RIPTIDE | Rafe Cameron

40. 𝘣𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘬 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳𝘵 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯

"Is everyone okay?" John B mumbles as my body aches from the force of the crash.

"Just about," I reply as JJ opens his door, brushing the smashed glass off of his lap, which thankfully didn't hurt him.

"That is the last time you drive, Pope," JJ warns as he gives me his hand and helps me out of the car as Kiara climbs out of the front passenger seat.

"You okay?" JJ asks me, scanning my face, "You're bleeding a little."

"It's nothing," I mutter, feeling a small stream of the warm liquid rolling down my cheek from my cheekbone. With my clothes already in a bad state I use the cuff of my sweater to mop up the blood.

"Oh, my Dad's truck, no!" Kiara groans as she assesses the damage to the front of the vehicle.

"One word, Kie, totalled." JJ remarks as we join her at the front of the truck.

"My parents are going to kill me," Kiara whispers as Sarah and John B join us, "For real this time."

"Yeah, well, weren't they already going to do that, anyway?" JJ sighs.

"Helpful, thank you." Kiara mutters, and I can tell she's doing her best to suppress her anger at the situation.

"We're gonna have to walk the rest of the way," Pope declares, as though we haven't just been in a car accident.

"Dude." Sarah exclaims.

"He can't be serious." I whisper to the girls.

"I'm going to get my cross." Pope answers.

"Hey, just relax for a second," John B steps in front of Pope, resting his hands on his shoulders.

"Get off of me," Pope shrugs away from his grip.

"I'm just trying to help," John B attempts to reason with him.

"I'm getting my cross," Pope tells him bluntly, as though none of this has just happened.

"Dude, you just crashed Kie's truck!" I exclaim as he pushes past John B, heading in the direction of the Freedman church when I notice a large truck driving towards us.

"Pope, I'm trying to watch out for you!" John B trails after him.

"I need to get the cross!" Pope shouts as John B drags him off of the road and out of the path of the truck.

"There's a truck right there, you'll get hit!" John B shouts.

The next seconds are like those scenes you see in the movies, when everything feels like it's happening in slow motion. It's Renfield I see first in the passenger seat of the truck, but it's Rafe I'm drawn to, as though I'm unable to take in anything else.

His eyes are on me while his jaw is clenched as they pass us by, and it's as though they slow down to let us know that once again the kooks have won. It doesn't take a genius to work it out, they must have the cross, why else would they need such a big truck.

"We gotta get back to the church!" Pope shouts as they continue driving down the street further away from us.

We all begin sprinting down the street despite the pain from the crash, knowing that the church is only around the corner. I hope with everything I have in me that it was just a coincidence, that there is another reason for Rafe to be driving such a big truck.

After about five minutes, we reach the church, all of us breathless as Pope opens the doors, revealing nothing but the cushions JJ used to hide the cross. We've lost again, we lost to the kooks, we lost to Rafe, and I should've known that the lust for money would control him, even with Ward dead.