Love Lost and Found {Mianite/Sparksize} - ON HOLD ↹

-=+Chapter Three+=-

-=+Chapter Three+=-

     A bottle smashed, glass bits shattering against the walls and ricocheting in all directions. The remainder of the amber liquid that had been inside slid down the wall, glistening with the light of the dying sun. I sighed, and side-stepped yet another bottle.

     "Skipper, enough o' this. Ye be drunk off yer arse." My brother stumbled towards me, but tripped on the royal red carpet sending himself off balance until he clutched a single chair that had been scattered from the rest.

     "I- I can't be doin' thurssss," he slurred, simultaneously reaching for another half-filled bottle of rum that someone had left out on the table. Skipper chugged it in one swift motion, before hurtling it at me in rage. I side-stepped again, barely blinking when it smashed against the now dented wall behind me. Surprisingly, I wasn't mad at my brother. He only became aggressive when he was extremely drunk, a level at which he normally refrained from unless something was truly bothering him.

     "What can't ye be doing, brother?" The glint of a knife came from his ankle as he hastily pulled the dagger from his boot, and he fumbled with it before unsheathing it and lunging at me. I stepped backwards and watched as his own momentum failed him and he landed face-first on the wooden floor, missing the rug that had proven to be his previous detriment. My brother moaned, then propped his himself up on his elbows.

     "Kate, it be thar ship. It's been three bloody days since we came to this cursed land, and I can't take this no more. We be needing a change of home, sister." Before I could reply, he collapsed once again, asleep on the floor. Hauling him off the wooden planks of the dining room, I hefted my brother up and slung his arm over my shoulder, leaning him against my side. Throwing open the dining room door, a cool blast of night air whipped my hair from my face and chilled my skin. I received silent stares from Earl, who leaned against the deck rail watching the seas.

     Kicking the door to our room open, I hauled my brother over to his bed before tucking the covers around him, closing the door, and walking away. I don't see why my brother and the crew has such a hard time living aboard, when this ship is basically our home when we take voyages. Perhaps it's the fact that there's land available that makes them wish for a home. Is it me? Am I that intolerable that my crew, that my own brother wishes to escape me given the chance? Maybe I've driven them too hard. It won't have been the first time problems arose such as this, but I thought that our being sent by Ianite would have quelled any arguments or issues.

     I escaped from the prison that was my thoughts and looked around me. I had walked farther than I thought, and ended up near the hills overlooking the ocean. A loud groan sounded from my left, and I turned my head towards the shades cast by the mountain. Several zombies crawled from the depths of the crevice, scaling the small hillside to reach me. I pulled a small dagger from the underside of my coat, where it had been strapped to the back of the pocket. The first of the small group reached proximity, and I swiftly jabbed it into the foul undead's skull, it falling to the ground in a second, eternal death. Three others approached me, and two received the same fate as their friend. Upon striking the third one, my small blade shattered as the bottle of rum had a short while before. But this time there was no retribution in the form of a fault, no end result. The zombie merely stared for a second, before reaching out to claw me. I stepped back and scanned my surroundings. If I had merely a sharp stone, I could walk away unscathed. There was nothing around me, only the groans and shuffled of zombies as more and more joined the one I had lost my blade to in the advance towards me- the attempts to end my life.

     Scowling, I retreated backwards, keeping my eyes on the growing group. A dull pain in my back alerted me that I had hit a mountain wall, inadvertently trapping myself. Somehow noticing that I was left defenseless and without an escape route, the soulless monsters seemed to scuffle faster. The resounding *twing!* of an arrow came from above, and an arrow struck the leader of the horde in the chest, stunning it momentarily.