——

The Redfield Lighthouse was their next destination. Emelina stared at it from below with her hands on her hips. "Right, here's what's gonna happen. You're gonna post up and look out for bogeys, okay?" John B looked at JJ.

"Wait... why me? Why not Em? She's the most useless one here." JJ pointed to her and she shot him a glare, "There's a reason why he chose you." she said, already annoyed at him.

"JJ..." Kiara sternly spoke, giving him another one of her famous glares. "It's because you're not coming," Pope told him.

"Why?"

"Look, JJ. There are independent and dependent variables. You're an independent variable. We don't know what you'll do!" Pope told him, and JJ pointed his finger at him, "Shut up!"

"Listen to me for a second. Just listen! Emelina and Pope, you stand out with JJ. Okay? If we get split up, we meet back at JJ's house." John B ordered, and Kiara nodded, "Great."

"Why would you do this to me, John B?" Emelina whispered to him, pointing back to JJ. "Sorry. The smaller the better," he told her, and then he and Kiara started walking toward the lighthouse.

"I'm gonna work on my merit scholarship essay, and I'm trying to keep felonies down to a minimum," Pope stated, and JJ started playing with a small hacky sack that appeared out of nowhere. "Alright, would you just shut up already?"

Emelina grabbed her bag from the van and started walking away from the two boys. "Hey, where are you going?" JJ threw his ball at her shoulder. She turned around, picking it up and tossing it back to him. "Going far away from you."

"What? You need to stay here with us and keep an eye out. Remember? That was the deal." JJ called out, but she ignored him and started walking away again.

"Come on! If the cops swing by, we'll need your pretty face to clear us out." he raised his voice, smirking. Her only response was flipping her finger at him, and she kept on walking.

"What did I do?" JJ asked no one in particular. "You mean, what didn't you do?" Pope responded with a low chuckle.

"Shut up and do your essay."

§

"I'll have one vanilla ice cream on a cone, please." Emelina smiled at the worker, leaning on the countertop of an ice cream truck. She held out her five-dollar bill, waiting for them to accept it.

"I'll have the same thing as well." A male voice jumped in, holding out his ten-dollar bill.

"What are you doing here, Topper?" she asked him, sighing. "I'm here to get ice cream," he replied and she rolled her eyes, tucking her hair behind her ear.

The worker came with two identical vanilla cones, and as she went to give them her money, Topper chipped in. "Don't worry I got it."

"Thanks... and you know what I mean. What are you doing here?" she asked him again, taking a lick from her ice cream and sighs in satisfaction. "I'm just checking on you... seeing how you've been," he answered, also taking a bite of his frozen dessert.

She didn't reply and the two of them started walking side-by-side on the sidewalk, not having a clear destination. "I, uh, heard about John B.," he said out of the blue. Truth be told, he wanted to see her reaction, to see how close she's getting with him and his friends.

"What about him?"

"About him losing his job..." Topper answered and she frowned since this is the first she's heard of this. "Wait, what? Poor John B..."

"What do you mean, Poor John B?" Topper scoffed, taking another bite. "I mean, he needed that job to feed himself. I just feel bad, that's all." Emelina sighed sadly and looked at her feet as they walked. Topper gulped, a guilty look sewn on his face, but she didn't notice.

"Speaking of him, I saw you've been hanging out with the Pogues. Why?"

"Why? Because they're my friends, Topper." Emelina stopped walking and turned to face her former boyfriend.

"Friends? You shouldn't be friends with people who threaten a gun to my head." Topper raised his eyebrows.

"JJ shouldn't have done that... but I could care less about him, but the rest of them? They're good people." Emelina defended her new set of friends, the people she's truly starting to care about.

"You're too good for them, Emelina. They're just using you. Trust me, I've seen it happen before." he told her, putting his hands on both sides of her shoulders. A small frown appears on her lips and she slowly flutters her eyes up to him. "Why do you care, Topper?"

"Because I still care about you, Em."

There it goes. Em. Her breathing hitched and she closed her eyes shut, remembering all the memories she shared with him. Her hazel eyes then sore into his blue ones, and his lips start to curve upwards. "Stop it, Topper," she muttered.

"I still feel the need to protect you... even after you left me. I-I thought you'd come back to me. I gave you time after your—"

"Topper, I said stop. You don't need to protect me anymore. Just—just go. Sarah needs you." she spun around, trying to desperately walk the opposite way as him.

"Em!"

§

"John B kissed me."

"What?!" Emelina's mouth shot open, swinging her feet over around the countertop that belong to The Wreck. "You're joking."

"No, I'm not, and—you missed a spot." Kiara pointed to a hole in the wall. Emelina grabbed a chunk of the spackling compound with the putty knife and covered the hole with it, cleaning out any excess. "Why did he kiss you?"

"I-I don't know. I guess I gave him the wrong signs... I kissed his cheek once, but I was being friendly. Maybe too friendly... I don't know, Lina. I've just been worried ever since the DCS started going after him." Kiara ranted, jumping off the countertop to move to another wall.

"So, you don't like him back?" Emelina asked, eyeing the wall for any dents or mishaps.

"No... I don't really want to speak to him, not after he got me arrested. My dad doesn't want me talking to him." she frowned and placed her putty knife on the table. Sitting down at one of the tables, she heaved the biggest sigh. "I don't know what to do, E."

"Don't let this ruin your friendship, Kie. If you tell him how you'll feel, I'm sure he will accept it, and everything will return to normal."

"Yeah, maybe you're right. Thank you." Kiara gave her friend a small smile. "Now, tell me, how was spending the day with JJ and Pope like?"

"I... I didn't stay and watch out like I was supposed to. I ditched them." Emelina revealed and got off the countertop.

"Wait, why?"

"It's JJ. He's making everything less enjoyable. I can't even have a good time sometimes because he ruins it for me, you know?" Emelina took her turn to rant.

"I don't know what's up with JJ. He doesn't normally act like this... but, he'll come around. I know him." Kiara patted her shoulder, going back to spackling the walls.

"And I saw Topper today."

"What? He's still obsessed with you?"

"He told me he still cared about me," Emelina looked down at her fiddling fingers.

"Well, you don't care about him still, do you?" Kiara tilted her head to get a good look at her friend. "Of course I still care about him, but not like I used to. It's different now."

"Guys! We need you. Now!" Pope rushed into the restaurant, nearly out of breath. "I'm not going, Pope," Kiara told him, and he groaned, running out of the restaurant.

"I thought you said you would talk to John B? Here's your chance..." Emelina stated and stood up, wiping any dust off of her shorts. "Yeah, I didn't mean right now," Kiara responded and put her attention back on the wall.

"But, you can go." She motioned to the door. "No, Kie. I'm not going without you." Emelina crossed her arms and waited for her to step down from the countertops.

"I'm serious. Go. I want you to hang out with them on your own."

"Kie..."

"Go."

"Fine," Emelina sighed, grabbing her bag and exiting the restaurant. John B walked up the steps, giving her a small smile before entering the place she just left.

"Oh, wow! Nice to see you back!" JJ sarcastically said from the passenger seat of Twinkie. Emelina slowly walked down the steps, "Shut up, JJ."

John B ended up convincing Kiara to join them on their spontaneous trip. She ended up fighting JJ for the passenger seat, so Emelina remained stuck in the back with him and Pope.

"You mind if I just relax on this one? It's been a long day, and a lot of weird stuff's gone down. I'm just gonna lay low." JJ said, and Emelina looked at him and made sure he saw her rolling her eyes. "Oh, did you want a hit of this?" he asked her.

She took the joint from him, and he was surprised by this, and she did exactly as he asked. Then, she blew the smoke in his face. "Hey, watch it." he glared at her, snatching the joint back from her.

He raised the joint at Pope, who declined. "I keep the signal clear."

"Dude, okay. Do you understand that your problem is that you don't get creative? If you got creative, then—"

"Look? I—I know I was wrong about the lighthouse, all right?" John B cut his friend off, "And pretty much wrong about everything else going on. But I was right about one thing. Okay? My dad is trying to tell me something."

It was now nighttime, the sun had faded into nothing, and the moon made its sheer lighting across the land. John B had finally ended the journey to a cemetery, and Emelina got the chills just thinking about it.

"Hey, come on." John B ushered everyone closer to the cemetery. Emelina shined her flashlight on the ground and took careful steps forward. "I'm coming. This place is scary. John B, what are we doing?" Kiara shuddered.

"Shh. Okay, so you know how you're trying to remember a song and can't remember who sings it?" John B started to make his point and waited for everyone to agree, which they did.

"Hey, JJ," Emelina whispered as they trail behind the group. "What?" he asked, moving his flashlight to her face. She pushed it down quickly because of the harsh light in her eye. "Ow! What is wrong with you?"

JJ laughed, shinning the flashlight back at the ground. "Here," He gave her the joint, already knowing what she was going to ask. "Thank you..." Emelina took it from him and started listening to John B's rant.

"...So, Redfield. This whole time, I thought it was a place, right? But it's not a place." John B shinned his lantern to a tomb that read Redfield. "It's a person."

"Voi-effing-là." JJ used a horrible french accent and took the joint back from Emelina to take his own hit. "I told you guys to keep the signal clear." Pope retorted, causing them to shrug.

"See, my great-great-grandmother Olivia Redfield. That was her maiden name... Look, help me with the door. Come on."

Pope and John B both start to push the door, trying desperately to open it or at least budge it. "Are you pushing?" Pope asked, groaning. "Yeah, I'm pushing." John B clenched his teeth.

"Hold on. I got it." JJ went to help, pushing as well. "Come on. This door is like 700 pounds, man. It's not gonna budge." Pope grunted. "We didn't come this far to get this far, alright? We got this." JJ said.

All of a sudden, they all bounce backward. Hissing noises come from the door. "What is that?" Emelina pointed her flashlight at the reptile.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!"

"A snake! That's a moccasin. Kind of looks like Em, don't you think?" JJ said, looking up with a playful smile. Emelina shoved his arm, "Stop."

"Ye olde Dr. Cottonmouth. Death in tall grasses." JJ started throwing out facts, then he started barking at it.

"Why is he barking?" Emelina facepalmed and the other hand was on her hip. "JJ, shut up. Shut up!" Kie hissed at him.

"You're gonna wake up the freaking dead, man." Pope pushed his shoulder back. "They're afraid of dogs. Everyone knows that." JJ told them.

"Wait, wait. Hold on. If there's one, there are probably dozens. All around." JJ said, and Kiara rubbed her arms, "Stop. You're scaring me."

JJ started to bark again. "Stop barking at the snakes!" John B pushed him away from the door. "Just making sure it's clear!" JJ said, and Pope looked at him, "Shut up. John, look. We're not gonna get in there, alright? It's not budging. We should probably just go

Emelina shuddered while looking at the door that belonged to the tomb. There was a hole at the top left of the door, and she pursed her lips and thought of a plan. "I'm going to climb through."

"What?"

"That hole up there?" Her flashlight brought light to the hole she was eyeing earlier, "I can get through."

"No, no, no, no. You think you're gonna fit through the hole?" John B asked, and Emelina nodded. "So can Kiara, right?"

"I'm backing out of this one, E. I can't climb in there and then suddenly hear JJ bark behind me." Kiara put her hands up and stepped backward. "The barking is beneficial, actually!" JJ defended himself.

"Okay, then, it looks like we have no choice. Someone help me up." Emelina walked over to the door, moving the vines to the side. JJ stood behind her, "I'll help you up."

"Is this your way of putting your hands on my hips with no regulation?" She turned to him with a raised eyebrow. "No..." he coughed and propped himself against the wall. He cupped his hands, big enough for her foot to fit. "Here, just put your foot there and I'll push."

"What am I looking for again?" Emelina swallowed thickly, tying her hair in a low ponytail for the time being. "You'll know when you see it," replied John B.

"Here, take this." Emelina gave Kiara her flashlight, and put her foot on JJ's hand as well as putting her hand on his shoulders. "Alright, on three."

However, Emelina jumped right up into the hole. "Okay, never mind. Just forget about three." JJ said, a straight line forming on his lips. Emelina landed on her feet in an awkward position causing her left ankle to burn. "Shit!"

"You alright in there?!" She heard one of the boys shout. "Yeah, I'm okay. Someone give me a flashlight." She reached her hand out, and a flashlight was given to her.

"You alive? You got, like, a heartbeat and everything?" John B asked, but she was too focused on viewing the walls to answer. "Lina!"

"Yeah, um, I'm good. I need more light, though." Emelina told them, and John B held the lantern for better light. She came across the one thing they were looking for. "Oh, my God..."

"What?! Is there gold?"

She pulled out a small white FedEx package that said For Bird. "Who's Bird?" she whispered to herself and stepped over to the gap to pass the package over to John B, who gracefully took it.

"Holy shit. This is from my dad." Emelina heard John B say.

Emelina got out of the hole, with the help of a stone she found, and jumped back into place with the rest of the group. "Maybe I did that because I'm high, but I'm never doing that again."

"Code red. Code red. Square groupers! Square groupers!" JJ pushed them all to leave the outside of the tomb. Larger flaring lights hit Emelina's eyes, and she started to squint them, but Kiara pulled her out of sight and grabbed her hand to run.

"It's the guys who robbed your house." JJ said, and Emelina gulped, "How did they find their way here?!"

They all hid on the side of the tomb, and JJ tried desperately to hide out his joint. "Light! Light." Everyone turned off their flashlights.

"Do you think it's them?" Kiara peaked her head at the corner along with JJ, and he said, "Homie's got a gun."

"Screw this." Kiara got up and started sprinting away. All four of them started to run after her and toward the gate.

"Right there!"

Emelina climbed over the fence, jumping down, and so did Kiara, JJ, and John B. She turned around to find Pope struggling to jump over due to his shorts getting caught. "Guys, I'm stuck."

"You're gonna rip me!" Pope told the two girls as they tried to help him get down. "You're fine. Come on!" His pants ripped off, leaving him with nothing but his white underwear.

"Nice. It's a little Tootsie Roll." JJ commented, running back to the van. Emelina and Kiara started bursting into laughter, "Let's go!"