Chapter 8: The Stealthy Scout
“Ivan… Ivan… Wake up…. IVAN!”
Ivan almost exploded off his bed but some strange force seemed to hold him back. It was Jack, well his hand to be exact.
“Whoa, I didn’t mean to… are you all right?” Jack asked as he saw Ivan’s desperate look.
“What? Oh… yeah, I’m fine.” Ivan replied as he got up from his bed. “So, do we go get the supplies now or do we…”
“Already got it,” Jack said, pointing to a sack lying next to his feet. “All we have to do is bloody it up and make it look like we actually got into a struggle.”
“And how are we going to do that?” Ivan asked.
“I got some pig’s blood from one of the butchers, we’ll be able to give the coat a nice drenching in it.”
“And where will we do that?”
“Oh silly, follow me.” Jack said, motioning for Ivan to follow him. Ivan grabbed his stuff and headed off to follow wherever Jack may be leading him.
“Wait, where are we going? I haven’t even eaten yet.” Ivan said as Jack lead him past the breakfast area, much to his dismay. “Well at least the Bootlegger’s Inn sounds like a fun place to eat.”
Once they got outside, Jack lead him to an area in which Jack had left some supplies waiting for his return. “Wait what’s that… what are you doing?” Ivan asked once he saw Jack holding up a large jar.
“Meh, it still has some guts, but we’ll just leave them there, after all, it’s probably hard to distinguish between the two.” Jack said handing Ivan another bag.
“Please don’t tell me you have something’s organs in here.”
“What? No that’s the coat.” Jack said, almost unsure about Ivan’s tolerance.
With Jack leading, the two walked off into a swampy area where nobody would expect anything suspicious.
“Help me with this bucket will ya?” Jack asked setting everything down on a solid piece of land.
“What are we going to do with that?” Ivan asked.
“Why, we’re gonna use it to bloody the coat of course.” Jack said, a grin making its way onto his face. “Set the coat down here.”
Ivan set the coat down as instructed, and began to help Jack out with the rest of the supplies. Once they were done with taking everything out and setting it in its place, they were ready to begin.
“Disgusting!” Ivan said once Jack opened the jar. “I think I’ve just lost my appetite.”
“Oh give me a break, now if we’re going to make it look realistic, you have to splotch it over there.”
“Over here?”
“No over there.” Jack said pointing to the correct spot on the coat.
“Whatever…” Ivan said as he began work on the coat.
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“Are we almost done yet? I’m beginning to feel sick.” Ivan said after minutes of bloodying up the coat.
“Why yes actually,” Jack answered. “In fact, all that’s left is the knife wounds.”
“The knife wou- you’re kidding me.” Ivan said once he noticed that it was he whom had possession of the knife, meanwhile Jack held the gun. “I’d rather you do it.”
“Me? Why somebody’s acting all squeamish lately.”
“What? No it’s not that it’s just…” Ivan said but trailed off. “I… need to go wash my hands in the river.” He said, mentally hi-fiving himself. “I’m just going to be a moment.”
“Well… fine then, hand me the knife.” Jack said reluctantly. He handed Ivan his flintlock, as Ivan handed him the sharp knife. As Ivan took the flintlock from his hands, he noticed that it didn’t seem to be fully ****ed. Ivan knew this from some of his training with navy equipment, that this was purely for safety reasons.
“Ammo?” Ivan asked laying his hand out towards Jack. Jack rolled his eyes and handed Ivan a small sack holding individual items used for reloading the pistol.
“Don’t be too long.” Jack said. “We don’t want any pirates getting suspicions.”
“Don’t worry, I’ll only be a minute, if not, I suggest you cover that bucket and come look for me.” Ivan said, walking off into the distance.
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“What a mess I’ve gotten us into.” Ivan said as he walked closer towards the musty river. “Why on earth would I be given such a high-priority mission such as this? Aren’t there other people fit for the job?” He said to himself, walking closer to the river. “And to make matters worse, we’re following a lead that may or may not have any idea whatsoever where Reynard is.”
Ivan took out the flintlock, and lay next to the river, so it wouldn’t get wet. After that, he was ready to get all the blood off of his hands.
After about a minute of thorough washing, his bloodied hands were hardly recognizable. “Perfect, now let’s hope that Jack’s finished with his… work.” Ivan said as he turned around to pick up the pistol lying on the ground.
While handling the pistol and preparing to put it neatly inside his coat, he felt a strange sensation. He looked around, only to find nothing, except when his eyes reached a ridge on the opposite side of the river. “Hello? Is anyone there?” He asked, only to reveal sudden movement coming from the ridge. Somebody was definitely up there, and he was going to figure out who.
’No time to go get Jack, whoever it is over there will probably escape.’ He thought to himself. Finding a solid piece of land, he was able to leap over to the other side, where dry land was more abundant.
“Show yourself!” He yelled, running through the maze of trees. He saw a figure dash across the trees close by, and decided to sprint to where it was going. When he got to where he believed he saw the strange figure, he turned and started heading towards the direction in where he saw the figure disappear to. “Now where did you run off to?”
After a couple laps around the entire swamp, with nothing strange in sight, Ivan finally decided it was best to head back to where Jack was and keep him from waiting any longer. “There you are,” Jack said, running up towards Ivan. “I’ve been looking all over for you, what happened?”
“Oh, it was… nothing, I just thought I saw someone, that’s all.”
“You… saw somebody? Do you know how good this is?” Jack asked, a strange feeling of excitement made its way into his words.
“Good? I thought you’d be complimenting on what a tragedy this is…” Ivan replied.
“Tragedy? No, no nonononono, this is great, you know why?”
“Because we’re finally gonna get some action?”
“No, because now we know that we’re on the right track, and that somebody’s intent on stopping us.”
“Oh well, that makes sense and all, but… I’m not too sure I saw somebody in the first place, I just saw something one second, and the next… nothing.” Ivan said, turning his attention back to the now red bucket. “So, we’re done here I presume?”
“Oh yes, all that’s left is cleaning out this bucket.”
“So, you’ll go clean it out while I wait here?” Ivan asked.
Jack picked up the bucket and looked straight at Ivan. “No, I’ll need you to follow me, in the case of a mystery encounter; we’ll both go after whoever decides it’s best to spy on us.” He said, walking off towards the river. “Oh, and if you don’t mind, it’d be great if you carry the rest of the supplies with me.” He said as Ivan soon followed through with his request.
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“There, now we’re done. A masterpiece if I don’t say myself.” Jack said, looking proudly upon his work. “Now get the coat ready, we’re outta here.”
“Finally!” Ivan said, picking up the rest of the supplies. “Now which way do we- wait, what are you staring at?” He asked Jack whom apparently had just seen the last known unicorn on earth.
“Don’t… look…” Jack said, still staring at the same spot. “Just… act natural.”
“What’s going on?”
“Just stay still, I think we’ve got company.” Jack replied calmly.
Ivan almost got up and dashed to the first movement he saw, but some feeling in the back of his mind kept him from doing it. “W-Where?” He asked.
“To your left, behind that landmark tree.”
“Should we chase him?”
“No, best to wait here, and make ourselves look inconspicuous.” Jack said.
“I don’t think we look to normal with a bloodied up naval jacket.”
“Good point, you take the left side.” Jack said after a quick smile, initiating a chase to find whoever decided to watch them. “Remember to use the terrain to your advantage.” He said as they split off in different directions.
The chase was different this time around. This time, there were two people, not one, and they were coming from both sides, as if they were trying to cut whoever it was off once they reached a dead end, or if they caught up to him. But there they were, Jack on one side, Ivan on the other, both sprinting towards a fading sight in the distance. He, whoever it was they were chasing sure had some legs, because within a minute of chasing, Ivan and Jack couldn’t stay on track, and eventually they came to a dead end.
“A dusty old shack?” Ivan said once he reached the end. “Now why would he retreat inside such a small little place? Especially one so small?”
“Beats me, but there’s nowhere else he could’ve gone.” Jack said. “He’s in there, I know it. We came from different sides, so I doubt he could’ve snuck out in front of us, and I’ve already ruled out him hiding among the trees. He’s definitely here.”
“Alright, then I’m going in.” Ivan said, taking out the flintlock pistol, and setting it to its full ****ing position. “You right behind me?” He asked Jack who replied with a nod. “Alright, let’s see what we have here.” He said as he reached his hand for the door.
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O0o0OooO0oOh??! What lies behind the door? Wait and find out? >:P
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