fifty-three | not after everything

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CARSON AND JJ RUSHED OVER to make sure that Pope was okay. While he had managed to get the cross down, maybe not in the way that he wanted but still, it had been dangerous. No one ever really doubted Pope because he was just as loyal as any of them were, but sometimes he took them by surprise with the things he was willing to do.

"Pope, are you okay?" Carson asked as her and JJ kneeled next to him.

"Yeah, I'm good," he assured them. "Just give me, like, one second to catch my breath."

"You did it, Pope," John B said. They stared at the cross in amazement. It was unlike anything else they had seen. The gold had been just as shocking to lay eyes on, but the intricate details in the cross were something to admire.

"Pope, she's beautiful," JJ said. "Man, the detail's insane."

"Well, here's why Limbrey wanted that key so bad," John B said when he found the spot on the cross with they keyhole.

"How much do you think she's worth?" JJ asked. "Like, if we melted her old bones down. Dude, I'm talking like high billions." With the gold gone, the cross could be their next way of fortune. But it was too beautiful and full of history to just burn away into nothing.

"No, this belongs in a museum," John B stated.

"What? So no one sees her?" JJ said.

"In a museum where everyone sees it," he said.

"He's right, JJ. You really want to melt this down?" Carson said. "Look at it."

"Are you kidding me? I am looking at it, and you know how much we would make from it?" he continued.

"Hey! It's my ancestor's cross!" Pope cut in.

"Right, okay, alright. Alright, well-"

"This is bigger than money, and the world's gotta know the truth," Pope said.

"Yes, and if we don't get this shit outta here before Limbrey gets here, nobody's gonna know. So saddle up," John B said. They all gathered around the cross to pick it up as it would be way too heavy without their combined effort. Even then, they were barely able to carry it without using all of their strength.

"How the hell did he even get this cross up there?" Carson asked. They had only made it a few feet before suddenly Pope was letting his side down. He collapsed onto the bench in pain, but no one realized it wasn't because of how heavy the cross had been until he started telling him that he was not okay. When they looked over at him, his face had become swollen and his breathing was labored.

"He's having an allergic reaction," Kiara realized.

"The wasps," Carson said.

"How many times did he get stung?" Sarah asked. It didn't matter though because he was not okay and they had to do something about it before it was too late.

"What about the cross?" Kiara asked.

"JJ, try and hide it," John B said. While JJ tried hiding the cross, which was not a success, the others brought Pope to the truck to get him out of there and to help as quickly as possible. They rushed over to JJ's cousin's house. The smarter thing would have been to go to the hospital but Ricky's was much closer and at that moment, they didn't know how much time they had.

"Ricky, hey, I got a problem, bro!" JJ screamed as he banged on the door. "I know you're mad at me but I-"

"Remember that time you stole my ambulance?" Ricky yelled. He didn't wait to listen to JJ's explanation before he threw up his middle finger and slammed the door in their faces.

"Please, open the door!" Carson screamed as she took her turn to bang on his door. "Our friend is dying!"

"He can't breathe, Ricky!" JJ yelled. He finally gave in as he opened the door frustratedly.

"Who can't breathe?" he asked. He had a deep look of annoyance on his face as he took in the sight of Pope before opening the door.

"You know I wouldn't come to you if it wasn't an emergency," JJ said as they brought Pope into his house and laid him onto the table that Sarah had cleared off.

"What's wrong with him?" Ricky asked.

"Wasps," Sarah answered.

"Wasps? Is he allergic to wasps?" Ricky questioned.

"Clearly!" Kiara said. Ricky ran off to find his kit while Kiara stood there with her hand on Pope's face, trying to help him control his breathing.

"What kind of an EMT doesn't know where his medical kit is?" Carson called out.

"Do you want my help or not?" Ricky called back. "I got it, I got it."

"What do we do now?" JJ asked.

"You don't do anything 'cause you're not a paramedic," he said. He looked up at them. "Here's the thing. This is a pediatric dose of epinephrine."

"Is that gonna be enough?" Sarah asked.

"He is not a kid," Kiara added in annoyance.

"It is ten times a normal dose," Ricky told them. "So, if... if it doesn't stop his heart, it'll help him."

"Did you just 'if it doesn't stop his heart'?" Carson said.

"I did," he said. "But I gotta use the whole thing or it won't work, and I'm not going down if he dies."

"Oh God, this is like one of those bad drug commercials that say this can help you but you might have all of these side effects, including death," Carson said. "But I guess he's going to die if we don't do it anyway, right?"

"Alright, fine. Do it!" JJ agreed.

"Alright, Pope, hang in there, buddy," Ricky said before inserting the needle into his arm. "Okay, um, that's it."

"Now what?" Sarah asked.

"Now we wait." They all just stared at Pope in hopes that it would work, but the longer he laid still, the more nervous they were becoming.

"You killed him," Kiara said.

"No-"

"Yes, you did!"

"I didn't do shit," Ricky said.

"What did you do?" she screamed.

"I did exactly what you asked me to do," he said. JJ and Kiara became shaking him in desperation for him to wake up. Carson could only just stare in shock at the fact that Pope might not actually wake up. She couldn't process that, not after everything that had happened. The weight of that thought was relieved off of them when Pope finally took a normal breath.

"It's hot, real hot," Pope coughed off. "I gotta go outside." He pushed his way through them to make it outside.

"Thank you so much," Sarah said. "Are there any side effects we should be concerned about?"

"He's gonna have a rocket up his ass for about half an hour, and then he'll be fine," Ricky said.

"We can deal with that," Carson said. Or could they?

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