stow it all away

The running joke on the ship was that Woomy and Blahaj were an item, long before either of the two even thought of the other as friends. It lasted all of two weeks, up until there was a rumor that the captain had been keeping pen pals with a wealthy mistress, which was a much juicer topic for the gossip-inclined. 

So long as the crew did their duties, Captain Proper certainly didn’t mind them wagging their tongues till they were blue in the face. All he cared about was moving the ship and everyone on it up the ranks.

The captain was one of many aphex on the crew, a striking purple color that separated him from a crowd. He was eager to prove himself, his vessel and his crew to the rest of Stowaway. Proper had dreams of moving up in the ranks, nothing impossible of course, but a little more prestige could go a long way. So when there was a call to action to raid a port town, Proper was the first to offer his manpower to the task.

Woomy showed Blahaj the maps of the area, tracing the line from the coast down the river. “It’s a bad idea to build a port town right on the beachfront.” Woomy explained. “It’s easy to flood. The river gives a buffer. It still floods every now and then, but most of the water already has a direction to flow, so it’s less often and less destructive.”

“So complicated.” Blahaj complained. “Makes ya wonder why landlubbers bother.”

Woomy didn’t respond right away. “Well, you and I will be the only ones who aren’t part of the invasion party. We’ve got to keep this ship from being boarded until everyone gets back.”

Their voices echoed in the empty room. Blahaj wasn’t used to being in such a large and empty ship. He usually stayed off the ones that were abandoned. If there was no one on it, it was probably for good reason. 

Woomy being here alleviated his nerves, at least. Blahaj watched the squid toto carefully roll their maps up into long, sturdy tubes and sorted them onto specific cubbies on a shelf. 

“You alright with it just being us?” Blahaj asked. 

“What do you mean?” Woomy didn’t even glance back at him. 

“I mean, the crew’s getting bored of captain’s secret lover already.” Blahaj shrugged. “I just…don’t want you to get bothered by all their rumor-milling.” 

Woomy chuckled. “I couldn’t care less what they say. If they’re THAT bored, they could use a hobby to get their minds off anyone else’s business.”

“Hah…” Blahaj turned away. “Easy for you to say.”

Woomy didn’t respond. Blahaj sneaked a glance at their back, only to find they were looking right at him. 

“Is there something you want to say to me?” Woomy’s tone wasn’t commanding or angry, but authoritative in an oddly soft way, like a schoolteacher.

Blahaj stammered under his breath a few times, eyes darting to every corner of the ship aside from the one Woomy was in. Eventually, he muttered, “Do you hear that?” 

Woomy did, and ran over to the window to check what was happening outside, Blahaj right behind them. There was someone on the deck, walking with a slow limp. Someone neither Woomy nor Blahaj recognized. 

“I’ll check it out.” Blahaj grabbed a broom, holding it to his side as though it were a sword. “Just stay low, if something goes wrong just escape into the ocean.”

The shark slithered out of the room, hiding behind corners and ducking under barrels to get a closer look at the intruder. Blahaj had been over this deck dozens of times, he knew by heart which planks creaked and which ones were solidly nailed in. 

The intruder looked like an aphex, but…wrong. The color of its fur was very different from its smooth, bald head and tail. Its claws were huge, each one could have been a sword on its own, and there were four at the end of each limb. The creature explored, slowly, poking at barrels, crates and wound up coils of rope. 

Once Blahaj was sure he had the chance to ambush, he jumped out from where he was hiding and smashed the broom down on the intruder’s head with a battle cry. 

The broom’s handle snapped with a sharp, painful CRACK! The creature reeled, but whirled around to face Blahaj with a hissing scream. It slashed at him, and he dodged to one side to smack the intruder again, this time with the flat of his tail. 

The arm fell off. It fell and gave off the foul stench of rotting meat. There was no blood, just dreid, jerkylike muscle underneath crusty skin and balding fur. The creature itself didn’t flinch, it just used its remaining arm to swipe and its mouth to scream. 

Blahaj heard more scurrying. More creatures were climbing onto the boat, claws the size of scythes, none had eyes, they all smelled of rot. 

“WOOMY!” Blahaj screamed, grabbing a barrel and throwing it at an attacker. “RUN!” 

A gunshot rang out, and the creatures hissed as one of their own fell in a pool of fresh blood. Woomy strode out of their hiding place and reloaded and shot again, and again. 

“Only if you run, too!” Woomy shouted, gesturing to the ocean with a sweep of their now empty gun. What Woomy might not have been expecting was for Blahaj to sprint at them, sweep them off their feet and dive into the water as the boat was overrun by the creatures of the rot.