Apocalyptic Pirates 4, page 34
“No, they’ve just left,” I explained. “Dia was pretty upset about leaving them, so the others are having a movie marathon to cheer her up.”
“Oooh, what are they watching?” My mom’s eyes gleamed in curiosity.
“Shannon mentioned Pretty Woman and Dirty Dancing,” I said.
“Oh, yes, of course.” She sighed dramatically. “I used to have such a thing for Richard Gere, you know. And my word, didn’t he get dishy when his hair went gray? And Patrick… ohhh, my heart burst when I found out that he died. What a beautiful man he was.”
“Mom,” I protested.
“I’m just saying,” she informed me with an air of someone imparting great wisdom. “Men should be cherished just as much as women.”
“Yeah, okay.” I shook my head. “I’m alright not hearing about who you have the hots for, Mom.”
“Oh, fine,” she sighed. “I’ll just have to tell Barbara about it later. Well, I do hope that Dia feels better about things soon. You will send her my love, won’t you?”
“Of course.” I paused. “What did her mom want to talk to you about anyway?”
My mom smiled. “She wanted to know what kind of man she was letting her daughter go off with. And I told her that she didn’t need a mother’s word to see that you’re a good man, Drew.”
“Aww, thanks, Mom.” My cheeks flushed.
“It’s true,” she said. “You know, I’m so proud of you, Drew. Your dad and I are both so proud of the man you’ve become, and how well you’re handling everything.”
“The apocalypse, you mean?” I shook my head with a laugh.
“Yes,” she insisted. “There are plenty of people who would fall to pieces in your situation. But you’ve stayed strong and positive, and you’re helping people in the bargain.”
“Gee.” I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. “Well, thanks, Mom. That’s really nice to hear. I love you.”
“And I love you too, Drew.” She smiled. “Now go and enjoy Pretty Woman for me.”
“Okay.” I rolled my eyes and laughed. “Just for you, I will.”
“Give all the girls my love,” she said. “And give Dia a huge hug from me.”
“I will,” I promised. “Tell Sammy and Dad that I love them, and I’ll call you guys again very soon.”
My mom nodded and blew me a kiss before hanging up.
I went down below and found that the women were all settled in the bed with mugs of steaming hot chocolate and a huge bowl of something that turned out to be raw cookie dough.
“We didn’t want to wait for them to bake,” Letty explained.
“Here, have some.” Dia offered me a heaping spoonful.
“Wow,” I said after I tasted it. “That is really nice.”
“Pull up a pew,” Ally said and patted the bed next to her.
I flopped down next to her, and she took my hand in hers and held it. Dia leaned against my shoulder, Letty rested her head in my lap, and Shannon nuzzled close to my knee.
It was so goddamn cozy that I didn’t complain or move, even when the movies on deck were The Devil Wears Prada, Sixteen Candles, and 2 Fast 2 Furious.
“I picked it for Dia,” Shannon said when Ally groaned.
“Thanks, babe,” Dia said with a grin. “You’ll love it, Ally, trust me.”
I’m not sure whether Ally did in fact love it, but Dia enjoyed it, and that was the most important thing.
The rest of the day was filled with movies and enough sugar to send Willy Wonka into a diabetic coma. But by the time night rolled around, Dia seemed to have perked up a lot, and she was practically back to her usual cheeky, bouncy self.
I went up on deck to keep the first watch, as always. I walked up and down the deck with my rifle held loosely in my arms, and the hours passed slowly, as they always did.
My mind was full of thoughts of Dia and her family, of my family so far away, of the dragon videos, of the potential craziness facing us as word inevitably got out and spread about the dragons’ powers.
In the darkness, it was my ears more than my eyes that were keeping watch, and as I finished one circuit of the deck and turned around, I was startled to see a light in the distance.
I rushed to the front of the yacht and strained my eyes to peer out into the darkness. I ran over the geography of our route in my mind, and then I realized that we must be approaching the beginning of the Panama Canal and passing through Limon Bay.
The light gleamed like a faint star in the distance. It must have been a watch light left behind on the shore. As I stared at it, I heard a sound that chilled my body to the core and made my knuckles clench on the guard rail.
It was the roar of a dragon far away.
Another dragon joined in with the first. And then more roars added to the chorus, and then another and another, until the sound of dragons roaring filled the humid night air and seemed to vibrate in my very bones.
Holy shit.
The Panama Canal was entirely overrun with the bastards. There had to be over a hundred dragons all roaring in unison in the pitch-black night.
And we had to sail straight through the lion’s den.
End of Book 4
End Notes
Thank you for reading Apocalyptic Pirates 4! I’ll start working on the next book as soon as this one hits 100 reviews, so please leave a review right here. Thank you!
Don’t forget about my Patreon! You’ll get advanced audio chapters (for your ears) or written chapters (for your eyes), and nude/sexy versions of my covers (for your… uhhh… well…) I also have an audiobook subscription so you can get 3-4 of my books every month at a discount along with all the other stuff. Check it out here! Or search for my name on Patreon.com.
Amazon doesn’t update readers when an author comes out with a new book unless you follow that author on the store. Make sure you click this link and then click on the follow button. Then Amazon will update you a few weeks after my next book comes out.
If you want to get notified of my books the day that they come out, make sure you follow my Facebook author page and join my Facebook fan group. If you don’t follow me on Amazon or join my Facebook page, you’ll never get alerted that the next book is out.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2023 by Eric Vall
….
Patreon
Don’t forget about my Patreon! You’ll get advanced audio chapters (for your ears) or written chapters (for your eyes), and nude/sexy versions of my covers (for your… uhhh… well…) I also have an audiobook subscription so you can get 3-4 of my books every month at a discount along with all the other stuff. Check it out here! Or search for my name on Patreon.com.
Amazon doesn’t update readers when an author comes out with a new book unless you follow that author on the store. Make sure you click this link and then click on the follow button. Then Amazon will update you a few weeks after my next book comes out.
If you want to get notified of my books the day that they come out, make sure you follow my Facebook author page and join my Facebook fan group. If you don’t follow me on Amazon or join my Facebook page, you’ll never get alerted that the next book is out.
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2023 by Eric Vall
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