Tainted Tides

Chapter 5

*Dec's POV*

I woke up as the sun touched the horizon, still so tired that I could have slept through the night. I probably would have if it wasn't for my stomach; It rhumbled hard enough to practically rock the boat, waking me up in the process. It was quickly followed by a light chuckle reverberating through my pillow.

"Sorry Decs, nothing we can do about that for now... Just sit tight and try to sleep. I'll wake you up when I need to," Ant said, patting my shoulder in the process. With a gentle "hmm," I took his advice and tried to drift off with the gentle swaying of the boat.

I woke up hours later, in the early morning. The sun glimmered across the rippling sea as it rose above the horizon. If I hadn't been on a lifeboat with no food and water and with some lass instead, the view would have been romantic.

"About time you woke up, now come on. They're waiting." Anthony said with a light chuckle.

I stared at Anthony, trying to figure out if he had gone mad already. Surely it was too soon to go insane?! He noticed my questioning glare and removed his arm from around my shoulders before gesturing for me to turn around.

As I did, I saw a ship. A MASSIVE ship. Atleast twice as big as mine is!

Was...

Shaking the memories of the previous morning from my head, I re-focussed on the ship in front of me, trying to decide if I was hallucinating. As I inspected the image before me, my eyes caught on to the waving flag. A black flag... A pirate flag ... Fuck... I crunched my eyes closed, rubbing them, hoping that the mirage would disappear; hoping that I really was hallucinating. A pirate ship may be a worse outcome than starving to death on a lifeboat.

Anthony sighed beside me before he began rowing us towards the ship.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing Anthony?! That's a pirate ship! We're going to get murdered!" I yelled.

Anthony glared at me, "Do you have any better ideas? I'm not too keen on starving to death," he said as he continued rowing.

I stuttered, "As- As your captain..."

"You are not a captain Dec. You were a captain until yesterday when you got your ship sunk and your crew slaughtered, now shut up and row. Don't test my patience," he seethed. His acidic tone silenced me instantly and I saw a dangerous temper flaring within him, vaguely reminding me of the first night I had met him.

Not wanting to anger my saviour any more than I already had, I sulked silently in my seat and began rowing towards the pirate ship: towards my inevitable death.

We reached the back of the ship and climbed a rope ladder up to the deck, Ant cling ahead of me. Not a single person was seen along the rails of the deck, and I couldn't help wonder why.

Why were the pirates not shooting us on sight? We were essentially infiltrating their ship. What did Ant mean by 'they're waiting'?

We climbed up the back of the ship, and over the rail, putting us on the poop deck in front of two young boys. The one on the left looked to be around our age, had short black hair, a piercing blue eye, an eye patch, and an assortment of tattoos on his exposed arms. He wore a kind smirk, aimed at Ant.

"Welcome back Ant, I take it that was another failure then?" He said.

Ant glared at the boy, "Not in the mood Robbie. We're fucking starving."

Robbie turned to the boy on the right and gestured for him to get some food. "Thanks Stephen" he said. The younger boy with brown hair, blue eyes and a kind smile ran off, with an indescribable sound coming from the steps of his left foot.