Lost At Sea 2 ⋆ JJ Maybank

𝖝𝖝𝖝𝖎𝖎𝖎. Stick Season

"Faster! Faster!"

"Speed is your friend. Speed is your friend, John B."

Just as the Twinkie is meant to rejoin the main, not soaked road, the van goes fishtail and diverts to their left, effectively landing in a growing pond.

The van stops. John B begins to chant small 'no's. The taillight is definitely taking a bath right now. So are the plugs. All in all, Kathryn would say they're fucked.

"I think we miscalculated," Pope remarks.

Sarah holds her fingers up, closing the gap between them, as if to say, just a bit.

"I knew I should have driven."

Kathryn huffs at JJ, crossing her arms. "And what, bend the water away? You're missing the hairdo, Katara."

They walk out to evaluate the damage. Kathryn's shins are immediately hit by freezing water, and she scowls. Those shoes she's wearing are expensive, dear god fuck. They're her favourite pastel yellow! She raises a foot.

More like poop brown now.

"Okay, maybe we can walk from here," Pope proposes.

"What?" John B cries out. "And leave the Twinkie? The... the tide's coming in." Kathryn opens her mouth. "Do not say that we should have checked the tides."

Sarah sighs. "So then what are we supposed to do?"

"Not stay here," JJ says, not helping.

But Kathryn knows a car – a truck, actually – that she's fixed up quite a lot to know should make it through the water, with just enough power too... She also knows someone who'll disinherit her and throw her on the streets if he finds a speck of mud anywhere near his baby.

"I can take Henry's truck," she says, though her tone clearly indicates she doesn't want to.

"Bug, are you sure?"

She sighs. "Yeah, yeah. Only other trucks we have is either in Charleston, or belongs to the Carreras so any way, we're fucked."

Kie's lip inches up in a smile, relieved that she doesn't have to run into her parents this time around.

"We need something to pull her out with," JJ remarks. "There's the winch at the Château. That's like, two miles."

Sarah nods. "Yeah, that's a good idea."

"If you're gonna do it, let's go, okay?" John B hurries a little, too worried about his van to care about much else.

Kathryn rolls her eyes. "Yes, bee."

"Tide's coming in. Twinkie's going underwater."

"She needs a good soak."

"Don't talk about my van like that."

"Double time, KD. We gotta move."

Kathryn and JJ leave the rest of the group to fend for themselves, the former trying to distract herself from the feeling of impending doom her anxiety brings every time they split up. The sludgy mud feels like she's walking to an SBI tent, like she was back in August. She tries to distract herself by thinking about how she's going to twist it around in a way Henry won't kill her for, and JJ's palm against hers.

🐝

Henry is blissfully unaware that his favorite niece is currently on another gold hunt. Which is for the better, considering the last time he caught wind of it, he almost ruptured an artery.