On the raft, I stood there expectantly. The glare of the serpent behind me was fierce. Still, it honored its word and sent us on our way.

It slithered back into the depths of the water, quickly becoming unnoticeable. The only sign that it was still there was the slightly more wavey areas of the ocean above it.

"Nice fella."

I put the gift necklace on and immediately felt a weird feeling wash over me. I kinda liked it. The feeling was like a warm blanket over my entire body mixed with sticking a fork in the toaster. Equal parts pain and warmth.

After the strange necklace settled down a bit, the wind took us right to shore. It would be a full hour of waiting. At the beginning of that hour, Jane slowly came to.

"Wha..."

I looked over to her while grabbing my axe. She has outlived her usefulness. All I needed was to get to land. Now, nothing could stop me.

She saw the weapon in my hands, quickly trying to get up from her seated position. She just remembered that she was tied to a wooden post on the raft and started to struggle against the woven fibers.

"You can't. I. I mean. You just. I'm still useful! I promise! I can take you to the turtle lands or whatever! Please!"

I didn't stop. Mr. Rocky Jeffery Nomenclature the 53rd was hungry.

My arm was mid-swing when I spotted a ship coming towards us out of the corner of my eye.

FUCK!

I stopped my axe and quickly started to wash the dried blood off of it. The stains were stuck on there good, so it took some effort to rub off. Once that was done, I leaned into Jane's ear and whispered to her.

"You are lucky people showed up. Murderers tend to not get directions. You WILL play nice. Or...you and every person on that approaching boat will meet an untimely fate. Clear?"

Jane quickly nodded.

I stood up and ran my hands through my hair. It had grown out in the 12 weeks I was on the island, back to full volume. I washed my face with some water and adjusted my clothes. I had taken them off the bodies of Jane's friends and washed them well. They were a bit raggedy, but I made do with what I had. I then hid the necklace behind my shirt, it looked very expensive. I didn't want it to cause any trouble; I'd only just gotten it.

It took every shred of my will to take Turtley off my head and place him on the deck. He woke up once off my head and walked in a circle around me, stopping when he was behind my legs.

"Good turtle."

With everything prepared, the other boat was close enough for me to see its sailors. They were apparently a family. There was a tall broad-shouldered man, a shorter slender woman, and a little boy who excitedly ran around the boat.

"Papa, let me dock the boat! Pleeeeeeeease! I never get to dock with other boats!"

The man smiled a warm smile.

"Alright, go for it."

I quickly whispered to Jane, right before the family docked.

"What is the method of greeting? Handshake? Bow? What?"

"Handshake. Bowing is reserved for the royals."

"What was the name of one of the guys I killed."

"Opnoble."

Our conversation ended just as the family pulled up alongside us. Their wooden boat scrapped along the side of our raft. Their little boy threw a rope over one of our sail-holding pillars, expertly throwing it. He clearly had done this before. The entire family smiled at us.

"Well hello there son, can't help but notice your craft is a bit rickety. Do you need some help?"

The man seemed well mannered, here only to offer his assistance. I was glad that they were just good samaritans. I reached out my hand for a handshake, one that the father reciprocated. The handshake was very firm. Good, I hated pitiful handshakes.

I put on my best fake smile, the one I hid behind in public. It always helped mask my true thoughts. Just as turtles had a shell, I had my acting. It protected me from the world, letting me survive its social imperative.

"Thank you, sir, we were just trying to get back to land. We got caught in a hurricane a dozen weeks back while out fishing. It left us stranded on an island. We only just made it back."

"That's terrible to hear. We nearly got caught in that very storm but took shelter before it got too bad. Did you lose any crew?"

I put on a defeated and loss-stricken face. I looked like I had lost my dearest friends.

"I lost five of my closest friends. We were out fishing together, as we always did when the storm hit. It came on too fast and moved too quick for us to react. We were swept away before we even realized what was going on. And... Carann was the first to go... She fell into the sea. We tried rescuing her, but...the waves simply were too powerful."

I had tears in my eyes at this point. But instead of just pity, I showed a hint of anger. This sold the illusion. People who have had their friends unjustly taken from them find something to blame and get angry.

"That sounds awful. I can't imagine losing someone so close to you."

"Thank you for your kind words. At this point, we just want to go home back to our families. They probably think us dead."

The man reacted to those words.

Something isn't right.

He didn't exhibit sympathy, it was more like excitement.

"Well if you may, let us take you to shore. Our boat has oars and is much sturdier. We'll get there in half an hour. What do you say?"

I gave my nicest smile.

"Thank you, but our raft has survived the ocean. With the wind pointing north, we'll make it to shore in an hour. I am grateful for your kindness."

"Those grateful of kindness should accept it."

"It'd be rude to impose."

"You aren't imposing at all. We invited you."

"You must have other objectives out here. We wouldn't want to keep you from them."

"I can assure you, this is our only objective."

"And that is why I ask you to get back in your boat and leave."

The man could see that I picked up on his real reason for being here.

"*Sigh* I tried to do this the nice way, but it seems you leave me no choice."

A knife fell from inside his long sleeves and fell into his hand. He charged at me on the raft, making it list a bit. Jane was surprised by what was going on, clearly not understanding how things shifted so quickly to violence. I leaned back a bit and grabbed Mr. Rocky the axe.

While I fought the man, the woman hopped onto the raft and produced a similar knife, approaching Jane. She licked her lips a bit.

"I can't wait to taste you, such young skin."

Fucking psycho.

I dodged blade swipe after blade swipe, always just out of reach. I looked for the opportune moment to swing, finding it a moment later. I lashed out with my axe, hitting the man with all my force right in the head. His skull caved in, Mr. Rocky lodged deep in his temple.

My opponent was dead, so I looked over to the woman and Jane. She had wasted time licking her lips and approaching slowly with a sadistic grin on her face. Heeeey... sadistic grins were my thing!

I completely forgot about Turtely during the fight, only to realize that he was in between Jane and the approaching woman. She stepped forward and hit her foot on him.

"Is this a turtle? So small. So helpless, like you. Here, let me help you."

She raised her foot, ready to stomp on my little buddy. I could only watch in slow motion, my body not listening to my mind. I wondered why, only to turn and find the little boy with a knife in my back. But that didn't matter. Only my turtle did.

I tried to rush forward, but I wouldn't make it in time. He would already be crushed. But just as the foot was coming down, Jane had scooped up Turtley and brought him into her chest. The foot came down hard on her back.

The woman sneered.

"The weak protect the weak. Just die."

I grabbed the knife in my back and pulled it out, feeling some discomfort. Now with a knife, I line up my throw and hurled it at the woman's head. It was hardly a throwing knife, but enough practice allowed me to do it with just about anything sharp.

The knife flew through the air and lodged itself in the side of her throat, right across her carotid and even knicking some spinal cord. She instantly went limp and collapsed. The blood tried gushing out of the wound but was stopped by the hilt of the knife, forcing it to drip into the now red ocean.

With both adults taken care of, I turn to the kid.

"I...I'm sorry! Please don't kill me!"

"Too late."

I wrap both my hands around his throat and start to squeeze. I can feel the pulse of his blood from between my hands, feeling how I'm restricting its flow. I watched his face go from red to purple. Every moment of it was satisfying.

"You injured me. You made me unable to protect Turtley. Death is too much a mercy for you, but it is a mercy I am forced to give."

His face had finally started turning blue. The end for him was near. He tried to flail his short arms at me and make me let go. I was much stronger than him, so that was a pipe dream. After fifteen seconds, I felt his pulse suddenly stop. The boy was now dead.

For good measure. I took the knife from the dead man and stabbed him through the heart.

Three dead bodies now lay on our raft. The ocean around us was murky with blood and brain chunks. Mr. Rocky really loved his brainy bits.

I walked up to Jane. She continued to hold Turtley in her arms. Protecting him. The area on her back that was stuck already started turning into a nasty bruise.

"Hey, everything's fine. I took care of them."

Jane opened her eyes. They were filled with tears of pain. She slowly uncurled herself and stood up with Turtley. He was completely fine, sustaining no injuries and looking at jane while rubbing his head on her hand.

I. I didn't really understand. She had...save my turtle? But she was a person, and people were awful. It didn't add up. It didn't make sense. How could she save him? Why did she save him? I had a million questions to ask.

"Why did you save Turtley?"

"If there is one thing I learned about you in 12 weeks is that you love this turtle. I... couldn't let them just kill him."

"I asked why? The reason. What do you expect to get out of it? What was the motive?"

"There wasn't one. I just, DID it."

No one just DID anything. There was always a motive. There is always a reason. There is always an incentive. Somewhere, something, for someone. ALWAYS! There can't just be a genuine good act! It is not possible. People aren't wired that way!

I tighten my left hand's grip on the axe. Some weird emotion was rising from inside me. It hurt, it genuinely hurt me; and confused me.

"What...No...Just..."

I breathe deeply. Now isn't the time to figure out whatever this new emotion is. We need to get out of here before the animals of the ocean have a feeding frenzy. I touch Jane on the shoulder.

"You...uh, saved him; so... if you want, I can...not kill you? Is that...fine with you?"

"It would be very fine with me."

"Ok, good. Alright then. Great."

I still didn't really know what to say, so I substituted it with action. I checked the bodies for useful items, collecting the three knives and the paddles from the boat. I started to strip the bodies of clothing to bolster our own wardrobe. It was there that I saw a strange tattoo on their forearm.

"Jane? What is this?"

She looked over at the body. The tattoo was a square with a simple fox chasing its tail in it.

"They are a part of the slave traders in the area. The Fox gang. They compete with about a dozen other animal-themed gangs for control of the slave trade in the kingdom."

Explains their hostility. But animal-themed gangs? Dumb. Unless...Turtle gang rise up!

After stripping them of all their valuables, I roll each of them into the ocean, watching them float away. I tried splashing some water on our raft to get the blood off but gave up after seeing how much effort it would take. We would only be on the boat for another hour at most, so there wasn't much reason to fix it.

In the hour we waited, I checked Jane's wound and Jane checked mine. My would already started to heal, completely scabbing already; which was beyond my understanding. Knife wounds didn't just HEAL. They needed stitchings and alcohol and gauze and antibiotics.

As I had my small mental short-circuit, we arrived within throwing distance of the shore. We simply abandoned the raft and swam to the sandy beaches. Turtley once again sat on my head, sleeping.

Does he do anything but sleep? Well, he is damn cute. I guess that's something.

We made it to the shore easily with the tide helping us. Jane and I strode onto the red sandy shore. The grains of sand were heavy and dense. I liked it; it gave the beach weight.

I turned to Jane and just looked at the traumatized, Stockholm syndromed, injured woman.

"Uh...You wanna come with me? To turtle paradise? I might need a second turtle-lover, ya know, to help love turtles with me."

Jane smiled sweetly.

"I'd like that."