LXI.   just like the ocean, always in love with the sun

      Dylan felt happy that she was able to finally wear a shirt that wasn't nearly destroyed, seeing as how she'd been wearing the same clothes for a month now. Her and Pope led the way, following the directions that Portis gave them. "Are you guy sure you got the right address?" JJ asked them for the fifth time since they left the house.

"I know you're not talking to me and DJ about having the right address," Pope responded smartly.

"That's exactly what I'm asking."

Dylan rolled her eyes. "We're sure, JJ."

"Look, the place says Vaux Hall. Vaux Hall, it's on the map." Pope pointed to the map on the bus stop pole.

"Yeah, but we don't know if that's where they are!" JJ argued.

"K, well, it's the general vicinity. So. . ."

"Why don't we just ask someone?" Cleo spoke, being the voice of reason as a man driving a tractor drove by them. "Hey! Pardon I. You know where we can find Vaux Hall?" She asked the man.

The guy looked at her like she was crazy. "You kidding me, right? Everything you can see around you is all Vaux Hall."

"Well, that helps a lot." Dylan muttered sarcastically and looked away, earning a nudge to the ribs by Pope with his elbow.

"Wait, what do you mean? Like. . ." Asked JJ.

"All this, all this, all this," the man said again.

"Oh, everywhere."

"Okay, so who lives up there?" Pope questioned and pointed to the land on the other side of the wall.

"Carlos Singh. Just on the other side of that wall. But take it from me, he's no one you want to get to know."

The statement gave Dylan the confirmation that he was exactly who they were looking for. "Thank you." She said to the man with a quick smile.

"Thank you." Sarah said as well.

He took off on the tractor and the Pogues trudged through the tall grass. "It's quite a walk." John B commented.

"Yeah, how do we know there isn't—DJ!" Sarah yelled as Dylan sprinted off.

"Dylan, what are you doing?" Pope yelled after her, his eyes going wide.

Dylan didn't have time to waste. She was a fast runner. Her action caused all of the others to start running as well. The thought of Kiara being in danger of hurt made her run faster until she couldn't hear anything. Until she couldn't see anything but the wall in front of her.

"Jesus, she's a fast one!" Cleo chimed as she ran behind the girl.

"And yet she's the shortest out of all of us!" John B yelled.

When they finally reached the wall, Dylan getting there way before them, JJ was the first to try and climb over. "Give me a boost. Give me a boost." He said to John B.

John B quickly dropped down and cupped his hands. JJ stepped into his palms and he pushed him up until he had a good grip on the wall. JJ straddled the wall and grabbed Sarah's hand. "Come on," he grunted and pulled her up.

They all started to climb the concrete wall. "DJ, here," Sarah whispered and held out her hand,

Dylan quickly gripped her hand and Sarah hoisted her up. "Thanks." She mumbled and swung her leg over. She jumped down and landed on her feet. She gave the back of JJ's head a weird stare after seeing him army crawl through the grass. That was until she saw the guards and guard dog. "Oh, shit."

"DJ, get down!" John B whisper yelled and gripped her shoulders, taking her down with him.

All six of them laid on their bellies, peeking through the grass at the guards. "Oh, man. Okay. Portis wasn't kidding." Pope said in a hushed tone.

"No, that's fortress. This is much bigger than Ward," said John B.

"We got two towers, patrollers, ATVs, possibly snipers." JJ observed.

"And guard dogs. Can't forget the guard dogs." Dylan whispered.

"Right, those too."

Sarah shook her head. "There's no way we're getting past that."

"We gotta help her. We can take them if we stay towards the tree line." Cleo came up with. She got up from the ground.

"Wait, no, Cleo!" Dylan wanted to yell but she continued to whisper.

"Cleo, wait!"

"Hey!" JJ spluttered and scrambled to his feet.

Dylan groaned and rolled her eyes. She got up as well and ran after them. She made sure to stay on the path, keeping herself hidden. The backyard was so big that she was sure they looked as small as ants but she could hear the loud barking of the dogs. Dylan knew guard dogs well from her father.

As they hid behind one of the bushes, JJ raised his hand at them to stay out and he slowly raised himself up. Four guards stood at a post with snipers. "Oh shit."

"What do you see?" Pope whispered.

"Um. . ." The blonde held up four fingers and then made a walking motion.

Dylan pulled a face. "Oh my god, we don't have time for charades. Just tell us!" She whispered yelled at him.

"They're right there!" JJ voiced.

"Then just say that!" Pope matched her tone.

"All right. What we should do is we should back up, all right? Because there's no way." He advised them.

"JJ, get down." John B said and quickly pulled him down out of sight.

Cleo whistled. "Hey, there's an opening down that way. As soon as the guards turn around, we just sneak in through the back." She explained.

"That's way easier said than done." Dylan informed with her eyes going wide.

"Just come on." She whispered and stood up. "Go, it's this way."

Pope grabbed Dylan's hand and the two of them stayed low behind the tall grass. "I'm literally going to kill him," she muttered as she heard JJ ramble on about another plan.

"The sewers—"

Sarah spun around and faced him. "What sewers?" She yelled quietly in disbelief.

"The sewers!" JJ exclaimed.

"This is all grassland! There's no sewers." Pope told him like he was insane.

"Why are you like this? Please tell me that—" Dylan was cut off by what sounded like a camera shutter and then a loud beeping sound.

"What was that?" Sarah said, standing up straight. "What was that?"

The beeping continued and Dylan looked all around her. "Oh shit, did we hit a booby trap?" She conjured.

"Wait, I know that sound. Hold on." JJ informed and he walked through the tall grass. "Oh shit, what is that?" He asked when he saw something posted in the middle of the grass.

There was another shutter sound. "It's a game cam." Pope stated.

"Oh shit!" JJ cursed and started to panic.

"Break it! Break it!" Dylan yelled frantically.

"Mash it up. Mash it up!"

"What?"

"Put it on the ground!" Cleo yelled.

"No!" Pope objected and took the camera before JJ could break it. "Stop it. Give me that. Pull the batteries."

"Quick, before it transmits!" John B hurried him.

"Come on, come on, come on," Dylan continued to panic.

Pope shook the camera to try and take the back off. They continued to hurry him until he was able to pull out of the batteries. There was a moment of silence. Dylan held her breath.

"Do you think we got it before it transmitted?" Sarah wondered out loud.

The guard dogs began to bark. "No," said Pope.

"Dogs, dogs, we gotta go!"

"Run!" Dylan yelled loudly that time and sprinted.

The group yelled at each other to run and they took off running back to the wall. Dylan's adrenaline levels rose and she ran as fast as she could which should have caused her to break an ankle but she didn't. She could hear the guard dogs behind her and the ATVs. She didn't dare look back. "Don't look back! Don't look back!" She yelled at her friends.

"Dog, dogs! Go, go, go!" She heard Pope yell.

"Pope, come on!"

The sound of the dogs got louder and Dylan knew they were closer. Fear struck inside of her and she picked up her pace until she was almost close to the wall. Not wasting anytime, Dylan reached the wall and she jumped, pressing her foot to the concrete and pushing herself up until she got a grip on the wall. She straddled herself and reached down, grabbing Pope's hand. "P, come on! Come on!" She cried out and started pulling him up.

Pope yelled and managed to get himself up before the dogs could grab his foot. The two of them swung their legs over the wall and jumped down. "Holy shit!" He panted heavily.

"Are you guys okay?" Dylan voiced as she panted herself. She patted Pope's shoulder and arm. "Are you okay?"

"I'm good, Dyl. I'm good."

"Series of bad decisions," John B slipped out and brushed his hair out of his eyes.

"That's what we're known for."

The Pogues sat there panting as the sound of the barking dogs faded through the wall. "What are we gonna do about Kiara?" Sarah voiced all of their thoughts, dimming the mood even more.

"We'll think of something, but we're not leaving here in there." JJ declared.

Dylan leaned her head back against the brick wall. Her heart was racing like crazy and her muscles ached, but she couldn't focus on anything besides the fact that her best friend was in trouble and there was nothing they could do at the moment.

The sun had went down by the time they reached the beach. Dylan felt exhausted. Climbing over the small hill, she saw an abandoned building on the other side of a rock wall. "We can hold up here. It ain't the Taj Mahal, but. . ."

"It'll do." John B finished.

When they managed to climb their way up to the building, Dylan heard voices and she looked down below to see guards riding by on ATVs.

"Dylan!" Pope whispered and grabbed her arm, pulling her out of sight.

The rest of them ducked down until the guards were gone. "Go, go, go, go!" JJ whisper yelled.

They then ran across to the other end. Cleo stopped them again when she saw another guard drive by. When he drove off, she looked at them. "Go!" She whispered.

Following her, Dylan and the Pogues turned a corner where there was a staircase. "You sure this is safe?" John B asked.

"You got a better idea?"

"Not momentarily," said Dylan and they quickly climbed up the stairs to the next floor of the building.

"We can stay here. It's an old hotel. Terrance and I squatted here before." Cleo explained.

"Five stars," JJ muttered.

Dylan kept her eyes glued to the floor, seeing a faint hole in the middle and she was careful not to fall through. She grabbed one of the flipped chairs and sat down, releasing a tired breath and she rubbed her face, pressing her elbows to her thighs.

"We gotta get Kiara out, guys. Does anyone have anything?" JJ questioned.

"Well, we can't swim the fort," Pope began to say, eyeing the ocean next to them. "We can't call the cops."

"It's not helping, Pope—"

"We can't negotiate. We don't know what they want. It's got to be about the cross or the gold."

Dylan lifted herself up, resting her back to the chair. "So, that probably know about either or and are trying to use us to get to it, and they just happened to get Kiara first." She thought logically.

JJ pointed a finger at her. "That's really smart."

"Mm-mm, guys like Singh, it's always about money." Said Cleo.

Dylan closed her eyes and sighed again. She rested her elbows on her thighs again and she put her face in her hands, trying to think but also being too tired to do so.

Pope looked over his shoulder, seeing her stressed out body language. He walked over to her, careful not to step on anything, and he crouched down in front of her. "Hey," he spoke softly, putting his hands on her knees. "Are you okay?"

Dylan raised her head slightly and put the sides of her hands against her lips. "No," she answered witheringly. "I'm scared."

"You don't have to be scared. We're going to figure this all it and get Kiara back," he assured her gently, rubbing his thumbs along her knees. "I got you, okay? You're always safe with me."

She smiled warmly and dropped her hands from her mouth, gently putting them on either side of his head by his temples. "I know, baby."