the ship. They all started searching for the door. Star found it first. He was about to open the door when Balto stopped him.

“There might be a fire on the other side. There's certainly been a fire in here. We need to check.”

“And just how do we do that?” asked Star.

Balto tapped the door lightly with his finger.

“It's hot. Very hot.”

“So our question is, was it a flash-fire or is it still burning?” said Steele.

Balto handed Steele a fire extinguisher, and then he prepared to open the door.

“Ready?” he asked. Steele nodded. Balto grabbed the handle, yanked the door open, then moved out of the way very quickly. The instant the door was open, Steele sprayed into the room. There was nothing but a little smoke.

“Flash-fire.” he said.

They went in, and all the room was was a tall chamber with a ladder running up and down it. Down at the bottom though, was a pool of water rapidly coming up toward them. There was also a steady stream of oil dripping down. There was an engine up above.

“Hurry!” shouted Balto.

They all scrambled for the ladder, and began climbing up. They climbed for an exhausting ten floors, when Balto finally spotted a vent large enough for them to crawl through.

“Let's go through that!” he shouted to the people below him.

“Why should we go through that?” asked Star “Where does it lead?”

“I don't know, but it'll get us away from this water. It's been gaining on us for quite awhile!”

Balto leaned over to the vent and tried taking the cover off of it. That didn't work, so he began twisting on of the screws. It was rusted on very tight. Balto kept working on it for several minutes, all the while the water was coming up quick.

“Hurry!” shouted Kaltag, who was unfortunate enough to be on the bottom.

“I'm trying, dang it! It's rusted on too tight!”

“Does anyone have something he can use as a screwdriver?” asked Jenna.

“Phillips head or flat?” shouted Boris.

“Flat.” said Balto.

“Here, use this.” Boris passed up a quarter.

He handed it to Jenna, who was just about to give it to Balto when the ship shuddered. The quarter fell out of Jenna's hand and landed in the rising water below.

“Crap.”

“Uh... do you have any more Boris?” asked Balto.

“No, I don't. Sorry.”

“Does anyone else have a quarter or such?”

From below came responses of 'Nope' or 'Sorry'. Kaltag dropped off the ladder and swam below the water.

“Oh my goodness. What's he doing?” asked Sylvia.

“He's trying to get the coin. I think.”

“He's crazy, that's what he is.” said Steele “Risking his life for a quarter? You'd never catch me doin' something like that. It'd have to be $10,000 dollars, at least.”

They had just about given up hope of Kaltag making it back, when the water began bubbling. Then they saw Kaltag come out of the water, holding the quarter. He tossed it up to Balto, who caught it and then began removing the screws.

“Kaltag! I was so scared! I got people bumps!” cried Boris.

Everyone was cheering for Kaltag as he swam for the ladder. Then they stopped when they heard grinding. Sparks began spraying out of the wall, just above the water. One lone spark hit the stream of oil, and the entire stream exploded into a tower of fire. The fire traveled down the stream until it hit the water, which had accumulated a large amount of oil. The pool of water also blew in a mass of flame. They all looked down in horror. Kaltag was still in the water. Stella spotted him first. He was still swimming for the ladder, with fire all over his back. He grabbed the ladder and pulled up. Then, still clinging on, he went limp.

Everyone stared in shock. First Nikki, now Kaltag. They began to wonder if any of them would survive.

Balto finished opening the vent. Even though another of their little band had died, he knew they had to keep going. He threw down the vent cover and shouted down “Come on! Let's get in!” Everyone reluctantly complied. They got in the vent and crawled through. The vent finally opened up into a barber shop. All the chairs were upside down, still bolted to the floor. If it wasn't seen in context, Balto might have found it funny. He continued through, then noticed everyone was still standing in the middle of the room.

“Come on people, let's keep moving!”

“We can't, we're tired. Let us rest for a minute!”

“We can't stop and rest! This ship is still sinking! Do you want to die here? We have to press on!”

“How can you say that?” shouted Star “Two of my best friends have died following you! Have you ever heard of mourning the loss of a friend? What makes you think we can just keep moving after all these deaths? Who have you lost on this ship?”

Balto was quiet for a moment. “My daughter.”

This came as a surprise to everybody.

“Aleu. She was four years old. My wife had gone over to England for business. Me and my daughter got on this ship to go over to move there so my wife could stay. Aleu was crushed by a table when the ship flipped over. As soon I saw what had happened, I realized we had to leave. I didn't want anyone else to have to experience what I went through when she died.”

Now Star was very sorry for what he said. So, without further ado, he stood up walked over to where Balto was.

“I'm ready. Let's go.”

They were walking down a hallway when Dixie noticed some people walking toward them. She ran ahead and asked them where they were going.

“To the front of the ship. It's the only way out.” said the leader. It was Mel Drury, the second-in-command of the ship.

Balto and the rest of his group caught up. “We're headed for the propeller tubes. We figured that's the only way out.”

“No! Don't leave through there! We already tried it! It's blocked. There's no way to get to the tubes.”

“Oh no,” said Boris “Now what do we do?”

“Well, you could come with us. The more the merrier.”

Balto pulled his little group aside.

“Look, we can't go with them. The front of the ship is probably under water!”

“But, you heard what they said!” shouted Steele “You can't get to the propeller tubes! They way is blocked! I say we go with them.”

“Alright, here. I'll go ahead and try to find a different way there. If I'm not back in fifteen minutes, go ahead with the other group.”

Balto left, and Steele turned to the other group and said “Um, can you wait for fifteen minutes? Our blockhead leader wants to find another way, so if he finds something, we can all get to the propeller tubes together, but if he doesn't find anything, we'll go with you.”

Mel sighed “Alright. Fifteen minutes. But no more! This ship is sinking fast!”

Fifteen minutes later...

“Well, he's not back,” said the someone in the other group “Let's go.”

“I agree,” said Steele “Come on!”

“No, please wait!” said Jenna “Let's just give him two more minutes, please!”

“You can wait if you want,” said Mel “We're going.”

After they left, Steele screamed bloody murder at Jenna “Great! Now what do we do if Balto doesn't get back, huh?”

“Well,” said Dixie “I suppose we could just catch up.”

“I found it!” shouted a voice. Everyone turned their heads and saw Balto coming back. “I found a way to the propeller tubes!”

They made their way through rubble and ash, and finally arrived where Balto was taking them. They could see the staircase they would have to take to get to the catwalk that led to the tubes, but there was one little problem. There was deep water in between them and the stairs.

“How do we get through that?” asked Dixie “I can't swim!”

“You don't have to,” said Balto “I found this rope here, and I'll swim across, tie it to something, and you just pull yourself along! All you need to do is hold your breath! When the rope is ready, I'll give it a tug.” Balto handed one end of the rope to Kodi, then dived into the water and began swimming. When he came out of the water on the other side, he tugged the rope, then tied it to a metal post. Everyone went into the water, with Steele and Dixie in the rear. Steele rounded a corner, with Dixie right behind him. But after he rounded the corner, he didn't notice Dixie getting caught on some wires in the water. Dixie began jerking madly on the wires, trying to get free. She was jerking so wildly that she accidentally hit her head on a piece of sharp metal. She blacked out.

Steele got out of the water, then turned to wait for Dixie to arrive. He waited for a few seconds, then got worried.

“Uh, Steele? Where's Dixie?” asked Kodi.

“I don't know, she was right behind me!”

He waited a few more seconds, then dived back in the water. When he got close to the corner, he noticed the water had a red hint to it. He came around the corner and saw Dixie caught on a wire, with a large cut on her head. He quickly got her loose from the wires and pulled her back to where everyone else was. He pulled her out of the water, and everybody flocked around her. Boris looked at her head, then checked her pulse. He shook his head. Jenna looked over at Steele and saw his eyes tearing up. Sylvia was balling her eyes out.

After the reached the top of the stairs, all they would have to do is open the bulkhead and enter the tube. Kodi ran ahead and tried opening the bulkhead, but it wouldn't budge.

“CRAP!!” he shouted.

Balto looked around. Circling the walls there was the metal catwalk they were on, and below

Previous Page

1 2 3 4

Next page