Seabound

Chapter 2: Fool

Tears spilled over my cheeks, confusion and terror overwhelming me in a dreadful vertigo. From my crumpled position on the shore I watched, wide-eyed, as iron met wood in a splintering explosion. The angry and agonized screams from the ship decks were barely drowned out by the sonic blast of the cannon fire, it was like a terrible symphony. The cannon fire was the symbols, the shattering wood the tympanies, and the ships creaking and wailing the stringed instruments calling out in their tortured tones. The very sands seemed to tremble with the horror of the scene, and in my moment of fear, I froze, too hypnotized with the destruction to turn away.
What on earth was going on?! I demanded inwardly, Where am I?
"Look out!" A strangely familiar voice shouted not far from me. Turning I saw a young man, clad in tan breeches and a loose brown shirt, with rich dark brown hair, face contorted with a look of desperation. I saw him race across the burning sands and catch a small child up in his arms, just before the sand where the boy had been erupted with the impact of bullets. The man glared back up the shoreline and as I followed his enraged stare I saw men in red and white uniforms, boasting wooden rifles, running down the beach in sloppy formation. My mind may have been whirling in a hurricane but I knew well enough that they were soldiers, and I also knew that they were the ones to fire at the boy, who could've been no older that five years old. Amidst the storm of emotions and thoughts inside me, strangely enough, the most predominant one turned out to be anger, anger at those men for endangering that boy. He had blonde hair and pale skin, bearing a heart-aching resemblance to my younger brother. Rising to my knees, my heart rose to my throat as the man raced up the shore, towards me, holding the child to his chest so that the bullets wouldn't hit him. When he wasn't even twenty feet from me, the man finally seemed to notice me, just as pain spread across his face, his body lurching forward and toppling to the hot sand.
I stared, ears ringing and limbs heavy with fear.
Get up... I begged him silently. They're coming...You have to get up!
The boy crawled out from under the man, tears tracing clear lines down his dirt-covered face, his sobs reaching me in startling clarity.
No! He's going to get shot!
Without knowing where the strength came from, I willed myself to move. Heart racing in my chest as loud as the gunshots and cannon fire, I scrambled over to them, scooping the boy up into my arms and ducked away as another spray of bullets landed nearby. He clutched to the thin white fabric of my nightgown, and I held him as though he were my life. I ran back to the edge of the beach, and lowered the boy into the tall grass. He stared at me with tear filled brown eyes, his lower lip trembling.
"Hide here," I told him, mustering up a reassuring smile. "When it's safe, run to your mother."
"Get him!" A sharp, rough voice barked. Turning I saw one of the redcoats kick the man, who had managed to get on his hands and knees, back down to the ground.
What I did next, no one will ever know why I acted as I did, for it was beyond reason and all logic. I should've stayed in the grass with the scared boy, should've hid and let them do with the stranger what they would. It was none of my business, none of my concern. But when the young man, who now that he was closer to me, I could see he was barely older than myself, locked eyes with me, I couldn't move. His eyes were a deep dark blue, fathomless, and cold.
  Running over I grabbed the red coated man's rifle and wrenched it from his arms. His shocked and enraged expression quickly went slack as I brought the butt of the weapon to his head, gasping as he fell limp to the ground. A bullet grazed my arm as I took aim, crouching down next to the stranger. I swallowed, praying that my aim was still as good as it was when my dad had taken me to the range last month. His voice echoed in my mind.
Remember Renee, He had said, A gun isn't a toy, when you aim it, be sure that you are prepared to accept whatever happens once you fire. My dad was a police officer, and an excellent marksman, gladly it seemed I had inherited that same talent.
I fired, my first shot landing a foot off where I had planned it to go. The recoil throbbed in my shoulder, making me wince. What was that?! I knew my aim was better than that!
That's the problem with old guns.I thought, then shook my head, aiming again. This time the bullet found it's mark, burying itself into the shoulder of the closest soldier. He fell, grasping at him wound, colliding with his comrade and pushing him to the ground too. Taking the chance I glanced down at the man next to me, gasping at the amount of red staining the back of his shirt. He was looking up at me, eyes dull with the loss of blood.
With the soldiers busy trying to get their injured out of the way, I dropped the rifle to do the same. Tearing a wide strip from the bottom of my borrowed nightgown, I wadded it up and pressed it to his shoulder, wincing as he grunted in pain.
  "Try to slow your breathing," I instructed, my voice calmer than I felt. "It'll help slow the bleeding." Still holding the cloth to his wound, I pulled his good arm over my shoulders and heaved him upwards and dragged him towards the grass. He coughed and crimson spotted the sand under our feet. "Don't worry," I grunted, "I'm going to help you."
Even though I have no idea what's going on or where I am, but heck, if I had any amount of my parents in me, I wasn't about to let this man die for saving a child.
"Who...are you?" His voice was deep and raspy, slurred and quiet. I hauled him into the grass and set him down.
"My name's Ren." I told him quietly, eyes scanning for the redcoats. "Try not to talk-"
Pain exploded in the back of my skull as dots swam in my vision, I collapsed to the ground with a gasp. While I slowly lost consciousness, I heard the muffled gloating of a man behind me, then gunshots and angry shouts of many people. And lastly, before my sight and mind faded into darkness, the stranger's voice whisper my name.
"Ren."