Enemies At First

Death Awaits

"To those who prove worth, paradise awaits. For those who prove false, behold your grim fate." Those words slipped threw Ashley mouth as she read a sign. Her fingers skimmed the words that hung from a dead mans cage." Yeah, well I guess Avery was a better pirate than a poet." Replied Sam, who was looking around the old cave. "No wait, this isn't Avery's." Nathan said, pointing his flashlight at the sign. "He's right. Look." She she pointing at the sign. At the bottom was a sigil, but not Avery's sigil. It was an arm holding a sword. "It's the Rhode Island Pirate." Sam said inspecting the sigil. "Thomas Tew." Nathan continued for his brother. "Wait, so that means Tew was involved with all of this too? How?" Asked a confused Ash. Before anyone could answer, there was another explosion of dynamite. "That's a damn good question." Nathan replied before jotting down some notes in his journal. "So who do think these guys are?" She asked while looking at the hanging bodies. "Those who prove false, I guess." Sam replied. She sighed before continuing forward.

They found theirselves in another room, this time though, they were trapped. Nathan had stepped on a stone, which caused a rock to roll in front of the door way. "Well, we're not going back that way. Sam said disappointed. Ash chuckled and turned her attention to the new puzzle. This one had crosses with some sort of pulley system. She then noticed a skeleton in the corner. He was penetrated by spikes. "Found another switch." She said before walking over to it. She grabbed the dead bodies hand and pulled it out. The spikes retreated back into their rightful place as Ash relaxed. The mechanism turned and lowered a bucket. Nathan grabbed it and suggested they fill it with water. And be they, he meant himself. He did so, then handed it up to Sam who then set it back into place on the puzzle. Some shields dropped, revealing some wheels. Nathan turned them and just like, solved the puzzle. Ash, still by the lever, put her arm into the hole. "Wait!" Sam shouted, looking at her. He ran his fingers through his hair and continued, this time being more calm. "Are you sure the puzzles right?" Looking at Nathan, he nodded. "Worried about me Romeo?" She said with a smile. He chuckled. She then proceeded to pull the switch. Please work she desperately thought. Thankfully, it worked and the bucket of water spilled onto a gutter. It ran down and somehow made the stone door open. She sighed and took her arm out, now being able to relax.

Climbing wasn't Ashley's best feature. She never had been rock climbing before today, so it was a new experience. She jumped onto a ledge and pulled herself up. Taking a moment to relax, she watched the brother grapple across the cliffs. At they know what their doing. She thought watching Sam. He was amazing at what he did. Hell, he amazing at everything he did. Which only made Ashley fall in love with him even more. "Your turn doll." Sam shouted from the other side. She grabbed her grappling hook and lined up with its desired landing. She threw it and thankfully rapped around the wood. "Here goes nothing." She whispered to herself, she then leaped of the cliff. She swung her body towards the brothers before letting go. But she let go way to quickly and missed the edge. Sam caught her hand and pulled her up. "That was close." He said, still holding her hand. "Ya, thanks." She replied with gratitude, trying to catch her breath. He helped her up and they began on their journey once more.

They had almost made it to the surface, when they heard Nadine talking. Her and Rafe had a 'nice' conversation. They continued and talked about what Nadine and Rafe discussed.

After a few more close calls, and almost falling to death, they finally made it to another room. This one was completely, empty except for a table with a weight balancer. One side had a golden cross, the other had coins. Before Sam could grab the cross, Nathan stopped him. "What?" Sam said confused. "Look at it." He continued. Ashley stepped closer so she could inspect it. "It's the only valuable thing we've seen in this cave. This is another test." She said, realizing why Nate stopped his brother. "Greed." Sam said. "It's gotta be the coins." Nate said before hovering his flashlight over the currency. Another explosion erupted above them. "Hope your right." Sam said before hesitantly picking up a single coin. Some torches lit and so did a light on the ceiling. It showed a map of Madagascar below their feet. Ashley looked below her feet and noticed she was standing on a blue dot. "Look, there's a star right here." She pointed out, looking at the map once more. Sam and Nate walked over to her and analyzed it. "That's King's Bay." Sam poured out to their attention. "Son of a bitch. He's screwing with us." Sam said while flipping the the coin. "What do you mean." Ask both Nate and Ashley. "Avery. He's screwing with us. The treasure was supposed to be here. Now King's Bay? Where to next?" He said frustrated. Ash considered what he was saying. Sam was right, the treasure was supposed to be here. Now we're going to Madagascar and who knows if it's there? But why would Avery put down all these clues, just to lead to some treasure? Then it hit her. "Wait a minute." She said with a sudden realization. "Avery was recruiting." She continued. "What? Recruiting for what?" Sam asked, skeptical. Before she could answer, an explosion went off beside them and Nadine walked up to them. "You people are very noisy." She said before telling us to put down our weapons. "Ashley, it's nice to see you again." Nadine said walking up to her. "Wish I could say the same." Ash's voice full of sarcasm. Nadine laughed and suddenly head butted her. Ashley winced and took a step back, putting a hand up to her now bleeding nose. "Shit!" She said in pain. "That's for killing half of my army and shooting me." She said before walking back towards her men. Nadine then phoned Rafe and told him she found us. Ashley looked at the cracked ground. Nathan had the same idea and she nudged Sam. "King's Bay." Nadine said while walking towards the star. "You'll need that cross and us if you want to know where in King's Bay." Samuel said while putting his arm around Ashley's waist, supporting her."I'm not here to negotiate. Grab the cross." Nadine said before motioning towards it. The three of them started to slowly back up and Nadine quickly noticed why. "Wait!" She yelled, looking at the guard. It was to late and the floor started to give way. The guard with the cross fell and Nadine almost followed the same fate but she quickly jumped to the ledge. Another shoot out took place, as they all made their way out. Sully phoned Nathan and said he too was getting shot at. "Sully, you need to get us the out of here." Nate frantically. "I'll get there as soon as I can, hold tight." Sully replied. More mercenaries had came and shot at us, again. Damn! These guys don't give up, do they! Ashley thought while shooting.

The only way they could reach was by swimming. When Ashley heard this, her heart dropped. She didn't know how to swim because she hated the water. Once when she was little, her family went on a boat into the sea. She and James were messing around that resulted in her falling into the water. She almost drowned before her father saves her. Because of that incident, she scared of the ocean. Just the thought of her head going under sent chills down her back. And now she was expected to swim to Sully. I'll just have to find another way she thought. If I can.

As they neared the water, Ashley could feel her heart in her throat. The anticipation was making her sick and she desperately wished there would be another way. She ran around the corner saw Sam dive into the water. "Hurry Ash!" He yelled as he began to swim. She started to shake, not knowing what do. She looked to right and saw a pathway. She looked at Sam with pleading eyes. "I can't!" She yelled and took after the path. "Wait!" He yelled. She ran and didn't look back. She just couldn't do it. As much as she wanted to, she just.....can't. She soon ran out room and found herself at the edge of a cliff with nowhere to go. Suddenly, a wave of gunfire shot at her. She turned to see at least 10 mean running towards her. One them had an RPG and shot at her. Thankfully he missed, but instead of hitting her, it hit the cliff. The ground underneath her started to crumble. There's no backing out of now, Ash she thought to herself. The cliff gave way and she plummeted into the freezing water. Falling from such high up had caused her to lose her breath. She sunk down, starting to lose consciousness. A wave of darkness over took her as she closed her eyes, ready for death.