The Ice People #OpenNovellaContest

0830 Hours

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.