Brauni caught up with her in seconds and stopped beside her.
"Julie," she said pleadingly. "Please stop. He's not worth it."
She began stroking her head and soothing her. After a few minutes of explaining, she managed to control her tears. Julie sat down on one of the bar stools and leaned against the oak counter.
"You know what the worst part of this is?"
Brauni made a questioning face, staring at her wet cheeks and tousled hair.
"That I went to him with the intention of asking for another chance. I wanted to tell him how much I loved him. And that was it." She began waving her arms desperately. "Everything's fucking over."
The scream that escaped her friend's lips terrified Brauni, but no more than what Julie had done.
With surprising lightness, she grabbed another bar stool and hurled it against the glass wall behind the bar. There was a terrible noise and the crunch of shattering glass. Bottles of liquor fell and shattered on the floor.
The girls stood stunned, staring at the wreckage, until Brauni finally grabbed her and led her toward the bow.
"What are you doing? The entrance to the upper deck is over there," Julie muttered absently.
"I know, I know." But I think a little tour around the interior of this palace on the water will do you much better.
From the previous room, they now entered a large dining room for guests, where several tables were arranged in three rows. As in the living room, beautiful crystal chandeliers hung from the ceiling. In the center of the dining room stood a large sculpture of Venus, faithfully recreated from a painting.
They passed the tables in silence, and, passing the entrance to the kitchen, found themselves in a wide corridor with doors on either side. At the end of this corridor was another descent to an even lower deck.
Brauni led the way, descending a flight of stairs. They found themselves in a maze of corridors and passageways. They passed under one of the rusty pipes and entered a tiny corridor, beginning and ending with a metal door. The door on the other side was open. They managed to realize they were now walking across the bow of the ship.
The Tabernacle was still churning through the waves at high speed, a mile and a half from Ocracoke Island. No one even suspected the yacht would hit one of the four protruding rocks in the area. The impact was so powerful that the ship, with a large hole in its bow, bounced off the rock like a rubber ball. In that single moment, everything on the ship that wasn't secured collapsed to the floor.
Julie and Brauni, who were fifteen meters from the epicenter of the impact, felt it most severely. The impact threw them first against the port wall, then the starboard wall, until they finally landed with a groan on the floor. The door in front of them banged shut. Behind the others, something shattered. A
drenched Chris, lying on one of the landings, rolled down, stopping only against the bridge wall, passing through a small corridor along the way. Crystal chandeliers clattered mournfully.
Arthur, along with all the deck chairs, slid from the promenade deck to the foredeck. He screamed as wooden chairs began to fall on him, slamming painfully across his body.
Anna, who had nothing to grab onto in the corridor, flew out like a catapult and came to rest on the living room wall, 10 meters away from where she was standing. Daniel felt the impact the least. He was lying on the bed, which, as if by magic, flew to the opposite wall, smashing into a dresser and shattering a large mirror on it.
The ship stopped, taking on water. The first compartments of the hull contained pantries and storage rooms, all with tightly closed doors. Therefore, for now, the water could not flood further rooms. However, it was unknown how long these doors would hold. The impact caused the lights to go out and the emergency power supply to activate. An alarm siren sounded on the bridge, its signal lasting only a few seconds.
A deathly silence fell on the yacht. The destruction was immense. Everything flew forward with a crash, creating a mess of wood, glass, and steel.
Arthur scrambled out from under the wooden chair fragments and tried to get to his feet. It was causing him immense pain. His entire body was bruised and numb. He glanced around, searching for open wounds, but found nothing. The alcohol in his veins had almost completely drained.
He slowly made his way along the cluttered promenade deck when he suddenly saw Chris, barely able to walk, with the help of a wall. There were no visible traces of blood on his body, but he was clutching his head, which had sustained a blow. Daniel appeared right behind him. He ran from the living room as if scalded. He was fine.
"Anna's lying there. She's not responding to my calls. Help me," he shouted to them.
"Chris, stay here," Arthur ordered, forcing him to sit on the deck as he and Daniel entered the living room.
At first, it was unrecognizable. Two poorly mounted columns lay on the floor. The glass casing of the console had vanished, creating a glass carpet on the parquet floor below. The furniture was in completely different places or had shattered in collisions with the walls. Anna lay under a tilted table, the food gone. They approached her.
Arthur tried to revive her but gave up when he saw a large, bloody wound on her forehead. She was unconscious. They gently pulled her out from under the wooden counter. A cursory inspection revealed that she was breathing evenly.
"Where are Julie and Brauni?" Arthur asked, standing and looking around the wreckage.
"I have no idea.
" "We have to find out what happened. Come with me."
They passed through the cluttered entrance to the bridge, which was the only room undamaged because it was devoid of any furniture. Arthur tried unsuccessfully to start the engines.
"What did we hit?" shouted Daniel, who was leaning over the bow rail. "I can't see anything here except a huge hole in the hull. Terrible fog."
Arthur walked over to the ship's radar and cursed under his breath. When Daniel returned to the bridge, it told him they'd probably hit the rocks around Ocracoke Island. He realized they were miles from land. Suddenly, somewhere in the belly of the ship, a loud thud and a terrible hum were heard.
"Maybe it's Julie and Brauni!" Daniel shouted excitedly.
"I doubt it, man. I think one of the doors blocking the water gave way."
Arthur suddenly panicked. He ran to the intercom, switched it to radio. He set the channel and began shouting into the microphone,
"This is Tabernacle to Coast Guard West Point, Over."
There was no response, so he repeated the call. The result was the same.
"This is Tabernacle to Coast Guard West Point, Over. We've hit a rock, we need immediate assistance. Over." Arthur gave the ship's position, but West Point remained silent.
He couldn't wait. He didn't know where the other girls were. He noted the ship's position and handed the note to Daniel.
"Hail them every few seconds, and when they finally respond, tell them our position. Then you'll unhook the lifeboat at the bow and put Chris and Anna in it. If I don't get back with the girls before the bow sinks, get out of here. We'll take the lifeboat from the aft deck. Got it?"
Daniel nodded and immediately began hailing land.
Arthur stepped out onto the starboard promenade deck, which was decidedly less cluttered, and reached the main staircase leading to the rooms on the lower decks.Julie groaned softly, recovering. She lay on her back, staring at the dim light on the ceiling. She tried to locate all the pain centers in her body. When she decided nothing was actually wrong, she sat up, aching, and adjusted Arthur's jacket.
Brauni lay motionless on her left side.
She called her name several times, but she didn't respond, so Julie crawled to her and grabbed her arm. Suddenly, the girl moaned, writhing in spasms of pain.
"Don't touch!" she squealed pleadingly. "I must have broken it.
" "Can you sit up?
" "I think so." She managed with a little help from her friend. "What's that sound?"
They both listened to the faint rustling. They glanced at each other, guessing water was sloshing behind the door, which had slammed shut on impact. They stared at it in horror. It looked sturdy. True, the sheet metal was held together by rather old-fashioned rivets, but the door looked solid.
Julie struggled to her feet, then helped Brauni up. The contents of the bag landed on the floor, and the bag itself had burst and was of no use. Julie gathered the essentials and stuffed them inside her jacket, doing the same with the gift from Arthur that had fallen out of her pocket.
"Can we get out of here?" Brauni asked, holding her throbbing hand.
Julie walked to the other door, turned the handle, and pushed it out. To her surprise, it stopped on something, leaving a gap no more than twenty centimeters wide behind it.
"What the...?" she began, only then noticing that a rusted pipe had broken free from the ceiling during the collision and embedded itself in the wall next to the door, effectively blocking it. "Christ."
Julie's whisper caught the attention of her friend, who was carefully watching the opposite exit. She understood what was going on when she saw the steel pipe embedded in the wall.
"Oh no!" she blurted out. "We're going to die here!"
Julie scolded her for talking such pessimistic nonsense and reminded her that they were not alone on the ship and that someone would definitely be looking for them.
Kiedy Brauni się troszeczkę uspokoiła, spróbowały odepchnąć bardziej drzwi, ale udało im się uzyskać jedynie kilka dodatkowych centymetrów.
- I co teraz? - Spytała zmartwiona.
- Pozostało nam tylko jedno. - Powiedziała Julie, po czym odwróciła się i waląc pięściami w stalowe drzwi zaczęła wzywać pomocy.
- To nic nie da! Nie usłyszą nas.
Julie nie wiedziała, czemu, ale wezbrała w niej dzika złość. Odwróciła się do niej i krzyknęła.
- Nie pieprz takich głupot. Muszą nas usłyszeć. Nie zamierzam umrzeć w tej kupie złomu! Rozumiesz?
W normalnych warunkach, Brauni poczułaby się urażona słowami przyjaciółki, ale nie dzisiaj. Zdawała sobie sprawę, że Julie dużo przeszła tego wieczoru i że teraz miała prawo się złościć. Miała już coś powiedzieć, ale przerwał jej, jakich głośny, mrożący krew w żyłach, stukot.
To jeden z nitów pod naciskiem wody oderwał się od drzwi i wystrzelony jak z procy uderzył w drugie drzwi tuz obok Julie i Brauni. Przez dziurę trysnęła lodowata woda. Dziewczyny krzyknęły, gdy pozostałe nity zaczęły się odrywać i uderzać w ich kierunku, wpuszczając coraz więcej wody do ciasnego korytarza. Uchylały się jak tylko mogły, by żaden z pocisków ich nie trafił.
Szok, jaki u nich powstał wywołał niczym w reakcji łańcuchowej, panikę. Zaczęły uderzać w drzwi swoimi ciałami. Brauni mogła używać tylko boku ze zdrową ręką, zaś Julie, co chwila zmieniała strony. Mimo iż uderzały z całych sił nie przyniosło to żądanego skutku.
Pomieszczenie rozdarł kolejny przeraźliwy zgrzyt. Spojrzały w jego kierunku i dostrzegły jak blacha w drzwiach, na które napierała woda, wygina się niczym kartka papieru.
Zaczęły ponownie wzywać pomocy. Wiedziały, że za kilka minut woda wedrze się do środka i zginą.
Arthur wpadł do sali bilardowej z barem. Stół do bilardu zniknął, formując stertę połamanego drewna pod ścianą. Kątem oka dostrzegł nie wywołane katastrofą zniszczenia baru i domyślił się, że zrobiła to albo jedna z dziewczyn albo ludzie ojca w porcie. Zaryzykował przyjmując pierwszą wersję. Opuścił pomieszczenie i przebiegł zdemolowaną stołówkę, gdzie wszystkie stoły poznikały ze swoich miejsc.
Wtedy dopiero usłyszał krzyki dziewcząt. Były daleko od niego, ale popędził w ich kierunku.
Dziewczyny jeszcze raz próbowały swymi ciałami sforsować drzwi. Bez skutku. Blacha drugich, odgięła się nagle i do korytarza wdarła się woda, zalewając im stopy. Zaczęły krzyczeć, nadal mając nadzieję, że ktoś je usłyszy.
- Nie chcę umierać. Błagam Boże. - Zajęczała Brauni.
Na mostku Daniel nadal wywoływał straż przybrzeżną. Stracił już niemal nadzieję. Gdy nagle w głośniku odezwał się męski głos.
- Tu posterunek straży przybrzeżnej w West Point, jakie jest zgłoszenie?
Daniel fell into a state of euphoria mixed with feelings of fear and excitement and a faint hope of being rescued.
"The yacht Tabernacle is calling for help. We've hit one of the rocks. We're about a mile and a half off Ocracoke Island." Daniel gave them his position and finally added in a pleading tone. "We're sinking. Please hurry. Over."
"I've got it." A man's voice rang out. "I'm sending lifeboats now."
Daniel threw a small microphone on the instrument panel and hurried into the saloon, where Chris was keeping watch over Anna. He spotted a piece of plank and, with Daniel's help, they slid it under the girl, as they didn't know what injuries she might have and didn't want to take any chances.
They lifted her and quickly carried her to the foredeck, which was tilted dangerously to port, just shy of reaching the surface of the water. He spotted the lifeboat Arthur had mentioned earlier and carried Anna to it. When they were sure she wouldn't slip off the plank, Daniel ordered Chris to get on board. Frightened and cold, the boy obediently complied. He grabbed a blanket he'd found under one of the benches and covered his sister. Daniel examined the boat carefully and froze when he noticed it was secured to the deck with ropes. He had nothing to cut them with. He quickly returned to the living room and grabbed the first knife he saw on the floor.
Arthur was by Brauni and Julie's side a few minutes after hearing them. He considered the girls' situation hopeless.
"The pipe's blocked the door. We can't move it," Julie shouted over the roar of the water.
"And the other ones will soon fly off their hinges and the whole ocean will collapse," Brauni added.
They were all knee-deep in water.
Wordlessly, Arthur pressed the pipe to his body and, bracing his legs against the walls on either side of the door, began to wrestle with it. It moved a few centimeters, but that was the end of his progress, despite putting all his strength into it. He caught his breath and tried again. But a moment later, he slipped and fell into the water. He cursed loudly and began to panic.
"Wait here, I'll be right back with help!" He shouted to the girls, their eyes filled with hope, staring at his face.
"Don't leave us," Julie moaned.
"I'll be right back. I promise." He assured her and ran up the stairs to the upper deck. He didn't know if the help would come from Daniel or from something else. If anyone had heard their cry for help, it might have been Daniel, and he might not be on deck anymore.
The ropes that had previously held the lifeboat were now hanging loose. Water began pouring onto the deck, and the bow gradually disappeared underwater. A moment later, the boat, carrying three passengers, rocked and floated. Daniel grabbed a wooden oar and pushed himself off the deck. The first survivors left the sinking Tabernacle.
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