Chapter 6: Survivors

During the midst of darkness with little of light, people moaning, grunting, roaring, snarling, shrieking, yelping, whining and screaming in pain. Trying to figure out the recent event that lead them into a wild, psychotic-freak of a ride of their life-time. Calling out their names of their love ones or friends in the dark inverted room was almost useless to do so. A loud exploding spark startled everyone in a sudden, the lights slowly came back on. The two chandeliers, toppled like cracked wedding cakes after a crash party, lights up the set. The center skylight burst a second electric blow with the dead dog-man body, another round of scared screamers bursts. Someone screamed, “WE'RE ON ROOF!!! WE'RE ON ROOF!!!"

The ballroom recovers almost all its lights, revealing the mass mess it has done after the ship rolled-over. It was like a battlefield with chairs thrown everywhere till it shattered to pieces, broken glass and crockery spread every corner. The two curvy and elegant stairs were smashed down to the ceiling-floor, leaving a complete pile of debris and twisted steel. A huge mix of aroma of spoiled food and drinks spread around to rot. Unidentifiable scratches of claws on every wall, ceiling, and floor by the struggling beast-men that humans could not do in such extreme length, it literally shredded the place up. Bits of confetti and streamers finally falls gently to the new floor. Still intact balloons lightly fall as well.

Sylvester Rycroft lifts the poker top table on top of him. The tiger-man grunts in pain and rubs the back of his head. “What the fuck…" He grunted. His tuxedo is ruined with scratches, tears and dirt with a wine stain on his left collar. He sight the vast room, the black stage is cleaned and unharmed while the rest of the musicians are scattered everywhere on the ground. The green Christmas tree hangs now on the new port side, looking like a giant, hanging stalactite. Sylvester now wonders where's his family is. “Carolyn?" He looks around. “Carolyn?" He shouted.

Ricardo wakes up lying merely flat on the floor, tossing aside the upper half of the red Christmas tree that broke in two with the lower half hanging up the ceiling. “Qué carajo pasó?" He murmured.

“Ew! Get off me!" Portia yelled. Untangling a man on top of her. “Off of me! Now!" She shakes him off and the body rolled on his back with a cold-shock, petrifying eyes and a fractured neck. The body lay there without movements. “OH, GOD! IT'S DEAD!!!!" Portia shrieks.

Kershaw wakes up from his dizziness, lifts his upper body up with a pain on his back, then finds the tigress he embraced during the overturn. She's lying unconscious with her black and gold dress stained and few tears. The lion-man gently shakes her shoulder, “Mrs. Rycroft, are you okay?"

She shakes her head, “Huh? I'm okay." She looks at the scene all over above her, swinging her head at every sight, disoriented and confused. “My god!? What happened?" She cried.

“I think we've turned over." Kershaw responded. He stands up and helps Carolyn to stand on her feet. “Something terrible happened." He added.

“Carolyn!" Sylvester's voice appeared, the tiger-man ran straight at them.

“Where the hell you've been!?" She shouted.

“Where do you think? Flying around my ass, that's where I've been."

“Sylvester, where are the kids?" Carolyn's eyes can tell her furious fear.

“We'll find them. Kershaw, give me a hand here." The lion-man nodded.

The stranded guests are searching around or helping anyone trapped under the debris. The hotel manager Mr. Collins is shouting to keep everyone calm. It's too much to handle with this pandemonium. Collins then spotted Dr. Daxner lying flat on his stomach. He reaches close to him, “Come on, Julian. Get up!"

He grabs him by the arm but the dog-man yelped, “Ow! Watch my arm!" The dog-man screamed. Other than his arm, he got a fresh cut on his left cheek.

“No time for that! Get these people calmed now, Daxner!" Mr. Collins yelled at him.

Officer Oscar Snowdon pushed away the heavy broken drum on his stomach and chest. His formal uniform is ruined with the bow tie missing. The pain he received on his back was death-killing. The polar bear-man stands up, he then saw Aubrey standing up next to him, she pushed away a piece of chair away from her that was pinning her not too soon ago.

“Aubrey, are you alright?" Snowdon asked.

The horse-woman in a blue gown confusedly replied, “Yeah, I'm alright…" She then bursts into screams at one sight. “Oh, my god!" She covers her hands on her muzzle.

“Oh...my…" Snowdon and Aubrey found Captain Sterling Whiteford… Snowdon looks closely…

“Is he…?" Aubrey asked.

Snowdon rubs his head in distress. The albatross bird-man received multiple impacts with a broken neck, his long beak is twisted and cracked. Even the Steinway piano gave him the final judgment, crushing him. His left arm and head is what is remaining out of the black instrument. And a few plumes scattered around him. Snowdon could not bear it, he felt helpless, he could not bear his misery with those frightening eyes…

The white bear-man kneeled at his colleague. All he could do was gently, with his white-furred hand, lower his eyelids to a close. Aubrey just sobbed there in disbelief. “How'd this happened?" She brokenly said.

Ryder Wolfson scrambles dizzily after recovering his consciousness, he screams Kale's name out loud, his face stricken with fear and aiming around direct-less to his only objective. His tuxedo is bruised and stained and one gapping tear on his left leg trouser.

Same for Zoey as searching for her husband. Her dress is dirty and stained but no tears to be seen. “Killian!" She shouted. “Where are you!?" She then quickly saw someone standing up on the underside (now upside) of the second level of the room with piles of chairs, tables and bodies stuck up there. She called again, “Killian!"

Hearing her voice, the cat-man looks down at deck 6's ceiling-floor. “Zoey?" Killian was confused, disoriented on how he got up there.

“Get down from there! Be careful!" She commanded.

Killian simply leap from the edge and gracefully landed on his two feet, thanks to his natural right reflexes. He somewhat wipes his shoulders despite his completely shredded black jacket from fellow claws of others. He looks at his worried cat wife, “Are you okay, Zoey?"

“I'm fine, but, what the hell just happened here!?" She replied agitatedly. “I… I could have sworn I saw a…" She trails off when a screaming woman shrieks in panic.

“Calm down, Zoey." He holds firmly on her shoulders. “I think we should help other people." She nodded.

“Sasha! Sasha!" The father shepherd dog-man panics for his son, completely desperate. He hurt his left shoulder when some blunt object struck him from behind. He found Sylvester, Carolyn, and Lionel who are also searching for their kids. “Rycroft, have you seen Sasha?"

“We're also looking for Jett and Stephanie, where could they be?" Rycroft said. Obviously, he lost sight of them during the entire rolling.

“Shh!" Kershaw silenced them. “I hear crying."

“What…?" Joshua listen carefully. It was closer.

Sylvester looks down the debris and saw a peculiar orange and black striped tail sticking out motionless leading to under a broken table top, chairs and a big broken bass with strings pulled out. He gasped, “There!" Pointing his finger at it.

“Oh, my baby!" Carolyn cried. Lionel, Sylvester, and Joshua move the instrument, the few chairs, and finally lifting the table top. There's two bodies, and one is crying.

“Sasha!" Joshua picks his son up. Hugging him. “Are you okay?"

“Daddy!" The little pup wailed. Hugging his father around his neck.

The five then gazes at the motionless tiger-boy. Sylvester leans down his head on Jett's chest, “He's not breathing!" He swiftly unities the tie and unbuttons the white shirt. Pressing his hands on the chest and pulsing it. Just like that, a heavy cough and gasp came from Jett, breathing again. Sylvester holds with his arms and caress his head, “Jett, are you okay?"

Looking at his frightened tiger father's face, he weakly responds, “Dad?" He mumbles and takes another inhale. Carolyn approaches him and hugs him gladly.

“Jett, are you okay?" She said.

“I'm okay…" He said and looks to the little young pup, “How are you, Sasha?"

“I'm all right." He said and turns to his father. “He protected me when the ship turned over."

“Oh, thank you so much, Jett." Joshua sighed in relief.

“Mom, Dad? Where's Stephanie?" Jett realized.

“We'll find her." Said Kershaw. Speaking of daughters, “Gwen…" He whispered. “My god, she's at the disco."

The crashed disco lounge is turned into a horrid junkyard with colorful lights still sweeping the set. Trampled girders smashed everywhere. Even the shiny disco ball continues to spin around. Music is replaced with loud, roaring, and screaming guests. Running around aimlessly to the exits. Confusion on where to go and what to do. People are creating mass panic of stampedes.

Gwen Kershaw is caught in the freaked-out crowd, trying to break free from being swept away. She shouts Red's first name, “Russell!" She roared. Her surroundings where so unbelievably spectacle, a reindeer guy clumsily falls back on the ceiling-floor, a young unconscious girl is being carried by a security officer, and two men got deafened to death for being near to a large boom box that exploded electrically.

Gwen's vision slowed down around her until she spotted a lion-man under a heavy girder spot light close to a wall, it claimed a lot of people crushed under it. “Russell!" She runs to it, shoveling others on her way.

Megan Swift, completely in shock, and couldn't find her friends in this destroyed darken room. She came across the huge girder and saw a struggling lion-man trying to lift the junk away. His legs were pinned under and couldn't lift it alone…until she saw a brown bear-man under it. The cheetah-girl screamed of recognition, “Oh, my god! Spencer!" She cried. She kneels to check, but his body, especially his neck, is pinned against the heavy steel. No signs of movements.

“Russell!" Gwen steps closer to Red. “Baby, are you okay?"

“Oh, Gwen! Help me! My legs are pinned!" He grunted. The two together took a strong grip on the girder. Simultaneously, they pull with all their strength. Red doesn't seem to be able to lift it with just only his arms and hands, neither for Gwen alone. Grunting and lifting it upwards doesn't budge well. “Damned it!"

“Help!" Gwen turns around and tried to get her attention. “Someone please!" She caught the eye of a Caucasian waitress running, she remembers her name tag, “Kacy!" She grabs her by the shoulders, “Please! Help me! I can't lift this." The waitress' face is bleeding on her right while trying to cover her wound with her bloody hand.

“We gotta go! We have to get to the lifeboats!" Kacy shouted, she was nowhere near like herself, she shakes her off and ran away in a panic with the others.

“Kacy! Don't go! Wait!" Gwen shouted but she was gone. She continues to find help and not too long she saw the cheetah-girl near with the other dead body under the girder. She sprints a few steps to her, “Can you help me? Please?" Gwen holds her by her shoulders.

“What?" Megan frighteningly said.

“I can't lift this by myself. Please, I need a hand, help me." She swiftly gestures the poor guy spared from death.

“Okay…okay…" She agreed.

“Megan!" Another voice appeared. The cheetah turns to it and saw Isaac and Clover running towards her. “Are you okay?"

“Please, help me here." Megan said. Pointing to the trapped lion-man. “They need our help."

“We cannot lift that!" Clover cried.

“Well, come on!" Isaac ordered. Dragging the beagle-girl with her. “We're gonna help them."

Gwen quickly came back with three extras. They each grabbed a hold and waited, “On three! One, two, three! Pull!" All five grunts into strength to lift the heavy girder.

“Oh, fuck! It's too heavy!" Shouted Clover; she's among the weakest of them.

Not even budging a few inches, it still lays there. They threw their air out and inhaled. “Again!" Isaac shouted. “One, two, three!!! Pull!!!" Even harder, they only made some groaning metallic sounds from the girder, implying of refusing to go anywhere. “Damn it!"

“It's useless, we can't lift this fucking junk!" Clover shouted. “I have to find Pricilla!"

“Clover, don't go!" Isaac ordered and grabbed her by the arm. “Don't go by yourself."

Clover caught sight of another beagle girl from a short distance already. “There she is, Isaac!" She shouted, “Pricilla! Over here!" But she's not responding.

Pricilla is waiting for Royce and Christine to climb out on the girder that gives a save passage to where she is. The two are surrounded with debris and running people; taking too long. “Hurry!" Pricilla shouted.

“Hurry, Christine!" Royce the lynx keeps his pace but the human girl is struggling to stand up. Every step she trips and tramples on her path, makes her fall on the ceiling-floor. Dangerously clumsy. “Get up!" Royce shouted. He doesn't know that she heavily bruised her right leg. It's weakening her walks.

“My leg hurts! I can't walk!" She cried in pain. Royce then holds her around the shoulder and marches towards Pricilla.

A stage light burst into explosive sparks; screaming the night-goers with fright in their faces. The sparks fly everywhere, affecting other electronic devices to burst into flames. Pricilla screamed, “Get out of there! It's forming a fire!" A flow of geyser sprinklers popped from the ceiling-floor, attacking the fire back. It wetted others including the human and the lynx. It was assuring to put out the fire but…

“AAAAAAHHHHH!!!"

A security officer screams in agony, body vibrating as epilepsy. Water mixing with loose cables spreads out anyone near in contact with the ceiling-floor. A woman falls into the puddle and wildly cries out. Royce and Christine run towards the escalating girder to Pricilla but another girder crashes right in front of them with sparks blinding their sight. Christine and Royce stood back and falls backwards into the puddle, screaming. Pricilla panics, calling their names and witnessing her friends' electrifying fate. Their bodies were reacting too much of volts that they cannot handle, reaching their limit to pop their hearts out. The burst out continues, another boom box explodes. Gwen, Red, Clover, Isaac, and Megan covers themselves from the electric explosions. Thousands of volts thundered every victim in literal shock. Crying out loud of agony.

Hissing silence, small sparks from loose cables ends, the girls huffing scared, and one grunting lion-man trying to move the junk pinned on him. “Come on! Move this thing! Now!" Red knocked the spotlight out of its base.

“We need something to leverage this!" Gwen said.

“No! Don't go anywhere!" Red ordered. Even grabbing her hand.

“Okay! Okay! We'll look for one! Alright?" Isaac said. He turns to Clover, “Get your cousin." Then turns to the lions, “We'll get you out and we'll get some help." He turns to Megan, “Stay here with them. I'll go look around."

“What did just happen here?" Megan whimpered.

Clover came back with a teared Pricilla with a concerned face, “Isaac, where are you going?"

“I'll be back, just wait here."

“No! Let me come with you!" Pricilla begged.

“You stay with Clover. I'm going to find something to free him." Isaac stated.

Isaac left the scene, leaving Megan, Pricilla, Clover and the two lions behind. Confused, disoriented, fear in their hearts, unbeknown to what had happened. Isaac doesn't even know on where to start and where to go and find something. They're completely isolated from what's left on this destroyed ship.

The ballroom survivors settled into calmness of their confusion by the fact they see the entire ship inverted by just looking the way the huge room is. Portia managed to keep her cool after her encounter with the dead body and casually walks through the mess, her green silk gown is stained with gravy and wine, and her blonde hair is all sticking out everywhere. She heard someone calling her name and proceed to find the source. The voice got closer and found the Rottweiler dog-man under a pile of chairs. “You okay?" She flatly said.

“Just help me and I'll tell you I'm okay!" Malcolm has one free hand and barely moves one seat. Portia picks up one heavy chair at the time and found Malcolm's other hand. She grabs his underarms and pull out of him. “Hah... Thanks, Portia…" Malcolm sighed.

“Don't be too relaxed." She quipped, “I think this boat is sinking."

“What the fuck happened? Everything fell over!" The Rottweiler said.

Ryder reunited with Kale after finding him near the collapsed staircases with just a couple of bruises on his face. The wolf-man could not stop holding the poor human dearly. Ricardo spots them there and realizing that they didn't left the ballroom after all.

“Ryder! Kale! You two okay?" Ricardo cried after a short jog, his knees where still sore after numerous failed balances in the barrel rolling. Almost to a point that he may have broken one of the two joints of his knees.

“We're okay, Rico…" Ryder assured.

Rico falls to his knees, feeling kind of weak and hurt, but relief. “What a ride." He sighed.

“Stephanie!" It was unusual for Jett to call his sister her full name as he preferably calls her as Steph for short. She still hasn't even bothered to notice it.

“Stephanie Rycroft!" Mrs. Rycroft shouts. “Where are you?"

“Stephanie!" Sylvester roared. “Where is she?" The three tigers had been searching their missing daughter/sister. Even Joshua, Sasha and Lionel are looking for her.

Every second they shout out her name with no response. Carolyn Rycroft is losing her hopes. Her frustrations are becoming in tears, “Sylvester, where she can be? We've looked everywhere!" She cried.

Rycroft holds her by the shoulders, “Calm down, Carolyn. She must be still somewhere."

“She must be buried underneath on something. She hasn't even responded when we call her name." Carolyn is reaching the edge of sobbing. Sylvester holds her close. “What this all mean?"

“We are not giving up, must keep looking." Sylvester said.

“Mom! Dad! Jett!" An echoing voice boomed around their ears.

Carolyn and Sylvester identified that girlish voice, they both look around in alert. “Stephanie?"

“Uh, Mom...Dad…" Jett's voice breaks down as he tries to get his parents' attention. His face got pale. Sylvester and Carolyn glances at their son as he points upwards… “She's up there."

“What…?" Both tigers confusedly look up the new ceiling, thick red carpet with lots of shreds from anyone who possessed claws, bolted tables hanging above and one is being occupied. A young tiger-girl's head is peering down under a table with both hands holding onto the edge of the table top. Resting on the inverted underside, she has the most unwanted view of her life. And not just the Rycrofts, the Parkinsons, and Kershaw looking upwards. More others curiously followed what was going on.

“Can anyone help me?" Stephanie shouted.

“Steph! How'd you get up there?" Jett shouted.

“Well, that's a stupid question!" She angrily roared. “Anyone has better ideas?"

“Are you hurt, Stephanie?" Lionel shouted.

“No…" She calmly replied.

“Don't worry, Stephanie! We'll get you down from there!" Lionel turns to the tiger couple. “She can't stay there too long."

“What are we gonna do?" Carolyn said. “We need something that she can jump into… I-I don't know…a tablecloth, something strong?"

“Exactly." The lion-man turns to the aft side of the room, a large orange curtain theater is almost sprawled like a paused cascade at sunset. Kershaw runs like a comeback firefighter hero to save day. His instincts are coming together on what to do in those precious seconds. Stops, and with his strong arms, pulls the orange curtain, popping every hook attached into it. He rolls the material into a ball and face at anyone who could volunteer. “I need some strong men! Right know!"

He comes back to where Stephanie is hanging and needs his attention. He orders to clear up anything on the new messy floor, anything that can obstruct the fall. Kershaw spreads open the curtain like a carpet and orders to everyone to grad a hold to it. Officer Snowdon volunteers when realizing what's going on, grabs a side. Zoey begged Killian to help and the two took a hold. Joshua, Sylvester, Jett, and Ryder, including Lionel and others followed, a total of 15 all gathered around into an almost circular shape of a trampoline.

“All right, Stephanie! Jump! We'll catch you!" The former fireman lion shouted.

The sight of heights was frightening. “I don't think I can…"

“You have to, honey." Her mother said. “You can't just stay up there."

“It's a cinch! Come on, Stephanie! Jump!" Little Sasha cried.

“Don't be afraid!" Her father said. “We'll catch you!"

“I can't do it!"

“Stephanie, I believe in you!" Jett shouted. “You can do it!"

Stephanie is now facing her only chance of safety. Almost in tears and hesitating, she slowly moves carefully, starting with her striped legs to over hang from the edge. Standing now in a sitting position and look scaredy down at the makeshift trampoline, the group lift it up higher or otherwise she could hit floor. The near rounded cloth was big enough to land without mistakes. This is the only thing at least that will break her fall.

“Ready, Stephanie?" Kershaw shouted. She nodded. “One… Two… Three!!!"

No holding back, closing her eyes, she thrust her arms away from the edge, pushing her body from the table and screamed. Her limbs spread out, feeling the wind on her back. She made sure to land on her bottom first to cushion her fall. Everyone saw her fall, others looked away in terror before she landed safely on the cloth. It all happened so quickly that Stephanie still has her eyes closed. Few people applauded. They lowered the curtain and she felt resting on the hard surface. She opened her eyes. “Mom!" She stands up towards her with tears finally out. Stephanie hugs her and follow her father and brother to even Mr. Kershaw. “Thank you so much!" She thanked to the lion-man. She even hugged little Sasha.

Through the darkness of the dead bodies of Hades' underworld that Poseidon had brought into catastrophe of everyone on the ship. Isaac explores the nightclub for anything that could work as a leaver to lift and free Russell from the heavy girder. Whatever what made the ship tip over, it really did a lot of casualties. Where he was now, is completely piled of lifeless bodies of humans and anthropomorphic beast-men. They were everywhere. People that were still alive, already left in a rush of panic. They were all full of pandemonium until it was too late for them to be saved. Isaac never saw hundreds of people dead in one single blow by the ship.

“Isaac?" He turns around startled on who it was, but was just Pricilla.

“Damn it, Pricilla! I told you to stay with Clover!" Isaac yelled.

“I don't want you to go alone! I'm sticking with you!" She barked him.

“Fine! But stay close!" Isaac ordered.

“Let's just go already!" She whined. “Others probably have left off the ship to the lifeboats. And I'm not leaving you behind."

“I'm afraid that's not gonna be possible, Pricilla." Isaac remarked. Pricilla asked why. “The ship's upside down and we're underwater. There's not a chance to reach the boats." He's definitely right. The lifeboats on deck seven are destroyed after the impact. Eighty feet under the waterline now. They're outside and impossible to escape. Even that deck is now flooded. No one can abandon ship at this rate.

“Oh, come on!" She whined.

Then Isaac hears something until they both look down at a moving corpse. A dark hand pierces between through the bodies that Pricilla screams out loud. Only when the entire arm seemed to struggle. Isaac let's go of his fear and shoves the heavy bodies off. Muffling and now a heavy cough until a head of a hyena-man popped out, catching his breath. Pricilla holds her chest together to keep her heart from pumping hard.

“Hah! Thank you… Thank you so much!" He huffed.

“Are you okay?" Isaac said.

The hyena-man tries to see what's his surroundings but all he saw was bodies… Bodies everywhere. “What… What the hell did you two do to all these people?" His breath reeks of alcohol. Pricilla's response was an exasperated disgust.

The mass crowd in the ballroom had all quieted down. The remaining crew had managed to keep calm the frightened passengers. The least injured helped the critical ones by the help of the only Doctor onboard. A few are at least experienced like Carolyn as she was a nurse back in her college days as an intern. It won't be too long until the survivors are asking for answers for what had just happened. As they are getting into a frenzy, the hotel manager Collins stands up on a chair. Security Officer Furlong whistles with his fingers in his mouth to get his attention.

“Attention everyone!" Nicolas Collins speaks. “Please, remain calm!"

“How dare you let this happen, mister?!" Portia Matthews yelled at Collins. “It almost got all of us killed!"

“What did just happen here? The ship's upside down!" Malcolm the Rottweiler yelled. Others followed rambling at the senior officer for answers.

Everyone looks at the human standing higher. “We're not exactly sure what happened here, but I assume that we were struck by what is known as a rogue wave. These waves are rare, unpredictable and lethal." He explained. The guest remained silence. Something rare, something unpredictable, and something lethal to destroy such a large ship. “They can reach over one hundred feet higher in the open ocean and enough to capsize the ship."

“What about rescue?" Someone else said.

“I'm getting to that," Collins started, “after the ship was struck, I can assure all of you, the emergency GPS locator beacons were launched immediately, so we're, at most, several hours from the rescue…" His statement causes a ranting riot, everyone speaking at once like questionnaires news reporters.

“Several hours!?"

“Are we sinking?"

“We have to get out of here!"

The ranting continues until Collins raised his hand and everyone quieted down. “Please, do yourselves a favor: follow the directions of my crew and officers and stay calm. This room is like a giant air bubble. The ship is also equipped with watertight bulkhead doors that can prevent gas leaks, fire, and importantly; flooding. I suggest all of you stay here and wait for rescue. Help is on the way."

The polar bear-man officer, while listening, he picks up a plastic plaque that came loose from a wall somewhere. It shows a single deck plan of deck 6 and a silhouetted shape of the two-funneled ocean liner with black-and-white stripes for each deck and the deck they are in, in blue. The deck plan shows where they are; in the ballroom but specifically the second level of the room. He draws his fingernail claw on the drawn ship and traces it through the striped lines of every decks to the now out of limits to passenger areas, stopping his nail-claw to what seems to be the ship's bulbous bow. There's no time to lose, thought Snowdon.