Disclaimer: I don't own Pirates of the Caribbean or the character of Long John Silver.
Chapter 58: Brute Strength
She approached the wall, feeling it. It was nothing but a straight wall with a perfect line down the middle. It looked so unnatural. Perhaps this was the Gate, but she couldn't find anyplace where a key was supposed to go, much less two keys.
John appeared, nearly hauling Gretchen along. Camille glanced back. "Let her go, Long John," she said, looking back up at the wall. She sighed. What would her mother do? Fight back, anyway she can.
"Give me my key, John," she said.
John crutched over to the wall, releasing Gretchen and greedily running his fingers down the crack in the middle of it. Then he grabbed Camille, clutching her by her sprained wrist. She grimaced, trying her best not to make a painful face. "I don't even get 'Long' anymore, love?"
She gritted her teeth. "Despite your reputation, nothing about you is long."
He put more pressure on her wrist, twisting it around. Camille screamed in pain, punching Long John as hard a she could. He yelled, losing his grip on her and staggered backwards, nearly falling. "That really hurt!" she yelled.
Gretchen watched the two of them, looking horrified. Her hand flew to her chest in terror as Camille hit John. She looked at the wall, breaking up the deadly squabble. "Camille, look!" she said, pointing to the wall.
Camille turned around, taking her eyes off Long John. In the wall, a small keyhole was slowly forming. She blinked, but there definitely was a keyhole there. She forgot her throbbing wrist and her seething anger. John handed her the key. Without any of them saying a word, both of the women stepped up to a keyhole. Gretchen looked at Camille, and she nodded. At the same time, they turned their respective keys and stood back to watch.
Slowly, the two sides of the split wall began moving in opposite directions. And the reflection of the gold could already be seen. The Gate had been opened.
Before it even finished opening completely, Long John was through. He had moved surprisingly swiftly for having only one leg. He was laughing insanely as the doors opened wider to reveal the largest pile of treasure that Camille had ever seen.
She gasped, watching the rejuvenated pirate prance around the gold. What had she done; bought herself a few more precious moments of the dear life that had gone so horribly wrong? Long John had to die no matter what.
Gretchen looked like she had realized the exact same thing. John was digging through the coins, roping the necklaces around his neck, and he had even found a new scepter to use n place of a crutch. They both tried to make their way forward, but Long John was as perceptive as Jack had been. He aimed his pistol at Gretchen.
Camille waved her arms desperately. "No! Kill me first!" she demanded.
Luckily, Gretchen caught right on when Long John hesitated. "No, you promised that she would die last!" Gretchen whined in the tone she was so good at carrying.
Camille put her hands on her hips, looking at Gretchen. "I don't want to be around him any longer! I want this over with as painless as possible!" she argued pointing at Long John.
"As do I!"
Camille leaped towards Gretchen, tackling her to the ground as she elicited a scream. "Just go with it," Camille said in her ear as they wrestled. If they kept moving it might be more difficult for John to hit them.
Camille pretended to rip at Gretchen's hair and dress, finally forcing herself to think about everything that would make her cry. They were now past the Gate, and she began to cry hysterically, dramatically throwing Gretchen off and looking up at John. "Just kill me! Kill me now, and put me out of this misery! You took everything from me!" she screamed. As she pretended to lose it, she looked for a weapon. There had to be a way out of this.
But Long John had seen enough. He made his way down through the mounds of treasure to the upset girl. He pointed his pistol right at her nose and held his cutlass to her throat. "That'll be enough complainin' now, Quartermaine. I can think o' some better uses for you."
Camille hoped that this little distraction would give Gretchen the hint to run. To her disappointment, it did. Long John was much too angry with Camille to care for the brunette who had slipped away back through the Gate. Now with her out of the way, the redhead could fight to the death.
With a roar, Camille leapt backwards and into the water, quickly diving below the surface and under the pile of treasure. But John grabbed her painfully by one of her ankles and dragged her back out. She flailed wildly, kicking him in the face and then grabbing at a bunch of golden coins. She threw those at his face as well.