A Pirate's Life for Me

Chapter 11 Marooned

Elizabeth strode after Jack, Annalise trailing behind her sister, as Jack walked amongst the trees, knocking on a few of the palm trees randomly.

"But you were marooned on this island before, weren't you?" Elizabeth insisted as she walked determinedly after Jack. "So we can escape in the same way you did then."

Jack finally whirled on the blonde woman, asking irritably: "To what point and purpose, young missy? The Black Pearl is gone," he gestured to the sea, "and unless you have a rudder and a lot of sails hidden in that bodice."

He gestured at Elizabeth's night gown, which was still sticking very close to her body from the sea water, and he went on pointedly: "Unlikely. Young Mr. Turner will be dead long before you can reach him."

He turned back to his task, and Annalise watched him, puzzled, as he knocked on another tree trunk before taking four large steps and starting to jump up and down a few times on the ground.

'What is he doing?' Annalise wondered, while Elizabeth, unwilling to give up, continued to plead as she followed Jack: "But you're Captain Jack Sparrow . You vanished from under the eyes of seven agents of the East India Company. You sacked Nassau Port without even firing a shot."

She grabbed Jack's arm, forcing him to look at her as she demanded quietly: Are you the pirate my sister and I have read about or not?"

Jack hesitated, glancing from Elizabeth to Annalise as though weighing Elizabeth's last statement. Annalise stepped up with her sister, and she asked Jack softly: "Jack. How did you escape last time? And don't say sea turtles."

He pursed his lips at her before he finally snapped at them: "Last time... I was here a grand total of three days, all right?"

Both Annalise and Elizabeth frowned, while Jack turned to the ground as he continued: "Last time," he opened a hidden cellar door where he'd been jumping earlier to both sisters' surprise, "the rumrunners used this island as a cache."

He walked down into the secret cellar as he went on: "Came by, and I was able to barter a passage off. From the looks of things," he poked around the dusty cellar, "they've long been out of business. Probably," he grunted, "have your bloody friend Norrington to thank for that."

He climbed out with three bottles of rum in his hands, while Annalise and Elizabeth stared at him in utter disbelief and, particularly Elizabeth, disappointment.

"So that's it then?" Elizabeth asked, despairing and upset. "That's the secret grand adventure of the infamous Jack Sparrow?"

Annalise meanwhile said incredulously: "You spent three days, lying on a beach... drinking rum?"

He glanced at her, his dark eyes unreadable, before he shrugged as he opened his arms wide.

"Welcome to the Caribbean, loves." He answered, before thrusting a bottle of rum into first Annalise and then Elizabeth's arms.

Both sisters looked down at the bottles in distaste, while Jack walked off towards the beach to resume his old habits. Annalise sighed, disappointment clouding her, as she looked up, only to see a gleam enter Elizabeth's eyes. The blonde looked at her sister, her face brightening as she had an idea.

"No." Annalise said before Elizabeth could even open her mouth.

"You don't know what I was going to say!" Elizabeth protested, and Annalise sighed.

"You were going to ask me to help you get Jack so drunk that he passes out, then build a signal with all the rum, shade, and possible food sources on this island in order to get rescued by the Navy, and then go after Will." Annalise listed, and Elizabeth stared at her sister.