Chapter 15: Drowning in Despair

Sandra stirred on the wooden floor. Her head was pounding as her vision changed from pure darkness to blinding light. The world still appeared blurry to her, but she could still tell she was in the dining hall of the ferry. Her hearing was muffled, a low rumbling of many voices and sounds. It was impossible to discern what was happening.

Sandra rolled over to her side. The floor felt weird to her, like she was off-balanced. In front of her, she saw a large cart. As she focused on it, the cart appeared to be growing in size. Suddenly, Sandra realized what was happening: the cart was rolling towards her. At the last moment, Sandra leapt out of the way of the speeding cart. The cart whizzed past, and with a piercing crash, it hit the wall.

This boost of adrenaline injected some sense into Sandra. With her heart pounding, she stood up, only to notice that the entire floor was tilted. The sounds became clearer. There were bells ringing, alarms blaring, and people screaming. Some men ran into the dining hall wearing lifejackets, only to speed past her to get to the stairs on the other side. Oh God! thought Sandra. We must be sinking. Sandra looked around the room. Most of the furniture in there was pulverized thanks to Wonder Woman and Brünnhilde's fight. What happened to them? Sandra thought. Did they cause this? Or... Sandra continued looking, but found no sign of Diana. If Diana won, then why is the ship sinking? And why isn't she with me? Sandra shook her head. Never mind that, she thought, I can't stay here. If Diana is still alive and here, she'll be ok. Meanwhile, I need to get off this boat ASAP.

Sandra ran out of the dining hall, towards her room. The boat was tilted towards its stern, which was the direction she was traveling. In the hallway, people were running to get to the stairwells. Sandra pushed against the masses of people going against her. All the time, Sandra was yelling "Diana!" over the noise of the panicked passengers. Unfortunately, Diana was not in that group.

Eventually, Sandra got past the crowds. She turned into the hall where her cabin was. But when she did, she was stopped by a scary sight. The hall was flooded with seawater, with the back of the hall completely submerged. Sandra's heart dropped. Her cabin was practically in the middle of the ship, on one of the higher decks. If water is all the way up here already, she thought, then the entire ship will be under in a matter of minutes! Again, she saw no sign of Diana. If she was smart, then she would definitely be outside now. The water churned in hallway, creeping closer to Sandra. Anyone who saw this scenario would have turned around and ran. But Sandra needed to get to her cabin if she wanted to continue her mission. Sandra walked into the water. Just from dipping her toes, Sandra felt a shiver shoot through her body from the cold. Still, she pressed on. Her robe gave way to the water, enveloping Sandra's bare legs.

Sandra was waist deep in water when she got to her cabin. She turned around to see Diana's cabin. It appeared just as it did when the battle began. Sandra called for Diana, but again, received no response. She went back into her cabin to get what she needed. In her room, the water was above her bed, and the sheets had begun to float. Sandra dipped her arms under the bed, braving the cold. She pulled out her suitcase, still open. In the suitcase was a small duffle bag. This was an emergency "go bag", with several provisions in the case of an accident or an extreme emergency that a Freedom Fighter definitely could not get out of by themselves. Sandra would normally eschew this, but given the circumstances, she had little choice. She opened the bag and stuffed some random clothes into it. At least I'll have something to wear after this, she thought as she closed the bag and slung in over her shoulder.

Sandra then trudged through the rising waters to the closet. In there was her lifejacket. She grabbed it and started heading back. Just then, a porthole opened up and a massive stream of water bust into the room. Sandra was hit by the stream and fell into the water. She got back up, spitting out water and wiping the hair from her face. The coldness nearly paralyzed her. Sandra looked at the other end of the room, to see that the doorframe was almost completely submerged. With all the speed she could muster, Sandra swam through the room to the door. At the doorway, Sandra dove her head under the top and popped out the other side. Sandra swam up the hall, until her feet touched the bottom and she ran out of the rising water.

Dripping wet and shivering, Sandra rushed through the halls, looking for her way to escape. Sandra had not put on her lifejacket, as it may have been necessary for her to swim underwater. The list in the boat grew and grew. As a boat sinks, thought Sandra, the rate at which it sinks gets faster. I need to get out now! Sandra ran to a stairwell. In front of it was a mob of people, all pushing and shoving to get in. However, it appeared no one was making any progress. Sandra turned around to see the water continue to flood the boat. I won't be able to get out that way, she thought. Sandra continued going up and down the halls. As the boat continued to tilt, Sandra moved slower and slower. Despair rose in her as it seemed increasingly likely that she wouldn't make it out, but rather drown inside the ship.

Finally, Sandra saw something useful. On the side of the hall was a large window. A window whose purpose was to allow passengers to get a full view of whatever vista was available, it was much larger than the portholes. In fact, it was large enough for someone to jump through. Sandra ran to the window. The window slid up, but it had a lock on it to prevent people from opening it and falling out. Sandra reached into her bag and pulled out a lockpick. She began working on the lock as the boat continued to sink. Her heart was racing as she heard more and more noises coming from the sea and the boat. Her hands shook as she heard more and more screams. Finally, she got the lock open. Sandra put back her lockpick and threw open the window. As the list became almost impossible to withstand, Sandra put on her lifejacket in preparation to leap into the sea. She climbed out the window into the dark scene and jumped.

Sandra's fall was a short one, showing how close to the water she was and how much of the ferry was already under. Sandra flipped and spun before the buoyancy of the lifejacket began to propel her upward. The woman hit the surface of the water and was greeted by cold air. Sandra turned around to see what was happening with the boat. The ferry's bow was high in the air. Against the few lights on the boat, Sandra could see people clinging onto railings and whatever else they could to avoid falling.

Suddenly, an explosion was heard from inside the boat. The ferry began sliding into the water at a rapid pace. Sandra watched as the ferry's lights dimmed and the drama of the sinking reached its climax. At the same time, Sandra felt the water around her change. What had been a normal sea had started pushing and pulling her all around. Oh my God! The ship must be dragging me down! she realized, but by then it was too late. Sandra was pulled under the sea.

Sandra rushed down through the water, towards certain doom. The incident took her by surprise, and she only had a bit of oxygen in her lungs. The ocean was dark, but Sandra could see herself traveling towards the ship. Through the salty water, she saw the window coming closer. How ironic, she thought, the thing that allowed me to escape may be the thing that ends up killing me. Sandra kicked and pulled through the water to avoid the sinking ship. It worked, but only barely, as her motion towards the ship had not stopped, but slowed to a crawl. Sandra continued trying, her lungs aching. She saw the window go past her, as the ship continued downward. She saw the deck whiz past her. Around her were other people struggling to survive. Some were able to swim up, while others continued down. Finally, the force lessened. Thanks to her effort and her lifejacket, Sandra started to travel towards the surface. By now, she was on the brink of failing. With all her might, she focused on suppressing the instinct to breath as the lifejacket brought her up.

Sandra broke the surface was a loud *GASP*. As she took some much-needed breaths, she closed her eyes and leaned backwards, allowing the lifejacket to do its work. She wanted to rest, but she knew she couldn't. Sandra looked around. The ferry had completely disappeared, replaced by screaming people and various pieces of debris. Sandra looked farther out. There were only a handful of lifeboats floating, and only half of those were upright. They barely launched any lifeboats, thought Sandra. The sinking must have been fast. In the water, the people were all spread out. Some were on makeshift rafts and floating pieces of junk. Others were just floating in their lifejackets. And there were some who had nothing to help them, who were trying to remain afloat just through swimming. There were dozens of people out here on the water, but it was clear that it was far fewer than the hundreds of people on the ferry when it took off. Most people on the ship never made it out, thought Sandra. How awful! The thought of so many innocent people dying sickened her. But what horrified her was the thought that Diana was one of those still on the boat. "Diana!" she screamed, hoping for a sign. But her sounds only mixed in with the rest of the cries of the victims. Sandra shook her head. No! She wouldn't die! she thought. Even if she was still on the boat, she could just punch her way out and swim. She's strong enough. She could...

Sandra had to stop thinking about it. Even if Diana was alive, she had to survive as well, or it wouldn't mean anything. The water was freezing, and if anyone stayed in it for more than a few minutes, they would die of hypothermia. Sandra needed some way to get out now! The woman looked around. The lifeboats that were upright were mostly filled, with many people gathering around them. Looking at the upturned boats, some had people on them, but they couldn't hold many, and there were people having issues trying to get on top of them. There're not enough spots in the lifeboats for everyone, she thought. More people out here are going to die. Still, she couldn't dwell on the sad fact, lest she become one of the victims.

Sandra began swimming towards an overturned lifeboat farther out. Next to her, she saw a couple struggling in the water. Neither had a lifejacket on, and it looked like the man was trying to keep the woman up. The woman was near hysterical, repeating variations on "I can't swim!" and "Oh God!". Next to her, Sandra saw a life ring. She called out to the couple to get their attention. In one swoop, she threw the life ring towards them. The man pulled the woman to the life ring, and then grabbed it to put in front of her. The woman flailed blindly, dipping underwater and then emerging with her blonde hair plastered over her eyes. She was able to grab the life ring and clung to it. The man remained outside the ring as the woman set herself inside of it.

"We need to get out of the water," Sandra said, motioning to the lifeboat. "C'mon!"

Sandra began swimming. The cold water sent pain throughout her entire body and made moving laborious. In addition, the lifejacket was cumbersome and did not allow for proper form when trying to swim. It was designed to keep people upright, not to help them to swim faster. Altogether, it made swimming over this relatively short distance an arduous ordeal. In the past, Sandra Knight was a champion pentathlete, who was very adept at the swimming portion. Here though, she was struggling to propel herself through a relatively calm sea. Occasionally, she would look back to see how the couple was faring. They were not doing much better: the man was pulling the woman in the life ring from the outside. Despite Sandra's slow progress, it seemed as if she was getting farther and farther away from the couple.

Sandra continued swimming, until she finally reached the overturned lifeboat. She grabbed onto a rope on the side and paused to catch her breath. She still needed to pull herself out of the water, but at this point, she was too tired to do so. Sandra noticed her body was shivering. She turned around to see what was going on with everyone else. The yelling had begun to quiet down. Sandra hoped to see Diana swimming about, but no such luck. Sandra looked back at the couple. To her surprise, she did not see both people coming right behind her. Instead, she only saw the woman in the life ring, screaming for her partner. Oh God! thought Sandra. Did he drown? Just after, there were shouts of "Shark!" permeating the air. Wait, that's not possible, thought Sandra. There are no sharks this far north. Unless...

Sandra reached out to the woman. The woman saw Sandra and started traveling towards her. Suddenly, the woman dipped below the water, as if she was pulled under. Sandra looked in fright as the screaming got louder and louder. One of the filled lifeboats tipped over, spilling all of its occupants into the water. In another one, the lifeboat exploded as if it had hit a mine. The boat broke in half as the passengers were flung into the water. Full blown panic had set in as people began disappearing one by one.

Sandra looked over to two men struggling in the water, as if they were fighting. But Sandra noticed something peculiar about them. One of the men wore what looked like pajamas, but the other one was wearing a black uniform with what appeared to be scales on them. The man with the uniform pulled out a knife with an unusual shape. Sandra immediately recognized it. That's an Atlantean knife! Does that mean...?! The man with the knife stabbed the other man several times, before dragging him underwater. Sandra noticed the other man did not take a breath before diving under. There are Atlanteans here! thought Sandra. And they've come to kill everyone!

Atlantis was supposed to be a neutral nation. When the Nazi started their conquests, they had intended on taking over Atlantis too. But an attack on an undersea nation would have been very difficult, even with Overman on their side. In addition, there were those in the Nazi Party who believed that Atlantis was the ancestral home of the Aryan race. As such, a truce was devised where the Atlanteans would swear to not take up arms against Germany in exchange for dominion and security under the sea. As a token of friendship, the king of the Atlanteans joined the New Reichsmen as Underwaterman. But for some, the relationship went farther. Dozens of Atlanteans volunteered to become underwater soldiers for the Third Reich. They would patrol the sea, destroying any Allied boat they saw fit. A single Atlantean was as effective as a small battleship. And now there was a whole platoon of them attacking the helpless people in the sea.

Sandra watched in horror as the Atlantean squad conducted their mission. They must be trying to silence everyone, she thought. Sometimes, Atlanteans would emerge from the water and kill their prey with a knife or their bare hands. Those people were lucky, as their suffering was short. Others weren't; sometimes, a person would just be pulled under, condemned to drown. Occasionally, a person would try to fight them off, but it was useless: Atlanteans are far stronger than even the fittest human, and they were fighting in their natural habitat. The sea became like a boiling cauldron, as everyone flailed in fear of their imminent deaths. Even Sandra felt the fear rise in her as she tried to remain calm.

Just then, an Atlantean surfaced, its back turned to Sandra. Quickly, Sandra reached for her blacklight projector. Immediately, she pointed it on herself and became enveloped in darkness. The shadow was an odd shape, but thanks to the near pitch-black darkness of the environment, it was hard to notice. The Atlantean turned around. Sandra remained frozen. Slowly, the Atlantean swam towards the lifeboat. Does he know I'm here? thought Sandra. The human couldn't move without alerting him. The Atlantean came within a few feet of her and paused. Sandra held her breath. If she was found, she would absolutely be killed. She prayed to God that she would be safe, that she would continue, that she would see Diana again.

Suddenly, the Atlantean turned and dove under. Sandra relaxed. Something must have caught his interest, she thought. Still, she remained where she was, as she was. She did not want to risk being seen by someone. Sandra watched as the killing continued, unable to do anything. Soon, there was but one group of humans remaining. They had huddled together in the water, maybe because they felt they could survive like this, or maybe because they just wanted to comfort each other before the inevitable. Regardless, the Atlanteans surrounded them, who gave out one final cry as they were attacked. Within a few seconds, they were gone.

Sandra was alone. Despite the stillness of the water, Sandra continued to hide using her projector. She was not sure if the Atlanteans would be back. However, as she remained in the water, her body grew numb. She had lasted in the freezing water for many minutes and was now risking frostbite. Finally, Sandra was forced to leave the water. She turned off her projector and tried to pull herself up. She had paused before because it felt as if her body was too weak to continue. Now, it felt as if her body was literally frozen. Still, Sandra flung her arms up to the boat, kicked her stiff legs, and lifted herself out of the water. She remained half in the water. That's not good enough, Sandra, she thought. With all of her energy, Sandra swung her leg up and used that to get herself completely out of the water.

Sandra laid on the upturned boat, totally exhausted. She wiped her face, warming her hands in the process. As she breathed, Sandra could see her breath in front of her. She continued shivering in the cold air. Languidly, Sandra undid her lifejacket and sat up. She instinctively tried to bring her knees in to warm herself up, but that didn't work. She was still wearing her robe, which clung to her skin and acted like a freezing wet blanket. Apart from her thin robe, all she had on were a pair of panties. Her duffle bag was soaked too, meaning the clothes in there were currently useless. Sandra opened the bottom part of her robe and began rubbing her bare legs, partially to wipe off as much water as possible, partially to keep blood flowing through them. She did this to other parts of her body as well.

As she tried to warm herself, Sandra looked around the sea. All that was left were bits of debris: deck chairs, tables, lifejackets, et cetera. There were still the other life boats, all either upturned or smashed. It was clear that this was the site of a sinking. But there was no sign of life anywhere. The pieces of debris all drifted further and further away. Soon, Sandra saw nothing in the dark ocean. She was totally alone.

Sandra began to cry. It was clear that the Nazis intended to sink the boat and kill all potential witnesses to keep their activity secret. Hundreds of men, women, and children were dead because they happened to be on the same ferry as her. Were they really a threat though? she thought. Did the activities of the New Reichsmen have to be so guarded from the public? Did any of them even know there was a battle going on? Would the ship have sunk if there was no battle? Are we responsible? Sandra gave an anguished yell. No, I can't think like that, she thought, steeling herself. The Nazis were the ones who did this. They are the ones responsible. They must be punished for their crimes.

Still, there was one lingering question Sandra had: where was Diana? Sandra continued to look for any sort of sign. While she was confident Diana could survive a boat sinking, she wasn't sure if she could fight an Atlantean. If not, then she was either dead, or not on the boat when it sunk. In this horrible affair, being captured by Nazis was the more preferable option. Sandra began to cry again. Despite the Amazon's greater power and her decisions to engage Brünnhilde, Sandra still felt like she had failed to protect Diana. She was just a sheltered princess who wanted to see the world before it was all destroyed, and Phantom Lady was her ticket to it. And she wasn't just an innocent girl. She was smart, she was beautiful, she was... wonderful.

A wind gust blew across the sea. Sandra gritted her teeth as she felt the cold. Icicles had started forming at the ends of her hair. Sandra needed help, not just getting to safety, but in determining what to do next. She opened her duffle bag and pulled out a small cylinder with a light on it. On the side of the cylinder were several buttons and switches. With her stiff fingers, Sandra flipped a switch and pressed some buttons. The light began blinking and the cylinder began emitting a steadying beeping noise. This was an emergency beacon, which would alert the resistance that she was in trouble and needed to be picked up. Unfortunately, that could still take several hours, depending on where people were and what needed to be done. Plus, there was still the risk of Atlanteans coming back. But right now, the beacon was Sandra's best bet.

Sandra laid back down on her back. She knew falling asleep would be dangerous, but her body could not stay upright. As she clung to the beacon resting on her chest, Sandra looked up to the stars. It was clear, and the stars were all visible away from any human light. But to Sandra, the light of the stars seemed dim, as if the darkness was on the brink of overtaking everything. She wondered if there would ever be any light in her life again.