WE MAKE OUR WAY INTO the hot ass ship. Sweat immediately forms when the red lights bounce off of JJ and I's faces. We hide on either side of the door as men walk past, talking about what could've caused the need for everyone to be in one area. JJ uses his fingers to figure out his many men pass us.

   "Where are we going? Where's dad?"

    Wheezie. Wheezie is here. Shit, I forgot. "I don't know, Wheezie," That's Rose.

     My eyes narrow so I can see the last person.

      Rafe. Rafe is here. With them. My hand reaches to my back pocket and my fingers slide over the top of the gun.

   Kill him, like he did Piper.

    My own mind surprises me. I look at JJ who shakes his head at me when he realizes where my hand is. On the gun.

    The people pass us, which means it's time to lock them in the hull. JJ and I nod at each other and run to the door. I slam my body against it, metal clanking together as the men try to force their way in. I struggle to close it but JJ puts his body against mine and manages to shut the door and lock it. I groan as the men continue to push on the door.

  "There's another door! There's another door!" JJ yells. My eyes land on the other door across from us. "Shit! JJ!" We sprint to the other one and JJ slams it shut. I plant my hands on the door and use all my strength to keep it shut as he locks it. "Okay, okay, let's go find the cross, baby," He grabs my wrist but I wiggle out of it.

      I shake my head, "J, I have to find Rafe." His face drops and it makes me heartbroken. "Sam, you said no stupid plans," His tone is desperate. I caress his face like he did to me earlier, I look into the eyes I love so much, "You saw Piper's body, babe, I can't let him get away with this—"

    "We can get him another time! Please, please, just come get the cross with me," He pleads and his voice cracks, "It's dangerous, Sam, please."

    I move my hand from JJ's face and down at the ground. I don't have time for the dramatics, "I will find you after I find him—"

   "And do what? Kill him? Sam, Ward is alive and he will go after you until you are dead if you kill Rafe. I understand why you want him dead—I want him dead too, okay? Piper didn't deserve that. I know that."

   I pull my bottom lip between my teeth, "Find the cross. I will be okay," I start to walk away from him. "Sam! Sam!"

   "Find the cross!" I start running and grab the gun from my back pocket. If I look back at JJ I'm bound to turn back to him and go with him.

     I wander around. This shit is huge. "Sarah!" John B. I hear John B. If there's anyone Rafe wants dead more than his own sister, it's John B. Red lights light the way around the boat as I follow John B's voice.

    I cock the gun. Shit, is the safety on? Let me check—

     A hand covers my mouth and pulls me back. I use my free hand to claw at the hand. A door is kicked shut and I bite the hand that is around my mouth. "Ow! Fuck!"

     You've gotta be kidding me.

    I quickly turn with my gun pointed at him, "You always show up at the worst fucking times, Weston, Jesus!" I almost chuckle. There stands Weston, in the dark of this random room with his daughter pointing a gun at his head. He chuckles, "Again with this gun shit? You gonna shoot the floor?" He steps towards me. My hands start to shake and I force them to stop.

  Don't be a little bitch, Sam.

  "Why are you even here?" I ask through gritted teeth. Weston claps his hands together, "Ward invited me. Lovely boat—"

   "Why aren't you going with the orders? Do you ever fucking listen?!" I shake the gun at him. Sweat falls down my face. I wasn't ready for Weston. I was ready for Rafe. I can't tell what's worse though.

  "To be fair, I was told to stay in this room until we got to port, so I did listen," Weston smugly smiles at me. "Oh, good to know you listen to them and not your own family," I scoff. I have such a good shot for a bullet to the head.

    "Who was the gun for? Which Cameron?"

    "Rafe," I answer flatly. "Rafe? The hell he do?" He jerks his head back. "He murdered my friend!" I yell, the gun shaking with each word. Weston's eyebrows knit in confusion, "Murdered your friend—-oh—Piper?"

   What? Has he stalked me? "How do you know Piper?" He doesn't answer. "How?!" I yell loudly at him. Weston shoves his hands in his pockets and leans forwards, right into the barrel of the gun. A sick smile forms on his face, "I killed her."

   The blood drains from my face and for a good second, it feels like I can't feel my body. "What? Why? Why'd you kill her?"

   He shrugs and stays against the barrel, "I was told to. Ward told me to kill her. Not Rafe. Pft. Ward said that there was no way that such a young and naive girl could keep such a secret. Was he right? Did she tell you?"

   I pause. Do I tell him the truth? No. I can't prove both him and Ward right. I shake my head, "No. You murdered her for no reason!" I shove the barrel into his skin, a red circle forming. "Well, it wasn't for no reason. It was for money, for me at least." He explains so casually why he murdered a 17 year old girl with no remorse. "You're horrible! You're a fuck up and I'm nothing like you!"

   "Really? Because you're holding a gun to someone's head, which is something I've done. Told you, I hate you because you're exactly like me!" His voice raises but I don't flinch. My finger lingers over the trigger. "I'd never kill an innocent teenage girl! Or beat up my wife and kids and fuck their whole life up—"

   "You're with JJ Maybank, you're gonna end up the same exact way you grew up. With a shitty father figure that hurts you and the God forsaken kids—" My body reacts before my brain does and I pistol whip him across the face. Weston stumbles back and I can see the blood on his face already. I walk over to him as he slides down the walk and to the floor.

  Blood pours into his mouth as he smiles at me, "You just pistol whip me?" He pants and wipes the blood away. I huff and point the gun at him again, "Yes. I fucking did. JJ and I are nothing like our shitty dads so don't ever, EVER, talk shit about him again. Got it?" My chest moves up and down rapidly. My finger goes back to the trigger.

   "Whoa!" Weston puts his hands up, "You've gotten so angry. Why's that?"

    "You know exactly why, asshole. Quit it!"

     "You wanna shoot me. Come on! Shoot me!" Do it. It's what you've been waiting for your whole life. To kill Weston Vernon. Why am I hesitating? "Shoot me! Just like I did Piper—"

    The shot goes off before I can even think about it. Piper's name triggered a feeling in me as the man that shot her sits in front of me. Weston's scream is deafening. He's not dead? Where'd I shoot him?

   "You fucking bitch! You can't even kill me right!" I look at his hand that now holds his stomach. I back up from him and place the gun in my pocket. My body shakes as I run with my back to the door.

  "Get back here! You fuck up!" I open the door and slam it, leaving Weston to fend for himself even though the shot probably rang through the whole ship. My body shakes. Holy shit. He can bleed out. That'll kill him. I hope so, right?

  I take a shaky breath and force myself to run to find JJ, like I promised.

  My legs almost give out from under me as I try to stop the sobs that try to rack my body. God, my chest hurts. It hurts so much. I find the top of the boat, light shining through that lets me know the surface is near. I run to the ladder and quickly climb it. My body falls to my knees as the sun hits me. Is there blood on me?

       I look down and all over me. No blood. Not like that night but when I look at my hand, I swear I saw the blood that stained them. Piper's blood. I don't feel bad for what I did. I think I'm just more in shock at what I did. I see two people turn the corner and I quickly jump to my feet. "Sam?"

    "Kie?" I yell, "JJ!" I run to the two of them. "Babe, oh my God!" JJ has his arms wide open as I run into them. "Don't tell me that gunshot was you!" Kie pants. I hide my head in JJ's chest, which is an answer in itself. His hand goes through my hair, "You shot Rafe?" He asks. I move my head from his chest, "No. No. Some random guy but it didn't even hit him. Don't worry," I lie. They don't need to know what the hell I did and add to the stress of this. "Where are the others?" I ask and sniffle. "I don't see them—"

   "Guys!" Kie calls out and we turn around. Shit. There's someone from the ship in front of us. He whips out a knife. A long. Ass. Knife. 

   "Of course. There's more of you," He scoffs, "Get down on your knees."

      I ball my fists up and try to mentally prepare myself. "Yeah, that's not gonna happen—" The man swings at us and JJ and I duck. He swings at Kie and she just misses it. I push the guys hand into the boat as JJ lands a hit on him. Where's Bailey? She was with Kie. The guy jumps back. "Kie!" I yell. "Yeah?"

   "Where's Bailey?" Kie slams the metal door into the guy's face, "With Pope. Where's John B?" Kie yells as she leans over the side of the boat. I cup my hands around my mouth, "John B!" I yell. There's no response from him. All I can do is worry knowing Ward is on the boat.

     The man gets up and immediately swings at JJ with the knife. My heart drops as JJ barely misses the blade. He smacks JJ in the chest and he falls to the ground. The bearded man turns Kie and I. "Kie!" I yell as she tries to untie a rope. She ducks at his blade. I jump in front of her and grunt as I kick the man in the stomach. He quickly recovers and runs at us with the knife in hand. "Kie!" I yell again and push her away but JJ jumps on the man's back and stops the knife swing. He has the man in a headlock. My heart races at the scene in front of me.

   "JJ!" I yell desperately. Kie and I gasp loudly when the man elbows JJ. My boyfriend groans in pain but I have no time to run over to him. The guy swings at Kie and I and we duck again only for him to hit JJ with an uppercut. I let out a scream as JJ's body flops over the railing and into the water. The splash and his body makes is enough for me to not even think about my fear of the water.

     I run and jump over the railing. I close my eyes when I see the large body of water below me and right before I hit the water, I can hear Kie call my name. I hear the splash of my own body. My cheeks puff up with air and I open my eyes for a second to see JJ face down in the water as I reach the surface.

  "JJ!" I yell as I gasp for air and swim over to his unconscious body. "JJ! Sam!" I look up at Kie. "Kie," I pant, "I can't—I can't flip him over!" I groan and cry but I can't flip JJ over. Kie jumps over and lands pretty close to me. The water from her splash slightly hit me. "Kie! Grab his legs!" I finally find the strength and my arms no longer feel weak as I hold the top of his body to mine.

     Kie holds his legs up. "JJ, baby! Wake up, please!" I sob, my tears mixing with the ocean. "J! Wake up!" Kie pleads. A wave hits us and I struggle to hold JJ. I hold his face in my hands, "JJ! Stay with us! Stay with me, babe!" A sob racks my body. "Sam! If another wave hits us, we're fucked!"

   "I know! I know. You can let go, I got him," I yell as the waves thrash around and I struggle under his body weight. "No! No! I'm not leaving you! No way!" She groans and holds his legs up even more. I swallow hard as the weight of his body starts to weaken me. "Kie! We can't leave him here!" If JJ dies, I go with him. There's no way I'm letting him die alone. She nods knowingly, "Yeah, I know," Her voice cracks.

   "Don't you fucking die, asshole. Don't die!" I pant and curse at him. "We won't. We won't. John B is coming!" Kie shouts. "Help! John B, Sarah, Pope, Bailey....Cleo! Anyone!" I strain my voice to yell. "John B! Help!" Kie yells after me.

    My body is getting weaker and weaker. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, JJ," I quietly say but a sob interrupts me. I hear a boat motor and I whip my head. "JJ! Sam! Kie!"

   "John B! Help us!" I try to push the three of us towards them. The boat speeds towards us and my heart breaks as John B calls out for his best friend. "Help, I can't—" I feel so stupid and weak for not being able to hold up JJ. "You're okay, I got him!" John B pulls him up by his shoulders. Sarah gives me her hand and pulls me into the boat, Bailey does the same to Kie, "Kie, oh my, God!" I get a glimpse of the two girls hugging. "I'm okay, are you okay?" Kie's voice trails off.

   I wipe the tears from my eyes and crawl over to JJ. I hold his head in my hands with Kie right next to me, "Baby, please."

   The engine starts sputtering as I plead for my boyfriend to wake up. "John B!" Bailey yells. "No. No. No. Hey!" John B goes over to the engine. "What's going on?"

     The others yell but all I can do is hold JJ to my chest. I lean down to his ear, "Please wake up. I want our house in Oregon and your hut. I want the dog that runs down the beach with us and the cat you'll claim to hate. Please, please, baby," I hold his head and rock back and forth. Tears start to blur my vision again.

     "We're stalling out!" John B pulls the string again. "You serious? We're sitting ducks!" Pope groans. The engine continues to sputter. I lift my head up only for a second and I notice Rafe pointing a gun at us. "JB!" I smack his bicep. "I'm trying!" He pulls it again and the engine starts. I sigh a small sigh of relief and then go back to JJ. We all start pleading and crying for JJ to wake up. "JJ Maybank, wake the fuck up, please!" I yell and pat his chest.

    His eyes open and he starts coughing, water spills out of his mouth. "There you go, yeah, cough it out!" John B encourages him. He sits up slightly but my hands don't move from his body, "Oh! My God! Babe!" I smack his back along with Kie as he continues to cough.

   "Welcome to the land of the living, dude," Pope jokes. "No CPR needed, huh?" John B laughs. He looks at Kie and then at me. The smile on my face is so big it's starting to hurt but I don't give a shit. "Hey, dumbass," I swallow the cry back as he stares at me. A smirk starts on his face, "Sup?" Kie gently smacks him. We start laughing as I bring his head to my own and hold him close. "Just always looking for attention, huh?" John B says.

    "Whatever it takes to make a pretty lady save me, right?" JJ somehow beams his bright smile at me. "You scared me, baby," I kiss the top of his head and then I pepper his face in kisses. I completely ignore the salt taste that gets in my mouth. His hand goes to where he got hit, "What the hell happened?"

   "The blunt end of a machete," Kie explains to him as she puts a rag to the bleeding area. "A machete?"

   "The blunt end," I reiterate. "Next time, duck," Cleo chuckles. "You just love fucking with us, Maybank, huh?" Bailey smacks his chest. "It is my specialty. And, I'll try to remember to duck the next time a machete comes at me."

    In the distance, we can hear the men hoisting up the cross. We lost. Again. "This shit ain't over," Pope says.

   "No it ain't," John B responds. "Hell no," I shake my head and narrow my eyes to see if Rafe is there. He might not have killed Piper but I sure as hell still have a bone to pick with him.

    IT HAS TO BE HOURS before we see land.

    Us five girls sit on a random beach as we watch the boys struggle to get the boat onto land. They finally make it so it won't float away. "Good job, guys!" I cheer them on. "Whoa," JJ wobbles a bit and I shoot up from my seat. "You okay, baby?" I lace our fingers together. "Yeah. Still a little dizzy. How many times have you called me baby? I feel like I recall you saying that's cringey—"

   "Desperate times call for desperate measures," I smile at him and he returns it. "Okay, so where the hell are we?" Bailey asks and smacks her thighs. "Deserted island. Unknown location," Pope says. "Okay, so we don't know. Cool," Bailey says sarcastically. I take a seat next to Sarah. The whole ride here, all I thought about was the bullet that I shot into Weston. I don't regret it, don't get me wrong but, I was ready for Rafe. None of them know what I did and I hope it dies with Weston.

   "Plan A, huh, Pope?" JJ laughs, "That went well."

    My eyes drift off to the vast land around us. Miles and miles of ocean and sand. "This is the lowest we can go," Pope says and sits down right in my zone out view, "We literally have nothing else to lose. The cross, gone."

   "The gold—gone," Sarah hesitates. "Dads seem to be gone too," I rest my head in my palm. Everyone's eyes are on me, "What? Sorry, too soon," I throw my hands up. "Seriously, if we had a nickel for every time we got beat up, I'd say we're at a dollar fifty."

Bailey gets up and dusts the sand off, "I think you'd have more money than us, Maybank given the detentions I used to see you in," She chuckles but JJ rolls his eyes at her. "Well, it's more than I got on me," Kie says.

  I squint as the wind hits against my face. "That somehow doesn't make me feel better," Sarah sighs next to me. My hair is gonna look like shit from the damn salt water but at least my healing wound will get better quicker. "Yeah, you're right. But, I mean, we've......we've had some good stuff happen, right?" I glare at John B. "What good shit has happened since we found that boat a month ago?" If only we hadn't gone on the HMS Pogue that day. If only John B didn't wanna fish. If only.....

   I stare at John B and wait for an answer. "Uh.......the boiler room," He looks towards Cleo and Pope but the two shake their heads, "What? If the boiler didn't explode, I wouldn't have gotten away from Rafe. I couldn't have gotten the Zodiac and gotten us out of here."

   "That wasn't luck. That thing was gonna blow the second I stopped feeding it!"

    "Stealing my thunder, Cleo, um....."

    "Sorry."

     Even if Weston is dead, the gun fell out of my pocket when I jumped, so some fish are shooting up a coral reef right now. The evidence is gone. No worries on that front.

   "Okay, Pope," JB continues to try to find the good, "you're related to Denmark Tanny. That's crazy—"

   "And I lost all his inheritance," Pope shoots it down. "You know what?" John B gets up and walks past us, "Guys, this is it. This is the Pogue life! We are in the Caribbean. It's our own little slice of paradise. With my best friends, with my family!" My heart swells at John B calling me family, even if he calls me his sister pretty often, "I don't know. I wouldn't wanna do it with anyone else. Look, and while you guys were complaining about every little thing, JJ," He walks over to my boyfriend and I turn in my spot.

     JJ stabs the knife into the tree. "I was looking at those burly lefts," John B points. At stare at the big waves coming in. "You're gonna surf? With what?" I ask. "There's some slabs out there, plus, you said we can teach you," He smiles at me. "Kie, I know you see those waves. You wanna go out there!" John B says to the girl. "Like Sam said, no boards."

   "We can bodysurf till we make some boards—"

   "Lame!" Kie chuckles. I turn towards Sarah and nudge her, "You okay?" She's in a daze. Her eyes are half glossed over. "The shot was you—right?" I freeze up for a second and then remember she knew I had the gun. "Yeah, why?" I tilt my head at her. She squints at the sun in her eyes and leans down to me, "Was it Weston?" She whispers. My eyes widen and that's enough of an answer for Sarah. She nods softly and places a hand on my thigh. "Where's Ward?" I almost hesitate to ask.

I can see her blink a few times before looking up at me, "Dead," She sniffles. She...she killed him or John B? I don't wanna ask anymore questions, actually. I'll let her tell me when she needs to.

  "There's nobody around. We could squat here for a bit. Kind of belongs to us now, huh?" Pope says. I look around us. Not a single building in sight. "You got a point," JB says and the two boys do their handshake.

     I stand up from my spot next to Sarah, her hand falls off my thigh. "Poguelandia," JJ puts on a posh accent. He looks at me and opens his arms. I feel so safe in JJ's arms. By JJ. With JJ. I'm scared if I tell if what I did, that I possibly murdered my own dad, that he'll be terrified of me. They'll all be terrified of me. JJ's arm rubbing up and down my own pulls me from my thoughts.

    "I'm gonna make a flag. It's gonna have a chicken on it. With a coconut bra, smoking a J." We all snicker at him as I start to imagine the flag in my head. "And in Crocs," JJ finishes. "I could use a J," Kie says. I sigh into JJ's bicep, "Me too, Kie. Can we smoke any of the plants here?" I look around at the leaves and trees. "Don't try it," Pope shakes his head.

  "Can we vote?" Sarah asks with a laugh. "The chicken is in remembrance of the one JJ killed—"

  "Babe, why? Why'd you bring that up?"

   "Why Crocs though?" Kie asks. "Plenty of colors!" JJ explains. Bailey puts her hand out to Kie in front of us, "Full Pogue?" She raises an eyebrow. "Full Pogue, baby," Kie says as Bailey pulls her up. I watch as they walk away from JJ and I.

    "Princess."

     "Babe?" I look up at him. My heart drops a bit. I don't ever want him scared of me.

   "I love you, I don't think I've said that in a while," JJ moves hair from my face. I laugh a bit, "I love you too. Don't die on me like that again, asshole," My arms wrap around his body. "As long as you don't die on me, I'm not dyin'. You die. I die," He rests his head on mine but I frown. "J, don't say that."

    "Lovebirds! Come 'ere!" John B yells at us. "Oh, shut it!" I unwrap from JJ and run over John B, pushing him with a giggle.

    I've always been terrified of the thought of my mind consuming me. I've been through a lot, abused my whole life, abandoned, used. None of those things scare me more than my own brain falling in on itself like a bridge on fire.

    I'm so resilient and I hate it because—I keep finding ways to not let my brain completely consume itself but—I want to break. I want to have an excuse to leave for days and get high and come back with a new outlook on life. I want to let my mind and body do these reckless things, more reckless than I do now, just so I have this outlet and just fade away but my goddamn brain won't let me.

    The others go ahead of me. My feet dig into the sand. I'm hoping that whatever I did on that boat, whether I murdered my own father or not, I hope the ocean takes the secret with it. I doubt it though. Weston was right on one thing. We've both got big mouths. If the fucker lived, he'll talk. And I'll be fucked.

   Waves crash behind us. The opposite element sitting in front of us, giving us warmth. Oddly enough, I feel somewhat at peace. Sitting around a fire with the most important people to me. A new friend. I wish Piper was here though. I wish Vanessa and Blake were here. I thought I had nothing to lose but, I had everything to lose as soon as I shot that damn bullet. I want him dead, don't get me wrong, but at what cost? Will the cost even matter?

It sure as hell doesn't right now, as I sit here trying to cook a fish JJ caught for me specifically.

   All that matters, really, that the people around me are safe.

      BLAKE'S POV

      "She's with the Pogues, you know that Vanessa," I down the beer as my twin sister rushes out to print posters out of Sam. She's not missing. Wherever JJ is, Sam is. Wherever the Pogue's are, Sam is. "Really? Because what Rafe told me says the opposite—-"

   "I told you not to go—"

   "Blake," Vanessa slams her hands down on the table in front of me, "Our sister is missing. Our friends that we care about are missing. I don't give a fuck about the gold, okay? I don't care what they're chasing after," Vanessa's voice cracks and I start to feel bad, "That's our sister. Who hates the ocean, might I add. I will fucking find her."

   Vanessa leaves the apartment, missing posters in hands. Meanwhile, the beer warms in mine.

       You'd think as an older brother I'd be panicking more but as I stare at the green dot on my phone, there's no reason to be. The real question—is why the hell are they in the Bahamas?

HOLY SHIT??!!! another sam vernon book done but this time we must wait for her:( thank u sm for the support on the first two books guys i seriously miss writing sam n bailey sm but i cannot wait for y'all to see act 3. i do want to mention i have 2 other books going on right now, both stranger things and at some point an original book. but seriously thank u guys sm. i miss these characters n i just miss outerbanks in general sm but <333 omg i feel like i need to keep talking bc i just can't believe it. idk man. almost a year of writing sam n jj n now i have to wait for them. but thank u for the support again holy fuck love u guys