Chapter 52: The Great Escape


On the rooftops, Pintel ran with Ragetti, both trying to keep up with the Turners.

The Turners would blast a soldier or two along the way as they ran towards the docks, determined to escape.

Then Pintel or Ragetti would grab the other's ankles as he swung down onto the sides of the houses and chucked his grenade inside.

It was a wonder they kept up with the Turners at all, with how slow it went.


Jack and John wheeled their commandeered gun into the street, and moved to load it. Jack twisted the wheels, aiming it at a large mansion. John, getting an idea, grabbed a hollowed-out ball, and told Jack to pour powder inside, which Jack did, bemusedly.

Then with the cannon loaded, Jack fired it into the mansion that was General Cornwallis' command center.

As the house exploded outward from the spread powder and fire, Jack grinned at John, who followed the fleeing pirate.

Then they got split up, John going up to the roofs, joining the Turners, Jack joining his daughters' group.

Then they were in trouble.

A large group of soldiers approached them, and the front row knelt, allowing two rows of fire.

As James and Ana took Amy into a back alley, Jack dodged into a house, pulling Mera with him. He grabbed a rifle that lay in the corner. Good girls, he thought, you followed the rules.

He poked around the corner, and shot. A Marine fell.

He snuck back around just in time for a large chunk of wall to be blasted out from where he was a moment before.

He and Mera charged through the houses, barging through doors, until they were right in front of the Marines. Mera went first, cart wheeling as she lobbed a grenade into their midst. Then Jack ran into the street, slicing through soldiers as fast as he could.

Then from behind, Ana and Amy charged them. James, up on the roof, picked off the officers.

The group stood for a moment, then ran for the docks. They were almost home-free.

Beside them, the other five leapt off the rooftops, joining them in the mad dash for the boats. Then behind them came a large group of Marines. Elizabeth drew her swords, and spun round, swinging her left arm right and right arm left, then back, taking out six soldiers at once. Then she continued running, dropping a grenade behind her. She smiled as she heard a bang and 'Aagh!', and thought, God, I love this line of work.

Then Will dashed by one of the docks, and fired his pistol, both striking an officer, and lighting a fuse for a keg of powder.

An entire dock blew up, taking about half the soldiers with them.

Jack and the others knelt behind the boats, using them as cover as rifle after rifle came out from the floor and picked off a hidden soldier. As Will and Elizabeth slid to the ground in the sand next to them, Jack shouted, "Get out of here! Take a boat, we'll cover you!"

True to his word, the Sparrows all stood and slung one weapon after another off and fired, spinning in a constant circle as Will, Elizabeth, Pintel and Ragetti fled for a boat. They quickly ducked under it, and slid into the waters of the York.

Jack shouted, "You next!" at James and Ana, who sped away. Jack forced Mera's back down as a ball of lead shot over it, and then grabbed near her rear. He got a hold of the rifle trigger, and fired it over her back at an officer, who toppled. They shouted, "Jack, that boat won't go, it's Swiss cheese! You've got to come with us!"

It was only then that Jack noticed that there were several dozen holes in the bottom of the boat. He nodded at John, who slipped towards the boat as Amy spilled a keg, eyeing the six others on the boat bottom, readying them for a final ambush. The spinning Sparrows moved towards the boat when there was a shout.

For Jack, everything went in slow motion.

He saw the Brits begin to charge them.

Amy ran towards the boat.

Mera leapt over his head, firing a pistol.

John fired his double pistol.

The bullets whizzed past.

Two soldiers fell down.

Ana shouted, "Come on!" They were almost at the water.

Then Amy spun, as though there were a wire at her hip that had just been tugged.

As she hit the ground, her scream punched through the air, and everything sped up.


A/N: Okay, readers. your mission, should you choose to accept it is to press the 'Review' button, and either encourage me to move onward, or stay my hand and let Amy live. The character's life is very literally in your hands. I hope you all make the right choice.