A/N: For the record, I do not own Sea Patrol or any of its characters. I do own Melody, although she is based on Josh.
This chapter has some intimidating language and some violence. If you couldn't handle the real episode The Hunted, then I wouldn't recommend this chapter. Consider yourself warned ;)
Please review! Let me hear what you guys think about it, I'm very curious :)
CHAPTER 2 – YOU BLEED JUST TO KNOW YOU'RE ALIVE
"Quick, Melody, RO, go!" Dylan screams. "What about you?" I yell. "Try something else. I'll hold on, Swain comes tomorrow. NOW GO!" RO comes to me. "Come Melody, hurry!" We run away, and quickly hide behind the bushes. We see the 2 guys coming. They have 2Dads. He looks so desperate. "Get down", says guy#2. 2Dads sits down, against the tree. The guys tie him up as well. This is bad. I start looking for a wound, we heard a gunshot. Then I see it, in his right shoulder. There's a lot of blood coming out. RO noticed as well. "There's a lot of blood, Melody."
RO looks at me. "We'd better save camp somewhere. It's getting quick dark in the jungle. Let's use the original camp. We can restart the fire and eat the rabbit Dutchy was working on." We stand up. RO knows the way, which surprises me.
We reach the camp. The fire is still on. "So", says RO. "Did Dutchy said anything to you?" "No, but he recognized me. And he said something about Swain, that he would come tomorrow." RO looks at me. "You know him for a very long time, do you?" "Yes, I do." I smile. "So, how do you know each other?" "From school. We went together to high-school in Sydney, and later Navy school. We even served on the same boat some months." RO nods. So, that's cleared up. "Well, did Bird tell anything to you?" "Uhm yes, she did. She said that… the guys hunted after Dutchy."
"Hunted? Really? Wow, that's really sick." RO agrees. "Yes. That's when he got that arrow in his leg. Bird saw how they dragged him to their camp. The guys saw her, and then it was too late."
"Wow, she must be really scared." Bird is still so young, and she has to go through all of this… That's very hard.
Suddenly an idea appears in my head. "Hey RO, what if they will hunt one of them again? I'm afraid that if we wait for Swain… That it might be too late." "You're saying that we need to come up with another plan."
RO can read my mind. "Yes, indeed. So, let's assume that 1 guy will chase them and that 1 guy will stay at the camp. Maybe a trap?" "Bird isn't injured, right? Let's say she will be chased. If I, or we, will go after them, we take something and knock the guy out. We take the keys to the handcuffs, we handcuff the guy and leave him. Then we distract the other guy, while in the meantime someone of us frees the others. Sounds good?"
RO seems surprised by my idea. "Yeah, sounds good. I'll distract them. We take out the first guy together. All right?" "All right. Let's do it." Wow, we're going to save them. If we get the chance. I really hope so. "Um, RO? Do you have a watch?" "Yes. It's 16:00. By the way, can you cook?"
"Better than you, I guess." "How do you know I can't cook?" "Otherwise you wouldn't ask me. I'll make stew." I smile. "Thanks, I'll search for some wood." RO leaves, and I cut the rabbit. So unfear, RO and I can eat and Dutchy, 2Dads and Bird sit there all tied up. And we can't do a thing.
XXXX-Sea Patrol-XXXXX
RO is already back for about 2 hours. RO can't sit still. "Hey, I'll check out how they're doing. I can't sit and wait here." I nod. "I understand."
"Melody! Melody come quick!" RO comes out of the bushes. I didn't hear him coming. "What's wrong? Why ..?"
I can't even finish my sentence. He pulls me up. "Dutchy…" he says. "Come, follow me and be quiet."
Dutchy? What… "RO, are the guys doing things with him?" He nods. "Now be quiet", he whispers.
We reach the sicko's camp. There I see it. It's Dylan, he's standing, his arms are separately tied up to 2 trees. The arrow is still in his leg. He tries not to put his weight on his leg, that only hurts more. This is real torture.
"Oh no, RO, we need to do something!" "Well, we can't Melody. We need to wait. We do our plan and not else."
I look at RO. "We're the only ones they've got." I nod. I focus on what is happening.
Dutchy is having a real hard time. Guy#1 is talking to him. "So piggy, camping alone, ey? Look at them. You know them, they know you." The guy starts laughing. Dutchy looks so… desperate. But he won't give up, he's too strong and too stubborn.
I start looking for 2Dads. There I see him. He's handcuffed, and that's not good for his bullet wound. He's asleep. Or unconscious. I hope the first. Well, at last the wound stopped bleeding.
I look at Bird. She's awake, and shaking. She looks so scared.
Guy #1 starts talking again. "But piggy, about you… We told you before, we're gonna have some fun with you."
Have some fun? Where the hell is he talking about? I look at RO. He shakes his head. He doesn't know either.
"Hey Elvis, I want to hunt right now. We never hunt at night. Seems fun." Guy#1 starts laughing. Guy#2, apparently called Elvis, nods. "Good, you can hunt, I'll have some fun right here."
I look at RO, again. He was already looking at me. "Melody, we need to do our plan right now. You stay here, I put the fire out, all right?" I nod. RO leaves. I look at Dylan. Guy#1 takes his bow and some arrows. He prepares for 'the hunt'. Elvis is searching for something. I can't imagine what Dylan is thinking right now. Or Bird… They must have gone through hell.
RO appears behind me. "Ready", he says. "Copy. Have you got the piece of wood?" He nods. "Are you ready?" He asks me. "As ready as I'll ever be."
Guy #1 pulls Bird up, he unties her. "So, beauty, let's go running. Run… Run…" Bird doesn't know what to do. Guy #2 notices, he puts his rival against Dylan's head. "Run, or I'll put a bullet in his head. 3.. 2… 1!"
Bird runs. RO and I quickly go after her. It all happens very quick.
Bird falls, she doesn't stand up. Guy #1 points his arrow, and says "You're mine". I go stand behind him, he hasn't noticed me. "No, she's not." The wood bumps against his head. RO hit him. He's out. "Got ya." I walk to Bird. "Bird, can you hear me? Bird?" Oh, luckily, she comes around. "Hey", she says. "Hey, welcome back." I help her sit. "RO took care of the guy, you're safe now." "We.. we gotta save 2Dads and Dutchy." "Yes Bird, and we're gonna do that. I need you to tell me if you feel pain anywhere." She thinks. "No, only some bruises and scratches, I guess. They haven't hurt me." "All right. Can you walk? Follow me and be quiet, okay? We're gonna do this together." I help her stand up. RO leaves, he'll be the distraction and Bird & I will take care of 2Dads and Dutchy. Suddenly, out of the blue, we hear a gunshot. "BOOM!" Follow by a loud scream.
"Ohno, no, it is Dutchy, I can feel it! NO!" Bird drops to the ground and starts crying. "Mel.. It's too late."
"Don't give up Bird. Now get up. Come on." I help her up. "It's not over. Not yet. It's Dutchy, he's too damn stubborn to give up. Bird, look at me." She looks at me. "If he won't give up, we won't give up." "All right", she says. "Let's do it."
XXXX-Sea Patrol-XXXX
We're closing the camp. I don't see the guy anywhere. "Bird, stay low, okay? We need to be sure the guy is away." "Copy." We go sit behind some bushes, at the other side of the camp. Dylan and 2Dads don't see us, but we see them. Dylan is barely awake. He still stands, but he holds on to the ropes. He can't stand on his own feet. I see multiple scratches and a big wound on his head. And that's only his back. Then 2Dads. I see him from his right side. The bullet wound on his right shoulder didn't begin bleeding again. I don't see the guy or RO anywhere. "Okay, Bird, I think it's save."
I stand up and walk to 2Dads. "Bird, keep pressure on the wound, here…" I un-cuff 2Dads. "2Dads, you okay?" He nods, not able to talk. "Bird, you help him up."
I quickly run to Dylan. "Dylan!" He doesn't respond. Oh no. I go stand in such a way, that if he falls, he falls on me. Hey, they took the arrow out. That's bad. I take my knife, and cut the rope. Now he only hangs on one rope. I quickly cut the other rope. He falls on me, as I suspected. I put him easy down. "Dylan, wake up. Come on. Dutchy… DYLAN!" I slap him softly on his cheek. Come on, Dylan. "Come on, wake up." He opens his eyes. "Hey, welcome back." "Curly?" He asks me, very confused. "Yes Dylan, it's me." Looks like he has pain. A lot. "Okay, let me see, shhh. Don't move to much." I see a long scratch above his left eyebrow, a big and long wound probably made by a knife at his chest, and… Oh my god. At the right side of his belly a bullet wound. It's still bleeding. And the big wound at his leg, from the arrow. This is pretty bad. Not to mention the bruises and scratches, almost everywhere on his muscled body.
Dylan looks at me. "Pretty bad, eh?" "Yes. We need to get away from here, Dylan. We're going to your basic camp." He nods. "So I need to stand." "Yes. I'll help you. Come on." I help him up, it only causes more pain but it has to. When he finally stands, he turns to me. "So, what are you doing here? For me you're at the right time at the right place." "Just bad luck, Dylan. Or good luck, in this case." "But what are you doing here?" "Well, you know, after Josh died…" "You went sailing. On your own." He shakes his head. He never liked the idea of me, in the world, sailing, alone. "Yes. But I crashed." He looks worried. "Nothing bad, only my canoe didn't survive it. Now, let's move."
A/N: I couldn't find a better ending, the other chapters have kind of cliff hangers and this one hasn't. So, please review, good or bad things, doesn't matter. If you tell me I can improve it ;)
Do you want more from Dutchy or 2Dads or Bird or ET? Let me hear.