blondie | outerbanks -ON HOLD-

chapter 6- the tanks

I heard some footsteps running behind me, but I don't care. My only thought it getting to the toilet before I throw up everything i ate after i felt better from earlier this morning's throw up session.

I finally reach the bathroom, falling on my knees in front of the toilet, emptying my stomachs contents. I feel someone softly pick up my hair so that it doesn't fall in front of my face and place a soothing hand on my back. When i think i'm finished i slowly pull my head back from over the toilet bowl and see that it was Kie holding my hair back.

"Thanks." i say softly with a smile. "Please don't tell the boys." i quickly say after.

"i'm not sure what I'd be telling them because i'm kind of confused why you threw up but you're welcome." she says back easily returning my smile.

Once i regather myself i flush the toilet and walk to the sink, washing my hands and rinsing my mouth out and then also splashing my face with some water. when i turn around i see Kie come up and lean against the doorframe holding a piece of gum out for me. I laugh a little, taking the gum from her hands and unwrapping it. Popping it into my mouth as we walk back outside to where the boys are sitting.

When they hear us approaching, they give me questioning looks, i just ignore them and send them back a reassuring smile. after that we sit down in the places we were before, and John B tells us the plan JJ came up with.

"So, you're telling me that you're going to STEAL these tanks from the man who is not only the richest man on the island but who's ALSO your boss?" i ask while giving them a patronizing smile as if to tell they that it was stupid.

"Yes, sounds about right." Pope says.

"Oh my god, I'M not even that stupid!" I say throwing my arms in the air.

"Whatever, were doing it." JJ turns and tells me.

After that, John B left in the HMS Pogue to go to the Cameron's boat to get the tanks.

About an hour later he gets back and picks us up, driving us out to where the wreck they found was. Once we get there Kie and I start checking the valves on the tanks to see out much oxygen they have in them.

"They're empty." I state after looking at all of mine.

"You took empty tanks?" Kie asks, pausing as she checks her last one "Ok this one's a quarter full. It's enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan come together." Pope says sarcastically.

"Does anybody even know how to dive?" I ask, when i'm greeted with only silence i look up "really? anybody?" i ask again.

"Uh well, it's kinda a kook sport." JJ answers me with a shrug of his shoulders.

"I..... read about it." Pope chimes in again.

"Great, Pope read about it, so someone's gonna die." Kie says, slapping her hands onto her thighs.

"Look, you just put the thing in your mouth and breathe. How hard could it be?" JJ says, picking up one of the mouth pieces connected to one of the empty tanks and holding it up to inspect it.

"Well, if you come up to fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends." Pope says.

"Bends like," JJ says while leaning forward. "Bend over and..." he continues switching to leaning over backwards.

"The bends kill you JJ." I say seriously.

"Right." JJ says while straightening up.

"I can. I can dive." John B says. Shifting in his spot next to Kie at the front of the boat.

"Yeah, sure. You can dive. I'm cool with that." JJ says.

"Since when can you dive?" Kie asks skeptically.

"I'll do it, it's fine." John B says, ignoring Kies question.

"Alright let me do some calculations real quick." Pope says, standing up and grabbing a piece of paper.

Kie gets up from her spot and walks next to me. Pope starts mumbling about how far down the boat is and something about a safety stop.

"Hey Kie, do you need to keep that shirt or something?" I ask her while stripping my clothes.

"Um no not really why?" she asks, curious as to what i mean by it.

"Dive down with me and we can tie it about ten feet down like Pope said for a safely stop." I tell her.

she nods her head and we both dive in, swimming to about ten feet i hold out my hand for her to pass me the shirt and as she does so I take it and tie it around the anchor chain.

when we are satisfied it won't fall off, we swim up to the surface. popping up as JJ is explaining how to open the cargo hold.

"We tied Kies shirt about ten feet down!" I yell up to John B. "That's where you'll make your safety stop."

I see Kie swim towards the latter, so I chose to pull myself out of the water and onto the boat using the boats edge. I see JJ looking at me out of the corner of my eye, so I turn to him and wink. He then realizes that i saw him staring and turns away with a flushed face.

Pope starts telling John B about the air gauge while Kie passes me the towel she just used to wipe down her body. I do the same and them throw it back to the cargo hold.

"Zen. Think zen, you know?" i hear JJ say to John B.

"Ok so if we get caught out here in the marsh, we basically screwed. Better get a move on." Pope says.

"Copy that." John B replies.

Just as John B was about to jump in the water, Kie hops up onto the front of the boat so she's standing in front of him. She leans up and kisses his cheek. John B was obviously stunned at first but soon regained his composure.

"Driver down?" he asks.

"Driver down." she repeats.

He pulls his face mask down and jumps in the water. giving us all a salute before pressing the button and sinking down into the water.

"Alrighty then." Pope says, stepping away from the edge of the boat.

We all thought that we were in the clear. Until of course, we heard the sirens.