Tʜᴇ Cᴏᴀsᴛᴀʟ Vᴇɴᴛᴜʀᴇ
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Estrella can feel herself slowly losing her sanity. In the short time in the container, it slowly became hotter and she could tell everyone was starting to panic. As far as they knew, there was no way out and there wasn't much room in the container to begin with. Her head fell back against the wall as JJ started complaining. She hears Kie sigh beside her.
"Nice work, John B. You know these things lock from the outside, right?" JJ complains
"Okay, I was just trying to get us on the boat, JJ." John B says, "I wasn't thinking that far ahead."
"We're stuck in here like rats." JJ says
"It's hot." Kie sighs as she shrugs her jacket off. Estrella leans to the side as she pulls it off of her arm.
"In this death cage!"
"Okay, JJ, you're not helping." Pope says
"You don't have a lot of room to talk right now, Pope." JJ says, "You said you had a plan, but what happened to thinking ahead?"
"I find your lack of self-knowledge disturbing."
JJ chuckles humorlessly as he stands up, "Last I checked, you literally shot an oil container with the gat. Remember that?"
Estrella groans as she kicks her foot out in between them, "Oh my God! Shut up. Shut up! Pull it together."
Estrella stares down at the two as they step away from each other. She looks over as Charlotte pulls her hair up into a ponytail. She puts her foot back down before taking her own jacket off.
"Okay." JJ sighs as he turns away
"Let's try to find a way out of here." Pope says
•••
The teens had been sitting for a while trying to come up with a plan for when they do find a way out. Estrella could feel her patience slowly slipping the longer she sat there.
"Hey, Pope, how do you kill a snake?" JJ asks
"You go for the head." Pope mumbles
"Exactly. But the head, in this instance, is the bridge." JJ says, "To take the bridge, we need maximum firepower. And I happen to know that there's an armory on this ship in case of pirate attacks."
"Pirate attacks." Kie repeats as she stands up
"If we take that-- I'm not just talking pistols."
"You lost me."
"I'm talking knives."
"Killing everybody here is not a plan." Kie says walking past him
"Ah, we lost her." JJ says, "I'm serious. If we get to the armory, I'm talking AKs, pistols, knives, double-barrels--"
"JJ!" John B snaps
"What?"
"We gotta get out of here. We can't do anything if we're still stuck in here."
"If I get enough pressure, I can Spartan kick that thing open."
"You're not kicking shit."
"Oh my god." Estrella mumbles as she covers her face and leans her elbows on her legs
"Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!" Pope says to JJ and John B
"Guys."
Charlotte turns toward Kie. The girl points up toward a window, but the boys had yet to hear her.
"Then what do you got, Einstein?" JJ says
"Guys!" Charlotte says. Everyone turns to her and she points to Kie. The boys and Charlotte walk over as Estrella jumps down to follow them.
"She's got something. Quiet." John B says
"Oh, I'm so sorry." JJ says sarcastically
"Just move with her."
"We can fit through that, yeah?" Kie asks
"Hell yeah. Nice one, Kie."
"What was that about a Swiss Army knife not coming in handy?" JJ says pulling his knife from his pocket
"Just stop it."
"Shut up." Estrella grumbles as JJ climbs up
"Go." Pope says
•••
JJ grunts as he sticks his knife in the side of the panel on the window.
"Okay, we raid the armory, get weapons, roll back here, and plot the next move. The armory is on the third deck, aft, near the laundry room." He says handing Pope the knife, "Let's roll."
"Hold up. I don't think we should all go out there." Pope says, "It's too risky."
"Why?"
"I gotta be honest, I think you should stay here." John B says
"What?"
"I have Sarah that I'm gonna go after." He says before pointing to Pope, "And Pope has..."
"The cross."
"Yeah. Let's go get it." JJ says
"Also, if you go out there, there's 100% probability that you're gonna do something stupid." Estrella adds
"Okay, first of all, I think the correct terminology is "ballsy." That is it."
"Okay, get down here." John B says grabbing his arm
"No. Get off!" JJ says stepping down, "I'm a field player."
John B shushes him, "If we go out there, and we get in a bind, we need somebody to look out for us. That's what we need."
"Okay. I get it." JJ says throwing his hands up, "I get it. I get it. I'll be on the B team."
The girls faces scrunch up in offense. Kie and Estrella turn to each other.
"I never said "B team.""
"Sorry. Are you calling us "B team"?" Estrella says pointing to herself
"Hey, JJ--" Pope tries
"Didn't mean to offend you." JJ says
"Did B team not just find our way out, or am I totally tripping?" Kie says looking between Charlotte and Estrella
"Hang back. Hold down the fort." Pope says
"Great. Looking forward to it. Mm-hmm."
"We'll babysit." Estrella says as she walks back down toward the crate she was sitting on
"You guys have fun. It's your funeral, your game. I'll be in here, on the bench..." JJ complains following her
"Hey." Kie says grabbing John B and Pope's shoulder
"...chilling."
"Don't get shot." Kie says, "That's all I got."
Charlotte chuckles as the boys nod.
"Um, "Don't get shot." John B says
"Well, that's disheartening and scary." Pope says as they climb up to take the window cover off
"Positive affirmations, Kie."
"Yep. No problem." Kie nods
"Three." John B says as they pull the cover off and hand it to Kie. As soon as they slip out, Kie steps up and puts the cover back on. When she secures it, she turns back to the others.
"Just us." She sighs. JJ rolls his eyes as he sits back. She looks down to Charlotte who gives her a small smile before sitting on a crate across from her. Kie smiles softly as she steps down from the crate.
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