Titanic: Zarry Stylik

20-so cold

Song: Titanic sinking
Zayn pulls Harry over the rail. It is the same place he pulled him over the rail two nights earlier, going the other direction. He gets over just as the railing is going horizontal, and the deck vertical. Zayn grips him fiercely.
The stern is now straight up in the air... a rumbling black monolith standing against the stars. It hangs there like that for a long grace note, its buoyancy stable.

Harry lies on the railing, looking down fifteen stories to the boiling sea at the base of the stern section. People near them, who didn't climb over, hang from the railing, their legs dangling over the long drop. They fall one by one, plummeting down the vertical face of the poop deck. Some of them bounce horribly off deck benches and ventilators.
Zayn and Harry lie side by side on what was the vertical face of the hull, gripping the railing, which is now horizontal.
Just beneath their feet are the gold letters TITANIC emblazoned across the stern.

Harry stares down terrified at the black ocean waiting below to claim them. Zayn looks to his left and sees Baker Joughin, crouching on the hull, holding onto the railing. It is a surreal moment.

Joughin nods in greeting. "Helluva night."
The final relentless plunge begins as the stern section floods. Looking down a hundred feet to the water, they drop
like an elevator.

"Take a deep breath and hold it right before we go into the water. The ship will suck us down. Kick for the surface and keep kicking. Don't let go of my hand. We're gonna make it Harry. Trust me."

He stares at the water coming up at them, and grips his hand harder.

"I trust you." Below them the poop deck is disappearing. The plunge gathers speed... the boiling surface engulfs the docking bridge and then rushes up the last thirty feet.

The stern descends into the boiling sea. The name TITANIC disappears, and the tiny figures of Zayn and Harry vanish under the water. Where the ship stood, now there is nothing. Only the black ocean.
-
Bodies are whirled and spun, some limp as dolls, others struggling spasmodically, as the vortex sucks them down and tumbles them. Zayn rises, kicking hard for the surface... holding tightly to Harry, pulling him up.

At the surface is a roiling chaos of screaming, thrashing people. Over a thousand people are now floating
where the ship went down. Some are stunned, gasping for breath. Others are crying, praying, moaning, shouting...
screaming.

Zayn and Harry surface among them. They barely have time to gasp for air before people are clawing at them. People driven insane by the water, 4 degrees below freezing, a cold so intense it is indistinguishable form death by fire. A man pushes Harry under, trying to climb on top of him... senselessly trying to get out of the water, to climb onto
anything. Zayn punches him repeatedly, pulling him free.

"Swim, Harry! SWIM!" He tries, but his strokes are not as effective as Zayn because of his lifejacket. They break out of the clot of people. He has to find some kind of flotation, anything to get him out of the freezing water.

"Keep swimming. Keep moving. Come on, you can do it."

All about them there is a tremendous wailing, screaming and moaning... a chorus of tormented souls. And beyond that... nothing but black water stretching to the horizon. The sense of isolation and hopelessness is overwhelming.

Zayn strokes rhythmically, the effort keeping him from freezing. "Look for something floating. Some debris... wood... anything."

"It's so cold."

"I know. I know. Help me, here. Look around." His words keep Harry focused, taking his mind off the wailing around them. Harry scans the water, panting, barely able to draw a breath. Zayn turns and... SCREAMS.
A DEVIL is right in from of Harry's face. It is the black French Bulldog, swimming right at him like a seamonster in the darkness, its coal eyes bugging. It motors past him, like it is headed for Newfoundland. Beyond it, Harry sees something in the water.

"What's that?" Zayn sees what he is pointing to, and they make for it together. It is a piece of wooden debris. He pushes Harry up and he slithers onto it belly down.
But when Zayn tries to get up onto the thing, it tilts and submerges, almost dumping Harry off. It is clearly only big
enough to support him. He clings to it, close to Harry, keeping his upper body out of the water as best he can.
Their breath floats around them in a cloud as they pant from exertion. A man swims toward them, homing in on the piece of debris. Zayn warns him back.
"It's just enough for him... you'll push it under."

"Let me try at least, or I'll die soon."

"You'll die quicker if you come any closer."

"Yes, I see. Good luck to you then." He swam away. "God bless."

Collapsible A is overloaded and half-flooded. Men cling to the sides in the water. Others, swimming, are drawn to it as their only hope. Moe, standing in the boat, slaps his oar in the water as a warning.

"Stay back! Keep off!"
Niall, exhausted and near the limit, makes it almost to the boat. Moe clubs him with the oar, cutting open his scalp slightly.

"You don't... understand... I have... to get... to America." Niall pants.

"It's that way!" Moe pointed. Niall floats, panting each breath agony. But he is saved. Not by Mohamed,but by a kind man in the life boat, who slaps Moe upside the head and rescues Niall.

Zayn and Harry still float, listening to everyone screaming. Zayn sees the ship's officer nearby, Chief Officer Wilde. He is
blowing his whistle furiously, knowing the sound will carry over the water for miles.

"The boats will come back for us, Harry. Hold on just a little longer. They had to row away for the suction and now they'll be coming back."

He nods, Zayn's words helping him. He is shivering uncontrollably, his lips blue and his teeth chattering. "Thank God for you Zayn."
People are still screaming, calling to the lifeboats.

"Come back! Please! We know you can
us. For God's sake!" A woman yells.

"Please... help us. Save one life! SAVE ON LIFE!" A man yells.

In boat 6, Anne has her ears covered against the wailing in the darkness. The first class women in the boat sit, stunned, listening to the sounds of hundreds screaming.

"They'll pull us right down I tell ya!" Hitchins says.

"Aw knock it off, yer scarin' me. Come on girls, grab your oars. Let's go." Nobody moves. "Well come on!" The women won't meet her eyes. They huddle into their ermine wraps.

"I don't understand a one of you. What's the matter with you? It's your men back there! We got plenty a' room for more."

"If you don't shut that hole in yer face, there'll be one less in this boat!"
Anne keeps her ears covered and her eyes closed, shutting it all out.

Hmm will they go back??? And you're welcome. I let Niall live.