----Chapter 7----
Camdyn had difficulty falling asleep, but eventually, she did. The next morning she woke up to see the three children perched on the back of the couch. They stared down at her.
"Well...um...hello." she said, looking up at them blearily.
Gertie made a horrible squawking noise and flapped her arms. Camdyn looked puzzled.
Will giggled. "We're vultures." he said quietly, then squawked loudly.
"Oh...I see. The vultures are coming down to strip my bones?"
SQUAWK!
"Well, it must be a problem because I'm still alive."
"Yes. Still alive and lazing around in the morning. Up!" Mina said as she walked past with a strange looking sandwich in her hand.
"What are you eating?"
"This?" Mina mumbled around a mouthful of the sandwich. She swallowed then continued, "It's a sandwich with bacon, cheese, and egg on it. I call it "Breakfast in a Bun". You know, I think someday people will pay good money for these things. Here, try some." Mina broke off a piece of the sandwich and handed it to Camdyn who eyed it warily.
"Well? Go on. It's good, I promise."
Camdyn took a tentative nibble on it and found it was good. She quickly finished it and dusting her paws off remarked, "It is good. It'd be better on a biscuit though."
Mina looked thoughtful for a moment then nodded slowly. "You may have something there. First things first though, lets get that plane fixed up."
"What's wrong with it?"
"Well, nothing really. If you actually like that hideous khaki green color." Mina remarked as she headed out the door.
"Oh...well, I'm not too fond of it, but shouldn't I be learning to fly instead of painting?"
"Paint first. Fly later."
Camdyn shrugged, following Mina outside and down the dusty dirt landing strip. Someone had moved the planes off the runway and into a hangar. There were three hangars in all, one was bigger than the other two and Camdyn supposed that it was where the bomber plane was stored.
"The first thing, is you need to get to know this plane a little better. It'll probably be your best ally once you join the pirates. First off, do you know what kind of plane it is?" Mina said disappearing into a small storage room and emerging with the paint.
"Urrrr...I'm not really sure. It kinda looks like the CT's, but there's something not right about it."
"Well, you're right, and here's a little history lesson for you. It is a CT. It's not a 37 though. It's a 43. It was the only one they made after the 37's that could actually catch one of them. The rest of them are mostly crap with wings attached."
"But...I thought they would progress-"
"They should have. But they fired their best designers." Mina said handing Camdyn a brush. "Most people don't like the CT line anymore. There are nicer looking planes out there now." Mina smiled and got an impish gleam in her eye.
"So, what you're saying, is that people went more for looks?"
"Exactly. The CT's are kinda ugly, and they don't like to climb too steep, but they're powerful, tough and can outrun anything they can't overcome."
"I see why the pirates like them."
"When your tail is in the fire, you want something that'll get you out of it. And quick. This one isn't even a true CT-43. That bounty hunter has made adjustments to it. I suspect that many a pirate got a good laugh last night."
"Huh?"
"That hunter's name is Clyde Johnson. He likes to call himself "The Hound" though." Mina said bitterly. "He likes to hunt down outlaws like they were some sort of...of...creature. Like a gorilla bird. He's tried to torment information out of some of these girls, but they wouldn't give him anything. Sable only missed him by about two inches."
"Missed him?"
"Yes. She tried to blow his head off with a hand gun, but he moved."
Camdyn didn't like the way Mina casually talked about Sable's attempt on someones life like she was just commenting on the weather. She looked down at her work and tried to shake the image out of her head. Mina sensed the vixen's distaste.
"You think I'm sick, don't you?"
Camdyn didn't know what to say, fortunately, Mina continued.
"Do you have any idea what he's done? What he'd do to me? Or to you? Or Mad Dog, Dumptruck, Karnage, Zoll or any of the others? What he has done already?"
Camdyn looked up at her and shook her head.
"That damned dingo has tortured people to get information. He's beaten up a ten year old child in front of it's mother. He's attempted to assult both Sable and Roxie in an attempt at getting to Karnage. He's even killed before."
Camdyn was quiet a moment. "Wait, if he's killed people, why isn't he in jail?"
Mina looked at the vixen sadly. "Who's gonna miss a kid no one even knows?"
"It was a kid?" Camdyn looked shocked.
"Yeah. Johnson's days are numbered, and he doesn't even know it."
"Wh--...who was it?" Camdyn asked quietly after a few minutes.
Mina shuffled her feet, uncertain of whether she should say. "I tell you this, and you don't ever tell anyone else, you understand me?" At Camdyn's barely perceptible nod, she finally relented.
"The kid's name was Zandria Righz. She was Mad Dog's sister. He nearly lost his mind when he found out. Seems Johnson thought Zan would know where her big brother was hiding. The logic was sound, find Mad Dog, find Karnage...but it didn't work out that way. Johnson must have pushed her a little harder than he intended, or maybe he did it on purpose, but either way, Zan fell over the banister in the apartement building she was hiding in and fell three stories to her death. Mad Dog hasn't been quite the same since."
"Is that why they call him 'Mad Dog'?" Camdyn asked. She went back to work with her brush, painting quickly in an attempt to hide how horrified she was.
"Not really. It just helped reinforce the name. But, you remember that shotgun he had when..well, on the ship?"
"Yes."
"Mad Dog said he's gonna kill Johnson with it. But that's not the half of it. You haven't seen the wierd...well, he calls them 'tricks' that he can do with that thing. Well, enough about that. What are you gonna call your plane?" Mina said, looking at the vixen.
"Oh...I'm not sure. Do you have any ideas?"
"Oh, I have lots of ideas, but it's your plane. You have to name it."
"Does yours have a name?"
" Of course. I called her "Pandora". I heard a story once about this puzzling box and that's what it was called, and I thought it was appropriate."
"Really? But what do you call a plane? I just know the others would laugh me right off Pirate Island..."
"Oh, you can call it anything really. Most of the 'others' have named theirs too. We have one we called "Frank" it's really short for "Frankenstien" there's another one called "Sleeper", "Fancy", "Freako" and "Fling". It's a tradition." Mina said, enthusiastic to pursue a lighter topic of conversation.
"Freako? You're serious?" Camdyn said giving Mina a look that said she what she thought of the name. And she thought it was wierd.
"Think of a name."
"What if I pick the same one as someone else?"
"I'll let you know."
Camdyn sighed. There was no way around naming a piece of machinery. They continued painting, with Camdyn thinking in silence. There was no way she was naming it something stupid like "Bob" or "Polka Dottie"
"Pirates are so wierd." Camdyn blurted. Mina laughed.
"Are you just now figuring that out?"
"Well, I started to suspect it when I found out about the cockroach races, but now I know. None of you act like the pirates you read about in books or see in the pictures."
"Of course not. What? Did you expect them all to run around with peg legs, eye patches, parrots, and hook hands saying things like "Arrrr..." and "Shiver Me Timbers"?"
"Oh that's not what I meant...I meant...well...what I..." Camdyn gave up. Then she burst out laughing. She couldn't stop laughing and tears began to roll down her face.
"What's so funny?"
"I...heeheee...just thought...hahahaaaa...that Karnage...whooOooo...could prob-hee-abheeheeeheeeeee...probably...pull it off!" At that, Mina began to laugh at the mental image of Don Karnage with a peg leg, eye patch and a big parrot screeching "AAAAAARRRRR!" at some poor unsuspecting cargo pilots. That would probably reinforce the idea that he was stark raving mad. He wasn't, of course, he took great insult in being called insane. Mina supposed that he just enjoyed doing things to put his crew off balance.
After the laughing fit, the two worked solidly on getting the plane repainted for the rest of the day.
Like it? Hate it? Think I went entirely the wrong way? Tell me in a review! (I'll never know otherwise!)