*Beep!*
*Beep!*
*Beep!*
In an instant—almost exactly at the moment Locke's sixth sense screamed its warning—a piercing alarm blared through the speakers in the grand hall. The sound was urgent and signaled extreme danger.
In the cockpit, a voice filled with primal terror crackled through the intercom: "All crew members, report to your emergency muster stations immediately. This is not a drill. All passengers, brace for impact and roll."
The once-festive hall instantly plunged into panic. Locke snapped his head toward the windows. Outside, the bright moon hung over the sea... and then, the moon was swallowed whole by a wall of water.
A rogue wave? For real?
"Fire and safety personnel, get to muster stations now!"
"This is not a drill!"
"All passengers, prepare for rolling!"
The words had barely finished.
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
*BOOM!*
The massive wall of water slammed into the *Poseidon*. Because the ship had performed a hard-left turn, it took the hit almost head-on. A wave towering over the ship crashed down like a series of precision-guided bombs hitting the hull.
In an instant, the Poseidon capsized!
"Shit!"
Locke felt the floor beneath him tilt violently. He glanced at the crowd already clogging the exits, cursed under his breath, and pulled Gwen tightly into his arms. "Don't worry, we're going to be fine."
Gwen, who had been on the verge of total panic, felt her heart miraculously steady at the sound of Locke's voice.
A split second later, the massive shockwave hit. The ship tilted completely to one side.
"Ah!"
"God!"
"Shit!"
"No!"
Everything in the hall—furniture, decorations, and people—lost its grip on the floor and went flying toward the listing side. The world turned upside down.
*Rumble!*
Locke held Gwen with one hand and gripped a exposed steel rebar in the wall with the other. He watched the scene outside the window; the sea surface rushed closer and closer until—*CRASH*—the hall plunged beneath the waves.
'Motherfucker!' Locke thought. 'I came here for a vacation, not a round of PUBG: Ocean Edition.'
Five minutes later.
The peak of the wave had passed. On the surface, the Poseidon was nowhere to be seen because the entire ship had capsized 180 degrees. The hull was exposed to the air while the superstructure was completely submerged. Inside the hall, the chandeliers—pulled by gravity—were now effectively the floor.
*Thump.*
Locke landed steadily, still holding Gwen. He looked at her with concern. "Are you okay?"
Gwen shook her head, indicating she wasn't hurt. She looked around. The hall was filled with wails and screams. People were tangled together, foreheads covered in blood, faces streaked with tears.
"Cindy!" Gwen suddenly remembered. She looked at Locke. "Cindy and Kahn—they were in the ballroom!"
Locke scanned the surroundings and nodded. "They should be okay."
Panicking wouldn't help. They were currently trapped like rats in a flooded cellar. Locke's eyes drifted to the windows; outside, he saw the dark silhouettes of a few sharks darting by.
And this tsunami... how did nobody predict it?
Just then, Locke's eyes lit up. He jogged over to a gambling table that had been overturned. Dylan was sprawled there, legs in the air, with a bleeding gash on his forehead. Locke knelt down and patted Dylan's cheek. "Hey, you dead yet?"
Dylan dizzily opened his eyes. Locke let out a silent sigh of relief. He had been worried he'd have to use a High-Grade Healing Potion. He didn't mind using one on Dylan, but if others saw it and started begging for some, should he give it or not?
Dylan propped himself up, rubbing his temples. "What happened?"
Locke's expression was neutral. "Rogue wave. The ship flipped."
Dylan looked up at Locke, who was as calm as if he were discussing what to have for dinner. There wasn't a trace of fear on Locke's face. Locke never wasted time asking "why" when things went wrong—time is irreversible. Once it happens, you think about the solution, not the cause.
"We need to find a way out," Locke said, looking at the windows now submerged in deep water. "If that glass cracks and the water rushes in, everyone dies."
Gwen ran over, spotting another familiar face. "Uncle Robert!"
Locke followed her gaze. Robert Ramsey, the former mayor of New York, was pinned under a gambling table, blood trickling from his lip.
"Robert!" Locke and Dylan reached him, flipped the table aside, and dragged him out. "You alright?"
Robert shook his head, wiping blood from his mouth. "Just a bump. I'm fine."
Dylan exhaled, stretching his neck. He then noticed a piano on what used to be the floor (now the ceiling). "What the—"
He saw a figure huddled under the piano frame. He looked over at Maggie, the divorced mother he'd been talking to, who was frantically searching for her son. "Maggie! Connor is up there!"
Maggie looked up in terror at her son hanging high above. She covered her mouth and cried out to God. But God wasn't there to catch him.
In the end, Locke, Dylan, and Robert used a heavy curtain as a makeshift safety net. The three of them worked together to steadily catch Connor as he jumped. Maggie broke down in relief, hugging her son tightly.
The Captain hadn't sustained any major injuries either. Recovering quickly, he stood on the stage and began directing surviving staff according to emergency protocols. He addressed the panicked crowd:
"We don't know exactly what happened yet, but our best guess is that we were hit by a 'Rogue Wave.' They are rare, unpredictable, and lethal."
He explained that these waves had sunk many ships during WWII—they don't have the warning signs of a typical tsunami; they are silent and look like small swells until it's too late.
Locke raised an eyebrow. Rogue wave? He'd read about them in history books—brief mentions of five warships being wiped out in the Pacific. So that was why his sixth sense hadn't given him more lead time.
The Captain continued, "The good news is that the emergency GPS signal was sent the moment we took the hit. Rescue should be here within a few hours..."
The crowd grew restless.
"Are we sinking?"
"How do we get out?"
"Please, everyone, stay calm!" the Captain shouted. "Follow the crew's instructions. This hall is acting as a massive air bubble keeping us afloat. Once the bulkhead doors are sealed, we are safe from fuel leaks, fire, and flooding. We will be safe right here!"
'Time to go,' Locke thought. He shook his head and whispered to Gwen, "We're leaving."
Gwen looked at him, surprised. Locke led her away from the crowd. "Those windows won't hold."
At this depth, the pressure would shatter the glass within thirty minutes. Once that happens, the sea would swallow the room instantly. It would be too late to run then.
"Dylan!" Locke found Dylan picking up a small knife from the floor. Locke's voice remained steady. "What's the plan?"
"The propellers."
"At the bottom of the ship?"
"Exactly."
Dylan continued, "The glass won't hold. Don't forget, I spent time on submarines. Nobody knows the ocean better than me. Escaping through the propeller shafts at the stern is the only way out."
Locke nodded.
"Dylan! Dylan!" Maggie ran over with Connor. "What did you tell Connor?"
Connor looked at his mother. "Mom, there are holes at the bottom for the propellers. We can get out through there."
"You can't go out that way, sweetheart!" Maggie said, before turning to Dylan. "Please tell him he can't!"
Locke watched Dylan with amusement. Dylan opened his mouth and looked at Maggie. "But I can."
"You think you can get us out safely?"
"What? 'Us'? No."
The mode had officially switched from Vacation to Survival. In vacation mode, carrying two or five extra people was no problem. In survival mode, trying that was just a death wish.
Dylan didn't care if Locke followed or not. He knew Locke was cut from the same cloth; even if he didn't say a word, Locke would be doing the exact same thing.
Robert joined them. Connor looked at him. "Hey, we're going through the bow and out the thrusters!"
Maggie stroked Connor's head. "The Captain said we should stay here. It's safe."
Locke, seeing more people starting to gather, spoke up quickly: "This ship wasn't designed to sit upside down in salt water. If we're going, we go now. The ballroom should be on the second floor above us now. Let's find Cindy, Kahn, and Jennifer first."
He directed the last part to Gwen and Robert.
***
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