Rising Tides | 2doc | Gorillaz siren!AU

2: Isolation

I woke up, with no memory of where I was. This... Wasn't the ship. It had to be around noon, seeing as how the sun was placed in the sky. Was I still at the cove? Wasn't that all an elaborate dream? I must had nodded off despite my plans to stay on guard, which was a sure way of getting myself maimed by the siren. Unless of course my near-death insanity made up the ungodly creature and I truly was here alone.

I felt a pounding pain throughout my whole body. My mind told me it was all a figment of my twisted imagination, but everything else told me otherwise.

I felt all of my injuries, confirming that they were all indeed real. I lightly lifted my shirt, checking for the deep marks the chains would have left. Satan's power, they were still there.
I lightly brushed my fingers across the bruise, seething at the sudden pain. I could feel the tears prick my eyes in reaction to the sharp pain. The chains must have really dug deep, as they left dark purple marks all down my sides and into my chest and back. I wouldn't be the slightest bit surprised if any of my ribs were broken. Hell, I'd be more surprised if they weren't.

I stretched my arms, hoping to relieve a bit of the soreness. I winced and a shooting pain rocketed down my arms and sides. Seeing as this was a terrible idea, I quickly retreated my arms back to their previous position.
I rotated my head from side to side with the assistance of my hands to pop a few uncomfortable joints into place, letting my hands graze my neck. I was still real but... Something felt odd. I panicked, rushing to the water's close reflection to inspect what was wrong with me.
It was then that I noticed for the first time that I had slits across each side of my neck. I reached my hand up, frantically bristling my fingers across each one, shivering slightly. They were strangely sensitive, and tickled at the lightest touch.
"What the fuck?" I muttered under my breath.
The siren must have given me gills. God knows for what reason. Why would it spare my life?
Perhaps this was just a strange state where my body was releasing chemicals before it ends it all. It all had to be a hullucination. Or perhaps it was just a strange vivid dream. That's what it felt like, at least, besides of course the reverberating soreness throughout my bones. But yet no matter how hard I tried to wake up, (and I tried all of the sodding little tricks like pinching my arm, and splashing myself with water and the sort), I was still in this strange state. Maybe I was somehow between conciousness and unconciousness. But this couldn't be real. How could I have gills?

I shook my head and splashed the water dismissively, passing the thought off. It didn't matter now.

My stomach growled madly, and it hit me that I was stranded with no food on demand. I actually had to work for it. Bloody fantastic. I was used to fishing, but often we had food luxuriously stacked high on our ship so that we would never have to feel the discomfort of hunger. Fine bread, delicacies from every corner of the world, and the best of the day's catch were piled high above our noses, so fending for food was never quite a problem. Not to mention all kinds of wines and rums.
Dear Satan, rum... boy, could I go for some.
Unfortunately such a thing would not be obtainable (and my body was feeling the consequences of a sudden withdrawal) , so I opted to fill my stomach with the closest resource.

I brushed myself off and navigated the cove, puting my knowledge of fishing to practice. The fish were small and wouldn't be substantial to my growling starvation at all unless I somehow caught many of them at a time, but I had no net to do so. I then remembered that the gills would allow me to go under long enough for me to catch deeper fish, but there was no way I'd risk going into the water after what had happened. I didn't even want to look at it, but I was constantly surrounded by it. I had turned myself from what I once loved so dearly, but she wouldn't let go of me, hugging me tightly in her toxic presence.

I had been spending all day, wandering mindlessly, finding a good spot for fish (which, of course, there was none in my little exploration). The sun was slowly creeping it's way across the sky.
It must had been many hours later when my search on the sand lead me back to the front of the cove, where strangely a stack of fish had awaited me. They were significantly larger than the ones around the shore and I don't recall seeing such fish anywhere near here. It still wasn't very good fish, but at least they were edible and much more substantial than the tiny fish that swarmed the cove. Not to mention, these fish looked massive. Certainly enough to pass off my barking stomach.
Still, it was strange to see such a convenient stack, but I had no hesitation in taking it.