MATILDA! CHAPTER SIX:
MS LANA
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"I don't get why you don't at least try with Kie, she clearly likes you. She's like, oh John B" JJ said as they made their way to Mrs Lanas house to see if she knew anything— Liz sat in the back listening to the two go on.

"Is that what she does?"

"She's sketching about you diving, than she kissed you"

"She kissed me on the cheek. It's not like we were making out if something"

"Low hanging fruit, bro. Don't pretend you don't notice, I see it in your eyes, your like, 'I kinda like that' and you start blushing"

"I blush?"

"Yeah"

"Really?" John B looked at Liz through the rear view mirror and raised an eyebrow

"You did" Liz said simply, smirking a bit

"Yeah" JJ went to touch the compass but John B stopped him

"Hey, dont—"

"I was just looking at it. I gotta admit your fathers compass in scooters boat. That's freaky"

"Yeah, thats why were going to talk to Mrs Lana, figure this whole thing out."

"I'm sure she would just love to talk to us, it's not like her husband just drowned or anything" They got to Mrs Lanas house and got out of the car, walking towards the house.

"Know what this house looks like? Whoever lives here smokes to much weed" JJ said before there was glass smashing coming from in the house

"Maybe we should come back" Liz suggested quietly

"Shut up"

"It's a little too soon"

"No, no, shut up. Shut up JJ"

"Tell me where it is, or I'll fuck you up" a man yelled from inside

"Your hurting me!" Mrs Lana screamed and Liz's jaw dropped

"I—"

"Shut up. Come on" They came to underneath the windows and Liz could see something was bothering JJ about the loud yelling and she easily connected his body language to his father— JJ had briefly told her about his father being an alcoholic and yelling, sometimes even hitting. He made her promise to tell nobody. So she did.

"The compass wasn't in the boat. Where is it Lana?" More smashing was heard

"I don't know!"

"Don't listen" JJ whispered to himself— Liz furrowed her eyebrows at him and than flinched back when a loud bang came from inside the house— plates smashing. Liz reached a hand out, putting it on his arm to attempt to comfort him from whatever it was exactly bothering him and he connected his hand to hers and squeezed it a bit as Liz felt his eyes burn into the side of her face for a few seconds. White flakes fell from the house and Liz touched her hair, looking up slightly as her hand shook slightly nervously.

"Is that paint?" She muttered in disbelief

"Yes, it's paint"

"Let's get there hell outta here man"

"We should just go. He's got a smuggler" the two men came from the hosue and angrily got into their boat

"Dude, those are the guys that shot at us" The three backed up to prevent being seen by the men so they could drive off. John B was the first to move as they walked towards the front door and entered to hear Mrs Lanas muffled cries.

"Mrs Lana?" Liz tapped John B and pointed to the bathroom, where she was sitting

"Mrs Lana" they rushed over and John B touched her shoulder, startling her

"It's okay"

"dude, she's tweaking" JJ said

"Do you need a Doctor?" Liz asked frantically

"Let's call the sheriffs department"

"No cops, please" Mrs Lana begged

"Mm. That's not good. Come on let's just go" JJs hand pulled on Liz's waist, and she got up in shock

"You shouldn't be here" Mrs Lana sobbed

"That's enough for me. Come on" JJ tried to get John B up

"Wait, Wait. What do you know about these guys?" John B asked

"They were looking for something."

"Does it have anything to do with this?" John B pulled out the compass and Mrs Lanas face dropped "do you know anything about this? This is our fathers, and Scooter had it. Why?"

"John B leave her alone—" Liz told him

"Scooter didn't have it okay? Don't tell anyone that you have that" she said

"Come on" JJ said

"Why?"

"They can't know that you have that! You've got to get out of here!"

"What do you know about the compass?"

"Go! Get out!"

"We gotta go. Let's go" JJ pulled John B up and kept his hand on Liz's back

Liz sat on the porch as JJ explained to Kie and Pope what had happened at Mrs Lanas house.

"We were standing there, like this— and all we hear is just, bam! bam! bam! Knocking paint of the wall, G! From the inside. All right? And I'm jsut looking at him like— wait first off, look at this shit" JJ shook his head upside and white flakes came out

"Thats dandruff—its disgusting" Kie said

"Okay thank you" Pope sighed

"Look at all that. All right? Thats paint. At that point, I was just, like... I'm waiting for death"

"Oh, okay, so you saw the guys that shot at us, right?"

"Yeah"

"Did you get a good description of them— what did they look like?"

"Anything. Anything's helpful"

"Anything we can bring to a police report?"

"Yeah"

"Burly" JJ said

"Burly?" Pope questioned

"Yeah, you know like—"

"That's not very helpful"

"Like the type of guys at my dads garage. I mean, toy guys knkw he made cargo hides for drug smugglers"

"Yeah, yes. No, we know"

"I can tell you, with full confidence, these boys, these killers... they're square groupers"

"They're square groupers, like narco square groupers— Pablo Escobar square grouper?"
"Yeah man"

"You guys, not everything is a kingpin movie"

"What do these square groupers look like Specifically?"

"You weren't there."

"You don't know what to look for" Pope said

"I wasn't taking little mental poliroids the entire time man, I was under duress, okay? But I can tell you... I can tell you by the way mrs Lana was screaming... that these guys are serious, serious hombres, man."

"It's a heavy vibe. I'm not liking this very much" Liz shook her head

"Why would they want the compass?"

"It's a peice of shit, you couldn't pawn it off for five bucks if you wanted to— no offence, I know it's in your family"

"The office"

"What?"

"My dad." John B muttered "my dads office. He always kept the office locked because he was worried about his competitors stealing his royal merchant research. I used to laugh at him like he was gonna find it" John B led them to the door, getting the key to the room "Now that hes gone I've jsut kinda... I just left it as he kept it"

"Yeah, for when he gets back"

"Yeah" John B unlocked the door and they walked in

"I've slept over here like 600 times, and I've never seen this door opened"

"Mm"

"Here, look, this is the original owner, right here" John B stated, and Liz read the paper out loud.

"Okay. Robert Q. Routledge, 1880 to 1920 There's the lucky compass right there" Liz pointed to the picture of it

"Actually, he was shot after um... he bought it. Than the compass was shipped back to Henry. He was killed in a crop-dusting accident when he had the compass."

"After he died, the compass was given to Stephen. Stephen had the compass with him when he died in Vietnam." John B explained 

"Let me guess, he died in action, right?" JJ asked

"Sort of. Uh, a-actually, he was killed by a banana truck. In-- in country." John B sighed "Anyways, after that, Stephen passed the compass down to our dad"

"Hm. Sounds like there's a reoccurring theme here." Liz sighed

"Yeah, you have a death compass."

"I do not." John B denied

"You have a death compass."

"Get rid of it."

"It's cursed, and made its way back to you"

"Look, my dad used to talk about this compartment in here. Soldiers used to hide secret notes." John B opened the compass

"What's that?"

"That wasn't there before. This is my dad's handwriting." John B said

"How can you know that?"

"Because he does these weird Rs with the—See it?"

"Can I see it?" JJ looked at the compass "Red-- Rout---No, I think that's an A."

"It says Redfield." Liz told JJ

"Right"

"Okay, well, what's Redfield?" Kie asked

"The most common name in the county."

"Oh, maybe-- maybe it's a clue. Maybe it's a clue to where he's hiding."

"Okay..."

"A clue? Come on, that's—" Pope stopped himself when he saw Liz give him a hard glare "But if it is a clue, maybe it's an anagram?"

"Yes. Perfect. Anagram. You need paper."

"Okay."

"Here you go." Liz handed Pope a peice of paper, as the Rooster gawked loudly

"How can you concentrate with that thing crowing at you?" Kie asked

"Me and JJ love the rooster." Liz told her

"I love the rooster."

"Let me think."

"Seriously, think."

"Dedfiel. Colors-- That's stupid."

"What about Ritalin?"

"Um...Dreidel? Fiddler?

"Let's stick with what we're...."

"Defile. Does that mean anything to you?"

"Guys." John B said

"You're missing a letter."

"Guys! Somebody's here" John B said louder—They looked out the window to see the two guys from Mrs Lanas house.

"Guys, guys, is that them?" Kie asked

"No" pope muttered

"Is that them?"

"This is suboptimal."

"John B, I told you. Why does it always—"

"JJ! Hey, look at me. Where's the gun?"

"Gun? I, uh, I can't—"

"Now you don't have the gun, the one time we need the gun?"

"It was in my backpack, and then I-"

"On the porch."

"It's on the porch."

"Go, go."

JJ rushed out to try and get the gun before— "John Routledge!" A man yelled

"Guys!"

"Come on out now! Fuck"

"Where's the compass?"

"Where's the gun?" Liz asked as JJ came in the room

"They're on the front porch, guys."

"Get out here! Routledge! Where you at?"

"We gotta leave! Guys, window. Window."  The boys tried to open the window but it was painted shut

"Hurry."

"Sack this place!"

"What-- what's happening? Why is it taking so long?"

"It's painted shut, okay?"

"I'll check the kitchen."

"Routledge!" The men yelled.

Liz could practically hear them smashing everything they own in the house from the outside as her heart raced "Okay, guys. Guys. Here, I got it." Kie handed Pope something sharp to try and pry the door.

"Where the hell's that compass? Hey, check the back room."

"Come on."

"I'm going as fast as I can."

"Shh..."

"Be quiet." One of them men started to shake the door, and try to get in

"You better not be in there!" He started to Kick the door down and Pope and John B moved away from it

A gun cocked and he shot the door—When they got the door open Liz was the second to leave next to JJ who helped her down. They made their way to the chicken coupe and hid in it and watched as the two men took a bunch of books. they tried to stay quiet but the roosters and chickens wouldn't shut up.

"Do something, Pope. Shut him up." JJ said quietly

"What do you want me to do?" He asked

"Pet it, or talk to it. I don't know." Kie and Liz we're freaking out

"You do something." Pope said before JJ took the chicken by its neck and held it down, making it go quiet, Liz covered her mouth at the fact JJ had just killed one of the chickens and let out a quiet sob. JJ sat back and saw the expression on Liz face— He hesitantly pulled her closer to him and she sank into his grasp.

"Ratter! What the hell are you doin'? Let's go"  one the men yelled and they drove off

whoever they were. They were out for blood. for the compass John B had in his possession