Dreamer | Outer Banks

09 - Shots Fired

I stared at water even after John B disappeared and I didn't have any intention of looking away until my brother came up. In the distance I thought I heard some kind of siren but I brushed it off until Pope started freaking out. "Shit JJ."

"Guys, that's the police." JJ said calmly as I turned my attention to a boat coming our way.

Pope sighed and took a deep breath. "You've got to be kidding me."

"Yep that's the police." JJ replied, stepping away from the wheel and by the front of the boat without a worry.

Me on the immediately started freaking out. "Shit! John B and I can't be seen in the Marsh!"

JJ looked at me without saying a word before turning back to the oncoming boat. "Just act normal Kenz, I'll handle it."

The boat pulled up next to us and I stepped behind JJ, trying to hide my face from the officers as much as I could. "Evening, officers."

"Evening." The male officer from the Motel greeted us and handed Pope a rope so he could connect our boats. Pope handed the rope to JJ. "JJ, tie it off."

"How you kids doing? You know the marsh is closed?" The officer explained and we all exchanged fake confused looks. "No. Wow."

"No. I didn't know that. Why-why is it closed?" JJ questioned from the other side of the boat as he rested his one of his arms on the boat.

"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down. Seen anything?" The officer asked us.

"No boats. No." We all spoke at one time and continued glancing at each other. I peaked out towards the water and I tried not to start freaking out, if we don't get the officer to leave in a matter of minutes we'll either be caught or John B will run out of air and drown.

"Hey where's your brother that's always hanging around you guys? He here?" The officer asked us, even though I knew he was mostly talking to me.

I managed to calm myself down and thought of something to say that he wouldn't ask questions.. "He had to work today."

The officer nodded to himself before he began to climb onto our boat. "I'm gonna check your little boat out."

"Yeah, hop aboard." Pope offered as the second officer followed him and began looking around the boat. "You wanna check, uh, check her out."

I quietly stood at the front of the boat staring out towards the water while the officers searched the boat. "Uh, you got another one?"

The officer held up a life jacket and I went to speak but JJ cut me off.. "Yeah. Of course. It's, uh... it's in the hold."

"Show him." Kie volunteered and moved so JJ could pull up the hold.  "Yeah. Okay." JJ nodded and opened the hold.

"Yeah here we go." JJ pulled out the life jacket to show the officer before putting it back and closing the hold. "All right."

The officer must have noticed my glare because he moved to the front of the boat, putting his sunglasses on and looking into the water. I gave JJ a worried look but he only told me to calm down in order to not draw any more attention.

"All right." The officer announced and got down from the front of the boat. "All right." We responded and I quietly let out a sigh of relief.

"Beautiful day." The officer said as he got onto his boat and untied the rope. "Let us know if you see anything on your way out."

"Will do. Will do." Pope promised, awkwardly saluting him while me and JJ gave him weird looks. What do we expect though, he's Pope.

"We'll be gone soon." JJ reassured him and put his arm around me, trying to comfort and tell me that John B's okay.

We all watched as the boat sped away and as soon as the boat was far enough away I raced to the edge of the boat to wait for John B. "There he is! Oh god! Jesus Christ!" JJ let out a sigh of relief and sent me an I told you so look.

"Don't you dare scare us like that!" I laughed off my nervousness as I tried to sound angry but only came out as relief.

"How'd it go down there?" JJ asked as he moved towards the latter and got ready to help John B get out of the water." "Did you find anything?"

"Did I find anything?" John B repeated before throwing a duffle bag onto the boat and I could see JJ light up. "Yeah, there we go! That's my boy!"

JJ grabbed the bag and placed it near the front of the boat while Kie and I went over to see how John B was doing. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I ran out of air." John B admitted while he held onto the latter. "You scared the shit out of me." Kie said as we helped him onto the boat.

"Yeah, the cops were up here, but, uh... took care of them." Pope explained as John B tried to catch his breath. "You kinda missed the show, brother." JJ laughed.

I looked up at the water and I was surprised to see another boat coming towards us that I didn't recognize. "Hey, guys? Guys, bogey, two o'clock."

"What?" Pope questioned as they too noticed the boat that I was talking about. "Do you recognize that boat?"

Kie shook her head and took a step closer to get a better look. "I've never seen it. What are they doing here? The marsh is closed."

"I don't know, let's not stick around and find out." JJ suggested which I agreed with. This may be the first time I actually agreed with JJ.

"JJ, get the bowline." John B said, getting down from the top of the boat and making his way to Pope who was at the steering wheel.

"Should we wait on them?" Pope asked my brother as he took over the steering wheel and I shook my head. Please let's not.

"No, we're not going to wait on them!" John B told Pope and I mentally thanked him for not sticking around. "Go get the stern. Go!"

I went to go check up on JJ and I noticed he still didn't have the anchor up all the way. "Are you joking? JJ, hurry up!"

"Guys, don't wait for me. Go!" JJ shouted as I began helping him pull up the rest of the anchor up while the boat began moving.

"I don't like this." John B admitted as the boat was still heading straight toward us and they we're still getting even closer. "Are they coming for us?" JJ asked.

"Maybe they're fishing?" Pope pointed out, which didn't help my nerves. I could feel my hands start to shake as I tried to tell myself everything was fine.

"Go, go, go, go!" JJ shouted, ignoring Pope and rushing John B to start going faster. "Go into the marsh, now."

"Let's go!" Kiara urged as he drove into the marsh while the boat continued to follow us. "I'm going. Act natural. Act natural." John B told us.

I looked back and I saw the boat begin to speed up again and my eyes went wide. "Hey, guys, they're following us."

"This can't be good." Pope muttered, finally starting to realize the real danger. "Shit." I heard John B whisper from beside me.

"Dude, you gotta go faster!" JJ shouted at my brother, holding onto my arm so I wouldn't fall due to how fast we were already going. "I'm going!" John B insisted.

I turned back just in time to see one of the men pull out what it looked like to be a gun and I let out a sob. "Guys?"

The man fired out a shot and I was tackled to the ground by JJ. Our faces were inches apart and I could feel him breathe on me. "Holy shit guys!" Kiara yelled.

I poked my head up just as another bullet flew past us and I noticed Pope next to us throw his hands over his head. "We're gonna die."

John B took a sharp turn and JJ was thrown off of me just as another shot was fired at us. "Shit! Pope move!" I stepped over him and searched through a compartment.

"Kennedy! Get down! Now!" I heard John B scream at me as I pulled out a fishing net and another shot was fired which just missed me.

"What are you going Kenz!" JJ shouted at me before I ran for the back of the boat and threw the net off of the boat.

The man fired one last shot before the net got tangled underneath their boat which caused it to stop moving. Everyone except for me and my brother started celebrating, instead, my brother gave me a frustrated look and told Pope to drive the boat.

"I told you go get down Kenn! You could've gotten hurt!" John B shouted at me quiet enough to not catch the attention of the others.

"But I didn't! Look at me John." I raised my arms up in the air and did a three-sixty. "I'm fine, everything's okay."

John B sighed and pulled me in for a hug. "I just don't know what I would do if something happened to you Kenn, I would never forgive myself."

"You don't need to worry about me, I can handle myself." I explained, pulling away from him and he put his arm around my shoulder.

"Says the one who's barely five foot." I playfully shoved John B and we went back to the rest of the Pogues.

~~~

The five of us pulled up to the Château after the incident and we followed John B off the boat where he crouched down on the docks with the duffle bag in front of him.

"What do you think is in it?" Kie questioned as we circled around John B waiting for him to open the bag. "Gotta be money or something, right?" Pope insisted.

"That or a couple of keys with street value to the low-to mid-mils!" JJ laughed with my brother as I gave them an unimpressed look, I just wanted him to open the bag already so we could see what was inside.

"Can we please just open the bag?" Pope pleaded and I mentally thanked him. Someone had to say it but I wouldn't have been that nice.

"Wow, Pope." My brother looked up at Pope before looking back down at the bag. "That's a rare outburst of emotion."

"Okay. You guys are literally killing me with anticipation, open the bag. We almost died over this." Pope raised his voice as John B started to unzip the bag.

John B reached into the bag and pulled out a container and at first struggled to unscrew the lid before it opened up as I crouched down next to him to see what was inside. John B turned the container upside down and a compass fell out. At first I was disappointed but that didn't last long as I realized I had seen that compass before.

"Oh, wow. Yep, that's absolutely right. Good job everybody. We found a compass." Pope said while my brother and I shared a shocked look.

"Guys, what?" JJ looked down at us with a confused face mixed with disappointment. "It's not worth anything."

I looked up at John B and nodded at him. "This was our father's." John B explained as I looked back down at our father's compass in shock.

~~~

Episode one is done and I have already started on two! I'll be sure to update in the next day or so!

Also, if you want to suggest anything you would like to see from this story feel free to share! I'm open to anything you come up with!