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<12/17/1971 ~ 04:49 | Atlantic Ocean ~ International Waters, Tidal Max>
"Hmm! Five more minutes," Taylor groaned. Ignoring the mild turbulence she presumed to be someone shaking her to wake, Taylor held her eyes shut tighter, hoping it was just her imagination.
Taylor's small rambling in her sleep was followed by the sound of a clunk! She felt something slide onto the top of her head, and immediately came to her senses, realizing something wasn't right. Her bag managed to slide onto her head, and some of her items were now rolling out to the wooden floor. But what was she doing on the floor instead of her mattress?
"Huh?" Taylor repeated. She pushed herself upright and took a look around the room, easy to see with a dim night light. It was a little messier than before, but Danny was still in his mattress sound asleep. Something about the entire cruise was off, more like the total orientation. There was some swaying left and right, though slow and subtle. The entire ship must be rocking on waves, but since it is so big, it happens so slowly.
Rocking on waves was typical for a vessel in the center of the ocean, but for the force to knock her onto the floor with her things was a bit much. Taylor didn't want to chance that whatever was going on was no big deal, and she woke Danny from his sleep. Somehow, that was even harder to do than it was for her. "Danny. Danny! Come on." Taylor kept pushing him in his bed, rocking him left and right, but it was almost no use. "Danny, wake up!" With one final smack to the face, Danny's eyes opened up. He sat up quickly while covering his face, perhaps too fast since he nearly hit his head on one of the bunk bed bars.
"What the hell Taylor? That's my new alarm clock now?" Danny's voice was a bit hoarse, though he managed to come to his senses swiftly. Sadly, he didn't seem to notice the swaying of the ship as swiftly as Taylor wanted him to.
Taylor was not in a patient mood. Whatever was happening outside to the ship must be powerful enough to rock a boat of this size over and over. "You need to get up. Something's wrong."
Danny developed a murky expression that told Taylor she might be crazy, raising one eyebrow as a symbol for question mark. "Don't tell me you woke me up over a few waves." He could sense it too, the mild swaying of the orientation of the room, something any normal vessel would do in a noisy ocean, so he assumed. "Go back to sleep, I beg of you."
"These waves can't be as gentle as you say. The force of it threw me out of bed."
"That or a bad nightmare," he presumed at a whisper. Before Danny got the chance to lay down like before, Taylor fought him on his carefree attitude, shoving him enough to get his attention.
Holding the pen that fell from her bag up again, Taylor gently set the utensil on the ground with the cap off while Danny was watching. It was only two seconds until the pen began rolling quickly, hiding somewhere under Danny's bed. "See? If the waves are no big deal, why is everything so unstable?"
Before Danny could reassure her that this was normal, Taylor's handbag followed the pen, as the ship listed to the right more than what either of them were used to. Even in Danny's mind, while this wasn't cause for alarm, it was at least unusual, unusual enough to believe Taylor did roll out of bed with help of the storm. A massive storm outside would be the only logical explanation, however, Taylor won't accept this on its face. "Okay. Say I do believe you. It could just be that there's a rough storm out there. Want to go see what's going on?" Danny was only mildly interested, but if Taylor could just assure herself that everything was fine, she would go back to bed in one more yawn.
"It's not a bad idea," Taylor suggested. As soon as they both prepared to exit from their dormitory, the announcement bell dinged twice, and the captain raised the intercom.
"This is Captain Sterold speaking. Attention all passengers and crew: We are currently suffering the disorientation involved in an unforeseen thunderstorm. A light emergency has been declared, and all passengers are hereby grounded to your quarters until further notice. Nobody is to leave their rooms to access anywhere else of the Tidal Max until we have finished navigating out of the storm. Do not panic, as course corrections have already been made. And to clarify, the outside deck is strictly off limits to all crewmembers aboard this ship. That is all."
Taylor and Danny processed that message from their captain. What Taylor had predicted was exactly the case, only they higher ups were making it sound like a small deal. Taylor fought against the urge to stay in her own cabin. She has never been good being cramp up in situations like this. "That doesn't sound too good. We need to take a look."
"But the captain said—"
"I heard what the captain said," Taylor interrupted. "I mean we need to know how bad that storm is, without going outside." Taylor opened the door from her cabin room despite the orders given to her. This time, Danny was not complaining at all. He even shut up long enough to try and follow her.
Just when Taylor walked out of the room, Danny followed her from the side, and they both began looking around. They would have a long way to go before accessing a single window from anywhere, the nearest being the domical window attached to one of the many bulkhead doors up a couple of floors of stairs. Taylor wasn't going near the main common areas, since she didn't want to get in trouble for disobeying orders with her nervous curiosity. Danny already presumed exactly which vantage point Taylor would be heading for, and kept calm knowing she would calm down with enough time and information.
Was Taylor really afraid of big storms? Danny couldn't be certain, but it was clear enough that she was jumpy from the situation, and this meant one thing. Danny knew she'd poke around until she was 100% sure what was really going on. It's in her nature; Taylor's best method of keeping herself level-headed is to learn as much as possible or to reassure herself that everything is as it should be. As far as Danny was concerned, a storm is just a storm, nothing to get this excited about.
In came a jinx meant to challenge his very thought; an unexpected power outage. Since the lights in the halls and everywhere else were the only things lighting up this part of the interior, everything became pitch black.
Taylor instinctively shrieked from the surprise, but then they both came to the realization that the absence of light was just the absence of power. The Tidal Max is supposed to have a backup generator system that will kick in emergency power any second now, but Danny felt it was best to help Taylor out in this mess. "Calm yourself Taylor! It's just a power outage..."
"I knew that."
"The why'd you scream?" Danny pressured.
Sensing a poor attempt to tease her, she told Danny, "Cause it surprised me... I can't see a thing!" Challenging her own statement, the flickering evanescent light of the storm peaked in from above. Just a few stairs away was one of many bulkhead doors Taylor wanted to pry her eyes through in the first place. With the following boom of thunder, they both had their answer.
"You see? Exactly as the captain said. One big thunderstorm, a little rattling here and there, a power outage, and you're as freaked out as a five-year-old."
"I'm not freaked out you big idiot! I just wanted to see how bad the storm was." Taylor didn't have an easy time reassuring herself with the power to the cruise still totally out, darkening the area around them. With another flash of lightning, she could see Danny creeping up the stairs, slow enough not to hurt himself. "What are you doing now?"
"Seeing how big this storm is, since you're so interested. Come on, there's nothing to be afraid of." Danny thought to himself whether Taylor was always this fearful of storms and darkness, or if it was merely her exhaustion catching her at the wrong time. Without much of a fight, he noticed the girl following slowly behind him.
It was only twenty stairs to the bulkhead door. These reinforced metal hunks separated the whole outside world from the interior of the ship, so much that the noise of the rain was muffled into a gentle hum of brown noise. It was almost soothing; the ambience would have been serene if it weren't for the anxiety flowing in their blood.
Before they could say another word, the outside view from the window lit up again, but this time with a different radiance of light which neither have ever seen before. Amidst the bellowing flashes of light and thunder, glowing green pulsations of light painted most of the immediate interior of the room with its aura. The glowing light held its intensity, flicking slightly without burning out, its source and composition mysterious and captivating.
Taylor couldn't understand what that green light was on the other side, though she didn't have the best view with Danny hogging the only spot he would view it best. "What is that light out there? I've never seen something like that before."
As the glaze from the outside became stronger, Danny lost what sense and words he had for the elegance dazzling his mind. The mysterious glowing unison of magic was beautiful as it was terrifying. Something like this shouldn't be terrifying to him, but the enigma unraveling around him made his skin crawl with the defying scenes too real to ignore.
"Danny? What is it? Danny?" Taylor could make out the expression on his face thanks to the brightening glow from outside, and it was an expression she'd never seen on him before. His arms were shaking, his lips quaking, as if he had seen thousands of ghosts just on the other side of this door.
An irrational impossibility took over every natural thought process of his mind, as Danny became locked inside this cold metal room he never recognized before. Surrounding him were several human-sized capsules and fluid pipes running in mazes to hidden adjacent rooms. The most terrifying view of it all was the glowing green fluid trapped behind the glass, a fluid with the same green glow in the night, the same terrifying energy he knew in his heart all along.
Singing the same tune as his shaken core, foreign thoughts of his own voice rippled and echoed out before him, certainties about this light which were established in memory, yet missing from time.
image [https://ia800302.us.archive.org/27/items/lw-allenergyscopes/{S7}_Textbox_2-B.png]
"You better not be messing with me again!" Taylor only hoped it was the truth, with how strange he was acting suddenly. The green reflecting off his eyes revealed to her what strange trance Danny was stuck in, and as she waved her arms in front of his eyes, nothing about his sudden condition seemed to change. Taylor risked a glance out the same window since she was now close enough too, and as mystical as this glowing green hue was, she wasn't zombified by its brilliance the same way Danny was.
Even in the pitch black darkness of his surrounds, a place Danny sank into with the unknown weight jostling his consciousness, the magical hue from just outside this door was all he could register. With his hands still shaking nervously, he put his right on the handle of the door, as if to contemplate opening it to the outside.
"Wait, you can't mean to go out there. It's too dangerous to see what that light is in person." Danny didn't seem to be listening. Ordinarily, he would never get this door to open, since the advanced mechanical designs creates a digital locking mechanism sealing the door tight. The issue is, when the main power to the door is cut, this locking mechanism is inert, and backup power hasn't kicked in to stop Danny from what he was about to do.
Struggling his thoughts into fragmented whispers of pain, Danny started to understand all that was around him again, but he wasn't leaving his trance. If anything, he felt evermore compelled to discover what this mystery light was, why it was overwhelmingly familiar. "The properties are the same. I've felt this heat. I know the truth!"
With a light slap to his face, Taylor shouted to his ears, hoping he would give it a rest with the teasing tonight. "You're going to start making sense now. I don't want to know what the light is that badly. Please, let's go back to our rooms." As Taylor tried to tug Danny's right arm from the door away, he fought back, still entranced by the light.
"Find out the truth! See for yourself!" Even though he had no idea where these external thoughts were coming from, the compelling desire to acquaint himself with a broken memory was more overpowering than Taylor's distress, but it also brought him back to his sense, just enough to have more awareness of what he was actually doing. "That isn't some normal search light. I have to know what it is." And apparently I've felt it before? The logic didn't have to make sense to him, his very actions partly controlled by something otherworldly, with answers just on the other side. Against the wishes of his friend, Danny used both hands, adjusting his strength and angle to properly open the bulkhead door, totally unlocked without the power flowing to the security panel.
"Don't do it you idiot!" Taylor went completely ignored, and Danny rushed through the door, unfazed by the sudden rushing winds of nature or by the slight tilt of the cruise. Out on the side of the deck, piercing rain pelleted the metal hull with such force that the sound drowned out Taylor's continued protest, so she swiftly followed him outside.
Finally giving into this requirement to know what was calling to him, Danny tilted his gaze upwards, catching just the faintest glint of this glowing magical light, before it suddenly vanished without a trace. It was visible long enough to know it was there, but its darkening absence left behind a hole inside him, one just as familiar as the memory or dream he thought back to, one that made no sense, one that shouldn't exist in the first place.
At the same time, the absence of this light brought Danny to full revelation, his own control restored with the mysterious pull of amplified curiosity removed. "The light's gone!"
Even when he was screaming his voice through the rain, the showering sound diluted everything too greatly. "What?!" Taylor knew she had to yell even louder, since she did not hear Danny too well in the first place.
Still, hearing Taylor's voice behind him in this cold shower snapped the sense back into him. Turning around, Danny came to terms with his own actions; Taylor and himself were standing on the most dangerous part of the ship in a most gruesome storm. The thought of being thrown off this ship was terrifying in its own right, but the fear of being locked out was much greater, as it was more likely. "We really shouldn't be out here!"
"Ya think?! You're the one who led us out here!"
"Let's just get back inside." Danny noticed that he only ventured about thirty feet from the opened door, the hint of lightning illuminating the watery mess flooding into that part of the interior. Before he could move more than an inch, the floodlights on the exterior section of the cruise suddenly blasted on at full power. It was suddenly easy to see in this vacuum of darkness, but this also created one larger problem for the two.
"Noooo!" Danny realized the issue a moment too late, as the door shut on its own accord, and with axillary power restored, the locking mechanism fully engaged, according to the lock-down orders the captain gave. Slamming his fist on the door with Taylor cursing at him from behind, Danny tried everything he could to get the door open again, his effort fruitless. "Dammit!" Danny aggressively pounded on the door with his defeat. It was more than enough to signal to Taylor just how screwed they were.
"I told you this was a bad idea! I can't believe you got us locked out!" She didn't know what to make of him anymore. Did Danny really run outside like that out of mere curiosity, or has he gone mad? The boy had already proven to be an idiot in the past, but this takes the cake!
Danny could hear his friend yelling at him, but through all of the noises from the wind speed brushing through his ears and the echoing rush of raindrops bouncing off metal infinitely, he barely had enough sense to make out what was being said. Since the rain had been picking up speed, the droplets felt sharper too, digging into his skin. Against his logical plans, Danny began pounding on the door over and over again non-stopped. "Hey! Is anybody in there?! You've gotta let us in! Let us in!"
"Pounding on the door isn't going to work, egg head. It's soundproof remember?"
"Why did you follow me outside then? Why did we both have to wind up locked out here?"
Clenching her dripping fists with the fury Danny rightfully deserved, Taylor held back on punching his face on, trying to come up with any better ideas. "We should try a door closer to the frontal deck! The admins might notice us there!"
"That's a long way over there Taylor!" Danny felt the fear in his own vice, crippling what hope there was to be had. The tilting of the cruise was steadily becoming much worse than before. In their current spot, losing balance wouldn't lead to a tiny bump or bruise with all the structures around; but if they trek it to the forward section of the cruise, there will be a lot less to break any sudden falls. "Look, just stick together - follow me closely. I'll find us a way back inside."
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
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Chapter Theme Shift: Mako Reactor 1 ~ FFVII Remake HD OST
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<05:10>
In agreement, Danny led himself and Taylor around the corner, passing by the many tied-down obstructions in the way. Their footing was cautious and careful. The pouring rain on the tilted deck was dripping down to the left side, mitigating some of the flooding. In short of another minute, Danny and Taylor suddenly found themselves being blown hard in the face by 60 mile per hour winds, pelleting water drops into their skin and stopping their movement.
In his pause, Danny's mind raced with the conundrum he was stuck in, uncertain which option was the worse of the two. He could turn around right now, attempting to head to the furthest rear section of the deck. It was a much further distance away, though the door in the back would be the only one with a totally different locking mechanism, possibly their only hope. On the other hand, he could try to get the attention from someone in the bridge from the outside, if could just make it there.
Taylor and Danny both instinctively covered their faces in discomfort, holding position as moving felt too dangerous. They began panning around for any spot they could take cover in, even if to find stability, maybe even wait out this storm. The thought of bunkering down on the side of any obstacle bolted into place became priority, but the moment Danny tried setting just one foot forward, Danny's foot ended up hydroplaning through the water, just as the cruise's tilt shifted rightward. The distortions caused him to fall on his back, bringing Taylor down with him since she was standing in front.
Because he was now unstable and carried by the running water with nothing to hang on to, there was little time to recover from the forced slide against the metal deck. Danny was being shoved against his own power down towards one of the edge rails of the ship, where the cruise was tilting further, continuing this shift beyond normal operation.
Taylor was screaming in fear as she was being dragged down, uncertain of what was happening anymore. It took a while for her to notice that she was sliding on her stomach down towards the edge of the deck, where the ship was swaying down on its starboard side. Danny was falling too, but he was on his back for a moment until he got enough control to shift around more. While in a position to see their inability to hold onto the floor, neither of them were going to recover, the incoming rail being their only hope if they don't slam into it too hard.
All the evidence of this unprepared storm came crashing down when a couple of smaller storage units broke open, spilling the slipping contents down with the two teens. Various object began flying or bouncing with Danny and Taylor, including one of many small yet sturdy inner-tubes designed to hold the weight of only one. Danny was lucky not to be bumped in the head by any of them as they hurled on by.
Even though Danny was about to hit the edge railing at full force from his slide, he attempted to grab on to Taylor. Taylor saw what he was trying to do, and gave him her hands to latch onto. Terrified of a bad situation becoming much worse, all the world became focused, his muscles put to the test when the inertia shift nearly flipped both of them over the top edge of the rails. "Don't let go!" Danny shouted after grabbing Taylor's hands as a support anchor.
Danny's legs smacked against the rail first, stopping his descent without much of a problem, but when Taylor's added force transferred their momentum, Danny tumbled down even further, breaking the plastic seal on the only guard protecting them from falling into the ocean. Everything happened so fast while they both lost control of the ability to stay on the ship as it tilted against them, pushing them towards the sea. Without much control, Danny's body was slipping off under the edge of the rail, and now Taylor was joining him.
Danny wanted to tell her that he would not let that happen, but his words got trapped inside of his mouth when he calculated as much. His legs were now about to be the only force left in him hanging on, and before it even got to that point, another rushing wave of a powerful gust of wind helped him slide off the edge through the broken part of the under-rail. He could grab onto the metal bar above him, but that would mean letting go of Taylor for just a split second, something he refused to even try. Then, another gust of wind blew Taylor back like a pendulum in Danny's tired arms, his hands separating from Taylor's. He intentionally let go of the rail as soon as he noticed Taylors lost grip followed with a whirling scream muffled in the heavy rain. Now, neither of them had anything else to land on while falling to the waters below.
Danny started his long descent towards the open waters with one of the loudest masculine screams he had ever bothered to let out. He felt the increased air friction on his body as he was flailing towards the sea. The cruise was right in front of him, but just out of reach to touch. Though if he got any closer, he could have hit his head on something solid on the way down too. Bracing himself for the impact, Danny plumed into the water below to descend about ten feet under. Despite the day starting so warm, the depths of the ocean water were chilling and cold. Danny surfaced as fast as he could kicking his arms and feet around, holding his breath until then.
As soon as Danny pulled his face above the water and started swimming, he suddenly felt the fighting force of the powerful waves in the oceans, coming in multiple unpredictable directions. Some of the waves managed to score some of the salt water down his throat, immediately creating a scratchy, burning sensation there. Other waves bounced him around in multiple directions, making it more difficult to stay surfaced.
Taylor heard the splash Danny's body made just after surfacing herself, and braced herself for her the worst water ride. She had already fallen off just about two seconds before watching Danny fall down into the water. Danny didn't seem to notice that Taylor was in the ocean nearby him, not until they accidentally bumped into each other from their jostling.
Danny saw Taylor struggling just as much as he was, but seeing anything was difficult right now because of the darkness outside. Now they were both drowning in the middle of the ocean, and he knew exactly whose fault this was. "Keep swimming Taylor!"
With encouragement, Taylor kept her spirits up despite the severity of the storm. All she had to do was keep kicking and paddling. Much of the big waves submerged her face into the water anyway, but she was at least not going to die in the next ten seconds. Still, this was the scariest moment she had to face yet. Where's the way out?
Taylor was distracted about the same thing Danny was distracted by. He was staring in defeat at the Tidal Max, the cruise that used to be their ride just a few seconds ago. Now it was already several hundred meters away from them, heading in the opposite direction away. It's main power and engines must have just kicked in to get that far... Or maybe a rip tide was pulling them away.
"Taylor! Grab my hands!" Danny made sure to stay with Taylor. The waves here would separate them both if they were not careful, and Taylor had no complaints about that at all. Both interlocked and swimming together, Danny was trying to think of a way out of this mess.
"What do we do?!" Taylor pleaded.
Danny needed to think of the next move. "We can't swim in this storm! Just keep paddling until it leaves!"
"Great plan," Taylor muttered to herself. She and Danny were both going to die here; the only way to salvation was far out of reach. Though Taylor had trouble seeing anything, she still caught a fleeting glimpse of the Tidal Max cruise, leaving far away, and Danny, the boy she was holding onto was barely visible either. Only his face was surfaced above the waves just as hers was, but she could only make out the outline of a form. Darkness from the angry clouds overhead removed visibility from everything. Taylor kept swimming fiercely just to stay above the water, the same as Danny was doing.
Another moment of luck smacked Danny in the back of the head as he complained. Turning around to see, Danny noticed the floating tub of air, jostling around in the sea with them. Denying no bit of help, Danny used his free arm to grab the life-saver, barely buoyant as an ordinary buoy they use at beaches. "Taylor! Don't let go of me, but grab on to this thing. Don't let the waves carry it off!" This thing was too small to be the one of the official industrial life-savers onboard, and the currents already engaged a battle to rip the device away from his grasp. If he could just hold onto this thing, he wouldn't have to kick for his life just to avoid drowning, though that's only if they don't cap-size first.
Taylor did as she was told, housing no arguments with the only option in front of her. For the next fifteen minutes, she played Marco-polo with Danny, using each other's responses to ensure that they both were okay. Danny's hands did not let go of Taylor's for a second.
"Polo!" Danny cried over the high-speed winds roaring across the waves.
"Marco!" Taylor's response was almost immediate, but after kicking her legs non-stopped for so long, she was getting exhausted. It was safe to assume that Danny was having a similar dilemma.
In only another minutes, the situation changed when an eerie loss of sound was noticed by both. The chaotic waves around them were still going strong, but not nearly as bad as it was a moment ago. Additionally, the rain which plagued every inch of their attention was totally absent now, the ocean alone singing its song without the crushing white noise. Thunder still cluttered the airspace with booms, but the storm itself was beginning to let up. There were a couple of lightning bolts here and there, but even without the flash to brighten everything up for a short-lived moment, it started to get a little bit brighter than before overall.
They managed to stay afloat with passive kicking underneath, holding this buoy and each other for safety. Their drenched clothing weighed much more than before, and Taylor didn't want to contemplate whether she could have stayed swimming without it. Impossible! Danny's plan actually worked out!
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Chapter Theme Shift: Winds of Svartur ~ Dark Horizon OST
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Taylor knew it already, but she wanted to say it aloud anyway. "The storm's letting up!" From the edge of the clouds, some parts of the clear sky were distinguishable even in the dark time of the morning, but now there was nothing around them for miles, nothing but more ocean and waves, so it seemed.
Danny was glad to know that some of his luck had changed thus far. "That's good." He tried to think of a way out of the middle of the ocean, but he had no idea where to begin searching. "If we can just find land, we can swim over to it."
"There isn't any place to go for miles!" Taylor corrected. Though she was still holding on to Danny's arms tightly, it almost seemed pointless since the wind was now dying down too.
Danny scanned in all directions for a hint of anything, uncertain of where they could possibly be. Even the Tidal Max would have been nice to spot by now, but that was already impossible for a number of reasons. With another random pulse of light emanating from another lightning bolt high in the clouds, Danny's entire field of view spanned out for a short second, and then the light faded again. This time he clearly saw something in the distance, the same directional area he was staring at when that lightning went off. There was something there! It was a bit tall; could have been a rock, a delta, or even a cliff top of something; whatever it was did not belong to the ocean itself. Excited about his discovery, Danny announced to Taylor the possible good news. "Taylor! I saw something!"
"What?! Where?!" Taylor suddenly decided to let go of Danny's arms, allowing her to move around more freely and search her surroundings. Taylor twirled everywhere in the water, kicking in place in the softer waters.
Danny grabbed her hand again and tugged in the direction he wanted to go. "It's this way. It looks like some kind of cliff or a rock of some kind." Using the ring buoy to save some energy, Danny angled himself towards the direction he remembered, kicking harder to gain some speed.
"How does that save us if we can't be sure it is land, or an island?"
Danny reassured her without hesitation. "Well for one, it get us out of the water. If it is land, it could still be an entire island. And if it's not, we can rest there to figure this out later. Let's go."
Taylor was being tugged before she could even start swimming, but she was able to think more clearly, since the absence of the previous storm allowed the water to feel warmer; or perhaps it was just Taylor's skin adjusting to the difference in temperature. She did not know where the spec of land was, or how far it would be. "How far away is it?"
Danny had to take a wild guess on this one. He only saw what he saw for a flash of a second, but it did not appear to be that far in distance. Based on how wide the possible landscape was, the distance being so close could have been an illusion? Maybe a mile. "A mile," he answered.
Taylor really did not want to swim another inch. Her legs were sore and aching all over, but with the possibility of land ahead, she was not going to chance staying there in the water, so she joined up with Danny's pace of swimming.
Right now, Taylor could not see anything in the direction where Danny was swimming, but she could still see him. That was something she counted on. It was getting slightly brighter out, an indication that sunlight was just off shore somewhere, if there was a shore.
For the next ten minutes, Danny and Taylor swam in that singular direction, occasionally singing Marco and Polo to make sure they were both near each other. Danny had a hard time lifting his head to check for anything again, so he kept his face level with the water to avoid unnecessary strains. That was when he suddenly noticed that his foot just kicked something, down beneath him. He tried again to plant his feet, and noticed that he was actually standing on something while in the water. It was sand! Or what passes for dirty ocean sediment.
Taylor was right behind Danny when she finally managed to make out the very tall and gigantic cliff that was reported earlier. It really was there, and the cliff was part of the land itself. "I see it!"
"Land ho!" Excited to be out of the dangerous ocean, Danny quickly dashed further in towards the land, when he noticed the large cliff above him. It was made almost entirely out of rock, and stood at about 500 feet high. After glancing behind him to see that Taylor was now walking in the water just the same, his hopes and confidence built itself back up. This may not be paradise, but now they could at least rest and relax some more.
Taylor followed Danny until the both of them ended up standing on the shore, where there was no water and waves pushing them around. Once they were both out of the water, Danny collapsed into the ground as his way of pursuing some rest. Taylor knew that he was fine, and she decided to join him in doing nothing for a while.
Her legs ached, her stomach churned, and her head was beginning to hurt. It was only an hour ago or so since she woke up from a nice long rest, but now it seemed like she would be needing another one soon. "We made it." Taylor could not speak fairly due to her heavy breathing.
Danny was breathing as quickly, but both of them were suddenly relaxed. In total agreement, they remained still to allow regeneration. With their stamina lower than before, what choice did they have? At least it was not raining anymore.
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<05:52>
Whatever kind of deserted island this was, the name for it sure fit the description. Danny did not even know if this was an island. All he could tell was that a very tall and wide rocky wall was obstructing whatever was on the other side. It could just be more ocean, but it could also be a surprise arsenal of food and fresh water from a spring. That would be rather convenient.
Taylor was counting the time. Barely saying a word to Danny, she counted for twenty uninterrupted minutes while recovering in the sand. Much to her surprise, some of that incoming water from the waves of the ocean managed to seep all the way to her shoes, which were already soaked anyway. She sat up to discover the reason for getting wet again, and the tide from the ocean seemed to be coming their way slowly.
Taylor looked back behind her, at the very large wall in the way. Then she panned her eyes elsewhere, looking to see if there was any way to walk around the cliff, but there was no such route available, at least not from this location. The cliff was basically a circular wall covering the other side, making it virtually impossible to walk around or swim around. They were indeed stuck here. Taylor looked down again at Danny, who was still resting, almost to the point of napping again. "Where do you think we are?"
Danny had to think about it for a second, but there was absolutely no way to determine their location. They fell off the Tidal Max two days away from New York port, which could place them anywhere on that route in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. There were other large continents nearby, but none of which he was too familiar with. "If we're lucky, there is food on the other side of that rock, and some fresh water too." Danny's throat was sore from swallowing some of the ocean water, and it was making him very thirsty too.
After sitting up and studying the cliff more closely, Danny thought about the next move. The tide was sort of coming in to this spot, but not for the next hour or so. The wall was not only tall and natural, but there were rocks sticking out everywhere, like a massive rock wall full of danger. Only these rocks were much more rounded off, eroded from all the rain the island must get, and that would make them a bit more slippery. Danny did not have his bag from the ship, so any material to help scale this thing would not be available, but somehow, it had to be done.
Taylor saw what Danny was up to, the expression on his face that challenged the impossible obstacle in his way. In total refusal, she tried to stop those thoughts. "No way Danny! We can't just climb that thing. It's too high! And we don't have any harness." There has to be another way past it.
Danny replied, "Well this isn't the time to be worried about luxuries. We need to get up this wall." There did not appear to be any other way around. There was a slight narrow land without any tide on the other edge of the cliff far to the left, which made a slight curve just knee deep back into the ocean, but looking over there could just be a waste of time. The curvature of the cliff made it appear that way. If he did take the extra time, the tide could simply flood in and pull them away. No, that wasn't as likely. But how long can a person go without any fresh water? This has to be done right now.
"And how do you propose we do that?" Taylor challenged.
"Let's face it." Danny turned around to face Taylor, hoping to explain just how serious this problem is. "We know that the Tidal Max will not be coming back this way to rescue us. Nobody knows where we are, and it will be a while before anybody on that boat even notices that we're gone. We don't have any idea where we are, and we are without food, water, and a change of clothes."
"Okay, that's bad," Taylor concluded. She wanted to say more, but the strange way Danny acted when that light hit him was all the reminder of how little this made any sense. It was hard to tell if Danny was really using his brain today. What does he know about being trapped on a stranded island?
"Yeah, so the way I see it..." Danny turned to face the large rocky wall again. "We scale this wall, or we die a more slow and painful death. Besides, we won't have a lot of strength to climb something this high later on, so pushing it off won't help us either."
Taylor scratched her head in amazement. Danny's idea still sucked, but it was now clear that he was trying. A tactical analysis that leads to a rash yet best plan of options, and Danny was not too decisive on how to do this either. It made Taylor wonder what happened to him before getting into this mess, though she wasn't sure just how out of character that was for him. Taylor remembered how he would often make any call without thinking things through. Mainly, it ended up embarrassing him in front of his peers or just in public places. Maybe that's what got into his head earlier, but now leave it to a bigger emergency to finally knock some sense into him. Despite scaling a five hundred foot wall leveling on insanity, something about his focus gave her a trusting attitude. "Okay," Taylor nodded in agreement. "I'll do it."
"That's good. And you're good to try this? You cannot afford to slip and fall. I'm serious!"
Taylor shuttered at the thought. "Just don't let me look down."
Danny faced the wall again with Taylor, thinking about how he would climb this thing exactly. It was a similar challenge to a rock wall in an old gym, only this time much more difficult and with devastating consequences. Danny didn't even want to consider the possibility of falling off this thing, but there wasn't another way around it. If the top of the cliff has nothing on the other side, they are both dead anyway right? Without delaying much longer, he decided to approach the wall of the cliff and start climbing anywhere. There were plenty of small rocks and holes to latch his hands onto, and the larger more rounded off stones made a good anchor for his feet.
Taylor watched as Danny climbed the wall just by one foot. He was not slipping yet, and so far it seemed pretty easy. After letting him move up three more feet, Taylor decided to try it.
Danny continued up the wall, putting one hand up after the next, then his feet after that. He then looked down below him just to see if Taylor was doing well. Lagging behind him only by six feet, he decided to continue on with much more wall to climb.
After a few more feet of climbing, Danny suddenly noticed some residual water on some of the rocks, probably from that last rain. If these rocks are still wet and cold, then that means they were twice as slippery as he thought. With a fair warning, Danny paused to holler to his friend. "Be careful Taylor! Slow and steady!"
Any one of the smaller rocks could also come popping out from the wall with any pressure put on them, and that could be bad. Danny however was also noticing that his field of view has been more improved since the last time. The sky was beginning to turn a very dark color of blue, with most of the clouds overhead from before diminished. The lightning was no longer present, and the storm itself must have ended minutes ago, though there was still no sign of any actual sunlight. It was still enough for this perilous task. Danny still had hundreds of more feet to climb as well, so he continued cautiously.
Minutes passed while Taylor climbed up this large wall, keeping Danny in her sights. She could see that the top of the cliff was a little closer than before, but she dare not to look down at all. Even moving her head could tilt her only balance. While making the next move with her hands and her feet, Taylor did not notice how wet the next large rock was, and she inched her shoe onto it with little regard for anything other than her balance. Without much of a warning, her foot on that same rock ended up sliding off without a fight, and Taylor was forced downward.
"Yaah!" Taylor shrieked in terror. Her body slid down the edge of the cliff while she was trying to hang on for her life. Her hands simply scuffled down on the wall, and her feet were dangling until they found something to fall down on. When her foot landed on a rock to soften her descent, she still slipped down further, and managed to only use her hands to latch on the slippery formation she had tripped on. The stone under her feet broke off from the force and weight applied.
Danny looked down to make sure Taylor was okay, and saw her hanging on a rock with only her two hands. Her arms were stretched out all the way, and she was barely hanging on. "Taylor! Don't let go!" Danny started looking down some more towards the wall, trying to discover which rocks he could step on to get as low as Taylor was. He needed to help her out and restore her balance fast.
Taylor was hanging on as best as she could, but the strain in her arm muscles was getting severe, and to make matters worse, this large hunk of rock was also soaking wet. Her hands were very slightly sliding down from where she had grabbed it initially. "Help! I'm slipping off!"
Danny made a dangerous slide down, trying to land on another pair of embedded rock chunks. He almost fell off completely, but managed to hang on tightly when he landed in just the right spot. Taylor was still several feet below him. "Hold on Taylor! I'm coming!" Danny's damaged voice still commanded loudly how hard she needed to try.
But it was futile; Taylor's hands could only hold on for a few more seconds. She could see her fingers running down from the top of the rock without her control. Her muscle fatigue wasn't helping her either. Taylor then looked down again at how high she was up. From here, that was a 250 foot drop with nothing soft to land on. All of that sand would not reduce the shock to her fall either, and she very well knew it. After looking back up, Taylor saw that Danny was still too far up there to help her out, and now her fingers were finally sliding off.
Taylor didn't want to see how the rest of this went, and she closed her eyes completely to brace herself for an inevitable injury. Unable to hang on to the slippery stone, Taylor ended up losing all contact with the wall of the cliff, and began her descent towards the ground without anything to stop her. With the loudest and strongest breath Taylor allowed herself to store up, she began to scream with as much breath while falling down towards the earth.
Danny could only watch from this level when Taylor slipped off entirely and began falling down, screaming at mid-level in terrorizing fear. He instinctively threw his left arm and hand out towards Taylor, knowing it was too late to grab her. "Noooooooooooo!" With his heart pounding, Danny stood frozen solid.
Taylor heard the sound of Danny's regretful yell at the same time, but it was now being muffled by the wind. Picking up speed, Taylor kept her eyes closed, praying that the impact to the ground would not end up hurting her at all. All of the wind she was picking up only reminded her that she was falling fast towards the ground, making her scream some more.
Danny was beside himself, in total disbelief at what had just happened. When Taylor smacked into the floor, it emitted the loud noise of a thwack which echoed all the way back to him. Taylor seemed to have landed on her back, meaning she also took a direct head injury as well. Even though it was far down and he could not see that well from this distance, he feared that it was over for Taylor.
The sight felt unreal, unbelievable, until it swiftly sank in. Danny was totally frozen solid by the sight. Taylor's death began ringing in his ears over and over, and Danny could not even move an inch. A few more seconds passed before he regained some self-control again. "Nooooo! Taylor!" Danny began clasping his body tightly to the wall again, this time trying to slide down using his own weight. For most of the way back down, it was working. When he managed to get about 100 feet down, he decided to jump off the wall to land on his feet.