Everything was so much louder and scarier out in the open. The waves were more real, the darkness felt more empty. Paradox's voice was lost in the howling of the wind every time she tried to scream Warren's name. Water from the rain and the ocean covered the deck, making it incredibly slippery. She was scared to get too near the edge in case she fell into the unforgiving waves.

"Warren!" She yelled one more time, and again the wind whipped the words away. Taking a huge breath, she stepped out from under the canopied open of the stairway she had just come from.

Meanwhile, completely out of her sight, Warren was struggling to bring down one of the boats. The rope was stuck just out of his reach, and he needed to climb to reach it. After making sure the boat he was going to stand on would hold his weight without tipping to the side and making the three piled up lifeboats fall on top of him, he pulled himself up. Thankfully the rope was easy to get off of the object it was stuck to. Just as Warren was jumping down, a huge gust of wind came and forced him to land hard on his side.

"Ow..." He put the palm of his right hand down on the cold, wet deck and pushed himself into a sitting position.

"There you are," a tiny voice said. "Are you okay?"

He turned his head around and saw that the little voice came from Paradox. "Of course I'm okay. Just taking a..." He winced while standing to his feet. "...nap"

"What happened? We don't have much time, Warren." She looked slightly annoyed.

"It was just the wind, I'm fine. Help me with these boats?"

"That's what I came out here for." She grabbed a hold of the side he pointed at her to take.

"On the count of three, lift it up and over, okay?" Warren yelled.

"Got it!" Paradox nodded along with her words, just in case he couldn't hear her.

"One, two, three!"

Paradox's feet began to slip backwards while she lifted the boat, making her panic. She let out a little yelp, but managed to stay holding on until they set the boat on the deck.

Warren walked over to her, breathing heavily. "You good?"

"Of course I am," she replied, every muscle in her upper body paining. "Let's go, we have to get as many of them down as possible."

"I already got three, this one makes four," Warren said.

"Keep... going..."

Aurora was on the verge of leaving Mirage there to die. The water was above her knees now, making movement incredibly difficult. "Jake, you'd better tell me you're almost done, or so help me..."

"What're you going to do, Aurora? Leave them in here to drown?" He yelled back at her over the wails and screeches of all the prisoners who weren't yet ready to accept their impending deaths.

"This is why there's no room for kindness in survival," Aurora whispered to herself. She was beginning to shake from the cold, cold ocean water that lapped at her thighs.

"P-please hurry..." Mirage begged.

Jake's fingers began to shake as he worked at the military grade lock. The only thought on his mind was hypothermia. "Almost... almost..." Jake's legs gave way, sending his body underneath the water.

"Oh my god!" Aurora grabbed his arms and helped him stand up again.

He was really shaking after that, but went right back to work on opening the lock, despite his numb fingers.

The second it unlocked, he slid it open just enough for Mirage to slip out, slammed it shut on the other screaming prisoners, grabbed the two girls hands, and ran. It didn't look much like running though, because moving against the water was nearly impossible. By the time the three of them made it to the stairs, the now very angry prisoners were already halfway there.

"Go, go! As soon as they lose sight of us they won't know how to get out!"

The Jackson's, Oliver, Logan, Kithara, and Audrey pushed the trunks along as fast as they could. Foster had already argued that bringing them was a waste of time when they needed to focus on getting out before the ship sank, Audrey screeched that she wouldn't leave what little she had left, and Oliver settled it all by reminding everyone that they might actually need something from in the trunks in order to survive.

Once they reached the base of the stairway to the upper deck, they started carrying them up. It was a slow process, but ten trunks isn't that many when there are six people to help. When they were down to the last two trunks —the other eight were up on the deck with Logan and Oliver watching to make sure they didn't side away— Jake, Aurora, and Mirage ran up to them, all three soaking wet and shivering.

Kithara recognized Mirage right away. "What happened?"

Mirage's teeth chattered. "W-w-water." Her orange jumpsuit was clinging to her body, just as it was for Aurora and Jake.

"Don't worry, Paradox just came and told us that there is an island somewhere nearby." Kithara tried to comfort her.

Mirage just nodded whilst Nicole and Foster carried up another trunk. Audrey was talking to herself and walking around in circles. Jake was staring off into nothingness, so Kithara tapped his shoulder to get his attention. She wasn't expecting his reaction. He whipped around, picked Kithara up and slammed her against the wall. She whimpered and squirmed, not fully understanding what had just happened. Aurora pulled him off of her, but before she did, Kithara noticed his face. It wasn't Jake, it was a corpse.

"Jake, relax!" Aurora yelled. "No one is going to hurt you!"

Hurt him? Why would he think I was trying to hurt him? Kithara took a step forward, wishing she could help.

Jake snapped out of the trance he was in and began to shiver again. "I'm so sorry... I'm so, so sorry. Kithara I didn't mean to..."

A tear slipped down Kithara's cheek. What's wrong with him? "It's okay, I'm not hurt," she lied.

Then the boat made a huge noise, one Kithara couldn't even begin to describe, and everything lurched forward.

Paradox went flying when the ship hit the sandbank. Her back hit the deck first, pushing any and all air out of her lungs. She gasped loudly as she frantically tried to stand back up and make her way back to the boats. She saw Warren had been tossed against the side of one of them; he was holding his hand against his ribcage in pain.

"What was that?" Warren stumbled towards her. Paradox then realized that she ship was stuck on an angle while the waves bashed against it.

"The sandbank," Paradox mouthed. She still didn't have enough air to speak.

"We need to get off of this thing, now!" Warren looked her dead in the eye. "Okay?"

"I know." She whispered.

"Stay here, I'll go get everyone so we can start loading the little boats." He put a hand on her shoulder, then smirked. "Try not to miss me too much."

Paradox rolled her eyes.

"Hold on, hold on!" Oliver screamed at Logan while they tried keeping the trunks in place.

"I'm trying!"

Everyone else came up the stairs to help them, just in time. "Warren and Paradox are over there with the boats." Oliver pointed and yelled. "The faster we get everything and everyone in them, the faster we can lower them into the water."

Kithara froze. "Wait, no, no, no, we can't go to the water."

"What do you mean we can't go to the water?" Aurora screamed, taking a trunk and pushing it across the deck with all her strength. "Are you stupid?"

"What if we drown!" Kithara wailed.

"We're more likely to drown here, Kithara." Jake grabbed her shoulders and looked down at her face. "You can't freak out right now, do you understand?"

"But—"

"No. If you want to be safe, push a trunk. Follow Logan and Aurora." Jake let go of her and started following after them with his own trunk.

Kithara and Mirage worked together to push hers, while she tried not to scream. The helplessness she felt was unbearable. All she wanted was to close her eyes and wake up in her nice warm bed at home with her mom bringing her a mug full of hot chocolate. That's not what happened when she closed her eyes though. Instead she felt wind, and rain, and the water from the waves soaking into her shoes and making her toes feel like ten little ice cubes.

"You good, Kit kat?" Warren said in her ear.

She opened her eyes. "No."

"It'll be fine." And then he was gone, back to loading the boats full with things. There was really nothing Kithara could do to help. She wasn't strong enough to lift up a trunk and put it in one of the bright red boats. She would have just gotten in the way. So she stood back and watched everyone work. Ten people who didn't necessarily like each other —at all— working together like one person. That's what panic does to you I guess. It either makes you go crazy until everything falls apart, or it makes everything work perfectly until you fall apart. Kithara thought.

Paradox's muscles were starting to ache, her arms were shaking. They were down to the last three boats to pack, and she was done lifting trunks. Sighing, she took a step back while Aurora and the boys finished. Mirage and Nicole were running around getting all the rope they could. The eleven prisoners had decided to try tying the boats together, so no one could drift away from the others. First they had to get the boats down to the water.

Paradox made a face. Her mouth felt dry; she was thirsty. It annoyed her that she was in the midst of so much water, yet there was nothing she could drink.

"I think we're ready." Aurora walked over to say. "You know the plan?"

"When have I ever not known the plan?" Paradox tried at humour.

"There have been a few instances." Aurora shrugged.

Paradox rolled her eyes. "When the first boat goes down, we keep it in place until all the others are tied and ready. Not hard to remember."

"Might be hard to do though. Especially with these fools..."

"Aurora!" Paradox scolded. "Some of them are actually alright."

Aurora smirked and looked like she was about to say something, but was interrupted by the faint sound of Logan yelling for everyone to come back.

They immediately started lowering the boats on the pulley system that the ship had. Paradox was in charge of keeping the first one in place, so she was lowered down with it and the trunk inside. Aurora was supposed to join her once all the other lifeboats were in the water. As soon as the bottom of the boat hit the waves, Paradox's legs started to wobble. The held on as tight as she could to the rope that would keep her and the boat in place, but every time the boat was moved up and down by the sea, she felt like she was going to drop it. The next boat was lowered down, the one with Jake and Oliver, and she right away started helping them tie the two together. Then it didn't feel as hard. Having two other people down there to help out and make sure everything went right, it took the sick feeling away from her stomach. Each new boat being lowered made it easier and easier, because she knew that they were closer and closer to getting to a safe place.

Then it hit her. What if no one ever found them? Would that be a good thing? She wouldn't live the rest if her life in prison. Was being lost at sea any better though? She'd never go home anyway.

"Okay, Paradox, we're ready." Aurora had crawled over all the boats into Paradox's, despite the four feet gap between each one.

Paradox stepped closer to the edge of the boat to untie the rope from her arm and throw it into the water so they could all let the waves pull them away. It had gotten stuck on something underneath the water, so she began to tug at it to get it loose. Then another massive wave crashed against them and she tumbled into the water, still tied to the ship.

End of part one...