Ch 162 - Women and Children Only

"What have you done? This is what I think of you," Lee said, and he punched the captain in the face. The captain didn't stand up for himself at all. He just started crying and muttering to himself.

"You're useless." Lee scolded the captain again. He was worried that the bridge could also soon start flooding. He needed to get somewhere safe. He quickly ran out.

The captain sat down on the floor. He had lost control of the cruise ship, and it was drifting out to sea. Even worse, it was now flooding. By this time, they were more than sixty nautical miles away from the coast, and he knew that a rescue boat would take at least two hours to reach them. By that time, the cruise ship would be submerged.

Thinking that because of him, nearly a thousand people might drown, he didn't want to live. Even if he was somehow rescued, he knew that he had destroyed the cruise ship that was worth millions. His life was in ruins.

He didn't notice the blood that started to flow out of his thigh. He did notice the water that began to flow in through the crack of the bridge door, but he didn't respond. He stayed sitting where he was on the ground. Slowly, he put his hand on a red triangle button and pressed it down, triggering the alarm to sound throughout the ship.

Lee heard the deafening alarm and saw the flashing red and yellow alarm lights, and ran to the deck.

Everyone was panicking. Some of the girls were crying in their boyfriends' arms. Some people were desperately trying to make phone calls, but they found that they had no signal at all. A few jumped into the swimming pool and others sat quietly on the ground, deep in shock.

The deck was in utter chaos.

"Can you help me to pull my friends up, please," Hannah asked the people around her, desperate for help. Amidst the chaos, Lee had forgotten all about Alex and Minnie.

Luckily, there were a few kind people who tried to help her. Together, they pulled the rope up.

Alex was surprised to find that someone was pulling him. When his swim ring started to rise from the sea, Minnie almost fell back into the water. He grabbed her and held her tightly.

"Hold on. If you fall back, you'll die," he yelled at her. She grabbed the rope with determination. Slowly, they rose out of the water. When they reached the height of the railing, Alex asked people to pull Minnie over it first. They slowly pulled her onto the deck.

"Minnie, are you okay?" asked Hannah when she saw that her friend was safe. She was very happy and surprised. She squatted on the ground and held Minnie's head.

Alex lay exhausted on the deck for more than ten seconds. Then he scrambled onto his knees and thanked the people who had helped him.

"You're welcome," replied one man.

Another told him, "Young man, you're very lucky. I didn't think you would make it."

" You saved her. Well done," said another.

The people who rescued them quickly lost interest and walked away, one after another.

Alex looked at the chaos on the deck, the people panicking, and the warning lights flashing. Then he heard the siren blaring, and he quickly realized that the ship was flooding.

Minnie was hugging Hannah and crying. "I thought I was going to die. I thought I was going to be eaten by sharks and no one would ever even find my body."

"It's okay, Minnie, don't cry, you're safe now," Hannah said as she gently patted her back and comforted her. After ten minutes, she started to calm down.

She dried her tears and looked around her. She noticed Alex was sitting on the deck watching her calmly. Their eyes met briefly and her heart leapt. When she thought back to what she had done to Alex, she felt so ashamed that she needed to find a way to make it up to him.

"I'm so sorry for what I did to you before. I was too vicious," she said, as she slowly crawled over to him. After soaking in the sea for so long, she had no strength. She continued, "Alex, you saved me. I really am sorry for how I treated you. In the future, I'll do anything you ask me to."

He turned his face away from her. He could no longer believe anything she said.

"Alex, I know you don't trust me, but you must believe how sorry I am. I know that I've acted terribly," she continued. She did feel guilty. She kneeled on the ground in front of him and said, "Thank you for saving me just now. I will find a way to repay you for your kindness. Thank you."

Alex didn't want to listen to Minnie. Looking at the vast sea, he thought to himself, will I die here?

Half an hour later, the tropical storm was upon them. Fortunately, the cruise ship had moved out of the path of its very centre. Also, it was only a medium-sized storm, not one that could break tree trunks on land but large enough to do some damage. On the deck, chairs, loungers, and wine tables were blown everywhere, and some even fell into the sea.

All the people could do was hide and try to shelter from the heavy rain. After another hour, there was still no sign of the rescue ship, and the water in the cruise ship had reached the third floor and was about to reach the deck.

"It's over," said one man dismally.

His friend asked, "What should we do? I don't want to die."

"I'm so afraid," cried a girl.

The level of panic on board the ship had reached a peak, as everyone started to think that they were going to die.

In a corner of the deck, several young people surrounded Lee and shouted at him angrily.

One said, "It's all your fault; you persuaded us to come on this ship."

"Yes, it's all your fault," agreed another.

Another screamed at him, "If we all die, you're the one to blame."

Lee shouted back, "What do you want from me? Get out of the way." He was from one of the wealthiest families in America, and he wasn't going to be intimidated by these people.

"You're such an asshole," shouted one young man, and he spits in his face.

"Come on guys, let's show him what we think of him," shouted another young man who had drunk way too much alcohol. Immediately, four or five young men started punching and kicking Lee. They wanted to take their anger out on him and were no longer worried about staying on his good side.

Lee began to beg for mercy. "Please don't hit me," he cried. It seemed that no one cared about him. He realized at that moment that his friends had only liked him for his money.

A young man said harshly, "If I'm going to die at sea, I'm going to kill this bastard first." Then he picked up a chair, raised it over his head, and was about to smash it down on Lee.

"No, buddy, no, please. I'm wrong. I'll give you everything I own. I beg you not to kill me." He kneeled on the ground in front of the man, bowing his head and begging for mercy.

"Okay, if I don't kill you, you can give me five million dollars," the young man agreed.

Suddenly, someone shouted, "There's a boat coming."

"Look, there's a light over there," his friend agreed.

Everyone on the deck looked toward the light and suddenly became hopeful. The young man who was attacking Lee also looked out to sea. There was a small spot of light in the distance.

The young man dropped his chair and, along with everyone else on the deck, rushed to the railing, stared in the direction of the light, and started to call out loudly.

"Hello, this way," one man cried.

"We're over here," shouted another.

A few screamed, "Come and save us."

Everyone who had given up hope now started to cheer.

They watched the light getting bigger as the boat came closer. Within minutes, it had arrived at the side of the cruise ship, and they saw that it was a small rescue boat sent by the coast guard.

Minnie and Hannah were overjoyed to see the boat coming. After resting for more than an hour, Minnie had finally recovered some physical strength and was able to stand on her own. She wanted to go to the rescue boat with Alex.

The person in charge of the vessel looked at the people trapped on the cruise ship and realized that there was no way that they could all fit in. He frowned and yelled at them through a loudspeaker, "All the trapped people, don't panic. We will take all of you home safely. But now there are too many of you. Our rescue boat can't hold you all. I'm sorry, but we can only take some of you at a time. You can rest assured that two other rescue boats are also heading this way to take you to safety."

He continued, "We'll take the women and parents with children first. The rest of you will have to wait for the next two boats. I guarantee that the other boats will be here soon to take you to safety."

Although everyone heard what the captain of the boat said, no one was willing to wait. They all wanted to leave the flooded ship as soon as possible. They all felt they would be risking their lives to wait for the other boats.

The captain set up a gangplank to the deck of the cruise ship, and coast guard officials supervised people crossing over onto the rescue boat.

Using a megaphone, the captain instructed, "Right. Please could all women and parents with children now carefully make your way over onto the boat. Everyone else must wait for the next boat." Quickly, the women and children started boarding.

Lee was becoming extremely anxious. He was only thinking about his own life and was determined to get onto the rescue boat. But he was not a woman or a parent with a child, and he knew that the captain wouldn't let him on.

He spotted a woman standing in line with her daughter waiting to board. He walked up to her quickly and told her in a whisper that he would pay her one million dollars to lend him her daughter so that he could get into the rescue boat. He told her that she mustn't say a word. If she told anyone what he said, he would throw her daughter into the sea to drown.

The woman agreed.

Lee grabbed the little girl, covered her mouth, and joined the line to board the boat.

"Is this your daughter?" The captain asked Lee when he saw how young he was. He didn't look old enough for the little girl to be his daughter. He was also suspicious when he noticed that he was covering the little girl's mouth.

Lee replied, "She's my daughter. She's sick and she wants to throw up. When I get on the boat, I'll take her to the bathroom to vomit." He tried to look natural.

"Go on then, hurry up." Because other people were waiting to board, the sailor let him get on.

At that moment, a sharp voice called out, "That's not his daughter. Don't let him on the boat."