"Guys, we should report the wreck to the Coast Guard." Kiara shouted out over the boat's engine. "Maybe we'll get a finders fee."

"Yeah," I smirked, looking over at Eli and Pope. "And not have to deal with Heyward's wrath all summer."

"Thanks, Agatha, ya batch!" JJ yelled out to the sky with a triumphant laugh.

I laughed and looked around at the others. I could only imagine what we would do with that money. We would live like kings.

Little did we know that the fantasies we all imagined were far from how that summer went. We in fact did not live like kings. And that little piece of metal started a catastrophe of hell for all of us.

—-------------------------------

The Coast Guard station was in chaos. It seemed like everyone in town was there either reporting the damage, looking for lost property, or complaining about anything and everything. JJ, John B, and I had finally managed to push our way to the front of the booth where a woman was yelling about her dog. Apparently he had diabetes or some shit. Who even knew a dog could have diabetes?

"Excuse me." John B attempted to get the man in charge's attention. He paid no mind to us as he continued to attend to the dog lady.

"Hey man, we- we found a boat." JJ added on, trying to get our point across quickly.

The two were brushed off as the woman beside me continued to blab on. "Sir, you're gonna want to hear this-" I called out over the woman, making eye contact with the Coast Guard official.

"Hey!" He yelled, shoving a hand in my face as I backed up. JJ grabbed ahold of my arm to steady me as he glared at the man. "Calm down!"

John B gave us a look of disbelief and motioned to the exit. There was no way that we were going to get the time of day in this place. We were kids after all. Nobody cared what kids had to say. JJ grabbed my hand and led me through the packed tent, making sure that neither of us got carried off in the chaotic crowd of angry people.

We met the others at the deck, looking pissed off and defeated. "Well, that went fan-fucking-tastic." I sighed. There went plan a.

"So what's the plan?" JJ asked, putting his free arm around John B's shoulder.

Kie subtly cleared her throat, catching my attention as I looked over at her. She smirked and raised an eyebrow, nodding her head towards me and JJ's intertwined fingers. I rolled my eyes and quickly pulled my hand away, shaking my head to tell her that now wasn't the time. JJ looked over to make sure I was okay before returning to the conversation.

"Yeah, the Coast Guard is no longer an option." I said, moving over to the ledge that Eli was leaning against.

John B pulled the motel key out of his pocket and held it up for all of us to see. "I think I know how we are going to find the guy who owns this boat."

"No, no. We don't know whose room key that is." Pope argued, shaking his head at the two. "It could belong to anyone."

JJ took the keys from John B and tossed them over to Kie. "I'm in."

"Wait, Pope might be onto something. I'm all for an adventure, but what if there's actually, like, a serial killer in there or something." I pointed out as Pope sighed in relief at someone else using common sense for once.

"Well, then we just trip JB and make a run for it." JJ laughed as he grabbed my arm and dragged me along behind him. I gave Pope a shrug as the blonde pulled me towards the boat.

"Come on." Kie smiled at him as she began turning around. "We'll be lookout."

"I mean, what's the worst that can happen?" Eli shrugged as he followed behind Kie.

"Finders fee." John B teased, patting Pope on the chest. "Just sayin'."

I laughed and placed a hand on JJ's arm to wait for the two boys to catch up. Pope was hesitant, and I could understand why. It definitely wasn't the smartest thing to do, but we always found ourselves out of these situations, so like Eli said, what's the worst that could happen?

John B turned and pointed at Pope. "And hey, at least you will only be an accomplice."

He finally gave in and turned around, adjusting his hat with a sigh. "Man."

"Come on Bubba." John B smiled as we all made our way down to where the HMS was docked.

Pope took a seat next to me in the back and sighed. "I have a really bad feeling about this."

"I'm sure it'll be fine." I reassured quietly as the boat started up.

But I understood what he was saying, for there too was a deep feeling of worry spreading through my stomach that I could not ignore. What was going on?

—--------------------------------

The ride to the motel was eerily quiet with the usual bicker dying down. JJ, Kie, and Eli were talking about how the ferries would be down, John B was lost in a daydream, and Pope was muttering on about how this wasn't a good idea. I sighed and stretched, hoping to wash away the unsettling feeling in my stomach.

JJ walked to the bow and let out a low whistle, grabbing everybody's attention as the motel came into view. "I thought the Chateau looked bad."

"This place is a shit show." John B added, turning the boat towards the muddled shore.

"Motel or meth lab?" Kie asked in disgust as she and Eli stood up.

"You be the judge." I muttered, joining JJ at the bow to help with the anchor.

"Doesn't look like the type of place someone with a Grady-White would stay." John B pointed out as he slowed the boat.

"No," Pope replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "Looks like the type of place someone with a Grady-White would get killed."

"Oh great," I rolled my eyes at him. "Just the type of reassurance we need when breaking into a shady motel room."

"Hey, technically it's not breaking in." JJ pointed out as he moved to stand at the tip of the bow. "I mean we do have a key."

"Yeah, we might as well make ourselves at home." Eli shrugged from behind us.

"All right here we go." JJ cupped his hands around his mouth, pretending to speak into a megaphone. "This is your captain speaking, HMS Pogue comin' in for landing." The boat scraped against the shore as he jumped off with a yell and began to tie it down.

"We good?" John B called out, turning off the motor and pocketing the keys. He was the only one trusted with them ever since the time me and JJ lost them in the marsh and couldn't get home.

"Yeah, we're good." JJ nodded, leaning one foot on the boat.

"All right, here goes nothin'." John B said as I jumped off into the mud. JJ offered me a steady hand as I regained my balance. I smiled in thanks as he bumped shoulders with me, a mischievous grin on his face that always came before an adventure.

"You coming E?" I asked, turning around to look at the other three.

"Nah, I better stay here in case we need a speedy getaway." He shrugged, avoiding eye contact with me. I could tell that something was up with him, because Elijah Beckett never turned down a chance to commit a felony. But I decided to leave it alone for now, knowing from experience that if the boy wanted to tell me what was wrong, he would do so in private. We were alike in that way.

"Oh yeah, I'm sure that's why." I smirked, turning around and whispering under my breath. "It's totally not because you're a pussy or anything."

"What?"

"Nothing!" I laughed, turning towards the shitty motel. My eyes raked over the crumbling building in disgust. Whatever John B was looking to find here, I couldn't be totally sure that it hadn't already been snatched by some druggy looking to pawn his way through his next fix.

"Hey," Pope called out, stopping us before we could make our way any farther. He pointed an accusing finger at me and JJ.  "Don't let them do anything stupid."

"Oh, we will." JJ casually replied without any hesitation, shrugging his shoulders and throwing an arm around me.

"I'm not making any promises." John B agreed with a shake of his head.

Pope stared at us in exasperation, hoping for once that his friends wouldn't cause some sort of chaos. He shook his head with a sigh, knowing that nothing could stop the cloud of disaster that followed me and JJ.  "Yeah, I know." He mumbled, sitting down in the captain's chair.

Kie made her way to the bow where she stopped John B with a look of concern on her face. "Uh, be careful." She smiled as she handed him the motel key, brushing their hands together for a quick moment. "I mean it."

Her gentle words puzzled me. "Be careful" was not a phrase that the Pogues spoke often. Each of us sought out that adrenaline rush that came from an adventure, and while sometimes danger did present itself, we always threw caution to the wind. The six of us were never "cautious" because we all knew that we could get ourselves out of practically anything. And if shit did go down, the others would have our back in a heartbeat. And while Kiara was the mom of the group, I wondered if she was truly worried for John B in a stronger way than she was for the rest of us.

John B's eyes lingered on her for a moment in surprise. He let out a small laugh as his gaze flickered down the motel key in his hand. "Yeah..." He trailed off with a smile as he began to turn away. "Yeah."

"All right." Eli disrupted their moment, a slight sharpness in his words that he usually didn't show towards our group. "Off you three go into the killer's lair. Bring me back a souvenir!"

JJ and I exchanged a "what the fuck just happened" look, but before we could say anything, John B tapped him on the shoulder as he jumped down next to us. "Let's go."

I shrugged as we turned and followed after the brunette who was still off in his own little world. The smell of mildew became more apparent as we made our way past old junk and many soaked and moldy pieces of furniture. This place was definitely a wreck, and I couldn't help but wonder what the hell the owner of a Grady-White was doing staying in a shit show like this.

"Why are all these mattresses out here?" John B asked, pulling me out of my thoughts. His attempt to move the subject from him and Kie was horrible, but I decided to save the energy and go along with it.

"Well, me and your mom had to have something to sleep on last night." I snorted, walking ahead of the two boys.

"Haha." He called out from behind me in a sarcastic tone. "You're soooo funny Stevie."

"Hey man," JJ laughed as he patted the boy on the shoulder. "You were practically asking for that one."

After successfully sneaking past a few motel workers, the three of us made our way up the creaky stairs to the second balcony, careful to watch where we stepped in case the rickety stairwell were to give in. I walked a few feet in front of the boys, not wanting to join in on their conversation about some Batman movie they had recently watched. Each of the doors to my right were covered in grime, making it hard to tell them apart. I turned my head slightly to the side and interrupted the two boy's conversation. "Hey, what room were we looking for again?"

"229!" John B answered, pointing to the end of the walkway.

I nodded and continued ahead of the two, my eyes surveying each of the room numbers to find the right one.

"Just be so careful, John B." JJ whispered from behind, his voice raising an octave to mimic Kie's as he jokingly rubbed John B's shoulders.

"God, you're so weird." John B huffed out in reply as he pushed the blonde off of him.

JJ laughed as the two continued walking behind me. "What the heck was that about?"

"I don't know. Maybe she wants us to be careful!"

I snorted at his cluelessness as I sped up my pace, nearing the door at the end of the balcony. Boys were so stupid.

"Since she heard you're in exile she's just been like," His hands made their way back to John B's shoulders, his voice mimicking Kie once again. "Oh! Be so careful. John B!"

"Get off."

"'Oh, just give me that John D already.' Like, when are you gonna swoop on that man?"

"Bro, you know the rule." JB quickly replied, a seriousness setting into his tone. "No Pogue-on-Pogue macking."

I shook my head as I rolled my eyes at the two. That fucking rule. The rule was established in our teen years, when feelings started to arise among the group and jealousy was flung back and forth. We came up with it as a way to make sure that the friend group would always stay together. It was so stupid, and honestly unnecessary. I believe that if two people have feelings for each other then they should be able to act on them and not have a rule holding them back. But the others were heavy on it, so it stuck. Those few words always lingered in the back of my mind when longing glances were shared. It was the main reason why I had kept my feelings about a certain blonde locked up tightly inside of me.

"Besides, you're the one that's always hitting on her." John B added. I sucked in a sharp breath at his words. Was JJ hitting on Kie? I mean I had noticed small moments between them, but I thought it was nothing more than teasing. Surely she would have told me if there was anything going on. Right?

"Oh bullshit." JJ defended himself quickly, causing a shot of relief to course through me. "I haven't hit on her in like two years."

"You need help." John B replied, brushing him off. "Not like a little bit of help, you need a lot of help. It's like every girl who just has a heartbeat, you're like 'Uhh!"

That was another reason why I had never let my feelings for the boy surface. JJ was a very good-looking person, and his sense of recklessness added to his attractiveness. Most of the girls in Kildare County seemed to flock to him like hungry vultures. And JJ being the charming person he was, didn't turn down the offers of the girls at school, or the tourons that wanted to rebel. There would always be some girl wandering out of his room in the early hours of the morning, and while it hurt me tremendously to see him with these girls, I knew that I could never change that, because there was a large chance that he would never feel the same way about me.

"What? It's not a big deal."

"I mean, if you really want to talk about not opening doors, we could talk about you and-" John B's voice was cut off as JJ slapped a hand over his mouth to stop him from blabbing. My curiosity had piqued. Did JJ actually have feelings for someone? Usually, when it came to girls he was a one-and-done kind of guy.

"Dude!" JJ whisper-yelled back at him. "Shut up! I don't even know what you're talking about."

"Oh come on." He dragged on, a bored tone lacing his words. "She didn't-"

"Found it!" I called out, catching the two off guard. Whoever this mystery girl was, I did not want to learn about her by eavesdropping. I cleared my throat and pointed to the door on the right. "229."

John B gave JJ one last glance before making his way to the door. He pulled the key out and looked up at the grimy numbers that hung above the peephole. "This is it."

"Okay," JJ huffed, clearing his throat before he began to do a rhythmic knock on the door. "Housekeeping!" He squeaked in a high-pitched voice.

"Oh yeah, real smart." I rolled my eyes at the boy. "Alert the serial killer that we're here so that he can prepare himself."

"If he comes out here I'm sacrificing you." JJ scoffed. He knocked again and then moved to peer into the window that accompanied the door.

"Will you two just shut the fuck up for once?" JB scolded as we waited for an answer.

Nothing.

"Should we try it?" John B asked with the key in his hand.

"I mean fuck it, if there's anyone inside they already know we're here." I shrugged, done trying to convince the boys that this was a bad idea.

JJ gave up on trying to peer through the windows and instead made his way back towards me. He looked up at the camera in the corner that was powered off. "No power. No security cameras. No one's gonna know." He urged as John B slid the key into the lock and twisted it. JJ placed a hand on my shoulder and pulled me behind him as John B took a breath and then pushed the door open.

The small motel room was dark, the only light present being the one from JB's weak flashlight. The air was thick with must, causing my nose to burn. The smell of mold was unmistakable. Dust clung to every surface in the room, giving the appearance that no one had entered in days. I moved closer to the door, but both of the boys pushed me back.

"Let me go first." JJ whispered as he made his way farther into the room, me and JB following closely behind.

"Huh," John B muttered as we took in our surroundings. The room held two twin-size beds with the usual ugly bedding, along with two nightstands, a rickety desk, and a small TV pushed against the wall. It was your typical shitty motel. The only signs that someone had even been here were a large black duffel bag sitting on the foot of the bed closest to the door and an expensive-looking jacket sitting on the desk. "Check the bag, see if there's a name on there somewhere."

As the two boys rummaged through the stranger's bag and named off useless shit that they found, I made my way to the bathroom, still not fully trusting this place. I opened the door and peered into the small cube-shaped room, wishing that I had listened to JB and brought a flashlight. I silently tip-toed into the surprisingly tidy bathroom and stopped in front of the shower, taking a deep breath before ripping the curtains to the side. Thankfully no one was lurking in the tub. I let out a sigh of relief and glanced over at my reflection in the mirror. Exhaustion was clear on my face, and the angry red gash across my forehead just added to the picture. The boys were right, it did look bad, even after Eli had scrubbed it clean.

"Evie Bee, stop checking yourself out and get in here! We found something." JJ called from the other room. I laughed before stepping back out into the main room. The boys were huddled around the middle nightstand looking down at something. I shoved in next to them and peered down at an old map of the OBX that lay unfolded in the center. There were coordinates written in pen on a yellow sticky note as well as a circle on an unfamiliar part of the island. The map had to be old or falsely drawn, because the coast didn't match up with the one that I was familiar with.

"Maybe this is where they were fishing." JJ guessed as John B mapped out the coordinates in his head.

"Can't be, that's off the continental shelf." I muttered, knowing the fishing areas like the back of my hand. Big John always let me tag along on his fishing trips when we were little, and me and JB would always try our hardest to memorize the areas.

"That's Big Swell. Nobody fishes there." John B agreed as his gaze shifted to a crumpled piece of paper next to the phone. He pushed it aside as he shrugged and walked away to check out more of the room. JJ and I followed, moving towards the adjacent side.

"Coffee?" John B joked, pointing to a pot that looked like it had been sitting stagnant for days.

"Yeah. Standard." JJ quipped, using one of his many horrible accents. "Tissues for when you get lonely." He motioned to the box on the desk.

"You're really familiar with those, aren't you?" I teased as I crouched down to open a drawer.

"You are a mean mean woman." He pouted as he disappeared into the bathroom.

I continued searching drawers as the boys did their own thing. So far nothing. But I felt like there was something here that we were overlooking. There were too many clues that didn't fit together. It was like someone wanted something to be found, but didn't want someone to find it.

John B's voice pulled me out of my thoughts as he checked up on our kleptomaniac friend who had just let out an oooh. "Did you find anything?'

"A really awesome Dopp kit you won't let me steal."

I laughed as I craned my head up in time to see JJ smuggle an Old Spice deodorant into his cargo shorts.

"Yeah," John B warned as his eyes stayed trained on the same spot. "'Cause we're not stealing shit."

"Party pooper." JJ mumbled as he walked out of the bathroom and over towards JB, who was inspecting a safe that had been hidden before.

"One, one, one, one." The brunette murmured as he punched in the numbers, huffing when the code didn't work.

"JB, no one except for you would ever set their safe code to one, one, one, one." I laughed as I made my way back to the map. He flipped me off before continuing more codes.

"One, one, one, two." The safe beeped once again.

"Punching shit at random. That will..definitely work." JJ said sarcastically. He stopped next to me and we both stared at the coordinates. They had to do with something, but I couldn't figure out what it was. The coastline was all wrong, and these coordinates were practically unreachable, so why did they find them so important? There was practically no reason to go off of the continental shelf, and I could tell that JJ was thinking the same thing.

John B suddenly stood up, rushing over to the two of us. "Wait a second, wait a second. Here." He mumbled, grabbing the crumpled piece of paper from before, once again rushing back to the safe. JJ completely ignored him, still trying to decipher the coordinates.

"I don't know," JJ rattled off. "I don't know about the second one. These coordinates they..." He trailed off before regaining his train of thought. "Wait, my cousin said you could catch swordfish here."

I glanced over at John B who was still fiddling with the safe before looking back to the blonde. "Nah, that wouldn't make sense. Why go all the way out there and risk that just to catch swordfish."

"Something smells fishy." JJ laughed with a grin on his face. I rolled my eyes as he looked up to see if I got the pun.

"You should do stand-up comedy." I said sarcastically as he ignored my disappointment at the joke.

"What about a surf spot? That could possibly be it."

"Yeah sure, if you have a death wish."

"Hey, you'd look pretty badass though."

"Holy shit." John B gasped from behind us. I turned my head and saw that he had opened the safe, and he had a wad of cash in his hand bigger than I had seen in my whole life. The air left my lungs at the sight as JJ continued blabbering next to me.

"Have you heard of Shoals?"

"J." I whispered, wrapping my hand around his arm.

"Hm?" He raised an eyebrow as he turned his head towards where my gaze led.

"You're gonna want to see this." John B said in disbelief, holding up the wad of cash for the boy to see.

The two of us rushed forward, anxious to see what else was in the safe. As we crouched down our eyes landed on a few more thick stacks of cash accompanied by a shiny black handgun. My body stilled at the sight. I had never seen so much money in one place in my life, none of us had, but the sight of the gun accompanying the bills left a chilled feeling in my bones.

I was no stranger to weapons or violence at all, but the sight of the gun made my stomach twist. I had a bad past with guns, and for years had avoided them at all costs. But now here we were, staring into a safe full of sketchy money and an even sketchier gun, and I felt the same cold fear gripping at my bones that I had been experiencing for years. Something was off.

"Dude, dude, dude!" JJ exclaimed, pushing his way in between me and JB and snatching the gun out of the safe. A grin crossed his face and he got a look in his bright blue eyes that only showed in the midst of an adrenaline rush.

I froze as he stood up and with the weapon. John B stepped back with caution as he eyed our crazy friend. "You grabbed the gun! Put the gun back JJ!"

"You don't put prints on a shady ass weapon you fucking idiot!" I whisper-yelled at the blonde as he began to bounce around excitedly.

"This is a SIG Sauer! This is a fucking spendy gatt man!" JJ beamed, completely ignoring my remark as he showed the gun off to John B. He raised the gun and began to pretend to shoot it like a little kid playing with a toy. "Bam! Bam! Bam!"

The feeling in my gut tightened at the sight of the boy swinging around the gun and spinning in circles. I stepped behind John B and gave him an urgent look. This idiot was really playing with a gun.

John B grabbed the blonde by the back of his cut-off tank and forced him to stand still. "We are not stealing anything." He demanded through clenched teeth.

JJ ignored our protests and struck a pose, pointing both the gun and his flashlight up at the wall as if he were in a shoot-off. "Just take a pic of me. Right here."

"You want me to take a picture of you?" John B asked with clear disappointment on his face.

"Yeah dude like..."

"And make our own incriminating evidence? Are you really that fucking dumb?" I snapped, my anxiety levels rising at the sight of his finger sitting next to the trigger.

JJ's ravenous expression dropped at my words as he tried to mask his hurt expression. I immediately regretted my words, but before I could say anything, something hitting the window behind us made each of us perk up. "What was that?" Me and JJ asked simultaneously. The three of us rushed to the grimy glass, pulling back the blinds to peek outside. Pope, Kiara and Eli were standing on the ground below, frantically waving their hands and mouthing a word repeatedly. Eli jabbed his finger at the door, trying to mimic what was happening outside.

John B leapt onto the bed and hurriedly peaked through the shades of the window closest to the door. JJ instinctively grabbed my hand as we rushed to the door.  "What is it?" He urged.

"Cops." The brunette whispered.

Right after the words left his mouth three loud knocks echoed through the door. The three of us sprang into action, scattering like roaches as we looked for a place to hide. JJ stopped at the safe, shoving money into his pants as JB and I sprinted back to the other window. "Fuck!" I whisper-yelled, the tension in the room rising to 100%.

"Kildare County Sheriff's Department!" The island Deputy Shoupe's voice shouted, causing my eyes to widen. Shoupe hated our guts, for good reasons of course, but if he found us in here our asses would definitely be sitting in jail tonight.

John B shoved the window up as a key began to jingle in the doorknob. JJ joined us and hurriedly climbed out first, gaining his footing on the edge of the awning before yanking me out after him. John B brang up the rear, quickly shutting the window quietly so that Shoupe wouldn't hear. As soon as the glass met the window sill, the officers made their way into the dark room.

JJ quickly placed his hands on my shoulders and gently moved me out from in front of the window as the cops moved farther into the room. He hurriedly scooted back as I squeezed in between him and the wall, my back pressed flat against his chest. His arms circled around my middle to grasp onto the pipe in front of me for balance. John B stood at the opposite end of the awning, also pushing himself against the brick wall. He raised a finger to his lips in a shushing motion as the three of us stood in silence.

My heart sped up as the cops began searching the room. I had run from the cops tons of times, but this was different. We were in deep shit this time. I grabbed onto JJ's arms to steady myself as I attempted to focus on his protective hold instead of the looming danger. His warm breath fanned against my neck as he tightened his arms around me. He brought his mouth closer to my ear and let out an almost silent whisper. "It's ok Evie Bee, I've got you."

If it weren't for the two officers just feet away from us, my stomach would be swarming with butterflies. I felt the blonde's heart thump faster against my shoulder and I tightened my grip on his arm to let him know that I was also there for him.

"What are you guys doing?!" Pope whisper-yelled from the boat below, causing the three of us to turn around and shush him. JJ let out a laugh that vibrated through me and smiled like a maniac. Of course he found joy in this.

Curiosity took over as me and John B leaned in closer to peak through the bent blinds. We watched as Shoupe and the female officer searched the safe. There were still a few stacks of cash sitting prettily inside, and Shoupe eyed it like he had just had an early Christmas.

The Deputy grabbed a stack, eyeing it for a second before handing it to his partner. "Sir?" She asked, her voice halting with hesitation.

"Everybody's gotta dip their beak." Shoupe shrugged as if this was normal for him.

Our mouths fell open at the exchange. Sure, we knew the cops were dirty, but we never thought they were this corrupt. John B shot a look of disbelief our way as JJ's mouth hung open. "What the fu-?" He whispered.

"Dirty pigs." I mumbled in shock as we turned our gazes back on the officers.

"Right, right. Their beak." The female officer laughed as she grabbed the money from Shoupe.

"Do you believe-" JJ began in disbelief, but before he could rant on, the gun dropped out of his pocket. It stumbled noisily down the awning before landing on a piece of metal below with a loud clang!

The three of us winced, pushing ourselves further against the rough brick wall, hoping with all of our might that the sound was disguised by the wind. JJ pushed himself further into me, almost completely shielding me from the view of the window. I leaned my head back against his chest as I squeezed my eyes shut. Even amid danger, I felt comfort in his protective hold.

The blinds gave a sudden jerk upwards as Shoup's figure peered out of the glass. The three of us stood stiller than we ever had, our eyes on the Deputy to make sure that he didn't get a whim up his ass and look to the sides. Anxiety practically bounced off of us as he stood there for a solid ten seconds.

John B raised a shaking finger to his lips again, a fear flooding his eyes that he attempted to mask. We were scared shitless.

JJ leaned his face into the crook of my neck, his lips nearly touching my ear. A flutter shot through me as we stood pressed together in silence. His closeness seemed to ease away some of the fear of being caught.

Shoupe stood staring out at the marsh for a few more moments before turning back around and shaking his head. The three of us let out sighs of relief as our tense muscles relaxed a bit. "All right. Let's go." He said to his partner as he grabbed the duffle bag and walked to the door. "No one's here."

We let out a breath as the door shut behind him, and the first words out of my mouth were "Thank whoever the hell is up there looking out for us."

—------------------------

Author's Note
GUYS I AM SO SORRY THAT THIS IS THIS LATE. Life has fr been crazy this past month. I've still been dealing with a move as well as being swamped with homework. But it is getting a bit less chaotic now, so updates will hopefully become more regular again. Anyways, how are you guys feeling about this so far. Shits about to go down, so be ready.