The Ink Infection [Brief hold and Editing]

Chapter 3

"L-let me g-go!" I shouted, gasping for air.

He started to raise me off the ground. I started kicking the air frantically. I knew I was running out of air, and fast. Who is this man? Did I board the wrong boat? My mind panicked as I ran through my current options.

One: Try to wake Cody and Clove to help me. Unless they are on the same side as this sailor. Two: Try to fight him. The only choice that was the safest was the hard way. I grabbed the sailor's arm with both of my arms and swung my legs, gathering momentum. The sailor looked at me, his eyebrows furrowed, tightening his grip on my throat. It's now or never, I thought. I brought my legs up and hit the sailor with all my might on his chest. Bullseye. He staggered backwards, loosening his grip. With all my strength, I wrenched free of his grip and gasped for air. I was soon tackled from behind as the sailor regained his stance.

"Cody! Clove! Wake up!" I yelled, slamming into the deck. The sailor grabbed me by my hair and dragged me up onto my knees. I looked at him, his eyes full of frenzy. What has gotten into him? A body slammed against the sailor, and I was partially dragged along when rough hands held me from behind.

"Don't worry, I got you," said a voice. I turned around expecting Cody, but the figure was a boy a little bit older than me, with white hair peeking out from his blue hoodie, and his blue eyes looked at me, inspecting me thoroughly.

"I'm Jack. Are you okay? I was supposed to help this sailor get you and your friends to TEA. Unfortunately, this sailor went berserk," he said, holding a hand up to me. I took it gratefully, putting my other hand on my throat. Geez, it hurt.

"Thanks. Thought I was dead meat." I told him. "I'm Neil, by the way," I added, giving a quick glance at the unconscious sailor.

"Don't worry about the sailor, Neil. I'll notify the officer, and hopefully, you won't have to see him again." Jack said, looking over at him.

I walked up to the sailor, noticing that he was breathing heavily.

"I would stay back if I were you," warned Jack. But something felt off. The sailor was doing fine right before I went to sleep. I examined the sailor closer and found an object sticking out from his leg. A pen?

"Check this out, Jack!" I called him. He hurried over to me and looked at the leg.

"What's a pen doing there?" He asked me.

"I-I don't know. I just saw it. I-I didn't realize until n-now." I stammered, quite confused.

Jack pulled the pen out and put the cap back on. "I'll put this somewhere safe." And with that, he threw the pen overboard.

"I don't think that's a... uh... a safe place," I commented, looking over the edge of the boat.

"Well, the sea's a great place to get rid of stuff 'cuz nobody's gonna look for it," Jack replied. "Anyways, let's get you back to your new school. They're waiting for you. Plus, we're only a few nautical miles away.

"What's going on?" yawned a sleepy Cody.

"Uhh, nothing. Just the sailor going crazy." I replied, "And Jack here is redirecting us to reach our destination."

"Oh, okay, wake us up when we arrive," said Cody, stretching his back.

"Alright. We're almost there, though. Hang tight!" I chuckled. I went over to Jack, where he was steering the boat around. "You are from TEA, right?" I asked, looking at his strong arms turning the wheel.

"Yeah, and don't worry about fitting in. I'll take you guys in," he replied.

"In? Fitting?" I questioned him.