I rolled forward and grabbed my gun just as he ran towards the stranger, the sword in my father’s hand glinting in the afternoon sunlight.

As I stood up, gun in hand, a nightmarish scene met my eye. My father was falling to his knees, clutching his stomach. Blood seeped through his hands. His sword clattered down and he fell face down, senseless, perhaps even dead.

“NO!” I ran forward aiming my gun at the stranger, my vision suffused with red.

“Farewell, gentlemen,” the stranger said, now inside the rowboat, and just as I pulled the trigger, he loosened the ropes that tethered the boat to the ship and splashed down to the sea below. My bullet rang out into the empty sky, startling a nearby seagull.

Running forward, I gripped the side of the ship with frustration. The stranger was now rowing the boat, whistling as he did so. Violet attempted to claw out his eyes, but the stranger leveled her with a blow to the head that knocked her back, leaving her unconscious.

I heard a voice call out weakly: “Casey.”