Chapter 14
Regulus' eyes fell on a fire axe hanging in a small box on the wall.
The young man was not an expert, but that would get the handcuffs off, wouldn't it?
He broke the glass with his elbow, grabbed the axe and ran back to the small staircase.
There he stopped for a moment. The water had risen very sharply in his absence and had partly reached the ceiling.
"Oh, my God," Regulus murmured.
He removed his jacket and life jacket and took the first few steps until he reached the water.
He carefully leaned forward, grabbed one of the pipes on the ceiling. With one hand he shimmied himself down the hallway to the office where James was trapped.
In front of the door, he let himself fall completely in the water, which went up to his waist here.
He waited back in the room. James had meanwhile climbed onto the desk and was holding on to the pipe.
"Will this work?" Regulus asked, holding the axe up.
"I guess we'll find out. Come on."
James positions the chain connecting the two cuffs, stretching it taut across the steel pipe. Of course, the chain is noticeably short, and his exposed wrists are on either side of the pipe.
Regulus stepped closer and raised his axe to sever the chain.
"Wait, wait, wait," James said. "Try a couple practice swings over there."
The other young man walked up to the wooden cabinet and hacked a hole in the door with his axe.
"Good. Now try and hit the same mark again, Reggie," James said. "You can do it."
Regulus banged on the door again. Unexpectedly, he kicked the mark again.
"Wow, okay– what?" James stammered.
"I'm pretty good at throwing knives," Regulus explained, shrugging. "Good marksmanship."
"Really? You didn't tell me that."
"James, would you like to talk about this now?" Regulus replied, raising an eyebrow.
Of course, Regulus hadn't told the young man that he could throw knives. His Mother did not like it when he talked about it— knife throwing wasn't appropriate.
His father only allowed it until he was 16 and 'grown up'.
"Right, sorry," James said.
Regulus stepped closer to James once more. He raised the axe and-
"Wait," stopped James Regulus. "Open your hands up a little more."
Regulus adjusted his grip on the axe. James nodded, Regulus swung the axe and cut the chain in half.
"You did it!"
James, still perched on the desk, hugged Regulus. The younger man automatically wrapped his arms around James.
Both needed that brief hug at that moment. Now they could escape together.
"Come on. Let's go."
James jumped off the desk and into the freezing water with Regulus.
"Oh shit, this is cold! Oh, shit!"
"I know Sherlock," Regulus commented.
James smiled briefly as the two men waited across the room.
They stopped at the door. The stairs and their way out were completely under water.
"This is the way out," Regulus explained.
James looked the way Regulus had come and then the other.
"We have to find another way. Come on," James said and together with Regulus he went in the other direction.
~~~~
"This way, please. All the way down here," said a steward. "Here!"
The man was about to lead some passengers through the aisles. He was distracted when someone pounded on a door from the other side near to him.
The steward stepped closer as and Regulus burst through the door.
"What do you think you're doing?" He addressed the two.
James and Regulus ignored him. They looked around him. The aisle was still full of people. James recognized the aisle; they were in third–class.
"You'll have to pay for that, you know."
The steward followed them a few steps as the two men just walked on.
"That's White Star Line property."
"Shut up!" James and Regulus said at the same time.
~~~~
James and Regulus kept walking until she stood by a large group of people and tried to get out, but the grate was locked, and the crew members would not let them out.
"Get them back from those gates! Don't touch the gates!"
One of the crew members aimed a small handgun at the group, who just wanted the gate to open.
"For God's sake, man there are women and children down here!" Tommy tried. "Let us up so we can have a chance!"
"Get back!"
Tommy stepped back and squeezed past the others down the stairs.
"James!"
"Tommy!"
"Can we get out?" James inquired.
"It's hopeless that way."
"Whatever we do, we've got to do it fast," Regulus said and James nodded.
"James!"
A shiver ran down James' spine, and not in a good way. James had hoped, no prayed, that she was long safe.
"Lily!"
The young man hugged his best friend. For once, she wore her hair down.
"What are you still doing here? You should be in one of the lifeboats."
"Well, the boats are all gone," Lily said.
She noticed Regulus and nodded to him. She was really happy to see him but did not feel like smiling.
Neither does Regulus. The young man nodded back.
Yep, the two will become good friends.
"This whole place is flooding. We've gotta get out of here," James said.
"There is nothing this way," Lily explained.
James thought for a moment. Now he had to put Regulus and Lily in a lifeboat, he thought. He didn't know that Regulus had spoken to Remus recently.
"Let's go this way, all right? Come on!"
The young man grabbed Lilly's and Regulus' hand and with Thommy they ran in the other direction.
The four of them ran down the third–class hallway, looking for one of the other stairs that led upstairs.
"This way!"
"Just go back to the main stairwell. And everything will be sorted out there."
The group reached one of the smaller stairs, where passengers were also waiting to be let out.
"It will all get sorted out back there. Go back to the main stairwell," said the steward.
James and Lily squeezed past the others.
"Open the gate!" Said the young man.
"Go back down the main stairwell," the steward repeated.
James and Lily looked at each other. Why did they do that? If they didn't open those damn bars, everyone here would die.
Was the life of the third-class passengers worth something nothing.
"Open the gate right now!" Lily said commandingly.
But the steward did not react to that, instead he repeated himself once more.
"Go back down the main stairwell, like I told you."
"We're all going to die if they don't let us out," Regulus tried.
James looked at him. He hadn't noticed Regulus standing next to him. But he didn't listen to Regulus either.
"Please-"
"Goddamn it!" James hissed.
"Son of a bitch!" Lily screamed at the same time and shook the bars.
"Stop that!"
James pulled his best friend away from the bars. He squeezed past the others with Lily again, only then did he let go of Lily.
James' eyes fell on the small wooden bench against the wall and then he had an idea. He walked towards the bench and tried to dislodge it from its anchorage.
"Reggie, Tommy, give me a hand here."
Regulus looked at James in amazement and he also liked that side of James, his bossy side. He shook his head and moved to help James.
Even James' best friend was amazed.
Lily had never seen James so determined and she had known him since they were children. The two of them have never been in a life-threatening situation.
Lily saw what James was up to and made the other passengers move out of the way.
"Move aside," she drew the attention of the others and pushed the others against the wall. "Move aside. Quickly, move aside!"
Meanwhile, the three men tore the small wooden bench from its anchorage.
"Put that down!" the steward ordered.
The three men picked up the bench and stood in front of the bars.
"Move aside!" Lily warned once more and joined the others against the wall.
"Put that down!", the steward tried again.
He hadn't moved an inch while his colleagues fled.
"One! Two!" James counted. "Three!"
James, Regulus and Tommy ran onto the grate. It bent but didn't break.
"Again!"
The men rammed the bench against the grating a second time and this time it broke.
James climbed over the bench first. Then Regulus helped Lily over the bank and then climbed over it himself.
"Now, let's go!" James said.
"Let's go," Regulus confirmed.
"You can't go up there!" the steward complained as the passengers passed him. "You can't do this!"
As Tommy walked past the man, he punched the steward in the face.
~~~~
James, Regulus, Lily, and Tommy stepped out onto the sun deck. It was chaos. Everyone - male or female - tried to get into one of the other lifeboats.
James looked around and he couldn't see any lifeboats anymore.
"There are no boats here."
"I'll see if there are any boats on the other side," Tommy explained.
The young man turned and ran.
"Tommy, wait," Regulus called behind him, but the other man didn't hear him anymore – it was too late.
Regulus turned to Lily and James.
"I know where we can find a place," Regulus said.
"What? What do you mean?" Lily probed.
Regulus briefly told the two that he had just spoken to Remus, who was helping with his brother to fill a lifeboat.
"- Remus said he would try to wait for us as long as possible. Maybe the boat is still there."
Regulus hoped so. He didn't know how much time had passed since then. Were the 10 minutes already over? Probably, but it was worth a try.
Even if the boat were still there, neither he nor James would get on if there were women and children here on the ship.
"You're only telling us now?" James asked.
"Oh, sorry. I had so much time – oh no, wait, I didn't," Regulus replied, crossing his arms over his chest.
"Reggie, I-"
"Guys we don't have time for that now," Lily whispered to her best friend. "So, where's the lifeboat?"
Regulus looked around. He remembered where the lifeboat was where his mother was sitting and, correspondingly, where the lifeboat was where his brother was sitting.
"Follow me."