"WHAT DID YOU DO?"

emery yelled, rafe pointing the gun at her.

"don't even think about it." he gritted. "you keep your mouth shut."

"rafe, rafe- put the gun down!" jackson demanded, not liking the sight of the weapon pointed directly at emery. john b and sarah had moved to help peterkin, who was gasping for air.

"i'm gonna call for help, okay?" john b assured, trying to grab the radio, but rafe spun around to point the gun at him.

"don't even think about it." he repeated sharply, keeping the barrel pointed firmly at john b.

"john b, just do what he says, it's not on you if she dies." emery regretted the words as soon as they left her mouth, but it was true. john b could do his best to save peterkin, but in the end, if she died, everything would be rafe's fault, not his.

"run." the woman choked out to john b, who was crying in fear now.

"i'm not leaving you." he whispered, still trying to help peterkin, who's state was only worsening.

"john b, we have to." emery said anxiously, watching as jackson and ward tried to calm down rafe. she walked over to him slowly, grabbing his arm in an attempt to pull him away. "john b, sarah will help him, come on." emery whispered, john b glancing at emery before back at peterkin.

"i'm sorry." he whispered, grabbing emery's hand as the two ran around the front of the plane and through the tall grass on the side of the tarmac, sprinting towards the woods when gunshots started behind them, rafe yelling at them to stop running.

when they got to the woods, adrenaline pumping through their body to a point they weren't feeling tired or aching in the slightest, they tore through the trees until they saw a path in front of them. what john b and emery didn't expect was for it to be a road with a car on it. it stopped short, but john b toppled onto the hood, emery falling on top of him.

"hey! hey, you guys are bleeding, are you okay?" the driver called, clearly confused, as john b grabbed emery's hand and pulled her around the car, running back the way it had come, which emery hoped would go to town so they could find the others.

as they ran down the road, realization hit emery.

she had witnessed a murder.

or, a murder attempt. she had to hope that peterkin would still be alive. however, she knew the chances were slim, after all. in the words of mara and taylor swift, she probably wouldn't be as perfectly fine as joe jonas.

"guys!" ainsley called. john b and emery had stopped in front of the junkyard where the rest of the pogues were.

"are you guys okay?" mara asked, she and jj rushing over to check on emery and john b, who hadn't said anything. emery's adrenaline had started to wear off, and she was beginning to shut down, the terrible dread and remorse after everything that had happened hitting her.

"is that emery's blood?" pope asked, noticing the cloth wrapped around emery's arm was soaked through in scarlet, but neither she or john b replied.

"dude, who's blood is that?" jj questioned again, but a police car driving past them snapped john b and emery out of their dazed states, john b grabbing the girl and pulling her behind a stack of rubble in the junk yard, everyone else following them, looking confused.

"what did you guys do?" ainsley asked, emery shaking her head.

"jackson showed up. after we stopped the plane." she choked. "peterkin got there not long after- she was trying to arrest him and ward for killing big john- rafe shot her."

"he did what?" mara breathed, emery nodding slowly.

"we didn't know what to do, she told us to run, so we did." emery added. "sarah was still there, so were ward, jackson, and rafe."

"is she alive?" jj asked, emery shaking her head.

"we don't know."

THE NEWS CAME LATER THAT NIGHT.

it was the kildare county sheriff's department's facebook page that gave the notice of peterkin's death, they said that it was being investigated as a homicide and there were no suspects at the time, making emery's blood boil. she, john b, sarah, ward, and even jackson had watched rafe shoot peterkin. it wasn't fair.

"why are we here, john b?" emery whispered from the back seat as kiara stopped her car in front of the police station. the twinkie was abandoned on the tarmac, so they had to take her car since emery didn't feel like going to figure eight to get hers. she also didn't feel like explaining to amelia why john b's hands were covered in blood and why the color had yet to fully return to their faces, why the two were still trembling slightly and how peterkin had died at the hands of rafe cameron.

"someone has to tell them what happened, ems." he muttered in reply. pope suddenly began coughing heavily, choking on a puff of smoke from the joint clutched between his fingertips.

oh, yeah, pope did weed now. and he lost his scholarship.

"easy there chief. damn." jj mumbled, taking the pen from pope as he eyed john b skeptically. "alright, i'm just gonna be real with you right now, you might end up in the lion's den, but you don't go there on purpose. it's fundamental, just like my old man always told me, you should never trust cops, no matter the circumstances."

"your old man's an abusive liar." kiara deadpanned, emery and mara glaring at her from the backseat. it seemed like the wrong time to mention jj's homelife, especially after everything that had happened only a couple days prior.

"i agree with jj." pope said darkly. "fuck the police."

"pope, my mom's a cop." ainsley deadpanned from the front seat.

"when's the last time the cops have helped us?" pope exclaimed, john b speaking up shakily.

"peterkin looked out for me. tried to, at least." he said, voice wavering at the thought of someone who had done so much, tried so hard to keep him away from somewhere he didn't want to go, the thought of that person being dead was too much. "they need to know."

"if things go south, you come right back out." emery demanded, putting her hand on john b's shoulder, her eyes traveling to his hands which were still covered in peterkin's now dry blood.

wordlessly, the brunette climbed out of the car, walking around the vehicle and into the door of the police station.

"are you okay?" jj asked, emery turning to him. he was looking at her, concern clear in his eyes. emery shook her head, jj wordlessly pulling her into a hug, which she didn't reciprocate.

"what even happened?" mara asked, emery sighing heavily as jj hugged her tighter.

"we stopped the plane- it's honestly a miracle ward didn't kill us- and jackson showed up. he shoved me on the ground, he and ward started arguing about something, and peterkin showed up-" emery stopped, swallowing thickly as tears pricked at her eyes, which she quickly blinked away. "she was trying to arrest ward and jackson, they killed big john. she had jackson handcuffed, and was trying to cuff ward and he started resisting. she- she pulled her gun out, wasn't going to shoot him, and we heard the shot, she fell on the ground, and rafe came around the corner."

when emery finished her story, everyone just looked at her, eyes wide in shock that all this had happened within about five minutes.

suddenly, john b ran out the door of the police station.

"kie! start the car!" he yelled, climbing in the back, emery snapping up and shoving jj off her, everyone sitting upright as cops began to run out of the station and surround the car.

"kie, start the car!" ainsley yelled, looking terrified as she scanned around the cops circling the car, hoping her mom wasn't in the crowd.

"i am!" kiara yelled, pressing her foot to the gas as a cop latched onto the door, running with the car.

"open it!" pope exclaimed, john b doing so, making the woman fall as he slammed the door shut, leaning back in his seat and breathing erratically.

"hey, hey, what happened?" emery asked, climbing over the seat to sit next to john b, the brunette gripping her hand tightly.

"ward and jackson- they said i did it." he breathed, looking terrified.

"shit." emery breathed, john b sighing heavily next to her.

"everyone thinks i did it, ems-"

"hey, hey, breathe." emery said firmly, john b just leaning into her and sighing shakily.

"what's the plan, emery?" kie asked from the front.

"why do i have to plan?" she snapped, ainsley turning to face her.

"because pope would normally plan and he's high. you're the second most rational." the blonde retorted, emery shaking her head when something on the side of the road caught her eye.

IT WAS A SHACK.

emery had seen a rundown building on the side
of the road, perfect for kiara to hide her car in. she and john b climbed in the backseat with jj and mara, the four of them coming to the decision that they would rather spoon like sardines then try to find another way of being comfortable.

so, mara and emery in the middle with jj and john b on either side, they laid up against each other in surprising comfort. mara and emery never actually got any sleep, both girl's eyes would fly open every time they heard the whirring of a police siren nearby.

so, when morning came and both boys woke up, the two girls were surprisingly alert for getting as little sleep as they did, maybe a couple hours at max. kiara flipped the radio onto the local stations, attempting to provide a little background noise to cut off the suffocating silence surrounding them. however, they all said the same thing. weather, local news, and john b: murderer.

"lets game this out. maybe you guys can help being the smart ones and all, but... who are the cops going to believe?" jj asked. "ward cameron, or us?"

"this is helpful, very, please keep talking, and while you're at it, pass me that." emery said sarcastically while pointing at a white can of coconut redbull in the cup holder by jj's head. he passed her the white can and shrugged.

"no, be realistic, ems." he said. "the accuser is a bigshot developer, kind of lord of the island, got the governor on speed-dial kind of person, and the accused is john b, who is... pretty much a homeless sixteen year old boy right now."

"thanks." the brunette deadpanned, emery rolling her eyes and opening the can, taking a drink and passing the can to mara, who also took a long drink. upon looking around, they realized it was the only one left in kie's car, meaning that singular energy drink was going to have to last them however long they were on the run, considering neither of them had any cash on them.

"shit." pope whispered from the seat in front of them where he and ainsley were sitting.

"yucatán, alright? i'm saying that's the only option." jj stressed. "what other option do you have?"

"jj, enough with the mexico bullshit." john b replied, clearly still tired and not wanting to think about this all so early in the morning. "sarah and emery will bail me out."

"she was there the entire time. and her dad did kidnap her and force her onto a plane." emery mentioned nonchalantly.

"and she's gonna rat out rafe?" kiara snapped.

"she's gonna snitch on her brother?" pope asked at the same time as kiara, emery nodding slowly.

"if levi or jj killed someone in front of me, i'd rat them out." she replied. "sarah not inviting you to one party when you were fourteen and literally witnessing a murder are two different things."

"not gonna happen, bro." jj cut off emery, turning back to john b. "we've gotta get you off the island."

"the ferry." pope said suddenly. "it's the only way."

"i also own boats, cars, and my mom loves john b more than me, but whatever." emery deadpanned, pulling her phone out of her pocket to see multiple missed calls from amelia as well as a surprising fifty percent battery life.

"he has to be discreet with it." ainsley explained. "one of your cars going missing for months with you, milly, and lee all still here isn't discreet."

"exit stage left while you still can." jj summarized, a police car approaching. "before the entire island is on lockdown."

"guys, just get down." kiara said, everyone slumping down in their seats.

"sarah's not a pogue, guys." pope said to emery and john b, the melville girl biting her lip.

"yeah, you can't stay here, man." jj said to john b, who was looking out the car window, not showing any emotion.

it was going to be a long day.

kens speaks 🪐

we're into the last two episodes?? these next few chapters will be mostly melledge with small hints of jjmara and melward, very little tuckerra if any, they probably won't be a couple until s2

anywho, mara and i didn't have to wheel and deal for this one but she's always the most help when writing

also i thought this was really funny, i found it on missmememore on instagram, she makes the best kelsea memes and they're honestly so funny