John jumped towards the door and managed to get out before the roof fell down. The corridor ended with a stair. He ran through it and up the stairs. He entered the aisle were he had searched for his trunk before. The roof had fallen down between him and the exit. He was stuck. A grey body lay under the burning timber, the other one was out of sight. Then he saw his trunk in the middle of everything. He took it, opened it and got his gun. The body had got two well aimed bullets in it.
The only way out seemed to be a door in the right wall. He kicked it in and went inside. The room was completely set on fire. He dimly saw the other creature behind the flames. He raised his gun and shot both one, two and three times. They all missed. The creature turned around and raised his arms in a threatful gesture. John flew backwards with an enormous power as he fired his last bullet. Its head exploded in a cascade of grey blood. The wall behind John shivered when he with a terrible power flew against it. His hair was burnt because of the heat before he got in the water outside the ship. The wall had been the boats hull. He swam away as fast as he could. In the distance he could see boats approaching the burning steamship.
He hadn't noticed the rain and thunder until now.
- Help! he screamed at the top of his voice. Nobody seemed to hear; the thunder made it impossible. He screamed again, but no answer. The tiredness hit him as a punch in his face. The capacity to do anything totally disappeared. He relaxed and tried to float. For some weird reason he thought that he recognised the situation. He succeded in floating for another minute but then he slowly started to sink. He let it happen, he didn't resist. Everything was so quiet and calm. A feeling spread through his body, something he never had felt before. A strange warmth that was feeling nicer and nicer. The last he thought of was the children playing in the water.
