XLIX. death surrounds me

When the Pogues arrived at Cousin Ricky's, JJ fled the truck to go knock on the door and the others scrambled to carry Pope. "Come on, buddy. We'll fix you up." Bridger told him and patted him on the chest.

"Ricky!" JJ banged on the screen door. "Ricky, hey, I got a problem! I know you're mad at me!"

"Remember that time you stole my ambulance?" Ricky shouted at him through the open door. He flipped JJ off and slammed it shut.

"Ricky!"

Bridger ran up to the door and started hitting it with his fist. "Hey, look man, I know what happened was fucked up, but, our friend's in trouble! He can't breathe!" He yelled.

"Please! We need help! He got stung by a wasp! He's having a reaction! Please help!" Sarah cried out.

JJ went back to harshly knocking on the door. John B and Kiara struggled to keep a hold on Pope, his face completely swollen and his breathing almost nonexistent.

"Dude, come on. Help us, please!" Bridger shouted again with another harsh knock on the door.

Ricky opened the front door with an annoyed huff. "Alright! Alright! Who can't breathe?"

"Look at him! Help my friend!" John B begged.

He stepped out of the way and Bridger and Sarah ran inside. "Hey, nice to meet you!" He quickly said without making eye contact.

"Nice to meet you. Sorry!" Sarah apologized and the two of them swiped everything off of the closest table. "Put him here!"

"You know I wouldn't have come to you if it wasn't an emergency." JJ said to Ricky and Kiara laid Pope down on the table. "Hang in there, buddy."

"What's wrong with him?"

"Wasps!" Sarah answered quickly.

"Wasps?" Ricky repeated.

"Yes!"

"Is he allergic to wasps?"

"Obviously!" "Clearly!" Kiara and Bridger yelled at once.

"Raise his legs!" JJ demanded loudly.

John B elevated Pope's legs. "What's his name?" Ricky asked another question.

"Pope."

"Hey, Pope." He stood over Pope. "Okay, hang tight. I gotta go get my kit."

"Hang tight? Ricky!" JJ yelled after him.

Bridger slapped him on the arm. "Go help him, now!" He barked.

Pope's wheezing increased, and he felt his heart rate quicken until his chest started hurting. "What the fuck's taking so long?" He hollered to Ricky and JJ.

"Where's your kit?" Kiara yelled.

Finally, they came running back into the room and Ricky was holding a black duffle bag. "Okay, okay! I got it! I got it! I got it!"

"Okay, what do we do now?"

"You don't do anything cause you're not a paramedic." He said pointedly. Ricky looked down at Pope again. "Hey, Pope. How you doing, man? You look like shit." He consoled him while taking a needle out of his kit. "Here's the thing. This is a pediatric dose of epinephrine."

The Pogues looked at each other. "Okay, w-what does that mean?" Bridger stuttered, his hands nervously placed on his hips.

"It is ten times a normal dose. So if. . .if it doesn't stop his heart, it'll help him. But I gotta use the whole thing or it won't work, and I'm not going down if he dies."

He sucked in a fearful breath. Bridger's hands went from his hips into his hair and he tugged on it. There was a silence as the group of friends processed the information.

"Okay! Fine! Do it! Do it!" JJ blurted out while panicking because they were running out of time.

They watched Ricky injected Pope was the epinephrine. He released a wheeze and he pulled the needle out. "Okay, um, that's it."

"Now what?" Asked Sarah.

"We wait."

Bridger put one of his hands on JJ's shoulder and he kept his eyes on Pope. He wiped his nose, not being able to keep still because he was so anxious.

Pope didn't move. His eyes were closed and there was no sound or sight of breathing. The panicked settled back into all of them. "You killed him." Uttered Kiara.

Ricky immediately shook his head. "No—"

"Yes you did!" She shouted at him.

"What the fuck?" Bridger slipped out with a shaky breath and he brought his hands to his hair again.

"I didn't do shit. I did exactly what you asked me to do."

"Please! Please! Pope, please, come on!" She cried over him.

JJ released a shaky breath. "Pope, come on bro." He pleaded while shaking him.

Bridger started to freak it. "No, no, no." He said to himself and tugged on his hair again.

Death was something he had always known. The death of his mom, the death of his relationship with his father, the death of his friendship with Rafe. Everything around him always found a way to slip through his fingers. But Pope was his friend. They all were. Losing any of them was enough to scare the shit out of him, and Bridger couldn't handle it.

But when Pope started to breathe again, he released the loudest sigh of relief and he pressed his hand to his chest, feeling if his heart was still beating. "Oh, thank fuck."

Pope started coughing and all of them laughed. "There he is. That's my boy right there!" JJ smiled big and pointed at him.

"Welcome back to Earth, buddy." Bridger continued to laugh.

Pope sat up and he started panting. "It's hot. It's really hot, guys." He exclaimed and took off his jacket.

"Okay, take it easy."

"I gotta get outside."

Bridger furrowed his brows and watched Pope jump off the table.

"Simmer down." Said John B but he was ignored.

"Hey, Pope, buddy, chill out—"

"IT'S HOT!" Pope exclaimed again and sprinted outside.

Bridger took a second and scratched the back of his neck. "Should we—" he pointed to the door.

John B and Kiara nodded. "Yes."

The three of them took off running. "Pope, chill out, man!" Bridger yelled as he started running around like crazy.

"You're good!" John B shouted.

"Let's go get that cross!" Pope exclaimed energetically and stated jumped. "Game six, baby. I'm Michael Jordan!"

"Yeah, game six."

"Watch out for cars!"

If Bridger had a nickel for every time they let Pope drive under the influence of something, he'd have two nickels. "Why do we keep letting him do this?" He spoke out loud and clutched tightly to the handle in the back seat of Mike's truck.

"Uh, Pope, you're driving pretty fast." Said Sarah.

Pope only cheered out the open window.

"Pope, last to judge, but I think you should slow down a little." JJ panicked.

"That would definitely delay our arrival to the cross. We gotta get there." He spoke at a fast pace and stepped harder on the gas.

"Oh god, I'm gonna be sick." Bridger moaned and leaned his head back on the headrest.

"Why did we let him drive again?" Kiara asked from the passenger seat.

"Because I said I'd rip your ears off."

Sarah nodded. "He said he'd rip our ears off."

Pope giggled afterwards. "I was joking about that, by the way."

"I wouldn't put it past you, buddy." Said Bridger and his hand clutched tighter around the handle.

Kiara nodded. "It's a really funny joke."

"Hey, how ya feeling, buddy? How ya doing?" John B asked him, completely on edge.

"Uh, fantastic!" Pope exclaimed. "I don't know what JJ's cousin gave me, but I am moving right now!" He waved his hand.

"Remind me to thank him if we don't die."

"Okay. Well, um, you're going really fast right now."

"Yeah, really fast!" The driver yelled and turned in his seat to look at him.

"Yo, eyes on the road!" Bridger screamed while Sarah yelled out, "POPE!"

He served and Bridger tensed up his whole body. "We're gonna die. We're gonna die. We're gonna die." He freaked out.

"Bridge, you're not helping." JJ hissed at him.

"What exactly do you think will?"

"I don't know if you noticed, but there's these giant oak trees all along the road. They're like six inches off the ground." John B exclaimed shakily.

They suddenly saw headlight coming their way. "Car. Car!" Bridger raised his voice.

"You don't need to pass. You don't need to pass." Kiara panicked.

Pope swerved and pissed the truck, all of them making noises of fear. "What an asshole."

She inhaled a sharp breath. "He was going to speed limit."

"Anyone else feel light headed? Or is it just me?" Bridger asked and touched his forehead.

"We're not gonna get to the cross if we're dead, Pope!" John B yelled.

"We're not gonna die. It's our divine right to get that cross!" Pope declared, looking over his shoulder.

"LOOK AT THE ROAD!"

Seeing that they were about to run into a tree, Pope jerked the wheel and the truck started to spin. Bridger screamed and grabbed onto JJ. They crashed into an oak tree and the glass shattered, the air bags flying out from the impact. He released multiple shaky breaths.

Bridger flung the truck door open and he fell out. "Oh my god. Oh my god." He repeated collapsed onto the street. For a second when he looked up, Bridger thought he saw his mom standing there, watching him, wearing the same black dress that she was buried in.

"Hey, B," JJ said and quickly got out of the truck. He grabbed his arm. "Bridge, are you okay?"

When he blinked, all he was looking at was the dark woods. "Uhh," he started. Bridger scrambled back to his feet. "Yeah, yeah. I'm okay."

"Are you sure?" JJ asked him, looking concerned.

"Well, my heart's still beating, so, I guess I am."

"We're gonna have to walk the rest of the way. I'm going to get my cross." Pope declared and took off walking.

"Pope, wait up!" JJ hollered his way.

There was a truck coming down the road. "Pope, watch out," Bridger warned him and his face fell when the truck drove by them and he saw who it was. Rafe and Renfield. He and Rafe seemed to lock eyes for a minute, a very slow minutes, and Bridger saw him frown.

Immediately he knew. Bridger sucked in a deep breath, and he felt anger bubble in his chest. He glared at a tree in front of him, and he closed his eyes. His hands squeezed into fists.

When they got to the church, the cross was gone, and Bridger sat on the bench with his elbows on his legs, and his head in his hands. He was sick of this shit. "We need a plan. We need a plan." JJ repeated over and over again while panicking. "All right, here's what we're gonna do. We'll grab some kerosene tanks from the Chateau, then we. . .we go to my dad's shop and grab some dynamite. And then we drive down to Charleston and tell this lady who she's messing with. Cause this is some bullshit, y'all!"

"Committing arson isn't going to help anything, J."

He threw his arms up. "Well then what do you suggest, B?"

"Not killing anybody!" Bridger responded back loudly. He paused for a second. "Well, maybe Rafe. Sorry, Sarah."

Sarah waved her hand, not having the energy to respond.

They fell into silence, not knowing what to do. "Maybe we should just give up." Bridger spoke again and his hands fell to his lap.

They all looked at him like he was crazy. "Why the hell would you say that?" Kiara asked him in disbelief.

He threw his hands up. "What else are we supposed to do? It's gone. Every time we take a step forward, we take ten steps back."

"We can't just give up!"

Pope was standing behind the podium in deep thought, his eyes glued to the floor. "Denmark would've stood right here. . .preaching to everyone he set free. A slave, a sole survivor of the Royal Merchant, he told the gold and the cross, and he brought them both shore and used it to free every person who walked through those doors. He made a church, a family, a congregation. . .a home. And the Limbrey's took everything from him. They sicked dogs on his wife and his kids, and when he tried to get her remains, they hung him!" He raised his voice. "Well, I'm done. I'm tired of this shit. This is not how this is gonna end. So are we going or not?"

Bridger frowned and he looked down at his lap. He could want to give up all he wanted, to forget the whole treasure hunt and go back to their normal lives, but it wasn't his decision to make. And at the end of the day, he would never be able to understand how Pope was feeling, or be able to put himself into his shoes.

They all looked at each other, their eyes meeting. "Well, if you put it that way. . ."

"Hell yeah, we're coming, Pope!"

When Bridger saw the police lights and tow truck, he groaned and threw his head back. "Man, come on."

"Oh, shit. They found the truck." Said Kiara and she hang to panic.

"Of course!"

"Just relax. Relax." John B hissed at them and adjusted in the seat.

Bridger tossed his head back again and banged it on the headrest. "We can literally never win." He grumbled to himself.

Shoupe walked up to the Twinkie and John B rolled down the window. "Well, lookee here." He said loudly and shined his flashlight at them.

John B nodded his way. "Good evening, officer." He said casually.

"Sheriff."

"Sheriff. That's right."

Bridger waved two fingers his way. "Sup."

"Speed kills, huh?"

Shoupe wasn't impressed. "I pulled the tags and I know whose truck that is." He pointed the flashlight at Kiara, seeing her on the floor of the van. "Hey! Kie, you drop your weed pin back there?"

She sheepishly showed her face. "Found it." She responded and leaned back against the seat.

"Your parents put out an APB on ya, just thought you should know. I'm taking you home."

Both her and Bridger's jaws dropped. "What?" They said in unison. "That booted me and now—!"

"Or I can pull you all in for leaving the scene of an accident."

Pope leaned forward. "Sheriff, I just wanna say that this is all my fault. She had nothing to do with this. I am 100% responsible." He took the fall for her.

"Nothing to do with it?" Shoupe repeated in disbelief. "Uh huh. You wanna try that again? Your parents reported this truck missing four hours ago, and the keys were missing from the house."

It took everything Bridger had to not tell him to fuck off.

"Okay. Okay." Kiara held up her hands.

He looked satisfied. "Good. Plumb." He said to the other officer.

Plumb went around the Twinkie to slide open the for. Bridge turned around in the seat. "Hey, if anything happens, call me okay? I'll come get you."

Kiara smiled thankfully and got out of the van. She faced them all before she left. "I gotta deal. Hit me up later and make sure I'm still alive."

Bridger sighed and watched her leave with Shoupe to go to the tow truck. He felt extremely frustrated with Mike and Anna, finding it hypocritical that they kicked Kiara out and now suddenly felt the need to act like good parents and want her back home.

Me finally updating my OBX books after figuring out the show is going to be released in two parts ✌🏼