If they really were after me then I should leave this island as soon as possible. First things first I need to stop the bleeding on my leg, but stopping the bleeding for a severe limb is not that easy.
As far as I know, there are only two ways, one is to stitch my leg using some sterilized thread or to use the fire to forcibly seal my wound just like what I did with my arm.
But I don't have any sterilized thread with me even if I do, it's not very easy to sew yourself with just one arm. I saw the old traces of a bonfire in the beach cave.
*sighs*
I sighed, " Ah shit, here we go again"
I had some leftover firewood from before so I just took it and placed it in the fit pit and started a fire using the lighter I got from the supply boat.
*Huff Huff*
"Alright, I can do this if I need to survive I need to do this"
After a small breathing session and a self-motivation speech I was ready, I removed the cloth which was soaked in my blood from my leg and I put my leg into the fire.
*Ahaaaaaa*
Once again I could smell my flesh getting burned, It's not something I wanted to experience again but this is something I must do to survive, a small sacrifice for the greater good. The pain was so extreme that I feel like I could pass out at any given movement.
*Huff Huff*
Finally, it was over, I was gasping for air and was lying on the ground near the fire.
*Whimper*
Rex's sad whimper got my attention, he was looking at me with a worried expression.
"So-sorry Rex th-this is something I-I had to do if I wa-wanted to survive", I managed to say between my heavy breathing.
…..
*Woof Woof*
I woke up with a sudden jerk and saw Rex trying to get my attention.
"Wh-what happen buddy?", he wanted me to follow him.
It looks like I passed out from the pain, I took the mermen spear and use it as a support to stand up. Rex went outside and I managed to somehow follow him with my limping steps. The sun was on top of my head, it seems like it was already noon.
What I saw shocked me—the supply boat that I had brought with me was severely damaged. While it was still functional to some extent, I was uncertain about how much longer it would hold up. I noticed marks on it that resembled damage from being hit by a cannon or some other force. Wait, a cannon? Could the Mermen have done this with their hydro cannons?
Did they see me leave the island on this boat yesterday and attack it to make sure that I don't leave this island forever? If that's the case, I will have to leave this island as soon as possible. However, I can't trust the supply boat anymore. My only option is NS Scorpion.
I went back inside the cave, my right leg was still very painful but I can't support myself with this spear forever, I only have one arm and if I use that to support myself I will leave myself very vulnerable and unable to defend myself. I will have to make something like a makeshift pegleg.
But all the wood here was very old and was starting to rot, and I didn't have time or strength left in me to go outside and look for a good solid stick. What to do? Hmm… when I was thinking about it the assault rifle that I used to carry caught my eye.
Now that I think about it, this is not the only assault rifle here, there are a few others as well. Maybe I could use the barrel of the rifle as a temporary pegleg.
I started dismantling the assault rifle and took the barrel out and cleaned it and tied it to some fresh clothes and tied it to my leg. And I tried to stand up.
"Hmm… this feels kind of weird but, I can walk to some extent and now my hand is free as well"
I went and grabbed another rifle and packed a few essential items: food, water, a few clothes, some ammunition, and my trusted machete.
*Woof*
I saw Rex and he was holding his bloody axe in his mouth and was motioning me to take that as well.
"Ohh… What's this? Do you want me to take your axe with me as well? You really do like this ace ha?, Well alright what's one more axe"
I took Rex's bloody axe as well and kept it in the bag, alright let's get going.
I went back to the sea cave and approached NS Scorpion but this time I poked the land before me to make sure that it was safe to go. I finally reached NS Scorpion.
She was a Nuclear Submarine so there is a pretty good chance she's still functional. I got on top and tried to open the top hatch but it was not bulging because of the rust.
Hmm… let me try this, I put the Mermen spear inside the hatch and tried turning it again. Bingo! It's open, the hatch opened and what greeted me was darkness and a stagnant smell, maybe it's because it was closed and was not opened for a long time.
I entered the darkness using a fire torch. While I had learned to operate most ships and submarines from my time in the Navy, this one was very old, so I wasn't sure if I could control it properly.
I went and turned on the power, and the whole submarine lit up. Then, I turned on the carbon air filter to clear the stagnant air.
I went to the helm and tried to start the submarine and, Awesome! It's a miracle it's still working, most of the time you need more than one person to steer the submarine because it has no windows and the helmsman has no idea where to go.
That's where the Sonar crew comes in, they tell the helmsman where to go, but in my case, that's not possible and luckily for me in this sub, the Sonar is very close to the helmsman's seat so it's kind of possible to steer it myself for now.
And there's also the torpedo crew who load the torpedoes, now that I think about it let's go take a look at the torpedo room.
Inside the torpedo room, there were many torpedoes lying around. But something caught my eye, and I was shocked and terrified to see it.
It was a Nuclear torpedo, it could easily destroy a coastal city and cause massive damage, and can even cause nuclear poisoning, why are they here?
More importantly, how are they still intact? What if they are leaking radiation? It could slowly and painfully kill me, let's see if we have something like a Geiger counter.
Usually, whenever you are working with radioactive matter there will always be a Geiger counter somewhere to check the radiation level, the same was true when I was in the Navy.
I rummaged through the torpedo loading bay and finally found a Geiger counter.
"Finally I found it!, but it looks quite old and I am not sure if it will work properly or not"
I tried using it and thankfully it worked, and the level of radiation was normal and there was no leakage.
I looked at the torpedo locking bay and found that it had six torpedo tubes that have a diameter of 21 inches. And all six of the tubes were loaded with normal torpedoes.
All right, all the very basic things that are needed to run a submarine are working properly, so let's get going.
"All right let's get out of here", I told myself.
And I left the sea cave and came to the shore near the beach cave, Hmm… I don't want to leave the Supply boat just like that and I also need to take as much as possible with me because I have no idea when I will find another piece of land.
I got out of the submarine and got back to the cave and started to take as much as I could, then something caught my eye, ooh… What's this? it's new, there was a drawer on the table where Captain Francis was.
Why didn't I see this before? Maybe it's because Captain Francis's skeleton was blocking this? I tried pulling it but it was very hard, I tried to pull it again with as much force as I could muster.
Then it finally opened, Finally! This opened, I took a peek inside and there were a few papers inside, I took one out and opened it, it was some kind of map, not a very good one but still it was a map.
There was one Island marked with a Banyan, a skull, and a poorly drawn half fish and half man, maybe this is the island I am currently at? Is that half-fish half-man thing supposed to be mermen?
Then on the southwest of the island, I was currently on there was another island marked with another skull.
Does the skull mean that it's dangerous? I don't know the exact distance but it would be a good idea to check it out later, you might never know what might have changed in half a century.