A tale of the damned

Submitted into Contest #272 in response to: Write a story with the aim of scaring your reader.... view prompt

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Adventure Fiction Horror

This story contains themes or mentions of physical violence, gore, or abuse.

​​The sun dips in the bloody ocean as our ship travels across the hellish ocean, consuming us. The wind shrieked like ghosts as they ripped the ship's sail from top to bottom. “This is all because of that damned red box full of cargo,”  Edward said, slurring his words as he took another sip from the bottle. The snoring kept me up as the surrounding men rolled around in slumber. Edward held a candle and stumbled around the ship. The rain made it difficult to hear the pitter-patter of the rat's feet as he walked around. Edwards' bare feet plunged into a mysterious substance. I hope this is only a beer. Edward put on his pantaloons and bolted on the deck. He observed several men labouring to hoist a spare sail while the captain assertively barked orders, urging them to work faster. There were candles in cages, swinging in the wind, giving the men a ghoulish look. Edward walked over to Captain Timothy. 

“How far are we from the island?” Edward yelled. My deceitful hat was almost ripped off my head. Edward quickly grabbed it and patiently waited for an answer. Timothy tightly grasped the compass in his hands, feeling its power coursing through him. The rain jabbed his eyes, threatening to take his sight.

 “We’re on the right path, but it’s hard to tell.” The wind silenced his screams. “I need you guys to head to starboard.” Timothy was screaming at the top of his lungs, and the men stumbled to the ship's left side, trying not to slip. As the ship dove and went up the gigantic waves, the men clung to the boat with their fingernails. Edward walked down to help Samuel with the sail. Samuel ran over to untie a knot and was shoved over, and the boat sharply turned left, and he fell over. A bright red light emitted over the sky and was shining in my eyes. Timothy turned the ship aggressively, facing the light.

“What are you doing?” He yelled.

“I want to know if there’s any cargo on that ship.” He said with a stern voice. 

“You're insane!” Edward screamed frantically, running towards him and trying to rip the rotten wheel away frm hm. But he shoved me away and yelled at the crew to work harder. 

The waves battered the ship's side but eventually got to the center of the disaster. What they saw was a slightly battered ship. The mast was the pride and joy of the ship, but this ship was damaged. The open lanterns swung as few shadows reflected in the light. 

“GET THE GANG PLANKS, READY!” Timothy’s teeth screamed in pain. The gangplank creww there're multiple men. That’s how they would write it rushed over to the mast and prepared it. They took the massive planks from the second deck, and wrapped it in barbed wre and have it lay on its side and pushed it onto the other ship with all their might. The creww got drunk and painted their faces.

When Edward swung from the mainmast and hit the nasty dck, he was consumed by silence. 

He put his hand on his sword and dragged it out. Edward cautiously walked to the group. 

“Everyone get into groups,” Timothy snapped.” Firstmate Samuel, yur with me. Evryne else srch the scnd dck  well hed to hawl” The cabn crewwent with them shilly bellowdck. 

Timothy cautiously grabbed one of the lanterne and went down the hawl. 

The creaking floorboards snapped underneath Timothy. “Goddam.” Blood leaked from his lag. Samuel qíckl pulled a hanckerchief from his brestpcket. Smuel went pased and took teh lead. As descended he jumpedinto the hawl. Smuel looked around teh hawl and saw the gnpwder. With the red barrl  wereapere of melted drooping souls and a sinister cry. 

‘ARH.’

Edward and his group were still searching on the popdeck heard the cry and immediately bolted down the stairs. They jumped down into the hawl  and what they witnessed is Captain Timothy had whipped out his blundrbust  pulled the trigger and the bullet travelled the distance of the room the bullet hissed the captain looked back and whispered. 

“Sorry.” 

The scars on his face sagged as it dawned on him what he had done. The crew began to wade as they got out their blunderbusses. They shot a few rounds, but they only pierced the air. The ghost began to mock and hissed at them, crying out.

“We have been here for centuries and we’ll burn down the world with you pleading for mercy as God and Satin cry out in victory as the pirates have brandished them a mark of their wicked deeds. As Satin with a mouth full of daggers, licks his maw eagerly awaiting your crooked, and deceitful overcoming. As God spits in the eyes of those who sinned. When you cry out for mercy, God will look back at you and smile. Lucifer will go down to you and with the pitiful gleam in his eyes whisper. You have found your way home. And then you will realize what you have done today. Your eyes will widen as your punishment slithers down your throat, and you try to cry out, but you choke on your own hubris.

The bullet ripped open the gnpwdr, and the captain took off his hat and bowed. He then tried to repeat it, but the explosion consumed him. The army of ghosts was illuminated by the explosion.

BANG. The shockwave threw everyone backwards. Edward dropped his cutlass and frantically went to pick it up. He heard men scream and charge. Edward quickly joined the fight. The screaming echoed, but was muffled by the rush of water. Edward occasionally realized that it was all lost and quickly went back up the stairs with a group of men. 

When the group of men ended up on the popdeck they realized they were surrounded by ghosts. Some men raised their cutlasses and went to fight. They began to charge and when they interlocked their cutlasses, they felt that the wind was suffocating them. The ghost began to cry out and sing. 

“We will take over, and we will feast on your bodies until hell consumes us.”

The men tried to scream, but the wind forced their mouths shut. As they fought, they realized they had moved as they were in molasses. Men were cut down, and to their horror, they realized what a grave error they had made; only a few men now stood with Edward; he was surrounded by them.

Draft one Part one

The ghost shrieked in delight as the crew that remained got into a huge group. Edward quickly grabbed a lanterne and let the lady of the light spill across the deck. The ghosts delight quickly change into horror as the flames licked the deck.

   Everyone divvy over the side of the ship and swam to the prthle. As Edward climbed through the prthle he quickly went up to the popdeck, and he took control of the ship. The gangplank crew ripped the plank away and Edward hit strawbertw side. The ship sharply went left as the roar of thunder overtook everyone’s ears. The crew took positions as the flag crew raised up the main flag and the cannon crew. Edward took his handkerchief from his brestpoket and wiped away the rinn from his face. The ghost ship took a hard left the fire was still dancing in the wind. The ghost quickly threw water at it as the other ship went away quickly. Edward, took a break from the wheel and went down. to the engine room where he put a lot of coal in the engine and  pushed it to the limits. Edrward bolted to the wheel and barked orders through his rotting teeth at the remaining crew. 

“Tom go to the engine room. Tim your in charge of the engine. I’ll take charge of the mast. GO NOW!  I’ll help get out of the storm.” He howled as he tied the wheel with rope to stawrport. As he ran towards the crew to help with the cannons. The crew too the r pe that's how they said rope  around the cannons and they've set the cannons up and pulled the lever firing at the ghost shop. Edward saw how the crew was doing and ran back up to the wheel untying it and head back to portsode the mast ripped into half taking out the railing. The chaos on the ship is called a shop the ghost shop ran wild as Edwards's shop swiftly got away. 

     The storm calmed down as Edward calmed the ship and headed to the captains quarters and drink. The crew ran to their quarters to gamble. Edward went down to the captains basement and found captain Timothy’s log book behind the shelf of golden liqour. He put down the date. As the shop swayedthe wind. The water took the form of a gem that filled the ocean. Sea turtles took up the space in the void of the ocean alongside wales and dolphins. Some of the crew members along side the cook took up fishing instead of gambling the crew some of the crew fought over winnings but the captain did nothing and As the shop sailed the open sea a particular thump hit the boat. 

      As Edward got up from his drunkenness and went to top deck he saw that they hit an island. Edward struggled to find a map trying to remember why they had gone to the island. All of sudden it came back to him “It’s because of the damned red box of cargo.” He slurred his words and stumbled to find the cargo hold. A few moments later he stumbled his way to the red cargo box looking for a chest with captain Timothy’s initials carved into it. After digging for a while he found the chest with the initals carved into it. “Lads come help me!” He gave the order to come help him which is a sharp whistle and a click of the tongue. The crew quickly ran down to help him with the cargo in it was the remaining clothes of Timothy. 

“Why the hel are we doing with the Captains clothes.” The clothes were folded. James muttered angrily, crushing one of his maps. 

“It’s cargo we have to take.” Edward muttered, grabbing the coat a note fluttered  out of the coat and onto the ground. Edward picked up the note. Scribbled on it was a ritual to sacrifice his crew. 

“He was going to abandon us on the ship.” A crewmate yelled out loud. “Look he left us all his valuables in a chest with the cargo.” 

A roar of furious voices erupted from everyone. Edward carefully pulled out his cutlas and yelled .“Captain Timothy is dead!” A hushed silence ate at the noise in the room. “ What’s important now is that we check the island and make sure that we’re on track to head for port and get paid. I don’t know why Timothy tried to sacrifice us but we have to move on. I’ve been waiting on the demented ship for three months fyck that I dont want to be followed by that ship or any other ship by that matter. Let’s get fresh water and then let’s end this at port. As a few men lowered themselves by rope laters into a rowboat with the empty red barrels with Captain Edward leading the charge. The soft crunch of the sand and the splash of the water soaked his boots. As he marched onward the dense jungle engulfed his senses with the sounds of a jaguar startling the men as the steel-faced Edward pulled out a compass silently cursing himself for not looking through James’ maps. The sound of falling water drowned out the animal's cacophonous sounds. As Edward followed the sound of rushing water, an enormous snake dropped on him. He quickly shoved the snake off. James let out a gasp as the snake crawled toward him. Edward whipped out his cutlass and chopped of the head of the snake. A  lizard quickly darted out of jungle and picked up the head and darted back into the trees. As Ed ward walked he tripped over the root of a tree. “Fyck.” He screamed as he nearly fell onto his cutlas. But the sword gave him a huge gash in his lag. James rushed over to Captain Edward.  Christopher rushed over with a sowing kit and bottle of rum. Edward snatched the bottle from Christopher and downed the entire thing. James slowly walked forward with the crew holding empty barrels. When they got to the rushing water they filled their barrels to the brim and walked back to the ship with Captain Edward following slowly behind. As they walked to the beach the sound of the crew on the boat calmly talked on the beach. 

The voices got louder as the sound the ocean got quieter.

 “WHAT THE FYK ARE THEY DOING ON THE BEACH ALEXANDER GET BACK TO THE SHIP.” Captain Edward stormed the beach but only found that a few of his crew’s bodies laid motionless with their throats ripped out, as death had come and devoured them. 

   But the sound of the crew instantly stopped as the ghost crept upon them with the crewmate's voices. The men dropped the barrels and whipped out their cutlasses. The roar of ghosts came rushing through the trees. 

“TO ME My Men. Together we will fight until the dawn of men has collapsed and our fathers and mothers have collapsed because of what we have done today. Thy grandfathers will welcome us home as heroes as the bastard ghosts lie still in their graves. To arms my men and will show victory.” Edward yelled.

The men rushed towards the ghost but James stayed back to protect the captain who was facing the sea as he got to the top of the raft. 

James looked back for half a second for Captain Edward but he jumped into the raft by himself and rowed to the ship. 

James was trying to call out but the army of ghosts had stopped and stared at the lone raft going to the ship.

 "Come fight us," muttered the main ghost, "we want your voice so we can talk again." As the rest of the ghost opened their mouth and said, “well shit, we just want to fight.” The main ghost looked back at the army and walked away. The men rushed the ghost and destroyed them. Some men Who were lying down pretending to be dead got up and helped fight the ghosts had been on the Island before and the men knew their plan. James had gotten maps of the Island as there was a port on the other side of the Island. As Edward had forgotten, it was a very common port that was popular. As he was drunk all the time. The men had gotten together and head back to the ship to sell their cargo by making a raft out of dead trees. After they sold their cargo, they went to a bar. 

Edward sailed home. He held the box of cargo that grew hot in his hands. As he entered there was the boat touched the deck men took the coat of the of the captain and gave home a ticking compass the hands where spinning as he held the compass he took a sip from his bottle the door was made from a dark red wood tree. And the door was marked with a bright red spot. Tick. Tick.TickTickTickTiCkTickTik. The compass hands flew wildly Edward g un hid it self as he sat down at the table waiting for his food to be made. The wood floor creaked with blood oozing out from the sides. The red wood door began to sing. 

Knock. knock. knock. Edward answered the door. At the front was Captain Timothy. 

Timothy shoved Edward to the ground he walked in like normal man. All of a sudden he grew  hunched the arms grew to the length of a chimpanzee with a hand full of guts and dangled to the floor. “Is this how you great an old friend.” He walked into the house like a normal human. His arms snatched at him. His legs shrank and became somewhat limp. As he walked towards Edward, his knees buckled as he quickly backed up trying to get away. Timothy Snatched at him. Edward looked at him and laughed like a hyena who had lost his voice.

October 11, 2024 19:37

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