Ok mates, here's the next chapter for you, ready, willing, and able. Here is...
Aftermath
“Kat,” Lawrence whispered again. Dear gods, it really was her. He had thought she was some kind of skeleton who was reading his mind so that he would stop attacking. It really was Kat though…he was in a state of shock.
Kat took another tonic from her pocket and pushed it to Lawrence’s lips. “Here, drink this. It should heal up your leg.” Lawrence swallowed the potion obediently.
“Kat…I…I’m sorry, I didn’t know…” he tried to explain. Kat put a finger to his lips to shush him.
“Not now, Lawrence,” she said. “There will be time for explanations later. Right now, we have to fix this wrong.” She stood up and hauled Lawrence to his feet. They exited the barber shop and ran towards the beach. Kat figured she wasn’t the only one that had endured the agony of transformation.
She was right. At the beach, there were skeletons everywhere, matched up with untransformed pirates. Bodies lay strewn on the sand, some moaning in pain…some not. They passed one man lying across a fallen pirate. “My friend, my poor poor friend…I did not know…” he sobbed.
The green light of the moon began fading. Kat looked up to see the face of Jolly Roger grinning evilly down at them all before disappearing.
The melee halted as all the skeletons turned back into humans. All those that had been fighting them stopped and stared at the writhing forms. Kat winced in phantom pain as she remembered her own transformation.
All was silent…and then a scream rang out through the air. Everyone turned to see a woman strewn across the body of a boy. He looked like her son.
“Hector,” Kat whispered in terror. She took off for Fabiola’s cart. Activity bustled around her as people searched for fallen comrades and helped the injured. She ignored it all. Her mind was focused on only one person.
Lawrence watched Kat run off. “Kat!” he yelled, trying to go after her, but his leg still hurt. He cursed and followed her, limping.
Kat stayed on the path to Fabiola’s. She skidded to a halt as she saw Hector laying in the middle of it, being tended to by Fabiola. The gypsy looked up at Kat’s stuttering steps. “He turned,” she said to Kat’s fearful eyes. “I’m sorry, he wanted to go to you. I couldn’t stop him.”
Kat fell to her knees next to Hector. He looked bad. There was a bruise forming on the whole left side of his face. Kat could tell his eye would swell shut because of it. There was a hole in his arm and a series of cuts across his chest and stomach, some that had merely ripped his shirt, others that made deep, bloody gashes. He was paler than a ghost and his eyelids fluttered as he flickered on the brink of consciousness.
“You need to help me get him in my wagon. He must be treated immediately,” Fabiola said to Kat. “Otherwise…” Fabiola trailed off, conveying the rest of the message with her eyes.
Kat understood. Otherwise, he would die. “Do you need anything from me?” she asked determinedly.
“Your blood,” Fabiola said bluntly. “Injuries this severe need more than common tonics. He needs the blood of someone who cares deeply for him.”
Kat stared down at the broken young man. “You stupid boy,” she said sadly. “You are going to owe me after this.” She helped Fabiola carry him into her wagon and lay him down on a soft cot.
“Come outside so we can get your blood without contaminating my home,” Fabiola said, grabbing a vial. Kat followed her outside and drew her sword. She was about to slice her hand when she heard Lawrence’s voice behind her on the path.
“Kat!” he yelled, horrified. “What are you doing?!”
Kat didn’t even turn around to see him. “What has to be done,” she said as she cut her hand open, a long line of blood smearing across her palm. She squeezed it over Fabiola’s vial and a few crimson drops fell into it.
Lawrence stared at the both of them with eyebrows raised like they were crazy. “What is going on?”
Kat wrapped her hand with a worn piece of cloth. “Come on, Lawrence, you’ll see.”
Fabiola had already gone inside to begin brewing. Kat pushed the cover to the entryway aside and climbed in, Lawrence following into the cramped quarters. Fabiola placed a cloth into Kat’s hand. “Press it against his chest to try and slow the bleeding.” Kat did so obediently, wanting to do anything she could to help.
Lawrence stared down at the shattered boy. “Who is he?” he asked Kat quietly.
“He’s a nuisance is what he is,” she said with a small chuckle. Kat’s eyes watered a little, but she refused to let tears fall. She thought back to the scenario they had acted out only two days before. “He’s something like my little brother,” she muttered. Then she realized how cheesy that sounded and couldn’t help but laugh. “Well…almost.”
Fabiola rose from where she had been infusing Kat’s blood with some other ingredients. “Help me open his mouth,” she said. Kat took her hands off of the chest press and tipped open Hector’s mouth. Fabiola poured the disgusting smelling concoction down his throat. Hector spluttered a little, but the potion went down.
Fabiola nodded. “That should help for the time being, but I’ll put a salve on his wounds as well.” She took a small bottle from her pocket and began dabbing the substance into Hector’s cuts.
“Fabiola, what caused all of this to happen?” Kat asked.
Fabiola sighed. “It is Jolly Roger,” she said. “Tonight is All Hallows Eve, a time where magic and voodoo runs rampant…and powerful. Unfortunately, not all of it is good. Roger was able to use the powers to his advantage tonight. The power of All Hallows Eve is one thing…but combined with the force of the full moon…” she shuddered. “Well, you saw what happened. Roger meant to turn us all on each other, making us weaker and less powerful for when we attempt to fight against his army. His magic could only go as far as the shine of the moon though. Those who were shielded from the light were not affected. Still, he has done enough damage. Many pirates fell today, and what’s worse, at the hands of friends and allies. You two were among the few lucky ones, Kat and Lawrence.”
Kat glanced behind to Lawrence at the mention of his name. She had almost forgotten he was there. He stood quietly, looking morosely down at Hector.
Fabiola continued to dab gently at Hector’s wounds until the salve was gone. She pocketed the empty container and said, “There’s nothing more I can do for him now. He must rest.”
Kat looked down at the broken Hector and felt a flash of fury. She tore out of the cabin like a woman possessed. Lawrence couldn’t help but sigh at her. He stared down at Hector for a moment longer, watching his even breathing, before going to run after Kat. It seemed like he was always chasing after her. He could never remain in the same place with her for very long.
She went up and out through Tortuga’s graveyard and into the caverns, where the skeletons roamed. In her anger, she took her cutlass in one hand and her pistol in the other. She was a formidable sight to see.
Her rampage began. The witchdoctor near the tunnel’s entrance didn’t even get an attunement on her before he fell in a flash of green. Her pistol raised and shot right between the eye sockets of an undead bandit that dared to approach her. She ventured further into the depths and found undead pirates and brigands waiting for her. She slashed the first one, then another and parried a brute’s thrust that she sensed behind her. Another tried advancing toward her, but she shot him where his liver would be to delay him and quickly beheaded him. A dagger flew towards her right side, but she dodged it and attempted to blast the skeleton’s head off.
Her pistol merely clicked however.
Kat gave a grunt of frustration. She should have checked her barrels before going on a rampage. Her boots thudded on the dirt as she stomped towards the skeleton.
She took him by the collar of his scrapped clothes and brought her cutlass to his bony neck. “Where. Is. Your. Master?” She punctuated each word sharply.
The skeleton laughed at her. “He watches you, pirate,” he growled in his chilling voice. “He watches you and waits for the day he can absorb you into his army and take control of the Caribbean.”
Kat’s face contorted in disgust. “I will never join the ranks of Jolly Roger,” she snarled at him. “I shall give my life for the Caribbean, rather than let my soul fall into his claws.”
The skeleton grinned at her evilly. “Then die you shall,” he told her. Kat had enough. She thrust her sword through the skeleton and felt him disintegrate in her hand.
It may not have been the most logical decision, but Kat fell to her knees, put her head in her hands, and screamed.
Suffice to say, my brother isn't exactly happy with me at the moment.
Thanks goes out to Juliana Maria for editing again.
Not much commentary this week mates. Please leave a review and I'll feel epic and awesome.
Thanks for reading!
-Kat Crestshot