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"You think we lost them?" Arsenic gasps, his hand grabbing on to a low tree branch for support.
"Yeah, I don't think they made it past the gorge," Briar says and her partner grins with adrenaline.  They continue their path in a slow walk, still trying to catch their breath.  The thick rainforest starts to thin and ends with a small clearing near the edge of a cliff.
"Huh," Arsenic grunts as he cautiously leans forward to look down, his toes precariously perched on the unstable ground.  A roaring river flows in reckless white waves over 300 feet below.
"Careful, Ari," Briar warns, tensing in case she was needed.  She brushed her brown hair out of her face as a cold breeze wafted by.
"We'll stay here for the night, deal with the bluff later," he backs away from the edge and splays himself out on the green grass.
Briar sits herself on a large boulder, taking her cutlass out from its scabbard.  She plucks a wide leaf from behind her and uses it to wipe the black blood from the zombies that had been chasing them not to long ago.
She thought as she cleaned, thinking of how fast her life had changed in the past week.  She was originally the daughter of a poor fishermen, until Captain Tanner had heard of her curse and taken her from her family, leaving the small seaside cottage in flames with her parents and brother still inside.
Briar gritted her teeth with the memory and looked up to see Arsenic, who she liked to call Ari because Arsenic seemed too evil of a name for him.  They had met on Tanner's ship, trapped together in the brig.  It would've looked ridiculous to an outsider, two teens thrown behind bars by a pirate.  What would the captain want with them?
But we had our secrets.
He's the lucky one, Briar thinks, I'm cursed, while he's blessed.
Briar has the ability to see the amount of time a human had left in their life just by looking at their eyes.  She was cursed by a mermaid sorcerer when her father had killed her daughter by suffocating her in his nets.
"Instead of feasting on your flesh, I will let you suffer as your youngest child shall bear the sight of Death's clock as a punishment for your careless crime."
Stories had spread, of course, of the girl who could see how much longer you had.  Briar was hidden away under the floor, her father devastated by the fate he had given his daughter and willing to do anything to protect her.  He changed his name and changed Briar's too. She still can not recall her birth name.
So she lived in the cellar, while the world above buzzed with gossip of her until it reached the seas and the death-fearing pirate came to kidnap her.
Arsenic's different.  He was blessed to never be influenced by a curse.  That's why she can stand him, she doesn't see the seconds ticking over his head like the others.  He had named himself Arsenic, he explained in the brig, because his parents had died of its poison when it was slipped into their wine.  They had been rich and his aunt/governess was to be given the money when his parent's passed away, so she murdered them for their fortune.
There you have it; Captain Tanner had captured them for his own protection, one to tell him how much time he had left and another to protect him in case it was near.  Briar remembered the first and last time she saw the captain, his suntanned skin wrinkled with age and oily black hair streaked with grey.  She had seen the time above his head quickly go from five minutes to zero when Arsenic had pulled the dagger he kept in his boot to fight off the zombie that held them and the captain as well.
Tanner's plan completely backfired and Briar and Arsenic are now on the run.
"Briar, you OK?" He was using the same dagger now- a plump mango half in one hand, the blade in his other.  Juice squirted on his face as he bit down on the fruit and he handed the second piece to her.
"I'm fine.  What about you, having just murdered a man?"
"A man who deserved it," he corrects her.  He takes out a flask of water and shakes it into his hands, cleaning the mango juice off and then continues to sprinkle some onto his blonde hair.
"I'll take first watch," she says.
"Alright," he brushes some of the droplets off with his hands and settles his pack under his head, "G'night."
"Don't let the zombies bite."
"Thanks for the image."
"You're welcome."

Description
"You think we lost them?" Arsenic gasps, his hand grabbing on to a low tree branch for support.
"Yeah, I don't think they made it past the gorge," Briar says and her partner grins with adrenaline.  They continue their path in a slow walk, still trying to catch their breath.  The thick rainforest starts to thin and ends with a small clearing near the edge of a cliff.
"Huh," Arsenic grunts as he cautiously leans forward to look down, his toes precariously perched on the unstable ground.  A roaring river flows in reckless white waves over 300 feet below.
"Careful, Ari," Briar warns, tensing in case she was needed.  She brushed her brown hair out of her face as a cold breeze wafted by.
"We'll stay here for the night, deal with the bluff later," he backs away from the edge and splays himself out on the green grass.
Briar sits herself on a large boulder, taking her cutlass out from its scabbard.  She plucks a wide leaf from behind her and uses it to wipe the black blood from the zombies that had been chasing them not to long ago.
She thought as she cleaned, thinking of how fast her life had changed in the past week.  She was originally the daughter of a poor fishermen, until Captain Tanner had heard of her curse and taken her from her family, leaving the small seaside cottage in flames with her parents and brother still inside.
Briar gritted her teeth with the memory and looked up to see Arsenic, who she liked to call Ari because Arsenic seemed too evil of a name for him.  They had met on Tanner's ship, trapped together in the brig.  It would've looked ridiculous to an outsider, two teens thrown behind bars by a pirate.  What would the captain want with them?
But we had our secrets.
He's the lucky one, Briar thinks, I'm cursed, while he's blessed.
Briar has the ability to see the amount of time a human had left in their life just by looking at their eyes.  She was cursed by a mermaid sorcerer when her father had killed her daughter by suffocating her in his nets.
"Instead of feasting on your flesh, I will let you suffer as your youngest child shall bear the sight of Death's clock as a punishment for your careless crime."
Stories had spread, of course, of the girl who could see how much longer you had.  Briar was hidden away under the floor, her father devastated by the fate he had given his daughter and willing to do anything to protect her.  He changed his name and changed Briar's too. She still can not recall her birth name.
So she lived in the cellar, while the world above buzzed with gossip of her until it reached the seas and the death-fearing pirate came to kidnap her.
Arsenic's different.  He was blessed to never be influenced by a curse.  That's why she can stand him, she doesn't see the seconds ticking over his head like the others.  He had named himself Arsenic, he explained in the brig, because his parents had died of its poison when it was slipped into their wine.  They had been rich and his aunt/governess was to be given the money when his parent's passed away, so she murdered them for their fortune.
There you have it; Captain Tanner had captured them for his own protection, one to tell him how much time he had left and another to protect him in case it was near.  Briar remembered the first and last time she saw the captain, his suntanned skin wrinkled with age and oily black hair streaked with grey.  She had seen the time above his head quickly go from five minutes to zero when Arsenic had pulled the dagger he kept in his boot to fight off the zombie that held them and the captain as well.
Tanner's plan completely backfired and Briar and Arsenic are now on the run.
"Briar, you OK?" He was using the same dagger now- a plump mango half in one hand, the blade in his other.  Juice squirted on his face as he bit down on the fruit and he handed the second piece to her.
"I'm fine.  What about you, having just murdered a man?"
"A man who deserved it," he corrects her.  He takes out a flask of water and shakes it into his hands, cleaning the mango juice off and then continues to sprinkle some onto his blonde hair.
"I'll take first watch," she says.
"Alright," he brushes some of the droplets off with his hands and settles his pack under his head, "G'night."
"Don't let the zombies bite."
"Thanks for the image."
"You're welcome."