BRUTAL | jj maybank

FORTY TWO

"I agree," JJ said, causing Kyla to glance over at him.

"Hey, hey," John B whispered quickly before he shushed them. Kyla looked over and furrowed her brows in confusion, before she heard rustling not too far away from them. "Somebody's here."

"You don't that Topper would..." Kiara trailed off since they already knew what she was going to say.

"I wouldn't put it past him," JJ said before they all began to stand up, looking over at the area where they heard the footsteps.

"Do you have your gun?" Kiara asked the blonde.

"Oh, now she wants the gun," JJ replied in annoyance, gesturing over at Kiara.

"Oh, now you don't have the gun?" Kiara questioned, her face scrunched up.

"No." Pope and Kyla tried shushing the both of them before they got into one of their countless arguments again.

"Isn't that your 'secret' weapon?" Kiara teased in frustration as she made air quotations around the word 'secret'.

JJ tried arguing back, but Pope and Kyla continued to shush him. "Shut up," John B whispered from behind them.

"Jesus," Kiara muttered before they began to make their way closer to the noise they heard.

"Goddamn, now she wants the gun," JJ went on quietly.

"Let it go, JJ," Kyla demanded softly, causing him to shake his head and mutter something inaudible under his breath.

"Hey, who's out there?" John B called out.

"You Kooks better not try anything!" Kiara warned, but her voice wavered slightly.

"Who's there?" JJ said.

Then, Renfield, Limbrey's crony, stepped out of the shadows and revealed himself. "How y'all doing?" he asked and Kyla tensed up. He's even worse than Topper, she thought.

"It's this piece of shit," Pope muttered angrily.

"You gotta be kidding me," JJ said, a sharp stick now in his hand.

Renfield held his hands up, showing that he was unarmed as he began to walk towards them. "Lovely evening we're having. Look, I, uh...I don't hold a grudge with any of y'all, all right?" he said before he patted his jacket and pants to further show he had had no weapons. "But this can go hard," he spun around, "or this can go easy. You know what I'm here for."

"I don't think we do," Kyla spoke up, hoping that playing dumb would get them out of this. She had a feeling that it wouldn't work.

Renfield looked at her with narrowed eyes before he smirked. "Let me give you a little demonstration. You see that swing, right there?" he asked, pointing at the swing behind them. "I got the best bow hunters in the Army Rangers with me," he told them.

"Yeah?" JJ said before he hummed, not believing it.

"Hidden," Renfield added. He then whistled and all of a sudden an arrow flew out, hitting the tree branch that was right next to all of their heads. Kyla's eyes widened in shock and in fear, her breath becoming shallow. "Now, they're out there. They'll stick you just as soon as I say so," he told them as he began walking closer to Pope. JJ started to make his way up behind him to try and hit him before Renfield whistled, another arrow flying out and landing right next to JJ's foot. Kyla quickly grabbed onto the blonde's arm out of instinct, trying to tug him away from Renfield. "Nuh-uh-uh. We clear?"

He began to push the stick down before he turned to Pope. "Now, I'm not gonna give you a countdown or any bullshit like that. I'm just gonna whistle," Renfield revealed and all the Pogues stayed silent, just staring at the man in fear.