OUTER BANKS
episode 3: THE FORBIDDEN ZONE
part 3

ren, pope and jj were helping heyward with the groceries while they waited.

"you guys, get there groceries over to figure eight. get right back here when you're done. no fishing," heyward warned them. "i promised delivery by this afternoon,"

"gotcha sir," ren smiled

"rich folks don't wanna wait for you lazy sons of.." he noticed jj with his arms out for bags and gave them to him before continuing, "sons of bitches,"

they drove away and were sitting in the captains cabin at the front,

"doesn't even look like the storm hit here!" pope exclaimed which made ren and jj both look over towards figure eight,

"that's because they got generators, bro. get used to it," jj sighed

"and then they say the juice will be out all summer at the cut," ren took the knife jj was messing around with and put it to the side giving him a warning look.

"it's nice to be a kook," pope looked back towards the ocean.

"lucky bastards," jj said

ren and pope had the same area they had to deliver in so they went together,

"hey wait my house is right next to yours!" ren exclaimed pointing to the addresses,

"ren! shush!" pope pointed over at rafe and topper to which ren shut up.

but it wasn't long before they noticed them,

"hey what's up man? ren, looking good baby," he winked at her which made her extremely uncomfortable

"excuse us," she grabbed popes arm and continued walking but they quickly stopped them

"woah not so fast pogues," rafe spoke

"how much for one of those beers?" he asked

"they're not for sale," pope said quickly trying to get away.

"oh, wait, wait , wait, so you can just give us one then right?" he laughed

"no rafe, they're already paid for now we have to go deliver them," ren said

"but you've got so many, and we've got nothing," rafe argued

"well you could order them, like everybody else," pope said

"i bet you stole them," he put the golf club to the bag and broke it, making the beers fall to the ground

"hey! rafe what the fuck?!" ren exclaimed going down to pick them up but was quickly pushed to the ground by rafe.

"we just want beer!" topper said trying to take the beers but swung them making pope hit his head on the ground,

"pope! are you okay?!" ren asked trying to get up but was hit by rafe's golf club in her face making her groan in pain.

she touched her face and realised her forehead and her nose was bleeding, her lip was a bit cut.

pope got up after seeing what rafe did to his best friend and tried to take a swing at him but sadly failed and was also hit down by rafe's golf club in the back.

"rafe!" topper yelled

"stay down bitch!" he yelled before turning back to ren,

"and you!" he put his golf club in the air before taking a swing at her stomach making her groan in pain,

he was about to take another swing when topper stepped in front of her,

"don't man!" he yelled

"sorry topper!" rafe yelled.

"come on man let's just go," topper pushed rafe away from them.

"stay off our side! dirty pogues!" rafe walked away with a mad topper

ren heard pope spit up blood which made her get up but quickly fall back down because of how much pain she was in,

"pope- hey, buddy come on," she let out a groan, "we have to go get cleaned up before jj sees us," she finally got up with a yelp and helped pope up.

she took him to a first aid kit and cleaned eachother up,

ren went back to the boat with a badly cut lip, a gigantic mark on her face and she couldn't get the dry blood off her stomach,

"don't tell jj," pope warned before going back to the boat with her,

soon after they got on the boat jj came back happy as ever,

"pope! ren! guys you will not believe what just happened to me man!" he yelled getting on the boat.

"that was the best one hundred bucks i've ever made! when i say count me in on all these grocery deliveries, i mean it," he said driving away, but they stayed silent.

he took a look at ren sitting at the back of the boat curled up in a ball, and he could see the mark on her stomach,

"ren? what's that?!" he pulled up her top and she quickly pulled it back down before whispering,
"nothing, j it's nothing," she lied

"and your face! what happened?!" he yelled

"pope! woah man what happened to your face?!" he exclaimed again. he pulled up popes hat,
"jesus! what happened?"

"rafe and topper jumped us," ren whispered

"they did what to you?" he yelled

"they said no pogues on their side of the island," pope finished for her.

"what are you gonna do?" jj asked him sternly

they went back to figure eight and stopped by toppers boat,

"2020 Malibu, 24 MXC, the worlds  finest wakesetter" pope said

"number one in quality, luxury and performance." ren whispered along

"this is war, guys. they hit us, we hit them," jj said and put on his mask thingy. "do it,"

pope undressed and dived into the water, and swam over to the boat

"i'm so sorry i couldn't have protected you," he said to ren who was now only in her shorts and sports bra,

"j, it's okay," she kissed him on the cheek before looking back at pope.

"holy shit, he did it," she pointed to him who was swimming back over,

"nice one dude," ren said taking the plug off him,

"okay guys you don't tell anyone about this!" pope warned them

"no yeah totally dude," jj agreed

"done," ren said

"no, not anybody, not kiara. and not john b. nobody!" he said again

"yup my lips are sealed," jj said

"i hear ya man," ren threw the plug in the air before catching it and throwing it far into the water as pope started the boat up again,

ren took one last look at toppers boat which was now half-submerged under water,

"unlucky bastard," she whispered before turning back to them.

they drove to the beach where kiara and john b were supposed to meet them to surf.

"hey! save some waves for us!" jj yelled as they ran up to them,

"yeah man, come on now!" ren ran up and jumped on john b's back

"woah what happened to your stomach,

"oh i uh fell when i was delivering groceries," she lied

"okay well let's surf baby!" jj changed the subject,

surfing was always ren's favourite thing to do, it made her feel so close to home, well not home, home. the chateau home like the pogues.

she was about to get a wave when jj bumped into her on accident making them both fall off their boards,

"wow you really fell for me didnt you, lover boy?" ren asked holding onto jj,

"i did, yeah," he leaned in and kissed her to which she instantly kissed back but stopped when she heard 'ooohhs' from behind them,

"oh shut up you!" she put her middle finger up and got back on her board to surf.

after awhile it became dark and they went back to the chateau and hung out on the hammocks,

jj and ren were next to eachother with pope opposite them, ren tickling popes foot every once in a while to bug him, and kiara and john b on the other one.

"you really think it's out there? like, no bullshit?" pope asked breaking the silence.

"my father thought it was," john b said

"but do you?" pope asked again

"after hearing his voice on that tape... i think i do," he declared

"only one way to find out- ren could you stop," he laughed at the girl who tickled his feet again

"look we're gonna find it, you know?" kiara said

"yeah, definitely like no sarcasm for once," ren said

"even jj believes," kiara added

"wait- jj do you actually believe?" john b asked

"totally. wait. are we talking about four mil," he asked

"four hundred mil," both kiara and pope corrected him,

"jinx," kiara said

"i'm gonna dream about shipwrecks, oh and ren as a mermaid probably," jj said kissing the top of ren's head

she let out a scoff, "and i'll dream of you- actually to be honest i don't really dream so i'm not jj sorry," ren laughed

"good night bird!" jj yelled

"goodnight, bird shit!" john b yelled back which made ren chuckle

the next morning they were on the boat going to test the tether,

"all right jj! pin it here!" john b yelled

"roger that! x marks the spot!" he said stopping the boat

"all right, ladies and gentlemen, to going full kook," john b said before lowering it into the water

ren was lowering it as kiara made the points.

"all right jj, we're right over it. ten seconds northwest," john b shouted to jj who did what he was told.

"got it! ten seconds northwest." he said

"one hundred feet!" ren yelled making kiara write it down.

pope gasped making everybody look at him,

"what? what? what? what? what?!" john b ran over

pope exhaled before answering, "its nothing,"

"god, pope!"

"sorry i thought-" pope started before jj cut him off, "don't do that to me, man,"

"and to quote the hobbit, 'down, down, to goblin town. down, down, you go my lad'" he quoted

"anyways.." ren sighed

it was a little while later and ren noticed they were at four hundred feet so she alerted them, "four hundred feet guys!" again making kiara write it down.

kiara noticed something and said it, "the tides turning!" making john b worry a little

"hey, jj?" john b called

"yup?" he answered

"ten seconds easy," he said, "south-southeast alright?"

"copy that!" jj said

"jj, twenty seconds mid-speed, alright? south!" he shouted again making jj do it.

"keep the tether out of the prop!" he yelled to ren

"i'm trying!" she pulled on it again to get it away.

"jj, keep going!" john b said

"john b! is that good?" jj asked

"we're good!"

"700! let's go! come on baby, don't fail me now," she yelled then whispered.

there was a lot of thunder now and they were in a bit of a pickle.

"jj! hold it steady!" john b yelled

"okay, 900!" ren yelled again

"jj! we're gonna turtle in this storm!" john b yelled

"920!" ren yelled over the thunder

"crank it northwest! ten seconds!" john b yelled

"pope how we doing?" ren asked

"almost there," he said

"john b there's too much current!" kiara yelled helping ren pull in the line,

"come on!" she pulled it back quite hard, "we're gonna lose it!"

"south, southwest, jj! hard!"

"half speed. steady at this bearing jj!" john b yelled really loudly

"what do you got pope? come on man what do you got?" john b asked, "what do you see pope?" ren asked

"nothing. a whole lot of nothing," pope sighed sadly

"what?!" ren yelled

"what do you mean? we should be right over it!" john b checked and looked back at the screen.

"kiara!" pope yelled

"960!" she yelled back, "970!"

"980!" ren yelled

"i'm at the bottom! i'm at the bottom!" pope yelled

"okay, steady here jj!" john b yelled to him,

"you should be seeing something man?!" john b ushered

"alright!" he focused on the screen.

ren and kiara walked to the screen.

"oh my god,"

"good god,"

"see anything?!" jj yelled and asked

"it's the royal merchant," john b smiled making ren smile and laugh a little,

she ran to jj and a hugged him,

"we did it baby!" she yelled,

A//N

so! we finished episode 3 bitches! moving on to the next episode! i'm so excited and i hope you enjoyed this chapter! until next time!

— aaliyah