Chapter 1: False heroism 

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Location: Ocean - Inside a submarine

Perspective: 3rd person 

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“Trust me. I’m an engineer.”

James clicks his tongue. He loathes himself for believing such a suspicious phrase and got onto this submarine. He remembers cautioning them thrice, but they all laugh it off and pat each other backs.

Steams are blowing out of the cracks on pipeline that runs throughout the submarine, creating a hissing sound. The howling sound of the alarms within this echo chamber is killing his ears' drum. The critical reactor is rumbling along with the entire submarine that is deep under the ocean. Steams are filling the air. James is breathing heavily. Oxygen is running low.

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Four odd hours after departing from land, the nuclear reactor of our submarine started to reverberate strange noises. James reports abnormal behaviours.

“You're new here. It’s typical. I hear this a lot”, his engineer manager said after checking the spreadsheets on the screen.

“Sir, how long has this reactor been in service?”

“Around 15 years. I think.”

“…”

“I know. Our division is underfunded”, the manager sighed wearily. Immediately, the shrill alarm when off. The floor starts to tremble uncontrollably. Dull sounds of metals cracking and bending echo through the dingy chamber. James and his manager freeze and glance at each other.

“Well shit”

Seconds later, the door behind them busted to open.

“Sir, we had stop moving”, a man shouted to overcome the loud alarm sounds.

They were all still 300 meters below the ocean, inside a hunk of metals. 

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Currently, James' clothes are soaking with salty sweat. Focusing on a wall of buttons and switches in front of him, he quickly flicks and presses the button repeatedly. He bits his lips and slams the door shut.

“IT’S NOT RESPONDING. WE HAVE TO OPEN IT MANUALLY”, James screams at the tops of his lung.

James when toward the controller's office. He saw anxious people gather around someone laying on the ground.

“CAPTAIN FAINTED FROM THE HEAT”

“OXYGEN IS RUNNING LOW.”

“THE GENERATOR IS OVERLOADED.”

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James merely paused witnessing the panicking sight in front of him.

“SHUT UP!!”everyone snaps their head toward James. “I need a grenade or some sort of bomb.”

"We don't have that. Only guns."

"That's fine"

“... What for?”

“To forcefully breaking the valves of the air pressure tanks to the push the water out of the main ballast tank so this submarine could resurface"

“You’re mad !? The pressure will kill you.”

“All of us will suffocate to death. No one here knows that spot better than me. Get me the gun.”

They scarcely pause for a minor second looking uneasily at the desperate determination within James' eyes. His manager opens a locker behind him and pulls out a rifle.

“Good enough?”

“Let’s go. Give me that flashlight.”

They sprint down the steaming corridor. It's all foggy. Their movement becomes sluggish. Their ragged breath grew more shallow. They arrive at a hatch at their feet and bend down to twist the hatch wheel handle. Flexing their muscle, with all their might, they lift the hatch. It opens creakingly. Inside the tank, it is filled with sea water, but not completely.

Knowing the hatch shouldn’t be open for too long, James strips half-naked and jump inside instantly along with the rifle, blatantly ignoring his manager's frantic calls. Splash. He submerges under salty water. His body inevitably begins shivering involuntarily. He rises with difficulty, tiptoeing. The shallow water is just low enough for him to stand with his shoulder out of the water. A personal revelation struck him.

“JOHN, find my home. The keys are inside my luggage. Erase my computer history and send everything I own to my brother.”

John, the manager, required a second to comprehend. But James didn’t wait.

“NOW CLOSE THE HATCH AND LOCK IT TIGHT”, James yells.

Reluctantly, John grid his teeth and slam the hatch down. The sole source of light inside the ballast tank is gone. Now James is hopelessly in absolute darkness with foul water reaching his shoulders. As John finish twisting the hatch, James heard a dull click, confirming it is locked. James' fate is set.

James turned on a flashlight and start locating the overhead valves. There he detects a narrow concave hole where pipelines run across it. That should allegedly lead to the high air pressure tank. Shooting it would break the valves. Suppress air will rush in here at high speed. The pressure will force the water outside of this ballast tank, making the submarine lighter and it will rise back to the surface. Needless to say, the force will kill in the process.

He solemnly raises his rifle. Aim. Click. He shifts the safety switch off. To his surprise, he is not packing. His relaxed attitude is likely due to his loneliness. He doesn’t have much connection with people besides his brother and shallow relationship. He is constantly moving from place to place due to his engineering jobs.

‘When there isn’t much to lose dying became relatively easy. Going out as a tragic hero isn’t too bad’ 

James chuckled to himself. In all sincerity, he doesn’t care about being a hero or anything. Perhaps he had always sought an escape from his life, and this situation gave him a good excuse. People may perceive this as a heroic scarify. But in pitiless truth, it is nothing but miserable man who merely found a sufficient justification to die. Now he can die without making the people who cares for him to feel guilty and grief as much. 

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