Apocalyptic Pirates 6, page 15
“Yeah, you know,” she said. “Chew things over and over. Like cows do.”
“What shouldn’t I ruminate on?” I said.
“That woman.” Shannon’s voice was gentle. “I know you, Drew. But this is what we were talking about. You can’t care for everybody.”
“I know.” I took another sip of palm wine. “I’m trying, Shannon.”
Shannon rested her head on my shoulder. I could smell the sweet tang of the palm wine on her breath.
“We’re all just doing the best we can,” she said in a soft voice. “That’s all that anyone can ever do.”
I put my arm around her shoulders and held her close to me as we watched the villagers drink and celebrate.
“How are the stats on the Coast Guard video?” Shannon asked after a while.
“It’s busy, but it’s slowed right down compared to the numbers on the first day,” I replied. “I think the initial outrage has died down now.”
“Do you think it’s time for us to move on?” Letty asked. “I mean, we’ve stayed out here for a little while, and we’ve helped these people. Maybe it’s time to carry on our own journey now.”
“It would be good to make more progress while we still can,” Ally agreed. “We don’t know what’s coming next, so it makes sense to cover as much distance as we can while things are relatively calm.”
“That does make sense,” I said with a nod. “How are we looking with supplies?”
“Our cabinets are still pretty full,” Letty replied. “The Panamanians stocked us up real good. And now we have the fresh greens that we foraged today as well. Those should last us a few days.”
“Okay, then.” I looked around at them all. “So we’re all agreed?”
“Yep.” Shannon nodded. “It’s time to head out.”
“We should say our goodbyes now,” I said. “That way we can make an early start tomorrow.”
“I had a thought,” Ally said, and she hesitated for a second. “We told the villagers that the dragons will probably be coming through this area in a second wave. They’re going to fortify the village, but they don’t have any guns. Now that we’ve got the AR-10s that the Panamanian National Police let us keep, what do you think about giving some of our AR-15s to these people? They’re going to need more firepower than they currently have if they want to keep themselves safe.”
“That’s such a good idea!” Letty exclaimed.
“Yeah, I think that would be great,” Shannon said. “What do you think, Drew?”
“I think that would be a perfect parting gift,” I said with a smile. “I don’t think it would be wise to give away all of our arsenal, but I think we can definitely spare two AR-15s.”
“Yes,” Dia cheered.
“Shall I go back and get them now?” Shannon offered. “I can run the quickest, and I know where everything is put away. I can grab some spare magazines too.”
“You really don’t want anybody touching your stash, do you?” Dia teased.
“I just have a system, that’s all,” Shannon said in a dignified tone.
“I’ll go with you,” Ally said. “I might not be as good a shot as you, but another pair of eyes is a good idea.”
The two of them headed quickly back through the trees.
Dia went into the crowd and came back with some more glasses of palm wine.
“More for us, now that Ally’s not here,” she said with a wink.
“Poor Ally,” Letty laughed. “Palm wine isn’t to everyone’s taste.”
“I think it’s closest to a merlot.” I took a sip and swirled it around my mouth contemplatively. “That sweetness is like a merlot, but it has an herbiness that makes me think of a gin.”
“Tastes like root beer to me,” Dia said. “A really, really sweet root beer.”
“Spot the liquor salesman,” Letty said with a giggle. “And the, uh, not salesman.”
“I’m a pleb,” Dia giggled. “I’ll drink it, but don’t ask me to sell it.”
“You know what, though,” I said. “It’s not unlike a root beer.”
“I’ll take that.” Dia raised her cup and clinked it against mine.
Shannon and Ally were back very quickly with two of the AR-15s slung around their shoulders, along with a bag of spare magazines.
“Made it,” Ally panted.
“And you didn’t get eaten!” Dia cheered. “Well done!”
Shannon and Ally carefully took off the rifles and propped them against the chairs with the bag of ammo. Letty gave Shannon the rest of her cup of palm wine, and we all sipped our drinks in silence for a little while.
“I’ll be a bit sad to leave this place,” Letty sighed. “Do you ever think about the numbers of people that we’ve met during this journey? We pass through their lives, but we have no idea if we’ll ever see them again.”
“Yeah,” I said. “It is a weird thing. I still think about Ray and Valerie, the old couple we met on Providencia.”
“I still think about that old guy we met on that island,” Dia said. “What was his name, Rojas something?”
“Are you talking about your grandfather?” Shannon demanded.
“Oh, yeah,” Dia deadpanned. “Was that who it was?”
“Yes!” Shannon rolled her eyes. “You’re impossible. If I was General Rojas, I would have disowned you years ago.”
“Luckily for me, my Papi is a sucker for my quick wit and easy charm.” Dia batted her eyelashes.
The outraged expression on Shannon’s face made me laugh out loud.
Eva turned around at the sound, and she came out of the group of people and walked toward us.
“Thank you,” she said simply, and she took my hand and pressed it against her heart. “Thank you.”
“De nada,” I replied with a smile. “Te ves bien.”
And she did look good. Although the dragon blood hadn’t reversed the aging process– it truly would be a miracle if it could manage to beat time itself– but the difference in Eva’s movements was astounding. Her face was still wrinkled with age, but her eyes were bright, her smile was quick, and when she held my hand, her skin felt cool and soft.
Dia spoke to her, and Eva sighed as the corners of her mouth turned down. She let go of my hand and said something in a low voice.
“She says you’ve changed their lives forever,” Dia relayed. “She says you saved Marisol’s life, and you gave the others back their health and their happiness. She says they can never repay their debt to you.”
Eva’s dark eyes fixed on me with an intensity that I couldn’t look away from. She blinked, and their intensity was suddenly fogged with a mist of tears.
I had to swallow hard to keep my own emotions in check past the sudden lump in my throat.
“Please tell her that she’s so welcome,” I said in a husky voice. “Tell her that we hope she, Marisol, and everybody in the village lives a long, safe, and happy life.”
Dia relayed this.
Eva’s face broke into a huge smile. She held out her arms to me, and I bent down and took her into a tight hug. She smelled of fresh green plants, of smoke, and palm wine.
“Nunca te olvidaré,” she whispered in my ear.
I squeezed her tight and then let go of her and cleared my throat. The women all embraced Eva, and when Marisol saw us together, she came running up to us and fired a string of questions at her grandmother.
Eva answered gently, and Marisol stared at us with her mouth open.
“No!” she exclaimed.
Letty knelt down and opened her arms. Marisol ran into them, and she clung to Letty as tears began to run down her face.
Letty whispered to her, and then Dia knelt down beside them and stroked Marisol’s hair as she helped translate everything Letty was saying.
Finally Marisol raised her tear-streaked face and nodded bravely.
Letty and Dia stood, and Marisol went to Ally, and Shannon, and hugged them both. Then she came to stand in front of me. I knelt down on the ground, and I hugged her tightly against my chest. For a second, it was like having Sammy back in my arms, and I squeezed her so tightly that Marisol gave a little squeak and wriggled free with a little giggle.
“Goodbye, Marisol,” I said to her.
“Goodbye,” she repeated carefully. “Goodbye, Drew. Ally, Shannon, Letty, and Dia. Goodbye.”
Shannon picked up the rifles and gave them to Eva along with a bag holding some magazines. Dia explained what they were, and Eva’s mouth dropped open.
“Gracias!” she cried. “Gracias! Rosa!”
Rosa hurried over to see what was happening, and she looked just as dumbfounded as Eva when the old woman showed her our gifts.
“Gracias,” was all she could say.
The sun was tracking a path down the sky toward the horizon, and I knew that it was time for us to leave.
The final hugs were given, the final thanks were shared, and then we walked away through the trees back to the yacht with the villagers waving and shouting goodbyes after us.
Letty was very quiet, and I put my arm around her shoulders.
“They’ll be okay,” I told her.
“I know.” Letty tried to smile, but her voice was wobbling. “I just wish there was some way we could keep in touch with them, or make sure that they’re okay.”
“We can’t agonize over things we can’t control,” I told her gently. “We have to keep moving forward.”
“You’re right,” Letty sighed. “I’ll feel better in the morning, I think. I always find it hard to say goodbye.”
“Moving forward,” Shannon reminded her. “Eyes on the prize.”
“‘Eyes on the prize’,” Dia teased. “Get out of here with that corporate workplace positivity bullshit.”
Shannon made as though to cuff Dia’s head, and Dia skipped away from her. The Latina woman’s laughter rang out through the trees, and I smiled to myself as we climbed on board the yacht.
My own words that I’d said so easily to Letty came back to me, and as the women prepared for bed and I took up my familiar place on deck to keep the first watch, I turned over the events of the day in my mind.
The young woman with the missing hand whose hazel eyes had looked into mine so fearlessly.
Sammy’s talk about axolotls and their regenerative abilities to regrow lost limbs.
The new vigor in Eva’s movements, and the unbridled health and energy that infused all of Marisol’s gestures.
I knew that Shannon was right.
I couldn’t keep taking on everybody’s hurts as though they were my own. I had to draw some boundaries between my own emotions and those of the rest of the world. I could care, of course I could care. I didn’t know exactly who I would be if I wasn’t mindful about the plight of others. But there had to be a line drawn between myself and them.
I had to put the burden down every once in a while.
I sighed, craned my head back, and looked up at the stars pricking their way through the darkness overhead.
I was so used to taking care of things, taking care of the people around me. Shielding my mom from the worst of things, making sure that all of Sammy’s needs were met, keeping the women safe.
But this was a boat full of adults, and as much as my initial instincts urged me to try to make this place as safe and comfortable for the others as possible, I had to let them in and take care of me as well.
These thoughts stayed with me, and I turned them over and over in my mind all throughout my hours on watch, so much so that I expected they would show up in my dreams as well.
But when Shannon came to relieve me, and I went downstairs and fell into the bed, sleep came instantly and was blessedly free from dreams.
We were all up early the next morning.
Letty was in the kitchen preparing a quick breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast, and while we ate, Ally and I went over the course again and double-checked our route.
Then we all went up on deck, and while Ally went into the cockpit and hoisted the sail, the rest of us stood by the railing and looked around at the fluttering palm trees, the lush green grass, and the twisted roots of the trees plunging deep into the dark waters of the estuary.
“See ya,” Dia called, and she waved goodbye as the yacht slipped away from the shore.
We were leaving the mooring place behind, when suddenly we heard a shout coming from the bank we’d just left. It was the young woman from the night before. She was waving at us and shouting.
“Dia, what’s she saying?” Shannon asked with a frown.
But even before Dia spoke, I knew.
The young woman had taken off her bandages, and she was waving her arm in the air. And even from this distance, I could see the wild excitement on her face, and the strange shape on the end of her arm.
“She says it’s worked.” Dia’s eyes were wide as saucers. “She says her hand is starting to grow back.”
Chapter 9
It was a much easier journey to take the yacht out of the estuary than it had been to travel into it, and it was a good thing too, because the only thing we could focus on was what had just happened.
“This is cool!” Dia said for the hundredth time. “I mean, did you see? Her hand was actually starting to grow back.”
“Isn’t this amazing!” Shannon exclaimed. “Think of what this is going to mean for people! The blood can actually grow back missing limbs! This is incredible!”
“I can’t believe it,” Ally gasped.
“She was so happy,” Letty said with the biggest smile on her face. “Did you see her expression? She was so happy.”
“I mean, wouldn’t you be?” Dia said. “It kind of makes me want to cut something off to see if it’ll grow back.”
“Okay.” I held up my hands. “No one cut anything off, alright? At least not without consulting me first.”
“I wonder if it could fix a bad haircut?” Ally mused. “What if you shaved your head, drank the blood, and it made it grow back?”
“Ooh, a dragon blood hair mask!” Letty suggested. “I bet that would be damn luxurious.”
“Apart from the fact that it’s made out of blood,” I pointed out.
“Pff, that’s nothin’,” Letty scoffed. “I’ve put raw eggs in my hair, yogurt in my hair, the stinkiest kind of henna in my hair. Anything to tame that frizz, baby.”
“I’d totally put dragon blood in my hair,” Dia said with a nod. “You don’t understand what it’s like when you have curly hair. It’s a nightmare trying to find the right curl routine. Plus half the shampoos we’ve picked up have been full of sulfates, and I know that’s not doing my curls any good.”
“Sulfates?” I queried with a raised eyebrow.
“It’s okay.” Ally reached over and patted my arm. “You just stick to your five-in-one products.”
“Hey, I’m not averse to a little pampering,” I said with a chuckle. “I’ve been known to moisturize on occasion.”
“Really?” Shannon put her hands on her hips. “You moisturize?”
“Sometimes,” I replied with a jokingly haughty air. “On occasion.”
“Well, color me impressed,” Letty informed me with a grin. “I swear to y’all, guys can rub their faces with sandpaper and still be lookin’ fine, while we out here with our fifteen-step Korean skincare beauty routines looking like undercooked potatoes.”
“I’m a well-cooked potato, thank you very much,” Shannon retorted.
“I had such a great skincare collection back home,” Ally reminisced with a sigh. “I had this twenty-four carat gold face mask, and it made my skin glow like nothing else.”
“Well, next time we find a dragon,” I said. “We’ll harvest some of its blood so you can do a face mask.”
“Don’t you want us to look pretty for you, Drew?” Shannon said with a pout.
“You’re already beautiful,” I told her. “All of you are. And you know it. You don’t need dragon blood to be gorgeous.”
“Thank you, Drew,” Dia said in a grave voice. “That has really boosted my self-esteem.”
“Okay, that came out sounding weird,” I said with a laugh. “But you know what I mean.”
“Isn’t it crazy, though?” Ally mused. “A few months ago, all we wanted to do was kill dragons and eradicate as many of them as we possibly could. And now we’re thinking about face masks and limb regeneration.”
“It is pretty insane,” I agreed. “I just had no idea it could be that effective that quickly.”
“Do you suppose she ate any of the organs that we left behind?” Letty suggested. “If she ate those, along with the blood, it would be a really concentrated dose.”
“Good point,” I said. “I guess we won’t know for sure.”
“Is there anything about it on the forum?” Dia asked. “Someone on there might have posted something about limbs growing back.”
“I haven’t seen anything, but I’ll check now,” I said.
I pulled out my phone and did the usual dance of walking about the deck in order to try and get a connection.
We were back out in the open ocean by now, and it was oddly comforting to see the familiar surroundings of waves, sky, and the occasional seabird. It was better for the internet as well, and I managed to get online and open up the forum.
“Search for ‘missing limbs’,” Dia directed as she leaned over my shoulder to look at my phone screen.
“Okay, okay,” I said. “Searching for ‘missing limbs’… Jeez, what is my life that this is now something I’m doing?”
“Your life is awesome,” Dia declared, and she planted a kiss on my cheek. “Full of awesome women, and awesome adventures.”
“It is pretty awesome,” I admitted.
“And the awesome women are awesome, too…” she prodded.
“Yeah, I guess they’re alright,” I said and chuckled when Dia exclaimed loudly and gently swatted my shoulder.
I scrolled through the forum and tried to see if there were any posts from anyone who had also used the dragon cure to restore missing limbs. There wasn’t a lot on the forum that offered definitive answers. There were a few posts from people asking if the dragon blood could be used to help regeneration, and if so what would the doses be, but as with a lot of the questions on the forum, the answers seemed to be either “fuck around and find out” or “here is my very elaborate, in-depth, and baseless recipe for success.”
