The Forgotten Island

CHAPTER EIGHT:

OUT OF THE FRYING PAN, INTO THE FIRE

-Arya-

Our emergency station came into view, but I was shocked to see that instead of lines of passengers where they were supposed to be, it was just a mob of people like everywhere else. In fact, none of the stations seemed to have any organization as the whole deck seemed to succumb to chaos. Instead of the orderly lines and crew members instructing us where to go, we saw people on the ground crying or holding their heads, folks running around shouting and others who seemed to have been completely lost to shock. Towards the stern of the ship I could see two water-borns trying to use the oceans waters to calm the fires, but they couldn’t seem to keep them under control. They brought up the water in crashing waves over the side of the ship to douse the flames. The elementals were struggling and I could see the exhaustion on their faces as flame after flame rose up despite how many they put out. Towards a deck pool bar, I saw multiple fire-borns trying to keep the flames low, but they too seemed to be tiring out. It looked like they were attempting to pull the oxygen from around the flames in order to snuff them out, judging by the rise and fall of the flames. An electronic crackle broke through the air and the crowd quieted down to hear it. A crew member had gotten a hold of a megaphone and was beginning to speak “Attention! All passengers are to proceed to the lifeboats in groups of 20-40 people. Please proceed in a calm manner. Additionally—” we never got to hear what other message he had for us as the crowd took up their panicked craze at a level that was astonishingly worse than it had been before as they careened and shoved each other around trying to vie for a space on a lifeboat. I was forced out of my observations when the ships floor rumbled and shook under my feet; Fish and I tumbled to the floor from the magnitude of it, as did many others on the deck. The rumbling stopped and I took the time to take my high heels off, I couldn’t get around as agilely as I needed to in the cumbersome shoes, and Fish’s had long ago gone missing. The two of us stood, still hand in hand, wearing our pretty dresses, barefoot with our hair a disheveled mess. Two crew members rushed by us, and through the roar of the crowd I heard one shout to the other “It’s useless down there, the air-borns can’t control the flames, their winds just feed the fire. The crew is going to have to evacuate the ship with the passengers” They kept moving forward out of earshot, while I pondered what they had said. If the crew was supposed to be evacuating, then they obviously felt the ship wasn’t going to make it through whatever was causing this fire. Another rumble was heard, and I braced for the accompanying shaking, luckily Fish did too, so this time neither of us ended up on the floor. When the shaking subsided, I led us to the aft side of the ship, hoping to find some lifeboats that weren’t filling up as quickly so Fish and I could get on one.

A slender built man in a crew uniform caught my attention as he ushered passengers into a lifeboat. I felt the cold slush of water around my feet as I pulled us towards the man, a result of the water-born's efforts to quell the fires no doubt. Falling in line with the small group that had formed to board the boat, I took a second to examine it. Like the others, the boat was orange in color and made of some type of plastic or plexiglass material. It was an enclosed design with more of the plastic like material forming three rows of seats inside. According to my memory, the boats housed GPS beacons which would allow each to be tracked and found in emergencies, along with basic emergency rations and necessities. The boat had already been moved into position to suspend over the railing, the ropes straining to keep it from colliding against the ships side. Fish and I boarded quickly behind the other passengers, and I felt my stomach lurch as the boat swayed to accommodate our weight. My footsteps sounded hallow as I walked and I noticed how quiet everyone inside was compared to the dull roar happening outside. I looked up at the ceiling, noticing the multiple skylights as we took a seat, plumes of smoke floating through the night air above us in a deceivingly peaceful manner. The boat door slammed close, making me practically jump out of my skin as the slender uniformed man locked it shut from the inside.