Alf Mason and Robert Mullins roamed the bowels of the Jolly Roger, systematically checking in every area as they went. Alf Mason raised the lantern. The flickering light made shadows dance along the walls. All they knew was that they were looking for some large black worms or snakes.
It felt like an impossible task.
"Ugh, I hates the dark," Alf Mason muttered under his breath. He turned and looked at Robert Mullins. "I don't see nothin', Robert Mullins. I think we're better off just giving up and telling Captain Hook they got away into the sea. Maybe he'll even believe us."
Robert Mullins shook his head. "I'm tellin' ya, I knew that skull was a bad omen. It's better to find these demon worms and get rid of 'em before they cause more problems for us, Alf."
Alf Mason rested against the wall. He held up the lantern while Robert Mullins continued to peer behind the many rows of storage barrels. "Yeah, the little creeps bit Captain Hook, didn't they? He had a black mark on his hand. I saw it when Smee was cleaning it up. Nasty lookin' bite."
"He was poisoned," Robert Mullins said softly. "Make no mistake about it. I wouldn't want to be in his boots right now, that's for sure."
"I sure wouldn't want to get bit by one of those worms myself," Alf Mason said.
Something crashed to the ground. The two men tensed.
Alf Mason swung the lantern in the direction of the sound. They breathed a sigh of relief when they saw an embarrassed Billy Jukes standing by a tipped over box of supplies.
"Sorry! I didn't see where I was going. My lantern went out. I heard voices, so I moved towards them."
Billy Jukes hurried to Robert Mullins' side. He tried and failed to conceal his youthful fear.
"I haven't seen a single one of these demon worms. And I can't say I want to."
"Neither have we, Jukes," Alf Mason said. "I'm starting to think we won't, and I'm getting mighty tired of this."
Billy Jukes stayed close to Robert Mullins. He held his hammer at the ready, though he wasn't sure it would come in handy as a weapon. "Were they really as black as a starless night, and did they really split into two after being cut by Captain Hook's sword? If they're so indestructible, how would we even get rid of them properly?"
"When and if we find them, we'll put them into a roaring fire," said Robert Mullins. "That oughta take care of 'em."
Billy Jukes turned slowly to look at Robert Mullins. "And if it doesn't?" he asked hesitantly.
Robert Mullins pondered for a few seconds. "Well, my lad. Let us hope it doesn't get to that point."
-x-
Smee knocked on Captain Hook's door, intent on checking up on his beloved captain. He hadn't heard a peep from the man in over an hour. It wouldn't have concerned Smee if not for the tragic wound given to him by some currently unknown creatures slithering somewhere aboard the ship. The thought of it still gave him a tingle of repulsion down his spine.
The rest of the crew was hunting for the mysterious things. No one had seen one yet.
Smee had boasted earlier about taking old Johnny Corkscrew to the slithery Devils if he came across them, but after witnessing the wound on the back of his poor captain's hand, he was quite certain he'd lose all nerve if one of the blasted things came wiggling around his feet.
"Cap'n. Are you feeling all right?"
No response.
Smee opened the door, which was not locked. He peered inside.
The captain's lantern was still on, bathing the room in a comfortable glow. The captain was not in bed. He wasn't anywhere in the room. Smee tensed. It wasn't like Captain Hook to vanish without a trace. The bo'sun figured the worst until he heard a soft noise coming from outside.
It sounded like someone crying. A familiar voice as well.
Smee ran out of the cabin.
He found Captain Hook up in the Crow's nest, a spot he rarely preferred. Smee quickly scrambled up the rigging, up the mast, and went to his captain's side.
"Cap'n Hook! Beggin' your pardon, sir, but what're you doin' up here?" He inched toward Captain Hook, pausing when the man lifted his face from between his knees. "C-Cap'n, sir?" Smee said meekly, somewhat confused to see his formerly resolute Captain's face streaked with tears, his eyes puffy and red. "Are ya crying?"
"I can't stop," Captain Hook said, his voice a hoarse moan. He reached up and wiped away the wetness of his eyes with his gloved hand, but the flow would not cease. He choked back a sob from deep within his throat. "Smee, I feel horrid."
Smee grabbed his head and let out a cry of distress. "Oh, Cap'n! My poor Cap'n! Yeh've been poisoned!"
He dove to his sick captain's side and placed a hand on his knee. Smee was unaware for all of two seconds before he pulled it off, somewhat shocked that it hadn't been slapped away. He had not been grasped by the throat and told to take his grimy paws off the captain's regal person, either.
Captain Hook continued to cry softly, helplessly, with an increasingly distressed pitch. "I don't know what's come over me. I suddenly feel so," he paused to take the handkerchief Smee had handed him and blow a large amount of snot from his running nose into it, "inadequate!"
With that, he let out a miserable wail that was loud enough to send the rest of the crew within earshot running.
Cookson emerged from the galley carrying a cleaver. "What is horrible noise?"
He found Smee helping Captain Hook down from the rigging. Captain Hook was crying like baby. Cookson's face scrunched up with confusion and mild shock. He'd never seen the man shed more than a single tear in memory of his mother. Here he was looking like an innocent little boy who'd dropped his strawberry gelato.
Cookson's mouth dropped open. "Eh, is Capitan de Hook?"
"The Cap'n's not feeling himself thanks to that infernal snake bite. I'm helping him back to his cabin. Cookson, boil some water and bring some rags," Smee said.
"Sure, sure." Cookson hauled his bulk back down the stairs, having no idea what was going on but knowing better than to make any trouble when Captain Hook was injured. Smee turned into a vicious dog defending his master. "Mullins was right! Skull was bad luck. Bad luck for Capitan de Hook."
"CAPTAIN HOOK! CAPTAIN HOOOOOK!" Billy Jukes voice called out in a panic.
Smee was standing in front of Captain Hook's cabin door with an angry look. He put a finger to his lips and shushed the boy loudly. "Cap'n Hook has taken to his bed! He's awful sick. What's all this screamin' now, Billy Jukes?"
"Gentleman Starkey, we found him, and, and-"
Robert Mullins and Alf Mason came running from the bowels of the ship with Gentleman Starkey in their grasp. The man had fainted dead away.
They laid him down on the deck. He was alive by the sound of his groans. Robert Mullins took the hat from his head and fanned Gentleman Starkey with it.
"Hang on," Alf Mason grunted as he fetched a bucket of water. He dumped it over the skinny man, who came back to his senses in an instant with a girlish scream.
"What's the matter with Gentleman Starkey now?" Smee asked. "He didn't get bit, too, did he?"
"We've got to abandon ship!" Gentleman Starkey cried out as he bolted upright.
He was three shades paler than usual. He took to trembling like a stick in the hard rain and wind of a storm, his eyes darting back and forth frantically. He looked around the deck at the wooden floorboards. Eventually he dropped all pretense of bravery and jumped into Alf Mason's arms for refuge.
"THE WORMS! THEY'VE MULTIPLIED!"
"Multiplied?" Robert Mullins, Alf Mason, Smee, and Billy Jukes all echoed in shock.
"What do you mean, Starkey?" Robert Mullins demanded. "You didn't cut the blasted things in half, did you?"
"Certainly not," Gentleman Starkey said with a hand to his forehead, swooning. Alf tightened his grip on the smaller man who suddenly felt like a limp noodle in his huge arms. "I made no attempts to attack the bloody disgusting things. I was searching for two, but instead I found no less than TWENTY slithering around the junk piles in Billy Jukes' workshop."
"That's not junk! It's my inventions," Billy Jukes spoke in defense before his brain gathered all the parts of Gentleman Starkey's words. He did a double-take, his face going almost as pale with fright as Starkey's. "WAIT, THEY'RE IN MY WORKSHOP? TWENTY?"
And at that moment, young Billy Jukes mourned the loss of his life's work. He'd never go down there again.
"Twenty?" Alf Mason gasped, nearly dropping Gentleman Starkey. "How'd they split apart into that many if no one laid a hand on 'em?"
"Maybe they can do it naturally," Robert Mullins said cautiously. "Which means we're in big trouble, me boyos." He turned to look at bo'sun Smee. "Where's Cap'n Hook, bo'sun? He needs to get out here and dictate to us what we should do in the face of this here increasingly dire situation."
"Cap'n Hook is indisposed," Smee said glumly, noting the curl of Robert Mullin's lip. "Don't ye be gettin' any ideas about mutiny at a time like this, Robert Mullins!"
Naturally, Smee's remark only gave Robert Mullins more of an incentive to usurp the captain's role now that he'd learned of Hook's impairment.
"Of course, Smee. I wouldn't dream of it. Poor Captain Hook. Let him get some rest while we take care of this infestation." He turned so Smee didn't witness his calculating smirk. "Poor Cap'n Hook, indeed. If I didn't value the Jolly Roger as a prime vessel worthy of having for my very own, I'd set it aflame with that bedridden Hook on it," he whispered to himself.
He turned to Billy Jukes.
"Billy, lad. Come with me. I have a plan."
"I'm with you, Robert Mullins," Billy said as he rushed to Robert Mullins' side.
The two disappeared to the crew's quarters.
"Smee," came a weak voice from behind the door Smee was pressed against.
He opened it and went in. "Yes, Cap'n? Ye be needin' something?"
Smee gasped when he saw Captain Hook's ghostly pallid face, still wet with a waterfall trail of tears.
Captain Hook was dressed in his night clothes. He sat at the edge of the bed with a red blanket wrapped around his shoulders. He raised his wounded hand out toward Smee.
"Smee. Give me a hug."
Smee was taken aback. Though his curiosity piqued. He inched forward.
"A hug, Cap'n Hook, sir? It's an unusual request, that."
Unusual, but something Smee had desired to hear for years. He wanted nothing more than to run up and wrap his arms around his beloved captain. At that same time, he feared the sickness the captain obviously had. His form had taken on such a lack of color. He looked like death itself waiting to lure the old Irishman to his doom.
"You would not deny me it, wouldn't you, my loyal bo'sun Smee?" Captain Hook's voice was barely above a whisper.
"Never!" Smee declared with absolute sincerity.
He walked to Captain Hook and slipped his twig-thin arms around his muscular body, pressing his head to the man's broad chest. It was comforting. He felt the captain's large arms close around his slim body. For a minute, he was certain he had died and gone to Heaven.
"Oh, Cap'n Hook. I don't know what's come over you, but rest assured, I'll never leave your side."
"Loyal Smee, my only friend," Captain Hook whispered near his ear. "Loyal, foolish Smee!"
With a hiss revealing long canine fangs within his mouth, he lunged and bit Smee's skinny neck, muffling the man's screams by pressing his face against his chest.
-x-
Cookson gave up on the search for the fabled snake-worms after two hours had passed. The morning was on its way. He yawned as he walked on deck and saw Smee standing at Captain Hook's cabin door, guarding it. The Irishman was motionless, standing at the most attention Cookson had ever seen him.
Rigid as a cutting board, he was. And dangerously alert.
Something seemed off.
Cookson ignored it against his better judgement. "Is Hook still sick, bo'sun Smee? Does he want breakfast?"
"Captain Hook is fine. Don't concern yourself with anything but your duties, swabbie," Smee said in a low voice.
"Swabbie," Cookson said, annoyed. "Who you to call Cookson swabbie?" He saw how pale and strange Smee looked. "You don't look so good yourself, bo'sun Smee. Cookson thinks you caught whatever Capitan de Hook had!" He backed away.
Smee started to walk toward him, causing Cookson more unease.
The cabin door opened. Captain Hook stood in the shadows. A blanket covered his head.
"Capitan de Hook?" Cookson asked, confused. "You are well, yes? Or no?"
"Yes, quite well. I will have breakfast, Cookson. Come into my cabin. I wish to discuss the menu with you."
Smee glared at Cookson. Not one to refuse orders from the captain himself, Cookson began to walk to the cabin. He thought he saw a strange redness to bo'sun Smee's eyes as he passed, but the spectacles obscured it in the light of the lanterns.
"Sure thing, Capitan de Hook."
Cookson felt something bad was in store for him. But against his better judgement, he walked into the captain's cabin and the door closed behind him.
-x-
"What do we do, Robert Mullins? Captain Hook's out of commission, Smee looks like a man possessed since we last saw him, and those evil lamprey-centipede things are still somewhere on the ship, possibly multiplying with every passing minute!"
"Keep your wits about you, Billy Jukes. You'll be needin' 'em if either you or me are to see the next morning," Robert Mullins said, placing a hand on the trembling boy's shoulder.
He and Billy continued to gather what supplies they could while they could. Robert Mullins' head snapped up the second he heard footsteps slowly coming down the steps to the crew's quarters. Billy Jukes grabbed a dagger from his belt. Robert Mullins pulled his cutlass free and waited.
"Remember, Billy. Trust no one." He stared at the boy sympathetically. "Not even me, should we get separated."
Billy Jukes nodded, though he had pain behind his eyes to acknowledge such a thing.
Gentleman Starkey and Alf Mason appeared at the bottom step. Gentleman Starkey daintily stepped down, holding his cape in one hand. There was an ominous aura about the way he moved. Like a predator trying to appear harmless as it stalked right up to its unwitting prey.
"Ah, here they are, Alf Mason. Robert Mullins and Billy Jukes. What are you two doing down here all by your lonesome? Not conspiring, are you?"
His voice sounded like a snake's if a snake were capable of human speech.
Alf Mason took a heavy step down to the floor. He blocked the way out with his wide stance. "Yeah. Captain Hook wants to see you two."
"You can't deny the Captain's orders," Gentleman Starkey said as he came into the light. His flesh was pale and his eyes had an odd, most disconcerting redness to them.
"Stand back, Billy," Robert Mullins ordered. The boy ducked behind him. He raised his cutlass. "So help me, Starkey, I'll cut you down if you get in our way. We're leaving this forsaken ship and gettin' out of here!
Gentleman Starkey let out a dark giggle. He removed his rapier and countered Robert Mullins' sword with it. "No one is leaving."
"ROBERT MULLINS, LOOK OUT!"
Alf Mason revealed a huge sledgehammer he'd been carrying strapped on his back, and slammed it down in front of Robert Mullins just as Billy Jukes tackled him out of harm's way.
Billy Jukes helped his friend and mentor back to his feet. "They've been possessed as well!"
"This is some black magic the likes of which I've never seen," Robert Mullins cried out. He urged Billy Jukes around the deranged men, up the stairs, hopefully to freedom. "Come on, Billy! We're makin' a break for it while we're still breathing!"
Billy Jukes took three stairs at a time. It felt like they went on forever. He followed behind Robert Mullins until the man came to an abrupt stop in front of him. He slammed into his back.
Upon peering around Robert Mullins', he saw Cookson had confronted them at the top of the stairs.
Cookson drooled from the side of his mouth. Long, obscene strings of spittle dripped down his double chin. His flesh was as pale as the rest, his eyes bloodshot and red. There were wet traces down his cheeks, as if he'd spent some time crying for his own lost soul. This seemed to be a simple effect of whatever occult poisoning the men had come under the effects of.
"I make the dinner for Capitan de Hoooooooook," Cookson growled, swinging the cleaver in his right hand.
There were two bloody marks on his plump neck. As if something had sunk its fangs into it.
Robert Mullins threw himself at the portly Greek chef. "Run, Billy!"
He knocked the fat man over, but Cookson grabbed his ankle as he was running. He fell down.
Billy Jukes came to a stop and looked at his fallen friend. "Robert Mullins!"
"Run Billy!" he repeated, louder. "RUN!"
Cookson hissed, revealing pointed fangs inside his mouth. He grabbed Robert Mullins by the leg and dragged him down the stairs with the strength of five men and all the ferocity of a starved wolf pack. Robert Mullins screamed as he vanished into the blackness below deck.
Billy Jukes echoed the scream. "Noooooooooooo! Robert Mullins!"
He took a step to the edge of the stairs and peered down, seeing nothing but blackness. To his horror, the blackness began to swell and rise up. It wasn't merely shadows.
Billy Jukes let out a high-pitched shriek of pure loathing as the black worms began slithering out at his feet. He stumbled back before turning on his heel and fled.
In a blind panic, he ran for Long Tom and jumped on top of it. He stood on Long Tom and surveyed the area for enemies. "I'm alone. I'M ALONE!" he wailed.
"ALL CLEAR, ALL CLEAR! ABANDON SHIP!" came a squawking in his ear that caused him to shriek and nearly lose his balance.
"Short Tom, you miserable bird!" Billy Jukes felt rage at being startled, but he was quite glad to see the dirty old bird had lived through the harrowing event. No one had developed a taste for parrot. He held out his arm for Short Tom to perch at. "Where's Captain Hook?" he asked fearfully. He wasn't sure he wanted to know.
"Abandon ship," Short Tom encouraged.
Billy Jukes looked over the edge and saw the long boats had been smashed and set into the water. Pieces of them floated on the surface. The possessed men who had formerly been his crew and some his friends had cut off all methods of escape. He was doomed unless he learned to fly. How he envied Short Tom at that moment in time.
"If only I had feathers like you, Short Tom."
Billy Jukes sniffled, knowing his short life had come to an end.
No. He had one slim chance for hope.
"Get help, Short Tom! Find Peter Pan and his Lost Boys."
Short Tom shrieked and flew into the air. Billy Jukes solemnly waved him goodbye.
"If you don't return in time to save me, have a good life with Pan. Better than the one you had here."
"Better life," Short Tom squawked.
The parrot flew out over the ocean and soon vanished from view, leaving Billy Jukes to cry softly by his lonesome on top of Long Tom in the uncertain darkness of the night.
Billy Jukes spent well over eight minutes crying on top of Long Tom before the sound of jingling buckles accompanying heavy footsteps filled him with an impossible terror. He turned slowly to see the large form of Captain Hook staring at him. The man's eyes were bright red, glowing like hot coals.
"Billy Jukesssssssssssssssssss."
He moved to Long Tom and placed his naked finger on top of the cannon's tiger head. He slid it across the cannon's length, near Billy Jukes' foot, allowing the boy to take a good long look at his hand. The dark bruise around torn flesh from the wound contrasted against the near white skin of the back of his hand.
"You've been shirking your responsibilities again I see, Billy Jukessssssssssssssss. This will not go unpunissssshed."
He swung his hook and grabbed the shrieking boy by the ankle, catching the boy in a deadly grasp as he fell into Captain Hook's arms, all the while laughing menacingly.
