Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
______________________________________
The teens steps slow as they approach a cliff. They can hear yelling of sorts and can only hope it's John B, Sarah and Big John. Their suspicions are confirmed when they reach the top and see them standing together with Ward in front of them. Holding his gun out.
"I'm sorry, John. I don't think I can allow that." He says. Sarah and John B stare at him as their friends crouch behind a rock.
"All right, so, what are we gonna do?" Pope says
"Is this ride or die?" JJ asks
Cleo grabs her machete from beside her, "P4L."
"P4L." Pope says grabbing his own
Kie stands up, "P4L."
"P4L." Charlotte says grabbing her machete
Estrella turns to JJ who nods to her. She grabs her machete making sure her grip was tight, "P4L."
"Fricking P4L." JJ exhales grabbing his machete from behind his back
"You're supposed to be dead. I think I liked you better that way." Ward says cocking his gun. The Pogues run out from behind the trees yelling. Holding their machetes out to Ward.
"Stay back! Stop right now!" JJ yells
"Put it down!" Pope says
"Stay!" Ward yells
"Put it down!" Kie yells
"Stay back, stay back!" Ward yells pointing his gun at them
"Put it down, Ward!" JJ yells
"Stand back, stand back!"
"Come on! You're outnumbered, Ward." JJ pants
"What are you gonna do, shoot us all?" Pope says
"If you gotta shoot somebody, Ward, shoot me." Big John says. Estrella looks over noticing his hand grasping his stomach with blood covering his hands.
Ward cocks his gun and points to Big John. John B steps in front of him, "Or me."
As Ward steps closer, Sarah steps in front of John B, "Stop. Enough."
"Don't!" Ward says as Sarah steps close enough for the gun to touch her chest
"You're not gonna kill all of us. I know you won't." Sarah says as tears fill her eyes, "I know you. You forget that I know you."
Estrella's eyes follow Sarah as she places her hand on the gun. Ward looks down as he lets out sobs.
"You can't." Sarah says softly as she takes the gun from him
"I couldn't. I couldn't do it." Ward says placing his hand on Sarah's cheek
"Yeah?" They hear. They turn as one of Singh's men walks out from behind trees, "Well, I can."
John B cocks his gun and points it at the man. The man simply points his gun to Big John who had taken a seat due to the wound in his stomach, "Toss it."
"Take it easy, bud." Big John says, "Your boss is dead. You got no reason to do this."
"I can think of a few reasons. Toss it!" He yells. John B raises his hands surrendering and drops the gun. The man walks over and grabs the gun, "Thought you'd end up with the gold, eh? All right, nobody move. My mate back there is dead. Because of you."
Estrella looks over noticing JJ's grip tightening on his machete, "Jay."
The man smirks before pointing the gun at Sarah, "You go first."
"No." Ward mutters. He looks over at Sarah and smiles lightly. The girl's face scrunches up as tears fill her eyes. As John B readies to tackle the man, Ward runs toward him yelling. The man shoots Ward in the chest twice, but the man never stopped running at him. He tackles the man and the two fall off of the cliff. Estrella's heart drops at the sound of a thump echoing.
"Sarah." John B says as the girl walks over to the edge of the cliff. The teens follow her and Charlotte gasps as the sight of the two men lying at the bottom motionless. Estrella looks to her left at the sound of Sarah's sobs. John B's arms being the one thing to hold her up.
Pope looks past them and steps back, "Hey. Hey. Big John? Big John? Hey. John B!"
The man's head fell back against the rock he was leaned up against. John B turns as Pope wraps his arms around Big John, "Dad."
The boy runs over helping Pope pick him up, "Okay, Dad, we gotta get you out of here."
"It's all right." Big John mutters
"Hey, stay up. Stay awake. Please stay awake. Come on." Pope says, "Come on, come on. Come on."
•••
The teens lead them down the path they had just taken up there. John B in front while Pope helped Big John down, "Hang on, Big John. We got you. We got you."
"We just gotta get you downriver. You're gonna be okay." John B says
Minutes later, the teens made it back to the boat they had taken there. Pope rushes and places Big John's bags in the boat. JJ and John B helped the man on and lay him down. The girls rush to get on and Pope starts the boat up.
As they traveled down the river, Big John groans. John B looks down at him, "Hey, hey, hey, Pop. Hey. Hang in there, okay?"
Big John chuckles, "But we did it together, my boy."
"Yeah." John B sniffles
"Just..." Big John breathes, "Just like we drew it up."
"Yeah. Yeah, we did."
"Bird, Bird, Bird."
"Dad, yeah."
"Hey, hey, Bird."
"Hey."
The man looks over, "Sarah. Sarah."
"Hi." She says smiling softly, "I'm here, Big John."
"Bird, you got to hang on to this one." He says as Sarah grabs his hand, "I know that I wasn't any great shakes as a father."
"Stop, Dad."
"But you..." He pauses, "You were the best son any man could hope for. I want you to know that..."
John B sniffles, "You can tell me when we get home, okay? Almost there."
"Okay."
"Hold up. Look, Dad. Look." John B says pulling out gold, "We did it. You did it."
"I'll see you. I'll see you at home, kid."
As the man goes silent, John B looks down at him, "Dad? Dad?"
John B sobs as he places his head on Big John. Estrella couldn't help the tears that had escaped her eyes. She watches JJ look down while placing his arms on his knees. Estrella wraps her arm around his laying her head on his shoulder. JJ's eyes shut as he feels her tears soak through his shirt.
The boat was silent as they continued on down the river.
______________________________________
The teens traveled back to where Ward was and decided to make a burial for the two men. The teens looked down at Sarah as she placed some flowers she found by their makeshift crosses. She sat by her father's grave and unfolded a picture of her family she brought with her. She looked out to the sky before placing the picture up against the cross.
She stood up with tears in her eyes and turned away. John B watched her while she walked back over to the other teens.
