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around with a jerk to find Stephen
afloat in the water; wiping droplets from his face.
    “What are you
doing?” Sam gasped.
    “I’m gonna
take a better look.”
    “I don’t think
it’s a good idea.”
    “Me neither.”
Stephen agreed, “But at least the water’s refreshing.”
    Stephen smiled
at Sam who folded his arms across his chest in protest and then
swam towards the obstruction. He grabbed a hold of it and tried to
yank it, but it was sturdy and unable to budge – making Stephen
realize that it was put there on purpose.
    Stephen turned
around to face the boat, “I think it was put here for a
reason.”
    Without
warning, a noose slipped around Stephen’s neck, tightened and
lifted him out of the water; dragging him halfway up the impediment
as he struggled not to be strangled.
    “Stephen!” Sam
cried out horrified.
    “We’ll be
taking your boat.” They heard a thunderous voice say.
    Sam noticed a
bare-chested, muscular man covered in tattoos standing on top of
the obstruction with a gun in one hand and a devilish sneer on his
face as one of his comrades reeled Stephen in. Stephen’s fingers
were digging into his neck in an attempt to free himself and his
face was turning purple from suffocation.
    “Don’t make me
tell you twice.” The man insisted he cocked the gun at Sam.
    Sam slowly
raised his hands in surrender as Jessica warily made her way up the
stairway towards the hull. There was no telling what the men would
do, but she could tell they were in serious danger.

CHAPTER
EIGHT
    Sam and
Jessica huddled together in the corner of the dark and damp room as
a muscular comrade dragged Stephen in and tossed him in their
direction. Stephen landed on his side and gasped for air as he
removed the noose from around his neck. Sam crawled closer to his
aid.
    “Are you
alright?”
    “I’m fine.”
Stephen coughed.
    The comrade
didn’t look back as he walked out, picked up a wooden plank and
shut the iron door. From the sound of it, they used the lumber to
barricade the door from the outside and then there was utter
silence. Sam aided Stephen to sit upright against the clammy cement
wall.
    “I knew this
was a bad idea.” Sam said.
    “I told you;
people don’t help strangers.” Stephen insisted, “Not nowadays
anyway.”
    “What do they
want from us?” Jessica wept, “They’ve got the boat. Why won’t they
just let us go?”
    “They’re
pirates.” Stephen realised, “And they don’t want us to tell people
about the operation they’ve got going here.”
    “So why not
just kill us?” Sam asked.
    “I’m not sure.
Where are we?”
    “It’s an old
bomb shelter in the basement of a building.” Sam said, “Barricaded
with sandbags.”
    Stephen slowly
staggered to his feet and walked over to the door. He inspected it
and then with all his might he slammed his shoulder into it; hoping
to budge it.
    “You’ll just
dislocate your shoulder.” Jessica said, “It’s not budging. We’re
stuck down here.”

CHAPTER
NINE
    It’s easy to
lose track of time in the dark and with no watches, they quickly
lost track of time. Judging from his growling stomach, Stephen
calculated that about twelve hours or more went by since they were
locked up in the bomb shelter. Their captors never came back to
check whether or not they were still alive and the growing fear was
that they might never return.
    “It’s hard to
believe that this is it.” Sam said; shaking his head in defeat,
“Who would’ve thought it? I survived two tsunamis, the loss of the
love of my life, one earthquake, a treacherous relocation inland
and a never-ending heat wave only to die in a dark basement.”
    “Don’t give up
just yet.” Stephen said, “It’s not over until the fat lady
sings.”
    Sam chuckled
in despair, “I think the tsunami got the fat lady months ago.”
    “Would you
stop sulking?” Stephen insisted.
    “The world’s
ending and I have nobody.”
    “You have me.”
Stephen asserted.
    Silence befell
the