"What? Why?"

Marleen didn't respond . . . not with words, at least. Instead, she slipped a piece of paper under the slim crack of the door for Jaylene to pick up.

     Since it was faced downwards, Jaylene didn't immediately understand why Marleen sounded so nervous, but once she flipped it right side up, her eyes widened in fear. It didn't go unnoticed by John B either because he raised his head upwards, wondering why her face had turned so pale all of a sudden. When she turned the paper towards him, his face was drained of color, heart beginning to beat quicker than usual in his chest.

In Jaylene's grasp was a wanted poster with John B's face and description on it. Although this wasn't the first time either of them had seen one of those, it sure as hell was the first time they'd seen the reward. Originally, official authorities had offered a total of twenty-five thousand dollars to whoever caught the culprit and turned him in. Unfortunately, that had changed these past couple of days and a total of fifty-thousand dollars was now the reward.

Most important of all, if Marleen had somehow gotten her hands on one of these flyers, that meant that every single person on the boat knew that a fugitive was onboard the ship which would explain why Terrance had led them up here in the first place.

They were going to turn John B in.

"Shit." John B choked on his words, his palms growing sweaty when he turned his head towards the windows, the port getting closer and closer with every second that ticked by.

"He didn't kill anyone. Rafe Cameron killed sheriff Peterkin and Ward Cameron framed John B." Jaylene frantically said, hoping that Marleen hadn't walked away just yet.

Marleen released a heavy sigh. "Run. Do not stop until you're in the clear."

Jaylene sunk her teeth into her mouth, thinking of how fucked they'd be if they didn't find a way to get out of here. She didn't respond to Marleen after that since she had to help search for something strong enough to break the glass that was trapping them in.

     With evident panic laced in their actions, the two teenagers carelessly tossed useless items to the side. That panic only increased drastically when the ship finally docked by a slightly crowded port, Jaylene's breath caught in her throat as shards of beer bottles pricked into her skin.

     Just when they were about to give up, she spotted the bright red fire extinguisher, her finger shakily pointing at it. "Use that!" She urged.

     Quick to comply, John B removed it from the hinge it was on. The bottom of it collided with the glass, nothing happening at first until he did it a few more times. When the glass window broke, he let out a relieved sigh, creating a hole that would be big to fit both of them.

"C'mon, give me your hand!" John B held his own hand out towards Jaylene, helping her climb the small ledge so that she could climb out first.

Of course, with her luck, Jaylene's leg scraped against the sharp glass in the process, her face twisting in pain at the large cut that was made. She winced at that, her hand reaching down towards the wound, and sure enough, there was a generous amount of blood leaking from it. But she didn't let that stop her from jumping off the ship, her dirty shoes coming in contact with the wooden dock below her. For a few seconds, she stood there, waiting for John B who barely made it out in time.

"Hey, hey! Are you okay?" John B glimpsed at the large cut.

"I'll be fine!" Jaylene waved him off, the adrenaline pumping through her blood being enough to help manage the pain. "We gotta go!"

And with that, they made it onto the boardwalk, their feet thudding against the wooden dock as they pushed past multiple people, the sound of police officers shouting after them being their motivation to keep going.

No matter how badly Jaylene wanted to stop running due to how weak she was after having eaten a minimal amount of food these past few days, she listened to her mother's voice that was playing in the back of her head.

Run.

authors note:

Soooo sorry for the long wait, but the first chapter is finally here! I don't even remember how many times I re-wrote this because of how unsatisfied I was with it, but I hope that you enjoyed it!

Book 2 will have longer chapters than the first book, so let me know if you're okay with that because I do know that some people tend to get bored with longer chapters and prefer shorter chapters! I'm perfectly fine doing whichever.

And with that being said, I'd like to remind you that I have a JJ Maybank story up on my profile called Prom Queen if you ever wanna give it a read!

Remember to vote and comment! I've said it once and I'll say it again, I LOVE reading the thoughts you may have while reading this book! Don't be a ghost reader! <3

Until next time!