CHAPTER EIGHT
( square groupers )

"HEY!" Aurora announced upon her arrival to one of the grandest mansions on Figure Eight, sliding through and soon closing back up the gigantic double doors.

She glanced around the huge home in all of its glory, expecting to hear a greeting from Ingrid's mother like she normally did; or expecting Ingrid herself to come flying around the corner and cling onto her legs, tendrils of her messy blonde hair adorning her rosey cheeks. Instead, came silence. Aurora furrowed her brows, walking over to the familiar kitchen and setting her bag down on the white and grey swirled marble countertops.

"Mrs. Roberts?" she called out again, her voice giving off a slight echo.

"Sarah, get down! Now!"

Her head snapped over to the sliding glass doors that led to the lavish back patio when she heard an aggressive command leave none other than Rose Cameron's lips. Oh how she despised that narcissistic bitch.

Aurora strode intently to the back patio with quick footsteps, her eyes catching the defiant, attention-seeking Kook Princess balancing on a wooden beam and heading for a small boat; the beam covered in live wires that had been severed from the storm. She was practically asking to be killed.

"Oh, fuck me." the girl muttered exasperatedly under her breath with a roll of her eyes, joining the few people outside who were ruling the teenager to stop what she was doing and return to safety.

"Rose, calm down, I'm an athlete! I got this." Sarah brushed it off as if it were nothing; as if her life wasn't hanging in the balance.

"Ingrid!" Aurora jogged promptly over to Ingrid, who seemed to be waiting patiently behind Sarah for some reason. "Ingrid! Hey!" she exhaled, scooping up the girl and throwing her onto her hip as she continued watch Sarah Cameron's big show.

"She's getting elephant." the child explained, Aurora's eyes scanning the area until she spotted what she was talking about; her favorite stuffed animal on the boat Sarah was creeping towards.

"You're gonna get electrocuted, get down!" Rose screeched again, her words laced with rage. "Are you kidding me?! Get— oh my God...."

Sarah grinned mischievously at her arguably evil step-mother, shimmying her shoulders with a playful spark in her eyes.

"Sarah, that's not funny!"

It wasn't until Topper shouted those words that Aurora even realized he was on the scene, turning her head to regretfully spot Rafe and Kelce on either side of him; all shaded from the cruel summer sun by a gigantic tree embezzled with wild Spanish moss.

"When I tell your dad about this Sarah..." Rose threatened futilely.

"Little Fried Sarah." Rafe observed with a complete and utter lack of care; not even possessing a sliver of concern over his own sister's potential death.

"Rafe, your sisters crazy, man." Kelce threw in.

Aurora rolled her eyes, still supporting the weight of the little girl in her arms as she turned her attention back to Sarah, who was close to reaching her destination. She continued to tip-toe across the beam and step carefully over any fallen wire that crossed her path.

"I see her!" she called with a bright smile, Ingrid giggling excitedly in Aurora's arms.

"Sarah!" Rose continued. "When I tell your dad—"

Suddenly, a gasp left the daredevil's lips as she lost her balance and toppled over into the boat; followed by a high-pitched shriek as the watercraft rocked up against the dock. Everyone was quick to react, Topper yelling out his girlfriend's name at the same time Ingrid cried out for her; he and Kelce racing urgently over to the boat.

As much as Aurora wanted to strain her neck to see if the Kook Princess had actually met her match, not that she wanted Sarah to be dead or anything, she gasped herself and turned her back to the boat; shielding Ingrid's view from a potentially rough scene.

"Sarah!" Topper shouted again, he and Kelce's jogs slowing as they peered into the boat; Rafe waltzing nonchalantly up alongside his friends, sipping on the unknown contents of a cup.

Aurora let out a breath of relief when Kelce started laughing, bringing a hand up to his mouth as Topper's face fell flat and a scowl formed on his lips.

"It's disconnected!" she heard the performer herself bust a gut, turning back around to see Sarah clambering up out of the boat; playfully swinging one of the long wires in her hands.

"Holy shit!"

"For the love of God." Rose remarked, bitter-tongued; angrily throwing on her sunglasses and parading back into her extravagant house.

"She got you!"

"Absolute sucker!" Sarah exclaimed with a wide grin, securing the stuffed animal in her hands. "Topper you should see your face!" she continued to tease.

The boy finally lost his patience a little. "Yeah! Okay yeah, sorry that I care. Alright, guilty."

"Congrats, pussy. You're officially her bitch." Rafe placed a hand on his friend's shoulder.

Aurora scoffed, over the whole pointless, drama-filled situation as she began to march back inside with Ingrid only for her name to be unexpectedly called.

"Hey, Aurora!"

She spun back around with a glare that warned the Kooks to stay away. Did they listen? No. Topper, Kelce and Rafe all ambled up to her; looks on their faces that told her she was about to partake in some fowl langue.

"Ingrid, go pick out a movie for us to watch." she instructed the little girl without ever breaking eye contact with the boys, the child contently obeying as Aurora placed her feet back on the earth and she scampered off into the house. "Hey, Top. Your girlfriend got you all wound up?" she quirked a brow, placing her hands on her hips as the boy's jaw clenched. He was in no mood to be messed with right now.

Instead of a reply from the boy she had addressed, Rafe Cameron was meeting her gaze with his azure, cloudy eyes. The pair of eyes that had always unsettled Aurora in a way she couldn't quite place her finger on. She strongly disliked all the Kooks, and she found herself constantly annoyed with them and the way they treated her friends, but she was not actually scared of any of them. Any of them but Rafe.

Not only was she determined the almost 20 year old had a screw or two loose, probably from the way she'd observed him being raised in the shadow of his diamond of a sister his whole life, but above anyone else on the whole island, he had the power to singlehandedly destroy her reputation. All he had to do was utter a mere few words. Not her reputation among the Outer Banks— that already was jacked and she couldn't care less about what majority of people thought about her. But her reputation among her friends; the Pogues.

Yes, a few others knew what he knew, but it wasn't like they were going to go knocking down John B's door, or Pope Heyward's door, or Kiara Carrera's door screaming to the world Aurora's truth that she'd fought so hard to keep hidden.

Rafe Cameron was like a pack of TNT to the girl. If she dare ever light his fuse, she was certain he'd take her down with a single blow. Sure, she could hit him back a good few times, but the damage on her own life would already be done and it would be positively irreversible. So tip-toed around eggshells when it came to the unstable boy, wondering if he knew just how much power he held over her, and if she would always feel so frightened around him.

"A little birdie told me that blonde poguie buddy of yours pulled a gun on this fine gentleman right here." he spoke passive aggressively, throwing his arm roughly around Topper's shoulder who stared angrily ahead; not entertaining their conversation in the slightest.

"Interesting," she began. She had to bicker with him at least a tiny bit not to draw suspicion, of course. Everyone would find it odd if she was nice to Rafe Cameron and a bitch to everyone else; they were natural born enemies. "A little birdie told me that your blonde kook buddy was drowning my best friend in the ocean, so JJ stepped in and protected him."

"Oh is that what happened?" he jeered, Aurora clenching her fists behind her back.

"Funny, I don't remember it that way." Kelce played along.

"Huh. What I do distinctly recall, Kelce, is that both JJ and I stepped in to help our friend, while you watched like a pussy from the sidelines as Topper got the absolute shit beaten out of him."

His jaw tightened; that sure shut him up.

"Hey, Wheezie!" Topper suddenly called, his eyeline beyond Aurora's shoulder as he waved down the bratty thirteen year old, taking off towards her. "Wheezie!"

"Eat shit, Pogue." Kelce spat, spinning on his heel and marching away.

"Mmmm, shit." Aurora grinned sardonically, rubbing her belly with the palm of her hand. "My favorite."

Rafe leaned in, those scary blue eyes too close for her liking. His voice spoke just above a whisper, yet sounded deadly. "Just tell your friends to watch their backs."

Her eyes darkened once it was just the two of them. "You better not fucking touch—"

"Or what?" he growled lowly with a sinister smile, his glare vicious as ever. Aurora swallowed, regaining her composure. "I'd suggest watching yours too, Rory." And with that, he turned his back to her and waltzed away; taking another gulp of his chilled beverage.

"That's Aurora to you, asshole!" she shouted after him, the boy not phased by her pathetic dig; leaving the dark-haired girl in the fancy backyard of the place she hated with that familiar bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

༻✧༺

"SORRY I'M LATE!" Aurora greeted, her skateboard tucked beneath her armpit; it's wheels still hot after practically flying all the way from Figure Eight back to the Cut.

She hurriedly jogged up the front porch steps to the Chateau, where she was behind schedule to meet her friends. Swinging open the flimsy screen door with a long exhale, she used the back of her hand to wipe away the small beads of sweat that had gathered at her hairline from her journey.

"Listen to what Sarah Cameron—" she paused, her footsteps breaking as her uncertain eyes traveled around the screened-in porch to each of her friends. Something was going on. "Uhhhh, what's up, you guys?"

Slowly, she took a seat next to Pope on the couch as she watched a disarranged JJ pace wildly about the porch; all revved up. The Heyward boy leaned closer to her as she confusedly gazed at the short of breath blonde, their shoulders touching. "JJ and John B—"

"And we were right outside like this!" JJ interrupted unknowingly, falling back against the outside of the red brick chimney; his dearest rooster crowing from somewhere on the property. "And all we hear is just, bam, bam, bam!" he exclaimed, aggressively punching his fist in the air with each new exclamation; Aurora flinching slightly at the first one.

Her dubious eyes drifted back over to Pope sitting next to her, her forehead deeply creased. In a whisper, he tried to explain once more. "There were guys at Lana's house. The same ones who—"

"Knocking paint off the wall from the inside!" JJ rambled ardently on.

Aurora suppressed a chuckle at the annoyance developing on Pope's features, caused by JJ not being able to shut up long enough for him to elucidate to her whatever had happened. The warm feeling quickly disappeared when JJ's distressed voice sounded out again.

"Alright? And I'm just looking at him like— wait! First off, look at this shit! Look at it!" he stomped over to them in his clunky boots, leaning over Pope and Aurora and vigorously raking his fingers through his sun-kissed locks until flecks of something white floated down onto their laps; both of them eyeing the substance.

"That's dandruff." Kiara grimaced from where she sat. "Disgusting."

"Okay, thank you." Pope pushed him gently away as Aurora brushed it off of her legs.

"Look at all that, alright? That's paint."

"Okay," Aurora began in attempts to calm the wild boy. "JJ, why don't—"

"At that point, I was just like.... I'm waiting for death." he carried on his pacing.

"O-okay so you saw the guys who shot at us, right?" Pope asked, placing his head in his hands in thought.

"Yeah."

"Did you get a good description of them?" he looked back up to JJ. "What did they look like?"

"Yeah, anything. Anything's helpful." Kiara nodded, tucking her thick hair behind her ear as their words overlapped.

"Anything we can bring to like a police report, maybe?"

"Yeah."

JJ paused, gazing meaningfully out to the front yard in a way Aurora was sure he was doing solely for dramatic affect; subconsciously or not. "Burly."

Kiara and Pope were patently displeased with his vague answer as they gaped at him in disbelief for a second or two.

"Burly?" Pope raised his brows.

"Yeah, you know, like—"

"That's not very helpful." Kiara commented curtly.

"Kie." Aurora mentioned quietly. The description burly was wildly unhelpful, but it was clear how shaken up he still was. Kiara rolled her eyes.

"Okay, well, no like the type of guy at my dad's garage. I mean, you guys know, he made cargo hides for drug smugglers."

"Yeah. Yes, no, we know."

"I can tell you with full confidence guys," JJ carried on, reaching his hand into his pocket and pulling out a joint as he thumped back against the chimney; staring ahead. Normally Aurora would try to coax him out of indulging in his favorite drug, but in his current state, some weed would most likely do him good. "These boys, these killers....." He took a long drag, allowing the smoke to immediately exit his lips before turning his head back to the group. "They're square groupers."

"They're square groupers? Like Narco square groupers?" Pope questioned, obviously not buying into it, especially with JJ's erratic behavior. "Like Pablo Escobar square grouper?"

"Yeah, man." the blonde nodded as smoke billowed out his nostrils like a fire-breathing dragon.

"You guys. Not everything is a kingpin movie." Kiara told them flatly.

"Okay, so what does a square grouper look like, specifically—" Pope sat up straighter, scooting closer to the edge of the couch.

"You weren't there, bro!" JJ argued.

"— Because apparently, you don't know what to look for!" Pope's voice rose as he lost a bit of his patience.

"Dude! I wasn't taking little mental polaroids the entire time man, I was under duress, okay?" JJ met his breaking point, wide-eyed with his chest heaving up and down; hands flying hastily about as he shouted unsteadily.

"Okay, okay, okay." Aurora interjected, rising from her spot to stand before the whole group, JJ carrying on with his restless pacing behind her. "I think we all just need to chill for a minute."

"I can tell you..." the blonde boy turned to them once more, short of breath with flushed skin; both from the summer heat and from the stress he was enduring.

"JJ, calm down, it's okay." Aurora tried to ease him, her words coming out slowly.

Meeting her gaze momentarily, he nodded and took her advice; holding his hands out and looking down before speaking again, taking a big breath and lowering his voice. "I can tell you by the way that Ms. Lana was screaming, that these guys... they're serious, serious hombres, man."

Aurora cleared her throat and patted his shoulder, quickly backing off in disgust when he took another puff of his blunt; soon adding onto his statement. "It's a heavy vibe right now, okay? I'm not liking this very much."

"Okay, why would they want the compass?" Kiara asked.

Aurora's eyes shifted to John B, wheels turning behind his eyes as he opened and shut the compass in his fingers repeatedly.

"That thing's a piece of shit. You couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to." Pope thought aloud, Aurora's eyes widening and darting his way at his unkind words. "No offense, John B." he added quickly, glancing over to the boy. "I know it's like, in your family—"

"The office." John B suddenly voiced, all eyes landing on him as he looked back up to his friends; having been disengaged from their conversation this whole time.

"What?"

"My dad. My dad's office." he was soon striding back into the house, everyone beginning to get up and go after him. "He always kept his office locked because he was worried about competitors stealing his Royal Merchant research. We would laugh..."

"Hey, Rory."

Aurora turned back around, her footsteps slowing as Pope's voice stopped her; everyone entering the residence and leaving them on the porch. "Yeah?"

With his hands in his pockets, he gestured his head to the Twinkie with a small smirk; soon proceeding to amble down the front porch steps. Aurora followed him with a a tiny smile of her own, finding her heart fluttering slightly in excitement about what they could be heading for.

She watched, biting her bottom lip with sparkling eyes as he tugged open the van's heavy door; knitting her brows when he turned back to face her after retrieving a pile of men's clothing from the back seat.

"What's all this?" she chuckled, gently sifting through the neatly folded clothes that were stacked in his arms.

"Well, JJ said all you wear are John B's clothes or something, and as a friend, I'm worried for your safety."

She looked back up to him, completely muddled. Safety?

He recognized the confusion on her face. "He doesn't know how to do laundry." he explained after a moment, a bright grin forming on the girl's face before she titled her head back and laughed. "There's no way his clothes aren't moldy and soured and stuff." he chortled along with her, Aurora's gaze meeting his again.

"I don't think he's ever done laundry in his life, Po. I'm being dead serious." she continued to laugh, shaking her head.

"Yeah I know, that's why I brought you some of mine. Because they're clean."

While she appreciated the immensely kind gesture, and much preferred oversized men's clothes, it felt odd to take Pope's offering because she truly did have plenty of clothes of her own. She just never visited home to retrieve them. She hesitated. "Pope, I can't take your clothes from—"

"No, no! These are old! I won't miss them."

She paused, a crooked smirk toying at her lips as she squinted her eyes at him; rocking on her heels. "You sure?"

"Positive."

"My knight in shining...." she glanced down, plucking the first t-shirt from the stack and reading its tag. "Over... shields?"

"Pretty sure it's supposed to be a knock off of Under Amour." he shrugged.

"Gotcha. Well, thank you." she smiled at him, grabbing the pile from his hands.

They stared at each other a moment in silence, their eyes locked and glistening in the sun's rays; the atmosphere peaceful and just. Within mere seconds, however, they both grew slightly nervous. They weren't used to being without the group often, and had seldom shared private, intimate moments such as this one. Their heart rates were spiking, but neither of them wished to break away from the other's gaze. The moment was foreign and a little scary to them, but there was something in each of them hoping it wasn't ending any time soon.

Wether they had planned to remain silent and staring at one another for the rest of eternity or not, the moment was abruptly concluded by the sound of John B's gravelly driveway crunching beneath a set of large tires; distracting them both. As soon as the monstrous, sleek truck came into view, Aurora spotted an eerily familiar face in the passenger's seat behind the black-tinted windows; her stomach dropping at the petrifying sight.

"Get down!" she whispered at once, grabbing Pope's arm and yanking him towards the ground where she had instinctively fallen in order to crouch behind the Twinkie.

"Are those the guys from the boat?!" Pope rasped in horror, peeking over Aurora's shoulder that was blocking his view.

Was this really happening?

"Come on!" she grasped onto his hand, staying low to the ground as they speedily crept around to the right side of the Chateau and slid soundlessly through the back door; their hearts pounding so hard they thought they might explode.

There was no time to process any of it. By the time they reached the office and reunited with the rest of the Pogues, their friends were all nosediving into their sheer panic; all of them breathing in uneven, shaky breaths as they flipped their lids. Pope gingerly shut the door behind them.

"John B, I told you—" JJ was cut off when the Routledge boy roughly seized his shoulders, shushing him harshly and bringing his index finger to his face as he shoved him against the wall.

"Hey, look at me!"

"John B, be quiet!" Aurora hissed, though no one seemed to notice. The scene was overwhelming as they all helplessly fell apart.

"Where's the gun?" he interrogated, still pinning the blonde against the wall.

"Gun? I uh... I-I can't—" JJ stammered, too flustered to even think straight.

"Now you don't have the gun? The one time we need the gun?" Kiara whimpered, bringing her hands to her lips as a lump formed in her throat that she didn't bother to fight; swaying frightenedly on her feet.

"It was in my backpack and—" he rubbed his hands over his face in distress.

"Backpack!" John B pressured, spurring his memory.

"Then I..."

"The porch."

He opened his eyes, pausing briefly to look at his friend as it dawned on him. "It's on the porch!"

"Go, go, go!"

Aurora felt sick to her stomach. Emotions were swirling through her chest as nausea and lightheadedness teased her. For the first time ever, she didn't know how she could help.

Two men— who obviously had horrible intentions and had already tried to kill them once— had them surrounded and they were utterly defenseless. Kiara's eyes were thronging with warm tears and the sheer terror on her face was heartbreaking. John B looked like he was going to pass out, and now JJ was risking his life by swinging open the squeaky door and darting outside.

She didn't know who to assist, or try to protect, or console. She didn't even realize her fingers were still intertwined with Pope's; squeezing his hand so tightly she had to have been ceasing all the blood flow to his fingers.

"Wait, JJ—" she respired weakly, her perturbed eyes following him as he raced bravely to the front porch.

"John Routledge!" a deep voice boomed. They all flinched as JJ spun on his heel so quickly he slipped, catching himself on the wooden floors and scrambling frantically back into the room. He shut the door behind him, leaning into it with pure, unadulterated fear swimming in his azure eyes. "Come out now!"

"Guys!" Kiara mewled, voice quivering.

"They're on the front porch, guys." he admitted in a frail whisper, Aurora's heart skipping a beat.

"Routledge!" They all five jumped at the last terrifying holler of John B's name; this one was extraordinarily loud, and it came from within the house. They could hear the man tearing apart the living room; the vicious shouts still plaguing the air.
"Where you at boy?"

"We gotta leave!" Kiara urged. "Guys! Window! Window!"

JJ and Pope took off for the window, Pope dragging Aurora along with him; unwilling to let go of her. The sound of glass shattering came from outside the room. The three strained, huffing and puffing as they pulled up on the bottom ledge as hard as they could.

"Hurry!"

"Sack this place!"

Pope grunted, his teeth clenched as he held his breath to yank the window upwards.

"What-what's happening? Why is it taking so long?" Kiara asked in alarm, her eyes shooting rapidly between the three.

"It's painted shut, okay?" JJ hissed, whipping around to aggressively whisper to the girl.

"I'll check the kitchen!"

Aurora pivoted from the window, John B pressed against the door with his eyes screwed tight and his arms behind his head; the girl scouring frantically for anything to open the window with, which is what Kiara seemed to be doing too.

"Routledge!"

"Shit. Fuck." she mumbled breathlessly to herself, her hands shaking so violently she could hardly sort through the top drawer of a piece of old furniture.

"Okay. Guys, guys, here, I got it." Kiara exhaled, moving swiftly past everyone with a box cutter in her fingers; hurrying to scratch vigorously at the paint that kept the window sealed shut.

"Where the hell is that compass?!" the dark voice screamed again, getting closer and closer to the office. "Hey! Check the back room!"

"Come on, come on, come on." JJ muttered, hovering over her shoulder.

"I'm going as fast as I can!" she panted.

"Shhh!"

"Be quiet."

Her head snapped to the side to look over her shoulder, John B and Pope leaning against the door with wide eyes and a finger up to their pursed lips. Suddenly, the handle began to rattle as someone pushed against the door from the outside, their bodies blocking him out as they did their best to remain calm. When the man outside started kicking it in, the boys had no choice but to retreat to the window as the wood split open; the bottom of his shoe poking briefly through.

Aurora bolted soundlessly to the door, placing her hands solely on the handle to keep it still. It didn't matter how scared she was, no way in hell was she letting them get into this room until her friends were gone. But when a gun shot hit the other side just beyond her fingers, she leapt back terror; slapping her hand over her mouth to keep a scream from escaping her lips.

"Fuck, Rory get over here!" Pope exclaimed in a hushed voice, grabbing onto her arm and yanking her away from the door.

"Got it, got it, got it!" Kiara yanked the window open with a grunt, the first to hop outside. JJ immediately followed, Aurora getting shoved out by John B and Pope shortly after. She watched from below the window as JJ and Kiara scrambled into the rickety chicken coop a little ways away, waiting for John B and Pope to emerge before sprinting to the small hut herself.

"Go, go, go!" Pope urged her, the dark-haired girl dropping on all fours to shimmy hurriedly into the coop; the chickens clucking incessantly in alarm as she crawled further inside, feces and mud staining her knees and the palms of her hands.

She tucked herself into a corner across from JJ, Kiara and John B as Pope scurried in next to her; hugging her knees to her chest and desperately attempting to regulate her breathing along with the others. John B peeked out behind the wood to watch through the chicken wire as the two men exited the house; their arms full of all of the years and years of Royal Merchant research his father had done. All of it gone, just like that.

Aurora yelped quietly when the bantam rooster began to crow in disconcert, flapping its wings ceaselessly about and drawing attention to the coop from the sounds of its distress.

"Do something Pope, shut him up!" JJ demanded through gritted teeth as the bird continued to make a scene.

"What do you want me to do?" Pope whispered back with enlarged eyes.

"Pet it, or talk to it, or something I don't know!" Kiara cried, tears trickling down her cheeks.

John B suddenly retreated from his spying, pressed up against the wood, struggling to draw in a full gulp of humid summer air. "Guys, he's coming, he's coming." he muttered under his breath, too scared to move a muscle.

"You do something!" Pope countered.

JJ lurched forward, seizing the small rooster by its neck; the chicken flapping its wings and screeching before he pinned it harshly against the grain-covered dirt and pushed downwards with a grunt. A deafening crack filled their ears.

Aurora froze, gaping in bewilderment along with everyone else. She watched with eyes that threatened to grow glossy as JJ sat slowly back up with the lifeless rooster still in his hands, blinking at his beloved bird; lips parting in shock. It was clear he hadn't wanted to do what he just did, nor did he necessarily intend to. He stared at the animal in denial, not letting it go as Kiara titled her head back and let out a soft sob.

Closing her eyes, Aurora shakily inhaled and exhaled a mantra that had come in handy in the past; voice barely audible. "Breathe in, breathe out, breathe in, breathe out. One, two, three, four..."

Pope looked to the girl next to him, recognizing the words that she and JJ told him Big John had taught her. Sadness glazed over his brown eyes as he helplessly watched her struggle to even breathe, briefly numbing his own blinding fear.

He was reaching for her hand when one of the voices called out, all of them jumping again with silent gasps; her eyes shooting back open. "Ratter! What in the hell are you doing? Lets go!"

The muscular figure soon turned away and retreated back to their black truck, John B once again peering through the chicken wire as his breaths sped up. Kiara placed a hand on the back of her neck, looking down as her bottom lip quivered uncontrollably and she choked back sobs. JJ's eyes were still fixated on the dead animal in his hands.

They watched as the car backed down the long driveway and sped off into the broad daylight, sitting paralyzed in utter shock. The only thing breaking the silence were the sounds of the remaining chickens' clucking, Kiara's subdued sniffles, and their own hearts hammering against their ribcages.

This wasn't like on the boat. Getting shot at and chased after was scary and quite the adrenaline rush, but this was a whole new level. They were ambushed in John B's home, those men knew his name, and stole all of his dad's research. This felt different and more surreal. It was far more personal, and it wasn't until now that they realized they were truly being targeted.

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