AN// Hopefully I didn't make you guys wait too long! Like my
cliffhanger?... or my attempt to a good cliffhanger? *laughs* Well here
go... It starts from where Patricia was bathing to where I left off.
Elkengrove, I don't how you did it (actually I think you didn't. It was an ff.net screw up.) but your review keeps getting resent to me. I think it's been sent to me about fifty times now.. literally.. *laughs* It may be some freaky way of reminding me to update. *laughs*
Chapter 19:
Patricia sighed again, reclining on the slippery rocks of the spring. Her clothes were some paces behind her and she was naked in the clear running water. Her hand felt for a smooth rock and gently scrubbed it on her skin to exfoliate the dirt. She cringed at all the dead skin she was rubbing away and submerged herself in the water.
As Patricia lay down, head still below the surface, she opened her eyes. The water made her sight waver and blurry, but as her sight adjusted, she noticed a dark figure standing near the water's edge. Terrified, she sat up and wiped away the water. Her arms crossed in front of her chest and she looked at where the dark figure was standing... but it was gone...
Only moments ago, Tricia had felt safe. She was sure that there was no one there... But now her heart was racing in fear. She was sure someone was there. She KNEW something was watching her. It seemed all the trees were hiding eyes now. They were all watching her, scrutinizing her every move and inch.
"Jack?" Patricia called out, shivering in the water... but it was more from fright than cold. "Will? Elizabeth?... Anyone?"
If anything, the silence that answered her made her even more frightened and now her heart was beating so loud, she could hear it pounding in her ears. She looked down and saw the water reddening. Immediately, she realized that her hand was bleeding again. Seeing the blood, Patricia jumped out of the water, wringing out her hair. She messily threw on her clothes, and walked briskly to the trail.
Tricia's feet fell in fast strides, head down, but eyes not seeing the path she walked on. Her mind was telling her that if Jack was playing some sick joke, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction that she ran like a coward... Then later, she would castrate him for such a disgusting prank... But something didn't seem right. Her legs started to move faster. She could scarcely hear footsteps behind her but that could have been her mind playing tricks. She took another step and halted. Instead of the sand submitting to her weight and taking the form of her shoe, it remained hard. She looked down and realized she was stepping on dirt covered by grass, dead leaves, and twigs.
"God... Please, no," Patricia murmured. Tears of frustration and terror stung her eyes when she realized she didn't pay attention and drifted from the path. She looked around but the foliage hid the ground and the trail was so thin that had it only been ten feet from where she stood, the trees, bushes and plants would have hidden it from her angle.
Without another thought, she began to run. Her breath was heavy already from her racing heart but now from the speed she was running with as well. Behind her, she felt as if something was chasing her, its breath right on her neck. She looked back while sprinting, just to make sure nothing was behind her and didn't see the soft torso she bumped into.
From the position of looking backwards, Patricia tilted her head up to whatever she bumped into. For a spare second, she saw a teenage boy's face looking down at her. She immediately recognized it.
"Mack," she sighed, dropping her head in relief, eyes closed. "You sca..." Her voice stopped working at what she saw when her reopened. Her hand flew to her mouth, horrified, at what was in front of her and she screamed loud enough to scare the birds away from the treetops.
It was Mack, alright. But it was only part of him. His lower half was completely severed, missing from sight, and it looked like someone had decided to make a scare crow out of him. A thick wooden pole went straight through his body, coming out from the ground, through what would have been his groin had it still been there and finally through his neck and skull. His arms were also missing and replaced by another wooden pole, going through one shoulder, through his back and out the other arm socket. She took a step back and fell backwards, landing on her butt and hands. She just realized that the ground was soft and she took a look at her shaking hand and saw that the dirt was soaked through with blood, streaming down from Mack's body as well as Dylan's, a few feet behind his. Dylan's body was also displayed in the same grotesque fashion.
Patricia didn't know how long she sat there, staring up at Mack and Dylan as they looked down at her with lifeless eyes stained by blood trailing from the top of their heads. She was only aware of the world around her when Will ran to her, leaning down to shield the sight of the teenage boys from her eyes. Now all she could see was Will's wet skin as he held her against his chest. The sight broken from her eyes, Patricia began to sob.
"Patricia..." Will murmured. Her arms captured his neck and he pulled her up to her feet. "Oh god... you have blood all over you... Where are you hurt? Come on, love... PLEASE tell me.. What happened?... Why are you off the trail?" His hands examined her face and body, trying to feel for scrapes but she just shook her head, pointing at some random direction...
"I was bathing... and there was someone..." she sobbed. "I got scared and I ran... And then Mack and Dylan... They were just there... and Will... there's all this blood on the ground... and I couldn't move..."
"Shhh..." he whispered into her ear. He looked up and saw Elizabeth frozen as a statue, staring at the bodies. "Elizabeth.." She didn't react. "ELIZABETH!" She remained dazed. "ELIZABETH SWANN-NORRINGTON!" That finally got her attention. Her eyes were teary and her face as pale as the moon. "Get Jack!" For a second, she hesitated. "Go!" Elizabeth turned away, her legs running off to the beach's direction.
Patricia's face was buried on Will's chest and he could feel her tears mixing with the ocean water. Her fingers were interlaced like a knot behind his neck and she was shaking so badly that Will thought she might die of fright.
"Come on, Tricia... we need to get you away from here..." He put one arm behind her knees and another behind her back as he swept her off the ground. He grimaced at the blood staining her dress and he started to walk off.
Jack was out at sea, more taking a midday swim than treasure hunting like the rest of the sunburned crew. A few strokes nearer to shore, he saw Elizabeth running towards the water paler than a ghost. He swam in, curious as to what Elizabeth seemed to be shouting.
"What?" Jack shouted back, unable to decipher the words as he was wading in.
"Mack! Dylan! Dead!" Elizabeth gasped pointing to the woods. A few of the men, taking a rest towards the right, shot their heads up at the words. One of them was Gibbs.
"Where?" Gibbs asked, getting up and running to the trees. Elizabeth led the way, Gibbs closely behind her and Jack just catching up. "What happened?"
"I.. I don't know," Elizabeth stuttered. She stopped when she saw Will coming towards them, Patricia carried in his arms and covered with blood and dirt.
"What happened to her? Is she hurt?" Jack stepped up. Will shook his head and just pushed his way through the crowd. They all moved aside when they saw the look in his face, a cross between anger and helpless apprehension. Elizabeth shrugged when they all looked at her and pointed past the trees Will and Patricia had emerged from. Gibbs was first to go through and everyone could see see the horrified look in his eyes, then replaced by reluctant acception a moment later.
"What's there?" a man named Ruiz called.
"Come and have a look because I sure as hell don't want to say it out loud," Gibbs grumbled. Everyone went into the clearing, every face blanching at the sight before them. AnaMaria turned away and stomped back to camp and Jack ran after her.
"I TOLD you, Jack! I told you! But you're stupid head just wouldn't listen!" AnaMaria shouted.
"Ana..." Jack shouted back. "This changes nothing. We are THIS..." He put his index and thumb apart by a centimeter to illustrate his point. "... close to finding one of the most valueable cargo in the world! Two boys down is nothing!"
"LOOK AT THEM, JACK! YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME? THOSE BOYS AREN'T DOWN. THEY'RE UP AND BLEEDING!" AnaMaria screamed. "Something is at work here. Something a little bigger than your head!"
"She's right..." Both pirates jumped, realizing Patricia was right beside them. She was hugging herself, looking dazed at the sand. "Something's here..." AnaMaria looked uncertain at the girl.
"Are you all right, Tricia?" AnaMaria asked, genuinely concerned. "Where's Will?"
"Supply tent getting me some food," she answered.
"What happened?" Jack prodded.
"Someone was watching me at the spring... I saw him while I was underwater," she shuddered. Just memory of the dark figure brought chills down her spine. Like always, Will came to her with some bread and put an arm around her protectively. The touch of Will's skin made her warm and relaxed again so she sighed, caving into his arms. "I KNOW he was there so I jumped out of the water and ran... I didn't pay attention and I went off the trail and I saw... Mack..." The bread remained untouched in her hand. "I can't eat yet, Will." He nodded, understanding, and put the bread in a leather pouch by his waist.
"I want her out of here," Will demanded to Jack. "I want ALL of us off the island. It's dangerous. Something still lives here..."
"Bullocks... I'm not going to be chased off by ghost stories about killer tribes!" Jack snapped.
"Well then those stories killed two of our men," AnaMaria retorted.
"And those stories are chasing our men as we speak," Patricia murmured pointing to the trees. Through the shrubbery, the pirates were being chased down by a group of what looked like dark-skinned Africans. Elizabeth was ahead of the pack and got to Patricia.
"They attacked before we could even pull out a sword or gun! There's too many of them. One man's already killed at the chase," Elizabeth gasped. Will's eyes hardened and he took both young women's hands dragging them to the tents.
"Both of you stay here," Will ordered as he hid them in one of the tents. He ran back out, taking his sword from its sheath and knocking a crude but deadly sharp dagger from one of the attacker's hands. "They're attack in broad daylight?!" Jack heard Will and he just frowned.
"Well spotted, Mr. Turner..." Jack grunted as he thrust his blade into one man, blood spilling onto the sand, before turning away without another glance at the man he just killed.
"Why don't we use the guns to blast them all off?!" Ruiz shouted.
"Too many! I don't even have the time to take a step to the right to get to another of these bastards!" Jack shouted. "Just fight them off! They couldn't possibly last too..." An incomprehesible call was echoed through the opponent's crowd. A man, larger and taller than the rest, was calling everyone in. "... long."
As fast as they came, the dark-skinned stangers followed orders and disappeared into the trees. They seemed to work faster than light because even their fallen soldiers had been taken as well. Will looked at Jack, confused.
"What was that all about?" Will asked and Jack just shrugged.
"Well, as long as they're gone..." Jack went off to several of the men, wounded. Two others had died, their blood soaking the white sand. "AnaMaria!" Jack ran off to AnaMaria, checking the blood around face. "You wounded?"
"No. Just a little knocked up a bit.. But..." She pointed behind her. "They took..." She coughed out blood from being hit across the face. Will looked up and saw Elizabeth, sobbing on her knees. Patricia was no where to be seen.
"Where is she?!" Will shouted angrily, looking around frantically. "Where is she, Elizabeth!!"
"The man... he took her," Elizabeth said, apologetically.
"What happened?" His voice was seething with understated fury.
"There were two of them," she explained, unable to look up. "She and I both stood up to get away but one of them grabbed me by the arms..." She outstretched her arms to let them see the purple bruises, beginning to appear on the skin. "I told her to run but she tried to hit the man behind me. The other one saw caught her before she could even raise her hand higher than her head!" She looked up to see Will breathing hard, to control his frenzy. "He saw something at her hand... he ripped off the bandage. He sort of laughed and just hit her..."
"He.. HIT her?"
"She was knocked unconscious.. She didn't move when she hit the ground..."
"Where is she now?"
"They took her... I don't know why but they took her..." Elizabeth saw the fire burning in Will's eyes. He saw the ripped bandage on the ground and he gripped it in his hand, silently biding his fury. "I'm sorry... I tried to stop them but they moved too fast... I couldn't... I'm sorry..."
AN// REVIEW! I BEG OF YOU REVIEW!
Elkengrove, I don't how you did it (actually I think you didn't. It was an ff.net screw up.) but your review keeps getting resent to me. I think it's been sent to me about fifty times now.. literally.. *laughs* It may be some freaky way of reminding me to update. *laughs*
Chapter 19:
Patricia sighed again, reclining on the slippery rocks of the spring. Her clothes were some paces behind her and she was naked in the clear running water. Her hand felt for a smooth rock and gently scrubbed it on her skin to exfoliate the dirt. She cringed at all the dead skin she was rubbing away and submerged herself in the water.
As Patricia lay down, head still below the surface, she opened her eyes. The water made her sight waver and blurry, but as her sight adjusted, she noticed a dark figure standing near the water's edge. Terrified, she sat up and wiped away the water. Her arms crossed in front of her chest and she looked at where the dark figure was standing... but it was gone...
Only moments ago, Tricia had felt safe. She was sure that there was no one there... But now her heart was racing in fear. She was sure someone was there. She KNEW something was watching her. It seemed all the trees were hiding eyes now. They were all watching her, scrutinizing her every move and inch.
"Jack?" Patricia called out, shivering in the water... but it was more from fright than cold. "Will? Elizabeth?... Anyone?"
If anything, the silence that answered her made her even more frightened and now her heart was beating so loud, she could hear it pounding in her ears. She looked down and saw the water reddening. Immediately, she realized that her hand was bleeding again. Seeing the blood, Patricia jumped out of the water, wringing out her hair. She messily threw on her clothes, and walked briskly to the trail.
Tricia's feet fell in fast strides, head down, but eyes not seeing the path she walked on. Her mind was telling her that if Jack was playing some sick joke, she didn't want to give him the satisfaction that she ran like a coward... Then later, she would castrate him for such a disgusting prank... But something didn't seem right. Her legs started to move faster. She could scarcely hear footsteps behind her but that could have been her mind playing tricks. She took another step and halted. Instead of the sand submitting to her weight and taking the form of her shoe, it remained hard. She looked down and realized she was stepping on dirt covered by grass, dead leaves, and twigs.
"God... Please, no," Patricia murmured. Tears of frustration and terror stung her eyes when she realized she didn't pay attention and drifted from the path. She looked around but the foliage hid the ground and the trail was so thin that had it only been ten feet from where she stood, the trees, bushes and plants would have hidden it from her angle.
Without another thought, she began to run. Her breath was heavy already from her racing heart but now from the speed she was running with as well. Behind her, she felt as if something was chasing her, its breath right on her neck. She looked back while sprinting, just to make sure nothing was behind her and didn't see the soft torso she bumped into.
From the position of looking backwards, Patricia tilted her head up to whatever she bumped into. For a spare second, she saw a teenage boy's face looking down at her. She immediately recognized it.
"Mack," she sighed, dropping her head in relief, eyes closed. "You sca..." Her voice stopped working at what she saw when her reopened. Her hand flew to her mouth, horrified, at what was in front of her and she screamed loud enough to scare the birds away from the treetops.
It was Mack, alright. But it was only part of him. His lower half was completely severed, missing from sight, and it looked like someone had decided to make a scare crow out of him. A thick wooden pole went straight through his body, coming out from the ground, through what would have been his groin had it still been there and finally through his neck and skull. His arms were also missing and replaced by another wooden pole, going through one shoulder, through his back and out the other arm socket. She took a step back and fell backwards, landing on her butt and hands. She just realized that the ground was soft and she took a look at her shaking hand and saw that the dirt was soaked through with blood, streaming down from Mack's body as well as Dylan's, a few feet behind his. Dylan's body was also displayed in the same grotesque fashion.
Patricia didn't know how long she sat there, staring up at Mack and Dylan as they looked down at her with lifeless eyes stained by blood trailing from the top of their heads. She was only aware of the world around her when Will ran to her, leaning down to shield the sight of the teenage boys from her eyes. Now all she could see was Will's wet skin as he held her against his chest. The sight broken from her eyes, Patricia began to sob.
"Patricia..." Will murmured. Her arms captured his neck and he pulled her up to her feet. "Oh god... you have blood all over you... Where are you hurt? Come on, love... PLEASE tell me.. What happened?... Why are you off the trail?" His hands examined her face and body, trying to feel for scrapes but she just shook her head, pointing at some random direction...
"I was bathing... and there was someone..." she sobbed. "I got scared and I ran... And then Mack and Dylan... They were just there... and Will... there's all this blood on the ground... and I couldn't move..."
"Shhh..." he whispered into her ear. He looked up and saw Elizabeth frozen as a statue, staring at the bodies. "Elizabeth.." She didn't react. "ELIZABETH!" She remained dazed. "ELIZABETH SWANN-NORRINGTON!" That finally got her attention. Her eyes were teary and her face as pale as the moon. "Get Jack!" For a second, she hesitated. "Go!" Elizabeth turned away, her legs running off to the beach's direction.
Patricia's face was buried on Will's chest and he could feel her tears mixing with the ocean water. Her fingers were interlaced like a knot behind his neck and she was shaking so badly that Will thought she might die of fright.
"Come on, Tricia... we need to get you away from here..." He put one arm behind her knees and another behind her back as he swept her off the ground. He grimaced at the blood staining her dress and he started to walk off.
Jack was out at sea, more taking a midday swim than treasure hunting like the rest of the sunburned crew. A few strokes nearer to shore, he saw Elizabeth running towards the water paler than a ghost. He swam in, curious as to what Elizabeth seemed to be shouting.
"What?" Jack shouted back, unable to decipher the words as he was wading in.
"Mack! Dylan! Dead!" Elizabeth gasped pointing to the woods. A few of the men, taking a rest towards the right, shot their heads up at the words. One of them was Gibbs.
"Where?" Gibbs asked, getting up and running to the trees. Elizabeth led the way, Gibbs closely behind her and Jack just catching up. "What happened?"
"I.. I don't know," Elizabeth stuttered. She stopped when she saw Will coming towards them, Patricia carried in his arms and covered with blood and dirt.
"What happened to her? Is she hurt?" Jack stepped up. Will shook his head and just pushed his way through the crowd. They all moved aside when they saw the look in his face, a cross between anger and helpless apprehension. Elizabeth shrugged when they all looked at her and pointed past the trees Will and Patricia had emerged from. Gibbs was first to go through and everyone could see see the horrified look in his eyes, then replaced by reluctant acception a moment later.
"What's there?" a man named Ruiz called.
"Come and have a look because I sure as hell don't want to say it out loud," Gibbs grumbled. Everyone went into the clearing, every face blanching at the sight before them. AnaMaria turned away and stomped back to camp and Jack ran after her.
"I TOLD you, Jack! I told you! But you're stupid head just wouldn't listen!" AnaMaria shouted.
"Ana..." Jack shouted back. "This changes nothing. We are THIS..." He put his index and thumb apart by a centimeter to illustrate his point. "... close to finding one of the most valueable cargo in the world! Two boys down is nothing!"
"LOOK AT THEM, JACK! YOU THINK THIS IS A GAME? THOSE BOYS AREN'T DOWN. THEY'RE UP AND BLEEDING!" AnaMaria screamed. "Something is at work here. Something a little bigger than your head!"
"She's right..." Both pirates jumped, realizing Patricia was right beside them. She was hugging herself, looking dazed at the sand. "Something's here..." AnaMaria looked uncertain at the girl.
"Are you all right, Tricia?" AnaMaria asked, genuinely concerned. "Where's Will?"
"Supply tent getting me some food," she answered.
"What happened?" Jack prodded.
"Someone was watching me at the spring... I saw him while I was underwater," she shuddered. Just memory of the dark figure brought chills down her spine. Like always, Will came to her with some bread and put an arm around her protectively. The touch of Will's skin made her warm and relaxed again so she sighed, caving into his arms. "I KNOW he was there so I jumped out of the water and ran... I didn't pay attention and I went off the trail and I saw... Mack..." The bread remained untouched in her hand. "I can't eat yet, Will." He nodded, understanding, and put the bread in a leather pouch by his waist.
"I want her out of here," Will demanded to Jack. "I want ALL of us off the island. It's dangerous. Something still lives here..."
"Bullocks... I'm not going to be chased off by ghost stories about killer tribes!" Jack snapped.
"Well then those stories killed two of our men," AnaMaria retorted.
"And those stories are chasing our men as we speak," Patricia murmured pointing to the trees. Through the shrubbery, the pirates were being chased down by a group of what looked like dark-skinned Africans. Elizabeth was ahead of the pack and got to Patricia.
"They attacked before we could even pull out a sword or gun! There's too many of them. One man's already killed at the chase," Elizabeth gasped. Will's eyes hardened and he took both young women's hands dragging them to the tents.
"Both of you stay here," Will ordered as he hid them in one of the tents. He ran back out, taking his sword from its sheath and knocking a crude but deadly sharp dagger from one of the attacker's hands. "They're attack in broad daylight?!" Jack heard Will and he just frowned.
"Well spotted, Mr. Turner..." Jack grunted as he thrust his blade into one man, blood spilling onto the sand, before turning away without another glance at the man he just killed.
"Why don't we use the guns to blast them all off?!" Ruiz shouted.
"Too many! I don't even have the time to take a step to the right to get to another of these bastards!" Jack shouted. "Just fight them off! They couldn't possibly last too..." An incomprehesible call was echoed through the opponent's crowd. A man, larger and taller than the rest, was calling everyone in. "... long."
As fast as they came, the dark-skinned stangers followed orders and disappeared into the trees. They seemed to work faster than light because even their fallen soldiers had been taken as well. Will looked at Jack, confused.
"What was that all about?" Will asked and Jack just shrugged.
"Well, as long as they're gone..." Jack went off to several of the men, wounded. Two others had died, their blood soaking the white sand. "AnaMaria!" Jack ran off to AnaMaria, checking the blood around face. "You wounded?"
"No. Just a little knocked up a bit.. But..." She pointed behind her. "They took..." She coughed out blood from being hit across the face. Will looked up and saw Elizabeth, sobbing on her knees. Patricia was no where to be seen.
"Where is she?!" Will shouted angrily, looking around frantically. "Where is she, Elizabeth!!"
"The man... he took her," Elizabeth said, apologetically.
"What happened?" His voice was seething with understated fury.
"There were two of them," she explained, unable to look up. "She and I both stood up to get away but one of them grabbed me by the arms..." She outstretched her arms to let them see the purple bruises, beginning to appear on the skin. "I told her to run but she tried to hit the man behind me. The other one saw caught her before she could even raise her hand higher than her head!" She looked up to see Will breathing hard, to control his frenzy. "He saw something at her hand... he ripped off the bandage. He sort of laughed and just hit her..."
"He.. HIT her?"
"She was knocked unconscious.. She didn't move when she hit the ground..."
"Where is she now?"
"They took her... I don't know why but they took her..." Elizabeth saw the fire burning in Will's eyes. He saw the ripped bandage on the ground and he gripped it in his hand, silently biding his fury. "I'm sorry... I tried to stop them but they moved too fast... I couldn't... I'm sorry..."
AN// REVIEW! I BEG OF YOU REVIEW!