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Shoreline had found us and was trying to bomb our boat out of the water. The soldiers recklessly shot mines at our ship as Nate swerved and steered the best he could. The thunderstorm made waves pound against our boat as Sam and I shot at Shoreline. It was utter chaos, no other way to put it. I was knocked around the deck a few times, tumbling and slipping. Nate pressed the boat's accelerator, making Sam and I both slide back on the wet deck. Everything happened so fast that I didn't even realize Nate had fallen overboard until I heard Sam shouting his name. I gripped for the edge of the boat, pulling myself up to look over and into the water. Nate started to paddle back toward us when a large ship rammed right into our boat. Our boat was split in half in a violent explosion, throwing Sam and I into the unforgiving waters. My body grotesquely twisted under the current as it pulled against me. I squinted my eyes shut, trying my best to ignore the terrible sense of nausea that was clouding my head. I came up for air, coughing and gasping for breath. The heavy rain and flashes of lightning made it impossible for me to focus on anything. Nate had already been swept away, and now I couldn't find Sam anywhere.
"Sam…" I attempted to cry out, but my voice was drowned out by the storm. Another wave knocked me under the water, sending me tumbling in the depths. I felt my head hit something solid, blurring my already fading vision. While I was still underwater, I felt my arms brush up against the thick sand below – I knew I was close to the shore, even in my terribly disoriented state.
Sputtering up salt water, I pulled myself up, crawling onto the shore. I started to spit up seawater, letting my head rest against the damp sand and just relax for a moment. The explosions of boats and ships sounded so far away, as did the horrified shouting of men in distress. I heard some grunting a few feet from me; it sounded like two men struggling in a fight. I slowly opened my heavy eyelids to see the silhouette of a Shoreline soldier, and Sam.
Sam… I thought, dazed. I pushed myself up and stood, nearly falling over from how wobbly my legs felt.
The Shoreline soldier struck Sam with a harsh left hook, making Sam fall to the ground with a pained groan. The soldier kicked him in the stomach, as Sam curled up to block the strike. I started to gain my footing as I advanced toward the soldier, feeling my pace quicken in fear and my fists ball up in acrimony. Sam sloppily kicked out the soldier's legs out from under him, but the soldier only stumbled, and appeared even more enraged by what Sam tried to do. At least the soldier was so focused on poor Sam that he didn't realize I was only a foot away from him. I dashed toward him, kicking up sand and getting his attention. He turned to see me leaping in the air. I hit him with a knee strike right in his chest. He stumbled backward, the wind knocked out of him. I dashed at him again, letting all my bottled up fury from the past two days unleash. I thrust my pointed fingertips at the center of his throat, striking him with a spearhand. He clutched his throat, making terrible gagging noises. He fell to his knees, continuing to retch and rasp for air. I chambered up my leg and roundhouse kicked him with all my might. I watched his head spin from the impact, and his body slump to the sandy ground.
I watched the unconscious soldier for a moment, standing over him in triumph. The feeling of cold rain falling on my skin momentarily awakened me from my trance, as did the feeling of someone's presence standing behind me. I glanced over my shoulder to see Sam staring at me, his chest rising and falling from being out of breath.
"Are you okay?" I asked him.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. C'mon, we need to move more inland in case any more Shoreline soldiers land on the beach." He took my hand and led me deeper into the jungle of the island.
We kept running and didn't stop until we came upon a clearing, and what appeared to be the entrance to a shallow cave. We took shelter under the overpass of the cave, catching our breath. The storm was still blaring overhead, and our clothes were soaked and clinging to our shivering bodies. Sam removed his pistol, giving the water-logged gun a shake; he pulled out his phone and shook his head, it was a goner. I had lost mine when I went overboard; my only connection to Simmons was gone for good.
Sam started to remove his shirt, wringing it dry before he placed it on the cave ground.
"What are you doing? We need to look for Nate."
"There's no way we're going to find him while it's this dark out, plus with the storm," he gestured to the sky above.
I sighed, feeling afraid for Nate and frustrated that we were pinned down because of the storm and Shoreline. I walked a little deeper into the cave and sat down. I started wringing out my hair, still chilly in my wet clothes.
"You're going to catch a cold if you keep that on," Sam commented, nodding his head toward me. He sat beside me, still shirtless (not that I could see any of the "good stuff" while it was so dark out).
"Are you just trying to undress me?" I joked, though I wasn't feeling very lighthearted.
"Was it that obvious?" He chuckled, giving my shoulder a slight nudge. "No but really, you're going to get sick if you don't let your clothes dry."
"Geez, no need to twist my arm about it," I drawled sarcastically. I stood up and pulled off my tank top from over my head. I wrung it out the best I could and laid it beside Sam's discarded shirt. I still felt cold only being in a bra and pants now, but it did feel slightly better. I was still shivering visibly enough for Sam to notice.
"C'mere," he cooed softly. He wrapped his arms around me, trying to warm me up but honestly his body was cold too so nothing changed. Nonetheless, the closeness and intimacy calmed me; I could feel myself relax in his embrace. The two of us remained like that for a long time, still even when the thunder was booming overhead.
I heard him mumble something, but didn't quite catch it in my composed state.
"Huh?"
"I said, everything's going to be fine tomorrow," Sam repeated. "We'll find Nate and Libertalia."
I had my doubts, but bit my lip and said nothing. I just nestled myself even closer to him and allowed myself to drift off to sleep.
I managed to sleep, but it was restless. I woke up every couple hours, forgetting where I was. Sam and I slept pressed together, but even having him for comfort didn't make the cave ground any softer. The air was freezing from the rain and cut through me like a blade. I had nothing to bundle up with, so I just curled myself up against Sam and trembled. My dreams offered me very little comfort, too. I kept seeing Holden and Simmons, reliving those horrible moments of my life. Even when the sun started to creep up over the horizon, I kept my eyes pressed shut. I didn't want to face the day. I'm not sure how much time I tried to go back to sleep, but Sam eventually started to stir and woke up. He left the embrace and stood up to get his shirt on again. I opened my eyes reluctantly, watching him pack up his things. The sun's rays shown into the cave, leaving long shadows cast against the walls. I'm not sure if it was because of my mood or not, but the shadows looked like giant monsters ready to devour me.
"We should start heading into the jungle. We can't let Shoreline get a head start," Sam suggested.
I raised my head and pushed myself up. My body and head felt like it weighed an extra 200 pounds. My body was so sore from being thrashed around in the boat and in the water. I gingerly put my tank top on, too tired to even say a word. I rubbed my eyes as they adjusted to the brightness.
"We need to find Nathan," Sam added, his tone slightly antsy.
I followed him out of the cave, "do we even have the slightest clue where to look? I'm sure he'll try to head to Libertalia."
Sam was silent for a moment, which didn't give me very high hopes. "The island can't be that big, right?"
I scoffed, being careful stepping over a large root. The deeper we walked into the island, the more overgrown it became. Pretty soon we'd need a damn machete to cut through some of these vines and weeds. Following Sam blindly into an island we were marooned on didn't seem like the best option. We had no food, no water, no way to communicate to the outside world, a literal army was after us, Nate was missing, shit the list went on and on. Sam kept up the optimism, but I only took it at face value.
I thought about running into Rafe. He would be furious to see me, considering I told him in Scotland that I didn't know the Drake brothers, and he thought I went home after he "found" me. We didn't leave on good terms ten years ago and I believe he was still really raw about it.
What exactly happened was this:
My parents were worried about my mental state after Holden died. I had severe depression, was on some heavy medication, and saw a therapist once a week. All of this help and the Adler's constant badgering for me to get better wasn't helping. Rafe wasn't there emotionally; he just kind of went off and dealt with the grief his own way. We rarely spoke after Holden's death, and he was never home anymore. Sophia told my parents about my worsening condition, and even they tried to plea with the Adler's, but they refused to do anything.
I had given up on life at that point. My parents decided the only way to save me was if they cut all ties with the Adler family. My family had worked with the Adlers as their primary artifact experts since before I was born. They told the Adlers that they were done working for them, and took me away from New York and the Adler family.
Our family was literally in hiding from the Adlers, they made some pretty scary threats, but they never found us (or really tried that hard, I think). I never consoled Rafe or made any kind of peace with him. Part of me blamed him for what happened to Holden (maybe I still did), so never speaking to him again wasn't as hard as I imagined it to be.
I had managed to gradually rebuild my shambled life back together. It was far from perfect or ideal for how I wanted to live, but it was something. I thought I would be nearing the end to my road of recovery, but my father had to go get indebted to scum like Simmons, and I had to get mixed up with Rafe again. After seeing him a decade later made all those unspoken, buried feelings resurface. I thought this would be easier somehow, but now I realize I was gravely mistaken.
Now here I was trudging on an unknown island off of Madagascar, following Sam Drake AKA the big man on Rafe's shitlist, looking for a mythical pirate haven that may not even be real.
Sudden gunfire interrupted my doubtful thoughts. Instinctively I crouched down as Sam pulled out his pistol. There was shouting in a thick and foreign accent to our own. I knew immediately that it was Shoreline.
"Come on, let's take cover," Sam said, already heading toward a large palm-leaf-looking shrub.
I followed, still hunched in caution. I was prepared to fight back, but with Sam being the only one carrying a weapon on him I didn't like our chances. I thought of Nate running around out here on his own, running right into an ambush. Sam cocked his pistol, keeping his finger straight on the trigger. I stayed behind him, feeling useless and a little sick. The sound of rocks crumbling by a nearby ledge made both of us jump.
"Someone is climbing up," Sam whispered, his eyes sharp.
I said nothing, only kept my eyes on the drop off of the ledge. The crumbling grew louder as did the sound of someone exclaiming in surprise. Whoever was climbing up almost missed.
"Get ready," Sam mumbled, readying to leap out of the shrub.
I braced myself, balling up my fists defensively.
As the mystery man struggled over the ledge, Sam and I jumped out. Sam had his gun pointed as I got into a fighting stance. The man whipped out a pistol and pulled it at us. We all relaxed when we realized it was Nate.
Nate chuckled and lowered his gun; I relaxed my shoulders and returned to a more neutral stance.
"I nearly shot your head off," Sam sighed heavily, lowering his gun and re-holstering it.
"Sam, Dani, you're okay," Nate sighed in relief, sounding out of breath.
"Yeah, nothing we can't walk away from. Good to see you alive little brother," Sam patted Nate reassuringly on the shoulder, "c'mon, we got a treasure to find."
Nate and I both glanced at each other uncertainly.
Nate held up a hand in a 'pause' motion. "Look, man, what are we doing?"
"What do you mean?" Sam asked.
"I mean our supplies are at the bottom of the Indian Ocean," Nate replied.
"Okay so we go steal some from Nadine's army," Sam stated simply.
"Yeah, then there's that, we're going up against an army," Nate retorted.
"We're holding our own so far-"
"While being marooned in the middle of nowhere," Nate added.
"We were trying to get here, remember?" Nate countered.
"We had an escape plan."
Sam sighed in annoyance. Everything Nate said rang true. The odds were really against us.
"Sam, he has a point," I added softly, knowing that the conversation was already growing tense.
Sam glowered over at me as if I lost my mind. He was about to say something to me when Nate cleared his throat.
"Sam, just hear me out, crazy suggestion. Let's go down there and at least secure one of Rafe's boats," Nate gestured toward the direction of the shore.
"The boats can wait," Sam replied, his tone verging beyond frustration now.
Nate chuckled humorlessly.
Sam took a step closer to Nate, and I took a step forward as well (preparing myself if a fight they're having would start getting physical).
"Wanna know what we're doing here? We're buying Dani and I's life back, 'kay? We're going to do that by stepping into that jungle and finding Libertalia," Sam's tone sounded final.
I bit my lip at Sam's words. Our lives did depend on finding this treasure, Sam was right about that, but I agreed with Nate. What the hell were we doing here?
"Have you seen any signs of a massive pirate colony? Because I sure the hell haven't!" Nate questioned, his tone growing irritated now.
"It's a little late to start developing doubts, dontcha think?"
"Look, can we at least acknowledge the chance that maybe Avery's idea for a secret pirate utopia didn't pan out-"
Sam scoffed as Nate and Sam started to get in each other's faces.
"-and maybe we're just swept up in this fantasy when instead we should be looking for a real way to save you and Dani," Nate looked over at me in support.
Sam was silent for a moment before he spoke, his voice was low and awfully serious.
"I'm going to scour this island inch-by-inch if I have to until I find that treasure. Now if you and Dani are confused about what you're doing here, then both of you can go home." He have him a small shove.
"Sam, please don't be like that," I reached out my hand to him, but he shrugged me away.
Nate did the same, "wait, wait, wait, I can go home? Are you kidding me? Do you have any idea what I put on the line to get you here?" Nate jabbed a finger at his brother's chest.
"How about what I put on the line? Or what Dani put on the line? The last fifteen years of my li-"
"This has nothing to do with that!" Nate interrupted, "and Dan-"
"It has everything to do with that!" Sam recoiled.
"Will you two just stop? Please?" I begged, feeling absolutely helpless.
"Dani, stay out of this," Sam warned.
Now it was my turn to get angry. " 'Stay out of this'? Sam, this involves me, too! Nate brought up some very valid points, ones I have been questioning you on for the past day-"
"I'm just a little surprised that you'd take his side, that's all," Sam clipped.
Nate took a step around Sam, appearing as if he spotted something, grabbing both Sam and I's attention.
"What?" Sam asked.
Nate moved some vines away from some kind of stonework. "Holy crap," he said in awe as he brushed the dust away. It was Avery's sigil.
"Still want to go home?" Sam chuckled, looking at me.
"Let's just see what else we can find," Nate concluded.
I crossed my arms, still feeling underwhelmed by this "discovery." Sam saw my reluctance to follow and softened a little. Libertalia better be right around the corner or I may just call it quits for good.