started filming the heiress and speaking in his foreign language. This continued for a few minutes and when he was finished, he handed the camera off to the other bloody man who hooked the camera up to one of the ship's computers and uploaded the video. Then, he sent the video to a list of emails belonging to several major media outlets and the US Government.

Less than 20 minutes later, CNN, who had been covering the story almost nonstop since word had gotten out that the ship had been taken, had a breaking news alert.

"This just in, literally moments ago," the anchor said, "Video from on board the SS Tipton showing London Tipton bound to a chair and gagged as a man, presumably one of the pirates that has taken the ship, narrates. Our translators are working to decipher the message, but it appears that the pirates on board the SS Tipton have identified the heiress and are using her to increase their demands to the US Government and, it appears, Wilfred Tipton himself. Again, this video just came in to us via email and our translators are working and we should have more on this as they figure out exactly what the man in the video is saying." The man continued talking as the video showing London, tied up and crying, looped on screen.

"My babies..." Theresa Russo said, watching CNN's coverage. Her husband put his arm around her and held her tight as she began crying.

"Don't worry, honey," he said. "If anyone can get out of a situation like this, it's Alex, Justin, and Max."

(Author's Note: Thanks again to everyone for reading. Please review!)