AUTHOR'S NOTE: Once again, I'm sorry for the long, inexcusable delay between chapters. Seems I can't get motivated to write unless I'm sitting bored in school. I wrote this chapter quickly so I could get it posted before I leave for Colorado. My flight leaves in a couple hours, so I don't have time to proofread this. When I get home, I'll try to fix any typos.
CHAPTER 12 – OPPORTUNITIES ARISE
Will woke with a start. He hadn't really been in a deep sleep, but something must've happened for him to have been jarred awake so suddenly. His eyes searched the cell, but they were still clouded with sleep and nothing could penetrate the darkness, anyhow. The torch had burned out in the night, leaving Will alone and enveloped in black.
'No, that's not true,' he thought to himself. 'Not alone. With Jack.' Jack. Where was Jack? Will's sleepy mind tired to recall the events of the day before, but everything had been reduced to a blur.
As his eyes adjusted to the surrounding dark, Will saw Jack, right where he had left him, sprawled out on the ground just a few feet away. Instinctively, the young blacksmith went to stand up, his mind set on making sure his friend was still alive. However, he soon learned this was a bad idea. As the pain surged through every inch of his body, settling ruthlessly in his head, Will suddenly remembered, in all-too-vivid detail, exactly what had happened yesterday.
He carefully lowered himself back to the floor and listened for Jack's ragged breathing. "Well, he's obviously still alive. That'll have to be good enough for now." He didn't plan on moving any time soon.
"Of course he's still bloody alive. Is there another option?"
Will jumped unintentionally at the pirate's raspy voice. "You're awake!"
"How very observant of you." The weakened, pain-filled voice was barely recognizable as Jack's, but the sarcastic undertones were undoubtedly his. "But honestly, whelp, is there another option? 'Cause the whole alive thing hasn't really been working for me as of late."
"Ya know, Jack, depression really isn't your forte."
"Can't argue with that, mate," Jack said with all the false exuberance he could manage.
Will groaned as he pushed himself to his hands and knees and crawled the five feet to Jack's side. Squinting through the blackness between them, Will could just make out the pirate's sharp, angular features. His eyes were squeezed tight against the pain and his jaw clenched, making his teeth grind roughly together.
Near his head, there was a large chunk of stone that had crumbled from the thick walls. Will picked it up and tossed it absentmindedly back and forth, from one hand to the other, as he gazed down at the crazy, brilliant, indomitable pirate Captain.
"We have to get out of here, Jack. This has gone on long enough. We have to get you away from this psychotic bastard before it's too late."
"Are you so sure that ship hasn't already sailed, mate?"
In the short year they had known each other, Will had never seen Jack this pessimistic, never seen him give up hope. He had begun to think that that was one side of the great Jack Sparrow that had vanished long ago. This newly discovered negative outlook was beginning to worry Will as much as the burns on his friend's chest.
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Escaping form a concrete prison was easier said than done, as Will soon found out. He circled the cell, doing his best to ignore his throbbing head, searching every crevice and corner for any possible way out. There was none.
Jack wriggled his way into a sitting position, resting his back gingerly against the stone. A small gasp escaped his lips as his injured shoulder hit the rough edges of the dent in the wall. The chunk of rock that had once filled that dent sat at his side, ignored by the pirate. He watched the hazy image of his friend surveying the prison through eyes glazed over with pain.
Will collapsed next to Jack, abandoning his fruitless mission. "No way out, is there, whelp?"
"There's always a way out!" retorted the ever-optimistic blacksmith. "I just haven't found it yet." Will watched the pirates bandaged chest tremble as it rose and fell slowly with his labored breathing. "Maybe it is pointless. Even if we find a way out of here somehow, I can't imagine we'd get you very far."
Jack tried to chuckle, but it came out as a low moan. "Whelp, you find a way out of here and, I promise you, I'll run as if the very hounds of hell were nipping at my heels."
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Will shielded his eyes as light flooded through the small room. After being trapped in the dark for so long, the brightness was blinding. He shadow silhouetted in the doorway laughed menacingly. "Cap'n says I gotta feed the scum. Says yer no good to us starved to death. Don't see why, meself. The way I see it, the emptier yer bellies, the looser yer lips." When the man was a bit closer, Will recognized him as Jack's old scar-faced friend, Peters.
"What's this ye get 'ere?" Peters nudged the broken stone chunk with his toe.
Will and Jack both stared at the stone. "Looks like a rock to me, mate," Jack slurred, strong traces of his old voice breaking through.
"Does it now? 'Cause it looks an awful lot like a weapon to me. Can't have this just lyin' around dangerous criminals such as yerselves." With that, Peters kicked the harmless rock toward the open door.
"Eat up now, boys. I 'ear the Cap'n's got another fun-filled day all planned out for ye!" And, with other mirthless laugh, Peters left the injured men along, letting the heavy door swing shut behind him.
Jack rubbed his strained eyes. 'Let in the dark again."
"Not quite."
Jack opened his eyes and followed Will's ling of vision to a thin streak of light shining through a small crack in the door. Jack found himself once again staring at the broken chunk of wall as it propped the door open.
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Thanks for sticking with me this far! I really appreciate all your reviews and I hope to find more when I come home!! It'll be a long, boring flight, so I plan to get Chapter 13 written. With any luck, I'll be able to post that next Friday. See ya then!