Take Me Forever (17 page)

After a while, fatigue overcame him.
 
Cain slept until morning and when he awoke,
he was still clutching the torn piece of fabric.
 
Cain reached under his pillow and retrieved
the red scarf Mercy had given to him.
 
He
tied it around his neck and vowed to never take it off.

It was exactly one week before the encounter of the
Devil’s Dilemma
and the
Satan’s Curse.
 
Mercy was still shackled in the damp, dark
brig.
 
She lapsed in and out of
consciousness many times.
 
She lost track
of how long she had been aboard the
Satan’s
Curse.

Every time someone came into the brig to bring her food or
water, Mercy feared for the worst.
 
She
knew that at any time one of the crewmen was going to rape or kill her.
 
Death would be a welcome experience now that
she had nothing to live for.
 
Cain, her
only reason for living, was gone.

As tears streamed down her dirty cheeks, she mourned for her
husband.
 
Cain warned her on his
departure that he might not return home alive.
 
She couldn’t believe that his revenge ended in his death.
 
While she was mourning, Mercy didn’t hear
Hawkins enter the brig.
 

 
 
“Don’t worry ye pretty head.
 
He ain’t worth it.
 
I am ten times the man he was,” Hawkins said
as he approached Mercy.

“You’ll never be half the man he was,” Mercy sobbed.

“I’ll show ye a man,” Hawkins said as he fondled her exposed
flesh.

“No!”
 
Mercy screamed.

Hawkins bowed his head over her exposed breast and began to
nip at her nipple.
 
With her hands
shackled high above her head and her feet stretched apart and shackled to the
wall, Mercy was helpless.
 
She cursed and
spat on him as he ravaged her body with his mouth and hands.
 
Just as Hawkins was about to remove his
trousers, he took a step back and stared at her.

“No, I don’t think I want ye after all.
 
I wouldn’t want to touch Corbin’s filth.
 
Instead, I’ll let me crew have you and once
they’re done, I’ll run me blade across your throat and throw ye overboard so
the sharks can have ye flesh.
 
Until
tonight,” Hawkins said as he started to leave the brig.

“You heartless swine!”

As Hawkins laughed at her outburst, he came back to her and
slapped her.
 
Then just for spite, he
dipped his head and bit her nipple until it started to bleed.
 
She cried out in pain, but her cries could
not be heard over his laughter.
 
He was
still laughing as he climbed the stairs out of the brig.

After Hawkins left, Mercy was bound and determined to free
herself even if she had to break a bone to do it.
 
She had been working at freeing her right
hand ever since she had been shackled.
 
For an hour, Mercy tried to free her hand.
 
She ripped her skin as she pulled.
 
Blood drained down her arm and she almost
passed out from the pain.
 
She willed
herself to keep going.
 
She rested for a
few minutes then with made one big attempt to free herself.

Drawing every ounce of strength she had, Mercy closed her
eyes and jerked arm.
 
Pain swept
throughout her body, but she had done it.
 
Her right arm was free.
 
Now she
had to find a way to get out of the other three shackles.

She glanced around the area to see if she could now reach
something that might help her.
 
She saw a
small dagger that Hawkins had left on the table.
 
She stretched her body as far as she could
and reached for the dagger.
 
She could
barely grab the tip of the blade.
 
Her
frustration began to build.
 
All she had
to do was reach a little more.
 
Finally,
she was able to grab the dagger.
 
Quickly, she pried the other shackles until she was free.
 
She devoured the food and water on the table
to replenish her strength.
 

Quietly, Mercy crept to the stairs.
 
It was dusky dark and she knew it wouldn’t be
long before Hawkins returned for her.
 
With the dagger out in front of her, Mercy cautiously climbed the
steps.
 
She crouched down when she
reached the last step.
 
She peered out
onto the deck and saw no movement.
 
She
listened for voices and heard nothing close to her.
 
It seemed the coast was clear.
 
She raced to the edge of the ship, grabbed a
buoy, and jumped overboard.

Once she surfaced, Mercy gasped for air.
 
She watched the ship as it sailed away
without her.
 
She hadn’t thought about
how she would survive in the open ocean when she had jumped overboard.
 
She had rather die from drowning than by the
hands of Hawkins or his crew.
 
She would
drown herself if she was about to be attacked by sharks.
 
She floated in the water awaiting her fate.

Luckily, there were no sharks nearby.
 
In the moonlight, Mercy could barely make out
land in the distance.
 
She swam and swam
until her arms and legs cramped up.
 
She
paused and let her body rest before swimming again.
 
It took her until nearly daybreak to reach
the sandy shores of an island.

Mercy collapsed on the beach the moment she was on
land.
 
It was midday when she
revived.
 
She tried to stand, but her
legs gave out on her along with everything else.
 
The long swim had taken its toll on her.
 
She crawled up the shore until she found a
tree to shelter her from the sun.

She immediately fell into a deep slumber for a few more
hours.
 
She was awakened by her stomach
grumbling.
 
The tree she had rested under
happened to be a coconut tree.
 
There
were two coconuts lying on the ground near her.
 
She smashed them together until one of them burst open.
 
She used a rock to scrape pieces of coconut
out of the shell.
 
She devoured the one
she cracked then used the rock to open the other.
 
Once her stomach was full, she looked around
and tried to figure out where she was.
 
There was obviously no sign of life or someone would have found her by
now.
 

It wouldn’t be long until dark so she forced herself up and
searched for wood to make a fire.
 
She
found a long stick to help her walk.
 
She
combed the beach for driftwood before going inward into the jungle-like area to
gather small twigs.
 
After a few unsuccessful
attempts, Mercy finally got a spark by rubbing two of the sticks together like
she had seen Cain’s men do when they made camp.
 
She blew lightly on the smoke until she saw an orange glow.
 
With a roaring fire, Mercy curled up beside
it and went to sleep.

She was awakened by bright sunlight.
 
After eating more coconuts, Mercy decided
to
   
explore her new surroundings.
 
She took the dagger and her walking stick and
began walking inland.
 
As she walked, she
marked her path by making an “x” on the trees with the dagger so wouldn’t lose
her way.
 
The foliage was similar to that
on Corbin’s Crow.
 
There were trees and
vines everywhere along with fragrant flowers.
 
She found a small stream, but the water was undrinkable but she thought
it might lead her so she began to follow it.

Along the trail, the stream widened.
 
She had to cut her way through the thickened
forest to follow the flowing water.
 
Once
she was through the underbrush, her path became easier as it turned into
tropical flowers instead of thick vines.
 
Soon, Mercy found a hot spring.
 
Steam rolled over the rocks.
 
She
dipped her foot into the water and found it to be so refreshing.

Thinking this would soothe her aching muscles, Mercy
couldn’t resist the temptation as she discarded what little clothing she had
on.
 
She used her stick to measure the
depth and found the hot spring to be about four feet deep and two feet in the
shallowest end.
 
She slowly stepped into
the water and let out a big sigh of relief as the hot water covered her entire
body.

She relaxed in the shallow end until the heat began too
much.
 
She climbed out of the water and
sat on a rock beside it while she examined her surroundings.
 
She needed to find shelter and something to
use for clothing as her shift was now nothing but a torn piece of rag.
 
It seemed she was completely alone on this
island so she didn’t bother trying to put the torn shift back on.
 
She spied some banana trees nearby and thought
she might be able to use the leaves to cover herself.
 

Mercy gathered as many small vines as she could carry as she
made her way to the banana trees.
 
First,
she picked a bunch of bananas and ate her fill.
 
Then, she used the dagger and cut some leaves.
 
She sat perplexed as she tried to figure out
how to use what she had for clothing.
 
Several attempts at making something suitable failed then it hit
her.
 
She took the small ends of all the
leaves and piled them on top of one another.
 
Then, she took the dagger and made a hole through all the leaves big
enough to place a vine through.
 
She
wrapped a vine around her waist and used it like a belt.
 

Once she established the correct measurement, she cut the
vine and began assembling the leaves onto it.
 
It took four leaves to span the vine’s width.
 
She stood up and wrapped the concoction
around her.
 
The leaves nearly dragged
the ground, so she took the dagger and shorten her new skirt.

After making a pointed design out of the leaves, Mercy tied
the skirt around her and admired her handiwork.
 
Her skirt came just above her knees so she could maneuver easier. She
used the leftover leaves and made a sack to store her goods in.
 
Now all she had to do was find something to
cover her breasts.
 
She got an idea when
she spied a coconut tree.

Moments later, Mercy stood at the base of the tree.
 
There were no coconuts on the ground.
 
Her stick was not long enough to reach
any.
 
She hit her stick against the tree
trunk to try and shake some loose.
 
Finally, she was successful.
 
Four
coconuts hit the ground and only one of them burst open.
 

She used the dagger and carved away all the insides of the
opened one.
 
She placed the contents into
her bag beside her bananas then measured the empty hulls up to her
breasts.
 
The shells wouldn’t cover her
completely but it would have to do for now.
 
She made holes in each of them and strung vines through them until she
had a makeshift top.
 
She tied one vine
around her neck and one around her back to keep it in place.
 
She gathered some orange flowers and tied
them to the vines so the vines wouldn’t chafe her skin.
 

Knowing she must look ridiculous, Mercy didn’t care.
 
She was alone after all.
 
As the sun began to sink in the sky, Mercy
knew she didn’t have much time to find shelter for the night.
 
She gathered up her belongings and made her
way back to the shore where she had left the wood she had gathered the previous
night.

When she built a fire, she settled down next to it and ate
two bananas before drifting off to an exhausted sleep.
 
She awoke early the next morning and decided
to try to find drinkable water today.
 
She could not survive on coconut milk as it was a natural laxative.
 
This time she set off in a different
direction on the island.
 
She came across
another stream and decided to test it to see if it was drinkable.
 
She cupped her hands and dipped them into the
small stream.
 
At first, she took a small
taste.
 
Realizing it wasn’t salty, she
drank her fill.
 
This water had to be coming
from a different source than the ocean so decided she needed to find shelter
somewhere close to her new water source.

She kept walking along the stream until she found a nice
size clearing with some bent trees that would make a good cover for a shelter
if she could find something to top it with.
 
She covered it over with as many branches and large leaves she could find
and crawled inside.
 
It wasn’t much but
at least it might keep her dry if it rained.
 
When she finished her shelter she sat down to rest and the pungent smell
of oranges filled the air.