The Final Voyage by John Reeves (reading the story of the .TXT) 📖

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. Imprint

Text: © Copyright John Reeves
Publication Date: 10-06-2010

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