Escaping the Abyss

R

Rowanary

Guest
Original poster
Deep in a peaceful slumber just moments ago, Naomi was jerked violently from her dreams as the ear-splitting alarms began to sound. Every few seconds, the darkness was immersed in a harsh, blinding red light as the emergency alarms worked effectively to alert the patrons aboard The Buccaneer that something terrible was happening.

"God in heaven, what.." She murmured, rolling from her cot. Unfortunately at that exact moment, the ship heaved violently to send her sprawling onto the floor. As if the loud noise and bright lights were't violent enough to experience in the first waking moments, she gasped in shock as she was suddenly immersed in ice cold water. Perhaps 5-6 inches covered the floor of her quaint sleeping quarters and she scrambled to her feet, gasping hard as the bitter cold seeped into her skin.

"Sarah? Elise?" She shouted, her voice trembling in fear as she began to slosh through the room, finding their beds empty, not even slept in. They'd most likely stayed out late into the night in one of the bars on the cruise ship.

"What time is it??" She whimpered, grabbing up her alarm clock to see the flashing numbers of 2:03, the last time recorded before the electricity had went off to be replaced with the emergency generators. With little time to think, she grabbed up her keys, hair bands, and her compact from her purse- stuffing them down into her pajama pockets as she fled the room.

The instant she opened her door, more water flooded in up to her knees and she looked around wide-eyed to see people fleeing past her and towards the exit stairs. The hallway echoed with the noise of women and children screaming, men hollering as they fought each other to get up the stairs first. Every second the water seemed to trickle further up her legs, and it was then that Naomi realized that not everyone would make it up the stairs before her floor would succumb to the rising, invading ocean water.

Again, she screamed her roommates' names, her heart gripping in panic as she looked frantically around the corridor. Not watching her way, as the brunette whipped her head behind her to look, a man came barreling down on her. In his panic, he shoved her face first into the rising waters of the hallway, submerging Naomi in a dark, chilling abyss.

((OOC: Welcome all aboard The Buccaneer, we do hope you enjoy your time on our magnificent cruise ship. We are, however, currently having a slight problem and do ask that you promptly choose your character, your backstory, and THREE ITEMS that you think will be useful for the remainder of your time alive.. I mean, aboard...))
 
"I'm only getting up if someone has died or there is a fire" Reed said as he felt cold drops of water fall onto his head, finally he got up out of his bed and saw what the emergency was. He slipped on a pair of slippers then grabbed a Swiss Army knife and a pack of matches the water had not reached yet.

He pushed open the door only to let more water gush in. He steeped into the wall an looked up at down trying to find the stairs, finally seeing them he began to wade towards it willing to fight his way up.

Reed stopped hearing someone calling out names, he started to wonder if he should help her. Not knowing what he was doing he turned to find the cause of the yelling. When he finally reached her he saw that she was face fist in the water.

"Come on"he said as he lifted her to her feet and leaned her on the wall incase she was unstable.
 
Bubbles rushed from her mouth and nose as she remained submerged under the rising water. The sound of voices was muffled, the constant swirling water as legs splashed through obstructing her vision. Becoming desperate, she struggled to find something to grip and hoist herself up. In her struggle, her flip flops fell off and went swirling into the turbulent water, but she was unable to really mourn the loss of her shoes because at that moment, she felt strong arms grip her and hoist her up out of her water prison.

Gasping for air, she sputtered and blinked as rivulets of water ran into her eyes, obstructing her vision. Too stunned to express her gratitude, she merely nodded her head as he leaned her against the wall.

"There's no way to get up the stairs, look!" She pointed towards the crammed stairwell, people at this point becoming more violent in their fight to disappear upwards to safety. She cringed as she saw one rather menacing man choke another and toss the unconscious man back down the stairs. At this point the water had risen to her waist, and no one was making any headway at the stairs.

"There's probably an emergency ladder back this way, for the staff and maintenance crew!" She shouted over the roar of voices and water. And, without waiting for a reply from her savior, she took off along the wall, making surprising progress once she was going away from the stairs. She blew out a breath in relief as she saw the glaring red words "EXIT" at the other end.
 
When water started to rise around her feet, Jane thought she was losing her mind. Her head had been pounding like an African drum before the alarms started screaming at her. Her breathes wheezed from her chest slowly because her lungs were in agony from the beating she'd taken earlier. A bar napkin was soaking up the blood that poured from her nose and busted lip. Her little messenger back with only a pocket knife, her inhaler and her brother's scarf, felt heavy like it was full of rocks.

Standing in the hall as the water rose flashing red lights and screams left her too disoriented to comprehend what was happening. The room spun. Her vision was blurry. Jane thought for sure she was having a nightmare. On the verge of losing consciousness, she lost grip on the doorknob she'd been gripping for support when the floor shifted, and she was thrown forward on her hands and knees into the freezing water. Salt stung in her wounds.

It was enough to snap her into reality. With her eyes open to what was happening panic rushed through her veins. She pushed herself against the water toward the stairwell, which was crammed with people forcing their way up like a herd of mindless animals. It bothered her knowing that if they exited more orderly more people would be able to get up, and faster too. Jane took another step in their direction when someone past her quickly going in the other direction. Smart idea, she thought, there's gotta be another less crowded exit. She turned to follow the girl but found she couldn't move fast enough to catch up. Reverting back to old days, Jane abandon her blood-soaked napkin adrift and sprung into the water, baring the chill and pain. Swimming the best she could she wished she hadn't quit water polo. Stopping just behind the girl she gasped for breath, "W-wait!"
 
"Good idea lets get going before others get the same idea"Reed said as he saw the water rise quickly,finally he looked up and down the hall to see where the staff exit was.He followed the person he had just saved not even knowing her name, his slippers were now soaked and there was no point keeping them on but Reed wanted to get out as fast as he could.

He reached the ladder and looked up to see if it was safe to climb. " would you care to go up first" he said stepping out of the way so she could have accesses to the ladder he had just checked.

As he waited for her he ran his hand over his jacket to check he still had the knife and matches he imagined would be ruined now. "What idiot bring matches in a flood" he said to himself lowly so no one could hear him.
 
Kandi sat criss-cross applesauce to watch the people fight their way up the stairs. It was beautiful underwater. Kandi loved it.

Then again, she was also quite fond of air. Kandi glided toward a small group of people who were somewhat orderly making their way up a ladder. That seemed like a much better way to escape. The small girl popped up out of the water in the small space between the back of the ladder and the wall. She nodded a hello and then dove back underwater to get to the one who seemed to be broken, as Kandi would put it.

"What happened?" she asked in a voice so quiet it was almost a whisper. She took a water-proof box out of her soaked pockets. And took out one of the two things she had packed when she realized her bedroom was about to be an aquarium: a box of Peanuts bandaids. She held out three of them to the girl.
 
The water was up to her waist as she sloshed as fast as she could, moving past a woman who seemed rather dazed, but then they all were dazed. Too wrought in terror of drowning herself, she had missed the napkin that the woman held to her nose, not realizing she was bleeding from mouth and nose from some previous altercation. The further Naomi and the man ran from the stairwell, the quieter and less frantic the hallway became until they were virtually alone- the exit ladder in clear sight. Looking back behind her and around the man who was following in her wake, she saw someone stumbling after them, calling beseechingly.

"Looks like we're gathering a crowd.." She announced breathlessly, jerking her head in the direction of the stumbling woman as she made her way towards them. It was then that Naomi saw the state of the woman's face and winced.

"Someone must have hit you at the staircase huh?" She hollered to the woman, the roar of the water still making it hard to hear. Still, it was a far bit better than the other end of the corridor.

"Can't leave anyone behind.. I'll go up and then send her up after me, she doesn't look so steady eh?" She looked up at the man, even as she grasped the first rung of the ladder and began to hoist herself up.

"Hurry! We don't have much time!" She shouted, pulling herself up rung by rung as she went. Her pajama pants were heavy, laden with the stuff she'd shoved in her pockets but still she moved quickly upwards. She was just a few rungs from the next floor up when the ship heaved again, sending everyone sideways, the water rushing back up the corridor and towards her two companions. She'd lost her grip and was now hanging one handed from the ladder, staring down to see that a third had joined them down below.
 
Jane was relieved that the people she had caught up with didn't seem unfriendly. If they had fought with her she didn't think she had it in her to fight back.
She took note of the woman's reaction to her face and wiped her nose, leaving a streak of blood on her hand (which was also bruised and bloody) and wrist that washed away in the water. "Believe it or not I got jacked before the water made its appearance!" She shouted back, hardly able to hear herself.

She looked over to the man and waved her hand at him, "Don't worry about me, I can handle myself." Unconvincingly, right after the words left her mouth she nearly lost balance due to the mass of rushing water and stumbled forward.Jane dug through her messenger back and was thankful it was made out of cheap plastic leather that left her items only damp. Her and her clothes on the other hand were soaked to the bone and clung to her, heavy and uncomfortable. I chose a bad day to get into a fight with my brother but a good one to wear all black and not white, Jane reflected. As she pulled out her inhaler and puffed it once she saw a small girl before her, offering her bandaids.

Jane smiled weakly, feeling blood drip into her mouth. "Thanks hon, but they wouldn't stick anyway." She looked around, wondering who she was with but decided it didn't really matter. She put her hand on the girl's shoulder and pulled her close to her, "Just stick with us." Suddenly the ship heaved again, forcing Jane to slam into a wall and splashing water above her head. The water hit with such force it was like a wall. Again gasping for breath she saw the woman hanging, unable to help her.
 
Kandi put the bandaids away and nodded, glad to know she wasn't unwanted.

The water was rising quickly. Kandi dove under the water and then back up, kicking extra hard. She looked at Naomi. "Use the water," she said softly. "Let it lift you up." Kandi's parents had always said she was too wise for a 5 year old. However, they made the rather unwise decision of trying to squeeze up the stairs, and they paid with their lives. Obviously, she hadn't gotten her smarts from her parents.
 
"Swim!" She screamed from up above, hanging perilously from above. With one hand she gripped tight the rung, the only thing keeping her from plunging back down into the waters with him. As the waters whooshed over the three below, she scanned the corridor frantically. Where was the man? She saw the little girl doggie paddling, but where was the woman.

"Hurry!" She called out again, the ship righting itself but the waters were still rising dangerously fast.


Somewhere deep within the cruise ship, floors above them, a stove began to slowly leak gas. It was only a matter of a few seconds before an electrical shortage sparked and with it brought a powerful explosion of fire. With nowhere for the fire to go, it began to curl and force its way down hallways and through the ladder shaft, barreling quickly towards her. Luckily for her, her grip had been jarred loose of the rung and she was now free falling back down into the water to join the others.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back