CONTINUANCE - John B Routledge

012.

"𝐒𝐨, 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐤𝐞𝐞𝐩 𝐦𝐨𝐧𝐞𝐲 𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞?" Pope asked. The next morning after they found the gold, they melted it down and took it to the pawn shop. The lady had them go down to the warehouse to get the money, in trade for the gold.

"That's what she said. Ha. That's what she said." JJ commented, which made Emerson smack his head from the passenger seat.

"I've never even heard of Resurrection Drive." Sarah said, who was sitting next to Kie in the van.

"It's 'cause you're rich." JJ said. "Shut up, you've never heard of it either." Emerson scoffed. Sarah said a small thank you to Emerson.

"There's nothing but weeds back here." Kie said looking out the window. "Alright, just because it's just weeds, doesn't mean it's, like..." JJ said, until they heard cop sirens behind them.

"Cops? Out here?"

"What the fuck? Why are the cops behind us?"

"Are you kidding me?"

"What did we do?"

"Why are we getting pulled over?"

"Stash that." John B told JJ, who had the gold with him. "Did you bring the gun?" he asked JJ. "No. Okay? Everybody told me to leave it back at the place."

"How much weed do you have on you?" Emerson hurriedly asked. Instead of answering, they quickly shoved the gold in one of the seat's compartment. All of a sudden, Emerson saw a gun pointing right at John B's head. She heard the safety go off, but she still wasn't afraid. She predicted that the guy was probably just using it for a threat.

"Why don't I go ahead and see them hands up in the air, right now." the dude with the gun said. He was wearing a skelton mask to cover half his face. "All y'all's hands up in the air right now." he shouted. Emerson rolled her eyes at the guy's aggressive behaviour. 

He instructed John B to get out of the car and let the others out too. When John B was going to open the van door to let everyone out, Emerson heard the man click the safety back on his gun.

Emerson looked behind her to see everyone in the back, scared. Everyone exited the van except for Emerson. The dude continued to shout at everyone, telling them to get down on their hands and knees, until he realized one person didn't leave the van. 

"Get out now!" he screamed at her. She rolled her eyes and hopped out of the van. "Get on your hands and knees! Don't roll your eyes at me!" he continued to scream at her. She just ignored him, and continued to stand by the van door. 

"I'll blow your head off!" the man yelled, pointing the gun straight at Emerson's head.

"Emerson, please get down."

"Em, come on."

"Em, don't do this." Everyone begged her. 

"You know, your hand's a little shaky there." Emerson taunted the man. "Shut up or I'll shoot you!" he shouted. "How're you gonna do that when the safety's off?" she asked, trying to look innocent. Mentally though, she was smirking. 

The man clicked the safety off the gun and pointed it at her forehead. Everyone gasped, as they begged her to back down. "Get down, now." he growled. "Mmm, I don't know. Should I? I mean what would people think about you shooting an innocent 16-year old?" she continued to taunt him. Emerson swiftly took the gun out of his grasp in one move. 𝘛𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘬 𝘨𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘯𝘨.

The guy slowly backed away from her, as she took big strides towards him. "Scared?" she laughed. The guy soon got fed up and charged towards Emerson to get the gun back and teach her a lesson. She kicked him in the head, and everyone else got up to help her take him down. 

Once he was finally taken down, Emerson took off his mask to reveal who it was. It was the drug dealer that almost everyone knew, Barry.

"I know this piece of shit! He's a basehead. He sells coke to my dad." JJ said. "Probably knows my brother." Sarah scoffed.

"Hey, listen, I couldn't hurt any single one of y'all." Barry said, and JJ hits him with the gun. "Yeah I could tell, Barry. Next time, try not to be so shaky. You're gonna need a lot of practice." Emerson chuckled as JJ took his license and headed back into the van. 

"See ya, Barry!" Emerson shouted as she hopped into the van. She hopped into the back with Pope, Kie, and Sarah, while JJ was driving and John B in the passenger seat. Barry continued to shout and scream at them, telling them he knew who they were and that they would meet again.

"Let's go see where this son of a bitch lives." JJ said as they drove off.

···

"Welcome to Crackhead Wasteland."

"I don't know about this, man."

"This place is a literal shitshow."

"Dude, why are we at Barry's?" Pope asked, as JJ parked the van in front of Barry's place.

"Where are you going?" John B asked JJ, as he walked away. "Yo soy justicia." JJ replied. 

"You know somebody should probably..." Kie was cut off. "Yeah, I got it." John B said, as he hopped out of the van to chase after JJ.

Everybody stayed silent, as they hopped out of the van to stretch and get some fresh air. They were suddely cut off by JJ speaking. "Alright, so we're looking at around less than five grand each for reparations for putting us through that bullshit. Sorry about that, y'all."

"We're robbing drug dealers now?" Emerson asked, annoyed by JJ's immature behaviour. "This Barry guy's gonna find out. And he's gonna come after us." Sarah spoke up. 

"Yes, he will. This is not the time to start wilin' out." Pope sternly said. 

"How'd you like having a gun pulled on you? He had it right here on you, Em." JJ said, pointing his finger on Emerson's forehead. She instantly smacked it away. "But I'm fine, JJ. See? I've had plenty of encounters with guns, I know how to deal with situations like those. So, put the money back. We got the gold anyways, so stop being so stupid." Emerson sternly said, trying to take the money out of his hands.

"You wanna talk about being stupid? If anyone, you're the stupid one! You're the one who can't get it through their thick skull that their parents are dead! Admit it, Em! They're dead! They're never coming back, and you're all alone." JJ said, and Emerson slapped him hard on the cheek. 

"They're not dead. This has nothing to do with my parents anyways. Put the money back." Emerson whispered, afraid her voice would break from the hurtful words JJ said. Her vision was getting blurry from the tears, put she held them in. 

"Your parents are dead! Get that through your thick skull would you?" he screamed at Emerson, yelling in front of her face. Emerson couldn't hold the tears anymore as they started streaming down her face. 

"JJ, quick it out!"

"What the fuck is wrong with you?"

"Stop!"

"Okay, look, JJ. Just put the money back. We already have the gold, so stop saying our parents are dead, and put it back." John B said, pulling him away from Emerson and hugging her. She didn't know what to think anymore. For the past couple months, people have said she was in denial. 𝘈𝘮 𝘐 𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘪𝘯 𝘥𝘦𝘯𝘪𝘢𝘭?

"You know what? You need to get it through your head too. I'm leaving with this shit, so have fun!" JJ shouted, as he walked away from the group. Emerson continued to sob, while everyone was rubbing her back, and telling her it was okay.

···

author's note [word count: 1298]

what do you think of Emerson's confidence? crappy chapter, i know.