Alright so this is kind of my reimagined version of how the gold search at the Crain house. Just some more Jiara.
The group grunted as they all used their strength to pull John B. out of the well. A bullet lodged itself in the wall behind the girls and Sarah let out a scream.
"Shit!" Kiara yelled. The two girls let go of the rope and crouched down to find some shelter from the gun wielder.
"Jesus." JJ groaned.
John B. dropped abruptly, having no idea what was going on. "Pope, JJ, what the hell?!"
Incomprehensible words were yelled from JJ and Pope as they hastily moved to bring their friend back up to the surface. "Climb up! John B., climb up, now."
JJ tied the rope to a beam before he and Pope dove for cover. The zombie-looking old woman bared her teeth as she took small steps towards the loud noises the teens were making.
"She can't aim for shit." Kie panted from behind the wall she and Sarah were positioned at.
"She can't see." Sarah observed. "She's blind."
Another gunshot boomed throughout the basement as it aimed for the girls' general direction. The girls made a beeline for the exit. Kiara didn't even feel the bullet hit her on the way out.
"Shit, go! Go!" Kiara cried as she and Sarah zoomed off.
John B. somehow pulled himself up towards the ledge of the well. He looked around for his friends and the old lady.
The old lady fired another shot towards the boys. "Go, go!" Pope screamed.
John B. finally hopped out of the well and ran for dear life, letting out a "woo" of excitement. "JJ, Pope, Kie. Yeah!"
The group hopped into the van one by one. They started the vehicle slowly as they yelled for John B. to hurry up and catch up. Once he made it in, JJ stepped on the gas pedal and drove them away from the Crain residence.
"JJ, drive!" Sarah yelled.
"Go, man!" Pope added.
"Oh my God! Are you okay? Are you shot?" JJ asked looking back at John B.
"You good?" Sarah asked.
"I think I'd know if I was…" Kiara started as she examined her body only to find a red substance staining the sleeve of her shirt, "...shot."
All eyes were on Kiara in a split second. They all saw the blood that was gathering at her shoulder.
"Holy shit." Pope said as he stared at the vibrant color on staining Kie's clothes.
Kiara didn't feel anything until she saw it. She lifted the fabric underneath to see blood flowing freely from her shoulder. As soon as her eyes met the liquid the pain became unbearable. She gasped at the pain.
Sarah removed the black sweatshirt she was wearing and pressed it to Kiara's injury. Kiara winced at the contact.
JJ looked back at Kiara to see pain etched on her face. "Kie?"
"We need to take her to a hospital." Sarah voiced.
"No! No hospitals, my parents will kill me." Kiara responded.
"Well, I'm sorry Kie but none of us are really certified doctors." Pope freaked out.
"Kie, are you okay?" JJ asked, concerned laced in his voice. He was watching her from the rear view mirror.
She was breathing heavily now. Of course she knew getting shot hurts but she never imagined it would be this bad. Her eyes were shut tight and her fist was clenching and unclenching.
She almost didn't hear the worry in JJ's voice. The pounding in her ears made it too loud to hear anything.
"I'm fine." she croaked out. She locked eyes with JJ's in the rear view mirror. "I'll be fine."
"Sarah you helped me before, can you fix her up?" John B. looked between Sarah and Kiara frantically.
"That was just a scratch, John B.!" She yelled. She was scared. Kie could tell. "This is a gunshot!"
John B. sighed seemingly defeated for a moment but then remembered—
"Wait, Pope." The dark skinned boy looked at John B. with fear in his eyes. "Didn't you take a medical class last summer?"
"That class was online and I only visited four times." Pope said quickly, muttering other unintelligible things.
"Pope!" JJ said loudly, grabbing his friend's attention. "Please."
Pope looked at JJ and then looked at Kiara. He caved when JJ hit a sharp turn and Kiara screamed in pain. "Fine!"
He switched spots with Sarah to assess the situation. Kiara winced as the movement slightly jarred the wound.
"She needs stitches. I think. That's something I can do." Pope started. He moved to check the other side of Kie's shoulder and saw that there was no blood. "Uh. The bullet didn't go through."
Kiara's eyes shot open and looked at Pope. "We'll have to take it out." Pope continued.
JJ finally pulled up to the fish shack John B. called a home. Everyone filed out of the car fast. JJ hopped out of the drivers seat and ran around to the other side of the bus to help Kiara out all the while trying not to disturb her arm. The two walked inside briskly with the others hot on their heels.
Once inside the messy shack, JJ immediately sat Kiara on the pull out that was never returned to its natural state. Pope sat down next to her, helping her keep pressure on the wound. Sarah stood at the doorway biting her lip while John B. and JJ disappeared into the kitchen.
There was lots of rummaging heard until John B. came back with a first aid kit and JJ came back with some weed and a beer.
"Here." JJ held out the items in front of Kiara. Kiara reached for the weed but was taken aback when JJ pulled that hand back. "That's for me."
Kie snatched the beer and glared as JJ lit the blunt. "Asshole."
Kiara popped off the cap of the bottle with her teeth and downed half of the liquid as Pope searched through the kit that John B. handed him. He got out tweezers, rubbing alcohol, bandages, and a needle and thread.
Kiara eyes the materials with panic evident in her features. In the movies, this shit always looked like it hurt. She poured beer into her mouth hoping to be a little numb before the extraction.
JJ saw the anxiety in Kiara's eyes and grabbed her hand, the blunt positioned firmly on the edge of his lips. "Hey, it's gonna be fine."
She looked back at him with cheeks full of bitter alcohol. He almost outright laughed at how adorable she looked. She swallowed the cool liquid and nodded slightly.
Pope stuffed a roll of bandages in her mouth. "Bite down on that, okay?"
Kiara nodded once more. She watched in the corner of her eye as Pope got ready to do his work on her. "Ready?" he asked and she replied with a quiet "mhm".
Pope took the tweezers and thrusted them into the small hole in her shoulder. Kiara jumped at the sudden insertion and let out a muffled scream of anguish. The pounding in her ears so strong that she didn't hear Pope strained "sorry". Unconsciously, she squeezed JJ's hand in an attempt to lessen the pain. Pope continued to swirl the tweezer around the inside, trying to locate the bullet. JJ thought he saw small tears prick the corner of Kie's eyes.
JJ muttered a bunch of words that were meant to be comforting or distracting—whatever worked to ease the pain. He hated seeing her hurt, whether it be emotionally or physically. She was always so tough. She barely let her emotions get out of control. To see her holding herself together like this gave him a sense of pride he didn't know he could feel. Her face contorted into that of one in agony when Pope dug the tweezers in deeper. He simply inhaled twice and allowed the substance balancing between his lips to wash over him. He didn't like not being able to help.
Two minutes have officially passed and Pope still hasn't found the bullet. Kiara was full on sweating now and her teeth were biting down on the bandage hard enough to break metal. Her breathing was labored and her eyes were shut tightly again. She was squeezing JJ's hand so hard that the blonde was actually wincing. Sarah, at some point, left the room, being squeamish from all the blood. John B. followed her out. JJ took a seat on the other side of Kiara, hands still clasped together.
"Hey I...I think I found it." Pope exclaimed excitedly.
"Then pull it out." JJ grunted as Kiara squeezed significantly hard. He exhaled a huge amount of smoke from his nose, clouding Pope's vision for a moment. Pope almost scolded him but thought against it, focusing on the matter at hand.
Kiara was granted sweet relief when Pope finally removed the tweezers. The wound was still throbbing mercilessly but the added pressure from the tweezers was gone. The tweezers were bloody and held a compacted bullet. Pope tossed them both into the kit and got out some rubbing alcohol. She almost didn't feel the sting of the of it, being a bit buzzed from the beer.
Kiara spit the bandages out of her mouth and slumped against JJ, panting heavily.
"You alright?" Pope asked.
"Yeah." Kie nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay."
JJ reached up to tuck a lock of hair behind her ear. "That was badass." he said.
Kie chuckled lightly and looked up at him. JJ looked down at her and cupped her cheek. He stared into her eyes. She was so amazing. Anyone else would've probably balled their eyes out but not Kie. He could see the tiredness in her features. She looked like she was going to pass out but he could see the fight within her eyes as she tried to stay awake.
He smirked when she bit the corner of her lip and blushed slightly. He could tell the eye contact made her nervous. She would always threaten to hit someone if they stared at her too long.
Pope cleared his throat, bringing them out of their temporary loss of reality. "I have to stitch it up."
Kiara snatched the blunt from JJ's mouth and inhaled it as deeply as she could, allowing the plant to further numb the pain.
Pope gave her a total of 14 stitches. He quickly covered the stitches in some sort of disinfectant spray and bandaged it up. Her arm was so sore that she felt like she couldn't move her entire body. She rested her head on JJ's shoulder while his unoccupied hand ran through her hair. Pope had already gathered all the materials and left the room.
"You okay?" he asked amongst the silence.
"Yeah." she croaked.
"You want anything?"
"...Just stay here with me."
JJ nodded and pulled her back so that they lay on the pull out bed. His hand accidentally grazed her bandage and she sucked in a breath. He muttered a quick apology and continued to guide her to lay down on his chest.
"So this is our lives now." Kie said.
JJ looked down at the girl with a questioning gaze. "What do you mean?"
"Getting shot at, going on gold heists, solving mysteries. We're like an OBX version of Scooby Doo and the Goonies combined."
Kiara heard a laugh rumble from JJ. "Yeah, it's freaking cool. Well...besides the part where you got shot."
"Yeah that would've been a nice thing to avoid." Kiara snuggled further into JJ's chest, carefully wrapping her injured arm around his torso.
"But you gotta admit; that was fun as fuck."
"Of course you would think so. You're batshit crazy." Kiara yawned.
"And I take that as a compliment." JJ kissed the top of Kie's head. "Go to sleep, Kie."
"Not tired." she mumbled as her eyes fluttered shut.
"You're not stubborn either." JJ said sarcastically. But it fell on deaf ears as he heard a light snore from the girl laying on top of him.
JJ closed his eyes and let himself fall into a blissful slumber.
This was way longer than I anticipated. Idek if I kept up with the main plot. Um call me out on any mistakes in my writing and review please!