(Part-1) "The Second Chance"

Butch and Carrie had looked forward to their cruise. It was the first time they'd really gone anywhere since the kids were much younger. Marco their oldest son had joined the ARMY after high school, he'd been out of the house for two years. Susan the youngest of the children had just left home going to school at North Carolina State.
As the two of them boarded the incrediblely large ship, it was bigger than either one of them thought it'd be. They checked in and were assigned a cabin. The word cabin made it sound small but, like the ship it was much bigger than they imagined it to be. Butch packed his Viagra for when the time got right. He still found Carrie attractive, he didn't know why he had trouble getting the job done between the sheets.
When they got to cabin 123, Butch wondered how many rooms the entire ship had. The size of the room shocked him. He'd thought they'd be around the size of a hotel room, they were twice that size. The two of them made small talk while they unpacked their belongings. Carrie put a very provocative negligee in the drawer, she too intended on that trip getting sexual.
"I wonder if we'll feel the ship move when we take off" Carrie asked.
"I imagine we will, unless we go down to the cocktail bar and have a few drinks. Butch wanted to go down to the bar. He knew the liquor made Carrie horny.
"That sounds like a wonderful idea." Carrie wanted to have a good time, she wanted to take advantage of everything the ship had to offer.
The bar wasn't very full when they entered, then the other patrons arrived as the ship left the dock. It still wasn't overly packed, as many of the people wanted to watch it pull away. Butch was drinking Manhattans, while Carrie was drinking margaritas. They acknowledged the moment they thought the large vessel pulled away from land. Neither of them really knew if they were right about the time of departure. Carrie while going to the bathroom took a look outside, the sun was setting over the ocean making a post card type scene. She wished at that moment she hadn't left the camera in the room.
She returned to the bar telling Butch what she'd seen. She even showed him a photo she took with her cell phone, Butch couldn't really understand the true beauty without having seen it himself.
"You can't really see it good but, that dot right there is the large building at the dock." Carrie said holding the phone for Butch to see.
"Well finish your drink and lets go up there." Butch wanted to look around.
As the two of them walked around the large ship they met the Williams', who were also walking the ship. The two couples met when they were standing in the bow of the ship.
"Someone would be lost if they fell in." Carrie said to Butch.
"Yes, they'd be gone if they fell over the edge. It happened about ten years ago, small boy fell over the railing, and he wasn't found. Very sad story, my name is Mike by the way." The man extended his hand.
"It's nice to meet you, my name is Carrie and, this is my husband Butch." Mike shook their hands.
"This is my wife Karen." She gave a friendly wave.
"We've been taking this cruise every year for fifteen years now. Is this your first time?" Mike asked them.
"Yes, finally both of our children moved out and, we decided we needed to celebrate a new life, rather than to continue to be sad that they moved on." Butch answered.
The two couples joined each other for a drink in the ball room. There was a jazz band playing on the stage. Butch and Mike went up to the top to have a cigarette.
"So what kind of work are you in Butch?" Mike was making useful conversation, almost everything Mike did was for a purpose.
"I'm a high school teacher, I teach 10th grade literature classes." Butch turned the same question onto him.
"How about yourself, what do you do?"
"I'm retired NAVY, I just work around the house these days, but when I first got out of the service I volunteered with the local fire department. These worn out legs won't allow me to do much anymore."
The two men stood there talking, just getting to know each other. The faint smell of marijuana came from the direction of some teens standing twenty feet away. The noise coming from them is what finally ran the two men back into the ball room. Where another round of drinks were waiting, they continued to drink past midnight. Butch had long been high on the booze, he teetered on being completely drunk.
"It's getting late, we're fixing to retire for the night." Butch said to his newly found friends.
"Well it's been a pleasure talking with you two, perhaps we'll see you tomorrow." Mike said to them as they got up from the table.
"I'm sure we will." Butch replied, then walked away with his wife.
When Butch got to the room he fell back onto the bed, he felt totally exhausted and the drinking made him feel even more tired than usual. Carrie went to the bathroom, where she filled the tub with water for a warm bath before bed.

(Part-2) "Captain something isn't right."

The sun was coming up over the open horizon, when something in the clam sea smashed into the cruise ship. Butch felt the ship rocking, as things tumbled around, he'd never felt an earthquake but, he imagined it was similar to what he felt. Susan woke up to the violent shaking of the vessel.
"What was that?" She asked with a very sleepy voice.
"I don't know but, I'm going to find out." Butch assured her, as he slid his pants on.
Butch ran down the corridor to the stairs, where he went up to the top to look around. When he turned the corner there was a man running shout hysterically,
"We've hit something, there's a hole in the side of the ship." The man ran past him, where Butch went to the railing to look.
When he looked down the side as far as he could see, there wasn't any damage. Off in the distance through the haze over the water, there was what looked like a fleet of sailboats. He went around to the other side where people gathered looking at the damage. He stuck his head over the railing to have a look. There was another ship that had collided with the cruise ship. It wasn't a big ocean liner like the cruise ship, but it was a big vessel. Butch could see the other ship sinking in the water and, he knew the cruise ship was probably sinking too.
Butch ran back to tell his wife they'd hit another ship. As he got to the stair case the ships were still off into the distance but, there were smaller ones closer.
"Carrie you have to get up, another ship hit this one." Butch's voice woke her instantly
"There's something wrong with the ship?" She got up quickly.
"Yes, we might be sinking but, there are three ships coming toward us. I'm sure there are more on the way. Come on hurry and, lets go see." Butch encouraged her to move quicker.

When they run to the top of the stairs, people were running by them in a panic. Within moments of coming out of their cabin, gunfire began on the opposite side of the ship. The sounds of screaming sent chills down Butch's spine. He tried to wrap his mind around reasons there would be shooting on the ship. Quickly he pulled his wife back down the stairs.
"I don't think those boats are here to help us, I think they're pirates." Butch explained.
"Pirates?" Carrie thought pirates were just in storybooks, she honestly had no idea they were real. Right then things came together in her mind, the real fear of the situation set in.
"If we jump off this boat, we'll never make it to shore. Listen Carrie, go lock yourself in the bathroom. If you don't hear from me in ten minutes, get that lifesaver hanging over the door and jump off this ship like the others." Carrie didn't like the thought of jumping into the water for her life, twenty years ago sure but, not at fifty-eight.
Butch ran up the stairs knowing he didn't have time to waste. In ten minutes Carrie would be jumping off the side of the ship. He needed to find out exactly what was going on, then get back in a hurry. Being careful not to be seen he peeked around corners, swiftly moving around the ship deck. Crouched down behind the wall, Butch looked down the aisle looking toward dead bodies and the pirates that killed them, from a rope on the side of the ship more were coming aboard. The ship beside the cruise liner had gunman and spotters, allowing the pirates to get on the deck. When they saw someone they'd shoot them down.
Butch backed away from the railing not wanting to be spotted. Knowing they'd be killed if they stayed on the cruise ship, Butch ran back to get Carrie out of the bathroom. When he turned the corner to go down the stairs, the gunfire began to ring out again. He ran down the hallway toward his room, people were coming out of their cabins. He could have warned them of the dangers above but, he wanted to go unnoticed. He knew it was just a matter of time before the pirates came looking in the cabins.

Butch entered the room knocking on the door to Carrie know it was time to come out. He told her to call Susan, and he'd try to get hold of Marco. Before dialing the cell phone he pushed a large shelf into the floor, at least temporarily keeping the pirates out. His nervous hand dialed the number, Butch knew he probably wouldn't get Marco in the middle of the day.
"This is Marco, leave me a message at the tone. {Beep}
Carrie was able to get Susan on the phone, she didn't exactly know how to tell her the trip meant to be pleasure was now life threatening. She knew the call needed to be quick, by this time she understood quite well the dangers they might soon face. The time spent locked in the bathroom had supplied her with plenty of horrible images.
"Susan this is mom. We've seem to have run into a little trouble, and I just want you to know whatever might happen, that your father and I love you very much."
"No I don't have time to explain right now. I love you - Bye! {Click}
Butch really didn't like talking to answering machines, it made him feel stupid, somewhat like talking to yourself in his opinion.
"Marco it's dad. We've seem to have ran into a little trouble on our trip and, I don't know how things might end up. I want you to know son, that I'm proud of you. Every time I think of the man you've become, it makes me feel a level of satisfaction nobody could understand. I hope we see you soon, but if this is it I've enjoyed raising you and Susan." {Click}

Both of them questioned whether the calls made anything better, although It pained them to think of not hearing their children's voices again. Maybe it was selfish but, they truly felt they needed it. Perhaps it was for motivation to live, or because they knew there was no way they'd end this trip alive.
Butch knew he needed to find some things, weapon, life saving equipment, and perhaps someone with a better plan than he had. He looked around the room noticing there was nothing he could really use. Except the headboard of the bed, that king size flat headboard, perfect flotation device. His mind was working quickly.
He shoved the mattresses off the bed, just enough to break away the headboard with his foot. After breaking it off the frame, he slammed it into the floor, flattening the sharp edges.
"I'm going to throw this headboard into the water, we'll jump in then grab it. Maybe we can get away." The fear was easy to sense in Butch's voice. He knew there were no guarantees with his simple plan.

(Part-3) "Life and Death"

When the door opened the two of them ran by people also trying to exit or, get inside their cabins. There were plenty who didn't even has ha half ass plan like Butch's. At least the headboard was more than they'd thought of. Fear can make some people clam up in a tough situation. Butch didn't want to die, nor did he want to lose his wife.
Neither of them noticed the screaming in the corridor anymore, it had become so common. Butch shielded Carrie with the headboard, she might have been knocked down in the stampeded. They had no idea their were pirates already down in the cabin area they were assigned, they never knew as the climbed the stairs. There were was blood all over the floor, where the pirates had just brutally sliced the patrons of the ship.
The upper deck of the ship was mostly cleared of people, the pirates had killed them. They were in the cabin area, some were killing the innocent people, others were stealing their things. They took money, jewelry, and in some cases they just took the entire lady. They'd take them back to the ship where they'd rape them repeatedly before killing them. Then just throw them overboard to be eaten by the sharks.

The headboard hit the water, neither of them wanted to jump. They did know it was probably the only way they'd survive. They both made the leap into the water, they plunged down into the depths of the sea, where they traveled trough the warm water like a rocket, into the colder water deep below.
They'd gone deeper than expected, finding the floating headboard wasn't easy either, they'd gone so deep just getting back to the surface was a challenge. When the got hold of the headboard they used their feet as paddles to get away from the large vessel. Soon the ocean current was moving them, the ship was getting smaller, although still too large for their comfort. Having done all they could do, they just had to hope to survive.
The heat was burning them, Butch thought it might be cooking them from the inside out. Carrie hadn't complained in what seemed like forever, if they'd had a way of knowing, it was only about an hour. They'd been happy as the vessel was no longer, that turned into second guessing of their decision as they floated in the ocean all day. They were losing strength but, both had an overwhelming desire to survive. Maybe it was the phone calls to the children, or maybe they thought God would meet them half way if they kept trying.
When the sun went down there was a second wind, although they we're both very hungry. More so they both desperately needed something to drink. It was painfully obvious that they wouldn't survive another day. They honestly wondered if they'd make it through the night. Neither of them knew what all might be out there ready to make a meal out of them. They remembered the movie Jaws and, knew they were lucky that a shark hadn't eaten them.

Butch being the taller of the two felt the shallow earth below him first. Before he could react to his feet hitting the sand, the headboard crashed into the rocks surrounding the island.
"We've hit land. Oh my god Carrie we've hit dry land." She was slow to respond but, soon lifted her head to have a look. Both of them struggled to get out of the water, there strength had been depleted in the nineteen hours they floated on the headboard.
Upon getting to dry land, Butch spotted a boat beached up on the sandy bank. He didn't want to leave Carrie, yet he knew their survival depended possibly depended on what he might find. Where the strength came from to climb aboard the beached ship was almost all Butch could find. When he did get on the vessel named 'The Sunflower', he noticed there was blood all over the small ship. The crew had been murdered, though as he walked throughout the ship he didn't see the bodies. He did manage to find crackers, pickles and some fresh water, on what had been a depleted ship.
Butch took the supplies he'd found back over to where Carrie sat in the shade. They devoured the crackers and, pickles. The remote setting left them no indication of where they were. When they got something on their stomach, as well as getting some rest, the two of them set out to explore their surroundings. The found another ship wrecked on the shore. When they went inside the vessel there was again blood all over the walls and floor, it looked like the passengers were slaughtered. Just like on the previous ship Butch climbed aboard, the blood didn't look fresh.
It was unclear whether or not they were alone, there were places where a fired had been burned. Butch hoped the island was a place the teenagers hung out, a place they could party with complete exclusion. Carrie appreciated the beauty of the tropical landscape, considering the circumstances she was still afraid. They had walked across the entire length of the island, before they noticed an area near the shore that seemed to be inhibited by people. It was cleared out of trees, there were small huts built from random parts of ships. There was a pit in the middle of the community of shelter on the shore front.
It was a clever setup, Butch looked around realizing whoever took the time to build the place up must be stranded here. Carrie picked up a canvas, where she uncovered piles of human bones. She screamed as she fell back into the sand.
"Oh my God, there are human skeletons under that tarp." She was crying, holding back the urge to puke, she continuously began swallowing her saliva.

Part 4 "Surviving the Cannibals"

Carrie saw the ship pulling toward the island, it didn't look like big cruise ship they been on, still it was massive, the sails made it look even bigger. "Look there's a ship." Butch saw it coming toward them.
It wasn't close enough for him to guess what kind of ship it was. Something inside didn't seem right, Butch knew they needed to take advantage of having not been seen, they needed to see who was on that boat. There was a good chance it could be the pirates, following and tracking like animals.
They ducked into the underbrush as the noises from the vessel entered range of their ears. There was shouting, and screaming. Carrie knew it wasn't the help she thought it might have been at first. Butch began to feel the fear inside him, he didn't know what might happen to the two of them. His mind was running through different possibilities with the speed of a computer.
The anchors hit the water, followed by hostages from the sea, being thrown off the side of the ship. Gunfire rang through the island, when a hostage tried to go around the vessel, they were shot by gunman on the deck.
"Oh my God...They're shooting them." Carrie winced in a crying motion. Butch heard what she said as well as he'd heard the shots fired.
"Dammit, they had us out gunned on the ship, and now they have the same advantage on land." Butch was speaking his frustrations out loud.

Butch had convinced Carrie they needed to hide better, then when the sun went down they crept down toward the makeshift huts to have a look. Butch told Carrie to stay back so he could quietly get closer. Between two trees he could see them locking up the hostages in the huts, others were tied to trees, or whatever.
Some of them had women thrown on the ground, raping them. Butch knew Carrie could hear the screams. Over beside the pit, Butch could see the pirates were cooking humans. They were going to toy with them, fuck the females, before filling their stomachs with them.
"They're cannibals, those hostages are food." Butch didn't like telling her that, it was however what the two of them were up against.
They both moved through the brush to get a look at another angle. From a small hill they had a good view of the hostages that were tied up to some large trees. They were being untied to fight pirates wearing armor, they were freed only to fight the barbaric pirates, the obvious warriors of the group. Although they seemed to be acting sporadically but, Butch noticed everyone was systematically doing their own thing.
When the hostages wouldn't fight the barbarians, they were just beaten to death. Another set of pirates would pull the corpse away, preparing it to be eaten. It was the most brutal act of torture that a person could imagine.
"Kumo wai" The barbarian said, just before he lopped the head off of a beaten hostage. Butch could see the blood by the light of the various fires around the camp site.
Butch and Carrie saw a girl escape the pirate, she ran into the bushes, where the pirate pulled his pants up, then ran after her. Butch noticed none of the others saw what had happened. One pirate in the woods, Butch thought he might be able to save the girl, or at least kill the single pirate with a surprise attack.
The pirate caught her in the woods, where he pulled down his pants. He again started raping the female. Butch from the side smashed the pirate with a large rock. The pirate tumbled off the top of her, then he crushed the head of the badly bleeding pirate.
Butch took the hand of the completely naked girl. She was afraid, and shaking but, she took the hand of the man who just saved her. He took her over to Carrie, still feeling the adrenaline from killing that pirate.
"Are you sure he's dead?" Carrie asked.
Butch knew the pirate was dead but, he didn't want to say that. He tore through the clothing of the rapist pirate, he only recovered a knife as far as weapons. The three of them hid near the wrecked ships on the east side of the island. They wanted to wait out the sunlight, where they thought the pirates might again take off to sea.

The Cuban mercenaries moved closer to the island. The lights were turned off and, the motor wasn't running. The cannibals didn't see them, neither Butch or Carrie. They'd taken refuge inside one of the abandoned ships on the east side of the island. Butch was using the newly found knife to cut an old sail to wrap around the rescued girl, her name was Sam. Carrie thought she might be going into shock, that's when Butch realized he could cut that old sail.
As the two of them tended to Sam, they heard gunfire across the island where the cannibals were. Butch thought maybe they take target practice, they'd used the hostages for hand to hand training. Carrie thought it might be their way of saying here we come. Now we're going to hunt you down, kill you and then make a meal of it.
Butch began to realize how precious ammunition must be to pirates, it's not like they went to the store and bought bullets. That's why they take practice hand to hand. Then he knew they were shooting at something, not just target practice.
"You stay here with Sam, I've got to see who their shooting at." Carrie looked at him like he was insane, she knew had it not been for her husband, she'd have long been killed.
"Look remember when I told you lock yourself in the bathroom, back before we knew what was happening. You trusted me, and I really need you to trust me now." Carrie had trusted him, that was before she knew what was going on. With everything that had happened, she now had a new level of fear that wasn't there then. This was a bigger leap in faith but, she was taking it.

Butch was afraid of leaving his wife alone, his mind raced as he ran through the island growth. He began get winded, yet he pushed with survival on his mind. When he got to where he could see what was happening, he realized they were shooting it out with someone off the shore side. With the knife he'd obtained he freed the tied up hostages.
"Oh my god Mike you're alive. Where is your wife...Karen?" Butch had wondered what might have happened to the Williams.
"They killed Karen, the killed her back at the cruise ship." The sadness overwhelmed Mike as he again started crying. He'd cried many times since seeing his wife get her throat cut wide open, then tossed into the ocean, food for the sea life.
Butch saw another boat coming in behind the first one. The spotlight was on with it's beam on the first boat. The mercenaries were moving inland, shooting the pirates dead as they came out of the water. Butch ran back to Carrie, finally he thought they'd be rescued. The freed hostages stayed together on the backside of the woods line. The sounds of gunfire echoed through the trees, as the shooting continued behind Butch.
"Carrie, come out. There are mercenaries killing the pirates, we have a way out." Carrie exited the shipwreck banked in the sand. Holding Sam the three of them moved toward safety.

When they arrived back at the campsite, the shooting had stopped. The mercenaries were loading up the survivors. As they took off Butch looked back at the island, he knew he and Carrie had been lucky. Getting to the island, then surviving the night. When he thought about all the breaks that went their way, his belief in God was reaffirmed.
Butch knew he didn't survive like James Bond, or Rambo but, he managed. Carrie thought he'd been very heroic, that he did whatever necessary to survive the brutality they'd faced. In the face of evil, she saw good prevail, she'd seen the best of humanity, while being threatened by the worst of it.
Butch looked over at Mike, who was hurting with the loss of his wife. He glanced around at the other hostages he'd saved. No he didn't kill the cannibals, but he had cut the rope while the battle ensued. There was plenty to be proud of, however Butch thought about the great loss of life. He remembered the ones who didn't make it.
On the flight out of Cuba Butch and Carrie opened up a little talking about what happened. Not totally that would take time. Butch would eventually write a book about the ordeal titled "Surviving the Cannibalistic Pirates." He'd also made some friends from the incident, namely Mike Williams until he died in 2001.

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Texte: © Copyright John Reeves
Tag der Veröffentlichung: 06.10.2010

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