CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR: ROCK BOTTOM
( episode eight: the runaway )

✲*'。

Arden wasn't too sure what had jolted her awake—she was tired, oh god she was tired. Her arms were light, they had been heavy. Her arms were —— JJ!

She shot up, looking around widely, desperately searching for the god damn gun she knew JJ kept near. Arden's mind was working on overdrive. There was no way he would just disappear, he wouldn't just disappear after what had happened.

"Hey, hey, Princess it's okay," A very familiar voice invaded her senses, wrapping their arms around her body as she was pulled onto their body.

"Baby calm down," JJ breathed in softly, breaking whatever panic Arden had worked herself into.

As she caught sight of his bright blue eyes, Arden surged up, clinging to his body.

"Don't you dare ever do that again!" Arden hissed, wrapping her arms tighter around his neck.

Together they sat in silence, JJ gently rocking them back and forth. "Where were you?" Arden asked after a few moments as he finally managed to soothe her.

"I just slept outside with Have."

"Did you both make up?" Arden whispered under her breath.

"We did baby."

"Good."

"Want to chance——"

"Don't mother hen me now, you're the one who needs motherhening!" Arden hissed, pulling back to look him in the eye.

"You want to practice on me baby?" JJ questioned, a suggestive glint in his voice. Instead it had the opposite effect, at his words Arden broke down into sobs again.

"Baby what's wrong?" JJ asked softly

"Promise me that no matter what you'll stay safe." She begged as JJ hushed her.

"I promise, c'mon now cheer up baby, we have some gold hunting to do."

After seeing that it was nearly eleven am, Arden quickly changing into a white sundress, throwing a pair of sunglasses over her eyes to mask the bags.

She bounded straight over to Haven, happily waking her up.

Haven grumbled to herself as Arden clambered up onto the hammock at her feet.

"What time is it?" she asked, voice croaky from disrupted sleep.

"Just gone eleven," Arden said. "The others are testing Pope's plan to get the rest of the gold. It looks like it's working."

Haven craned her neck in the direction Arden pointed. There was a metal container of some sorts hanging from the other side of the tree that kept the hammocks up. Kie was bundled up inside it, grinning down at Pope as he quizzed her on its durability. The ropes keeping her up seemed to hold steady.

"Do we have to get the gold today?" Haven whined as her eyes flitted shut for just a second. "I'm sure we could use a good rest."

Arden flicked her leg until she looked at her again. "We've got this, Have. You can rest when we're rich."

"You sound like JJ," she huffed.

Arden just smiled. God she did, didn't she. "Come on."

With a reluctant sigh, Haven allowed Arden to hop off the hammock before following her. They made their way over to where the hot tub was. JJ had sat down on the edge, his bruises looking yellow in the mid-morning light. He grinned at them as they clambered up to join him, Haven crossing her legs beneath her while Arden dipped her feet in with a giddy laugh.

He was safe, he was smiling.

"Looks like John B's pulling a Houdini," he said as he swigged from a bottle of beer he'd found.

Pope had noticed the girls moving and helped Kie down, the two heading over to join them as they waited for John B to show his face. "Yeah, where is he?" he asked. "I've got my scholarship interview tomorrow morning. We've gotta get this done now."

"That's tomorrow?" Haven gasped.

He nodded. "With everything that's happened, I almost forgot about it."

"It's gonna go great, you'll see," she assured him. "You're the smartest guy I know. If anyone deserves a scholarship, it's you."

"That's cute, guys," Kie huffed. "But we should think about finding John B first. We can't get the gold without him."

"Looks like we won't have to," Haven said and pointed over to John B, startling Arden momentarily. "He's right there."

"Speak of the devil," JJ smirked cheekily. "Hey, dude. Just so you know, I set up the entire winch to pull up the gold and everything."

Pope face dropped. "No, he did not. I did that."

"Please, as if anyone would believe JJ," Arden scoffed, before giggling when he huffed and poked her side.

"Guys, something's wrong," Haven said just as the door slammed shut.

The sound jarred them to the present, as did the worry that radiated from all of them. Haven swung her legs down from the hot tub to follow him inside, the others quick to follow. They'd just reached the porch when glass shattered inside, prompting them to run the rest of the way to John B. The living room was beyond trashed as he searched every drawer, every hiding spot, for something.

"You alright, man?" Pope frowned and wandered over to him. He quickly flinched back, though, as John B huffed to himself and slammed a glass cabinet shut ruthlessly. "Uh, what's up?"

"What are you looking for?" Kie added on with that same wary look.

John B simply ignored them both, stepping past them like they were nothing but air and striding over to the couch to search the cushions.

"Hey, what's going on, man?" JJ snapped.

There was a click, like bullets being loaded into a pistol. Oh fucking hell what was this boy about to do.

"John B, what do you need the gun for?"

"JJ, stay back," Arden whimpered as he rushed over to get in his way. He couldn't get involved, not now. "JJ—"

"Come on, John B, talk to us," he sighed and reached out to take the weapon away.

John B didn't like that. Uncaring, he shoved JJ onto the pull-out, ignoring Arden's outraged cry for him to stop. Arden's attention was now focusing on keeping JJ safe.

"John B, what the hell are you doing?" Kie screamed, the first to run after him.

"Come on baby we need to check in him," JJ murmured, pulling her out after him. The sight of a sobbing John B was enough to root all of them to a stop.

"Ward knows about the gold," he shouted over them. He still refused to look at them, his sights on the road ahead where a man waited for his bullet. "He killed my dad."

He killed my dad. He killed my dad. He killed my dad.

The words echoed, over and over again, as Kie and the others chased after him. But he was long gone. He'd make Ward Cameron pay for what he took from him, whether it was in blood or other means. There was nothing any of them could say or do to make his pain fade. An eye for an eye only made the world go blind, but John B's rage was a monster let free, and only he could control it now.

✲*'。

It took them all forever to finally figure out what to; in the end the took the HMS Pogue out to find John B. Under Kie's command, Pope drove the HMS Pogue out onto the marsh and made way for Figure Eight. The Cameron House was dark and void of life when they docked at their jetty, no Ward or John B in sight.

"What now?" JJ huffed, growing just as annoyed as Pope who was glaring at the ground. "We just go up to the front door and ask, 'hey, have you seen John B?'"

"Look, he lives at Tannyhill now. It's plausible," she insisted. "We can play dumb."

"Play dumb?"

"Come on, guys."

"It's pretty late," Pope muttered weakly. But Kie wasn't having it.

"I've never seen John B like that. We should honestly be going to the cops."

"The cops?" Arden repeated incredulously. "Kie, are you trying to get him in trouble?" What exactly was this girl trying to achieve here.

"Of course not."

"And what are we supposed to say to them?" JJ huffed. "We're worried about our friend because he's going off on a rampage because Ward Cameron killed Big John?"

"There's no way they'd believe that," Haven agreed. "Look, our best bet is to just—"

"Hey! I see Ward."

Everyone's eyes snapped to Pope. While they were arguing, he'd taken the binoculars from Kie's bag and was scouring the house towering by the water. A light had switched on in one of the bottom rooms, the yellow glow seeping out into the darkness just enough for Pope to make out the man in question.

"Let me see," Kie gasped and snatched the binoculars from his hands.

"He doesn't look dead to me," he said. "Let's go home."

But again, Kie didn't agree. "What? No."

"Obviously, Mr Cameron is fine," Pope said. "And even if John B was here, he isn't now, okay?" Kie glanced at Haven and Arden, her expression outraged, but both girls just turned away. Pope wasn't exactly wrong. He was fucking here.

"Plus, I have the biggest, most important moment of my life in six hours."

"Yeah, well, our friend is in trouble," she scoffed.

"I'm in trouble," he snapped, jaw clenched. "Guys, I haven't been home in three days. My dad's probably put all my shit on the street by now."

"Pope, it's okay if you need to go," Haven said, reaching out to squeeze his shoulder as he stood under Kie's annoyed gaze. "We get it."

"No, we don't," Kie shook her head. She waited for Pope to say something but he didn't. "So that's it? In a time of need, you're just gonna bail? You're just gonna walk away?"

"Hey, that's not fair," Haven frowned.

"Haven, now's not the time to be standing up for your boyfriend, alright?"

"So? What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Guys, can we not do this right now?" JJ sighed. Arden really agreed with him here.

Kie looked ready to have a go at him too, had it not been for Pope huffing angrily, "I have a scholarship interview in the morning. I can't—"

"Okay, well, what about John B?"

"Why is it always about John B?"

She didn't know what to say now. Pope laughed, sharing an annoyed look with the others as she struggled for words. Finally, she stammered out, "I-It's not always about John B. You're so stupid. It could be any of us in this situation."

"Oh, bullshit."

"Guys—"

"This is about friendship," she snapped, eyes teary.

Arden sighed and reached out for her. "Kie, you're not thinking straight..."

Kie just shook her off. "This is about pogues for life!"

"What about forensic pathology, huh?"

"Forensic pathology?" she scoffed.

"That's my life," he shouted, the two getting up in each other's faces while the others watched on helplessly. "Everything I've worked for, Kie."

"That's seriously your priority?"

"Oh, would you stop with the moral high ground bullshit?" he snarled, effectively stunning her into silence. She'd never heard Pope so angry before.

For a second, the five of them just sat in tense silence. Kie had tears dripping down her face that she hastily moved to wipe away, but Pope couldn't bring himself to apologise as he glared at her. He looked ready to say more, but Arden stepped forward in an attempt to lead Kie away.

"Pope, come on, that's enough."

"No," he snapped, moving in the way of the girls and forcing Kie to look at him. At that moment, he wanted to hurt her, to lash out. "She has no room to talk. Where were you when Big John went missing? You weren't there. You weren't there for John B, you weren't there for any of us. Remember your kook year? Yeah, you forgot about us. And now, you feel guilty."

"Oh, give me a break," she cried, ripping her arm away from Arden to shove at his chest. Haven rushed forward to steady him, everyone whirring into motion. "Is that what you need? A break?"

"Kie," the other girl shouted.

"What? Are you just going to let him speak to me like that?"

"Enough! You're being ridiculous—hey!"

"Would you cut it out?" JJ yelled in sheer frustration. It was enough for Kie to pause for just a second and for JJ to shove between them, acting as a barrier between the fretful girl and Pope. "If I'm the one mediating, we've hit rock bottom."

Silence. All of Kie's anger seemed to melt away as reality caught up and hit hard. She didn't protest as Arden moved her away again, just watching sadly as JJ forced Pope to the bow and Nobody spoke as JJ took them back to Pope's house. The boy left the boat without a word to anybody, just soundlessly pecking Haven's head as she wished him luck for his interview before disappearing into the night.

When Pope left, Arden immediately bolted for JJ, wrapping her arms around his waist as he gently pecked her forehead.

The atmosphere was rippling with tension, the tenative peace shaken.

Why did it always have to be something with this group?

✲*'。