They were now back in the Twinkie and honestly Saylor was very confused. Everything was a blur and all she had gathered were the words 'cross' and church'.
She wasn't sure how to feel? How to cope? What was she supposed to do with herself? What's she grieving correctly? Was she in shock? Could she have stopped it?
Her head was reeling and her heart was breaking. It was too much to handle, she decided she needed a distraction and what better than Popes mission to find the cross.
"So the cross is at a church?" Saylor questioned her voice scratchy as it was the first thing she had said in a while.
Everyone looked at her almost shocked that she had spoken, and that she was concerned about the cross rather then everything that had happened that morning.
JJ knew she was trying to distract herself from the situation and he understood because he used to do the same thing with his father. "Yup, that's if Pope is right"
"Pope is always right" Saylor replied giggling slightly, everyone smiled at the sound.
That was until Saylors face morphed into one of horror as she moved around patting her pockets.
"Whoah, S what's wrong?"
After realising she couldn't find her phone Saylor quickly turned to Sarah. "Sar, hand me your phone!"
Sarah pulled her phone from her back pocket and Saylor grabbed it instantly dialling a number as her leg bounced anxiously.
'Him and Topper'
"Come on, pick up, pick up" she whispered to herself her heart beating fast in her chest. Her panic rose with every beep of the call that passed.
"Sar-"
"Oh thank god" Saylor breathed in relief at the sound of his voice her head falling back. "Are you okay?"
"Lor, Why are you on Sarah's phone?"
"That doesn't matter. Promise me you will stay away from Rafe"
"What? Why? What's happened? Are you hurt? Do you need help? Where are you I'm coming to get you.."
"No, I'm uh. I'm okay" Saylor nodded to herself trying not only to convince Topper but herself too.
"Then what's wrong?"
Her eyes filled with tears as she thought over what she was going to say. "Bar- Bear is" she couldn't do it, she couldn't tell him over the phone.
Kie grabbed Saylor hand in comfort giving it a reassuring squeeze.
"Nothing, it's nothing. Just Rafe knows about operation memory recovery and is pissed."
"When isn't he pissed?" Topper joked making her smile through her tears. "But yeah, I will stay away."
"Thank you"
"You're still coming round for Euphoria Sunday right?"
"Yeah, I don't want to miss Maddy beating Cassies ass" Saylor laughed whipping away the tears that had fallen down her cheeks.
"Ok perfect, see you then?"
"Yeah, see you then." Her finger balanced over the red button before she spoke again. "Top... I love you"
"I love you too Lor"
☘︎︎
So long story short John B shouldn't be trusted to drive the Twinkie through water as the group and the van were now stranded in the middle of nowhere.
"I need to get my own license" Saylor shook her head as she climbed onto the van roof.
"Okay, maybe we can walk from here" Pope suggested
"What? And leave the Twinkie? The tide's coming in" John B argued. Everyone knew that leaving the van wasn't an option. It held to much sentimental value to let it sink.
"So then what are we supposed to do?"
"Not stay here" JJ commented whilst moving to stand between Saylors legs. Once he was in position she began to run her fingers through his blonde hair making him roll his eyes to the back of his head.
"I can take my dad's truck." Kie spoke hesitantly.
"Kie, are you sure?"
"How much worse can it get, you know?" She shrugged.
"We need something to pull her out with. There's the winch at the Chateau. That's, like, two miles." JJ announced earning a kiss on the cheek from the Routledge girl.
"So there is a brain in there" Saylor joked making him playfully roll his eyes.
"If you're gonna do it, let's go, okay?" John B expressed the urgency of the situation. JJ and Kie nodded.
"Don't miss me to much" JJ kissed her softly on the lips. He wanted her to go with them but knew after everything that had happened she wanted to stay close with her brother.
"Mmhmm" Saylor hummed into the kiss.
Saylor zoned out of Popes constant comments as she fell asleep. For once her dream world was peaceful, she was on the beach with her friends surfing. A far reality from what her life had consisted of recently.
The serenity was broken when she woke to Sarah's scream. "Pope, a gator has him!"
Saylor watched as Sarah used a large knife to attacked the gator which had hold of her brother. It didn't seem like the gator was giving up and she refused to lose another brother.
After jumping of the van roof and grabbing a sharp stick which was floating around in the dirty water she took a deep breath before slicing the skin of her palm.
Wincing she held up her now bloody hand and clenched it into a fist, watching as the droplets of blood dyed the once green water red.
The splashing around John B stopped so Pope and Sarah pulled the brunette up to his feet checking over him for injuries.
2 seconds later the splashing started again and their eyebrows pulled together in confusion as the water around them remained still.
As they looked up they saw Saylor drop her bleeding hand into the water waving it around whilst anxiously looking at the gator as it got closer.
"What is she doing?!"
"The blood, they are attracted to blood." Pope pieced together.
"Okay, I didn't think this far!" Saylor spoke loudly, mainly to herself but the others heard.
"WAVES RUN!" John B shouted at his twin as the animal which once was attacking him was now heading to attack his sister.
Saylor did exactly that and ran as fast as the knee high water around her would let her. "Oh shit, nice gator, nice gator" she cooed.
"The tree!" "S! Climb the tree!" Pope and Sarah instructed as the Routledge girl neared a large tree with a branch low enough for her to climb up to.
When she got to the tree she grabbed onto the branch and used all her strength to desperately pull herself up. As she was pulling herself up the water beneath her made a loud noise as it broke and the gator came leaping out, his large teeth narrowly missing her leg before falling back into the water.
Saylor let out a loud scream scrambling even faster to get her legs onto the branch. Just as the gator jumped into the air in another attempt to grab the girl Sarah appeared with the large knife and the blade went straight through his head.
As she let go of the knife the dead gator fell into the water with the large blade still sticking between its eyes.
Saylor slumped hugging onto the branch breathing heavily in exhaustion and relief.
"Your an idiot" Sarah deadpanned earning a breathy laugh in response.
.·:*¨ ✘♚✘ ¨*:·.