Just a reminder that this is rated T for language :P sorry for the crappiness of this chapter guys but i wrote it in a rush. maybe i could get at least one review this time though. cough. please. even if its just to tell me where i messed up (which i do appreciate so i can go in and change it).
again. sorry for the crappiness.
When we went down to the "kitchen" all of the pirates were already there, each sitting on the splintery wooden floor with fat peanut butter sandwiches and bland chips. They were all talking and laughing, a loud buzz, and it surprised me. I'd never pictured pirates this way, happy and social. Some of them looked up as we came down, me still using Edward for support, but most of them were too immersed in their own conversations to notice.
"Since we don't have a cook, it's always a certain section of the crew's job to prepare some food. It's always like this," Jasper explained.
"Yeah. It is always like this. This is the third time we're having peanut butter sandwiches this week," Emmett whined, rolling his eyes.
"Well one time they had jelly, too," Edward retorted. "Besides, there's not many options. We haven't reloaded in forever."
"Still."
I just focused on getting my footing right as we stepped around everyone to get to a now-small pile of sandwiches. The old looking chips were all over the gross table, but there were still some in a box.
"We don't have any plates, either, so we just use cloth napkins that we carry around," Jasper explained. Dang. This ship was poor for all the stuff they stole.
I reached forward to grab one.
"Take two," Edward said.
"But everyone else only has one," I replied.
"Yes. Well, everyone else has eaten twice today, too. Take two," he insisted, handing me another. Then he pulled out an off-white cloth from his pocket. "And use my napkin for the chips, since you don't have one."
"What about you?"
"I'm fine."
Then they got their own food, lowering the pile even more.
"Hey, Emmett!" someone called. "Over here!"
I saw Emmett grin before going over to a circle of men to eat with.
"Where do I-"
"Let's just sit with Jeremiah and them," Jasper suggested, answering my unfinished question.
We went all the way back to a circle by the stairs, Edward guiding me. I felt many pairs of eyes upon me this time, and blushed under their gazes.
"Can we join you?" he asked politely. The circle immediately opened up for us so we could join it, none of the conversation even slowing down. I sat right between Edward and Jasper.
"Now, eat," Edward demanded. I glared at him.
"Do not tell me what to do," I warned him. I wouldn't put up with that.
He shrugged and turned to the gruff man on his other side, starting conversation as he ate.
I finally bit into the sandwich, and soon enough I realized how hungry I had been, scarfing both of them down. I sniffed the chips before I ate them, though, because of how old they looked. In the end I ate those, too, and then I felt all better.
Jasper and Edward were still talking so I leaned back out of the circle some and looked around. A lot of these men looked young, in their twenties, even though there were some older ones. Every single one of them was well-built and strong, and I wondered what it would be like if they all fought each other instead of innocent, weaker people. And even though they looked strong, I could see that they were all worn and tired. It showed in the lines on their faces, in the way they constantly looked as though they were thinking about something else, in the dark circles under their eyes. Their choice to live a life of piracy and cruelity would definitely affect them badly. I didn't see any much older men, so they'd probably all died off already. It would kill them all, and though Emmett, Edward, and Jasper seemed nice enough, I would never forget the way they ruthlessly murdered my crewmates and nearly me just for our goods. That was how I would think of them.
"Bella?"
I turned my head to see Carlisle come over behind me.
"Emmett told me that you passed out earlier. How are you feeling now?" he asked, sitting down. He was young and strong-looking too, but still looked exhausted.
"Better," I answered emotionlessly. Pirate.
"I had her eat two sandwiches," Edward said, turning around to face us. I felt a bubble of annoyance. I could answer for myself.
"Good," Carlisle said. "Just make sure you get enough food, Bella. There are meals around sunrise, around noon, and around sunset. And I put a canteen for water in your cabin."
"Thanks."
"Are your wounds doing alright?" he asked. Again with the questions.
"Yup." Short and sweet.
"Well, the bandages will still need to be changed every day for about a week. I put the wrap on your bed, too, so be sure you do that tonight. If you have any questions, my cabin is one over from yours. Don't hesitate to find me." Typical doctor talk, it seemed like, but I nodded anyway.
He got up to go, but before he walked away, he whispered something in Edward's ear, who nodded, his eyes darting to me and then back. I narrowed my eyes suspiciously at him.
"What?" I asked once Carlisle had gone.
He looked like he was considering something.
"Let's go on up to the main deck," he suggested.
Go up there with him while everyone else was down here. Umm, no. I shook my head and he sighed in exasperation.
"Carlisle just wants me to tell you about something, and I shouldn't tell you it here."
I wanted to believe him, but I couldn't trust him. He was a pirate.
"Would it be better if Jasper went with us?" he asked, catching onto my fears. He saw me hesitate, so before I could disagree, he told Jasper we were going up to the main deck and that he should come, too.
And then I had no choice but to follow him up the stairs. I felt a lot less awkward now that I wasn't clinging to his shirt for balance.
We emerged onto the main deck to find that it was empty except for the man steering and two other crewmen, who were chatting on the other side of the deck.
I turned to Edward, one hand on a hip.
"What could possibly be so important that we had to come up here for you to tell me?" I asked.
He and Jasper exchanged a glance.
"Captain Blair keeps track of ships' movements, and his markings tell us that we're going to intercept a ship tomorrow," Jasper said. "There will be a battle."
My face hardened.
"So you're going to kill more people? Why the hell does it matter so much to tell me this?"
"Because you're going to be on this ship during the attack. I wouldn't suggest coming out during the fight. You might be mistaken by their side and killed, and don't even try dressing up like a man again, because then someone from our crew will just kill you. Or their crew. Either way, you'll die. So don't say I didn't tell you if you come out tomorrow during the battle and find that your life is about to be ended."
I just stared, turning over his words in my head, a plan already forming.
"The battle will be shortly after breakfast, if the captain's calculations are correct," Edward continued, "but you'll still realize when you should hide in your cabin."
A large group of men came up from dinner, talking loudly and cutting our 'conversation' short when one of them pulled Jasper away, and then I walked away from Edward to plan my get away. I sat down so that I was leaning against a post in the railing, looking out at the deck that was refilling with the crew.
The sun was already beneath the waves, so I couldn't see much in the moonlight, but I searched through my memory of everywhere I had been on this ship so far as my plan progressed, giving me a bit of hope that I might get off of this blasted ship in one piece.
I don't know how long I sat there, but after a long while, I felt my eyelids get droopy with sleepiness. I was still slightly weakened from yesterday. I was about to get up to go to bed, but I got sidetracked, thinking about the beautiful way the moon shone on everyone and everything, making even an evil ship look nice.
And then the moon's light disappeared when my eyes shut, and my chin hit my collarbone, and I was asleep.
::::a a a::::
When I woke up, there wasn't any moonlight. There wasn't even sunlight. Everything was dark except a sliver of light by the floor.
I shot up in bed. Where was I? I knew I had fallen asleep on the deck last night, but where was I now? What had happened? Who moved me?
I swung my feet over the edge of the cot and walked carefully across the rough floor, nearly tripping over my boots. I scrambled in the dark for the doorknob, and when I finally found it, I pulled the door open.
Dim light shot in, and I squinted against it.
Now that I could see, I turned and saw I was in the cabin they had given me, and no one else was here. I had on the same clothes as yesterday, thank goodness, and my boots were by my bedside. I pulled them on and yanked through my yucky hair with my fingers.
"Bella? It's breakfast time," Emmett said, and I turned to see him leaning in my doorway.
"Alright."
We went out onto the deck, and I could see the sun rising above the waves. It must be pretty early.
Then I remembered the fight and my plan, and I felt nervous with anticipation.
We headed downstairs to where it was busy, the men all eating hard looking bread and jam as well as slimy peaches, three men to a can.
"Sleep alright, Bella?" Emmett asked as we got our food.
"Too alright," I replied. "Who carried me into my cabin?"
"Wanna share a can?" he asked, shaking it. I nodded. "Edward did. Jasper tried to get him to wake you up to change the bandages, but apparently sleep was more important, so we just went with what he said. He's worked closer to Carlisle."
I felt the blood in my cheeks a bit, but it only got worse when we went to sit down and I sat across a small circle from Edward.
"How did you sleep?" he asked, and I thought everyone would listen in since we were across sides, but they didn't even notice. "You were sleeping on the deck for a while before Jasper noticed you."
"I'm fine," I said, taking a huge bite out of the hard black bread.
And that was that. I didn't have to talk anymore during breakfast.
After we ate (Emmett ate most of the peaches) I went up to my cabin again to change the bandages. The pirates' victims' ship had already been spotted in the distance, and I was running out of time.
I slammed the door shut and yanked Jasper's shirt over my head. I peeled the bandages carefully off so that nothing would start to bleed again, and wiped it off. I was able to get the wrap around the wound on my lower ribcage alright, but I couldn't quite reach the one on my back, and someone was knocking on the door.
Huffing, I pulled the shirt on and opened the door to see Edward, who had a sword in his belt and a jumpy look on his face.
"It's almost time, I just came to tell you." Crap. I was nearly out of time.
I yanked him into the room.
"Can you rebandage the wound on my back?" I asked.
"We don't have much time-"
I shoved the wrap in his hand and spun around, unbuttoning only the first two buttons on the shirt before spinning it around on me so it was still on but Edward could tend to the wound, which he did quickly and soon enough I was able to fix it and rebutton the shirt.
"Alright," he said, his cheeks actually a bit pink. I tried not to laugh. "Well, I'm gonna go. Stay in here. Do. Not. Come. Out."
I shut the door behind him and set to work, pulling my hair back on top of my head and tying a bandana around it like I had for a month. I then tightened the cloth around my chest as much as I could so that it was actually a bit difficult for me to inhale.
Outside, I could hear the men assembling.
I made sure that the knife was stuck in my boot.
And then I waited, hearing a rush beneath my floor. I didn't get that, but I didn't have time to ponder it, either, because I heard Captain Blair's voice saying the exact same thing to the poor other ship's captain that he said to my captain before destroying him. Give up and maybe live, or fight and surely die.
And, like my ship, the opposing crew decided to fight. I heard the first yells of terror and knew it was time.
I carefully opened my door, glancing outside at the battle. Every single man was engaged in a fight, and I briefly saw Jasper swinging his sword gracefully at a poor man.
It made me sick, and I knew the only way to get away from it was to continue with my plan.
Since everyone was so busy with their own battle, I was unseen as I crept over to the stairs that led below deck and headed down them quickly. I was a bit panicked, and I almost tripped, but I kept going.
I almost ran past the second floor under to the third, but something stopped me. It was the sight of the curtain that blocked the pirates' sleeping area pulled back. I could see all of the beds, and I could also see a lot of light.
So I paused my plan, going over there. A wave of sweaty smell hit me, but now I knew how the men had gotten onto my ship on the night of the first battle.
The light was coming from a large window that had no glass or anything to block it from a fall to the sea. A board was propped through it, making a bridge from this ship to the other ship, where a small window had been cut to be large enough for the pirates to fit through. That was why they pulled up so close to the other ship. This way all they had to do was scurry over there and wait for the captain's signal to attack by flooding onto the main deck from below, surprising the other crew and gaining a quick advantage.
Though I thought it was disgusting to trick the crew they were about to kill like that, this would be easier for my plan to work. I had been going to go out through a small window again and even possibly swim over there and climb onto the other ship to hide, but this was already done for me.
Hesitantly, I climbed onto our end of the board, and slowly, slowly, I climbed out so that I was over the water. Above me cries of pain and terror could be heard, as well as the clashing of swords. I didn't look down as I crawled across the ocean to the other ship, but I was still relieved when I climbed reached the window into the other ship.
I was almost in there when the other end of the board cracked a bit, throwing me off balance.
"Huhh!" I gasped. My arm flew back to grab the edge of the ship, but my upper arm whammed into it, and I heard my arm crack. I held it there and it supported my weight as I climbed all the way through into a nice room with a rug and a bed. My bandana had fallen off, but I couldn't do anything about that.
I breathed a sigh of relief when my feet were solidly on the ground, but I didn't have time to rejoice yet. I hadn't made it all the way.
Up above, the pirates were cheering. They had won, and any second they would be flooding down here to dig out goods.
I heard the footsteps and took the first hiding place I could find: under the bed. It was a tight squeeze, but it was all there was time for.
The door burst open right as I pulled my right foot under, and two men came in, talking happily about what a nice ship this was and how much expensive stuff they'd find. I wanted to stab their feet with my dagger, but I was too afraid. If these pirates saw me, I would be carried right back to that pirate ship to be sold as who-knows-what. I'd rather row all the way back to land, which was what I planned to do once the pirates left this ship. I was going to find the kitchen, take the food and water I could, and row and row and row in the lifeboat.
I was also afraid of what they'd do to me if they found out what I did.
I waited for about half an hour of men carrying things out and shuffling outside in a small hallway. This really was a nice ship, and many things were being taken.
Finally things started to settle down, and I couldn't hear footsteps. All I could hear was the board that made the bridge being pulled back onto the damned pirate ship that I had escaped from and loud talking from their ship.
When I was absolutely sure it was safe to come out and that the pirates were about to take off, I crawled out from underneath the bed, feet first, which was a bad idea. I wacked my head against the bed frame.
"Owwwwwwww," I groaned, clutching it and kneeling there.
"Bella? What... How?"
I turned around, my eyes wide with fear, to see Emmett standing in the doorway.
Shit.
