by Bonds, Javan
“No. No bodies in the water, no sign.”
Damn Daddy, morbid much?
“And another girl went missing yesterday. No trace, blonde just like the other one.” He grew disgusted. “And Brother Brown has pretty much accused us of being at fault for it.”
I was confused. “Us?”
“Me and your mama.”
I cocked an eyebrow. “But... He thinks you're the kidnappers?”
He chuckled through his derision. “I doubt he thinks it. Of course, we’re not, but he is indirectly pointing at us.”
I knew Mama wasn’t around, so I could get by with a four letter word. “What the hell for?”
“I think he’s trying to get people on his side and off ours. He must be positioning himself to make a power-play.”
“You mean this guy is going to stage a coup?” It was hard to believe people would turn on the guy that pretty much got the island up and running. Actually, never mind. I’m the guy that got that ball rolling. I know somebody would find it easy to assassinate me, but Randy Collins made Guntersville better on top of everything I did. And I didn’t do a lot, really.
He exhaled. “It won’t be too hard, the way he has everybody wrapped around his finger.”
Smokes glanced back at the Forever Young to our rear, still visible in the fading daylight and then looked at me. “We gots to git, dawg.”
I put my hands on my hips, pissed at myself. I forgot to even mention the ship following us. Oh well, I’m sure he didn’t have anything to tell us, either.
I took the radio from my brother and spoke. “Well Daddy, we’re gonna have to get out of this port. We’ll talk later.
The entire crew called their farewells. My father signed off. “Roger. Gray Fox. Over and out.”
☠☠☠
14
Mo Journal Entry 5
“MO!” A FEW seconds went by before the same voice shouted at me again. “Mo!”
“What the hell do you want, Gene?” I yelled back at the nerd screaming through my door. I climbed out of bed where a barely clothed female lay beside me and made my way to the door.
“The Forever Young is under attack!”
I was still rubbing my eyes. “By people?”
“What the kriff? No, by frakking peevies on a boat. Of course by people!”
I was dazed and confused from being so rudely awaken. “On a boat?... Like pirates?... But we are pirates.”
He was frazzled. “And we’re being attacked by pirates!”
Well, shit. That probably wasn’t good. It was then I could hear small pops from beyond the ship. “I’m guessing they have guns.”
The Tech face palmed. “No poodoo! Sanjay has been communicating with Kumar over the walkie-talkie. He eliminated one enemy before a firefight broke out on the Forever Young.”
I didn’t know geeks could be insulting. For a second, I thought about just pushing him back and slamming the door in his face. That wouldn’t really help; he would still be banging on the door. If I tried to ignore him, he’d probably just go get Easy. My brother would probably break the fucking door down.
“What do they want?”
The comic book shop owner was near the point of extending his adamantium claws. “Do you think they gave a monologue before the attack explaining how this act would lead to their world domination? Stang! They just saw a boat and did what pirates do best!”
I swear to God, I’ve never wanted to punch anyone with glasses so badly. “So what should we do?”
He sighed. “Well, we probably should have been having this conversation on our way above deck. The attack is kind of currently going on and the Pirates could have already sunk the ship by now!”
One more time I clenched my fists. I stepped back in the room to grab my boots and pants, sliding them on. We began moving in silence. I was at least thankful for that.
☠☠☠
Bradley, The Old Friend, sat in his wheelchair at the back railing firing at the unseen attackers. He was looking through a night vision scope and describing what he was seeing on the attacked vessel. Kumar Jindal, the Clone Trooper HIT, accented with blue, was crouched beside The Medicine Man, who was prone on the deck. The Phantom was acting as his spotter while Dr. George was sending sniper rounds at the enemy on the Forever Young. My brother and The Expert were gearing up for close combat. I guess they were going to take one of the small motorboats tied behind the Cora to attack the attackers.
The Tech sprinting from my side to join the two on their short journey. Fuck! I’ll just stay here and keep an eye out or something.
I yelled at Hammer. “So I don’t guess we can use the canon?” The one stink eye she gave me let me know that was a stupid question.
“If you fire that thing, I will bust your tail when I get back.” Damn, mom.
There was a pause in the gunfire from the two snipers up on the poop deck. I heard Sanjay Patel over the radio. “The door won’t hold them for long!”
The very night Festus starts traveling down the river with us, our floating caravan, and his boat in particular comes under attack. Why would these pirates take this opportunity to make a move? I guess he has some shitty luck. If the Forever Young hadn't been behind us, it probably would’ve been the Cora under attack. Smokes’ mantra still rings true: “You’s always at da place you is always post to BE.”
15
The Protector Rises
Prophecy from The Book of Smokes:
THE PROTECTOR IS calm, does not tend to show deep emotions, and may even appear dimwitted to some. When the need arises and other main protagonists are in jeopardy, the character will seem to transform into a lunatic berserker. The Protector will always defend those that cannot defend themselves. Will never start the fight, but always makes sure it gets finished.
☠☠☠
The bass boat broke free from its ties to the Viva Ancora, turning to make its way to the Forever Young in total darkness. The Expert and The Protector readied their weapons while The Tech sat cross legged in the floor, seeking guidance from The Force.
The attackers on the ship paid no attention to the small craft and the trolling motor was almost like using stealth mode. The protagonists knew that this incarnation of The Villain hadn’t noticed the wooden sailing ship ahead of the Forever Young. They were coming in undetected under the cover of darkness. Surprise was a useful tool.
☠☠☠
The Protector launched himself up and over the side of the yacht, landing directly behind a lone pirate. The smaller man heard Easy in his Iron Man armor clank as he landed on the wooden deck in the dark, but was unable to do anything before the giant superhero placed his gauntleted hand over his mouth. The youngest of the Collins offspring ran a curved dagger across his throat. The body went limp as an enormous amount of blood poured from the thin slice. Easy lowered the still warm corpse to rest in a heap alongside the rail. He looked around to see that there were luckily no enemies near and gestured for his comrades to join him.
Hammer in her Metroid Prime Samus suit and Gene in the Brotherhood of Steel Paladin armor made their way up the ladder at the back of the yacht. They began sneaking, crouched behind the wall of metal and muscle that was Easy. There were no other attackers on the exterior of the ship.
With Iron Man and Samus hugging the doorframe, they opened the first door they came to. The protagonists were greeted by only jovial voices on down the hall. “... And then the old guy said ‘What do you want?’ I looked at the old fuck and said ‘Everything you fucking got, gramps!’” At least two men began chuckling like that was the funniest thing ever spoken. Before the trio of good guys could start down the hall, one could be heard walking in their direction. “Yeah, I’ll go tell Gerard to get one.”
The armored pair froze. The Expert in her Samus armor aimed her rifle at the corner she knew the man was coming from. After only seconds, a man in dirty blue jeans and a disgusting, faded T-shirt came from around the corner, looking back at the person he was talking to.<
br />
He had no warning of the seven 5.56 rounds that peppered him from bellybutton to Adam’s Apple. There was a quick spray of arterial blood on the wall before he fell backward landing back behind the corner with a thud. His boots did not move. The marauder was surely dead before he hit the floor.
An excited voice came from around the corner that the now dead man had come from. “What the fuck? We’re under attack!”
Hammer unclipped the flap on her grenade pouch.
Keeping her one eye down the iron sights on the corner at the other end of the hallway, she felt around for a long, skinny cylinder in the pouch. Finding what she wanted, she pulled the pin with her teeth, and tossed the flash bang toward her enemies. Even with a left handed toss she banked the grenade, like a pool pro off one wall then it hit another and rounded the corner, vanishing over the now dead pirate. Just before three eternal seconds ticked by and the explosion was heard, there was a loud whisper. “What the fuck?” Easy looked away, having heard stories from his brother, he decided he didn’t need to see the explosion.
☠☠☠
Thomas peeked around the corner when he heard something smack on the floor. He spotted what he thought was a tall beer can. The beer can exploded into a giant white wall of light, pain, and deafening noise. He was in shock and unable to speak. Corey stood beside him, cocking his pistol. “What was that!?” The explosion confused the others, but Thomas had witnessed it. He turned in the direction of Corey and made a noise but all he could hear was the loud ringing in his ears. He tried to say his friend’s name but couldn’t even hear himself crying in agony. The shock of the flash bang was so traumatizing the only thing he could do was spew projectile vomit all over his friend.
Corey never had a strong stomach. Disgusted enough, he was unable to speak himself. Corey reciprocated by coating Thomas in his own green mash of partially digested food.
Even though Thomas was blinded and deafened he could still smell; although he was freaking out and sickened because he had no idea what was going on. The pirate knew that he had just lost most of the contents of his stomach and now someone was dumping stomach bile onto him. He would’ve shouted, lashed out, anything. In his debilitated state unfortunately, he was only able to throw up.
Corey was beyond horrified; Thomas was puking for the second time all over his Crystal Gayle T-shirt.
“What the hell, man?” He shouted over the ringing in his ears and did the only thing he could do; push his friend back and away.
☠☠☠
A stupid looking kid wearing a cowboy hat came falling backwards into the hallway from around the corner. Both protagonists leaned out from behind the sides of the doorframe and opened up on the unsuspecting target. Over a dozen rounds impacted the falling body as it fell. The dead or dying pillager hit the floor like a wet bag of sand. The hat flew off his head after the first few rounds, and was perforated by more than one bullet. It landed right side up, the side of the hat facing them. In nearly a comical fashion, the cowboy hat had a noticeable hole straight through each side.
☠☠☠
“They don’t know how many of us there are.” Festus whispered to Sanjay. “They just know there’s one of us. So when they bust down the door, I’ll let them have a few slugs.”
Patel was incredulous. “But they’ll be giving slugs to you, too.” This old man was willing to commit suicide to give The Phantom a chance.
The senior clicked his tongue. “Son, do you know how old I am? Hell, I should have been dead years ago. The pacemaker and heart medicine is the only thing keeping me alive. If I go out this way, at least it’ll be for a reason. I don’t wanna go in my sleep.” The red accented Clone Trooper smiled through his confusion. Why wouldn’t anyone want to die in their sleep? That has to be an easy way to go.
The men assaulting the Forever Young had to be bashing a crane against the door. Sanjay had it pretty well barricaded, but they were tearing through it nevertheless. Festus rose from behind an overturned table and aimed his revolver at the door. It splintered under the onslaught from the other side.
When the door finally gave, Festus was unable to see through the dust from the exploding wood. He blindly fired three shots into the cloud of dust and waited. Suddenly, something small and hard smashed into his right shoulder. A full beer can? Bud Lite? The can crushed a bone and bounced off of Festus to explode on the floor. Before he fell, he could see a large, shirtless man sauntering through the door with a giant sledgehammer in hand, wearing some type of white mask. This disturbing mask was scarred and had breath holes in it.
This beast of a man was surely what broke down the door. Festus doubted he hit him, but even if he did hit center mass with three slugs, it wouldn’t have even slowed him down! Grabbing onto the table leg to stabilize himself Festus aimed his pistol with one hand. Before he took the shot, an average sized human walked in behind his behemoth companion. The old man sent his round at this man, trying to take out the mortal of the two. The piece of lead caught the smaller man under the left jaw and ripped through the face upwards. There was no time to react besides a split second of eye widening before the cranium exploded. The body collapsed, momentarily pumping blood into what was left of the empty skull, running onto the floor mixing with the scrambled gray matter.
The Villain charged at the senior citizen who was on the verge of passing out. The old man could hear the monstrous footfalls and aimed his pistol in that direction. Emptying his gun, unsure if even one round struck its intended target. The giant pirate never slowed and brought his mallet around to hit Festus as he came within striking distance.
The hammer obliterated the old man’s hip as it swung around. It pulverized the table and destroyed any chance The Sacrifice had of ever walking again. He was knocked to the wall on the other side of the room and the giant was on him in seconds. Standing over the dazed geriatric, he brought the sledgehammer down on Festus’s other leg and pancaked his knee. Blood and liquefied bone oozed onto the floor with what sounded like a laugh from The Villain.
The old man would’ve cried out in pain, but he was barely conscious. He tried to raise his right arm and found his shoulder was broken, or dislocated. Instead of screaming in pain, he shakily raised his revolver somehow still in his left hand, and aimed somewhere near the monster’s face. The senior pulled the trigger and heard the scariest sound in the world.
Click!
Today wasn’t his day.
The grotesquely huge pirate let out a deep, maniacal laugh, shook his head and slammed the sledgehammer down onto the head of The Sacrifice. Blood, gray matter, and bone fragments were launched in every direction as Festus simply ceased to exist.
The behemoth didn’t stop there. He started pounding the old man’s body into an unrecognizable mush. It seemed as if the huge antagonist wanted to hammer the remains of the senior into the floor. Bloody goop that was once Festus now covered the front of the giant’s pants.
Sanjay watched from the closet where he was hiding, behind a hanging coat. He felt like a coward for hiding in the corner while that poor old man was beaten into oblivion. The Indian soldier wanted to avenge Festus, but knew that if he got killed doing so, The Sacrifice would have been for naught. Patel wasn’t sure he could stop this beast of a man even with his submachine gun. Using his katar would bring him within deadly range of the sledgehammer. That would be just like committing suicide! Though unsure, Sanjay could’ve sworn he saw the monster flick a flattened bullet from his shoulder as if it were just an annoyance.
The giant in the hockey mask flung open the door to one of the cabinets and started rifling through the contents. After several cabinets were spilled onto the floor, he stopped when opening one. Sanjay found it funny that the mask even appeared surprised. He pulled out a bottle of pills and read the label. Obviously not seeing what he was looking for, the beast tossed it over his shoulder and picked up the next pill bottle. He repeated this process several times and grew angrier with each bottle. He was probably looking for som
e kind of narcotic and this must have been Festus’ heart medication. The giant roared with an inhuman voice and slammed his sledgehammer into the row of cabinets. As The Villain took out his insane rage on inanimate objects, Patel could hear an explosion and rounds being fired outside the door.
☠☠☠
Corey recoiled at the sight of Thomas dead on the floor, lying in a growing pool of his own blood. He wanted these fuckers to pay for killing his friend, but he knew sticking his head around the corner would only get him just as dead as Thomas.
“What do you want?” he screamed from behind the corner.
The Protector looked to The Expert and cocked his head. She shrugged and he lifted his helmet to give an answer. “What do you want?”
Were these guys already on the ship when we got here? That doesn’t sound like the question of attackers, but defenders. He wondered if he heard them right with his ears still ringing from the flashbang. Corey figured he would go for sympathy and see if it would get him anywhere.
“We are just trying to survive and came to this boat looking to trade. Your buddies were hostile.”
Easy wanted to scream. “So my friends shot at you first?” This guy was full of shit. Sanjay and the old guy weren’t hostile. The Villain didn’t bring anything to trade; they only came to take whatever they could.
“How many of you are there?!” Easy shouted.
Corey didn’t know who all survived. If they came from the upper deck, all the guys outside were probably dead. Including Thomas, there were at least a couple bodies in this hallway. The only three he knew that were still alive was himself, Brutus, and Mitchell.
“Enough! If you try anything, we’ll put you down like the dogs you are.”
Easy stood with his hands raised. “I ain’t gonna try nothing. I’ll come down there unarmed so we can talk.” He began walking until Corey could see him from around the corner.
Corey lowered his rifle even though this guy was fucking massive. The dude was almost as big as Brutus! On top of that, he was wearing some sort of plate armor. He clanked with every step. “What’s your name, man?” The Protector asked the shaking little pirate.