When it all goes down

Down we go.

It was go time. We waited for the sun to go down, then we all piled into the bus, making our way back to the dreaded Crain house.
"Got the rope?" John B asked looking in the rear view mirror.
"Got it."Jj pulled at the rope he had hooked to his shoulder.
"Grappling hook?"
"No grappling hook." Sarah rolled her eyes. John B chuckled.
"We're not Batman." I chimed in
"Pulley, Kie?"
"Check!"
"Flashlight?"
"We got it." We all yelled in response.
"We're ready, let's go." He put the car in park. We made it to our destination.
"Let's go get rich boys and girls." Jj said whipping open the van door. Adrenaline and nerves shooting through my system. Anything could go wrong.
"Hell yeah. Let's go!" Pope jumped out
" it's go time. Come on T." Sarah said climbing out and turning back to me.
"Wait. Wait. I wanna say thank you guys. Seriously." John B said stopping us in our tracks.
""Always." I sent him a smile. Crouched in the door way.
" it means a lot to me." He offered out his hand and I took it, jumping out the bus.
"Of course man." Pope and John B fist bumped. He looked to Sarah and she smiled.
"All right. Can we be done with this circle jerk? Can we do this?" Jj was never one to get emotional.
" okay, let's get the wheat in the water." John B slid the door closed quietly and we all made our way to the fence. One by one we took turns climbing up and jumping over.
"Shit." I said stopping and sitting at the top.
"What the hell are you doing babe?" Jj whispered up to me. "Keep going."
"My shirt is fucking stuck, JJ." I snapped back. I tugged hard trying to pull it loose
"Between you and Pope I swear." I could tell he was shaking his head.
"Just swing your leg over and go." John B hollered up. I let out a huff and swung my leg over. The shirt made a loud rip. Thankfully it just made a huge slit in the side, but you could clearly see my bra.
"Nice one." Kie said as I landed on the ground next to her.
"Glad I'm not the only one." Pope had just landed down next to me, handing me the section of shirt he grabbed off the fence. "Don't wanna leave evidence behind." I grabbed the torn fabric and stuffed it into the waist band of my black leggings. Once everyone was over the fence, we used our flashlights to light our way towards the house. As we neared the area we stood just earlier today, suddenly lights on the house flipped on. Motion sensor lights. Damn.
"Shit. Lights! Turn off the flashlights." Kie shouted pulling my arm down and everyone dropped near the tree line. We all shut off our flashlights and the motion lights stayed on.
"Okay, so she has sensor lights." Pope pointed out the obvious.
" maybe we could move really slowly." We all stopped and stared at JJ.
"What? That's not even how that works.." I said staring at him with furrowed brows.
"Let's throw a rock at it." John B added
"Okay, again. What is wrong with you two?" I turned to look at him with the same expression.
"Throw a rock at it?" Sarah asked also in disbelief.
"Anyone else have a better idea?" John B looked around the group.
"Literally anything else would be a better idea than that." Pope said and we all started agreeing and arguing back and forth.
"Guys, shut up!" Kie whispered, making all of us silent. "The breaker."
"What about it?" I asked curiously
"She is right! The breaker is on the porch. We used to play around here as kids and dare each other to make it to the porch. I've seen it." Sarah agreed
"You kooks are psychos." I shook my head
" no no. You're not going to the house." John B said touching her arm.
"Watch me." Sarah made an effort to move.
"She will chop you into pieces." I warned
"She is like what? 85? She is probably barely kicking!" Kie moved herself forward slowly. "I'll go with you."
"We will wait for your signal. Hey! Be safe." He called out as they crouched low to the ground and made their way to the front porch.
"Be safe." Pope turned to me
"I'll be so safe." I put my hands on his face making kissy lips
"I'll be so safe for you." Pope said back, both of us mocking John B.
"Can you guys stop? Seriously. I'm going to kill you!"
" but how would that keep us safe?" I looked at him with a pouty face. JJ and Pope laughing in the dark beside me. John B rolled his eyes.
A few minutes passed and suddenly it was pitch black again. They did it, the sensor lights were out.
"They did it. Go time." John B got up and made his way to the basement door from earlier. We all got up and followed. He slid the door open and crawled in.
"No hesitation T, come on." He turned around looking back at me through the small door.
"Shit. There better be gold in here." I said as JJ touched the exposed skin, pushing me slightly through the door. JJ and Pope slid in. The room was much darker than it was earlier today. The flashlights lighting the way as we made it to the gaping hole in the floor.
"This reminds me of a movie I saw once. It's about cannibals-" Jj started
"Jj, seriously. Read the room." I cut him off
"Oh don't tell me your scared." He said laughing at me
"Scared. We are in a pitch black basement in the middle of the night, in a possible murderers house! But no I'm not scared at all JJ!" I crossed my arms and rolled my eyes at him. He pointed his flashlight right into my face. I squinted and turned my head away, shielding my eyes.
"Aww how cute. But I'd never let anything happen to you, you know that." He started walking towards me.
"You say while blinding me!" I slapped the arm holding the flashlight to get it out of my face.
"Shut up!" Pope finally yelled at us. "Get over here and help."
John B was attaching himself to the rope. Our job was to lower him down. I was the closest to him, with Pope behind me and JJ, being the strongest, held onto the back.
"Hey guys, I have one request. Don't drop me." He looked up into my face. I was the only one who could see him. We slowly started lowering him into the hole.
"No promises." I winked at him.
"Very reassuring." He nodded. "Alright keep playin it out- nice and slow like that."
"That's what she said." Jj choked out from the back.
"Funny." Pope said behind me, not sounding amused.
"You good?" I yelled out. John B was barely visible.
"Oh shit." I heard from behind me. It was Jj. I could hear sliding on the floor and I knew he lost his footing. I felt the rope slack in my hands as I tried to grab it as tight as I could.
"Shit. Shit. Grab it." Pope was breathing heavy behind me. We all finally regained our grips and I looked into the hole. John B was no longer visible.
"Shit. I think we killed him guys. John B!" I shouted down into the darkness
"What the hell was that?" He finally called up
"Ummm... technical difficulties. We got it under control." I replied.
"Keep going. And slow this time." He yelled up
"Got it!" We continued lowering the line slowly checking in on John B every few minutes. He kept telling us he was fine and to keep going.
"We got 15 feet left." JJ called from behind. "Asks if he is close to the bottom."
"You getting close? We are almost out of rope up here!" I hollered down.
"I can't tell just keep going." We slacked and let the rope slide a little more when John B yelled for us to stop.
"What's wrong?"
"I'm hanging over some sewage water looking shit."
"You want us to pull you back up?"
"No, keep going I guess."
"Gross." I whispered where only Pope and JJ could hear. "Y'all think the girls are ok? Where the hell are they?"
"Maybe crain got to them." JJ responded in the dark.
"Nice, very nice J."
"I felt something with my foot" John B hollered suddenly. There was a pause and then John B started yelling, "JJ, Guys! Pull me up!" We all started pulling with all our strength.
"Guys pull!" JJ yelled at us as we all panicked.
"We are trying!" Pope shouted, you could tell he was straining.
"Wait wait wait wait wait." John B yelled stopping us.
"What the hell do you want us to do. Shit." I was out out of breath.
"I think I found something." We stopped pulling him up holding the rope still. All of us trying to catch our breath when we heard footsteps running down the steps behind us.
"Guys, guys." It was Kie.
"What the hell is going on?" I heard JJ whisper as they made it to where he stood.
"It's Crain! She is up there! She tried to get us with a fire poker! We locked her in the parlor but we gotta go!" Sarah was panting and sounded panicked.
"Okay, code red!" I yelled down into the well. "Back on the rope John B. Now!"
"Hold on" he hollered back
"There is no holding on! Did you hear me? CODE RED!" I yelled louder into darkness.
We started pulling on the rope, but it was much lighter and we could tell John B wasn't even attached to it.
"Shit, John B get on the damn rope!" Jj hollered loud enough for him to hear.
"I found it!" I heard him shout excitedly.
"Wait, what did he say?" Pope asked
"Just pull." I grunted back. "Everybody, grab and pull. Get on the rope, John B!"
Suddenly a loud bang rang out in the dark room. My ears were ringing. We heard footsteps coming down the stairs slowly.
"Shit. She is shooting at us."
"Shit. Go go."
"Jesus."
"What is going on up there?" John B yelled as we all pulled as fast as we could. Another shot rang out. I reached down as John B suddenly came into view. He grabbed my hand and used his legs to climb up the rest of the wall. Once he was up we all moved in a group towards the exit. Crain fired another shot, in the wrong direction.
"She can't aim for shit." JJ whispered to the group.
"She is blind." Sarah answered
Crain was waving the gun around in all directions. She fired another shot to the far right of us.
"Shit." I jumped. "Okay that's enough for me." I booked it to the exit as fast as I could and jumped out the open door. One by one my friends shot out after me shouting and whooping in celebration.
"Go, get to the car!" JJ grabbed my hand and pulled me in the dark. He pushed me over the fence and we ran and jumped in the bus.
"Why are we always being shot at?!" Pope questioned holding his chest as he caught his breath.
"Come on John B!" Sarah jumped in and yelled out the open door. John B finally jumped in and I slammed the door.
"JJ, floor it," I begged as JJ made his way to the front seat. He stuck the key in, started the bus and peeled it out of there. John B was covered in what looked like thick mud. He smelled terrible.
"Is everyone ok? Anyone shot?" Kie turned around from the passenger seat and looked at all of us.
We all patted ourselves down.
"I'd know if I was shot right?" I said still patting and trying to catch my breath.
"I've never see you run so fast." Pope teased
"Adrenaline." I laughed back. "Who knew?"
"God, you smell like ass!" Sarah said and we all looked at John B disgusted.
"You do, man." Pope grabbed his nose.
"That had to be all time pogue hall of fame right there." JJ whooped from the front seat.
"How did she even move that fast?" Kie and Sarah were having a side conversation. I couldn't believe we made it out. I couldn't help but start laughing. Maybe it was the adrenaline, or maybe it was just the fact that we beat death once again. John B looked up at me and started laughing too. He looked down to his hands and my eyes followed. There he held something that looked like a bar. It was covered in mud. He wiped it with his shirt and revealed a clean spot. No fucking way. It was gold.
"We did it baby." He held it up showing all of us. It got quiet, all ours eyes darting around the van to each other to make sure we were all seeing the same thing.
"No you didn't!" Sarah finally shouted
"I did it!" John B had never sounded more excited
"Oh my god!"
"No fucking way."
"We are rich!"
Everyone started shouting over each other! We couldn't believe it. He did it. We did it! We found the gold.
"To going full kook!" John B shouted holding up the gold.
"Full kook! Full kook! Full kook!" We all chanted in unison.