you're in the jungle, baby / you gonna die

[lucetimods]

Who: All draftees
What: Fighting the Third Party... and perhaps the wildlife.
When: June 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th. (Characters will be pulled out at 11:59 of the 6th.)
Where: An as-yet unmapped by the Malnosso tropical rainforest.
Summary: Here are your details. Try to stay alive, won't you?
Rating: Anywhere from PG to R.

No cut for you. Most of you will know how this works by now; if you don't, follow the lead of the others, or perhaps look to the last draft's fighting post for ideas. Don't forget to use your handy dandy character tags. Go forth and conquer thine enemies!

Comments

[all7seas]

Pretending he couldn't hear the name of the girl he loved got Sparrow up on his feet and running as silently as he could back toward the House of the Floaty Blue Powder.

[simplestgift]

And now shouting after him would only alert their enemies that Jack was coming. Archie clawed his way to the top of the branch and snatched another vine, but he was so far behind he might as well sit and wait for Buffy to kill him for letting Jack die again.

[all7seas]

There he was, just as arrogant and aggressive as Jack remembered, standing in a circle of his soldiers and barking orders at them in a language the pirate could not understand. This would not be a challenge, not a duel or anything brave-like: it would be an assassination, and he would flee directly afterward.

The shot from the pistol would enter the Elite's eye socket, piercing his brain. The rifle, a modern semi-automatic number, would then riddle the enemy's wings with bullets. No one would expect it.

Carefully, Jack took aim.

[simplestgift]

There was no use for it. Archie made it to the village, dashing lightly along the platforms, but circling away from Jack. If the pirate was going to do this, the lieutenant would at least attempt to give him a fighting chance.

[all7seas]

The first shot got off, and went right where the pirate meant it to go. Almost all of his shots went directly where he wanted them. The Elite soldier roared and gurgled and clutched his head in anger and pain as the soldiers around him leaped into action, searching out where the bullet had come from.

[simplestgift]

Kennedy darted into another cabin, rifling through everything, searching floorboards for something, any weapon that could possibly help.

He found no weapons. But opening a cupboard, he found a box, and in the box...

This would do. He snatched the box and ran for the cabin where Jack was killing the soldier who killed him.

[all7seas]

With the pistol tucked safely in his belt, Jack raised the rifle to his shoulder. His face was grim as he squeezed off as many rounds as the gun held into the Elite's wings, aiming for the joints where they met his shoulder blades. Bullets tore through skin, feather, and bone as the enemy screamed in agony.

An arrow buried itself in Jack's hat, but he did not flinch as he stuck a fresh cartridge in the weapon and emptied that one as well, this time into an Elite soldier who was lying face-down on the platform, one wing nearly severed. The pirate would sever the other before he thought to run himself.

[simplestgift]

The other soldiers were looking in Jack's direction. A second later, there was the shattering of glass. Then, the sound of a gun discharging as Kennedy used the flint of his pistol to set the lamp oil on fire. Within seconds, two of the soldiers were in flames, and one of them collapsed, fiery feathers hitting the platform and setting it ablaze. Kennedy kicked one aside and dashed ahead, sword drawn, ready to take the last standing grunt himself.

[all7seas]

One more bullet was spent in the carcass of the downed Elite, and Jack Sparrow was calling out a warning to Kennedy to leave it be. It was time to go. He made for the railing, intending to vault into the air and grab a nearby vine and thus swing to safety. He could only trust the other man to follow and not do something....stupid.

[simplestgift]

Archie took five seconds to hack the remaining wing off the corpse before dashing after the pirate as the whole platform took flame. He seized a vine and swung after him, the humid rainforest heat cool in comparison to the heat radiating from the platform.

[all7seas]

"Kennedy? You crazy bastard. You've blown the whole thing to smithereens. I admire that, son."

The pirate was waiting for him on the ground. They would still have to run, to be truthful; there would be reinforcements sent in to investigate such a cataclysmic blast. But Jack was trying to take a moment to enjoy it nonetheless.

[simplestgift]

Archie touched down. "Your admiration does me no credit, sir."

[all7seas]

"Be that as it may, there are very few deeds of others that I admire. Rather theatrical, but it got the job done."

[simplestgift]

A long silence as Archie reloaded his pistol.

"We need to run. That fire's as good as a signal to every winged thing within miles."

[all7seas]

"Aye." Jack drew a deep breath and smiled. Smiled. He'd done it. He'd slain the foe who tore him to pieces in the last draft. A slow satisfaction was spreading through his chest at that, radiating out to his wingtips.

"Time to run."

Without waiting for the other man---again---Jack ran.

[simplestgift]

Archie took off after him, seeing the lightness on his face and wondering if it meant Jack had regained his sense of control this way. Vengeance and murder. Kennedy was still disturbed by it. That's why I never took the chance, when I had it. I hope.

[all7seas]

The pirate would not stop running until the path to the hospital camp was in sight. This was his cue to stop and stay. He had stored a supply of water and food nearby so that he wouldn't have to walk into the camp unnecessarily. Jack did not want to get in the way of the healers, but most of all he didn't want to lead any enemies back to them. It was his job to keep them away. Period.

Still, the killing of that Elite made him feel as though perhaps he had done his own bit of rescuing. Fewer might be killed, now. And then, of course, there was the satisfaction of vengeance. Jack found a log he was accustomed to sitting upon and began to break apart, check, and load his weapons.

[simplestgift]

Archie sat beside him with a sigh, snatching a bottle of water without asking and twisting it open. Drink, come up for air, drink, twist the cap back on.

"How does it feel?"

[all7seas]

"Feels like there's one fewer sadistic bastard in the world. So? Very well indeed, Kennedy."

He took his own sips of water, much-needed in the hot, humid environment. The familiar snapshots of his life right before death are jostling for attention in his mind, but Jack is trying to ignore them for now. They are horrible things.

[simplestgift]

"You feel like you could have stopped what happened before?"

[all7seas]

"Feel like I could change the past through what I've done today? Or do I feel as though I could've survived that day? Which, Kennedy?"

[simplestgift]

"The second one."

[all7seas]

"No. I don't think it were survivable. There were too many, and I was injured..."

He squirmed slightly, betraying his discomfort with the topic. "Have you ever seen men on shipboard forcing rats to fight, son?"

[simplestgift]

"Yes." He didn't pursue the previous topic further.

[all7seas]

"And the rats--they've no way out, and they're forced to fight until there is one victor."