Apocalyptic Pirates 3 -- Chapter 1

The sun shone brightly on the water as I handed the man his one gallon jug freshly filled with fuel. He passed me half a bottle of lighter fluid, an unopened bottle of ibuprofen, and some benadryl tablets in return.

It wasn’t much of a trade, but it was him that needed the goods, not us. We had a good amount of fuel, but not enough to get us where we were going even if we held onto every last drop. And that being the case, I couldn’t bring myself to not help someone in need.

And this guy was definitely in need.

He looked like he hadn’t showered since the dragons took over. His skin had a layer of grime on it, his dark, scraggly hair was greasy as all hell, and his clothes were even dirtier than his body.

But he was kind, and he’d asked for a trade so politely that I couldn’t say no even if I wanted to. The women wouldn’t let me.

When he’d first flagged us down there was a moment of tension, as there always was when someone stopped us. But apparently word had gotten out that we were the ship to go to for fuel, so people had stopped us left and right on our way down to Miami.

And now that we’d arrived, it hadn’t let up.

It was usually small vessels with one or two people, sometimes entire families. And even though we were well supplied, I knew we had to do something to help our fellow survivors. So if all they had to trade was some lighter fluid and over the counter medicine, then that’s what we were going to get for the day.

About a week ago I’d told someone that we didn’t need any more blankets, and Letty, Shannon, and Ally had all glared at me so hard that I was certain my head was about to explode. They then proceeded to give the blanket back to the woman, and give her the fuel, though they did make her promise not to tell anybody else about it.

If they were in charge we’d be out of fuel in no time, but that was part of the reason I loved them. They had kind hearts, and they were willing to give even when supplies were limited.

Still, I couldn’t say much. I was just as guilty as they were.

We’d recently done a trade with a woman who had a large gash on her arm. She’d traded some clothes for pain meds, but I’d thrown in some antibiotics as well. I didn’t feel right sending her off without them knowing she’d probably die from an infection. And my team was fine at the moment, so we didn’t need them.

She’d nearly refused to take them citing that the trade wasn’t enough, but I insisted, and eventually she left with both the pain meds and antibiotics.

And even with how kind we’d been in our trades, we’d still managed to get a few really good things out of it. So far we’d accumulated a small collection of hunting and fishing knives, some large nets designed for ocean sweeping, a bottle of Scotchgard, a hammer, tiny screwdriver set, and a full fledged ax. But I think the best trade we’d made was a five gallon bucket of fuel for a cell phone operated drone.

The man hadn’t needed it since he didn’t have power to charge it and he wasn’t planning on heading to shore anytime soon, and I thought it was well worth the five gallons of fuel. A drone could really come in handy at a time like this when dragons roamed the Earth and ate whoever came into their line of sight.

“You be safe now, ya hear?” Letty said as the man thanked us and pushed off in his small fishing boat.

Her beautiful dark skin reflected the yellow glow of the sun in the most mesmerizing way, and her long black hair swayed with the movement of her exaggerated wave.

“Thank you,” he hollered and waved, and in that moment I was happy he was already a good few yards away.

“Aw, he was nice,” Letty said as she turned to me with a wide smile.

“You say that about everyone,” Shannon chuckled as she walked over to us with a couple bottles of water in hand. “Here, you’ve been out on deck for a while. I thought you might want something to drink.”

Shannon had dark skin, too, but it was a different tone than Letty’s. Her Indian heritage had provided her with gorgeously ever tanned skin, dark mysterious eyes, and long, silky hair that I could run my fingers through all day long.

“Thanks,” I said as I took the water, popped it open, and guzzled half of it in one go.

“Whoa,” Shannon chuckled. “You really were thirsty.”

“Always,” I joked. “How are things coming in the cockpit?”

“You know how Ally is.” Shannon smiled and shrugged. “She’s got everything planned out either way. Now she’s just waiting to see what you think.”

“Well, let’s go talk it out,” I said, and I led Letty and Shannon down the small stairs and into the cockpit where Ally was currently bent over a map splayed out on the floor.

The redhead looked up and smiled, and I couldn’t help but notice how her button up shirt fell open to reveal her lacy black bra. Her green eyes shimmered playfully when she caught me staring, but she simply smirked and pointed to the map.

“We’re here,” she said.

“Alright,” I agreed as I took a seat on the floor next to her. “We’re here. So what’s the dilemma?”

“We can either go left and go through The Bahamas,” she explained as she trailed her finger along the map. “Or we can go right and go past The Keys and around Havana to get through The Panama Canal. Either way will get us there, but we want to take the least populated route, right?”

“I think so.” I nodded and thought about what I’d seen on deck earlier. “I flew the drone around a bit earlier, and between that and what Letty and I saw on deck this morning, I’d say that we should go by The Keys. What do you think, Letty?”

“I think that sounds right,” she agreed. “We definitely saw more people toward The Bahamas this morning.”

“That makes sense,” Shannon said. “Everyone is fleeing that direction to try and get away from the dragons and the Coast Guard.”

“Right.” I nodded. “Which means if we head through The Keys, we’ll probably have less people to deal with.”

“We might have more dragons depending on how close we get to the keys,” Letty pointed out.

“We’ll maintain our distance,” I said.

“Okay,” Ally said with a clap. “Then it’s decided. We’ll pass by The Keys, head down around Havana and through the tip of Cuba and Cancun, and into the Caribbean Sea. From there all we have to do is make sure that we don’t get too close to any land or islands until we make it to Panama so we can go through the canal.”

“I don’t like the idea of being stuck between Mexico and Cuba,” Shannon said, and she pursed her lips. “Being stuck between any two pieces of land seems a bit off putting right now.”

“I know,” Ally agreed. “But either way we went we’d have that same dilemma. And there’s enough ocean to go around, we won’t have to get close to land unless we want to.”

“Alright,” Shannon sighed, but it was quickly followed by a smile. “Then let’s get it done.”

“What’s our estimated time for arrival in Panama?” I asked Ally.

“It’s going to be at least five days,” the redhead said. “Give or take.”

“Sounds good,” I said.

I wasn’t worried about supplies, so I didn’t see any other reason to worry, either. No matter what trouble we ran into, I knew we’d be able to handle ourselves. And once we were away from the United States, I suspected there would be a lot less Coast Guard ships around. So far they’d been the worst part of our journey, so if we could avoid them it would be smooth sailing as far as I was concerned.

“Key Largo here we come,” Ally said as she got up and walked over to the ship controls.

“Key Largo, Montego,” Letty sang with a grin. “Baby why don’t we go down to–”

“Kokomo!” Shannon joined in.

“We’ll get there fast and then we’ll take it slow,” the two sang together. “That’s where we wanna gooooooo, way down to Kokomo.”

“How many times are you two going to sing that?” Ally groaned.

“As many times as you say Key Largo,” Shannon chuckled.

“Or Montego,” Letty chimed in. “Jamaica, Aruba, Bermuda, Bahamas… I mean, if you say any of those then we’ll probably start singing.”

“Can you blame them?” I laughed. “It’s a classic.”

“Don’t you start,” the redhead warned with a stern look.

“I’m just saying that it wouldn’t be so bad if we get there fast,” I teased. “Then we can–”

“Take it slooowww,” Letty and Shannon joined in.

“Out!” Ally shouted and pointed to the stairs without looking away from the controls. “Get out of my cockpit.”

“That’s not what you said last night,” I teased, but I was met with a death glare, so I spun around and hurried up the stairs with Letty and Shannon.

The three of us laughed as we got out to the deck and took a look around. There were a few boats in the distance, but they were on the side of The Bahamas, and slowly our yacht shifted to head to the right.

“I’ll go rustle us up some breakfast,” Letty said. “Be right back.”

“She’s so cute,” Shannon laughed.

“I heard that!” Letty called as she disappeared down the hatch and into the living quarters.

“Good!” Shannon shouted. “It was a compliment!”

“Alright,” Ally said as she climbed out of the cockpit to join us on deck. “The course is set for Key Largo.”

“You didn’t want to set it for Havana or something?” Shannon asked. “Wouldn’t that make more sense?”

“I think what would make the most sense was if you trusted your Captain,” Ally said with a raised red eyebrow.

“Rawr,” Shannon fired back with a playful look. “Who pissed in your Wheaties this morning?”

“What did you just say?” Ally laughed as her face contorted with both amusement and confusion.

“You’ve never heard that before?” I asked.

“I can’t say I have,” the redhead answered.

“Eh, it doesn’t really surprise me.” Shannon shrugged and turned to elbow me jokingly. “Rich girls, am I right?”

“Oh, please.” Ally rolled her green eyes. “You can’t tell me that I don’t know that expression because I grew up wealthy.”

“You know they’re extra rich when they say wealthy,” Shannon said.

“Hey!” Ally scoffed.

“She’s not wrong,” I chuckled. “About either. That was a phrase my dad used to say to me growing up.”

“Mine too,” Shannon agreed.

“But I’m guessing your father never said that.” I smiled at Ally.

She pursed her lips and looked away. Then she mumbled something about him being a “very dignified man despite his upbringing.”

“What are y’all talkin’ about?” Letty asked as she joined us with a tray of food and drinks.

“Just some crazy expression,” Ally said, and she reached for the tray. “Here, let me help.”

“I take that to mean she doesn’t want to talk about it,” Letty said with a smirk as Ally turned and walked away.

“She gets embarrassed when we bring up how rich she was,” Shannon stage whispered.

“I can hear you, you know!” Ally growled.

“Yeah, I know,” Shannon laughed.

We all gathered on the small blanket as Ally set out the food Letty had prepared. There were packaged oysters with hot sauce and crackers, some dried fruit, and some drink mixes to choose from.

“Thank you, Letty,” Ally said as she passed everyone a water bottle. “This looks great.”

“I do what I can with what we got.” Letty smiled and shrugged humbly.

“I love oysters and hot sauce,” I noted as I assembled one and popped the cracker into my mouth.

“Me too,” Letty sighed. “Though I miss havin’ fresh ones.”

“Maybe we can catch some with the dredging net we have,” Ally suggested.

“We could try.” Letty nodded. “If there’s one thing for sure, the ocean life and wild populations of stuff are going to rebuild without humans around.”

“Um, I think you’re forgetting to allot for the dragons,” Shannon laughed.

“Oh.” Letty frowned. “Yeah, you’re probably right. You think they’re eating cows and stuff?”

“I think they’re gonna eat whatever they can find,” the Indian woman sighed.

“Well, maybe the wildlife populations aren’t going to get any better, but the ocean life probably will,” Ally pointed out. “Even with as many people as there are on the water, they’re not going to do nearly as much damage as the commercial fishing industry did.”

“Hm, I guess that’s true,” Letty agreed. “We may be able to find some oysters after all.”

“Who do you think would win in a fight between a dragon and a bear?” Shannon asked, and she squinted as she looked off thoughtfully in the distance.

“What kind of question is that?” Ally laughed.

“It’s a good one, I think,” I chimed in. “But I need more details. What kind of bear, and how big of a dragon?”

“Medium sized dragon,” Shannon answered right away. “And a grizzly.”

“Oooh.” I pushed my lips to the side. “That’s a tough one.”

“Is it?” Ally narrowed her green eyes on me. “We’ve seen dragons take over entire Coast Guard ships. You don’t think they could kill a bear?”

“Bears have teeth and claws,” I pointed out. “And one on one might be a little different. If the dragon doesn’t get the jump on him, I think the bear has a fighting chance. I’m not saying he’ll win, but I think he’ll do some damage at the very least.”

“That’s what I was thinking.” Shannon nodded.

“What about a polar bear?” Letty asked, and she leaned back and nodded. “I bet a polar bear could win. Them things are reallllllly strong.”

“Oh, yes, you’re totally right,” Shannon agreed with a fervent nod.

“You all are absolutely ridiculous,” Ally chuckled and shook her head.

“We’re just having some fun.” I smiled. “You should join in every now and then.”

“Excuse you,” Ally scoffed. “I’m fun.”

“Sure.” I nodded and forced a smile while Shannon and Letty looked away and tried to seem occupied by how blue the sky was.

“You don’t think I’m fun?” Ally pouted.

“I wouldn’t say fun, no,” Letty said, and Ally’s face fell. “Buuuuut, you’re really pretty. That’s gotta count for somethin’, right?”

“Mhmm.” Shannon nodded. “Very pretty.”

“Thanks for reverting feminism by fifty years,” Ally said dryly.

“Fairly certain feminism means nothing in a world overrun by dragons,” Shannon said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re a man or woman, all that matters is if you survived or not.”

“Huh.” Ally cocked her head to the side and actually looked impressed. “I hadn’t considered that.”

“See, all the world needed was a global catastrophe to fix the wage gap,” Letty laughed.

“Yes, that’s exactly it,” Ally chuckled.

Suddenly, my phone vibrated in my pocket, and I pulled it out and swiped right as quickly as I could.

We had the satellite phone for backup, but by some miracle my cell phone was still working. I figured it was probably because nobody was at Verizon to turn it off for non payment.

Either way, I was just happy it was still on.

As soon as my thumb hit the right side of my phone, Sam’s face appeared on the screen.

My beautiful blue eyed daughter smiled and greeted me with a sweet “Hi, daddy.”

“Hi, baby,” I said. “Where’s grandma and grandpa?”

“Where do you think?” she asked, and suddenly the phone was turned to the right and then to the left to show my mom and dad hovered over her.

“Hey, Mom,” I chuckled. “Hey, Dad.”

“Hey, kid,” my dad greeted me. “How ya doin’ out there?”

“We’re on our way,” I said. “Just past the tip of Florida.”

“That far already?” my mom’s eyes widened. “Well, you’ll be here in no time.”

“That’s the plan.” I smiled.

“Are you going by The Bahamas or by The Keys?” Sam asked.

“She’s been mapping out your whole journey,” my mom said with a proud smile.

“Grandma,” Sam groaned softly and pulled away when my mom stroked her cheek.

“I know, I know, I’m sorry.” Mom turned to the camera. “She doesn’t like me making a big deal of how smart she is.”

“Yeah, that must be it,” I joked. “And we’re going by The Keys, Sammy girl. It was the least populated route.”

“Good choice,” my dad said.

“Oh, that means you’ll pass right by that hospital your father had to stay in when we went on vacation back in 2005 and he broke his leg, remember that, Bill?” mom asked.

“How could I forget?” my dad joked. “I’m the one who broke my leg.”

“Oh, what was the name of that hospital.” My mom pursed her lips for a moment and then gasped as she recalled. “Baptist Health Fisherman’s Hospital.”

“Huh.” I nodded as if I cared about the name of the hospital.

“I only remember so well because I nearly took him to a turtle hospital,” she laughed.

“Wait, what?” Letty chuckled, and all the women scooted closer so they could see.

“Oh, hi girls!” my mom greeted them with a friendly smile and wave. “Good to see you.”

“What happened with the turtle hospital, Mrs. Peeltin?” Ally asked.

“Oh, well it wasn’t all that crazy,” my mom chuckled. “But when Bill broke his leg I had to search for the nearest hospital, and the one that came up was Turtle Hospital. I thought it was just a cute name, but when the people arrived to take him I told them we needed to get to Turtle Hospital and they gave me the funniest look. Turns out it’s actually a marine life hospital for turtles.”

“It’s not as funny of a story as she likes to think it is,” my dad teased.

“Oh, you hush, Bill.” My mom reached over and swatted my dad’s shoulder.

“So, how are things there with you all?” I asked. “Everything going alright?”

“Of course, dear,” my mom answered before anyone could. “We’ve got everything under control here. We even had some sprouts in our garden today.”

“Oh, you did?” I asked.

“Mhm.” Sammy smiled and nodded. “Just a few, but it’s still exciting.”

“You all are doing great,” Letty said. “Gettin’ the sprouts is half the battle!”

“Well, we can’t wait til your here to help us!” my mom laughed.

“It won’t be too long now,” I said.

“Yes, well just keep us updated,” mom said.

“I will,” I assured her.

“You all are alright on food and everything like that?” my dad asked.

“We’re just fine, dad.” I nodded.

“Yeah, don’t worry, Bill,” Shannon said. “We’ve got everything under control here.”

“I’m sure you do, Shannon,” my dad laughed. “You seem tough. Can’t to get your dad over here once everything gets settled.”

“Are we just moving everyone to the island now?” I joked.

“Well, I don’t see why not.” My mom shrugged. “It seems like the safest place around, doesn’t it?”

“She’s got a point,” Shannon agreed.

“Yes.” Ally nodded. “Islands are humanities best bet right now.”

“See?” my mom smirked. “They agree.”

“Yeah, yeah,” I chuckled. “And Sammy girl, how are you doin’?”

“I’m good.” Sam smiled. “Just counting down the days til you’re here.”

“It’ll be sooner than you think,” I told her, and it was a promise I intended to keep.

“I know,” she said. “Thanks, Daddy.”

“Well, we best let you all get going,” my mom said. “We know you’re busy out there on the water. Just be sure to give us a call tomorrow, alright?”

“I will,” I said playfully. “If you give me the chance.”

“Well, what am I supposed to do, wait all day?” she scoffed.

“You’re five hours behind us,” I chuckled. “You must have just woken up.”

“That’s not true,” she said. “We had breakfast before we called.”

“Right.” I smiled and shook my head.

“Just be safe, Drew-boo,” my mom said, and I groaned inwardly at her use of my childhood nickname.

“We will, mom,” I said.

“Bye Mrs. Peeltin!” Letty called. “Bye Mr. Peeltin, bye Sammy!”

“Yes, bye everyone!” Ally added.

“See you all tomorrow!” Shannon chimed in.

“Love you all,” I said, and I waved and hit the end button on the phone.

“Your parents are so cute,” Ally noted with a smile. “I love how they tease each other.”

“Me, too,” Letty said, but it was quickly followed by a cough.

“Are you alright?” I asked.

“I’m fine,” she assured us. “I think it’s just the smoke in the air.”

“Yeah, it did get a bit smokey, didn’t it?” I asked as I stood up and looked around.

“Well, there’s usually smoke every now and then,” Ally noted.

“But that’s a lot,” Shannon said, and she pointed to the right.

“Is that… Key Largo?” Ally asked as she walked over to the edge of the dock.

“That’s gotta be it,” I said as the boat drifted closer to the island and we watched the smoke billow up into the sky.

“It’s on fire,” Letty gasped.

And all of it was. The whole damn island was up in flames.