Apocalyptic Pirates 6, page 6
Her words were cut off by a sob.
“Even if we could get Marisol to the hospital, there’s no guarantee that anyone would be left there.” I took a deep breath. “But don’t worry. I have a plan.”
“You do?” Dia looked up at me quickly.
Eva heard the excitement in Dia’s voice, and she looked up at me with hope shining out of her wrinkled, sun-browned face.
“Yes,” I said, and I looked around at the rest of the group. “I have a plan. And we’re going to need a dragon.”
Chapter 4
“Um, excuse me?” Dia said politely.
“Think about it for a second.” My brain was whizzing with all the thoughts that were crowding into my head.
“I have,” Dia retorted. “And now I’m thinking that the heat has got to you.”
“Dia!” I grabbed her arm and stared at her intently. “Think!”
Dia’s eyebrows shot up in outrage, but then as I squeezed her arm meaningfully, her expression cleared, and her mouth dropped open.
“Oh, shit,” she breathed.
“Wait, what?” Letty demanded. “I’m completely lost.”
“You’re not saying what I think you’re saying.” Shannon shook her head.
“He is.” Ally covered her mouth with her hands. “No way, Drew, we can’t.”
“Can’t do what?” Letty demanded in frustration.
“Use dragon blood,” Dia said. “Find a dragon and bring its blood back here to cure Marisol.”
“What?” Letty’s mouth dropped open. “But– no. Lord. But– but we can’t.”
“Why not?” I countered. “Every day we see more and more of those videos where people are cured of all kinds of sicknesses and diseases. Hell, we saw it happen with our own eyes when Dia’s arm healed!”
“But…” Ally’s face was twisted into an agony of indecision. “That was an accident. We didn’t intend for that to happen. This would be premeditated.”
“It’s not a crime,” Shannon said. “No one owns the dragons. It’s using what is becoming a natural resource.”
“But it’s not natural!” Ally burst out. “There’s nothing natural about the dragons.”
“But they’re here,” I argued. “And they could save that little girl’s life.”
“But…” Ally bit her lower lip. “I don’t know. This feels weird.”
“We can’t do it unless we all agree,” I said.
“It’s just so extreme!” Ally said. “I don’t know. It doesn’t feel… I mean, there have got to be other options.”
“Like what?” I shrugged. “If you have any other ideas, I’ll definitely consider them, but I was thinking about this all last night, and I honestly can’t think of any other options. We don’t know how much time Marisol has. And we know that taking her to the hospital isn’t a realistic option.”
“I know.” Ally was still chewing on her lower lip.
“What is it about the idea that worries you?” Shannon asked her.
“If it’s side effects, then I feel fine,” Dia assured her. “And it worked so quickly. I only got a little bit of the blood on me, and it still healed without even leaving a scar.”
She brandished the smooth olive skin of her forearm as evidence of what she was saying.
Eva had been watching this exchange with hope and fear written all over her face. Now she stepped forward and looked Dia squarely in the face.
“Que estas diciendo?” she asked. “Lo que esta sucediendo?”
“She wants to know what’s happening.” Dia glanced around at us.
“Por favor,” Eva begged. “No hay mucho tiempo.”
“We have to tell her,” Letty said.
“Yeah.” I glanced at Ally. “No matter what we think, it’s ultimately not our decision to make. It’s her’s.”
“I don’t think she’s going to like it,” Dia warned. “They’re really cut off here. From what she was saying yesterday, I don’t think her village even knows about the dragons’ healing properties and everything else that’s going on.”
“We’ll just have to try and explain it to her as best we can.” I wasn’t hopeful about it, but maybe if I showed the old woman some of the videos from the internet that showed the remarkable power of the dragons’ blood, it would help to demonstrate our plan better.
I got out my phone and tried to load up YouTube while Dia started explaining our plan to Eva.
The internet crawled along at a snail’s pace, and I clenched my jaw in frustration as the app started loading and then froze.
“No!” Eva’s voice rang out and cut off the rest of Dia’s words.
The old woman stared around at us with horror written all over her face.
Dia started to speak, but Eva spoke over her.
“No!” she insisted. “Marisol necesita un hospital. Ella necesita doctores y medicinas. Verdadera medicina!”
None of us needed Dia to translate that for us.
The internet still refused to cooperate, and I shoved my phone back into my pocket with a frustrated growl.
“Eva, por favor.” Dia spoke in a low, intense voice, and she gestured with her forearm in a way that suggested she was telling the old woman about her own brush with dragon blood.
Eva kept shaking her head, but now tears started to run down her weathered face.
Letty put a hand on her shoulder, and the old woman turned to her and grabbed her hand.
“Por favor,” she begged. “Hospital. Doctor. Marisol.”
The old woman’s distress was hard to see, but I knew that we had to convince her that this was the right thing to do.
“Dia,” I said, and I looked at her urgently. “Can you translate for me?”
Dia nodded, and I went to Eva and held out my hand.
The old woman looked at me with tears streaming down her cheeks. Hesitantly, she took my hand, and I held it tightly in my own.
“Eva.” My voice was urgent but gentle. “We can’t take Marisol to the hospital. We couldn’t protect her against all the dragons in the jungle, and even if we got her to the hospital safely, the doctors probably won’t be there anymore. We raided a hospital a little while ago, and it was completely deserted. I doubt that anyone has stayed behind here, it’ll just be too dangerous.”
Dia translated, and Eva’s chin trembled as she accepted what I was saying.
“But it’s not hopeless,” I continued. “I know it seems like the dragon blood is an extreme step, but I know it’s the right one to take in this situation. Look.”
I pulled my phone out of my pocket and scrolled through my photos to find a picture of Sammy. I pulled up one of her that I’d taken on her last birthday when we’d driven hours to the beach. In the picture, the sun was in her eyes and her face was screwed up against the glare as she grinned at the camera. There were smears of white sunscreen lotion on her shoulders, and her sunglasses were pushed up on top of her head.
Sammy hated this picture because she thought she looked goofy, but it was probably one of my favorite pictures of her.
Now I showed it to Eva.
“This is my daughter, Sammy,” I told her. “I’m a parent, I understand what it’s like to want to keep Marisol safe. But I promise you that nothing bad will happen to Marisol. The dragon blood might seem strange, but I’ve seen the results with my own eyes, and I trust that this will help save your granddaughter’s life.”
Eva was silent for a long moment. Then she spoke.
“She says…” Dia hesitated. “She says, if your daughter was sick like Marisol, would you use dragon blood to save her?”
“Yes,” I said, and as I spoke the words I felt the truth of them. “Yes. I would.”
Eva searched my face with an intensity that made me feel as though she was trying to look inside the deepest parts of my soul.
But then she nodded, as though she had found what she had been searching for.
She spoke to Dia, and the younger woman’s face lit up with relief.
“She says she agrees,” Dia said. “She says she will stay here by the yacht and wait for us to come back, and then she will guide us to the village.”
Relief flooded through me.
“Thank you.” I pressed Eva’s hands. “Thank you for trusting us.”
Eva gave me a nod, and then she crossed herself.
“Right.” I looked around at the others. “What are we thinking?”
“I’m in.” Dia nodded with fervor, and the others did so, too.
“Ally?” I pushed.
“I’m in,” the redhead said with an affirmative nod. “It wouldn’t be my first choice, but you’re right. This is the best course of action to try and save that little girl’s life.”
“Okay.” I nodded. “Can you guys gather supplies for everything we might need? I’m going to try and get online and search the forums for information about what dragon parts would be best suited for us to bring back for Marisol.”
“Isn’t it just the blood?” Letty wrinkled her nose in disgust. “Have we got to bring other… bits… back as well?”
“Blood seems to be the most widely used bit,” I replied as I got out my phone and tried to get online again. “But I’ve seen videos of people eating eyeballs and wearing claws and intestines, so anything might be possible. Plus, if we’re going to kill a dragon for parts, I’d like to be as efficient as possible and not waste any parts of it that might be useful. If not for Marisol, then I’m sure there will be others in the village who might appreciate it.”
“That’s a really good idea,” Shannon said.
“When have you watched videos of people eating eyeballs?” Ally asked and pulled a face.
“Got to while away the long hours on deck somehow,” I said with a chuckle.
This time when I tried to get a connection, I managed to get online, and while the women hurried about gathering supplies, I scrolled through the forums and read what people were saying in their discussions about the best way to use dragon medicine.
There were a lot of posts about dragon hearts, and a very popular subject for debate was whether they should be eaten raw or cooked. Some people were adamant that cooking the heart destroyed all of the valuable nutrients that gave it its power, and by cooking it you were basically destroying its healing properties. The people on the other side of the debate insisted that cooking the heart was fine so long as it was done the right way, and there were a lot of sickening recipes for the best way to do just that.
Take the heart, one recipe read, and marinate it overnight in the dressing of your choice. My favorite is a teriyaki marinade. For this, you will need fresh ginger (cubed), sesame seeds, sesame oil, and ready-made teriyaki sauce (I like the Lee Kum Kee brand best). After marinating the heart overnight in the teriyaki sauce, fry it lightly in a pan with a tablespoon of sesame oil and the cubed ginger, then place in a baking tray, cover with foil, and put in the oven on a low heat for six hours. Then sprinkle with sesame seeds and more ginger. I like to use grated. Serve with some light salad greens. I tend to avoid vegetables like spinach with this recipe, as the heart will provide you with all the iron you need. Try cauliflower or sweetcorn instead for a contrasting flavor, or mangetout or pea sprouts for a healthy green side.
I used to think I liked teriyaki sauce, but after reading that post, I was ready to swear off it for life.
Blood did seem to be the most commonly used part of the dragon. A lot of people drank it, but some applied it topically, and one user, appropriately named TheBloodIsTheLife, recommended bathing in it.
You have to soak in a tub of it for at least half an hour to let it really work its way into your skin, they advised. You could also make a sugar scrub (one part white sugar, one part coconut oil, one part dragon blood) to help it absorb. If you’re really fussy about the smell of blood, you could probably add some lavender essential oil into the mix, but in my opinion the smell is an integral part of the experience.
I wasn’t sure how feasible it would be to fill a tub with dragon blood, or how Eva might feel about the gory sight of her granddaughter bathing in it.
I found a post from one person who said that they’d cured their diabetes through drinking the blood, and another post that said they’d just started taking regular doses to try and cure their leukemia.
Been drinking one tablespoon of it with every meal, they wrote. So far I have more energy, I feel better in myself, and I think my hair is even starting to grow back. It’s only been a week and I’m going to try a full course of doses for a month and see how I get on, but I’m feeling really positive about it!
It was easy to dismiss the forums as being full of weirdos who were wearing dragon claw necklaces as an alternative to Viagra and with the hope that it would also work as a penis enlargement, but every so often I would come across stories from people who were just trying to get better, or who were trying to find cures for their loved ones.
It was a strange feeling reading the posts and seeing in black and white exactly what an impact the dragons were having on the world. I’d gotten used to stories about the dangers and trials that the dragons brought with them, but even though I’d known about their healing properties for a while now, the positive stories still caught me off guard sometimes.
But seeing this post right then strengthened my resolve.
I knew what I was suggesting was pretty radical, and I wouldn’t have blamed Eva for rejecting our plan, but at the same time, I knew for sure that this was still our best option.
I’d be damned if I let that little girl suffer when I knew that it was within my power to save her.
The women came on deck. They were all carrying guns, spears, and knives, and Dia was carrying her rucksack as well.
“All good?” I asked as I slipped my phone back into my pocket.
“Yep.” Shannon nodded and gestured to Dia, who held out her rucksack for me to look inside.
The bag was full of everything we might need, including rope, a pair of pliers, one of Letty’s long carving knives carefully wrapped up in a hand towel to protect the blade, several water bottles, and a collection of Tupperware.
“I figured we didn’t know exactly what we might be bringing back, so best to cover all bases,” Shannon explained.
“It’s very noble of you to sacrifice your Tupperware,” I said to Letty.
“Well, technically it is Ally’s Tupperware.” Letty gave a wry smile. “But still, I ain’t going to pretend it’s not a sacrifice.”
“You’re a real saint,” Dia told her with a grin.
Letty rolled her eyes.
“Okay,” I said. “We’re all ready to go. So let’s go and do this.”
“Wait,” Shannon said. “What about taking the drone with us? It would be useful to scout out the area and pinpoint exactly where the dragons are so we can aim directly for them.”
“I thought about that,” I replied. “But that would mean that whoever is operating the drone won’t be able to fly it and use a weapon at the same time. We’d be one gun down, and we need all hands on deck for this.”
“You’re right.” Shannon nodded.
“We could do a quick scout around now, though,” Ally suggested. “Just to make sure that we’re not going to run into any surprises.”
“Good thinking,” I said. “It’ll have to be a very quick scout as we’re on a deadline here, but you’re right. It won’t hurt to do a quick sweep of the immediate area.”
Ally hurried below and brought back the drone. I set it up and did a fast but thorough search of the area around the yacht.
I couldn’t see anything that looked immediately dangerous. I spotted some broken-down trees, and for a heart-stopping moment I thought I’d stumbled across a new nest that I’d missed the first time around. But it turned out to be nothing more than a few palms that had been broken, and from the claw marks that scored the ground, and the fact that some of the surrounding trees were also scarred with claw marks, it looked more like it had been the scene of a fight rather than a nesting site.
I whizzed the drone back to the yacht, stored it away, and then we were ready to go.
We climbed down the side of the yacht and landed on the soft earth of the riverbank.
Eva had been standing by the very edge of the water. I think she’d been praying, but now she turned around and waved to us with a shaking hand.
“Vaya con dios,” she called.
“Go with God,” Dia translated, and then she crossed herself.
The gesture was so out of place with Dia’s normal demeanor that we all stared at her.
“What?” she said defensively. “If the big guy up there is watching us, I’m not going to turn down his help.”
“Once a Catholic…” Letty chuckled. “Don’t matter what the creed is, it’s hard to get the church out of a girl.”
“Are you religious?” Dia asked her as we headed away from the yacht and deeper into the forest.
I was conscious of the small, dwindling figure of Eva standing by the riverbank and watching us leave. The trees crowded in thickly all around us, and the air felt thick and heavy, like syrup. Tiny flies whined in front of my face. I waved my hand to clear them, but it was a pointless gesture and they only seemed to swarm about more intensely.
Letty was about to answer Dia when suddenly a dragon’s roar rang out and echoed around the trees.
We stopped without thinking, and we all looked at each other.
“Come on,” I said and gave them all an encouraging nod. “It’s nothing we haven’t faced before.”
“You’re right.” Shannon nodded back and continued forward. “We’ve got this.”
“So?” Dia asked Letty with an energy that could be mistaken for aggression if we didn’t all know each other well enough to read it as anxiety. “Religion?”
I chuckled quietly to myself. Only Dia would choose the most potentially controversial of topics for a hunting trip through the forest.
“Not really,” Letty answered. “When I stay with my aunty, I go to church on Sundays. And of course, Christmas and Easter. But I like to sleep in too much on a Sunday morning for it to be a regular thing. I’m more lazy than I am devout.”
