Ice People. The Ice People were swarming all over the HMS Duchess. "Oh my God," I whispered, letting go of Christine and staring, my mouth gaping, at the huge battleship being cut to ribbons. The Ice People was slicing it apart and throwing huge chunks of metal at the Nelson. Even from the railing, I could see the gash in our hull, caused by a piece of metal that once belonged to the Duchess. 

They were sinking both battleships.

"We've got to get off this ship!" I yelled, suddenly snapping back to my senses. "Everyone, to the life boats!" With Christine's arm in one hand and dragging Pete with the other, I pulled them over to the nearest life boat and shoved them in it, jumping in myself afterwards. Captain Jackson, holding his dislocated shoulder, came after me with four other sailors, including the young sailor we had spoken with beforehand.

The sailors seemed to know what they were doing, tugging ropes and tying knots. We were lowered rapidly into the water, splashing into the waves. I revved up the motor, jolting us forward and away from both ships. Other lifeboats were around us as we rocketed towards the mainland.

"Matt!" Christine cried suddenly. I turned round and gasped. The Duchess had been completely sliced in half, the two ends now protruding from the inky black water like shards of glass. Across the water, the Nelson was slowly sinking too, bubbles of foam erupting around it like a volcano.

But that wasn't what I was worried about.

The Ice People were clambering down from the Duchess, skidding across the water towards the lifeboats. Half of them had broken off from the pack and were running back to the mainland, carrying crew members in their arms. The other half were making a beeline towards us.

"Jesus Christ," Pete yelped. "Step on it, Matt!" I did. Our boat lurched forward in the water, speeding as fast as we could away from the pursuing Ice People. The boat bounced on the waves but I managed to keep us on a steady course towards the Peninsula of Antarctica.

But the Ice People were gaining, their hands morphing into razor sharp swords of blue ice. They started to pick off the boats that were falling behind, slicing the motors to leave them stranded. The crew cried out as the Ice People snatched them away, dragging them to the mainland. They were taking the crew again, but I still didn't know why.

"Matt!" Pete yelled.

"Not now, Pete!" I growled, trying to concentrate on steering the boat.

"No, Matt, duck!" he shouted. I flattened myself on the deck as a shard of ice whistled through the air just where my head had been.  It missed me by centimetres.

"Jesus!" I cried, jumping back up to grab the steering wheel again.

"You're welcome," Pete said, gripping onto the sides of the boat. He was starting to look extremely green as his knuckles turned white. This was not a good time for sea sickness.

"We've got to find some cover!" Captain Jackson yelled at me. I nodded in agreement, everyone starting to look for somewhere to hide. Meanwhile, the Ice People had swarmed over another of the lifeboats and sunk it, taking the crew with them. We weren't far from being next. I was really starting to panic now.

"There!" Christine yelled suddenly, pointing across the water to a collection of ice-burgs floating in the water, her red hair whipping around her face. I yanked on the wheel, turning it to the starboard side and headed towards the maze of ice. We weaved in and out of the ice-burgs, trying to shake off the Ice People on our tail.

"Hard to port!" Captain Jackson shouted. I obeyed his orders and the boat glided into a small notch in one of the ice-burgs. "Quick, turn off the motor," the Captain whispered. We all huddled together, keeping as quiet as possible as the Ice People ran past us, unaware that we were there.

I peeked my head over the side of the boat to watch them go past. As their feet touched the sea beneath them, it froze over, making a solid platform for them to run on. My eyebrows creased together in concentration as I studied them for a weakness.

One of the Ice People suddenly stopped and I ducked again, sliding down the deck of the lifeboat. I put a finger to my lips, signalling to the others to be silent.

The creature was still just standing outside where we were hiding, its back towards us. It was making a sound, much like fragmenting glass, as if it was communicating. I held my breath and closed my eyes, praying for it to move on. Glancing at the others, it looked like they were trying to do the same but Pete wasn't looking too good. He caught my eye and mouthed the dreaded words at me:

I'm going to be sick.

He started to clamber towards the side of the boat. Reaching for him, I clamped my hand over his mouth, attempting to keep him silent. The only sound to be heard was the dripping of water from melting ice. Agonising seconds ticked by, each one feeling like an eternity.

From across the boat, Christine sat as still as possible, her head tilted back to lean on the side of the boat. Although her body was still, she couldn't prevent her hands trembling.

Stay calm, Christine, I begged silently. Please stay calm.

After a minute of terrifying waiting, the Ice Creature finally ran off  to join the others of its kind. I exhaled with relief and released Pete who immediately leaned over the side of the boat and threw up.

"Do you think there's anyone else out there?" Christine whispered over the sound of Pete groaning.

"I don't know," I replied, keeping my voice low but keeping a hand on Pete's shoulder. "Captain, is there a radio on this boat? Something we could use to get into contact with anyone?" Captain Jackson nodded, reaching under the seat and pulling out a box.

"It's in here," he said, flipping open the lid. He suddenly gasped dropping the box in shock. It clattered to the deck, making Christine visibly flinch.

"What is it?" I asked. "Captain, what's wrong?" I picked up the radio and immediately dropped it again, rubbing my gloved hands together to get warmth back into them. "Jesus!" The radio had been impaled by the shard of ice that I had narrowly avoided earlier and had frozen solid. The ice had burnt me even through the gloves.

"That's it," Christine said, throwing her hands up in the air. "We're dead. We're all dead." I crawled over to her, holding her shoulders tightly and forcing her to look at me.

"Hey, we're not dead yet," I said. "We all just need to keep calm, all right? Stay composed, Christine." I waited for everyone to calm down before continuing. "Okay, Captain, what supplies do you have on here that we can use?"

"We have an emergency shelter, food, water and medical supplies," the Captain replied, his voice montone. It was as if he was reciting from a training manual. "But we only have about two weeks worth."

"Any maps?" The Captain nodded. "Okay, good," I said. "Get your men to start plotting a route to the nearest settlement. We can sail there and radio for help then." The remaining crew of the Nelson set to work wordlessly, laying out charts and maps onto the deck of our lifeboat. It seemed they were almost grateful to be ordered around.

I turned to Pete and Christine, checking them over for injuries. Apart from Pete's strange shade of green, they looked  unharmed but shaken.

"M-Matt," Christine stammered. "What-what are we going to do now?"

"We'll be all right, Christine," I promised her. "We're going to find a way to get home." She nodded but by the pale look of her face, it seemed like she was only just keeping it together. Pete wasn't much better.

"Mr Mayhew," Captain Jackson called me over. I knelt down within the circle that the crew had formed and looked over the map. "There's a US research station about 50 nautical miles from here. It'll take about five hours to get there at a steady pace, but we could make it. They should have some way of contacting help." I nodded.

"Okay, good," I said. "We should get going then." Captain Jackson revved up the engine again and cautiously, we set off, weaving in and out of ice-burgs as we made our way around the Peninsula of Antarctica.

The crew was quiet throughout the journey, simply following orders from the Captain but never speaking. I couldn't really blame them. I couldn't even begin to imagine what it must be like to be them. They had lost their entire crew, all their friends, and yet they still had to carry on.

Christine and Pete sat huddled together like penguins at the back of the boat, looking miserable and on the point of despair.

Looking at them, I couldn't help but feel that this was all my fault. I had made them come, wanting the thrill of adventure. But now, everything had gone wrong.

Maybe we had bitten off more than we could chew.

Mission log: 0930 hours: Both the Nelson and the Duchess have been sunk by the Ice People. After trying to escape, much of the rest of the crew were taken by them. The team and five other crew members from the Nelson, including Captain Jackson, have escaped on a lifeboat. Satellite communications are down amd only two weeks of rations are available. We are currently following a plotted route to a US Antarctic research station about 50 nautical miles from our current location. With luck, we should be able to contact the Navy and inform them of the situation.

It took slightly less time than Captain Jackson had predicted to get to the research station. We rounded an ice-burg and expected to see the research base in front of us, but instead were met by smoke and flames. I gasped, taking in the scene. It was like something from a nightmare. The base was on fire and  the tents were smoking. Compared to the brilliant white of the snow around us, the orange flames were a startling contrast.

"What the hell?!" Pete yelled. "What happened?"

"Jesus Christ, we have to get up there!" I shouted. "Someone might need our help!" The Captain nodded and jerked on the wheel, steering us towards the base as fast as we could. We moored up next to the empty research vessels, leaving two sailors, Lieutenant Silverton and Sub-lieutenant Harrison, to keep watch of the lifeboat.

The rest of us scrambled up the slope of the docks and towards the flaming buildings. Everything was consumed by fire, or was about to be. "Get those snowmobiles away from the fire!" I shouted, pointing to the line of vehicles that were next to one of the labs on fire. "if the fire gets near it,  the fuel will explode!" We surged forwards, working together to push the machines far enough away from the fire.

Boom!

I ducked and covered my head after one of the buildings exploded, debris being thrown high into the air and landing in the snow. As I stood to assess the damage, something grabbed the back of my coat, lifting me off my feet. I thrashed and yelled out but the grip was too strong. The feet below me were planted into the ground but they wore no shoes. I slowly raised my gaze in terror, coming face to face with my captor.

The Ice Creature stared back at me, its cool blue eyes emotionless as it studied me. It was as if I was some scientific specimen to be studied. Its clothes were in tatters and there was a livid crack down one side of its transparent face.

"Mathew Mayhew,"  it chattered. "We meet again." I cried out, staring in shock at the face of Captain Hall, the former captain of the HMS Duchess.

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