Home [Book 2]

10

The six of us carried Pope into JJ's cousin Rickey's house the second he opened the door, and we laid him on the table.

"Whats wrong with him?" Rickey asked us.

"Wasps." Sarah said.

"Is he allergic to wasps?"

"Clearly." KeKe said, worried.

"I gotta get my kit. Hang tight." Rickey said and then left into another room to help him find a kit.

"Focus on your breathing, dude. Come on. You're too stubborn to die." I said as he let out a strangled chuckle.

"I got it! I got it!" Rickey said, coming back out with a black bag and getting out a syringe before pushing the needle into his arm and pushing down on the stopped, having all the medicine go into his bloodstream.

"Okay. Now we wait." Rickey said.

We waited for a minute before he gasped and his eyes flew open, sitting up and looking around.

"Dude. It's so hot." Pope said before getting up off the table and running out of the house.

"He's energized." I said , looking at Ricky as the others went out with Pope.

"Yeah. He'll be feeling that way for about half an hour." He nodded.

"Thanks, Rickey." I smiled and walked out of his house, having him close the door behind me.

"Who's driving?" I asked.

"Me! Me! I'm driving!" Pope said, raising his hand.

"Not a good idea, Pope." Kiara said.

"I'm driving, or I'll rip your ears off!" Pope said.

"Woah."

———

We ducked behind the stone wall of the Cameron's giant house, seeing Rafe pull up with a giant semi-truck and get out, heading inside.

"How much you wanna bet that the cross is inside that right right now?" Pope asked.

"Without a doubt." I said.

"Still only one way to find out." Sarah said and started walking away towards the entrance.

"Hey hey, wait." John B grabbed her arm and turned her to him. "Look, before you go volunteering yourself on this death mission, I just gotta know a few things. About us."

"Us?" Sarah repeated.

"Yeah, Sarah, come on. I'm sorry, okay? I'm just . . . I'm sorry." He apologized, fishing a piece of bandana out and looking at her. "Will you take this? Please?"

Sarah looked at him for a bit longer before kissing him. For much longer than I would have enjoyed.

JJ snorted a little and tapped me on the shoulder, getting me to turn around.

"Will you take this? Please?" JJ imitated John B, holding out a tiny twig to me.

I laughed and took the twig from him, pulling him in for a kiss. "You're crazy, JJ."

"I know I am." He agreed with a smile.

I saw John B looking at us. "What, B?"

"You're mocking us." John B said.

"We are, indeed." I nodded.

A horn honked and we all looked towards the car, and old man getting out and loading his rifle.

"Y'all are on the wrong side of the island." He said, "I'm gonna call the police."

"You don't have to do that, sir." JJ said.

"I'll decide for myself what I need to do." The man said.

"Sir, can I just talk to you for a minute?" JJ asked. "Just to explain. Sir, I know you just think we're some derelict kids from the Cut, but we weren't that to Mr. Cameron. You see, we were his yard workers. We were just waiting for our yard associate Tommy to get back from planting a row of flowers for Mr. Cameron's memorial."

"Keep talking." The old man said, lowering his rifle.

And so we started talking—or JJ did—and the old man listened. They talked about so much stupid stuff until the old man left.

Pope leapt over the fence and ran at the truck, hopping on the back of it just as Rafe got into the driver's seat and drove out of the driveway, leaving the five of us stranded.

I looked towards where Wheezie and Rose opened the door and got in a car, carrying an unconscious Sarah in their arms.

"Sarah!" John B shouted, about to blink over the wall but I pulled him back and tossed him the keys.

"Let's go!" John B shouted at the others and we all climbed into the van and drove off down the road, following Rose and Wheezie as their car took a left onto another street.

———

We followed them for hours and stopped at the edge of the docks by a giant cargo boat, metal crates being loaded onto the ship as we all ducked behind fallen barrels, watching people load stuff into the crates.

"The Coastal Venture. I know that ship. My dad did legs on her last summer. It's a total tramp steamer. I worked on her in port." JJ said as we peeked over the edge to see the large boat.

"There's the cross. Right there. Look." John B pointed to where a wooden box was being loaded and was then put inside the cargo hold of the boat.

"Guys, we gotta come up with a plan." I said.

"I know. I'm working on it." JJ said, "if we get over to that barge, we go over. We'll have to get into the water, though. Then we're gonna be sitting ducks."

"Howdy, guys." KeKe said as she, Kiara, and Pope came up to us.

"How'd you guys find us?" JJ asked.

"Geo-located your phone." Kiara replied.

"Smart." I said.

"The cross in there?" Pope asked.

"Yeah." I nodded.

"I got a plan." KeKe said, "look at that metal crate over there. We can get in it and get onto that ship."

"Okay. Let's go." I said and we waited until all the workers were doing something else before we got close to the crate, Pope and John B climbing in.

"You guys know this is a trap, right? Once we get in we can't get out." JJ said.

"I know." Pope nodded.

"Listen, you guys don't have to come. Right?" John B asked.

"Right. This is our fight." Pope answered.

"Skip the pep talk, Pope. We're coming." KeKe said and we all climbed into the metal crate, going to the way back and ducking behind boxes in there before the doors shut and the container was lifted up into the air before settling down onto the boat.

"We made it." I said softly, barely a whisper.