Pirate Hunters

“Captain, we’re under attack!” John tries to shout, but the high winds make it hard for his captain to hear. Nonetheless he could see it with his own eyes, and feel the rumbling of the ship as he braced himself for impact. He quickly regained his posture, and turned towards John.

“Where is it coming from?” The captain roared, making his way to the other side of his ship. John has his telescope out, and is pointing towards the east.

“That ship! That ship there, just coming on the horizon!” John bellows, as he hands the captain his telescope.

“Oh god” the captain grumbles, quickly trying to formulate an action plan in his head. They had been in this position before, several times. Last time was a close call, but they managed. The captain vaguely wonder if they can get lucky again.

“Do you think it’s other pirates?” John asks, and the captain, Trevor, slowly shakes his head.

“No.. it’s worse” he gulps, and John’s eyes go wide. After months of evading capture, it seemed they were found. They were hunters; pirate hunters, to be exact. John and Trevor had quite the bounty on their heads; whichever hunters managed to get a hold of them were in for quite the payday. “We have to return fire- get the canon ready!” He instructs, and John obeys immediately.

Trevor took the time to head over to the opposite side of the ship, to ensure the boat they had just seen was the only one around them. They had been ambushed before; but that seemed like a lifetime ago. Mistakes were made, but never again; he would not fall victim to the same fate.

The boat shook once more, both John and Trevor losing their balance, falling to the ground in shock.

“We’ve been hit!” John yells, though there’s no need; they can both feel what has happened. The ship gained water on them, as it seemed they had stopped moving. “Captain, we’re not moving!” He tries to budge the wheel to steer the ship but it’s stuck.

“Quickly- grab the weapons! They’re coming in close enough range to shoot!” Trevor yells, heading below deck and grabbing the two rifles. He quickly throws one to John, who grabs it easily and turns towards the attacking ship.

“I can see three hunters from here!” John shouts, referring to the pirate hunters that were currently attacking them.

“Quickly, we must act fast!” Trevor replies, ducking so the enemy ship is unable to get a good shot away. A blast of a cannon fills the sky, and both John and Trevor fall over once more.

He doesn’t even have time to react. By the time he gets up, steadies himself and looks around, he sees John, eyes wide, hand over his shoulder; he’s been hit.

“Captain, I’ve been hit!” He even sounds so professional still, though he’s wounded.

“Oh, god” Trevor drops his rifle, forgetting the enemy attacking them and heading over towards his first mate. “Just hold on buddy- we’ll get you through this” he tells him, putting pressure on the wound.

“I’m- I’m not sure I’m going to make it” John is gasping for air, struggling to breathe. Trevor shakes his head; he refuses to accept it. John can’t die; this can’t be the way this ends.

“Just hang on” Trevor murmurs quietly, picking up his rifle and firing three shots towards the ship. He doesn’t take aim, he just fires. He hopes to catch a break, but mostly he’s angry. He shoots because he’s angry, and won’t accept what’s about to happen.

“Captain...” John trails off, his eyes fluttering shut.

“John!” Trevor abandons his weapon once more, reaches out to John, who’s eyes are fluttering open and shut.

“Tell... my mom... I love her” he manages to squeak out, before closing his eyes.

“You can tell me yourself!”

The sound of her voice cuts through the fantasy like a knife. From what was once a ship on the sea, under attack by enemy boat, was now just a regular old boat, parked in the driveway, still on its trailer. Trevor looks up to see his mother standing there, an amused grin on her face.

“Mom!” Trevor whines, annoyed their mother had interrupted the fantasy. “We were busy!” He exclaims, and she can’t help but chuckle. John opens his eyes and lets out a sigh, taking his water gun and chucking it to the side.

“Yeah, we were busy!” John defends, though in the fantasy he was dead.

“Not too busy for supper now, are you?” Their mother asks, and of course the answer is no; when were they too busy for food?

“No, I guess not” John pouts, sad their game was ruined. Their dad had just taken the boat out of storage, and was cleaning it before finally it would be put into the water for another season. While it was on land, however, the two brothers often enjoyed indulging in a game they liked to call “pirate hunters”.

They were pirates, being hunted down by elite pirate hunters. They looted gold chests and travelled the great blue seas, like all pirates did, trying to evade capture from the evil pirate hunters.

Both brothers preferred to play the game just the two of them, but sometimes their younger sister would be forced upon them. She often served as the enemy, after all, what are big brothers for?

The brothers hop off the boat, looking at it once more through the eyes of the Captain and his First Mate.

“Maybe next time, we’ll get that boat on the horizon” Trevor looks to his younger brother who nods.

“Maybe next time you won’t let me die” he quips, earning him a smack from his eldest sibling.

“We’ll see” Trevor laughs, and just like the boat on the horizon housing pirate hunters, they disappear from the light.