"This is empty. You took an empty tank?" Kie asks analyzing the tank my brother had stolen from the Camerons. She looks at the other one. "Okay, this one is a quarter full. It's enough for one of us."

"Love it when a plan comes together." Pope says sarcastically.

"Who knows how to dive?" Kie asks us. We all stay silent. Who knew how to dive?

"It's kind of a Kook sport." JJ says.

"I.. read about it." Pope informs us.

"Yeah, P, that's not helpful." I speak up. "We need someone that actually knows how to do it so nobody dies."

"Look, you put the thing in your mouth and you breathe. How hard can it be?" JJ asks.

"If you come up too fast, nitrogen gets into your blood, and you get the bends." Pope says.

"Bends, like bend over and..." JJ bends over, sticking out his butt. I fight the urge to smack it because he was being an idiot.

"No, J. The bends can kill you, fast." I tell him.

"Well I wanna bend you over and-"

"JJ, stop flirting with my sister. It's fucking gross." My brother cuts him off.

"Fine."

"I.. I can dive." John B speaks up.

"You- you can dive. I'm fine with that." JJ nods.

"Since when can you dive?" Kie asks side glancing my brother.

"I'll do it, it's fine."

"Let me do some calculations real quick." Pope says. "That boat's about 30 feet deep, so it'll take 25 minutes at that depth. Which means you need to make your safety stop at about... ten feet. All right? For two minutes."

"Yeah, yeah. Ten feet, two minutes. Got it."

Kie suddenly jumps off the boat and into the water. I watched confused.

"What was that about?" Pope asks.

"That was really weird." I say.

"I don't know." JJ says. "Uh, when you're down there, you look for the cargo hold. You stick this thing inside and twist and pull, okay?"

"Stick in the hole, twist and pull." John B says memorizing the steps.

"Yeah. My dad moved weight back in the day."

"Who didn't?" Pope asks.

"Hey!" Kie calls from water, catching our attention. "I tied my t-shirt to the chain about 10 feet down. It's where you need to do your safety stop."

Pope hands him something. "You need to make sure you have enough air to decompress."

"Okay, how much do I need?" John B asks.

"Unclear. Breathe as little as possible."

"Pope!" I say worried. "I'd really prefer my brother to not die."

"I'll be fine, Kat." John B reassures me.

"Hey, if we get caught in the Marsh, we're basically screwed, so... better get a move on."

"Copy that." Kie walks up to my brother pressing a kiss on his cheek.

I can't help but make a disgusted face. I did not like the idea of them being a thing. Kie deserves someone better than my brother, gotta be honest. JJ glances at me, suppressing a smile as I watch the two interact.

"Diver down?"

"Diver down." Kie responds.

John B pulls the mask over his face before jumping off the boat. I watch as my brother disappears deep in the water. I was nervous about the whole idea of this. I didn't love this plan. We wait as John B is in the water.

"Shit. JJ." Pope says anxiously.

A siren rings out across the water. A police boat cruises toward our smaller boat.

"Guys, that's the police." JJ says.

"Shit, they can't see me." I say anxiously.

"Hey, hey," Pope says getting my attention. "We're not gonna let anything happen to you. Just stay calm and we'll deal with the police."

The police pull up right next to our boat.

"Evening officers." Pope greets.

"Evening." Shoupe responds.

"JJ, tie this off." Pope says motioning to the other boat.

"How you kids doing?" Shoupe asks. "You know the Marsh is closed?"

"Oh, no."

"No."

"No, wow."

"Why is it closed?" I ask.

"We're conducting a search out here. Boat went down. Seen anything?"

"No, we didn't." I respond. "Did it go down during the storm?"

"Yeah. Where's your friend you always hang with? You got his sister here."

"He's working." Kiara answers.

"Hm," The cop hums. "I'm gonna check your little boat out." He walks over to our boat, stepping into it. He looks around asking us questions. He holds up a life jacket. "Got any more of these?"

"Yeah, we got some in the hold." JJ taps the hold of the boat.

"Show him." Kie stalls.

My brother was definitely almost out of air. He'd been gone for a really long time. I was starting to get anxious again.

JJ opens the hold, pulling out a couple life jackets. "Yeah, here."

Shoupe moves around to the front of our boat, looking into the water.

"Careful, you don't wanna slip." JJ advises.

I watch nervously as he glances around the water. I was praying JB was waiting to surface so we wouldn't get caught. I feel JJ press a hand to the small of my back, trying to calm me down so I didn't draw attention. By now John B was definitely out of breath. My hands shook with nerves.

"All right." Shoupe says finally. "Let us know if you see anything on the way out." He steps back into the police boat, starting the engine.

"Yeah for sure." I say.

"We'll be gone soon, sir." JJ yells him.

"Yes you will."

The police take off back down the Marsh. Leaving just our little boat in the open water. I release a breath, slightly less anxious. As soon as they're out of sight, we bending over the boat, likening for John B.

"He's definitely out of air." Pope notes.

Right after John B surfaces, gasping for air.

"There he is!" JJ yells.

"Oh my god." I say relieved. "Don't scare us like that."

"How'd it go down there?" JJ asks my brother.

John B mumbles something but none of understood what he was trying to say.

"Did you find anything?" JJ asks helping him pull some of the diving gear onto the boat,

"Did I find anything?" John B says excitedly.

"Yeah, there we go! That's my boy!"

"You scared the shit out of me." Kiara tells him.

"Yeah, the cops were up here." Pope yells him. "But, we took care of them."

I look up from our friends. Another boat was cruising the Marsh not to far from us. I had never seen it before.

"Guys, there's another boat on the Marsh." I say turning to my friends.

"What are they doing here? The Marsh is closed." Kie says.

"I don't know, but let's not stick around to find out." JJ says slightly on edge.

The boat starts to head right for us. JJ rushes to the anchor, pulling it up. "Don't wait for me guys."

"I don't like this." John B says starting the boat.

"What are they doing?" I question.

"Maybe they're fishing for drum too?" Pope tries.

As they get closer, everyone rushes John B. He takes off down the Marsh. I hear the boat speed up as it follows us.

"Hey guys, they're following us!" Kie announces.

"Dude, you gotta go faster!" JJ yells.

"John B.." I say nervously.

He speeds up, peeling from the other boat. Suddenly a loud boom echoes across the Marsh. I feel something whiz by us. A searing pain burns in my arm but I ignore it, ducking my head. Another shot goes off. I feel a hand pushing my head down more. JJ shifts his body in front of mine.

"We're gonna die." Pope says terrified.

Kie stands up suddenly, grabbing our fishing net. She tosses it out into the water. The boat following us gets stuck in it, stopping in the water.

Pope turns to me as we get further away. "Shit, Kat, you're bleeding." He says looking at my arm.

I look down noticing there was a large gash in the top part of my arm. Pope is immediately pulling off his top, pressing it to the wound. I wince from the searing pain that erupts from my arm.

"Dude, we gotta get her to a hospital." JJ says worried.

I shake my head violently.

"We can't, DCS will take her away." John B says.

"We have to stitch it ourselves." Kie speaks up.

"How the hell do we do that?" JJ asks.

"Cut the barb off a hook, we'll have to use fishing line."

Everyone is instantly moving around the boat quickly. JJ sits me down on the floor, so I don't get dizzy from blood loss. Kie comes back with the hook in between pliers and a bottle of alcohol.

"JJ, you're gonna have to hold her. She can't move and this is gonna hurt like hell." Kie instructs.

JJ moves so he's sitting next to me on the floor of the boat. He pulls me across his lap so I straddle him. He hold me against him tight, with Pope still holding his shirt against my arm.

"Okay, Pope. You can move." Kie says squatting down next to me. "Kat, this is gonna hurt, okay?"

"I know." I turn away, burying my face in JJ's chest. The pain in my arm as she stitched the wound was unlike anything I've felt before. I did my best to not scream. I didn't want to make the situation worse for anyone. By the time she was done I had completely slumped against JJ. The exhaustion taking a major toll on me.

By the time we had gotten to the dock it was dark out. I was still sitting with JJ. He lifts me up with him as he stands and moves to meet everyone on the dock. He sets me down on my feet.

"You good to stand?" He asks me.

"Yeah, I'm okay." I say using his arm to steady myself.

John B begins to open the bag.

"What do you guys think it is?" Kie asks us.

"It's gotta be money or something." John B answers.

"That or a couple of keys with street value of the low to mid mile." JJ says excitedly.

"Can we just open the bag please?" Pope says impatiently.

"Wow, Pope. That's a rare burst of emotion." John B looks at the rest of us.

"Okay, you guys are literally killing me with anticipation. Just open the bag. We almost died over this, Kat literally got shot."

"It's just a graze." I correct.

"Whatever, we still had to emergency sew your arm shut."

John B pulls a capsule out of the bag. He screws the top off and dumps it out into his hand. A compass spills out into his palm.

"Oh, wow. Yup, that's about right. Good job everybody. We found a compass." Pope says annoyed.

John B continues to start at the compass. I had no idea what was so significant about it to him.

"Dude, what? It's not worth anything." JJ says.

"This was my fathers." John B mumbles.

"It could be literally anyone's compass. You can't know it's for sure his, JB. You're reaching for anything right now and it's only putting us in danger." I say frustrated.

He continues to stare at it, mesmerized. I shake my head with irritation.