The boat started to list, this frightened the men behind him, and they surged forward crushing him up against the door. “Back off! Back off!” he gasped as the air squeezed from his lungs, he was about to pass out when the crowd fell back and he could breathe again. “We need to bust open the door,” he said. “Fetch me something to lever it open.”
“Aren’t the doors watertight, Buckman?” asked his pal.
“They’re also airtight. Do you fancy running out of air, do ya, huh?”
“Fuck no.”
A sailor handed him a metal rod, and he worked it into the seal of the door and grunted as he focused his efforts into the door-jam. He sweated buckets and made little or no progress, when a taped message sounded accompanied by a siren. “Abandon Ship! Abandon ship!” The noise sent the enlisted men wild in panic and they surged forward once more and shoved Buckman into the door.
20:47 PM
In the bedroom cabin aboard the barge Luke and Sophie lay spent after making love for the second time in twenty-four hours. This time though they did not rush at it. They took the time to enjoy themselves exploring each other’s battered bodies seeing what got a response and what didn’t.
The bed itself was made of crushed velvet and heart-shaped, the point of the heart formed by the sides of the hull, meeting at the bow. “I hate hippies,” Luke said regarding the ‘way-out’ bed and the ‘far-out, groovy man’ decorations that consisted of a cherub and heart motif.
Sophie had her head rested upon his chest, her eyes closed, and she smiled dreamily, when Luke’s statement penetrated her thoughts. She stirred and looked up at him. “Huh?” she said puzzled by his statement.
He noticed the recent six-inch scar on her shoulder and traced it lazily with his finger, an angry welt, red and painful looking. Luke found it surprising that she hadn’t mentioned it, or appeared to find it sore.
“How did that happen?” he asked casually.
“I was in an auto-wreck. Three weeks ago, back in my homeland. I was on a quick trip. I volunteer at a hospital down there when I can.”
“What happened?”
“It was a gloriously hot day, a nice warm heat, not like this humid energy-sapping furnace up here. There I was happily scooting along Main Street lost in my thoughts when I was side-swiped by a bus.”
“Who’s fault?”
“His, of course.”
“Do you have to go back for the court case?”
“There won’t be one.” She said.
“Why not?”
“He died in the crash along with five school children, turned out he was drunk.”
“Serves him right,” Luke said. “What happened to you?”
“I was in hospital, intensive care, I almost died,” she told him. “It was touch and go for a while. I had to have many blood transfusions—” she stopped mid-sentence. A thought had struck her but then vanished.
“What is it?” he asked.
“No it’s gone. I suddenly made a connection. I’m sure it was important, but it’s gone.
He cuddled her to him. “When did you get back?”
“I got back to the states Monday evening.”
“So you went straight into work?”
“I did not want to stay at home alone. I would have only dwelt on it.” She snuggled into his chest once more. “I wish I could remember what flashed into my mind.”
“We need to retrace our steps. What were we doing before hand?” He smirked lewdly. “Oh yeah, I remember…” He rolled her over and kissed her with passion.
20:48 PM
On the lower deck, Buckman frantically worked the metal rod into the crack of the door, having little effect, unsurprising as the doors function was to contain countless pounds of water pressure, but he persisted bravely making the smallest of indents. An idea struck him. “Get me a grenade,”
“That would kill us all!” said his shipmate, Joey.
“No, we’ll take it apart; pour the gun-power in the hole I’ve made. It might blow it open.”
“I’ll zip down to armaments,” Joey said. “I noticed that it’d been left unattended.”
Buckman continued with his endeavors watched by the restless crewmen.
Joey ran along the confined corridors, the temperature was rising, he thought with a panic, the air was definitely getting warmer.
He turned into the armaments room down near the brig and grabbed a couple of grenades, when he heard the whooshing of water. He stood stock-still and strained his ears, the sound was getting closer. The ship suddenly lurched to the starboard side as the scuttling continued and another hatch had been opened in the hull.
He looked down and saw water around his feet. “Oh Christ,” he muttered to himself. He glanced down the corridor and saw the water rising fast. He watched for a moment to judge its speed and calculated that it was rising two feet a minute. He had to get back to tell the others quick.
He glanced at the water filling the corridor and realized if the ship had not been listing front-to-back the water would already be up to his knees. “Fuck.” He spun on his heels and rushed back the way he came. He rounded the corner, took a fleeting glance backward and saw that the water level had risen considerably, almost up to the ceiling at the far end and would engulf him soon enough.
He debated whether to spend time closing the watertight door behind him, but the water was already around his ankles and if the boat should list the other way, water would engulf him. He chose not to waste time and sped along the next corridor.
CHAPTER 42
20:49 PM
Joey raced up to Buckman completely out of breath. He sagged against the bulkhead, drawing in the thinning oxygen. He pointed behind him, “The water—” he started.
“What about the water?” Buckman asked.
“It’s coming!”
The crewmen in the cramped corridor surged forward once more hindering Buckman’s labors. He took the grenade from Joey, and pushed the crowd back. “Gimme some room, for Christ’s sake.” He carefully took apart the grenade and fed the explosive powder into the small gap he’d created.
One of the crewmen spotted the water creeping along their corridor and screamed out. The panic spread, and the men surged forward en masse. Buckman pushed back against the heaving crowd. He lit a fuse fashioned from a paper straw. “Stand back!” he yelled and pushed everyone to the far end of the corridor, where the freezing water was already knee high.
Some of the crewmen were undecided, not knowing whether to face the blast or the certainty of drowning if they stayed in the sinking corridor.
The powder ignited with a ear-splitting roar in the short corridor the door blew open. The men surged forward with a cheer, and knocked Buckman down. He crawled on his hands and knees in the ice-cold water, and tried to stand, as men poured over him, but was flattened in the crush. He finally stood, felt groggy and realized that he was up to his waist in the freezing water. He waded up the corridor, as the ship tilted further backward and could see by the braying crowd beating on the next door, with dread in his heart that it was locked.
He splashed up to the group, where Joey pulled the pin of the second grenade and placed it in the handle of the locked airtight door. The men nearby had only a few seconds to register what Joey had done and no time to flee.