——

The bright sun shined right through the window. Emelina's skin glistened and glowed the perfect yellow, and with JJ being so close to her, his blue eyes could not remove themselves from her features. They moved down to her lips, her neck, and then her hair that blew from the wind passing through the open windows.

His tongue ran past his lips, and she finally turned her head to offer him a small smile. He returned one while closing his eyes, his profane thoughts slipping away at the new conversation that developed.

"They're fancy people. They've had three governors in the family. They've run Charleston for, like, 300 years." Kiara started spitting out facts about the Limbreys as Pope drove closer to their destination the very next morning.

"These Kooks make our Kooks look like Pogues," JJ commented as he stared out the window to catch a glimpse of the massive mansions on the street.

Pope brought the truck to a halt in front of a three-story white house. All eyes looked at it, nearly in awe and JJ had to question it. "You sure this is the place, Pope?"

"Pretty sure,"

"Alright," JJ said and motioned Emelina to open the car passenger side door, to which she did. They all climbed out of the vehicle and stood in front of the house. "Fat City, for sure."

Pope raised the brown letter up for confirmation. "Twenty-seven King Street."

Tall black iron gates surrounded the entrance and all heads looked at the top which had a large variety of spikes. "Talk about home security." JJ said and pointed upwards, "Are those spikes to keep people out?"

"No," Kiara shook her head slightly. Pope used his finger to guide their gaze through the iron bars. "The slave quarters are over there... These spikes were to keep people in."

A chill ran down Emelina's spine at the thought. She already had bad feelings about this place the second they pulled up to it. Pope was the first to walk through the gate and the rest follow him all the way up to the porch.

He used the door knocker to alert the owners, the loud knocks echoing throughout the porch. "You think that was too much?" Pope asked them, stepping backward in hopes someone would answer after being very late to the scheduled meeting.

"It echoed the entire house. That's for sure. So they definitely heard it." JJ told him, humor coating his voice. Kiara looked at the door as she spoke, "Maybe nobody's home."

"Or they're mad you're late," Emelina threw it out there. Pope frowned and tried knocking again, but on the third knock, the door swung right open and a man revealed himself on the other side. He smirked at the sight of Pope and pointed at him, "You must be Pope."

"Um..." Pope looked around at his friends before turning back to the man, "Are you Mr. Limbrey?"

"Ms. Limbrey was expecting you yesterday." he corrected immediately. Pope stuttered on his words, "Oh. I'm... I'm sorry. My car broke down on the way up here,"

"Carburetor blew up in the middle of Nowheresville." JJ stepped in to help, his lips turning flat. "Sorry about that."

Emelina stepped further behind to stand next to Kiara, but the movement caused attention from the man and he looked at her for a split second before looking back at Pope. "Yeah, she was, uh, real upset when you didn't show up."

"We tried to call, but there's no number on the invitation. We got here as fast as we could," Kiara informed him. The man showed no expression, the excuses meaning nothing to him. He kept his eyes on Pope, "She also expected you to come alone."

"I mean, these are my friends. They helped find the Royal Merchant too. I—"

"Yeah, the instructions were explicit. Your friends can stay outside." The man cut Pope off and that alone had Emelina glaring at him, not an ounce of trust formulating for him.

"You want him to go in by himself?" Emelina asked, folding her arms across her chest. "We're kind of a package deal, man," JJ chimed in.

"Guys. It's okay. I got this." Pope said and gave them a look of assurance. "It'll be good."

"Yeah. We'll be right here." Kiara told him. He asked to keep the truck running, his fingers finding hers and they did a quick squeeze before he entered the house.

The wooden door closed, leaving the three to stare at nothing. "I don't trust him," Emelina voiced her inner thoughts.

"Something's fishy 'round here," JJ said and latched his hand around Emelina's to pull her down the porch steps. Kiara followed behind and they walked all the way back to the truck.

"I'm gonna stay out here and wait for him," Kiara said, tossing the keys over to Emelina. She caught it with ease and hopped in the driver's seat, turning it on to blast the air conditioner on full. JJ joined in on the other side.

Thankfully, the weather was getting cooler, but at the moment, all she needed was cold air spraying on her skin. "Where do you think John B and Sarah are right now?"

"Yucatan, I hope," JJ answered, a small grin forming at the thought. Emelina giggled, "What's with you and Yucatan?"

Imagines of his father flashed through his mind, but he ignored them and shrugged in response. "You ever have that one place that you, like, have to go to?"

"Somewhere in France..." Emelina answered almost immediately.

"France?"

"Yes. I've always loved Europe, but I've always wanted to travel south. I was supposed to go to Argentina with my dad, but uh... things sometimes don't work out the way they're supposed to."

"We should go. Just you and me," JJ said suddenly.

Emelina's head snapped up and she looked at him in query. "What?"

He smiled at the idea. "Travel south together. Surf the waves and let the water guide us... It's always been a dream of mine."

She never planned on staying in Outer Banks. Her initial plan was to leave and explore the world by herself, but JJ wanted to do it with her and it had her ready for the future. "It sounds like a dream. I say we do it."

Her body moved to the middle of the seat, her shoulder touching his when she turned to face him. "And I think I know what to do with my gold money when we get it back," she said, her lips curving upwards.

He leaned closer, their noses barely touching, and he spoke softly, "Going full Kook in the sea?" She nodded and closed the gap between them like it was a confirmation. His lips were soft against hers and she loved the feeling.

She pulled away, "Slight problem, though,"

"What?"

"You have to teach me how to surf. I suck at it," she said truthfully, her mind bringing her back to the number of bruises she got from falling off the surfboard. He laughed, "I'll teach you whatever you want, baby,"

"Hey, guys?" Kiara stood in front of the passenger side door and pointed out to Pope walking with the man from earlier and a woman neither of them recognized. "Does that look voluntary?"

They pulled themselves out of their own daze, watching Pope look back at them through the gates as the man swept him away with the hold he had on his shoulder. "That would be a negative," JJ concluded.

"We should go," Emelina aimed to open the door, but JJ placed his hand on her bare shoulder to stop her. "Wait, hold on, hold on."

"What?" she asked, noticing him following their steps with his eyes. "They're going into the alley."

"Go around back?" Kiara asked and opened the truck door to jump in. "Yeah, yeah. We'll meet them on the other side," JJ said as the both of them move over for room and Emelina put the truck in drive, slowly directing toward the alley.

"Hey, be chill. Be chill." Kiara tried to help, changing her demeanor to appear more relaxed and unnoticeable. "I'm trying," Emelina voiced.

Emelina kept her eyes on the road, whereas the other two kept a lookout for their friend. "Where did they go?" Kiara asked, scanning through every alley they passed by.

"What if they went underground? Because in C.H.U.D., when they took people down into the sewers, it would turn the humans into humanoids 'cause of the radiation. And then all of a sudden—"

Kiara shushed JJ by waving her hand, "Focus. That doesn't make any sense."

JJ muttered an apology and Emelina glanced their way, "Did you guys see him yet?"

"No."

"Driving around isn't find him. We have to walk." Emelina said, pulling over next to the sidewalk and shutting the engine off. JJ nodded, "Yeah, that sounds like a solid plan."

The three of them exit the truck and toward the alley Pope was last seen at. "You hear that?" JJ asked. The sound of grunting became more apparent now, and JJ ran as fast as he could to it.

Turning the corner, Pope laid weak on the ground, climbing over the doorman as they both aim for the taser. JJ was quick to kick it out of the way, and it landed by Emelina's feet. She picked it up and Kiara urged everyone to leave.

They dashed out of the alley as quickly as they could, rushing over to the truck. JJ took control of the wheel, and the other three squeezed in next to him.

"Who the hell are those people?!" Kiara gasped, moving her arm out of the way so Emelina had a bit more room, but it was still too cramped. "That was crazy as shit! Let's get out of here now!" Pope shouted and the tires screeched soon after. "Here we go now!"

A car slipped in behind them. "I think he's following us!"

"This is a one-way! Go that way." Pope said to JJ and ushered him to take a left. He didn't. "Hey! There's another car! Turn now!"

"JJ!" Emelina yelled, her eyes widening at the car coming in front of them. JJ took a sharp right, a laugh escaping his lips and she couldn't understand what was so funny about his unskilled driving abilities.

Two people, one holding two red gas cans, ran right in the middle of the road. JJ swerved and shouted out, "Get out of the road!"

"There were people. Jesus Christ!" Pope shouted. JJ kept one hand on the wheel and grinned, "That was evasive driving technique right there, y'all."

"Where are we going?" Emelina asked and on cue, JJ said to hang on as he wanted to lose him and he took another sharp turn, causing them to hang onto each other to avoid smacking against the door. "Dude!"

Smoke appeared from the hood again when he pulled into an alley, "You said he fixed the carburetor. You said he fixed it!"

"He did!"

The truck stopped moving and each of them trampled out. "Okay, what now, Mario?" Kiara quipped in annoyance.

JJ closed his door in a fury, "Number one rule. Never trust mechanics!" He grabbed his bag from the cargo bed and without another second to pass through, the car following them had approached. "Go, go, go, go!"

Emelina slipped her bag on her back, running away from the man and Kiara said she thought he had a gun on him. "Shit, get down!"

Pope gasped, "I think I'm cramping!"

They turned another corner, following after JJ since he was the fastest. "We might have to split up!" he said and Emelina shook her head, "I don't know where to go, JJ!"

A mailman with tiers of boxes appeared out of nowhere and JJ ran into him, causing all the boxes to start flying. They yell out a quick sorry but kept on running.

Emelina was out of breath now, pain seeping through her legs at the unexpected run. They kept shouting random things until it stopped when they took the last turn and paused at two particular people on a bike.

John B and Sarah.

Emelina's eyes widen at the sight, a smile growing on her opened mouth. Everything felt like slow motion when she saw them, almost missing JJ's outburst. "Holy shit, Em! They teleported!"

Everyone stopped to look at him, confusion written on their faces. It snapped them back to reality, however, as John B ordered them to get on the bike with a seat on the back.

Emelina and Kiara join Sarah on the seat, leaving Pope and JJ to push the bike from behind as a jumpstart. The man from before and another man she hadn't recognized were chasing after them.

"He's gaining!"

JJ jumped in from the side, but Pope tripped over his feet and he rolled on the road. He got back up, with the help of Kiara's hand, and pushed himself on the bike. The man clung onto the seat but JJ pushed his head backward and he fell off.

Sarah had pulled Emelina in an unexpected hug, squeezing her so tight and whispering in her ear how much she missed her. Since she was in the middle, she lured Kiara in, looping an arm around each of their shoulders, causing a contagious smile to fall on their lips.

"See you later, alligator!" JJ laughed before adding on, "Blowin' you a little big kiss!"

Adrenaline rushed into Emelina's body, too much excitement riddling through her. Her smile couldn't leave her face. It wasn't long before they discarded the bike and prepared the boat that John B and Sarah apparently brought over.

"Alright, alright. Before we start, I want to hear everything that we've missed." John B said, standing up from his seat on the boat as the boat sped off in the water.

Pope coughed, JJ whistled, and both Emelina and Kiara looked away. "What's with the, uh, crickets? It couldn't have been that boring without us." John B's eyebrows furrowed in question.

"I would like to point out that I had nothing to do with this," Pope placed his input, his fingers pointing to the other three. Sarah raised an eyebrow, "Okay, now I'm scared."

"We sort of fell apart after you guys died..." Emelina spoke, knowing the others wouldn't.

"What?" Sarah pouted at the news.

John B went to each and every single one of them, giving them a slap to the back of the head. "You're kidding me, right? What happened to P4L?"

"Ow," Emelina frowned, soothing her head with her fingers.

Sarah looked at them, "But you're together now. What happened?"

"I had to keep that promise. Right, John B?" Emelina asked, a forgiving smile forming on her lips. It took him a minute to register what she meant and then he turned one.

He pulled her from her seat, wrapping his arms around her in their first hug in a long time, at least to them it was. She smiled into his chest and held him closely. Another pair of arms wrapped around her from behind and she recognized it from JJ due to his weed and ocean scent. Before they all knew it, everyone formed into a group hug, and their smile never left their faces.

They separated and John B pointed to them with a scolding finger. "You guys got some explaining to do."