Titanic: Zarry Stylik

11- goodbye mother.

Boat 7 is less than half full, with 28 aboard a boat made for 65.

"Lower away! By the left and right together, steady lads!" Murdoch orders.
The boat lurches as the falls start to pay out through the pulley blocks. The women gasp. The boat descends, swaying and jerking, toward the water 60 feet below. The passengers are terrified.

Zayn looked out the porthole window, looking apprehensively at the water rising up the glass. He sits chained to the
waterpipe, next to the porthole. Lovejoy sits on the edge of a desk. He puts a .45 bullet on the desk and watches it roll across and fall off. He picks up the bullet.

"You know... I believe this ship may sink." He walks over to Zayn. "I've been asked to give you this small token of our appreciation..." He punches Zayn hard in the stomach, knocking the wind out of him. "Compliments of Mr. Mohamed Hadid." Lovejoy flips the handcuff key in the air, catches it and puts it in his pocket. He exits. Zayn is left gasping, handcuffed to the pipe.

At the stairwell rail on the bridge wing, Fourth Officer Boxhall and Quartermaster Rowe light the first distress rocket. It shoots into the sky and explodes with a thunderclap over the ship, sending out white starbursts

which light up the entire deck as they fall. The Managing Director of White Star Line is cracking. Already at the breaking

point from his immense guilt, the rocket panics him. He starts shouting at the officers struggling with the falls of boat 5.

"There is no time to waste!" Ismay yells and waves his arms. "Lower away! Lower away! Lower away!"

Fifth Officer Lowe, a baby-faced 28, and the youngest officer, looks up from the tangled falls at the madman. "Get out of the way, you fool!"

"Do you know who I am?" Ismay questions. Lowe, not having a clue nor caring, squares up to Ismay.

"You're a passenger. And I'm a ship's bloody officer. Now do what you're told!" He turns away. "Steady men! Stand by the falls!"

"Yes, quite right. Sorry." Ismay backs away.

Second officer Lightroller is loading the boat nearest Moe and Harry... Boat 6.

"Women and children only! Sorry sir, no

men yet." Lightroller says to Moe.

Another rocket bursts overhead, lighting the crowd. Startled faces turn upward, fear now in their eyes.

Daniel Marvin has his Biograph camera set up, cranking away... hoping to get an exposure off the rocket's light. He has Mary posed in front of the scene at the boats. "You're afraid, darling. Scared to

death. That's it!" Either she suddenly learned to act or she is petrified.

Harry watches the farewells taking pace right in front of him as they step closer to the boat. Husbands saying goodbye to

wives and children. Lovers and friends parted. Nearby Molly is getting a reluctant woman to board the boat.

"Come on, you heard the man. Get in the

boat, sister."

Will the lifeboats be seated according to class? I hope they're not too crowded-" Anne complains.

"Oh, Mother shut up!" Harry yells.

Anne freezes, her mouth open.

"Don't you understand? The water is freezing and there aren't enough boats... not enough by half. Half the people on this ship are going to die." Harry explains.

"Not the better half." Moe smirks.

Suddenly, it hits Harry like a thunderbolt. Zayn is third class. He doesn't stand a chance. Another rocket bursts overhead, bathing Harry's face in white light.

"You unimaginable bastard." He whispers.

"Come on, Anne, get in the boat. These are the first class seats right up here. That's it." Molly practically hands her over to Lightoller, then looks around for some other women who might need a push. "Come on, Harry. You're next, darlin'." Harry pretty much still counts at a child since he's seventeen, not to mention he's more ladylike than manly.

Harry steps back, shaking his head.

"Harry, get in the boat!" Anne says, stern.

"Goodbye, mother." Harry says bitterly.

Anne, standing in the tippy lifeboat, can do nothing. Moe grabs Harry's arm but he pulls free and walks away through

the crowd. Moe catches up to Harry and grabs him again, roughly.

"Where are you going? To him? Is that it? To be a whore to that gutter rat?"

"I'd rather be his whore than your husband."

He clenches his jaw and squeezes Harry's arm viciously, pulling him back toward the lifeboat. Harry spits in Moe's face. Good thing Zayn taught him to spit. Mohamed lets go with a curse and Harry runs into the crowd.

"Lower away!!" Lightroller shouts.

"Harry! HARRY!!" Anne continues to scream.

"Stuff a sock in it, would ya, Anne. He'll be along." Molly reassures. The boat lurches downward as the falls are paid out.

Harry runs through the clusters of people. He looks back and a furious Moe is coming after him. He runs breathlessly up to two proper looking men.

"That man tried to take advantage of me in the crowd!"

Appalled, they turn to see Moe running toward them. Harry runs on as the two men grab Moe, restraining him. Harry runs throught the First Class entrance.

Moe breaks free and runs after him. Moe reaches the entrance, but runs into a knot of people coming out. He pushes rudely through them. Moe runs in, and down to the landing, pushing past the gentlemen and ladies who are filling up the stairs. He scans the A-deck foyer. Harry is gone.

The hull of Titanic looms over Boat 6 like a cliff. Its enormous mass is suddenly threatening to those in the tiny boat. Quartermaster Hitchins, at the tiller, wants nothing but to get away from the ship. Unfortunately his two seamen

can't row. They flail like a duck with a broken wing.

"Keep pulling... away from the ship. Pull." He says.

"Ain't you boys ever rowed before? Here, gimme those oars. I'll show ya how it's done." Molly climbs over Anne to get at the oars, stepping on her feet. Around them the evacuation is in full swing, with boats in the water, others being lowered.

In the Master at Arm's office, Zayn pulls on the pipe with all his strength. It's not budging. He hears gurgling sound. Water pours under the door, spreading rapidly across the floor.

"Shit!" He tries to pull one hand out of the cuffs, working until the skin is raw... no good.

"Help!! Somebody!! Can anybody hear me?! This could be bad."

The corridor outside is deserted. Flooded a couple of inches deep. Zayn's voice comes faintly through the door, but there is no one to hear it.

Thomas Andrews is opening stateroom doors, checking that people are out. "Anyone in here?"

Harry runs up to him, breathless. "Mr. Andrews, thank God! Where would the

Master at Arms take someone under arrest?!"

"What? You have to get to a boat right away!"

"No! I'll do this with or without your help, sir. But without will take longer."

Beat, Andrews tells him. "Take the elevator to the very bottom, go left, down the crewman's passage, then make a right."

"Bottom, left, right. I have it"

"Hurry, Harry."

thank you all for reading so far. I'm really enjoying this.