TW: violence, guns, angst, self harm
————
The mission was to get the gold and get out. Easy and smooth. But as she reached the room where the gold was supposed to be, there was no gold left. Which meant someone has moved it or it had never been there to begin with.
"Fuck!"
Kiara slams the door shut in frustration, a bit too louder than anticipated, alerting the ship staff.
"Hey, what was that?"
"I don't know probably some rat or pipe."
"Nah, sounded like a door slamming shut.."
Kiara hears their footsteps coming closer, which means the way she came in is a no go. If she goes out that way they'll see her. Her eyes scans the room, desperately trying to find something, a window or a-
There, a vent.
Kiara climbs up some crates and boxes, reaching for the vent. Her heart is beating really fast and her hands are sweaty. She fumbles with the vent for a few seconds before she finally gets it open. The footsteps has stopped and she hears them trying to get the door open.
"That's weird."
"What?"
"It's already open-"
Quickly, she slinks into the vent just as they enter the room. She has no time to close it. She has to move, now. The only thing she can do is hope they don't notice it being open.
The space is really tight and dusty. The only light source is a small gaps between the metal walls that's surrounding her.
She crawls for about 3 minutes until she finally reaches a way out. She stops right at the metal bar, listening if there's someone out there before she crawls out. She stands up, wiping herself off from all the dust and dirt.
"Ok, let's get out of here. Quietly."
Kiara looks through the room. Searching for something she can defend herself with, just in case she runs into the ship staff again. There's a lot of boxes and crates in this room too, filled with packing peanuts and bubble wrap. She grabs a crowbar that's resting against the wall and opens up a crate. At first glance there's only packing peanuts but something is sticking out from under. She digs through the crate, causing the peanuts to fly out.
"Holy shit."
It's a gun. She digs a further down finding ever more guns, the whole crate is full of them. She opens another one, another one and another one. They're all full of guns and heavy weapons.
"They're smuggling this shit?"
Kiara's had her few shares with guns before. She was highly against them for a long time but after J- after she learned how to properly use and handle a gun, it became natural. Even though it shouldn't be for an 18 year old. She grabs a magnum gun and inspects it.
"I'm sure they won't miss one.."
She also grabs some ammunition that's laying on a shelf and loads the gun before putting it in the back of her shorts.
She takes a deep breath and sneaks out the door. She opens it carefully so it doesn't make any sound. The coast is clear.
She's walking through a long and narrow corridor, trying to find her way out. It's really wet and warm, like an aquarium at the zoo, and it smells like fish and mould.
She reaches a staircase with a big sign on the wall saying "EXIT". She walks up the staircase, which is leading up to the deck and goes out. There's no staff out here, from what she can see at least, but she stays hunched down anyways, just in case. The sun is gazing down on her, it's really hot and bright. There's crates all over the floor and big containers with white and red numbers and letters on them.
She looks behind the corner of a container, checking if there's any staff there. Just when she's about to go around the corner, she hears voices coming closer. She panics and quickly hides in the container.
It's pitch black and even hotter in the container than outside, causing her to sweat immediately.
"Did they find anything down in the storage rooms?"
"Only an open vent."
"Really? Maybe it was some animal."
"On a ship in the middle of the ocean?"
The voices fades away until they're gone completely.
"Shit."
They know about the vent.
Kiara walks out again, going directly towards the lifeboats. She hunch down, trying to find a way to get the boats off but she's met with lock.
"Fuck, I need keys."
Her breathing starts to get heavier.
"Calm down Kiara.. Calm down.."
Even though she's done stuff like this many times before, she still get nervous and anxious. Which is natural and normal, it's not an usual thing to sneak into places or steal stuff especially at only 18 years old. But Kiara isn't a normal teenager, she has chosen another life, a free life that doesn't contain strict rules and rich privileges. But right now all she wants is to get away from this place. As fast as she can.
She manages to stable her breathing and think clearly. Wiping of some sweat on her forehead.
"Ok. Keys."
Kiara goes inside again, but this time up to the captain's hut.
"It's just a vent."
"It's not just a vent, someone could've sneaked on to the ship!"
Kiara is hiding behind a shelf, listening to what they say. Guess news spread fast on this ship.
"It doesn't matter, go check the crates and containers. Make sure everything's there."
Ward?
"Ok boss."
Two men answers at the same time before leaving the room. Just as they walk past the shelf where Kiara is hiding, she quickly moves out of sight.
Ward heads out, talking on a walkie-talkie. Kiara listens carefully, trying to hear as much possible. But it's hard when he's far away and the sound of water dripping down from some pipes fills the room.
"Listen up. We can't afford loosing... be on your watch. If there's anyone else.. toss them in the... downstairs.."
Anyone else? Is there someone else on this ship? And why is Ward here? Is he behind all the smuggling?
Kiara gets out of her hiding place, looking around to see if she's actually alone. She is.
"Ok, focus. Gotta find the keys."
Kiara looks through drawers, papers and shelves.
"What's this?"
She pulls out a document from one of the drawers with the words "Classified" on top. She opens it and looks through it.
There's a big picture of a gold cross covered in jewels and diamonds. Underneath the picture there's big black letters saying:
"The cross of Santo Domingo."
Kiara pulls out her phone and snaps photos of it all. There's documentation on how they're transporting it and how all the money is going to be transferred. All the numbers have a lot of zeros after the dot.
"Ward is in some really fucked up shit."
Kiara puts her phone back in her pocket and the documents in the drawer. When she puts it back she sees the keys, they're right at the end of the drawer.
"Bingo."
She grabs them and sneaks out, back out on the deck. Just as she turns a corner, she's met with a tall figure.
"You're not part of the staff."
Kiara looks up and sees a man, he has a T-shirt with holes and dirt on it, some shorts, black beard and hair that's all sweaty. He also has big boots and a knife in his right hand.
"I uh-"
Kiara quickly turns around and runs. She runs for her life, not knowing where she's going. There's nowhere to go, she's on a ship in the middle of ocean, the only option she has is to hide. But where?
She can hear the man running after her, screaming for her to stop but she just keeps going. As fast as she can.
She runs back to the door that leads down to the basement. Her heart beats fast as she quickly runs down the stairs and towards the corridor where she was before. At the end she finds a small door with a keyhole.
"Shit shit.."
Kiara has lost the guy who was chasing her but he could come any minute. So she needs to be quick. She pulls out the keys, looking for one that could fit. She tries one.
"No too small."
She tries a second one.
"Shit. Too big."
She tries a third one.
"Fuck, it doesn't wanna turn."
And a fourth one.
"Yes!"
The sounds of footsteps are getting closer and she can hear someone mumbling swear words.
She gets the door open and closes it slowly, trying her best not to make any sound. A little click hears when the door presses shut.
She stays close to the door, listening after footsteps or any signs of the staff being outside. She hears muffled voices in the distance.
"Where did she go?"
"I don't know."
"Shit!"
"Let's look at the deck again. We gotta find her before-"
The voices fades out and Kiara let's out a sigh. She puts the keys in her pocket, checks for her phone and gun. Still there, good.
The room is dark, there's only a thin beam of light shining through the bottom of the door.
"Can't see shit.."
Kiara looks for a light switch, feeling the walls with her hands as her eyes are trying to adjust to the darkness.
"There."
She flips the switch and as she turns around, she's met with a person. Her immediate reaction is to pull out her gun and point it at the person in front of her.
"Don't fucking move!"
The person raises their hands in front of their face and takes a step forward.
"I said don't move or I swear I'll shoot-"
"Don't! Kie, it's me!"
Kiara'a face drops. That nickname. There's only one person that calls her that and she hates him. A lot.
"JJ?"
JJ Maybank stands right before her, wearing his usual outfit. Black and beaten up boots, cargo shorts, a grey tank top and a red hat on backwards. He's got mud on his face and a cut, right on the left corner of his lips. It looks fresh.
They haven't seen each other in almost two years and JJ looks a little different. Kiara notices his arms, he looks bigger than usual. She quickly shakes the thought away.
"What the fuck are you doing here?"
"What the fuck are you doing here? And why do you have a gun?!"
"Asked you first."
Kiara readjust her finger on the trigger. Making JJ take a step back.
"Answer me Maybank."
"Fine, take it easy.. I'm on a mission. To get the gold."
"How do you know about the gold?"
"Well.. John B, Pope, Sarah and I are actually on a treasure hunt and-"
"Sarah?"
"Yeah uhm she's with John B now."
"Are they here too?"
"Nah, they got away."
"Really?"
Kiara doesn't sound convinced, she knows that JJ is a trouble maker. Always ending up at the wrong place at the wrong time cause he's always doing stupid things.
"Yeah.. We'll I guess I just took the fall.. Easier that way."
She looks at him, up and down. Still with the gun pointing right at him.
"Can you please lower that gun now..?"
Kiara looks at him with disgust before putting the gun back. JJ let's out a breathe.
"Thanks."
Kiara starts looking around the room for another way out. The door she came in is way too risky, they could be just around the corner.
She searches behind some empty boxes, feeling the walls with her hands and looking up at the ceiling to see if there's any vents or anything that indicates a way out.
"What are you doing?"
Kiara ignores him, focusing on searching.
"There's no gold left you know. The room was completely empty."
Kiara keeps ignoring him.
"And there's no other way out if that's what you're looking for."
Kiara sighs at the boy, already being sick of his presence.
"Trust me, I've been here for hours."
Kiara walks past him to the other side of the room, looking around the wall and floor.
"Come on Kie I-"
"Shut up."
"What?"
"Don't call me that."
"It's just a nickname."
"I don't care, I hate it."
"No you don't, I've called you that since the first time we met and-"
"Don't. Shut up."
Kiara grits her teeth, feeling her anger build up.
"Seriously? You're still angry at me?"
Kiara glares at him.
"Fine fine, I won't call you that."
Kiara bows down at the wall, knocking along the bottom.
"So what's the plan?"
"The plan?"
"Yeah for us to get out of here."
"Well I have a plan, but it doesn't involve you."
"Aw come one Kie-"
Kiara gives him a death stare.
"Sorry, I mean Kiara."
She continues to knock on the wall, hearing if there's anything behind them. It's not, it sounds thin and hollow.
She grabs her gun and starts hitting the wall with the gun handle. The wall is made out of thin paper. Why is there a paper wall on a ship?
"What the hell are you doing?"
Kiara keeps hitting the wall and rips it until there's a big hole. She peeks through it, seeing a open door in the other room.
"They definitely heard that and they're definitely gonna notice that hole."
"Too bad you're staying here then."
"What-"
"Bye princess."
Kiara rips the wall open a bit more so it's big enough to go for her to squeeze through. She stands up, looking around her new surroundings. She's in some kind of control room, there's tanks and ventilations, control panels with a lot of buttons and levers. Everything about this ship and this situation feels really sketchy. First the smuggling of guns and then the big gold cross. Kiara feels her stomach twist at the thought of her getting into something she wasn't prepared for, something she shouldn't be involved in.
On the wall over the panel, there's a blueprint over the ship.
"There's the control room, which means that's the storage area and that's the stairs up to the deck."
Kiara looks around the room a bit more, finding some more ammunition before leaving. According to the blueprint the boats are on the south side, but if she goes out the same way again she can be spotted. So she has to go around to the east side and then-
"Bingo."
Kiara finds the door, it has a big sign on it saying "EXIT". She opens it carefully and looks out on the deck, she can't see nor hear anyone. She quickly runs to the boats again. Hunching down and pulling out the keys-
"No no no, where's the keys?!"
She must have dropped them down in the control room, when she was crawling through the hole.
"Shit shit shit."
Kiara feels herself being on the verge of tears. She pinch her arm, trying to calm down. It's something she does when her anxiety becomes really bad. She turns the anxiety into pain, which is much easier for her to handle.
But this time her anxiety his extremely bad, the pinching doesn't work no matter how hard she does it. She feels like giving up. Her skin burns in pain, her vision is blurry and her breathing is heavy. She feels hot and cold at the same time and she can't keep her balance. The only balance she got left fails her and she's just about to fall to the ground, when someone catches her.
"Hey hey! We gotta go, they're coming!"
"What-"
"We gotta hurry."
"JJ?"
Kiara looks up at him through her eyelashes and blurry vision. His gaze is soft and worried. In some way he makes her feel safe.
JJ grabs her arm and helps her up.
"You ok? Can you walk?"
Kiara tries to makes sense of the situation, but everything is still blurry and her head hurts like hell.
"I uh- yeah.."
"Ok good let's go."