𝐒𝐄𝐀𝐒𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍𝐄, 𝐄𝐏𝐈𝐒𝐎𝐃𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄
𝟒𝟏:𝟓𝟔 - 𝟒𝟗:𝟓𝟎
𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙗𝙧𝙪𝙩𝙖𝙡 »𝙤𝙡𝙞𝙫𝙞𝙖 𝙧𝙤𝙙𝙧𝙞𝙜𝙤

∞

John B somehow managed to get the tanks, but spared us the details on how he got pass Ward. The five us rushed to the Marsh, desperate to be the first ones down the week.

My eyes widen, staring down at the meter connected to the tanks, "This is empty. You took empty tanks, you idiot." I roll my eyes before glaring up at my brother.

Kie checks the other one, sighing, "Okay, this one is a quarter full. It's enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan comes together," Pope grumbles, sitting back in his seat.

"Does anybody know how to dive?" Kie asks, eyes scanning us for a positive answer.

I tilt my head, slowly raising my hand, causing their eyes to snap to me, "I do."

"No, no," JJ shakes his head, holding a single finger up in my direction, "You don't."

I stare up at him, eyebrows raised, "Since when did you get to make that decision for me, playboy?"

He winks at me, completely ignoring my question before looking at Kie, "It's kind of a Kook sport."

"I- I read about it," Pope states quietly.

"Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die." Kie rolls her eyes, "Ava, why can't you just do it?"

"She can't actually dive." JJ rushes, reaching across the space between us to smack my arm gently, "You were joking, weren't you, Ava?"

I glare at him for a second, returning the smack before facing Kiara again,"I can—"

"—not. She cannot," JJ licks his lips, "Look, you put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be? I could do it." He shrugs.

"Well, if you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends," Pope informs him.

"Bends like," JJ sticks his ass out, his hand gripping the metal poll for support, "bend over—"

"The bends kill you." Pope tells him.

"Right." JJ stands up straight again, fixing his hat placement awkwardly, "Another good reason for Ava to not dive."

I clench my jaw, throwing my middle finger up lazily at him, earning a low chuckle and he smirks mischievously.

"I- I can dive," John B declares.

"Yeah, you can dive. I'm cool with that." JJ nods enthusiastically.

I look over at him, laughing, "You didn't want me to do it because I could die, but as soon as my brother volunteers, you're all in. Sounds a bit murderous, if you ask me, Maybank."

"I didn't mean it like that." He mumbles, "I meant—"

Kie smacks his leg, shaking her head, directing the boy to be quiet, "Shut up," She hisses, averting her stern gaze to my brother, "Since when can you dive?"

"I'll do it." He sits back casually beside me, smiling, "It's fine."

Pope starts to do the final calculations and I glare at my twin, my eyebrows raised in questioning.

He glances over, feeling my judgemental look, "What, Ava,?"

"You can't dive for shit."

He grimaces, eyebrows furrowed and mouth slightly open, "How do you know?"

"Because I've known you my whole life, literally," I grumble, "You used to struggle go under the water in the bath tub, let alone in the Marsh."

"That's what the oxygen tanks are for," He remarks, "I'll be okay." He looks away from me and back at Pope, listening the final price of important information.

"So, that boat is about 30 feet dow, right. So it will take twenty-five minutes at most at that depth." Pope calculates, "Which means you need to make your safety stop at about.. ten feet."

I stand up, slowly looking over at Kie and she sends me a nod. I place myself beside her, pulling my top off and glucthing it tightly in my hand before diving in with her. We swim down ten feet and tie our t-shirts securely to the anchor chain so he knows exactly where to make his stop.

"Hey! We tied our t-shirts to the anchor chain about ten feet down," Kie tells them.

"It's where you need to do your safety stop." I add as JJ holds his hand out for me, helping me back onto the boat.

"Cool, thanks," John B smiles gently while putting on the scuba-gear.

"If we get caught in the marsh, we're basically screwed, so, better get a move on." Pope says, resting on the steering wheel.

Kie steps up to John B, pressing a long peck to his cheek. JJ, Pope and I share a look as to say 'what the fuck just happened.'

"Diver down?" My brother tilts his head, his cheeks rosy from the unexpected contact from the girl.

"Diver down." Kie smirks while John B pulls on his goggles.

He jumps and salutes before going under the surface. I slowly reposition myself so I'm laying down on my stomach, staring over the side of the boat, watching the water where he went down.

The feel of eyes on me, causes my head to whip round, catching JJ staring intently at my ass. I raise my leg kicking him gently and his eyes quickly flick away from my body, making me laugh, "Mesmerised, playboy?" I tease.

His smirks, running his tongue over the top set of teeth but suddenly his expression drops, his eyes stuck on a boat in the distance, "Guys, it's the police." JJ hisses, smacking my legs frantically.

My eyes widen and I hurriedly rise up to see Shoupe on his boat, pulling over to us, waving causally, "You've gotta be fucking kidding me," I groan.

"Just act frickin' normal," Kie says, flicking her hair around, "Normal, okay?"

Deputy Plum's eyes stare up and down my body, and I return the grimacing look, showing my distaste for her. Shoupe slows the boat down, pulling up beside us. Plum carelessly throws Pope the rope and he ties it off, connecting us.

"Good evening, officers," I say, getting a simple nod in return, leaning back slightly into JJ.

"How you kids doing?" Shoupe removes his sunglasses, checking us over, "You know the marsh is closed?"

"No, we didn't know," JJ swallows, scratching his head.

"Why is it closed?" I ask, tapping my fingers on my leg; the worry about my most-likely drowning brother taking over.

"Well, we're conducting a search out here. Boat went down." He explains, squinting, "Seen anything?"

We all shake our heads and answer in unison, "No. No boats."

"Where's your brother, Ava?" Plum's eyes shoot to me as she questions, "He here? You two are usually joined at the home — mostly doing illegal stuff."

I clench my jaw, sending the woman a sarcastic smile, "He's working, believe it or not."

"I'm gonna check your little boat out." Shoupe says while climbing aboard.

"Yeah, go ahead. Check it out." Pope moves out the way, giving him space.

"You got another one of these?" He questions, holding up a life jacket.

"Yeah, yeah." JJ nods, pointing to the space below Kie, "It's, uh, it's in the hold."

Kie stands up, allowing JJ to get the other life jacket out, holding it up to the two coppers as proof. There are a few moments of silence while JJ places it back in it's place and Shoupe gets back on his boat.

"Where is he?" I whisper over to JJ, still not seeing any sign of John B.

He shrugs, slowly grabbing my hand and rubbing his thumb gently over the back of it to reassure me, sending me a weak smile.

"Tell us if you see anything on your way out," Shoupe tells us while untying his boat, sending us one last nod.

He slowly leaves, and each of us take a deep breath once he's out of sight. We look out over the edge of the boat, JJ's hand moves up to rub the small of my back and I relax slightly at the contact.

"He's definitely out of air," Pope sighs sadly.

I glare over at him, eyes wide, "Thanks for telling us that, Pope."

John B breaks the surface, panting like crazy and my head snaps to him and I let out a long breath, "Don't fucking scare me like that."

"Did you find anything?" JJ asks while John B climbs back up the ladder.

He throws a black duffel bag up to JJ, who congratulates him over and over for finally finding something that could be of potential.

"You okay?" Kie tilts her head at my brother, hand resting on his shoulder.

"Yeah," He pants, "I ran out of air."

"You scared the shit out of me," I huff.

"Sworry." John B pouts and I fight the urge to push him back into the water, instead just turning away from him, hands running through my hair.

"Yeah, the cops were up here but, uh, we took care of 'em." Pope tells him, nodding confidently.

"Yeah, you kinda missed the show, brother." JJ rests his arm on my shoulder, leaning down slightly, "Top quality acting."

"Hey, guys." Kie exclaims from behind us, "Guys, bogey, two o'clock." Kie exclaims.

"What?" JJ and I both turn quickly, our backs straightening.

And sure enough, there is a random boat heading straight for us through the Marsh as full speed. I raise my hand to shield my eyes from the sun and squint further.

"Do you recognise that boat?" Pope inquires.

"Never seen it," I reply, "What are they doing? The Marsh is fucking closed."

"I don't know but let's not stick around to find out," JJ states, leaning down to the bow line.

"Should we wait on them?" Pope looks at me, eyebrows furrowed.

My eyes widen, head shaking, "Why the fuck would we wait on them? No, Pope, no, we're not."

"Go get the stern!" John B instructs Pope loudly, "Go!"

"Hurry up, playboy," I hiss as the boat nears, smacking his back frantically,

"I'm going as quick as possible, princess." He snarls back roughly.

John B starts the boat and JJ moves quicker, his fingers struggling with the bow line, "Guys, don't wait for me. Go, go." He shouts.

"Let's go!" I move around to beside my brother, my hand resting on his shoulder, "John B, let's go."

"I'm going, Ava!" He yells.

"Act natural." Pope says quietly as if they might be able to hear us.

"Act natural?" I holler, "Pope, they're coming right for us."

"Hey, guys, they're following us." Kie startles, her eyes never leaving the opposition's boat.

JJ slowly moves in-front me, holding me behind him, his hand resting on my waist while his other is tapping my brother's arm, "Dude, you gotta go faster! Gun it!"

"I'm going! I'm going!"

Suddenly, a loud shot rings out and There's JJ doesn't hesitate to drag me down to the floor of the boat, holding my close to him.

"Holy fucking shit." I breath, my hands starting shake.

"Holy fucking shit." JJ repeats.

"Ava, help me with this!" Kie shouts, grabbing the net, "Hurry!"

I manage to shuffle out of JJ's grip and he attempts to grab me again but misses, shooting my name instead. I rush to Kiara's side, my hands wrapping around the net and we both throw it into the water.

"Ava, Kie, get down." JJ roars, his hand wrapping securely around my wrist and he pulls me back into his chest.

Their boat comes to a slow stop because of the net Kie and I placed down. They shout  a long string of cusses at us, the guy firing a few more unnecessary shots, failing horribly.

"You're welcome," Kie and I both snap to the boys, high-fiving each other in triumph while standing back up.

"Boo yeah! Pogue god life!"