Queer Pirate Ranger: Voyage to a Free Future

Ranger Usher stood on the deck of his ship, looking out over the azure water stretching out before him. The sun was beating down on his back, and a couple of the other crew members had stripped off their clothes and were swimming in the warm ocean. He started to take off his shirt, but then he remembered something: he was bleeding again.

He pulled his shirt back on, wincing as it brushed against his wounds, which were starting to scab over. His eyes scanned the deck for something that would make a good bandage. A couple of the men had brought food up from the galley, and he grabbed an apple from a discarded plate and sliced it into small pieces with his knife. He wrapped each bit of apple in a scrap of cloth and pressed it down onto his wounds. It stung like hell at first, but he got used to it after a few minutes.

His thoughts wandered to how much food they'd brought aboard today. They were making good time towards Jackson Island, and Ranger was hoping they would arrive before nightfall. He'd have to go down to the hold later and check their supplies. The last time they'd been there, there hadn't been any food left in the barrels except for some moldy bread and rotten peas. In fact, most of their supplies looked like that now - only half of their water barrels had enough water left in them that they could trust drinking it without getting sick or dying. But if they arrived at Jackson Island early enough, they could always raid one of its stores...

Ranger's musings were interrupted by one of the pirates who had been swimming calling out to him from behind a wooden crate near the edge of the ship. "Ranger! There's someone here!"

Ranger turned around sharply and looked in the direction where the man was pointing. Sure enough, about fifty yards away from them was a boat - a flat-bottomed rowboat with two men sitting inside it holding oars. One man was reading a book while the other rowed; both looked up at Ranger as soon as he turned around and waved enthusiastically at him with wide grins on their faces.

Ranger didn't know what to do - he hadn't seen another human being since he'd set sail months ago! He decided to play it cool... "Ahoy there! You fellers need any help?" He walked forward until he was standing right next to where they were rowing. As he approached, he noticed that one of them seemed to be limping - his right leg dragged behind him when he walked up next to Ranger and shook his hand vigorously. Ranger thought nothing of this until he looked down towards the wood planks they stood on, where there was indeed blood splattered all over them - fresh blood that smelled strongly of meat when a breeze passed over it.

The other man jumped up out of his seat in surprise when Ranger moved forward and grabbed his rifle - Ranger yelled out loud in pain as the apple slices dug further into his wounds and blood started flowing freely again through his shirt, dripping down onto his feet as he stood there trying to keep himself upright under its weight.

"Whoa there! Don't shoot us!" The man grinned again from ear to ear as blood poured down from Ranger's head onto his shoulders; what little hair remained on top of Ranger's head stuck straight up with fright as more blood dripped onto it from above, dripping down onto Ranger's face like tears falling from the sky until finally hitting him full force and causing him to seize up in shock as more blood flowed into his mouth than out of it. The man kneeling on the boat smiled pleasantly as he watched this all happen - even though less than three seconds had passed since Ranger walked over towards them, it felt like an eternity had passed while they witnessed this gruesome scene unfold before them, leaving them stranded helplessly on their boat with no idea how far away help might be or whether or not anyone would ever come for them again...