JJ pulls up to Ricky's house and honks the horn repeatedly to get his attention.
"Ricky!" JJ yells, getting out of the truck. "Ricky! Hey! Bro!" JJ and Cordelia rush to the screen door while the others help Pope. "Ricky! Ricky! Hey, Ricky!" They watch Ricky walk up, him in nothing but his underwear. "Ricky, hey, I got a problem, bro! I know you're made at me!"
"Remember that time you stole my ambulance?!" Ricky yells through the door.
"Yeah, I know. I know. I know you're mad." JJ says as Ricky flips him off and shuts the door. "No! Don't do that!"
"No, no, Ricky!" Cordelia pounds on the door. "Come on, you're not mad at me! Help him for me!"
"He got stung by a wasp! He's having a reaction! Please help!" Sarah yells.
"You're not mad at me! I did nothing to piss you off! I'm your favorite cousin! Help us, please!" Cordelia shouts through the door.
JJ bangs on the window.
"He can't breathe, man!" JJ shouts.
"Ricky, he can't breathe! He's gonna die!" Cordelia shouts.
"He's right here, please!" Sarah calls out.
"Who can't breathe?" Ricky asks, opening the door.
"Look at him! Help my friend!" John B pleads. Him and Kie are holding Pope up, the boy barely conscious and his face swollen.
"Please, Ricky! You became an EMT for a fucking reason! Forget about JJ's dumbassery for a fucking second and help him!" Cordelia shouts.
"All right, Jesus Christ." Ricky opens the screen door.
"Hi. Nice to meet you. Sorry." Sarah says, rushing in with Cordelia close behind. The two quickly push everything off the kitchen table and the others help Pope onto the table.
"You know, I wouldn't come to you if it wasn't an emergency." JJ says. "Hang in there, buddy. Hang in there." He tells Pope.
"What's wrong with him?" Ricky asks.
"Wasps." Sarah informs.
"Wasps?" Ricky asks.
"Yes." Sarah nods.
"Wasps? Is he allergic to wasps?" Ricky asks.
"What the fuck do you think?" Cordelia snaps, motioning to Pope's current state.
"Clearly." Kie says.
"Okay." Ricky says as everybody starts talking.
"Raise his legs, raise his legs." JJ says, him and John B holding Pope's legs up.
"What's his name?" Ricky asks.
"Pope." Cordelia answers.
"Hey, Pope?" Ricky calls. "Hang tight. I gotta get my kit."
"Hang tight? Ricky!" JJ calls after the retreating man.
"He's looking for a kit. Go help." John B says.
"Kit?" JJ quickly follows his cousin, Cordelia close behind.
"Where's the kit, Ricky?" JJ asks.
"If I knew, I wouldn't be looking for it." Ricky says, letting out a humorless laugh.
"That's a good point." Cordelia says, earning a short glare from JJ.
"Goddamn it! Well, then find it, bro!" JJ exclaims, him and Cordelia starting to search.
"What does it look like?" JJ yells to Ricky who is running out of the room to look somewhere else.
"It's like a duffel bag!" Ricky calls back.
"Did you really not see it when you stole his fucking ambulance?" Cordelia asks, continuing to search.
"Obviously fucking not, Cordelia! I had a lot of other shit on my mind! Like saving John B and getting caught. Not a bag of medical shit I wouldn't need." JJ says.
"It seems like an easy observation." Cordelia mutters.
"Just shut up and keep looking." JJ says.
"You shut up and keep looking." Cordelia bites.
"Okay, I got it! I got it, I got it!" Ricky rushes back to the table as JJ and Cordelia rush back as well.
"Okay, what do we do now?" JJ asks.
"You don't do anything cause you're not a paramedic." Ricky states. "Okay, hey, Pope. How you doing, man?" He asks, going through his stuff. "You look like shit."
Cordelia feels her panic and fear overwhelm her and the tears she'd been holding in start to slip out as she looks at Pope's wheezing body.
"Here's the thing. This is a pediatric dose of epinephrine." Ricky states.
"Is that gonna be enough?" Sarah asks.
"Pediatric? That's for, like, kids, right?" John B asks.
"He's not a kid!" Kie yells.
"He's a fucking teenager!" Cordelia shouts, her voice cracking slightly.
"It is ten times a normal dose." Ricky informs. "So if... if it doesn't stop his heart, it'll help him. But I gotta use the whole thing or it won't work. And I'm not going down if he dies."
"Okay! Fine! Do it! Hit it!" JJ says. "Come on! Hurry up and hit him with it!"
"Oh, God." Cordelia whispers, sitting on the floor and burying her hands in her hair.
"All right, Pope, hang in there, buddy." Ricky says before injecting the needle into his arm. "Okay, um, that's it." He says after taking the needle out.
"Now what?" Sarah asks.
"Now we wait." Ricky answers.
Cordelia, still sitting on the ground, can't really see Pope, but she can tell it's not good from the looks on the others' faces. She taps JJ's leg, getting his attention and looks at him, but he just looks away, his breathing slightly heavy.
"You killed him." Kie says.
"No." Ricky objects.
"Yes, you did."
"I didn't do shit."
"What did you do?"
"I did exactly what you asked me to do."
Cordelia starts to stand up, but JJ gently pushes her back down.
"Nope. No. Just in ca-- no." JJ quietly tells her, blocking her view from Pope in case he is dead.
"Please! Please! Pope, please, come on!" Kie begs.
"Pope, come on, bro!" JJ shakes his friend.
Cordelia lets out silent tears and hides her face behind her hands. She hears gasping breaths after a few moments.
"Hey, hey, hey, wait, wait, wait, wait, he--" JJ says.
"Pope? Pope, Pope, Pope?" Kie asks as Cordelia stands up.
Pope starts coughing as he manages to sit up.
"There he is. That's my boy right there!" JJ grins.
"It's hot. I'm real hot, guys." Pope says as the others smile in relief.
"It's okay. Take it easy." JJ tells Pope who takes his jacket off.
"I gotta get outside." Pope shoves past JJ.
"Simmer down." John B tells him, following Pope outside and Kie follows closely behind.
"I owe you." JJ tells Ricky.
"Thank you so much." Sarah tells Ricky as he somewhat forces the three blondes out the door. "Are there any side effects we should be concerned about?"
"Ricky, I owe you." JJ says.
"You are my favorite cousin." Cordelia tells him.
"He's gonna have a rocket up his ass for about half an hour, then he'll be fine." Ricky informs.
"okay, thank you. I love you! Favorite cousin!" Cordelia exclaims as her, Sarah, and JJ rush out.
"Let's go get that cross!" Pope yells, jumping across the yard. "Game six, baby!"
"Yeah. Yeah, game six." John B says, watching Pope closely.
"I'm Michael Jordan!" Pope shouts.
+++
It's nighttime and Pope is driving the truck with Kie in the passenger seat. JJ, Cordelia, Sarah, and John B are squished in the backseat.
"Uh, Pope, you're driving pretty fast." Sarah comments. Pope only lets out a whoop.
"Uh, Pope, last to judge and all, but I think you should slow down a little." JJ says.
"That would definitely delay our arrival to the cross. We gotta get there." Pope says.
"Why did we let him drive again?" Kie asks.
"Because I said I'd rip your ears off." Pope reminds.
"He said he'd rip our ears off." Sarah says.
"You did say you were gonna rip our ears off." Kie remembers.
"I was joking about that, by the way." Pope says.
"That's a really funny joke." Kie nervously laughs.
"Well, we're probably gonna be dead by the end of this, so." Cordelia says.
"Hey, hey, how ya feeling, buddy?" John B asks. "How you doing?"
"Uh, fantastic. I don't know what JJ and Delia's cousin gave me, but I am moving!" Pope exclaims.
"We couldn't tell." Kie says sarcastically as JJ tries to get his seatbelt on.
"How come you get the seatbelt?" Cordelia quietly whines.
"What, do you wanna freaking share it?" JJ hisses.
"Yes." She nods.
"That's not freaking safe. I'll just hold onto you really tightly." JJ says.
"How do you know laws of road?" Cordelia asks.
"We've shared a seat belt before as kids, remember? We wouldn't stop freaking sliding." JJ says.
"Well, now we're gonna keep sliding because of freaking Snoop Dogg up there." Cordelia says.
"He's not high on weed, Cordi." JJ retorts.
"Well, he's high and I can't think of another high person." Cordelia harshly whispers.
"Okay, well, um, you're going really fast right now." John B says as JJ clips the seatbelt in before tightly wrapping his arms around his sister.
"Yeah, really fast!" Pope agrees, looking back at him. They all shout for Pope to look at the road as he swerves.
"I don't know if you noticed, but there's these giant oak trees all along the side of the road. They're like six inches off the road." John B says.
"You don't need to pass. You don't need to pass. You don't need to pass!" Kie shouts as Pope swerves into the opposite lane to pass the car in front of them. They all yell and scream as Pope swerves into the correct lane just in time.
"What an asshole, right?" Pope asks.
"Are you fucking kidding me?" Cordelia shrieks.
"Pope, he's going the speed limit." Kie says.
"And you passed at the wrong freaking time." Cordelia says, clutching on tightly to JJ's jacket.
"We're not gonna get to the cross if we're dead, Pope." John B comments.
"We're not gonna die. It's our divine right to get that cross." Pope says, constantly looking back.
"I'm not watching all of us die." Cordelia states, hiding her face in JJ's side.
"Pope, look at the road!" John B screams.
Cordelia feels them swerve and hears the truck hit something as everybody yells and screams. She feels them go in circles before hearing a crash and the truck jolts to a stop. JJ's elbow hits her chin as he lifts his arm in an attempt to protect both of their heads, but she doesn't really care about the dull pain in her face at the moment.
"Is everyone okay?" John B asks as everybody groans.
"I think so." Sarah weakly answers.
"Never better." JJ groans.
JJ pats Cordelia's head a few times, getting her to look up.
"You good? Any blood?" He asks, feeling around for any blood on her face or head since he can't see in the dark.
"I'm-- I'm fine, JJ." Cordelia says, lightly pushing his hands away from her face.
JJ opens his door.
"That is the last time you drive, Pope." JJ demands. He gets out and then helps Cordelia get out, brushing glass shards off her shoulder.
"My dad's truck. No." Kie deeply frowns.
"Kie, one word. Totaled." JJ says.
"My parents are gonna kill me..." Kie whispers. "for real this time."
"Yeah, well, weren't they already gonna do that anyway?" JJ asks.
"Helpful. Thank you." Kie says sarcastically.
"We're gonna have to walk the rest of the way." Pope says.
"Dude." Sarah says.
"That was exhausting enough." Cordelia complains.
"I'm going to get my cross." Pope states.
"Just relax for a second." John B stops him from leaving.
"Get off of me. Move." Pope orders.
"No. I'm trying to help."
"I'm getting my shit."
"We just crashed the car."
Pope starts to walk with John B still trying to talk to him, the others still by the truck and calling out to him.
"Get off of me!" Pope demands.
"Hey! You're gonna get hit by a car." John B says, shoving Pope backwards so they're both in the grass.
They watch the truck pass, quickly realizing who was in it. Rafe and Renfield.
"We gotta get back to the church!" Pope yells as everybody breaks into a run.
The six get to the church and open the doors, finding the cross no longer there.
"It's gone." Kie states.
"Damn it!" JJ angrily exclaims, kicking a few cushions. "I knew I didn't hide it well enough. Damn it!"
"Okay, well, in your defense, it's very hard to hide a seven foot gold cross. Especially with a five second time frame." Cordelia says.
"Not the time." JJ says.
"Well, excuse me for trying to make you feel better." Cordelia rolls her eyes. "What was I thinking?" She asks herself as JJ continues to mutter to himself.
"We need a plan. We need a plan. What's the plan?" JJ asks nobody in particular. "All right, here's what we do. We'll grab some kerosene tanks--"
"Oh, God." Cordelia groans.
"--from the Chat, then we... we go to my dad's shop and grab some dynamite."
"It got worse." Cordelia whispers.
"And then we drive down to Charleston and tell this lady who she's messing with!"
"Along with the God knows how many military bow and arrow shooting guys that her little guard dog has fucking hired." Cordelia adds.
"It's some bullshit, y'all!" JJ exclaims.
"That's not gonna help." Sarah says.
"Well, what is, Sarah? Huh? Cordi, you got better ideas?" JJ asks.
"Anything not involving kerosene and dynamite and a group of broke ass teenagers storming into a rich old woman's house with Rafe and her psycho buddy there to defend her."
"We've taken Rafe before."
"Yeah, but have you won any? Have any of us won any? Pope won one. You and I have won zero. Sarah didn't win. I suppose we can sic John B and Kie on him and see how that turns out. Not to mention they probably have way more weapons than we do."
"We can't just go blow that shit up, JJ." John B states.
"Pope, I'm sorry." JJ says.
"Denmark would've stood right here... preaching to everyone he set free. A slave, the sole survivor of the Royal Merchant, he got the gold and the cross, and he brought them both to shore and he used it to free every person who walked through those doors."
"He made a family, a church, a congregation a home. And the Limbreys took everything from him. They sicced dogs on his wife and his kids, and when he tried to get her remains, they hung him. Well, I'm done. I'm tired of that shit. That is not how this is gonna end. We need a freaking win, guys. I'm going to get my family's cross."
Pope walks to the door and opens it.
"You guys coming?"
"Well, if you put it that way..." John B says.
"Maybe we should think about it, you know?" JJ teases.
"Pros and cons?" John B asks.
"Pros and cons list." JJ agrees.
"Yeah, let's do a list." John B says as the five walk towards the door.
"Hell yeah, we're coming, Pope!" JJ exclaims.