Chapter 15: Plan for Action
Emma wipes her eyes with the handkerchief Rose had given her, as she sits in the officer's quarters. A cup of steaming tea sits next to her on a wooden desk, which she has not touched, and a warm blanket is draped over her shoulders. Neither acts of consideration have done anything to comfort her. Her stomach boils up with the anger of Rose betraying her, just standing there while the innocent man that Rose has feelings for was framed for something he didn't do. And then she allowed the evil bastard Cal to separate her from her husband and sister and left her in the care of clueless officers. The ship is sinking, and she is alone.
Her nightmare is worse than she thought. Everyone she cares about had either been taken away or betrayed her. She is alone on a sinking ship.
Sudden footsteps start thundering outside the door. Emma gets up and puts her ear to the door.
"How are the evacuations going?" one officer says.
"Terrible, the first class is convinced that the ship won't sink and it's all just a big joke. It's not easy to convince people to get in tiny boats without causing a panic," the other answers.
There's a prolonged silence between the two and Emma's heart beats faster in distress.
"How long does she have?" one whispers.
"The captain says less than two hours."
Another voice rings out.
"All hands-on-deck!"
Emma hears the pounding footsteps become more distance as they run towards the third voice.
Emma knows she has to find Peter and get him up to a lifeboat. She knew the laws of the sea, women and children first, but she wasn't about to let the law separate them forever. Especially if he is wounded; he had narrowly escaped death once already and he wasn't going to get the chance to die again if Emma had anything to say about it.
She grabs a hold of the doorknob and twists it hard.
Her heart drops to her stomach. The damn thing was locked! Why would they even...?
She begins banging on the door.
"Hello! Hello! Someone help me! Someone, please help I'm in here! Help!"
She bangs harder, using all her strength to make sure someone heard her, but it is no use, the officers had all gone up to the boat deck to help with evacuation and the noise above was drowning out her voice.
"Why the hell do these doors lock on the outside anyways?!" Emma asks herself, realizing that she'll have to save herself.
She looks for something heavy to ram the door open with. She grabs the chair that she'd been sitting on. She puts it on her shoulder and charges at the door. The first attempt did nothing to the door except give it a large dent. On the second try, the mark got larger. Emma hoped that third time was the charm, but the door remains sturdy and immovable with the third blow.
Not panicking, Emma taps on the door. Heavy oak, she puts her hand on the wall and knocked on it. It is almost hollow and a more likely to break. She took the top of the chair and rammed beside the door. The chair went completely through, making a hole big enough for her arm to fit through. She feels for the doorknob and unlocks the latch.
Finally, free, Emma runs up the end of the hallway to the cross area. She could hear the noises of people being herded through, she opened the door onto the deck. Several people rush past her in a frenzy. She knew that she needed to find the closest staircase. She runs down the deck and finds the first door within her vicinity, she slips through and finds another maze of corridors. She could hear people moving about above her like scared mice. She had no time to panic and keeps her mind on Peter.
She manages to find her way to where the Grand Staircase was located. There were many people milling about as officers were handing out lifebelts and giving directions. Emma manages to slip around all of them and start taking the stairs down. She is passing several people, most of whom look at her like she is crazy for running in the direction of the danger. She knows exactly where she had to go, the hospital was next to the second-class dining hall.
She gets to D deck and begins running through the dining hall, all of which had been set as if waiting for people to come and eat. Emma gets to the door and forces her way in.
"Peter!" she calls anxiously into the hospital wing. No one was around at all, she assumed that the doctors and nurses had evacuated. "Peter! Peter!"
"Peter Whitman, where are you?!" she yells.
A distant moan is heard down the wing and Emma starts racing towards it. She pulls back one of the curtains to find Peter laying on a hospital bed with his leg up.
Emma races over and pulls Peter into a kiss.
"Oh, thank god!" she breathes between the kisses.
"Emma, what's wrong?" Peter moans. It seems as if he's just waking up from being unconscious.
"There's no time to explain." Emma pants. "We have to get on deck. The ship is going down."
"I don't know if I can," Peter whispers.
"You're going to have to," she insists, pulling him up from the bed.
Emma tries to guide his leg down to the floor, but Peter gasps as a sharp pain hits his leg. Emma sees that Peter's wound has been bandaged, but nothing further has occurred. Emma assumes that the doctors and nurses abandoned him because Peter would just slow their escape to safety. But Emma wasn't going to let that happen. She would never leave Peter's side again.
"Put your arms on me," Emma says, going under, helping Peter into a standing position. Peter gasps again as pressure is applied to where he was hit.
They start moving slowly towards the exit, limping all the way. Emma's heart is pounding in her ears. They are moving at a snail's pace, they'll be underwater by the time they reach the boat deck.
They are both halfway across the dining room when the ship jolts suddenly, sending many plates and cutlery to the ground. This creates more obstacles for them to face. It's as if someone doesn't want them to make it, even give them a chance to survive this.
"Come on!" Emma says. She knows now that if they try to take the stairs, they'd never make it.
They start moving to the elevator. Emma feels like the weight of the entire ship is on her shoulders as she practically drags Peter to the ornate, golden iron bars that lead to the elevator.
She presses the button and sits down to rest with Peter next to her. He's having a hard time staying conscious.
"Stay with me," she whispers, dragging her hand down the side of his face. "I can't lose you. Not now"
"You won't." he pants. He doesn't know if he has much strength left to even make it to the boats. When Cal shot him, he stumbled backwards, whacking his head on the deck, and knocking himself out cold due to shock and the pain. The next thing he could remember was hearing voices and he felt a bed around him. He felt something sharp lodged in his left leg and the pulsing in his head. He felt something go into his arm and pressure to the wound area. He blacked out again. He awoke again when Emma was screaming for him. He thought at first that he was either dead or dreaming, but Emma's kiss brought him back to reality. Peter knew he had to stay alive. He loved Emma and he never wanted to leave her alone ever again. She had lost too many people close to her heart for her to bear, and if he were to die...she just might die along with him.
The elevator dings and an attendant gasp when he sees the two of them.
"Help me!" Emma barks at the attendant. He scrambles to help Peter into the elevator. Once the bars surround them, the attendant hits the button for the top floor, not needing to be told anything further.
Emma stays next to Peter the entire way up, holding his hand. She starts saying a prayer under her breath as the ship shakes again.
Once the elevator makes it to the top, the couple stumbles out and towards the boats. Several of the first-class passengers give them confused and almost hateful looks, but none of them offer to help the struggling girl with her wounded husband.
Fortunately, a kind-hearted gentleman sees the two of them and runs to their aid.
"Grab his one side." Emma pants and the man does so.
The group makes it into the bitterly cold air, cooling the sweating newlyweds. Loud rockets whistle in the air and explode in a shower of sparks around them. Emma knew what rockets at sea meant. She knew the ship didn't have much longer
...
Meanwhile, below decks, Jack is frantically trying to free himself from his own prison made by the officers. He stares out the porthole next to the pipe he's handcuffed to, the water level is slowly rising with each passing second. His heart jumps to his throat, realizing what is likely going to happen. His captor, Lovejoy, seems to enjoy Jack's discomfort, most likely because of what the two lovers had caused him with their so-called chase. He continued to roll the bullets from his master's gun along the table.
"You know… I do believe this ship may sink."
Jack glares at Lovejoy.
"And since the ship is sinking, I'd like to leave you a token of affection from Caledon Hockley," Lovejoy says, standing up.
He took the butt of the gun and slammed it into Jack's stomach.
"Might I suggest you consult Mr. Hockley before you go running off with his fiancée."
Jack's doubles over in pain, gasping for breath, which gives Lovejoy the chance to pocket the key and exit the room.
When the pain finally subsides, Jack knows he's in a difficult situation. He tries yelling for help and clanging the pipe, trying to get someone's attention.
"HELLO! ANYONE THERE?! PLEASE HELP ME! CAN ANYBODY HEAR ME?!"
Jack exhausts himself yelling, but still, no help comes.
The trickle of water is slowly making its way into the room.
"Oh, crap!" Jack hisses. He climbs on top of a nearby desk to escape the water, trying to pull himself out of the cuffs.
"This could be bad." He mutters to himself.
He tries yelling once more.
...
"EMMA!"
Emma turns to the sound of her name. She can't see who it is through the crowd of people, but she heard it as clear as day.
"Emma!" Rose screams, pushing her way through the crowd with Sybil in her arms.
Emma sucks in a sharp breath with the red-headed woman approaching her. Her feelings are mixed about seeing Rose, one of which being of relief that Sybil is safe too. She hobbles with Peter towards the nearest boat that is being loaded.
"Emma please I'm sorry." Rose cries. "I know I was a coward, but Cal had a knife on me I swear."
Emma turns to the backstabber and shoots her a glare.
Rose gives her a pleading look. "Please Emma, you don't have to forgive me, but at least, help me free him."
Emma stares at Rose for a long moment. She wants with all her heart to believe Rose's words and something told her that Rose is being truthful. The bruise on her cheek tells her that she had taken abuse from Cal and it looks like she escaped his clutches, keeping Sybil safe from him the entire time. But what Rose is proposing is pure insanity, to go into a half-submerged ship to rescue an arrested man. At the same time...Rose needed someone, she couldn't go into the bowels of the ship without help; she and Jack at least need a chance to live to see the sunrise. A chance to save the two lovers that she'd promised to help protect them no matter what the cost. If Rose was telling the truth about Cal, then an innocent man was basically sentenced to death. She'd help Rose.
"You're crazy. No one in their right mind would go down there with the entire thing flooding faster than a stampede of horses... but I'm not"
"Not what?" Rose asks.
"In their right mind. Just help me get Peter into a lifeboat."
Rose nods, relieved that she's at least gained Emma's trust again.
"Next please," an officer yells out. "We need a few men to row."
Emma puts her hand up for Peter.
"Thank you." the officer
"Wait! What? Emma are you insane?" Peter says, still out of it slightly, finally processing what Rose has suggested. "Emma, you can't go back in there."
Several officers begin helping Peter climb the ladder into the boat. He begins resisting, pushing back.
"Don't fight it, son," an officer says.
"Emma I'm not leaving without you..."
Emma leans forwards, knowing that she'd sworn they wouldn't be separated again, but Rose needs help and so does Jack. "I need someone to care for Sybil."
"I need you!" Peter says, trying not to tear up.
"I need you too, but if I know you're safe with Sybil then I'll breathe a little bit easier."
"What Rose is suggesting is suicide!"
"No, you resisting them is suicide. Women and children first remember? If you and Sybil are safe than I..." She bites her lip hard. She could die peacefully knowing that Sybil had someone there for her. "If you're both safe, I'll be safe. Please do this for me. I couldn't go on if something happened to you"
"I couldn't go on if something happened to you!" he says back.
"You'll have to for Sybil's sake," Emma whispers.
"We can't be separated again."
"It won't be forever. I promise." Emma promises. Her stomach twists into a knot, knowing this is a hollow promise. The next hour or so is going to be unpredictable, but Emma knew there is still a chance she could get in a lifeboat later. This, however, is Peter's only chance. "I will find you again. I will be okay!" she says firmly.
Peter's eyes well up in tears, he grabs her hand. Emma leans forward and kisses him harder than she has ever done before. She knows this might be the last time she'll see Peter, but someone had to take her sister, someone had to protect her.
"I'll get in a later boat I promise."
"You promise?" Peter whispers.
"Family vow," she says.
Peter kisses her once more before being helped into the boat by two other men who were going to row the boat as well.
Emma turns to Rose. Rose kisses Sybil on the forehead and makes sure she has enough blankets to remain warm. With shaky arms, she hands Sybil to Emma. Emma takes a long look at Sybil, tears filling her eyes. She just wanted this all to be a dream, a very bad nightmare; that she'd wake up warm in bed and hear Sybil babbling in her cradle and turn over into Peter's awaiting arms. They'd cuddle for as long as they can and then get up and make breakfast together, sipping on warm tea and eating pancakes. But this is real, a nightmare coming true.
She kisses her sister's cheek, forehead and then her other cheek.
"Be safe." she sniffles. Then she leans in and whispers in her sister's ear. "I promise to love and care for you forever and always."
The sacred vow that she just might break tonight with the choice she is making. If she couldn't love and care for Sybil, she knew Peter would, which is why she is saying goodbye now.
Sybil sighs softly in her sleep and Emma squints her eyes shut as the tears flow freely. With shaky arms, she hands the bundle down to the officer who puts her in the hands of one of the women on board. The woman cradles the child expertly.
"Lower away!" The officer yells.
Emma steps back, locking eyes with Peter for what it seems like the last time. That is until the boat vanishes from sight completely.
Emma swallows her sadness and began replacing it with courage and strength, she knew she would need it.