Strawberry Sunscreen - JJ Maybank - Outer Banks

Chapter 15 - The Forbidden Zone || Part 1

 Elizabeth reached her hand into a smaller hole, taking out a large envelope. Looking at the words written on the front in disbelief, Elizabeth slowly walked to the hole separating her and the rest of the pogues.

"That's not gold," said Pope as John B grabbed the envelope.

"Holy shit," John B looked down at the envelope, not believing what he was holding. "This is from my dad."

JJ took a hit from his vape, exhaling while looking out for any unsuspected visitors. A smaller golf cart approached, the lights shining through multiple trees.

JJ stumbled over his words, "Code red. Code red. Square groupers! Square groupers! It's the guys who robbed your house."

The Pogues ran past the light, taking cover in a dark area near the grave. The group struggled to turn their lights off, almost giving away their location. Finally, the area around them became dark- the only light coming from who the kids hypothesized were the men who had shot at the Pogues and robbed John B.

"Do you think it's them?" Kie asked, peeking around a grave.

"Homie's got a gun," said JJ, his voice shaking.

Screw this," Kie began running, the rest of the pogues following closely behind her. Kiara jumped the gate first, followed by Elizabeth, JJ, and John B. Pope jumped the gate as well, but got stuck on a sharp part of the gate.

"Guys, I'm stuck," yelled Pope as his pants began to rip. Kiara ran back over to him and began to pull with the help of Elizabeth.

"You're gonna rip me. Wait. You're gonna rip me!" Pope braced for pain, but none came.

John B and JJ called for Pope to hurry up, commenting, "Nice! It's a little Tootsie

Roll." The group jumped into their car, Elizabeth watching out the back window as the golf cart stopped in front of what used to be Pope's pants.

"Holy shit guys," Elizabeth breathed. She couldn't believe that this was happening, that they had actually potentially found a clue to uncover the disappearance of John B's father.

"Holy shit," JJ repeated rubbing his thumb and pointer finger over his forehead as he leaned against the glass.

——

"That bread had mold on it three days ago," stated Pope, watching as JJ picked up the moldy bread and examined it, before placing it back onto the table and spreading more peanut butter on it.

"I'll just pull off the bad parts," said JJ. "Plus, mold is good for you. It's just a natural organism."

"JJ please don't eat that," pleaded Elizabeth.

"It's perfectly good bread, why the hell would I waste it?" JJ asked.

Elizabeth sighed, "JJ that bread looks like it was edible in the 90's." JJ took a bite of the bread, instantly gagging.

"Nice," commented Elizabeth sarcastically who was having a total I-told-you-so moment. John B ignored what was going on around him, opening the envelope and unfolding the large paper that had been tucked away. Inside the envelope was a large map, with the longitude and latitude of something that must have been important.

"X marks the spot," stated Pope.

"Longitude, Latitude," John B traced his finger along the coordinates. "Wait, there's somethin' else in there." John B opened the envelope once again and took out the object.

"What's that?" JJ asked.

"It's a tape recorder, dumbass" said Kie, causing Elizabeth to glare at her. John B clicked play, the sound of his father's voice filling the room.