The Heart of the Ocean

Chapter Eighteen: Almost Drowning

Katerina, Cal, and Jack ran through the kitchen where all the plates were on display and down some stairs making sure they had escaped Richard and Nathan. When they stopped at another flooring deck, they realized that Richard and Nathan had stopped following them. But the flooding in the dining room got worse after they had left it. As they took a break, they suddenly heard a child yelling out for their father. They looked down the hall to see a young boy in a long coat, crying at the fact his father was nowhere to be found.

There was a set of doors in front of him, threatening to burst open and let all the water behind it through. Katerina didn't want them to leave the boy alone so they went to take him to safety. Jack and Cal picked the boy up and noticed the door that was spilling out water so they started to run the other way. But down one of the corridors was another fast-flooding exit so they went the other way. That's when the father came back and took his boy from the trio.

But when the father went back towards the straining door to get a suitcase, Katerina, Cal, and Jack tried to stop him, saying that he was going the wrong way. But, just as he grabbed his bag, the door burst open, letting all the water trapped behind it through. Katerina, Cal, and Jack started to run for it, going down a hallway that wasn't yet filled with water. But the water soon come rushing after them and swept the two off their feet.

They were swept down the hallway until they stopped by a locked gate. Fighting against the rushing water, Jack led Katerina and Cal out of the hallway to find another way out. Jack tried to pry the gate open but it was locked shut. They started to crying for help when they saw the water start to rise. A member of staff by and they begged him to open the gate.

He wanted to leave them alone but he knew deep down he would regret it later and started to fumble with his keys to find the one that unlocked the gate. But, as he struggled to find the right one, he accidentally dropped the keys. He told them what happened, apologizing for it before running away. As Katerina and Cal begged for the man to come back, Jack went under the water to find the dropped keys.

It was hard to find them as the light were flashing but he soon grabbed them and brought them up to the surface. He showed them to Cal and Katerina, asking which one it could be. Cal pointed out a sharp one and said to try that. So, Jack took that one and started to unlock the gate. Not being able to see what he was doing, he struggled to get the key into the lock. But, even when he did, the key got stuck and he couldn't turn it.

Just as they were running out of room to keep their heads above water, Jack got the gate unlocked and let them through. They swam through the flooded corridor and made their way up the stairs. Above deck, Murdoch was doing everything he could to get the collapse-able boats down safely for passengers to use. Tommy and Fabrizio were there too. With a lack of proper equipment, Murdoch told the crew and passengers to let boats slide the ores to get it down safely.

But the ores snapped and parts of the boat broke. Looking at the deck below, Murdoch saw that the water was reaching his area now and ordered his men to get the boat ready for launch. Richard and Nathan had to run through the crowds just to try and get to the lifeboats. As they climbed up to see if there were any more boats, they noticed a young girl crying for her mother who she had lost in the chaos.

But they ignored her and tried to push through the crowd. But the chaos was making Murdoch take desperate measures by threatening passengers with his gun just so they would get out of the way to let the boat get ready to be launched. Richard and Nathan had made his way back through the crowd where they found Murdoch who had stopped letting men on now. Richard remained him of their deal to which Murdoch threw Richard's money back at Richard, claiming that his money couldn't save Nathan and Richard any more than it could save them.

He told Richard and Nathan to get back and kept warning passengers to stay back. As passengers and tried climbing into the boat themselves, Murdoch gave out warning shots, stopping them from going any further. But one passenger pushed Tommy forward accidentally. One of the other officers with Murdoch accidentally shot Tommy, thinking he was trying to get into the boat too. Tommy fell back, dying from his wound.

Fabrizio held Tommy in his arms, cursing at the officer in Italian for what he did. Murdoch just stood there in shock, watching the blood run down the deck. But he didn't let it get to him, keeping to his duty and coordinating the lifeboats. Knowing that Nathan and Richard had no luck with Murdoch anymore, the tried thinking of a new plan. But that was the last time the three would see each other that night.

On the other side, more collapsable boats were being launched but failing with the hurry, making them fall and break on impact. But Richard and Nathan went back to the child they had seen either and Richard took her from her spot. They ran over to a different lifeboat that was ready to launch, yelling to the officers that they had a child. When they got to officer, they claimed that they was all the girl had left so they needed to be with her. The officer believed them and let them into the boat. Trying to keep up the father and uncle act, they tried their best to confront the girl to stop her from crying.