We crashed through the trees and landed with a crackling thud and the lifeboat split in two. I was stuck in one half with Stickler while the other three latched on to the sides as we all slid across the rubble. Finally, we stopped. I could feel every ache in my body flaring up as I breathed. If I wasn't in so much pain I might have booked it while the others fought to keep their wits together.
"Ya goin' no where." Stickler growled and grabbed the sleeve of my jacket. He hoisted himself up by using me as support. It took him a moment before he said anything else to me. He was awestruck by his surroundings. So was I.
I didn't recognize any of the buildings. Not only had the interiors changed but the vegetation had taken over immensely. Much of what I saw on my way here I was now surrounded in.
"Do ya hear that?" Stickler said quietly as he slipped out his gun.
I stopped daydreaming and listened closely. There was a faint whistling sound running past my ears.
"Over there!" Shouted one of Stickler's men.

A giant wolf leapt from behind what appeared to be a truck covered in moss and vines. It was five times the size of a normal wolf and it looked at us curiously.
"What is that thing? Is t-that a wolf?"
Stickler held his gun out but didn't shoot. "No, that's a monster."
"You're the monster." I said under my breath, but everyone was too focused on the wolf to pay any attention to me. I started moving back to try and sneak away but stopped as I heard heavy footsteps behind me. I slowly turned and saw another wolf just a few yards away from me. It was the about the same size and looked at us with it's head cocked to the side. "I don't think they know what we are." I whispered to Stickler. "I don't think they have ever seen a human before...I mean, I don't think they have seen anyone who looks like us." I quickly corrected myself seeing as Stickler and his men were not human but rather altered beings.
For a moment I thought that maybe these animals would leave us be and not think us a threat, but with the stench of evil lurking on Stickler's body they soon turned on us with a glimmer of hate in their shiny black orbs. They bared their fangs and growled.
"They're gonna eat us!" Cried one of the men. And that's when the first wolf made his attack.
The men fired their guns and the cries of the wolf rang out across the rocky terrain.
Stickler turned to me and fired his gun. I felt the bullet graze my ear and shoot the second wolf in the head. "Aim for the head!" He yelled. But by the second time he had taken the wolf down he had lost one of his own men. "Damn it all to hell!" He fired his gun one last time and shot the first wolf in the head. It dropped to the ground with an arm from one his men still in its mouth.
"That monster killed, Derk!"
"Derk was stupid." Stickler commented. He didn't care that he had just lost one of his crew members.
I stood their speechless as blood trickled down the side of my neck as it oozed out of my ear. I was too in shock to notice the pain.

A massive wave of other animals off in the distance cried out, probably because of the sound of Stickler's gun. It was something completely foreign to them.
"We need to get moving." Stickler looked to me. "You're the map. Lead the way."
"I hardly recognize a thing." I told him honestly.
The howling continued.
"Do ya want to die out here by one of those things?" He yelled at me.
I huffed, irritated. I was scared and worried as much as them, and they expected me to know where to go. At least most of the roads had stayed the same but there were parts of buildings that had fallen, blocking our path, so we were forced to make several detours.
All around us we could hear the animals lurking about. I had a feeling they were exactly where we were but were keeping their distance. I was glad for that and I'm sure the others were too, even of they didn't show it.
Wherever Jim was I was glad he wasn't here. I was hoping that he was still up in the sky and away from danger. A part of me didn't want him following after me. I clutched my chest tight...that's right, he said he would follow me no matter what. That meant so much to me. It made me happy...and sad. I didn't want him getting hurt.

Eventually we made our way inside a small shop. From what I could tell it was a place to buy souvenirs. Anything that wasn't metal or glass was practically gone. Everything else had been eaten away by animals, the earth, and time itself. At least the registers were clearly noticeable. Anything resorting to paper, plastic or food, was gone.
Suddenly, I screamed and jumped back, falling over a pile of stones and landed on my bottom.
"Shut it! What the hell is the matter with ya?" Stickler yelled at me.
I pointed. "Look," A pile of skeletons laid a few feet in front of us. Their bones were all mixed together and I couldn't tell exactly how many bodies were there. "I wonder how long they've been there." I said that more to myself than to anyone else but Stickler felt the need to let me know what he thought.
"Who the hell cares? Get up!"
I scrambled to my feet and dusted my bum off. "It looks like we can get through this door." I walked past Stickler and ignored his scoff. "We need to find a back door. Everything else is blocked...unless you want to do some rock climbing?" I glanced back at him. He wasn't happy with me.
"Lead the way, brat."

I could feel all their eyes staring at my back.
The hallways were dark so I walked with my hand resting on the wall and one hand out in front of me. "Ouch!" I jabbed my fingers into something metal and pushed on it. "It wont budge. I think something may be blocking the other side." I was worried we'd have to go back and find another way, and I didn't feel like doing that.
"Out of the way." Stickler grabbed me and pulled me back. I heard his gun click and the hallway lit up with a single flash and then it was dark again, but not completely. Stickler had manage to budge the door so that it was barley hanging on its hinges and a ray of light shined in. "Break it down." He told his men and they carefully moved past us and pushed with all their might.
The door fell and for a few seconds we heard nothing and then it finally hit the bottom. We all squished together to see where the door had fallen and it led us outside but it appeared that we were stuck on the second floor.
"The drop isn't so bad." Said one of the pirates.
"Then jump." Said the other.
"No way!"
"Move it!" Stickler said angrily and he pushed one them without warning. They landed hard on their side, scrapping their body on all the rubble. They cried out in pain and cursed something awful.
Stickler looked to his other crew member. "After you."
The pirate didn't want to jump, but he didn't want to be pushed either, so he braced himself and hoped for the best. Luckily he landed more gracefully.
Stickler looked to me now and raised one brow. I wasn't going to argue with the pirate and I took a big breath. Maybe if I broke both my ankles we would be forced to sit put, that way Jim would be able to gain some ground on us. Then again, Stickler might make me walk anyway or have one of his men carry me, so there was really no point in hoping, was there?

I tried to land as best as I could but still ended up hurting myself and scraping my hands and knees. At least I wasn't as bad off as the first pirate.
Stickler landed right after me. If he hurt himself he didn't show it and he urged us all to continue moving.
From time to time I could hear the strange sounds of animals running all around us. I wasn't sure if I liked being surrounded by all this rubble. Was I safe from these beasts or was all the fallen mess around me giving them the upper hand?
I glanced over at Stickler's gun and wondered how many bullets he had left. It couldn't have been many and it wouldn't be enough to keep us safe from another wolf attack or from an animal who was probably bigger.
"We're losin' light." Said the second pirate. "I don' like this."
"Shut yer mouth." Stickler said and he pressed the tip of his gun into my back to make me move faster.
"Ouch! Stop that." I told him. "You want me to trip and fall and break my ankles? We wouldn't get anywhere then." Why was he tormenting me when I hadn't been the one talking?
"Don't talk back to me, girly." And then he grabbed me, making me stop and everyone else. "Ya hear that?"
We all stopped to listen. It was faint but we could all hear a soft whisper. Was it Jim? Was it other pirates who had escaped? Or was it some other kind of native being?
Our questions were soon answered when we turned a corner and almost blew each other's heads off when we came face to face with part of Stickler's crew. There was ten of them and they all looked as shocked as us.
"Where the hell have ya been?" Stickler said resting his gun at his side again. "Never mind. We's need to keep movin'."
"Where are we goin'? To the treasure?" Said a stout pirate who looked like a pig.
"Briar knows where to go." He shoved me. "Don' cha?" Stickler said.
I rolled my eyes and looked at my surroundings once more. By the looks of it, at least from what was familiar to me, we were about two miles away. And with all this rubble we constantly had to climb over and maneuver around it could take us longer. "We're about two miles away, but with obstacles constantly getting in our way we won't reach the Vatican before nightfall. We'll have to stop and rest. Trying t get around this while its dark would be a big mistake."
Stickler didn't like the sound of it, but he knew I was more than right and he grumbled. "Get us as far as ya can." And off we went.

We made it another few blocks before we were forced to stop. We could hardly see the few feet that was in front of us and we found a building that was still standing to take shelter in. Stickler and his men blocked the entrance door with piles of stone blocks and chairs and tables and we all sat down in a circle.
Stickler took out a light stick and snapped it, making it glow. That way he was able to see who was all here and if anyone came or went he would know. That also meant no escape for me, not that I would want to considering the animals that were out there could easily kill me and I had no way of protecting myself.
The cracked stone floor beneath me was cold and uncomfortable. I couldn't find it in me to fall asleep and I wondered how some of the other pirates were able to. Stickler on the other hand stayed awake and his gaze never left me. It made me uncomfortable and I forced myself to lie down and turn over on my side. I couldn't stand Stickler looking at me. It made me feel ill.
Trying to get any amount of sleep was futile. Some of the crew members whispered to each other while the howls and cries of the animals outside let us know they were always near.
And before I knew it, light started to shine in through the broken windows and we were off again.
My legs were weak and I had little strength to keep going.
"Don' die on me now." Stickler steadied me by placing one hand on my shoulder. "Watch yer step. Do ya want to live?"
I took a deep breath as I tried to keep the tears at bay. I was hungry, my body hurt, and above all else I missed Jim. I wanted to see his smiling face again; Lucard and Maria too.
I was so sure they were right behind us.

Stickler was smart. He knew when I was stalling and as punishment for that he would hit me in the back with his gun. It wasn't very hard but it still hurt and with how much pain I was in it didn't take much to deal damage to me.
"We're almost there. I can see the top of the Vatican from here." And that was the truth. It wouldn't be much longer until Stickler got what he was looking for.
We climbed over one last heaping pile of stone and rubble and came face to face with the Vatican. "This is it." I told them all. The only thing standing in our way was a poorly built brick wall with vines covering it. Sand bags were laid up against it and some were sprawled out everywhere.
I stepped on something and heard it snap. Thinking it was just a twig I looked down to kick it away and that's when I realized that it was no twig at all but a skeleton instead. I gasped.
"What's the matter?" He was obviously annoyed.
"That," said one of the pirates and he pointed at something that all of us otherwise ignored despite the gruesome sight: hundreds of skeletons of human bodies were in piles and all around us, too. Regardless of things having grown or fallen on their bodies, it was simple enough to see them now.
"What the hell happened here?" said the stout pig man.
"This was a battlefield." I answered without looking at him. It was a ghastly sight indeed. Whatever happened here they were trying to protect something, thus the brick wall having been built.
There were so many bodies we had no choice but to step on them as we made our way to the brick wall.
"How do ya suppose we's get over this thing?" Some of the pirates started asking. And some of them even started trying to climb over it with the help of the vines but, they soon fell as they were too heavy and the thin vines, though bundled and entwined together, were not enough to support their weight.
"Hold up now. Somethin' is on here." Some of the pirates pulled away most of the vines and the more they pulled the more something started to show.
Stickler looked to me. "What does it say?" He asked.
Most of the red paint had chipped away but I could figure it out with what little was left of it. "La morte è qui." I said. "Death has come."
"Don' like that sound of that." Said the pirate whom Stickler had pushed out the window.
Stickler groaned and shot the pirate dead. "Anyone else wanna complain?" No one said a word. I was surprised to find that no one ever questioned his authority. Maybe they were all scared of him.

As we worked together to find a way past the brick wall we all looked to the sky. Above us was Jim's ship and few others flew next to it on solar surfers. They made it known that they had spotted us as they turned back around to start their landing.
"Move it!" Stickler cursed.
Stickler's men finished tearing down one side of the brick wall and rushed on to the ground of the Vatican steps and we made our way inside. There was no need for us to open the doors because they were already broken down and more skeleton bodies littered the ground. I'll never know what happened to these people and what they were fighting for, or even when life here for people had ended. As far as I knew, it had been thousands of years since another being had stepped foot on these lands.
"Hurry! Get inside!" Stickler shoved me inside just as Jim's ship landed and we all ran deep into the halls of the Vatican. "Which way?" Stickler was frantic as he shoved me along. He wanted me to hurry up and make a decision.
"I can't think right will all that's going on!" I yelled—I had to, we were being shot at and everyone started yelling now.
Stickler was fed up with me and smacked me across the face with the gun in his hand. I fell to the floor hard and tasted blood in my mouth. I grabbed for my mouth and covered it only to feel the hot liquid of blood overflow it. "What did I's say 'bout talkin' back, you worm?" He grabbed me by the shirt, ripping one of the sleeves off.
I was dizzy and my ears were ringing. I was lucky Stickler didn't knock any teeth out.

The once beautiful Vatican that I had come to know and love was now a heaping pile of broken statues, stairs, paintings and so much more. It saddened me, and it made me angry. Millions of people had come here to gaze upon all its wonders and now there was hardly anything left to admire; not really anyway.
Stickler held me fast by the arm and had me tell him which way to go. I had to think fast: if I was a piece of treasure that a piece of crap pirate was looking for, where would I be?
"Up these stairs." I told Stickler. His men followed.
As we turned the corner to go up the second flight of steps we saw that a good chunk of them were missing.
"Jump!" Stickler told me.
I jumped quickly as I did not want Stickler pushing me like he did to his other crew member. And as I jumped I got a glimpse of the darkness below. I tried not to think about what might be down there...or who.
Stickler and the rest of his men followed but we were soon met by a dead end when the door in front of us was shut tight, and Jim and his men were close behind.
"Where do we go?"
"There's nowhere left to run!" Stickler's men were growing restless as our options dwindled. I had no problem with this but, I knew that if things didn't go Stickler's way, his gun would be the last thing I'd see.
"You led us into a trap!" Stickler yelled at me.
I shook my head. My mouth was still in pain so I couldn't talk to him and explain that it was never my intention to misguide them. I was just as lost and confused as they were.
And then I heard his voice.
"Briar!" It was Jim. He was right below me.
I wanted to say something back—to let him know that I was here but, I was too scared.
"I know you can hear me." He said. "Listen, I'm going to save you and you're going to be just fine. I'll get you out of here and we can go home. I promise."
Hot tears stained my dirty cheeks; my shaking hands rested on the railing and put some of my weight on it for support. I was so tired of fighting. Going home sounded so nice. Resting by the fire with a nice drink in my hand and being near Jim was all but a dream to me now. And being surrounded by my friends was only wishful thinking. How could I save the people I cared most in my life when I couldn't save myself? I wanted to tell them all to go home and forget about me. I wasn't worth it.

A loud crack rattled in all our ears and I gripped the railing tighter, although it didn't matter, the stairs we were on broke in half and swayed to one side.
I would have screamed if it didn't feel like my heart was going to jump out of my throat. All my cries were stuck in my lungs—and they burned.
More shots were fired and I could see some of Stickler's men fall into the deep, dark hole we had jumped over. I spotted Jim twenty feet down. He was opposite of me and hiding behind a pillar. He only came out to shoot when it was clear for him. When he spotted me I could see him fighting the urge to come after me but, there was still plenty of Stickler's men left, including himself.
Maybe I had just enough strength left to jump to him. If I timed it right he could easily catch me; and if we got it wrong we could both die. Was I ready for that kind of risk?
I slid down on my bottom of what was left of the steps and held out my hand. "Jim," my voice cracked and could barely be heard from all the commotion. "Jim," I tried a little harder.
"Not so fast!" Stickler grabbed me by the shirt, startling me and I lost my grip on the railing. I slipped and felt the steps leave from under me. I stopped for a second as Stickler held on to the last step with me still in his grasp. But the weight was too much he let go.
"No!" I could hear Jim but his voice quickly became an echo as Stickler and I fell into the depths of the Vatican.

Down, down we went. We fell for a while until we hit a pool of ice cold water. It was dark and I kicked and flailed as I tried to reach the surface. At last air reached my lungs and I could breath again. Stickler was right beside me and I could hear him having a coughing fit.
After a while my eyes adjusted to the darkness I could see little blue lights all alongside the walls of the hole we fell down into and way up at the top was a small white light where everyone was fighting; where Jim was.
"Captain, is that you?" I heard a voice.
I turned to the voice and squinted my eyes. There I could some of Stickler's men. Not all who had fallen down perished.
"This way!" They told us as I saw them standing on some kind of body of land. "There's a cave down here! It's incredible!" They told us with excitement in their voice as they helped us out of the water.
"A cave?" Stickler was in disbelief, and so was I. I shouldn't have been surprised. The Vatican was filled with many secrets and this cave just happened to be one of them. "Do ya know anythin' 'bout this?" Stickler asked me.
I shook my head again. "No. This is news to me." My voice still hurt.
He shoved me again and forced me to walk beside him with his men at our backs. "Let's get movin' Those damned fools will be after us with their solar surfers no doubt."

Not all hope was lost. There was still a chance that I could be reunited with all of my friends and I held on to that chance.
The ceiling to the cave was high and I could see more little blue lights twinkling in the dark. Were they crystals of some sort, or maybe even a living organism? Whatever it was it gave off just enough light to guide our way.
The pirates who made it down here first admitted to not getting very far because they were unsure of what lurked ahead.
"We's thought we's heard someone talkin'...mumblin'." Said one pirate. "But as ya see...there's no one here."
"You heard voices?" I asked. They nodded to me with a look of worry in their eyes. "I doubt anything or anyone is down here. You probably just heard the fighting from above echo down here." The pirates did not look convinced.
"I's wouldn't be so sure 'bout that." Stickler held his arms out to the side and made me stop walking.
I looked ahead and we stood at the edge of a cave room much much bigger. It was rounded with uneven ground with a bright light shining down in the middle. For a moment I thought my eyes had deceived me. A shadowy figure moved from its hunched position and stood straight and tall. But this was no trick being played on the mind. This was real; this figure was really there! And the light shining down it must have been from a well that was somewhere in the Vatican courtyard or garden.
We moved closer trying to get a better look at the figure. I didn't want to but Stickler forced me to.
As it turned around to face us, sensing our presence, I saw that its whole body was a misty-like shape. It wore a long, black cloak and the hood covered its face but its long bony arms and hands stretched out toward us. And right in the middle of its chest was a glowing red light.
"Stickler!" We all turned to see Jim. He and a handful of his men had made it down. I saw Lucard and Maria; even Silver was there with them. Jim raised his gun and fired, but the bullet never reached us as an unknown force pushed everyone back. Stickler and his men went flying in the opposite direction of me. Jim went flying and so did everyone else.
For a while we were all disoriented. The ground beneath my feet started to shake and I struggled to stand up. I fell a few times but once the shaking subsided I fought to get back up. This was my chance for escape; this was my chance to tell Jim that I loved him.
"Jim!" I yelled. I was too focused on him to see that everyone had started fighting again.
"Briar!" Jim fired his gun and shot down a few more pirates before it was clear enough for him to run after me. Lucard and Maria held the remaining pirates at bay.
We were so close. I could almost touch him; just a few more feet.
BAM!
I watched as Jim came to a sudden stop and fell to his knees and then face first into the ground. I dropped to my knees, gasping in utter despair as I crawled the rest of the way over to him. The ground shook again.
"No, Jim." I flipped him over and my heart shattered into a million pieces. There was nothing but dust left of it. Blood seeped from his chest and I ripped his shirt open to find that he had been shot in the heart. I looked up to see who the culprit was and it was none other than Stickler. He pointed his gun at me, ready to fire and from the corner of my eye I saw the shadowy figure flick his hand to the side and Stickler went flying back. I then noticed Lucard fall to his side and scream out in pain. Maria dropped to his side and tried her best to protect him from harm. Everyone else was still fighting their hardest but, I didn't care anymore. I looked down at Jim. His eyes were still open but he was gone; he was dead.
No matter how much I shook him or called out his name, the soft peach color in his cheeks were turning pale and his blue eyes were fading to a dark misty color.

The fighting spirit in me was no more. I was done. If Jim was gone then I didn't care about living anymore. This was all my fault! Jim was dead because he tried to save me and I wasn't strong enough. I wailed; grief stricken as I cradled him in my arms and rocked back and forth. I closed his eyes and rested my head on his.
The fighting was still going on but I didn't care anymore.
I would no longer be able to hear Jim's voice or his laugh. He'd never smile again or get angry. He'd never be sad or even happy.
"Please come back, Jim. I love you. Please, come back me." I whimpered as my tears fell on his cheeks.
Suddenly, the noise from everyone stopped and I looked up to see that they themselves had stopped.
Time had stopped.
I felt someone behind me and looked back but, no one was there. I turned back around and gasped as I saw the black figure hovering over me. It bent over, its hand digging out a glowing red stone from deep within its chest and it held it our for me and in a raspy voice it said: "Take it."
I stared at the stone in its hand and jumped as his voice startled me, urging me to take the stone once more. And I did. I could feel a wave of energy surge through me and any kind of physical pain I felt before was now gone, although my heart still ached for Jim.
I could feel my consciousness fade as I struggled to stay awake but alas darkness overcame me.

Next I knew I staring up at the ceiling of Jim's council room. Confused, I sat up on the couch and I felt a bunch of hair fall over my shoulders. Strange, I thought. I grabbed the long dark stands and came to find that this hair was mine. I pulled at my hair just to make sure and by now I was really starting to freak out. What the heck happened to me? Why was I back on Jim's ship? Did someone save me? Did Stickler win? What happened?!
There was something else rather unpleasant that I soon realized. I was chubby again. Now I was really confused. I looked to my hand and saw that Silver's red bandana was wrapped around it. What was once an old wound now stung me for a second time.
Just as I was about to get up off the couch and look out on deck the handle to the door squeaked as it twisted and I held my breath.
"Oh, you're awake." It was Jim.
I looked at him, eyes wide.
"Uh, are you okay, miss?"
"What...?" I was breathless.
Jim walked into the room and closed the door behind him. "You've been through something very traumatic and you're probably in shock. It's best if you don't move around." He cautioned me. "My name is Captain James Pleiades Hawkins but, you can call me Jim...Or Captain."
I gulped and covered my mouth with a shaking hand. I started crying again.
"Oh, uh, please don't cry, miss. Everything is fine. You're safe now." He walked a little closer to me.
I wiped my tears to look at him more clearly. Jim was dead just seconds before and yet here he was, alive and well and calling me "miss". And there was something else, too. I could feel a lump in my pocket and it was the stone.

Sorry for the long wait. I've got some stuff going on at home.
A review is food for the writer's soul. The more people review the more inspiration I'll have and work harder to get another chapter out.
Also, I have two other Jim Hawkins stories on here. His Girl and Crystal Heart. They are much more mature than this story but if that doesn't bother you you may like the hot and heated mess.