In the Twinkie on the way to the warehouse, we all realise that no one has ever even heard of this place and its way out in the scrub, which makes it super sketchy. Just as we're all starting to get a little disbelieving, we hear sirens behind us. We turn around to find a little black car with red and blue lights flashing on the dash. JJ has to quickly stash the gold and all his weed, stuffing it into his backpack and under the seat of his chair, which until now, I didn't even know was a storage area. As Pope helps him wrestle his bag into the little hole and cover it back up with the seat, we hear a clicking sound. I turn to see a man with a neck gaiter with a skull on it pulled up over his face and a huge gun pointed directly at John B. I don't know why the neck gaiter is what I notice, but it's fit perfectly to his face, turning the bottom half into a black and white skull while the top is all dark bushy eyebrows and angry eyes. He's got medium-length brown hair pulled back in a ponytail. It looks slightly oily, and the thought crosses my mind that he needs to wash it.
I feel like I'm numb as he yells at us, demanding we put our hands up and get out of the car. I don't move. Pope nudges me and I raise my hands, staring and yet also barely looking at this guy. It's the gun that has my attention next. It's got two barrels and is incredibly long. I don't know much about guns so I don't know exactly what it is, but it definitely looks like it would do some damage if he pulled the trigger. The guy has to use one hand up the front of it to balance it out because it's long. It's a hell of a lot bigger and scarier looking than JJ's handgun, which suddenly I find myself wishing he had brought. I can see the assailant's pointer finger on his other hand balancing on the trigger. One wrong move and he could press that tiny little piece of metal and end one of our lives. At the moment, the gun is aimed at John B, which means he'd probably be the first to go.
John B slowly moves out of the car, following the guys directions. He moves around to the other side, opening the door for the rest of us. The gun turns to the rest of us, intentioning for us to get out one by one. Sarah goes first, joining John B, then Kie, Pope, myself and JJ. JJ starts yelling back at the man with the gun and fear pools in my stomach, making me feel like I'm about to vomit. The guy gets more and more aggressive, getting closer and closer to JJ with the gun as he yells about blowing his head off. I don't even notice the tears streaming silently from my eyes as he demands for all of us to lay down on the ground, with our hands on our heads and faces on the ground. Part of me is beyond grateful to not have to hold my body up anymore, while the other part of me itches to get up and run as far and as fast as I possibly can to escape.
It's not until he's rummaging through the Twinkie that I finally glance up. I realise that I've cried when the breeze hits my face and cools the tears, slowly creeping towards my chin. Kiara and JJ vocalise their realisation that the old lady from the pawn shop set us up. JJ gets angry, slamming his fist into the ground repeatedly until I reach out and grab his other wrist. He turns to face me and the anger in his face dissipates for a moment into sorrow as he notices my terror, then it turns back to pure fury, all aimed at the guy currently ransacking John B's van. He looks about ready to get up and go take the guy on with just his fists and I tug on his arm and shuffle closer to him, trying to make as little noise as possible. He stays where he is, fuming silently. Neither of us notices John B's movements until Pope whisper-shouts at him to not be a hero. We look over to see John B gesturing for us to be quiet before he runs over to the little black car parked behind us. The fake blue and red flashing police lights are still flashing through the windscreen, annoying the crap out of me. Not long after, the man comes back out from the van, having found JJ's backpack and gotten the gold.
"Alright, y'all just stay just like that unless you want your brains blown out all over this road. Don't move your goddamn heads, okay?"
I bite my bottom lip to keep from whimpering, scrunching my eyes closed as I aim my head toward the ground. I don't want to risk pissing him off or making him pay enough attention to us that he realises there's one less person here than there was before. Once we hear him reach the car and get in it we all look up to see a scuffle happening. We can hear him and John B grunting from the car and the absolute worst is flowing through my brain non-stop. I'm just waiting for the inevitable gunshot, and praying John B isn't in the way when the damn thing goes off.
"Guys, I got the gun!" We hear John B call out from the car.
JJ jumps up and sprints toward the car as the rest of us make our way to our feet much more slowly, sluggish with fear and reluctant to go near a fist fight with a gun involved. Once the pair make it out of the car and we see that John B is actually the one with the gun in his hands, we all move a little faster. JJ is already throwing punches at our attacker, and Kiara immediately jumps in, throwing one. The guy throws one straight back and knocks Kiara to the ground. John B uses the gun to knock the guy down from behind. Sarah squeals at he lands at her feet. My fight or flight instincts activate again, this time choosing fight since there's no gun aimed at my head and I have a better chance. I land a kick to the man's stomach as Sarah uses the car door to her advantage, trapping him between it and her legs and repeatedly slamming it against him.
"I got the gold!" Pope announces before rounding the car and joining us, where we are still throwing punches and kicks until the man realises he can't win this. I land one final blow with a rock I picked up, slicing a huge gash across his face and, hopefully, giving him a concussion. God knows it's someone else's turn to have one. JJ pulls the guy's face gaiter down as he leans against the car, panting for breath.
"I know this guy! He's a basehead," JJ announces.
"Probably knows my brother," Sarah adds.
"He sells coke to my dad!" JJ growls.
"Look, I could've hurt any single, one of y'all-"
He's cut off as JJ throws a strong right hook at the guy's face. Everyone acts like it's an overreaction like we weren't all just throwing fists at the guy five seconds ago, which I don't understand. JJ rummages through the guy's pocket as John B suggests we just leave him there and get out of here.
"We got one last stop," JJ says, getting the mans license out and dropping the wallet back before making his way over to the Twinkie, "lets go see where this son-of-a-bitch lives."
The man shouts about how he knows who we are, and we won't forget this and he'll get us back as John B rummages through his pocket for the car keys he must have grabbed when he first got in the car. He tosses them into the bushes before jumping into the Twinkie beside JJ. I'm already in the back, virtually curled into a ball and just trying to process what the actual fuck we have gotten ourselves into, and how much I honestly want to be a part of it.
Is all of this really worth it? What am I truly in this for? If the answer is JJ, is he truly worth it?
I am genuinely so sorry for this ending. I'm really out here about to break you guys' hearts. Anyway don't forget to vote and leave a comment x
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The Pogue Life || JJ Maybank
FanfictionWhen Bianca and her family move halfway across the world, the young Australian doesn't expect much. A few rich snobs she'll have to pretend to care about perhaps but not much else. She knows the waves are supposed to be good, so perhaps life in the...
