Chapter Twenty: Out of Time
Zack, Cody, Max, and Russell moved quickly down the corridor on deck 11. As they went, all eyes searched the walls for the piece of paneling that would lead to the hidden stairwell to deck 12 and the transfer room. After what seemed to them to be a long time, Max thought she saw something.
"Is this it!" she exclaimed as she walked over to a slanting piece of wall paneling.
"Yes, that's it, hurry let's get it moved" Zack replied.
They all began lifting and pulling at the piece of paneling. It soon came free and they tossed it aside. Suddenly from behind them they heard a crash. All heads turned back towards the stern in time to see a wall of water blast into the corridor. The sound of the water rushing towards them was like the sound of an approaching freight train. The emergency lights that ran along the ceiling of the corridor disappeared one by one in rapid succession as the water rushed towards them. In mere seconds it would be upon them.
"Let's get this door open now!" Zack yelled.
Frantically they grabbed at the latches and turned each one. Zack and Russell yanked the door open and they all threw themselves inside. At that moment the water reached the doorway. It took all four of them to force the door closed against the tremendous power of the water. While Zack and Russell held the door closed with their weight, Max and Cody scrambled to secure the latches. Finally after several agonizing seconds, the door was as secure as it was going to get.
After taking a few more seconds to regain their composure, they all started up the short single story staircase. They reached the hatch that would take them into the transfer room and paused again.
"Moment of truth, what we find on the other side of this door will make or break us" Cody said.
The twins undid the latches and swung the door open.
Immediately they were hit in the face with intense heat. It felt like opening the door to a sauna. As they all stepped inside they took in the sight of the cavernous room. Needless to say it was in ruins. Jet skis that had not come crashing down already dangled precariously above their heads. One in particular rocked gently back and forth in what was left of its holding restraints. It looked as if it could come down at any moment but thankfully it was off to one side of the room where they wouldn't have to walk under it. Nearby they could see breaks in several steam pipes that ran along the top edge of the room which accounted for the sauna like conditions. Most of the room's white emergency lights had been taken out by tumbling debris. All that lit the room now were two glaring red lights next to the two sealed hatchways that led to the bow and to the stern. Both were issuing the telltale signs of a struggle to hold back the water that lay beyond them. It struck Zack odd that both would be issuing sprays of water.
"Hey Cody, why is the stern door issuing water? I thought that part of deck 12 emptied out when the crew commons exploded and punched a hole up into it" he asked.
Cody's eyes grew wide.
"It must have re-flooded already from below...which means we are really running out of time!" he said.
It wasn't hard to locate the enormous door in the side of the ship as it took up most of the wall in front of them. Cody immediately spotted the control panel that operated the door but his heart sank as he noticed it was smashed. Climbing up on some debris to reach the panel he began inspecting it to see if there was some way he could still use it to open the door. He pulled away the outside buttons and the broken panel to get at the wires behind them. All the while Zack and the others watched him hopefully from where they stood nearby.
"Okay, I think I can twist a few of these wires together to open the door...that is if they still have current going through them. If they don't..." Cody began before stopping in mid sentence.
He didn't need to finish the sentence; everyone knew if there wasn't enough juice left in the system to open the door, they were finished. Cody pulled the wires from the back of the panel and tossed the panel aside.
"I'm gonna need something to strip the wires" he said.
The other three began looking around the room for something Cody could use. While they looked Poseidon, long silent, issued a low moaning sound and shuddered. Then as abruptly as the sound started, it stopped.
We've got to get out of here; this thing can't stay afloat too much longer, not with all the water that must be in it by now Cody thought.
In desperation he began using his teeth and fingernails to start stripping the wires. Unfortunately, that is how he learned that current still ran through one of them. As he bit down a shock entered his mouth. While not a life threatening amount of voltage, it was enough to cause him to lose his footing on the debris and tumble to the deck. Zack, seeing this out of the corner of his eye, immediately rushed over to him. The others were close behind.
"Cody! Are you okay!" he said as he sat his twin upright.
At first Cody couldn't speak so he just frowned and shook his head yes. When he could feel his tongue again he chuckled at his carelessness.
"For as smart as I'm supposed to be I can do some pretty stupid things sometimes" he said rubbing his jaw.
"Got zapped?" Max asked the obvious.
"Yeah, but the good news is we know there is current now" he said.
Zack helped him get to his feet.
"You sure you're alright?" Zack asked again.
"Yeah I'm fine" Cody reassured.
"Well, if it's enough current to knock you on your butt, hopefully it's enough to get that door open" Zack said.
"Let's hope so" Cody replied.
They all resumed the search for a cutting tool. Cody, realizing that he would need some insulation for his hands before touching the wires again, began looking for something rubber to use. All the while he eyed the hatch that led to the bow. Unlike its counterpart to the stern it seemed to be having more trouble holding back the water. It creaked and groaned and looked to be letting more and more water into the room by the minute.
Just hold on a bit longer he urged it.
Looking around with even more fervor, he spotted something that he could use. Lying haphazardly against the wall were a few packaged rafts. He bent down, put his foot on one and pulled the cord. Instantly the raft popped from its square packaging and assumed a boat shape.
"What are you doing Codes? Aren't you supposed to do that after we get to the surface?" Zack asked.
"This one isn't going to the surface with us, I'm going to cut pieces off it to wrap around my hands so I can safely handle the wires..." Cody began before pointing to one of the other packaged rafts "...we'll take one of those other ones with us to the surface" he added.
Zack nodded "now all we need is a…"
"I found a knife!" Russell suddenly exclaimed from the other side of the room where he and Max had been searching, stopping Zack in mid sentence.
"Yeah, one of those" Zack finished.
"Bring it over here Russell" Cody said.
Russell quickly walked over with Max in tow and handed the small Swiss army knife to Cody. Cody immediately opened it and slammed the blade into the raft. With a loud bang the raft popped and instantly deflated. Russell and Max, who hadn't heard Cody's plan, looked at Zack incredulously.
"Has he finally lost it?" Max asked as they watched Cody cut into the rubber of the deflated raft and tare a couple hand sized pieces from it.
Zack filled them in on what his brother was up to and they nodded in understanding. When Cody had finally cut what he considered to be adequate enough pieces for his hands, he stood up and walked back over to towards the huge door. He climbed back up on the debris and wrapped the rubber around his hands and fingers as best he could.
"While I am getting these wires ready it would probably be a good idea for you guys to locate the scuba gear, cause when this door opens it's gonna be like Niagara Falls blasting in here and we are definitely going to need it" Cody said.
There was something in Cody's tone that scared Zack to death. All this time he had just been focused on getting to the door. Now that the time was near for it to open and for the South China Sea come blasting in unhindered from the other side, it was quite frankly terrifying. Many thoughts filled his mind and he was sure the others were thinking the same things.
What if the water comes in too fast and we get separated? Or Injured? Or both?
What if we can't see where we are going and get lost?
All these thoughts and more raced through Zack's mind as he searched for the scuba gear with Max and Russell. He shook his head clear of those thoughts when he realized that none of those things would matter one bit if the door itself failed to open. In that case he knew they would all die in the transfer room together. They had no other options and nowhere else to go.
He looked over at Max. He knew without a doubt he was in love with her. He didn't even want to think about something bad happening to her. That had been a constant fear of his during this whole ordeal. His heart ached for what Cody must be feeling; having lost the girl he loved already. He then turned and looked at Cody, his twin, his other half. Having almost lost him in the collapse of deck 11 a short time ago he realized that life without him would be, at the very least, unbearable. Zack knew that if he survived, he had to make sure they did too. And then there was Russell. Zack looked over at the bully who had somehow become their friend. While nowhere near as close to him as he was to the others, the situation had brought them together in a way no other situation could have. Zack knew he would be deeply saddened if something happened to him as well. They had all been through so much, they had come so far. To lose any of them now would be unacceptable. That's when Zack remembered the figure in the water. He had begun to accept that it had indeed been some sort of manifestation of Jesus himself...of God come to free his trapped brother and also to protect Max and Russell from the initial explosion. It made him realize that those things probably would not have happened if the end result was just going to be their deaths here and now in this room. It was a thought that lessened his fears and gave him hope.
"Found it!" Max said as she moved some drywall out of the way.
There were several tanks lying on the ground with regulators, face masks, and fins. They grabbed four sets of equipment and assembled them back over by Cody. Zack, Max, and Russell all helped each other get in the gear and then Cody climbed down from the pile and Zack helped him get in his. As none of them had ever gone scuba diving before they were pretty much guessing how everything worked. Cody was the only one who had even read anything about scuba diving and even he wasn't sure. After everyone had their gear on they all tested it to see if they could breathe.
"Is everyone getting air from their tanks?" Cody asked.
Zack, Max, and Russell all confirmed that they were.
"Good I am too...hopefully that means we got it right" Cody replied.
"I guess we'll know soon enough eh?" Zack said.
Cody could hear the shakiness in his brother's voice even as he tried to disguise it in his own. All of them were trying so hard to be brave. This was it.
Although they all had confidence they were going to make it out, they didn't want to attempt what they were about to do without saying something to each other first. So it was that Zack took Max into his arms and kissed her. They embraced and told each other that they loved the other. Then the twins shook hands with Russell and Max gave him a hug. Cody hugged Max and then finally Zack and Cody faced each other. Cody reached out and pulled his brother into a hug.
"Zack I…" he began before his voice caught in his throat.
Zack hugged him back and tears threatened to spill from his eyes.
"I know...I love you too" Zack replied.
He could feel Cody hug him tighter and they stood there for a few more seconds before finally parting.
Everybody had such a look of uncertainty written on their faces over what was about to happen. That's when Zack remembered his thoughts from earlier and decided to share them.
"Guys look, I really don't think God would have saved us back there on deck 11 only for us to die here now...he was there for us then and he will be here for us now...were gonna make it!" he said with confidence now fully in his voice.
His words filled them all with a sense of peace as they nodded in agreement. It was a peace they were going to have to hold onto very tightly though, because the end for the Poseidon was coming very soon.