𝐓 𝐖 𝐄 𝐍 𝐓 𝐘 - 𝐍 𝐈 𝐍 𝐄
full kook

"Let's go!" Pope shouted, arms shaking at the strength he was using to tug at the rope, the others close behind in assistance. However, Meredith's painful hand was making it difficult for everyone.

"Come on!" He shouted, grunts of labor erupting around the basement. The rope seared burns into each of their skins, Kiara groaning tiredly.

Then, suddenly, all noise went white. A deafening gun shot pierced the air, the pressure of the noise forcing screams from the group, Sarah ducking with a screech.

"Shit!" Kiara jumped back in fear, heart racing as she tried to turn to look at Mrs. Crain without getting shot.

"Jesus!" JJ yelled frantically, eyes widened with horror as his head snapped in the direction of where the shot came from. From in front of him, Meredith fell to her knees to duck, dirt and cement scraping at her kneecaps.

"Shit!" Kiara cried again.

"What the fuck?!" Meredith gasped out, crawling towards a few boxes of packed away kitchen essentials, back pressed against the wall.

"Shit!" JJ seethed, hands trying to hold up his best friend on the rope when the others had flinched away in fear, rope slipping from everyone's grasp. "Hang on!"

Pope yelled in agony when the rope slid out of his palms, a searing pain on his dark skin.

"Pope!" JJ! What the hell?!" Meredith couldn't make out what John B's voice echoed from below in the well, ears ringing from the spontaneous gun shot. She squeezed her eyes shut quickly, hoping that it would block her from the world, but she could still hear the struggles of her friends and Mrs. Crain cocking back the shot gun.

"Tie it up now, man!" Pope urged, shouting over the frantic cries of everyone else.

So, JJ tied a large knot right above where the rope rested on the mechanism, blocking it from passing further down the well. "Pope, hide!" The blonde urged, running towards where he had seen Meredith hide.

His terrorized gaze had softened when he saw her hands clutching her ears and eyes clamped shut like they were closed with glue.

Meanwhile, Kiara and Sarah ducked behind piping and the heat generator, crouching on their haunches. Their eyes both widened at the sight of Mrs. Crain, blind as ever, weilding a shot gun.

JJ quickly fell to his knees, pulling Meredith's hands off of her ears from when she had covered them. "Hey, can you hear me? Are you okay?" He whispered, his contact forcing her to open her fear-strucken eyes.

"Yeah..." She whispered, slowly coming to her senses and gazing around cautiously. "Where is that crazy bitch?"

JJ snorted a laugh through heavy pants. "I don't know."

"She can't aim for shit," Everyone could hear Kiara from the opposite side of the basement, the others joining in on the conversation from their scattered spots.

"She can't see," Sarah added, panic laced in her tone. "She's blind."

Then, as if she had heard every exchanged word between the two girls, another jumpscare-worthy shot rang out, piercing through a wooden beam in the center of the basement, just by where Pope hid.

Meredith gasped, hands flying up to her head, but JJ was faster, arms enclosing around her and using his chest as a shield.

"Shit!" Kiara screeched. "Go!" She urged Sarah, who had picked up in a quick run towards the small gate leading to the front garden where they had initially entered. "Go, Sarah!"

The Waters' girl could hear her two best friends exit the basement, their shoes scuffing against the dirt layered floor. The remaining three sat in agonizingly painful silence, practically waiting for the next gunshot to pierce their skin. However, when the next bullet collided with a nearby chair leg, the blonde jolted into action.

"Mer, come on!" He shouted over the crackling of the wood, grabbing her hand and tugging her to her feet. "Pope! Go! Go!"

"Go! Go!" Pope screamed, shoving the blonde as he appeared behind the two teens, who had made a run towards the gate.

"I don't care if she is– that's a buckshot!" The blue-eyed pogue referred to the mention of the old woman being blind, his hand tightening around Meredith's as the three swung the gate open.

Pope was the first to make it out, never looking back as his feet sprung him towards the stone wall, practically hurdling over it with one simple jump.

"What about John B?!" Meredith shouted, wincing in pain when she pressed her palms against the wall, JJ's hands on her waist to hoist her to the top. "We can't just leave him–"

"He'll be fine!" The blonde reassured, jumping up over the wall after her. As soon as his feet planted against the overgrown grass, he broke out into another sprint, not before making sure the girl was following behind.

"Shit!" She panted, practically flying into the open van door and jumping in the passenger seat, heavy breaths falling from her lips.

"Where's John B?!" Sarah searched frantically, eyes widened out the window.

"John B!" Pope and Kiara shouted in unison, the girl's lips pulled into a frown when there was no sign of the brunette pogue anywhere.

"Come on, start the car!" Pope shouted. "Go!"

Continuous shots echoed off of the garden greenery, the fear only growing for their lonely friend in the line of fire.

"Why are we always getting shot at?!" The dark-skinned boy cried out, flinching at the sound of another gun shot.

"Come on!" Kiara's voice dragged everyone's attention, heads simultaneously whipping around to see the movement of John B's flashlight behind bushes, leaves rustling under his large runs. "John B, run!"

"Come on! Come on!" Kiara urged JJ beginning to drive the van slowly down the dirt road, John B leisurely catching up with the car.

"Wait!" John B pleaded, but JJ only continued to drive. "Wait, wait, wait, wait!"

"Get in!" Meredith dug her knees into the passenger seat, leaning over the backrest to see John B running towards them.

Then, with one swift move, the brunette boy dove into the back of the van, Pope quick to shut the door. Immediately, a putrid stench wafted through the air, and Meredith's nose crinkled at the smell. She leaned forward to see the Routledge boy covered head–to–toe with soaked mud and something that looked like actual shit.

"JJ, drive!" Sarah panted, shouting over Meredith and Kiara's complaints of John B's stench and appearance.

"Go, man!"

As his foot pressed harder on the gas, an amused cackle escaped the blonde's lips. "Oh, my God!"

"God!" Kiara widened her eyes, nose crinkled in distaste for the smell.

"Are you okay? Are you shot?" JJ began spewing questions, head glancing back and forth between the dark road and the muddy boy in the back.

"No," John B breathed out, wiping the mud out of his eyes.

"You good?" Kiara questioned John B.

"Yeah, yeah," he panted, nodding slowly at his friends' full of concern questions.

"I think I'd know if I was shot, right?" The curly-haired girl glanced wearily between everyone in the van, rapidly assessing everyone for injuries or bullet-wounds, but none were found.

"Mer, how's your hand?" Sarah spoke over the others, heavy breaths falling from her lips.

"Uh," She laughed nervously. "That's a great question." She aimed her palm towards the group in the back, all collectively letting out groans of discomfort with how her flesh tore in the middle.

"My God!" Pope winced. "You look disgusting." He turned back to John B, who was still trying to catch his shallow breaths. It didn't help that every breath he took reminded him of his rancid stench.

"God, you smell like ass," Kiara covered her nose with the back of her hand.

"What the hell just happened?" The blonde girl dropped her head back tiredly, hairs sticking to the skin on her forehead, held by beads of sweat.

"All–time Pogue Hall of Fame, baby!" JJ cheered, his lips spread into a wide grin, that Meredith couldn't help but laugh at.

"Hell, yeah," Kiara patted the back of his seat. "That's bitch is possessed."

"That bitch can't aim," Sarah joined in.

"That bitch is blind as fuck," Meredith added on, the image of her opaque white eyes never escaping her mind.

"How does she move that fast?" Pope questioned incredulously.

"She's possessed," Meredith repeated.

"I don't get it," Pope scoffed.

"She's blind."

"Like Master Yoda," JJ spoke up from the driver's seat, eliciting a chuckle from the girl beside him.

"It doesn't make any sense, scientifically," the Heyward son shrugged with raised brows.

Kiara snorted a laugh. "She does yoga. Pilates."

"Oh, God!" JJ laughed, still high on adrenaline.

"Oh, my God!" Sarah sighed.

"What is that?" Kiara squinted her eyes down at John B, causing everyone to glance down at her line of vision. Low and behold, in John B's mud-lined hand rested a bar of what was supposedly mud, but when his thumb swiped away at the dirt, a sudden golden hue shimmered under the van's lights.

The blonde kook gasped in surprise, eyes widening on excitement. "No, you didn't!"

"We did it, baby!" John B suddenly shouted, grinning from ear to ear. One by one, everyone in the van broke out into wide grins and gasped on utter shock, Meredith laughing at the sight of a gold bar in the hands of the pogue.

"No, you didn't!" Sarah cheered giddily, eyes glistening with adrenaline.

"Oh, my God!" Meredith laughed, peering over the chair with widened eyes.

"I did it!" John B's voice raised higher than no other, his face lighting up at the concept that they had officially done it. They found the gold.

For one hundred years, people from all around the island– tourists, civilians, and historical researchers– have spent their lives work dedicated to finding the Royal Merchant gold. And somehow, amidst all of the chaos, a couple of teenagers had managed to find it.

"Oh, my God!" JJ shouted, eyes widening with utter shock when he had officially gotten sight of the shiny bar of gold in his best friend's hand.

"I did it!" He laughed pridefully, drawing laughter and proud comments to rise from the others.

Quickly, the van was filled with nothing but exhilarated cheers and screams of enjoyment. The Routledge boy held the bar of gold pridefully, the one thing he had worked to the ends of the earth for was finally in his possession.

"That's gold!" JJ laughed, fist pounding on the roof of the van.

"Wait, wait!" Kiara paused, eyes widened with realization. "Guys, we're gonna be rich!"

"Full Kook!" John B began chanting, his eyes lighting up like no other. Quickly, as if like clockwork, the others caught on, joining in.

"Full Kook! Full Kook! Full Kook!" The group cheered, and before, Meredith might have commented on the cheesiness. But, maybe, this time, she could let it slide.

"Full Kook! Full Kook! Full Kook! Ay–ay–aye!"

This moment felt like no other, the exhilaration of winning, the feeling of being on top of the world. Everyone in that van had nothing to live for for the most part– their lives were meaningless, always trying to amount to something that they couldn't quite reach.

But now, the Pogues felt like they could do anything.

authors note!
this was so wholesome. sry if it's short, im trying to update before my first day of school tmr :(