"Attention all passengers and crew report to the tween forward hull. That's an order. I repeat all passengers and crew report to the tween forward hull immediately."
"They did it!" John B exclaimed, "They took the bridge," he said after hearing the captain come over the intercom.
"Alright, let's go," JJ said, moving the grate out of the window, "We'll split up. Coral and I will go lock them in once they all get to the hull."
"Kie and I will find Sarah and get the life boat," John B said as they each climbed out of the container.
"We'll meet you, load the cross, and then get the hell out of here," Coral said, hugging both John B and Kie before taking JJ's hand and running in the opposite direction.
Following JJ through a door and down a set of steps he brought his finger up to his lips, "We'll wait here till they all get in," he whispered as she nodded.
Hearing men talking Coral peaked her head around, "How many?" JJ whispered.
Holding up five fingers he nodded before she once again peaked around the corner. Holding up three more fingers she kept a watch until all of the crew including Rose, Wheezie, and Rafe had walked by and into the hull.
"That's all of them," she whispered.
"Except Ward. We need Ward," he whispered back.
"We can't wait."
Contemplating he finally motioned her with his head for them to go shut the door to the hull. Taking a deep breath Coral ran for the door with JJ right behind her. Pushing the door shut she was met with resistance when some of the crew tried to stop them.
Leaning heavily on the door she and JJ managed to get it shut and locked. Hearing the men yell to go for the other door JJ swore, "There's another door!" he yelled, taking off across the metal walkway.
Making it to the second door he slammed it shut as Coral yanked the handle down locking them inside, "Alright, phase one complete," Coral smiled. Kissing her JJ took her hand, "Come on the cross is probably down one more level in the cargo hold."
Climbing down another level they made their way into the hold, "There it is," she pointed seeing the large wooden box that they watched being loaded earlier. Hurrying towards it Coral noted the lid was off, "Do you think one of the crew was trying to steal it?"
Pulling the blankets that covered the cross away JJ shrugged, "Maybe. It just makes our job easier," he replied as he revealed the cross under the layers of blankets.
"Holy shit," Coral whispered looking over the bedazzled cross.
"We're gonna tell this story to our kids."
"Damn right," she laughed wrapping her arms around his neck and kissing him. Breaking apart as the overhead roof began to open they looked up to see Pope standing on deck. Laughing Coral waved as JJ whooped with joy.
"The time where people do shit to us and we just sit back and take it is over," Pope yelled.
"That's my boy! Let's get this done!"
"I'm going to the crane!" Pope yelled down to them. "We'll get it tied up!" Coral yelled back waving as Pope disappeared from the deck.
Once Pope had the crane going he dropped the large metal hook into the hold, allowing JJ to hook it around the ties on the cross, "Okay Pope lift away!" he yelled up.
After a few near misses Pope managed to lift the cross through the hole in the roof and get it up on deck, "Come on. Let's go help get it on the life boat," JJ said as he led her through the underground maze of the ship and back up on deck.
Looking over the side of the ship Coral didn't see her brother, "I don't see him."
"If I remember correctly the life boat is on the other side of the ship. Maybe they're over there," he told her before leading her down the ship deck to go around to the other side.
Heading around the stern of the ship Coral stopped short as Captain Eberhimi descended the steps in front of them, "JJ," she whispered staring wide eyed at the machete in the Captain's hand.
"Of course there's more of you," Eberhimi muttered, "Get down on your knees," he ordered.
"Yeah, that's not gonna happen," JJ said before ducking out of the way when Eberhimi swung his machete at him.
Coming back up JJ pushed him into the wall, "Hit him Coral!"
Using an emergency hatch Coral swung it at the Captain's head causing him to fall over.
"Where's John B?" JJ yelled.
Rushing to the ship wall Coral leaned over yelling for John B searching the water below for the life boat as JJ continued fighting with Eberhimi. Hearing a loud thud she turned around, ducking out of the way as the machete was swung at her head.
"Coral!" JJ exclaimed climbing to his feet and grabbing Eberhimi from behind. Wrestling with the man JJ attempted to get the machete out of his hand. Momentarily stunned as Eberhimi elbowed him in his side JJ let the man go causing him to take another swing at Coral.
Ducking Coral watched wide eyed as Eberhimi connected with the side of JJ's head with the handle of the machete, "JJ!" she screamed as he fell backwards over the ship railing and into the water below.
Leaning back against the rail Coral waited for Eberhimi to turn her way before bringing her foot up and kicking him square in the chest. Sending him backwards away from her she had enough time to get to the railing and jump overboard.
Hitting the water she swam up to the surface, "JJ!" she cried rolling him over to his back. Keeping one arm around him she held him while treading water, "JJ, baby, you have to wake up. Please. Please wake up," she cried.
"God, JJ, stay with me, please," she repeated over and over as she prayed for someone to find them.
"I'm getting tired," she whispered as the minutes passed, "I need you to wake up," she told the unconscious boy, "John B! John B! Help me!" she started to scream.
"Oh God, I'm sorry. I can't do it," she gasped feeling her hold on JJ loosen, "Baby, I need you to wake up," she cried, "I can't do it. I'm sorry."
"Coral!"
Using her last bit of strength Coral turned her head after hearing her name being yelled, "Oh, thank God," she breathed out seeing her brother and the rest of the Pogues coming towards them on the life boat.
As they got closer John B realized something was wrong with JJ, "No, no, no, no!"
"JJ!" Pope and Kie screamed as they leaned over the side of the boat to grab him from Coral.
Letting JJ go Coral felt someone grab her arms as they hefted her up and into the life boat, "Are you okay?" John B questioned, looking her over.
"Tired," she answered, breathing heavily from her dip in the ocean, "You?"
"Fine, now that I know you're okay. We gotta get out of here," he told her before going back to driving the life boat.
Crawling across the boat to where Kie and Pope had JJ laid out, Coral shook the still unconscious boy, "JJ, come on."
Looking up as the engine sputtered and stalled out on the life boat Coral sucked in a breath at the sight of Rafe up on deck of the ship holding a gun aimed their way, "He has a gun!" she exclaimed raising her hand and pointing.
"John B, get us out of here!" Kie yelled.
"I'm trying! It stalled!
"JJ, wake up!" Coral continued shaking him as John B worked frantically to get the engine going again.
"We're sitting ducks!"
"I got it! I got it!" John B yelled as the engine turned over and he hit the throttle taking off across the water.
"He didn't shoot," Sarah whispered staring back towards the ship where her brother stood on deck.
"JJ, I've had about enough of this! Wake up!"
As JJ began coughing, Coral and Pope helped him sit up, "Cough it out," Pope told him smacking him on the back.
"Hey, welcome back to land of the living," John B said as JJ continued to catch his breath.
"Shit, is that all of us now who've almost drowned?" he questioned. Laughing Coral shook her head before hugging him, "You scared the shit out of me!"
"Sorry," he mumbled pulling her closer. Going to move back she couldn't when he refused to let go, "Just a bit more," he whispered.
Sighing she nodded before curling up next to him.
"This shit ain't over," Pope stated as he watched them pull the cross out of the ocean and back on deck.
"No, it ain't," John B agreed.
Continuing on through the water they eventually came across land. Running the life boat aground the girls jumped out and waded through the shallow water up to the beach while the boys pulled the life boat farther up into the sand.
"Whoa!"
"JJ?" Coral questioned watching him stumble.
"You good?" John B asked as they walked up to where the girls sat.
"Yeah, just a bit dizzy still," he replied leaning against the tree that Coral was sitting next to, "So, does anyone know where we're at?"
"Deserted beach. Unknown island," Pope replied as he and John B sat down with the girls.
"Well I'll take that as a no," JJ retorted, "Now what?"
"This is the lowest we can go. The cross, gone," Pope huffed out.
"The gold, gone," Sarah chimed in.
"Nothing except the clothes on our backs," Coral added.
"Yeah, you guys are right," John B told them, "But, I mean, we've had some good stuff happen, right?"
"Name one thing!"
"Um.....uh, the boiler room," he said, causing everyone to look at him confused, "What? If the boiler didn't explode, I wouldn't have gotten away from Rafe. I wouldn't have gotten the Zodiac," he said pointing to the life boat, "And gotten us out of there."
"That wasn't luck," Cleo laughed, "That thing was gonna blow the second I stopped feeding it."
"Yeah, that's a bit of a reach, JB," Coral remarked.
"You guys are stealing my thunder," he said looking between Coral and Cleo, "Okay, um, Pope, you're related to Denmark Tanny. That's crazy," he tried again.
"And I lost all of his inheritance," Pope responded.
"You know what," John B said, getting to his feet, "Guys, this is it. This is the Pogue life," he told them gesturing towards the ocean, "We are in the Caribbean. Our own little slice of paradise. With my sister and my best friends, my family. I don't know. I wouldn't want to do it with anyone else," he said looking around at all of them.
"Look, while you guys were complaining about every little thing," he continued before walking towards JJ, "JJ, I was looking at those burly lefts," he said as they both turned to the ocean.
"There's some slabs out there," JJ replied, smiling.
"Just a few," John B agreed, "Coral, Kie, I know you guys wanna get out there," he said to the girls.
Biting her lip Coral nodded.
"We don't have boards," Kie responded.
"So we body surf," Coral told her before getting to her feet and pulling Kie up with her.
"Pope? What about you?" John B asked shooting finger guns at him.
Looking around the island Pope sighed, "They do look pretty tasty."
"Yes!" John B exclaimed as Pope got to his feet.
"There's nobody around. We could probably squat here for a bit," Pope declared, "Kind of belongs to us now," he said with a shrug.
"Poguelandia!" JJ announced, "I claim thee Poguelandia! I kind of like the sound of that," he laughed, "I'm gonna make a flag. It's gonna have a chicken on it. With a coconut bra smoking a J," he decided, "In crocs."
"How hard did Eberhimi hit you?" Cleo questioned.
"Oh, no. That's just JJ," Coral responded as the others laughed.
"Shall we get to working on provisions?" Pope asked
"Let's do it!" JJ exclaimed wrapping an arm around Coral, "Baby Girl and I will find some firewood," he told them as he steered them towards the woods.
"You better not be going to do anything other then finding wood!"
"Oh, don't worry! I'm gonna find wood!" Coral yelled back at her brother laughing as the others groaned. Squealing as JJ scooped her up he carried her into the woods, "God, I love you!"
Complete till season 3! Thanks for reading❤