Chapter Eight
The Island

Foam and air bubbles billowed around Ali and Chris as they hit the cold clear water of the Caribbean. Ali was not struggling anymore, which was something, and made it easier for Chris to kick her legs and bring them to the surface. Chris spat out a mouthful of salt as they broke the surface and asked, "Ali, can you swim?" The little girl was unable to respond as gunfire filled the air. The water about them sprayed up as Malcolm's men leaned over the bulkhead above and shot at them with any type of gun they could get their hands on. "Breathe!" Chris yelled, and then she pulled Ali underneath the surface and kicked away from the ship for all she was worth.

Ali started pulling on Chris' clothes, and so she surfaced as soon as she could. The hail of gunfire seemed to have stopped for the moment as the two broke the surface and sucked in grateful breaths of air. Chris turned to see that those on the ship were reloading, but the gun ports were opening. She turned to the coughing Ali and said, "Ali! Listen to me! Can you swim?" Ali shook her head. Chris cursed. "This is what I need you to do." She turned in the water. "Get on my back. I need you to take another breath and hold it for a long time. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes, Aunt Chris." Ali's teeth chattered madly. "But I'm cold." She whimpered as she placed her arms around Chris' neck. Chris almost bobbed beneath the surface, but she just barely maintained her buoyancy.

"I need you to trust me, Ali. Ready?" Chris asked. Ali nodded. "Breathe!"

She eyed the island and pointed her nose that way. Chris sucked air into her lungs and then dove. Chris' legs beat the cold water furiously as she propelled herself in the direction of the scrap of land. She kicked until she hadn't an ounce of breath in her lungs and then she surfaced. The island was getting closer. She could just make out the details of the tree line behind the white beach. She did not turn to look the ship, instead she asked Ali if she was ready, and when Ali said she was, Chris sucked in another lungful of air and dove once more.

Back on the Black Pearl, Jack jerked out of a dream to find that the day had lengthened during the supposed five minute nap he had taken. He cursed, his rum bottle fell to the floor and at that sound, Will jerked awake. "You sot, you fell asleep!" Jack said, standing.

"You needed sleep as badly as I did, Jack." Will replied, wiping sleep from his eye. "You're no use to anyone exhausted."

"I was just fine, Turner –!"A knocking at the door interrupted Jack. He crossed to the door and opened it, finding Gibbs.

"Captain, glad to see you're awake." Jack glared at Will before looking back to the breathless Gibbs. "We have a ship off our port bow with British colors. We're in no shape to fight."

Jack and Will shot each other looks before following Gibbs up onto the bridge. Jack pulled out his long glass, which had been badly damaged in the battle with Malcolm's men and was just barely usable. But through the cracked lens, Jack could read the name of the navy ship. The Dauntless was heading right for them.

Half an hour later, Chris and Ali staggered onto the white beach of the island, both looking like drowned rats. Ali fell to her knees and coughed up a bunch of sea water into the sand as Chris looked back to the ship. She could hardly make out individual figures on the deck. As she shielded her eyes against the sun, a sudden BOOM! rolled out over the water. Chris hit the sand as a cannon ball hit the water several hundred feet away.

"Why are they still after us?!" Chris shouted, her fists balled in frustration. She turned to Ali, who had stopped hacking up saltwater. She crossed and hoisted the girl onto her hip. "Come on Ali, let's get into the trees. If they can't see us, they can't track us." Another boom rolled across the water and this cannonball hit the beach, sending up a spray of sand. Chris looked to the ship one last time before she and Ali entered the tree line. There was no path, but Chris tried to pick her way through the bushes and underbrush, and winced as her feet were punctured and beaten by rocks and stones. Her feet were used to rough rope or smooth decks, not lumpy rocks or sharp branches.

After a few minutes of painful walking, she stopped. "We should rest." She said, breathing hard, "Just a few minutes. 'Sides, they can't see us through the trees." She sat Ali onto the ground and spotted a likely rock to sit on. She did.

"Are they going to come after us, Aunt Chris?" Ali asked, looking back the way they came.

"I don't know, Ali.' Chris pulled her feet up to examine them. "That ponce sure can't let anything go if he does."

"Aunt Chris?"

"Yes?"

"I'm thirsty."

Chris smiled kindly. "Me too, sweetie. That saltwater is awful on the tongue." She stood slowly, easing her weight onto her battered feet. "Take my hand, we'll find something to drink." Ali did so, and the two continued walking through the foliage. Chris ignored the tell tale pain of her feet getting cut up and strained her ears for the sound of a stream or any running water. When she heard nothing, she examined the treetops and found a tree with several green and brown coconuts. "Here we go!" Chris snatched a rock from the ground and pelted it at the trunk of the tree. Several brown coconuts fell off upon impact. Chris smiled at Ali and walked forward to gather them.

"These are coconuts." Chris said, crossing back to Ali. She inspected the ground and found a sizeable rock. "You can drink the milk inside and eat the meat, thus quenching your thirst and filling your belly." She sat next to the rock and let the gathered coconuts fall beside her. Ali sat down across from her, watching Chris carefully. Chris picked up a coconut and shook it next to her ear. She heard the sloshing of the coconut milk inside. She then raised the fruit over her head and began bouncing it off the rock. With a cracking sound, the coconut broke into three pieces, two smaller and one larger. "Drink whatever left in this half." Chris commanded, giving the larger piece to Ali. Ali slowly sipped what coconut milk was left while Chris, realizing that the banana wasn't enough for a proper breakfast after the morning's exertions, started devouring the coconut meat from the two smaller pieces. Ali looked closer at the white fruit in her half.

"Aunt Chris, this doesn't look like meat." Her nose was slightly wrinkled as she said this.

"It isn't really meat, Ali, they just call it that." She ate the last of her coconut meat and waited for Ali to finish hers. She gathered the other coconuts into her arm. "Can you walk?" She asked Ali. She nodded. "Alright. Come on, Ali, we better get a move on." With Chris leading, she and Ali continued into the interior of the island.