Second Time Around

- Chapter 1 -

~AJ~

I hardly ever had bad dreams. In fact, almost never. So I was kind of surprised that night when I kept waking up in a cold sweat. Whatever the dream was about I didn't know, but it scared the hell out of me and I couldn't get back to sleep.

I gave up finally, and I tried to make out my watch in the dim lighting of my bunk. When my eyes finally adjusted to the dark, I saw that it was a little after one-thirty. I groaned. Good morning.

You'd think listening to the steady hum of the bus on the road would put you to sleep, but it really didn't. I can't even tell you I felt safe on the bus anymore, at least when it's moving. I must've laid there for twenty more minutes before I finally gave up on any more sleep and got up. I don't need much sleep to function anyway.

I made my way past the other bunks and towards the back, deciding on watching TV for the rest of the night. Or rather morning. Whatever time it was. But someone else already had the idea.

"What're you doing up?" I frowned at Nick when I saw him stretched out on the couch, flipping through the channels. He looked up at me surprised.

"What're you doing?" came the retort. Note to self. Never argue with Nick when he's tired. It's not worth the annoyance.

"Can't sleep," I answered, pushing his legs off the couch so that I had some room to sit down. He moved them back after I settled in but I tried to ignore him.

"Me neither," he said with a sigh. "Sucks, huh? Nothing's even on TV." He tossed the controller to the side.

"Yeah . . ." I glanced at him and noticed for the first time how tired he looked. I think we were all tired, but he really looked it. "How long have you been up?"

He just shrugged and so we sat there in silence. I turned my attention on the TV, where infomercials were playing across the screen. The one on right now was advertizing a product for male pattern baldness. Everyone was obviously wearing a toupee. I grabbed the controller and started flipping, for lack of something better to do really.

"Did you have a bad dream?" Nick asked suddenly. I glanced at him, but he was busy drawing in some notebook of his and didn't look up.

"Yeah."

"Was it about what happened?" came the next question.

"I dunno," I said honestly. "I can't remember." I assume he was talking about the hell we'd been through almost six months ago, which surprised me. I thought we were all over that. I mean, I thought about it a lot and it still bothered me, but no one ever really talked about it. All the visible scars had healed you might say.

"Oh." He paused. "Is that what's bothering you?"

"I don't think so, why?"

"You just seemed worried about something," he said absently, looking at the screen when I stopped at some gorey movie.

"I'm just hoping this old bus gets us where we wanna go," I answered with a hoarse laugh, listening to the motor chug along. It sounded sick. "Is it bothering you?"

"No," he answered.

"Then what's bothering you?"

"Nothing, why?" he asked. I just shrugged. "See, the way I figure it, nothing like that is ever gonna happen again, right? I mean, Frank's probably dead, he can't come back, right?"

"Right," I said, knowing that he needed the assurance. What had gotten him thinking about that again anyway? I wondered if I even sounded convincing. Nick just nodded.

"Right," he repeated.

~Brian~

I don't know how I slept through the whole night, but somehow I did. Not that I was complaining or anything, I was just surprised to see that it was almost ten-thirty when I opened my eyes. I'd slept late.

When I pulled out of my bunk though, no one else was up as far as I could see. That was surprising. I rubbed my eyes and made my way to the front of the bus, holding onto the other bunks for balance. Pretty bumpy.

"Hey, Walt, mornin'," I greeted our bus driver cheerfully. He was pretty new with us, but once we had gotten to know him he was a pretty nice guy. He just hadn't been with us forever and we had to get used to new things.

"Hey, Brian. Good morning to you," came the deep answer, his eyes never leaving the road. "We should be coming to the hotel in about ten or fifteen minutes."

"Oh yeah? I'll go wake the guys." He just nodded and reached for his coffee that sat in the cup holder.

"Get up!" I hollered as I made my way back to the bunks. "Rise and shine!"

There was no response.

I rolled my eyes and went to Howie's bunk, pulling back the curtain a little and shaking his arm. "D, get up, we're almost at the hotel."

"Ugh," he groaned, sitting up. "What time is it?"

"Almost eleven," I answered with a smile. "Did you get enough beauty sleep?" He shoved me away and I laughed again, heading to the other guys. Nick and AJ weren't in their bunks so I went to Kev.

"Kev, wake up." I shook his arm roughly. He didn't move. "C'mon, man."

"Go away," came the muttered reply. If anyone was wondering, for future reference, my cousin is not a morning person. It depends what day it is. I guess I shouldn't have fooled around, but I did.

I disappeared to the kitchen part of our bus and filled a cup with cold water, coming back and holding it over Kev's head. "Get up or I'll pour this over you," I warned with a laugh. Howie shook his head at me with a smile.

"Do it and I'll kick your ass," came Kevin's reply. He was a little wider awake now. I grinned.

"Are you getting up?" He didn't answer, but rolled back over. So I tipped the glass. Just a little really, but all the water spilt out. It must have been colder than I thought though, because I've never heard Kev scream like that.

Oops.

"You're dead," he growled, sitting up fast and reaching toward me. I just pushed past Howie and ran to the back of the bus, not willing to take a chance. He caught me just as I reached the door, and had me in a chokehold in a second flat. "You're a brat, Littrell."

"Can't breathe," I answered. I really couldn't. I gasped for air and he loosened his hold but I still couldn't breathe. I told him that but I don't think he really cared.

"Aw, someone take a picture of Nick and AJ," I heard him say. I raised my eyes and laughed at the two of the asleep on the couch. There really wasn't enough room for two people but somehow they had managed.

"They had a party without us?" Howie said jokingly, coming up behind us. He pulled me away from Kevin, who glared at me. I grinned back.

Kevin just shook his head at me and went to wake up AJ and Nick since the bus was pulling to a stop. I rolled my eyes. He really is a poor sport sometimes. That's why it's my job to lighten him up. I take it very seriously. Honest.

-

- Chapter 2 -

~Howie~

"What's the matter?" I slung one of my bags over my shoulder as we moved away from the check-in counter and to the elevators. AJ turned to look at me with a frown.

"What? Nothing, man. Why?"

"I dunno, you seem . . . disturbed."

"Disturbed?" he repeated, brow creasing. "Thanks, 'D."

"That's because he's an insomnomaniac," Nick told me with a straight face. I stared at him as we waited for the silver elevator doors to slide open.

"What?"

"An insomnomaniac," he repeated.

"Insomniac, Nick," Kevin corrected, rolling his eyes. I really think Nick had a different dictionary than everyone else sometimes.

"That's what I meant."

"I'm not an insomniac, you goof," AJ answered, giving Nick a dirty look. The kid just shrugged and turned his attention on the fancy looking lobby.

"You're having trouble sleeping?" I asked AJ.

"No, dammit," came the gruff answer. He pushed past me when the elevator opened and leaned against the rail in the corner. I exchanged a look with Kevin, who shrugged at me.

"Don't press him," he whispered as we stepped in after AJ, pulling Nick and Brian with us. The two of them seemed to be mesmerized by a giant chandelier hanging from the ceiling of the lobby. It was the biggest one I had ever seen, that's for sure.

"So what're we doing today?" Brian asked as we unlocked the door to our room. We had gotten a suite again for the five of us. It was kind of nicer that way, we had a lot more room to spread out.

"A shoot," Kevin answered.

"Aw geez," AJ muttered. "Another one?" In the past three days we had already had had four shoots. I think they had missed us in our short time off or something. Whatever it was, it definitely wasn't becoming our favorite thing to do.

"Yes another one. Don't worry, it's the last one for awhile," Kevin said, dumping his bags on the floor and collapsing on the couch with a sigh. Brian fell down next to him, mimicking the sigh and all. Kevin smacked him and made a face. "You're buggin' me today." I laughed as Brian stuck out his lower lip.

"I'm hungry," Nick interrupted, throwing his bags on top of Kev's. "Let's go eat."

We wound up eating in the diner in the hotel, since none of us wanted to go 'out'. It was a pretty nice place, not as fancy as the hotel luckily, but nice. Everyone was pretty tired though, which didn't lead to much conversation.

I played around with the utensils at my place setting until we got our menus. It was so quiet. Everyone looked distracted or something. Maybe just tired. I know I was.

~Nick~

Someone was following us. I knew it. I don't know who, or why, but somebody was definitely following us. I looked up from my menu and tried to get a look around the dining area inconspicuously. I just had this feeling.

"Nick?"

"Yeah?" I turned my head to look at Brian next to me. "What?"

"Who, or what, are you looking for?"

"Did you feel like somebody was following us?" I asked, trying not to sound uneasy. Brian raised an eyebrow.

"No . . . Are we?"

"I don't know." I shrugged. "I thought so . . ." I shrugged at him slightly and he laughed.

"You're paranoid, bud."

"No, I swear."

"Hi!" a bright voice interrupted. "I'm Mindy and I'll be your server for tonight! Can I start you off with some drinks?"

"My God . . ." I muttered. Talk about chipper. I saw Howie exchange a look with AJ.

"Sure, I'll have an iced tea," Kevin said. How did he keep a straight face? Mindy nodded with a big smile and scribbled on her pad. We all got our drinks ordered and she bounced away to another table. I started laughing.

"Hi! I'm Bubbly!" AJ mimicked in a high voice. "Can I, like, take your order?!"

"Jay," Kevin started as I laughed even harder.

"Like, yeah?" AJ answered.

"Not now, be nice."

"I am nice," AJ answered. He looked at me since I was laughing, and gave me a grin. "Huh, Nick?" I just kept laughing. Kevin looked at me with a small smile.

"You are so overtired."

"No, I'm not . . ." I took a deep breath. Brian took a look at me and cracked up. I started laughing again. We were pretty calm until Mindy the server came back with our drinks.

"Hi again! How're we doing? Ready to order?" She was bursting with energy and had this huge smile on her face. What a dork. I glanced at AJ, who was biting his lip not to laugh.

"Yes we are!" he exclaimed.

"Great! What can I get you?" Once again, Kev was the first to order. I was last and I got this huge sundae I saw on the back of the menu.

"That's not lunch," Kevin told me as the woman bounced away again.

"It's brunch," I answered. He rolled his eyes.

-

- Chapter 3 -

~Kevin~

"Mindy? Could we just have the check?" I asked again as our chipper waitress tried to convince us to get dessert for the hundredth time. All I wanted was the damn check so we could get out of there and make it to our shoot on time. Mindy seemingly didn't care.

"Look at this one . . ." she was telling the guys. We'd finished eating at least fifteen minutes ago.

"I already had that," Nick told her.

"Oh yeah?" She tried to find another one to point out. She had the guys hysterical by that point, but at least they weren't laughing in her face. "How 'bout this one?"

"We'll just have the check," Howie said, glancing at me. I gave him a grateful smile as he convinced the lady we'd come back another time to try all the desserts.

"All of 'em," Nick added. "Really."

"Alright! I'll be right back!"

"I think I wanna try whatever drug she's on," AJ said when she was out of hearing. "Damn."

"We're gonna be so late," I muttered.

"We're late, we're late. We're late for an important date, no time to say hello, goodbye, we're late, we're-"

"Brian, enough." Ever since he woke up that morning it'd been nonstop energy. He gave me one of his looks, but stopped his Alice in Wonderland song.

"What's wrong with you?" he asked.

"Nothing, I'm just tired."

"Tired of me?"

"No," I answered evenly. He gave me a wide grin and I had to smile. I was actually glad things were getting back to normal. As normal as they get for us anyway. It had taken awhile to get back to this point.

"Here comes Mindy," AJ said. "Howie, I dare you to give her your number."

"No way, man. You-"

"Hi again! Here's your check! You can pay at the register! Please come again!" She dropped the paper on the table with a flair and hopped away, flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Thanks," Howie said, grabbing the check and heading to the register with AJ. We charged everything to the room usually, especially in a rush. Which this definitely was.

"Guys, c'mon."

"One sec . . ." Nick was scraping all the last bits of chocolate from his sundae with his spoon and licking it off. That could keep him busy for awhile.

"Nick, you can get another one later, we're late. Rok, come on."

"Yeah, c'mon, Nicky," Brian said, grabbing his arm.

We got to the shoot on time but with not a second to spare, and I saw the photographer looking at his watch. Figures. "Hello, darlings," we were greeted, as they pretty much rushed us inside to the wardrobe room. I was so glad we'd have a break from these things for awhile. It was too much at once.

"Alright guys, we're doing group shots first. Andre will help with the wardrobe . . ."

~Brian~

"Brian, can I talk to you for a second?"

I looked up and frowned at Nick's worried voice. "Sure, what's up, buddy?"

"C'mere." He grabbed me by the arm and pulled me past the racks and racks of clothing, to a part of the room that wasn't being used. He stopped suddenly and took a deep breath. He looked kind of scared.

"What's wrong?"

"I found something."

Found something? I stared at him. "What'd you find?"

"A note."

"Another love note?" I teased. He shook his head and I stopped smiling. "Lemme see." He dropped it in my hand and started rambling.

"It was pinned to the clothes rack and I thought it was from the people here, like telling us what to wear or something, so I opened it but it wasn't, and . . ." He trailed off suddenly. "What do we do?" he whispered.

Hey boys, it read. It's not over until I get my money. Frank.

I swallowed. "Uh . . ."

"I told you somebody was following us," Nick cried. He was freaking out. So was I.

"Um . . ."

"Is it a joke?" A joke. That was it. It was a joke.

"Maybe the guys are getting back at us for our pranks," I said slowly, turning it over in my mind. Could be. Made sense. Were they that cruel? Yeah, maybe. But it took us long enough to get over it the first time around, never mind again.

"Yeah," Nick said, running a hand through his hair nervously. "Then we shouldn't show them, huh? Don't let them know it scared us?"

"Yeah, we won't say anything-"

"Guys?" Kevin's voice made me drop the note and we both spun around, wide-eyed. I bent down to grab the paper and stuffed it in my pocket. "What's that?"

"Nothin'."

"What're you doing hiding back here?" Kevin was looking at us funny. "They're looking for you up front. C'mon."

"Are we almost done here?" Nick asked as Kevin grabbed him playfully and lifted him off the floor.

"Almost. What's the matter?"

"Nothin' . . . Put me down," he said with a laugh. Kevin dropped him and gave us both a push toward the front.

"Go finish up so we can get outta here."

"Yessir," I told him, ducking as he tried to hit me. I really don't think he would play that sort of joke on me and Nick. Would any of the guys? I really wouldn't think so. "C'mon, Frack."

I guess we'd have to find out.

-

- Chapter 4 -

~AJ~

Something was up. I didn't know what it was exactly, but I felt it. I don't know if it had to do with the gloomy weather outside, if it was just nerves, or if something really was going to happen. I just had this nervous feeling in the pit of my stomach that wouldn't go away. It stayed with me throughout the photo shoot and even later that night.

"AJ? You okay?"

I turned at Kevin's voice and frowned. "Yeah, why?"

"I dunno, you were just staring out that window awhile and I thought maybe you froze or something." He had an amused look on his face as he said it so I gave a small smile.

"Nah, I was just thinking about some stuff."

"Wanna talk about anything?" he offered, dropping down on the other side of the couch. I shook my head.

"No thanks. It's nothing." Fact was, I didn't know what was bothering me anyway. It would be kind of hard to talk about it. I grabbed the controller off the table and flipped on the TV. "What's up with you?"

"Not much. Tired."

"Yeah, me too . . ." I started flipping channels. Nothing was ever on TV. I sighed. Boring. Maybe I'd go out. Find a club, forget about whatever was bothering me. Just relax. I looked at Kev. "You wanna go out?"

"I don't know." He shrugged. "Maybe." He looked too tired. When the phone rang I jumped up to get it, tossing the remote control on Kevin's lap. I grabbed the cordless across the room.

"Hello?" There was a pause, so I repeated it again. "Anybody there?"

"Hey there. . ."

I frowned, not recognizing the voice. "Who's this?"

"You don't remember me? I remember you . . ."

"Who the hell are you?" There was silence. Damn sicko fans who don't know the meaning of peace or privacy. "You still there?"

"I'm disappointed, AJ," the voice continued. "But you'll remember me once we settle your debt." He laughed softly.

"Go to hell," I said, hanging up. Brian was passing by and he smirked at me.

"Your boyfriend?"

I grabbed him in a headlock and punched his side. "Freak."

He just laughed and pulled away. "Who was it?"

"Wrong number." I stayed by the phone a second in case whoever it was called back, but it stayed mute. I sighed and headed back to the couch where Kevin had foundSouth Park. I sat down heavily and pressed my lips together. Kev looked up.

"Wrong number?"

I nodded.

"What's the matter?"

"I don't know . . ."

~Howie~

I thought that the guys were acting weird this morning, but by later that night, it was multiplied. It wasn't so much as acting weird, you could just tell something was up. We all have our little tell tale signs when something was bothering us I guess. But I couldn't figure out what it was that was bothering everybody, only that it was there.

We were all pretty tired, so no one was going out anywhere. Our hotel suite was definitely not where the action was at, that's for sure. We were just lounging around. I hung pretty much to myself because I didn't want anyone to blow up at me. Everyone seemed on the verge of losing patience. I was afraid to even ask AJ what was up one more time.

And something was going on with Nick and Brian. There was always something going on between the two of them though, some silly thing or another, so it didn't really bother me too much at that point. They were probably planning something, although the looks on their faces had seemed more worried than playful. Who knew. Maybe I should have asked.

"Come on, guys, let's do something," Brian was saying when I came into the main room. I grabbed a seat and pulled my feet up, looking at him between AJ and Kevin on the couch. Where did he get the energy from? I felt drained.

"We don't wanna do anything," came Kevin's even answer. AJ looked up when I sat down and gave me a tired smile.

"It's still early. We can go out or something," Brian continued, looking at me. "Howie, you wanna?" He gave me his 'sad puppy' face, jutting out his lower lip. I just shook my head.

"Sorry, Rok . . ."

"Don't feel bad, D," Kevin told me. "Just ignore the goof." He draped an arm around Brian as he said it. "Brian, we're tired. Get over it."

"We can go swimming," Brian tried.

"Go with Nick," AJ said, shooting an annoyed expression in Brian's direction. "Stop buggin' us."

"Nick's sleeping and I'm not bugging you."

"Coulda fooled me," AJ muttered.

"You're just-"

"Guys," I started, cutting off whatever comeback Brian had in store. "Come on."

"Yeah, AJ. Come on," Brian said. I looked at the ceiling.

"You really know how to test someone's patience, little man," Kevin interrupted. "Give it a rest."

"Well, sorry, I didn't know you guys were in such bad moods," Brian answered, starting to get up. Kevin wouldn't let him. "Don't, Kev."

"Just relax, Brian. C'mon. I'm not in a bad mood."

Brian sank back into his seat with a sigh. "Coulda fooled me," he said with a small smile. Kevin messed up his hair, rolling his eyes.

"We need another vacation."

"I'd vote for that," I said. "Huh, AJ?"

"Yeah . . ."

"Smile, AJ," Kevin said, casting him a look. AJ made a face at him. "That's not a smile."

"That's all you're gonna get," AJ said with a laugh, shaking his head.

"What's wrong?" I thought I'd try my luck. But AJ raised an eyebrow at me.

"Don't even start, D."

-

- Chapter 5 -

~Nick~

I went to bed early because I was so exhausted, but I couldn't sleep. And even when I did, I just woke up from bad dreams. It was the note's fault. Stupid damn note. I was going to kill whoever wrote it. Maybe it was AJ. He sort of knew what had been bothering me. But he didn't usually do stuff like that. Neither did D or Kev. That left Brian and he was just as spooked as I was. Unless . . .

Brian wouldn't do that to me. I must be delirious. I hadn't been sleeping too well for awhile and I guess that got me to thinking about some crazy stuff. The note only multiplied it even worse. Now I could hardly sleep in the hotel, nevermind just on the bus.

I sat up in bed and stared at the shadows on the wall. I could hear the TV on inside and the guys talking. Maybe we should just tell them all about what we found. I'd rather them laugh at me about falling for it instead of having sleepless nights stressing about it.

A shadow moved over the window and I held my breath for a second. I forced myself to relax. It had taken a long time to get over things and I wasn't about to let one small thing erase all that. No way.

I got up after awhile. I didn't feel like being alone. If nothing was bothering the guys, then why should I worry over things? It wasn't my responsibility.

Unless the note was real and me and Brian were just letting Frank get closer and leaving the other guys caught off guard. That would be bad. Very bad. I guess we'd find out some time or another.

I headed to the kitchen and grabbed a glass of soda before I headed out to the main room where the guys were. Watching something dumb on TV. How dull.

"Hey, Nicky," Howie greeted when he saw me.

"Hey," I answered softly, looking for some place to sit. Kevin slid over and patted the seat next to him, so I squeezed in there on the end of the couch. "Mornin'," I said.

"Couldn't sleep?" Brian asked, giving me a look.

"Nope." I shrugged. He'd given me this big thing about not worrying about the note and that it was fake and nothing was going to happen. Of course, I could tell he was freaking out too. He thought he could get these things past me. I wasn't that gullible.

"Well welcome to the party," AJ said sarcastically. I smiled slightly. Silence took over and I fidgeted in my seat as nobody said anything.

"Brian, can I talk to you?"

"Sure, Nick." He looked at me but didn't move.

"I mean now." I sat forward a little. "Alone?"

"Oh. Okay, sure." He looked surprised, but he got up and followed me to our room. I leaned against a dresser and took a deep breath.

"What if it's not a joke, Brian? What if it's for real? They don't seem to think anything's up. Don't you think we should tell them?"

"I don't know, Nick. I've been thinking the same thing . . ." He rubbed his forehead. "Maybe we should drop hints or something?"

"Maybe . . . I just don't know, Brian. I'm freaking out."

"Me too."

I swallowed as he admitted it. Great.

"Let's just sleep on it tonight and see what we come up with."

"You try sleeping on it," I answered. He smiled slightly.

"I know, Frack. But what else can we do? It's too late tonight. C'mon." He pulled me to the door and gave me a playful smack. "Stop worrying. Act normal. As normal as you can," he added with a laugh.

"Funny," I muttered, shaking my head. Alright. Act normal? I could try that.

~Kevin~

"Do you know anything about a note?"

I glanced across the table at Nick stirring his cereal with a worried expression. "A note?" I repeated. He looked up.

"Yeah, a note. You know, Kev. A piece of paper with writing on it?"

"Smartass." I rolled my eyes. "Nope, can't say I do. You get a note or something?"

"Or something . . ." he answered slowly, dropping his spoon on the table. He looked even more worried. "I'm not hungry."

I frowned. The past day or so everybody was acting a little different. I was beginning to think that we may have jumped back into the routine of things a little too quickly. Or maybe we were just working too hard. We were moving at a faster pace lately to make up for lost time.

"You okay, Nicky boy?" He had gone back to stirring his cereal absently. I got a shrug in response. Alright then. Trying to get stuff out of these guys was like pulling teeth sometimes.

"What time's the interview?" came AJ's voice as he came into the kitchen and grabbed the juice from the fridge.

"Eleven-thirty."

"Do you think I can meet you all there?" he asked, looking at me hopefully.

"Where're you going?"

"I just wanted to check out something. It won't take long. I'll catch up with you guys later, okay?"

"What're you checking out?" Nick asked.

"None of your business," AJ answered, giving Nick a smile. The kid just went back to his cereal and AJ chuckled. "Later, Kev."

"Seeya. Don't be late."

"I won't . . ."

"What do you think he's 'checking out'?" I asked Nick after AJ left. Nick looked up at me and gave a knowing smile.

"Psychiatric help in the area," he said evenly.

I laughed.

"I'm serious," he told me, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I know."

"Hey, guys." Brian came into the kitchen pulling a long sleeved t-shirt over his head. "What's up?"

"Hey, Brian," Nick greeted. "Want some cereal?"

"No thanks. Hey, Kev . . . Do you know anything about a note?"

I stared at him and then looked at Nick, who was giving Brian an annoyed look. "Guys, what's going on?" I asked, crossing my arms over my chest.

"Well, I'll see you guys later," Nick said, jumping up and disappearing through the door. Brian stared after him.

"Brian, you're not going anywhere," I stated. "What's up?"

"He asked you already, huh?"

I nodded. "What note?"

"I don't know." He gave me an innocent grin and went to grab a bowl from the cabinet. I leaned back in my chair as he poured himself cereal.

"I don't buy it, hon," I replied. "C'mon."

"It's nothing, Kev."

"Then you can tell me, right?"

"Well . . ." He was obviously trying to think of something to cover the whole thing up so I just sighed. He caught my eye. "Really, Kevin. It's just a joke," he said earnestly. If it was 'just a joke' then why were the two of them so worried over it? And why were they asking me about it?

"Is this something I'm gonna be mad at you later for?"

"I don't know." He gave me a small smile. "I hope not."

"Yeah, me too."

-

- Chapter 6 -

~AJ~

I was hoping I was wrong.

I had decided to keep my little mission a secret, only because I didn't want to raise anyone's suspicions for a false alarm. And that's all I hoped it was. That I was wrong and freaking out for no reason whatsoever.

The whole problem was with the phonecall. While I was in bed last night it had finally hit me who the caller could have been. Exactly why the name Frank had rung a bell for me. I hoped I was just overreacting though. Nicky had gotten me thinking about everything on the bus two nights ago, so I figured it was only natural for me to worry a little.

So I was just going to ease my worries a bit and reassure myself that everything was going just fine.

I only had to make a phonecall, but I hadn't wanted to make it in the hotel room because I knew the guys would listen in and get all riled up. That's just the way they were. So I thought I would save myself and them, and take the opportunity to get out a little by myself for once too. That didn't happen often.

After the whole ordeal with Jill and the now in question Frank, the guys and me had pretty much made a friend in this one cop, Gary. He'd given us his number at his station and told us not to hesitate in calling if we ever had a concern or question about something. Right now I had both. I never thought I would really need the number, but I'd kept it just in case. I figured I would see what Gary could do for me now.

I stopped off at a diner a couple streets down from our hotel and found their payphone in the back. I searched through my pockets and dialed the number on the crumpled piece of paper I found, waiting.

"Officer Mason," he answered on the second ring. "How can I help you."

"Gary? It's AJ. Remember?"

"Yeah! Of course, kid, what's up? How's it going?"

"Pretty good I think . . ." I cleared my throat. "Can I ask you something?"

"Shoot. This about the case?"

"Yeah. You remember the guy with Jill? Frank or whatever?"

"Mm-hm."

"You never told us what happened to him, did you?"

There was a long pause. I leaned against the wall and stared at the ceiling. Why did I get the feeling I didn't really want to know?

"Gary? You there?"

"Yeah, kid. Honestly? I hate to say it to you, but I don't know."

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I mean . . . I really don't know what happened to him. He's out of our hands, AJ. Out of our custody. We never even got a ID on this guy, kid. Didn't have him long enough to even run a check."

"Are you messing with me, Gary? 'Cause it ain't funny."

"Sorry, kid."

"You mean he could be right in the same town as me and the fellas and you don't know shit?" I couldn't help but be a little annoyed at the dude. It was his job, wasn't it? To handle these things?

"Basically, kid," Gary answered, not sounding the least bit swayed. "Why, you think something's up? Want me to send you some of my guys down there to scope things out?"

"I don't know . . ." I rubbed my face with my hand. "I thought this was over, Gary. You told us it was."

"As far as I'm concerned, it is. Nothing new has happened for the past six months, AJ. You really think something's gonna happen now?" He sounded condescending in the way he said it, and I felt stupid disagreeing with him.

"No, I guess not."

"Alright, kid. I got some work to do, but give me a call if you have any trouble and I'll send someone, okay?"

"Yeah." I hung up without thanking him. What sort of thanks did he deserve? He wasn't going to get any from me, that's for sure.

~Brian~

AJ was late.

Very late. The interview should have started almost fifteen minutes ago, so I think everybody was getting a little impatient. I was getting a little worried. What if the note had something to do with him being late? Then what?

The lady who was supposed to be conducting the interview kept sticking her head in the room, giving each of us an annoyed look, and then leaving again either sipping her cup of coffee or taking a bite out of her jelly donut. She didn't even offer us any.

I shot a glance at Kevin, who I could tell was getting more and more ticked off with every second passing by. He had the tendency to overreact in times such as these. I was glad I wasn't in AJ's shoes.

The lady poked her head in the door again, looking us over.

"Do you have any more donuts?" I asked with a bright smile. She looked at me with an even more annoyed expression, shaking her head and leaving again with a huff. Hm. Kevin stared at me. "What?"

"Oh Brian," he said tiredly. I frowned and went back to skimming through one of the magazines left out on the table next to the long couch. Nick slid closer to me as Kevin started drumming his fingers on the armrest of his chair.

"Bri, what if it's . . ." He trailed off and I knew he was thinking about the note too. I glanced at him, shaking my head.

"I don't think so." Actually I did think so, but he seemed to relax when he thought I wasn't worried. I should get an Emmy for my performance. Inside I was freaking out.

"He'll be here any second, Kev, relax," I heard Howie say. I looked up.

"Yeah, you might get hypertension or something," I added, giving him a smile. For some reason he didn't return it. He just gave one of his 'I'm not in the mood' looks that he seemed to always save for me. I stuck out my lip and went back to my magazine.

"Hey fellas, sorry I'm late . . ." AJ breezed in through the door about a second later. We all stared at him, but he was already heading toward the other free chair, distracted. He was in one of his moods obviously, where you couldn't reach him if you hit him over the head.

I saw Howie give him a questioning look, but AJ just shook his head. Kevin was about to open his mouth when the lady reappeared, fresh donut and coffee in hand. Man.

"Are we all here now?" she asked snippily, placing her stuff on the table. Howie gave me a look and I tossed my magazine to the side, giving her my attention.

"We're sorry about that," Kevin started. Miss Snotty Interviewer removed her pen from her clipboard with a grimace.

"Sure, fine, whatever. Let's just get this moving, shall we?"

In other words, let the fun begin! Not really. That was one of the worst interviews we'd been put through. And let me tell you, there's been some pretty lousy ones along the way too. That lady just didn't like us. I wouldn't be surprised if the printed article made us out to be a bunch of obnoxious cannibals. Serious.

"Alright," AJ started as we walked down the hall to the exit afterward. "Before ya'll get all mad at me-"

"Too late, bro," Kevin interrupted. AJ made a face at him. "Where'd you go?"

"Well, you see . . ." He sounded tentative and I shot him a curious look, wondering what was up.

"Is something wrong?"

"I don't know," he answered honestly. "I'd rather say it in some place a little less public." He gave the interview offices we passed a frown.

"Well can it wait until lunch?" Nick asked. " 'Cause I'm starving."

"Yeah, yeah. It can wait," AJ said. He almost looked relieved and I frowned. This wasn't good.

"You sure?" Kevin checked. He knew something was up.

"Yeah, I'm sure."

-

- Chapter 7 -

~Nick~

I was developing a plan.

It was simple. Brian and I could leave the note lying around somewhere and see what the other guys' reactions were when they came across it. I could tell Brian was getting worried too, so this would take care of the whole thing once and for all. If they all freaked out, it was real and we could go from there. If they didn't, then we would know it was a joke. That way we could quit making such a big deal out of it.

As I slid into the booth at McDonald's, I tried to figure out what was wrong with AJ. He was weird to begin with, but this was taking it a little far. I started to unwrap my burger and looked up at him as he sat down across from me.

"You gonna tell us here?"

He shook his head and ate a fry absently.

"Why?"

"Because, Nicky. You'll find out soon enough. It's not really a big deal."

"Oh." Fine. If it wasn't such a big deal then why was he making it out to be one?

Brian came back from the counter with his food and sat down next to me, grabbing a handful of my fries.

"Get your own!" I objected. Brian just grinned. I leaned toward him a little and lowered my voice. "I got a plan . . ." He looked at me and raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah?"

"Uh huh, all we gotta do is-"

"Secrets secrets aren't nice," AJ sing-songed from across the table. He frowned at us as Kevin and Howie took the last two seats.

"If it bothers you that much then go away," I answered. Brian hit my arm.

"Just tell me later," he whispered, grabbing some more of my fries. I knocked his hand away and he just laughed. "Sharing is caring, Nicky."

"Exactly," I said, pulling the fries out of his reach and giving a sweet smile. He rolled his eyes and moved on to Kevin's fries instead. Kev didn't seem to mind.

We concentrated on our food rather than on conversation, but after awhile I got this funny feeling. Like back in the hotel restaurant when it felt like somebody was following us. I glanced around, but nobody was even looking at us or anything. Weird. Kevin caught my eye for a second.

"What's the matter?"

"Nothin' . . ." I focussed my attention on my food and tried to convince myself that I was overreacting. I couldn't help but be a little wary when I started thinking about things like that. Kev probably thought I was nuts.

"You sure?"

I nodded. He was always asking if we were sure. That's because he saw right through us.

~Howie~

Whatever was up with AJ was a mystery to me. I was a little daunted by it since I could usually read him pretty well, but today was different. Throughout lunch he was distracted and almost acting nervous, which was pretty odd. If AJ was ever nervous, he usually hid it behind a calm front. Not today.

So came group meeting time.

"First off, I'm probably overreacting here and I don't wanna scare you guys . . ." AJ drummed his fingers on the arm of the couch nervously. "But I thought you should know . . ."

Scare us? I frowned.

" 'Fess up," Nick said with that innocent joking smile of his. "Did you kill somebody?" AJ just shook his head.

"I made a phone call . . . to Gary. Remember Gary?" We nodded and AJ played with a fold in his baggy jeans anxiously. I glanced at the other guys. "Well I called him . . . he told me something . . ." He looked up at us finally. "I'm probably making a big deal outta nothing."

"Alright, so spit it out," Kevin said with a small smile.

"Well he told me that he doesn't know where Frank is, you know? They never knew where he went or anything . . . So . . ." He laughed nervously. "No big deal right?"

I swallowed. Frank Frank? The Frank? The Frank with Jill Frank? I glanced at the other guys again to see their reactions and hopefully realize I shouldn't freak out, but Kevin had a grim expression, all the color had drained from Nick's face, and Brian was already chewing his nails.

"Kev?" AJ tried. He was desperate. "No big deal?"

"What made you call him in the first place?" I asked suspiciously, sensing there was something more. My stomach felt uneasy suddenly.

"I got this phonecall yesterday," AJ admitted after a pause. He was digging his nails into the armrest now. "It was this guy . . ."

"Why didn't you tell us?" Kevin rubbed his forehead tiredly, looking at AJ for an answer.

"Because I didn't want to scare the shit outta you like I am now!" AJ exclaimed, giving Kevin an annoyed frown. He caught my eye and I could tell he was uneasy.

"Alright, alright." Kevin took a deep breath. "We don't know anything for sure yet, you just had a feeling, right Aje?"

"Yeah, coulda been a prank call," AJ said. He gave Kevin an 'I don't think so but maybe' look.

"Psycho fan?" I suggested. We'd had a few of those in the past. Kevin made a face.

"Possibly. Maybe it's a coincidence. No one's seen anything else, huh guys?" he asked. I shook my head and we glanced at Nick and Brian, who stared back silently. Kevin frowned. "Guys?"

"Well . . ." Brian cleared his throat. "There is something, kind of. Sorta." He hit Nick's leg softly. "Go get it."

I watched Nick disappear to the room he shared with Brian and frowned. Get what.

"Kev?" Brian started apprehensively. "You remember this morning? The note? When I told you something was a joke?"

"Yes . . ."

Brian gaze dropped to the ground. "It doesn't look like a joke anymore . . ."

I'd never seen Kevin really want to strangle his cousin before.

"Here." Nick came back and dropped a small piece of paper on the table, falling back in next to Brian. Kevin immediately snatched it up, scanning it. Something in his face changed.

"You know boys, there is a little something called communication." He offered the note to me and I read it quickly. Money?

"What money?" I asked, handing it over to AJ, who read it and started cursing.

"Gary's an idiot," he muttered. He looked at me. "The ransom he never got probably."

"Is it real?" Nick asked, speaking for the first time. We looked at him but no one answered. He frowned at us and got up from the couch, heading to the door. I watched him triple lock it silently.

"Alright guys, let's just relax a second . . ." Kevin gave Nick's leg a pat as he sat back down. "We'll call Gary and see what he thinks. Maybe there's nothing behind the threats."

We could tell he didn't believe what he said for a second but we didn't say anything.

-

Second Time Around

- Chapter 8 -

~Kevin~

Could we say screwed? The whole thing had my mind in shock. I couldn't believe it; it was so unexpected.

I was a little annoyed at being kept in the dark for the last few days. What if something had happened and none of us expected it? If we'd been caught off guard? I didn't even want to think about it. I knew the guys had their reasons though, whatever they may be.

I was trying hard to keep a calm expression. I didn't want to freak out. Mostly because the guys were looking for me to be the strong one; even I expected that of myself. We'd find our way out of this.

"Gary's not in the office right now, would you like to leave a message?" AJ was obviously mocking the secretary he'd gotten in touch with when he tried the number again. He tossed the phone aside roughly. "Yes I'd like to leave a friggin' message, you can tell Gary he's a lousy son of a-"

"Jay," Howie interrupted.

"I know. I'm calm." He fell back down into the couch. Nick was staring at him. The kid looked in shock. Whether it was because of AJ losing his cool or just him processing the news, I don't know. I rubbed my hands together slowly and swallowed.

"Well." Brian leaned forward and rested his chin on his hand. I glanced at him.

"Well," I repeated.

"I think I'm gonna go play basketball . . ."

"What?" Nick looked up.

"No, you're not," I started. Damn his energy.

"I need to get out, I can't just sit here. I don't feel like thinking about this."

"You're obviously not thinking," I answered. Going out alone was the first thing on my 'not to do' list. Brian gave me a look. Argument time.

"You can't go out, Brian," Nick got out before Brian said anything. Good boy, Nick, talk him out of it.

"I'll be fine. You wanna come, Nick? We'll take security."

Nick stared at him.

"Brian, don't you think it would be better to stay in until we figure things out?" Howie cut in with a frown.

"But nothing's even one hundred percent yet-"

"What do you need to make it any more certain?" I answered. Getting hurt? Killed? I shook my head. "No, Brian."

"I can go out if I want to," came his retort. "You guys can sit here and worry if you want to, that's not gonna help anything."

"Cuz, c'mon." Deep breath, don't get mad. He's your cousin. So what if he's crazy.

"I'm going," he stated firmly.

"Brian . . ." Nick started.

"Yeah, Frack?"

There was a slight pause. "I'll go too," Nick said finally, shooting me a glance. I frowned at him and he looked away. Great.

"This is the last thing in the world you should be thinking of doing," I said.

"Kev, nothing's gonna happen. I just don't wanna sit here and worry." I knew Brian was just as scared as everyone else, he just figured getting out and playing ball would make him relax.

"You're crazy, kid."

"It runs in the family," he answered, pulling up from the couch. "Nick, you coming?"

"Yeah . . ."

Brian was grabbing his ball from the corner of the room. "If we're not back in an hour and a half, then you can start to worry, okay?"

"No, then we hunt you down and kill you," AJ answered.

"That too." He turned and gave me a small smile. "Kev, if you don't stop frowning, your face is gonna freeze that way."

"I think it's already frozen," Nick said, raising an eyebrow at me.

They ducked away from the pillow I chucked at them and started to the door. "Q and Ronnie are across the hall," I told them, reminding them to take the guards. Security knew what was up and had told us not to go anywhere without them anyway. "Be careful."

"We're always careful," Brian said as they left.

That's what I was afraid of.

~AJ~

The more I thought about the whole thing, the less scared I got and the more angry I became. I didn't like not being in control. At all.

"Brian has the right idea you know," I said suddenly.

"What?" Kevin looked at me.

"Going out. He's right. We can't just sit here and let this whole thing control us. Or let them know we're scared. That'll just give them more confidence. We just have to keep on going as if things were normal." Wow, that sounded good. I was impressed.

"I can't believe we have to even think about this . . ." Howie shook his head.

Kevin seemed to be thinking about what I'd said. "Yeah, but we can't go around looking like we're unaware at the same time. We'll just be walking targets."

I shrugged. I didn't know. "I just don't want the same thing to happen again," I said softly, sinking back into the couch cushions. I grabbed the phone again before either Kev or Howie said anything.

"Who're you calling?" Howie asked.

"Information. I'm tracking down Gary."

"Good luck," Kevin muttered. I made a face at him.

I gave the operator the city, state, and the full name. I drummed my fingers on the end of the couch while I waited. Please find him . . . The operator finally came back on the line. One listing, she said, and asked if I'd like to be connected. I said yes.

"Found him," I told Kevin as the number went through, raising my chin. He smiled slightly.

But nobody was picking up. The damn phone rang about a hundred times. Well, maybe ten. I was starting to hate Gary. He said he'd be there. He promised.

I hung up.

"No answer?" Obviously, Howie. I nodded, scowling.

"He told me to call whenever."

"It's still early, buddy," Kevin said, trying to reassure me. It wasn't working. "Maybe he's out to lunch or something."

"Maybe he was eliminated," I answered, crossing my arms over my chest. Kevin glared at me and I swallowed.

"Don't."

"I'm just a little worried that's all. Sometime's people disappear unexpectedly."

"AJ, don't," Kevin repeated. "Just shut your mouth."

"It's true, they-" I cut off at the look on Kevin's face. Okay, I shut my mouth. He could stop glaring now. I was just nervous. I babble sometimes when I'm nervous. He knows that.

"Guys, c'mon," Howie started.

Alright. We're calm. No hard feelings.

"We can try and get in touch with Gary later," Kevin said. "And if we still don't get an answer, that doesn't mean anything either. We can try and get someone else at the station. Right?" He looked at me.

"Right."

"Okay." Kevin sighed and rubbed his forehead, flipping on the TV. He looked tired. "I can't believe we let Brian and Nick out."

"Think of it as a test," I said. "If nothing happens, then maybe everything is okay."

"I don't want them to be a test!"

Okay, I was just looking on the up side of things, but okay.

"They'll be fine," Howie said. "They're with Ron and Q. How much more safe can they be?"

"Yeah," I agreed. "They're safe. Treasure the peace and quiet."

Kevin gave me a look and smiled slightly. "What peace and quiet?"

-

- Chapter 9 -

~Brian~

I didn't think I was crazy for wanting to get out. I just didn't want to sit in the hotel and worry my day away. I'd rather be out doing something and not even think about it. Besides, a lot of times it's when you don't think about something that you come up with the solution for it. At least that's what I hoped would happen.

Plus I still had a lot of energy for some reason, and I felt like doing something active.

I was beating Nick badly. The kid was too distracted to in the beginning to even concentrate on the game. We even got Ron and Q to team up with us to make it more interesting. Nick was getting more in the game now, or at least starting to care that his team was losing. Ronnie wasn't.

"Ronnie! What are you doing?" Nick gave Ron a frustrated look.

"Would you rather get your butt kicked while I play basketball, boy?" Ronnie rolled his eyes with a small smile. These guys had a lot of patience to put up with us, let me tell you.

"You can at least block Brian's shots! You're twice his height!"

Now hey . . . I wasn't too offended, seeing Ronnie was about six and a half feet tall.

"Now Nicky, you can't blame it all on Ron . . ."

"What?" Nick gave me a challenging smile. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You know what it means." I laughed.

"Yeah?" He gave me a playful shove.

"Bring it on, little man," I said, shoving him back. I dropped the basketball and made like I was going to grab him. Nick shied away and next thing I knew Q was grabbing my arm. "I'm just kiddin', Q-"

"No, that's not it. C'mon, grab your ball."

"What?"

"What's up?" Nick frowned as Ronnie started pushing him toward the van we came in. He pulled away. "What is it?"

"You see that car over there? With the guy getting out?"

Nick and I looked in the direction of the car as our guards grabbed us again. Okay. A little suspicious? Uh oh. I swallowed and grabbed my ball quickly, letting them pull me and Nick to the van. Maybe coming out wasn't such a good idea afterall.

"Are you just being extra cautious?" I heard Nick ask as I slid in next to him and Ronnie shut the door. Q started the engine as Ronnie got in the passenger seat.

"Yeah, Nicky," he answered absently.

"Oh. Well that's good," Nick said, shooting me a worried look. I shrugged and played with the basketball on my lap nervously. Nothing better happen or I'd blame myself forever.

We were quiet as the van pulled out of the lot, and Nick and I instinctively peered out the back window to check on the car. It pulled out too.

"Ronnie . . ." Nick started. I sank lower in my seat, fingering the cross around my neck and saying a silent prayer.

"You guys just relax," Ron said smoothly. "We're just gonna drive around a bit, okay?"

"Can we go back to the hotel?" I tried. I really wanted to be back with the guys.

"No," Q answered. "Just in case, we don't want to lead them to the hotel. It's just a precaution."

"Precautions are good . . ." I fingered the ball. "Good game, Nickolas."

"Yeah, I guess." He paused. "Are you scared?" he asked in a low whisper. I looked out the window and then back at him, nodding. "Me too."

"Nothing's gonna happen though," I said, giving him smile. "We'll be fine." I made a face. "Unless . . ."

"Unless what?" Nick's eyes widened.

"Unless we're not back to the hotel within the time we said." I laughed. "That's the worst thing that could happen to us." Yeah, Brian. False support. Way to go.

Nick cracked a smile. "Yeah."

I glanced at my watch. "We have time."

~Howie~

"They still have time - "

"Howie, they have thirty seconds," AJ cut in. "I really don't think -" I gave him a dirty look. "Oh. Yeah, they have time. Lots of it too, judging by my watch."

I sighed. AJ was hopeless sometimes.

"I'm going to kill them," Kevin muttered. Sometimes, when he got worried, he got mad too. Like now. I'd been trying to calm him down for awhile now, but I was thinking about giving it up soon. It wasn't working.

"They probably just got caught up in traffic or something," I said. One more try. For the heck of it. "Or stopped for a drink."

"Or Ronnie and Q got so sick of their whining that they finally just whacked them."

Kevin stared at AJ for a second before reaching over and hitting him with the magazine he'd been distractedly flipping through. AJ laughed and hit him back. Kevin just sighed.

"Jay . . ."

"Serious though, man," AJ said. "Nothing happened."

I was starting to get kind of worried myself. They hadn't gone far to the court, there wouldn't have been any traffic, and an hour and a half is a long time. Even if Nick and Brian weren't keeping track of time, the guards would be. And it was starting to get dark out.

"I know, I know." Kevin ran a hand through his hair. "Why am I worrying so much?"

"Because you're a pessimistic old man - Ow!" AJ tried to block Kevin's smack. I smiled.

"Watch it, bro," Kevin laughed.

"Well you're gonna be if you don't stop." AJ jumped off the couch before Kevin could touch him again, laughing. "I'm getting a drink, you guys want any?"

"Sure," I said. Kevin nodded.

"Okay." AJ disappeared into the kitchen.

"How can he not be worried?" Kevin started, shaking his head. "He's unfazed by the whole thing."

I shook my head. "He's worried too. He's just putting on the act to try and make us worry less."

Kevin nodded slowly. "And what are you thinking, D?"

"I'm thinking . . . that they're fine and there's nothing to worry about." There. I'm a good actor.

Kevin smiled slightly, shaking his head again. "You guys are too much."

I shrugged and glanced at my watch. Ten minutes late. Not a big deal. It could be anything. Nick and Brian always had us worrying over something, and most of the time it turned out not to be a big deal. Most of the time. But this was definitely a different kind of situation.

-

- Chapter 10 -

~Nick~

Any worry that I'd had in the last forty minutes was quickly turning into annoyance. I mean, I was worried about who it was that could have been in that car, but I was even more annoyed that me and Brian were still sitting here in this damn van.

I was through biting down my nails, and gave the view outside the window my attention. Or lack thereof. I wasn't really concentrating on anything. I just wanted to get out of that van. I was hot, I was bored, and I really had to pee.

"Ronnie, are we gonna stop soon?" I couldn't help the whining tone in my voice.

"Soon, Carter."

"Cause like, if we don't I'm gonna throw myself out this door." I tried the handle experimentally, but it was locked. We were stopped at a light too. It would have been perfect.

"It's on child safety," Brian said with a laugh. "Just for you, bud."

"I'm serious you know, I really gotta go."

Brian laughed even harder. I kicked him.

"We're late anyway." I grabbed Brian's wrist and checked his watch. Yup. Late. I pushed his arm away and let out a breath.

"Relax Nick, it's not our fault," Brian said. "There's nothin' we can do." He rolled the basketball between us, then picked it up and tried to spin it on his finger as the van finally moved forward. Of course the ball dropped, falling to the floor.

"You suck," I told him. He grabbed my stomach.

"Argh," I objected, pulling away. Don't be tickled when you have to pee. "Stop . . ."

"You think we could stop for dinner?" Brian asked Q and Ronnie, giving my stomach a pat before letting me go. "I'm hungry."

"I think you should wait 'till you get to the hotel. We were supposed to have you guys back there awhile ago, so let's not waste anymore time," Q told him. "We're gonna head back there now, I think we've lost the car."

"No shit!" I couldn't help but exclaim. Brian shook his head at me, giving me a look. "I coulda told you that an hour ago," I continued. I told you I was getting annoyed. Not at them. They knew that.

"Carter, when we want your input we'll ask for it," Ronnie answered.

"Sorry, Ronnie." I saw him roll his eyes. Fine.

It didn't take us long at all to get back to the hotel. I didn't know what we'd been driving around all that time for. Precautionary measures? Q pulled the van around the back of the hotel into the parking lot.

"We're here," Brian said with a small cheer, grabbing his ball off the floor as I opened my door. "Finally . . ."

That's for sure. Was I glad. I was about to explode.

"Hold up," Q started. I turned at the worry in his deep voice. "Ron, take the guys up?"

"What's the-"

"C'mon," Ronnie said, cutting off Brian's question. I frowned, stopping. "Carter, come on."

"But-"

Ronnie grabbed me and Brian and started toward the entrance. I glanced back and noticed what Q was looking at. The car. It was there.

"Brian, it's the-"

"Nick, c'mon," Ronnie interrupted. Sorry, Ronnie, my legs are suddenly frozen, I can't help it. "Brian, don't stop," Ronnie chided, giving us both a tug. After that, we were the ones rushing him toward the elevator.

Once we were in there with the doors closed and pressing the button for our floor, I felt a little better. It could be a psycho fan, like Howie joked before. It wouldn't be the first time afterall. This time was just a little more scary.

~AJ~

Okay, I admit that I had been starting to get pretty worried before I heard the key in the door. Not quite as worried as 'D and Kev, but they're what you call overreactors to begin with. I try and keep them level, but there's only so much a guy can do. I think they would've snapped if we had to wait a second more.

When I heard them at the door though, I was the first one off the couch. I pulled it open before they did and gave them my perfected 'I'm so disappointed' look. I got it from Kevin.

"And where the hell have you been?" I asked, blocking their entrance. I was caught off guard as Brian and Nick shoved past to get by and Ronnie gently pushed me inside before quickly shutting the door. I gave him a confused look. "Something happen?"

"Yeah," he said, pulling me away from the door. Uh oh.

"What happened?" Kevin was asking. Ronnie spoke up from behind me.

"We had a little problem," he said, going into something about a car and being followed and needing more security. I was too busy looking at Nick and Brian, whose faces looked like they'd both just seen some horror movie for the first time. Nick had this look on his face.

"Man, you okay?" I caught his eye.

"Yeah . . .I think." He paused. "I gotta piss," he said as if he just remembered, taking off toward the bathroom. I rolled my eyes, smiling slightly. Well Nick seemed okay.

"So in other words, we drove around for forty minutes and it was a waste," Brian was saying, crossing his arms over his chest. He seemed okay too. No permanant damage. Life could go on.

"Q's checking out downstairs, but I think we should get another hotel," Ronnie was saying.

"That sounds like a good idea," Kevin answered. Howie and I were looking at all our junk all of us had strewn all over the place.

"I don't wanna clean up," I started. Not that I wanted to stay here either. Like I said before, I'm not one to be a sitting duck. No way.

"I think that's the least of our worries, Jay-boy," Kevin answered, rolling his eyes at me. I frowned.

"I'm just going to make a few calls and check on some stuff," Ronnie continued. "Do not leave this room, understand? Don't open for anybody but myself and Q."

"Got it," Kevin answered.

"What if room service comes or something? Or a maid?" Brian pretended to be worried. "We can't just leave them out there!"

"We didn't order anything so don't worry over it," Kevin returned tiredly, swatting at Brian's head. Brian grinned at him.

"Well that's good."

"Oh no, where's Ronnie?" Nick was back. He actually looked worried too.

"Checking on some stuff," Howie said.

"Is he coming back?"

"Probably," Kevin answered. "We're switching hotels too, bro. So you might wanna start packing."

"Oh, really?"

"Can we switch states while we're at it too?" Brian asked. "It might be a good idea."

"We still have venues here," I answered. I couldn't tell if he was serious or not. "So no."

"Oh well. C'mon, Nick, let's pack."

Howie frowned as the two of them disappeared to their room. "You think they're okay?"

"Were they ever okay?" I answered. Kevin and Howie were silent and I just shook my head. Sometimes, questions just answered themselves.

-

- Chapter 11 -

~Kevin~

Alright, so things weren't going as planned. And since most things don't with us, I guess I really shouldn't have found it surprising at all. But I'd had my hopes up and needless to say I was disappointed. And worried. Very worried.

I told myself things would be alright if we could just keep our act together. You wouldn't think that would be so hard, but with all the time I spent with these guys I knew it wasn't going to be easy. AJ was trying too hard to be cool, calm, and collected; Brian was struggling to be our constant comic relief; Howie was stuck trying to keep the rest of us calm; and Nick was just . . . well, Nick.

And me? If you must know, I was worried out of my mind. And trying not to show it. It was a wonder that Ronnie and Q even put up with us anymore. We were nutcases.

The two had come back not long after we started packing up, much to Nick's relief. The poor kid thought they could have been abducted or something in the time they were gone, as much as we tried to convice him otherwise.

So here we were the next day in the different hotel, hanging in the one room even though we had gotten three because no one wanted to go off by themselves, trying to pass the time and not get on anybody's nerves. Which was fine. I guess it was just going to be about waiting to see what would happen next.

"Look, it's Snoopy! Kev, you love Snoopy!" Sometimes I didn't think that Brian's mind has aged past the age of five.

I looked up. He obviously wanted my attention. I admit I'd been ignoring everybody and staring at the air conditioning unit from the bed for the past twenty minutes, but I was thinking.

"No, I don't . . ."

"Sure you do, who doesn't?" Brian turned the volume on the TV louder as the theme for Peanuts played. "Snooooopy." I sighed.

"Whatcha want, Brian?"

"Nothin'. I'm just bored and you've been staring at the wall for the past half hour so I wanted to make sure you hadn't gone into a coma."

Funny kid. Don't know where he gets it from.

"Nope, I'm still here, don't worry."

"Oh, I wasn't worrying," came his cheeky reply.

I rolled my eyes but before I could comment the phone rang. We all kind of looked at each other a second, and I finally reached for it over Nick, who was half asleep next to me on the bed.

"Hello?" I answered tensely.

"Hey, Kev? It's Ronnie."

Ah, relief. "Hey man, what's up? Everything okay?"

"So far so good," he said. "Haven't seen a thing. But we're getting you over to the venue early to be on the safe side, and I think it would be a wise idea to cancel the meet-and-greet. You can reschedule when things calm down."

"Okay, sure. Sounds like a good idea." I hadn't even been thinking about the concert. I looked at my watch. It was three-thirty now. "What time do you wanna leave?"

"Now? How's that for you guys?"

"Fine I guess." If we had to be early . . . "We should rehearse a little anyway, we've been out of it lately."

"Alright, we'll be over in a minute, wait for a knock."

"Right." I hung up the phone and yawned. Time to get motivated. I gave Nick a nudge. "Time to get moving, little man."

I got a groan in reply and he rolled over.

"Where're we going?" Howie spoke up from the other bed as I started to sit up.

"Venue. Ronnie wants to get there early for precaution. And we gotta rehearse anyway, so . . ."

"So let's go," AJ mumbled tiredly, sitting up from his position on the floor. I don't think anybody had slept well last night after what had happened yesterday. "I'm ready."

"You look it too," Brian laughed. He got a glare in return, but he gave AJ a cheerful smile anyway. AJ muttered something under his breath and took a playful swing at him.

"Watch out, Charlie Brown."

"Good grief," came Brian's expected reply.

~ Howie ~

It seemed like we were taking every precaution we possibly could. Getting here early, cancelling meet-and-greets, staying with the guards . . . But I was still worried. I didn't want to be caught off guard like last time. We didn't need that. We didn't need any of this.

"Howie? D? D? D?"

Nick was waving a hand in front of my face. I snapped back to reality.

"Yeah?"

"I was sayin', do you want a drink?" He paused and studied me critically. "You okay?"

"Yeah, just thinking." I gave a forced smile. "That sounds good, want me to come?"

"Sure!"

I pulled myself of the couch and followed him to the door. We were taking a break from rehearsal, just hanging around in the lounge, doing nothing. We'd tried practicing when we first got there to get our minds off things, but as it turned out our minds were already too off to even bother concentrating. So we figured we'd save our energy for the actual show.

"Are you still worried?" I heard Nick ask. I looked up from the hallway's speckled tiles to look at him.

"Nah . . ."

"Yeah right, Howie. I can tell you are."

"Then why'd ya ask?" I answered with a small smile. He shrugged with a laugh.

"You think anything's gonna happen?" he asked, turning serious.

"What? Tonight?" We stopped walking as we came upon a couple of soda machines. Nick dug through his pockets for a second.

"Yeah . . ." He fed the machine a dollar and pressed the Coke button.

"Nah . . ." I said after a tiny pause. He looked at me. "What, you don't believe me?"

He shrugged, getting another Coke from the machine. "What do you want?"

"Coke's fine."

"I don't think anything's gonna happen," he stated matter-of-factly. I watched him struggle with the machine this time to make it accept his wrinkled dollar bill, not answering. "You got another dollar?" he asked finally.

I got out my wallet and gave him one.

"Thanks. Coke, right?" The machine accepted the money and he pressed the button. "I mean, there's no way anything can happen here. There's so much security."

"Exactly." I took the Coke can he offered. "Nothing's gonna happen, Nicky." I knew that was all he wanted to hear.

"You're right." He gave me a tiny smile.

"Hey!"

I turned and saw AJ coming down the hall. "Hey, Jay."

"Is one of those for me, buddy?" AJ asked, giving Nick a hopeful smile. Nick rolled his eyes but tossed him a can anyway. "Thanks, man."

"Where'd you go?"

"Playing pool," AJ said with a shrug, popping open his can with a hiss as we started back up the hall. "I was getting bored sitting around."

"Tell me about it," Nick muttered. "I'm gonna go crazy."

"A little late for that, bro," came AJ's reply. Nick hit him in the arm and AJ laughed. "I'm just playing with you. Don't hit me." Nick hit him again of course.

"C'mon guys," I started. They just laughed at me. They were both crazy.

-

- Chapter 12 -

~ Brian ~

I was getting bored. I didn't regret getting here early if it really was safer and all, I just didn't like sitting here doing nothing. With no company. I looked across the room at Kevin talking on his phone to somebody. Probably his girlfriend. Which was fine, it just left me with no one to talk to. The others had gone to get sodas and left me here with him. Thanks guys.

I started playing around the pool table, playing a game against myself. It passed the time a little while, and guess what, I won. Anyway I was still bored. I picked up the eight ball and chucked it softly at Kevin. It hit his foot and rolled under his chair. I got a glare as a response.

"Could you pass that back over here? Thanks," I said loudly. Kevin ignored me. Figures. What was he doing on that phone? Telling her a minute by minute replay of every day since he last saw her?

On to arcade games. I was in the middle of playing a pinball game when I heard the guys come back into the room. I didn't turn.

"Oh God, oh God, oh God."

"AJ, are you . . .?" I turned around and got a glance of AJ being supported between Nick and Howie, the front of his white shirt stained red. I clenched the handle on the pinball machine, feeling weak. "AJ?" I said softly.

"He got- He got . . .Oh God . . ." Nick trailed off and stared at me wide-eyed.

"What the hell happened?!" I heard Kevin exclaim. At least he was off the phone. He was immediately at their side. I stayed by my pinball machine for support, watching.

"He's . . ." Howie cut off.

"I'm . . ."

"Oh God."

I would have called 911 right then but Nick burst out laughing. My mouth opened slightly and I saw Kevin's expression change.

"You're not . . ." My voice sounded uncertain.

"It's ketchup," AJ said with a laugh. "Ketchup, Kev." He slid his finger down the front of his shirt and licked it. "Mmm." Kevin smacked him hard.

AJ stopped laughing.

"Don't ever do that."

"It was a joke," Nick started. Kevin turned to him.

"Don't. Ever. Do. That. Understand?"

Nick just nodded.

"Sorry, Kev," Howie started. "We were just bored. We thought you guys would find it funny." Funny?! They thought we would find it funny?!

"Well it wasn't," Kevin muttered. "God, guys. Argh." He looked over towards me. "You alright there, Bri?

"Mm-hmm." Just a little spooked out thinking one my brothers was dead. "I'm fine . . ." I let go off the pinball handle, unclenching my hand slowly.

"We got you guys a soda," Nick started unsurely. He held one out halfway to Kevin. "But you can't have it if you're mad."

"Alright, I'm not mad," Kevin said, rolling his eyes as he took it. Nick grinned and tossed a can to me too. I started over to them as AJ started pulling off his 'bloody' shirt.

"It was funny though, huh?" he was asking as he grabbed a clean t-shirt. This time I hit him.

"You're retarded."

~ Nick ~

Okay, maybe the joke was going a little far. I guess if I wasn't in on it I would have a been a little scared too. Okay, very scared. But for the looks we got on Kevin and Brian's faces, I'd say it was worth it all the way. Of course, I wasn't about to tell either of them that. I didn't want to see any real blood.

I went over to the couch and stretched out, pulling up my feet and propping my head on a pillow. I was tired. Might as well catch up on some sleep, right? Or at least try.

"Where's the frickin' eight ball?" AJ yelled from across the room. Some people have no consideration for others trying to sleep. No one answered him. "Nick, did you take it?" he yelled at me. I sat up a little.

"No." Why the heck would I take a pool ball?

"Brian?" AJ tried.

"It's under the chair over there."

"How the hell'd it get under there?"

"I don't know . . ." Brian answered with a smile.

"You're a retard, Bri," AJ answered, going over to the chair and looking under it. Sure enough he came up with the missing eight ball. "How'd it get under there?"

"I don't know!" Brian said with a laugh. "You found it, didn't you?"

I heard AJ mutter something. There was no way I was going to sleep at this rate. I flipped on the TV as Kevin came and sat on the couch next to me.

"Hey, Nicky."

"Hey, Kev." I started changing channels. "What's up?"

"Not much. I'm thinking we should order a pizza. You hungry?"

"Starving." I found a basketball game on and stopped flipping. I was really hungry. "How're we gonna get it though if we can't go out and we're not letting anybody in the arena?"

"I'll call Ronnie and ask him," Kevin said with a shrug, pulling out his cell phone. I watched him dial a second and then turned back to watch the game. It was on a commercial so I got up to go mess around with the guys.

"Brian . . ."

"Hey, Fracks." He was playing some arcade game.

"I'll play you," I offered.

"Yeah, sure." He restarted it and moved over to let me have my controls. "This is a long day, huh?"

"Incredibly," I answered, pressing buttons for the different options on the screen. "Kev's ordering a pizza." The game started.

"Awesome, I'm starved."

"Yeah . . ." I jerked at the joystick to get a high kick out of the character on the screen. Brian's guy jumped back to avoid it. "You think this is gonna be over soon?"

"Yeah, hopefully," he said. "We'll be okay."

"I hope so."

"I know so."

"I hope you're right."

"I am." He laughed. "You're dead."

I broke out of my thoughts, and sure enough he had beat me. "Man . . . That's not fair. I wasn't ready."

"You have the same excuse every time you lose, boy," came Brian's amused answer as he restarted it again. "I wonder why."

"Well this time I really wasn't!"

"Whatever. Best outta three?"

"Five."

"You're on."

-

- Chapter 13 -

~AJ~

"I thought you said we were getting pizza."

"It's coming."

"It's been an hour."

"Okay, Brian." Kevin rubbed his forehead tiredly. "It's coming."

Something told me it wasn't. And I was getting very hungry. I glanced at the clock on the wall and cursed it silently. Its big hand was too slow. In fact, both its hands were too slow. It must've been broken.

"I'll go check on it," I announced, sticking a piece of gum in my mouth. I had to chew on something. Nick stuck out his hand for a piece so I just dropped the whole package in his hand.

"And how're you gonna do that?" Howie gave me a look.

"I'll go look around and see if I see a stupid delivery boy walking around like an idiot."

"Ronnie was gonna pick it up at the front for us," Kevin interrupted. "Stay here."

"I'll go see if Ronnie's walking around like an idiot then," I argued. "I gotta take a walk anyway. Rok, you wanna go? C'mon."

"Can I come?" Nick threw my gum back at me.

"What do three people need to check on a pizza for?" I answered, shaking my head. Nick just gave me a look. "We'll be right back anyway. Alright, Kev?"

"Whatever."

I smiled. I loved it when Kevin was too tired to argue with me. It was great.

"C'mon, Brian."

The halls were so weird not having anybody around. We usually had everybody around before a show, from tech to the band to all the rest of the crew that came with us. But since we had come so early it seemed so empty.

"It's so quiet . . ." Brian said, listening to our footsteps echo in the hall.

"Yeah."

"Too quiet."

"Yeah."

"It's like-"

"Shut up, man," I interrupted. God.

Brian glared at me. "What's the matter with you?"

"Nothing." I was tired, I was hungry, bored, I wanted to be alone . . . Then again, I was the one who asked him to come with me. "You think Ronnie's at the back entrance?"

"Probably." Brian gave a sad sigh. I glanced at him as we went down a flight of stairs.

"Guilt trip doesn't work on me."

"What guilt trip?" he replied, cutting me off to get to the doorway first. I rolled my eyes and followed behind him down the hall.

We met up with Ronnie before we even reached near the back gates where I figured he would have been waiting. He was coming back into the building and hooking his walkie-talkie back on his belt. He wasn't too pleased to see us. I don't know why.

"What are you two doing?"

"Walking," I answered as we were pushed back inside and Ronnie fumbled with the lock on the door behind him. "Where's our pizza?"

"I want you guys to stay upstairs, alright? C'mon."

"Where's the pizza?" Brian urged.

"I don't know, guys. Does it look like I know?"

I gave him a smile, raising an eyebrow. "You ate it all by yourself, didn't you?"

"Start running McLean," Ronnie warned. "Let's go, guys. Do I have to walk you back up?"

"We were just bored," Brian answered. "And hungry."

"You want a coloring book or something?"

"You can't eat a coloring book," I answered with a laugh. Ronnie stared back, not amused. "Fine, we'll go upstairs. We were just looking to see if the pizza got lost."

"I'm on the lookout. I'll bring it to you when it comes. I want you all to stay upstairs, understand?"

"Got it, Ron." Brian looked at him. "Everything's okay, right? Nothing's happening?"

"You're such a baby," I muttered. But I looked at Ronnie for the answer too.

"Everything's going fine, guys." He pointed to the door to the stairwell. "I'll see you later. Go play all those games you've got up there."

"Yeah, yeah," I answered. Brian started to the stairs, pulling my arm. Ronnie went the other way down the hall without looking back at us.

~Brian~

So the pizza wasn't coming anytime soon it seemed. Just great. None of us had eaten since that morning, and I was starving. Nothing was going right. I wasn't even worried about Frank anymore. I just wanted food and something to do for the next four hours.

"Hey, Bri, hold up."

"Why?" I kept going up the stairs, not glancing back at him.

"C'mon. Let's not go back up right away. I'm gonna go crazy."

"What're you gonna do downstairs, huh? No."

AJ rolled his eyes. "Whatever, Rok. I'll catch up with you later."

"No, you're coming up too. Ronnie says he doesn't want us down there. There's nothing down there anyway."

"The band'll be coming soon. We can hang out with them."

"AJ. No."

He glared at me. "You're just scared."

"Scared? Of what?" I crossed my arms over my chest.

"Of everything," he responded. "You can go back and sit and do nothing if you want. It's not like I need you with me or something."

"You can be such a jerk. Go ahead. Do whatever. Get hurt, get in trouble. See if I care."

AJ glared at me and started the other way down the stairs. I kept going up, figuring he'd follow. I knew I was wrong when I heard the door slam echo from down below. Dammit.

I waited a second to see if he'd come back, but he didn't. I debated whether or not to go after him. I hadn't meant what I said. He hadn't meant what he'd said either, had he? AJ and I were always fighting over stupid stuff anyway. It didn't last.

So I kept going up.

He was kind of right anyway; I was kind of scared. But so was he. We all were. We didn't know what was going to happen. But that's why he was acting like such a jerk. He'd be fine. The kid could take care of himself.

"Where's AJ?"

"Out being an idiot," I answered, giving Howie a shrug. I headed over to where he, Kevin, and Nick were playing a three way game of pool. I don't know how long they'd been playing, but all the balls still looked scattered across the table top.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Kevin looked up.

"It means he's just out roaming around. He's fine."

"You just let him go off? By himself?" Kevin gave me an annoyed look. "We're trying to be careful, Brian."

Great, now he's mad at me.

"He's fine," I repeated.

"Couldn't you two have stayed together?"

"I didn't want to fight him anymore, okay?" I frowned at him. "What, you want me to go too? You want me to go look for him? I'll leave, okay? Will that make you happy?"

"Bri, no. I'm sorry, alright?" Kevin caught my arm. "I'm just worried thinking about this whole thing. You're right, he can take care of himself."

"Ronnie's gonna kick his butt anyway," I muttered, pulling away from him.

"Where's our pizza?" Nick finally looked up.

"It's not here yet." I watched him struggle with the pool cue for a second. "What the heck are you doing, Nick? You know how to play pool."

"We're playing lefty," came his answer.

That would explain all the balls still on the table.

I just rolled my eyes. "You guys are crazy."

"You wanna play too?" Howie asked, turning to me with a smile.

"Yeah." I grabbed a cue off the rack. Why not?

-

- Chapter 14 -

~Kevin~

Alright, he wasn't back yet. No reason to get nervous, the kid was probably trying to prove some point. AJ was always to prove some thing or another to me or the guys, but half the time I really didn't know what it was. So I was trying not to worry . . .

" - your turn. Kev, you suck. You're -"

"What?" Back to reality.

"It's your turn," Nick repeated, waving his hand in my face. "Earth to Kevin. You there?"

"Yeah, I'm here. You guys have enough of this game yet?"

The three stared at me sadly. I guess not.

"Okay . . ." I went my turn, got no balls in the pockets like everyone else, and went back to my thoughts. It seemed like only a few seconds later that it was interrupted.

"Your turn again, man . . ."

"Guys, I'm gonna go look around a little bit, okay?"

"Look around?" Brian repeated.

"To see where AJ's gotten into." And to see if something was up.

"I'll go with you," Nick offered, looking up at me hopefully. "Okay?" I shrugged.

"Okay."

"Can you bring me back food?" Brian asked, dropping his pool cue to the ground with a clatter. It started to roll away and he sent me a desperate look.

"Pick that up. What type of food?"

"Anything, Kevin," he answered, grabbing the cue back. "Candy, anything. I'm gonna die."

"You're not gonna die." I rolled my eyes. "We'll look for you. Howie, you want anything?"

"If you find something," he said easily.

"Okay, we'll be back. Brian, be good, don't bug Howie," I said with a smile. Brian just crossed his arms and pretended to offended.

"And don't eat all the pizza if it comes," Nick added. Something told me he wouldn't have to worry about that. The pizza looked like a lost cause for now. It wasn't that I was worried about anyway.

"C'mon, Frack."

We went downstairs first because I had a feeling that might have been where AJ was, around the back where all the crew and band arrive. When AJ got tired and annoyed with us that was usually where he stole off to.

The only person we ran into though was Ronnie.

"Not you guys too . . ."

"Nice to see you too, Ronnie," Nick returned sarcastically.

"Ron, have you run into AJ down here?"

"He's still down here? I told him to get back up over an hour ago . . . Is Brian gone too?"

"No, he's back. We were just checking on AJ."

"Well I haven't seen him, but he's probably avoiding me because he knows I'd kick his ass if I found him down here." Ronnie shrugged. "You know him. He's fine, probably just hanging out somewhere."

"Yeah." I glanced at the window. "Everything going alright?"

"Fine. Nothing's up, if that's what you mean. Your lovely fans are showing up and starting to sneak around, but that's about it."

"Did our lovely pizza guy show up yet, or did you kill him and eat the pizza?" Nick asked, looking at Ronnie.

"Not yet, Nicky, I think your pizza's a lost cause. They probably couldn't find the place."

"If they can't find a friggin' arena, I think they should-"

I covered his mouth. "Okay, calm down. You're just hungry."

Ronnie laughed. "He's always hungry."

"Yeah," I agreed, letting the kid go and messing up his hair. "We're just gonna look around a little alright, Ron?"

"Yeah, be careful."

"We will."

~Howie~

Brian and I were getting a little stir crazy after Nick and Kev left. Luckily Brian was losing his energy though, so I didn't have to watch him bouncing off the walls. Right now we were just sitting and watching TV. The Simpsons was on.

"Bored . . ." Brian muttered, stretching out on the couch and dropping his legs over my lap.

"Enough room there, Rok?"

"It's a small couch," he complained. I didn't answer and he was quiet. I thought he was going to fall asleep. I think I would have fallen asleep too.

Then the knock came and Brian was the one who scrambled up off the couch to answer it. I turned my head, wondering who the heck it was. Kev and Nicky wouldn't knock.

The pizza guy.

I watched as Brian dug through his pockets for money before I turned back to the TV. It was about time the pizza got here. We shouldn't have to pay for it.

I didn't think anything was up until I heard Brian gasp. When I turned my head again, I saw the so-called pizza guy pushing him into the room and shutting the door.

It was when he took off the delivery hat and looked up that I finally recognized who it was.

Frank.

"You don't like your tip? I'll give you more, here." Poor Brian.

"Cute, move to the couch, now."

Brian didn't think twice, he almost wound up on top of me.

"Howie, wake me up," he hissed softly. I was too much in shock to answer. My stomach clenched as Frank came and sat on the coffee table in front of us.

"Hey boys, how's it going?"

We were silent.

"Oh come on! You don't remember me?"

I swallowed and Brian gripped my arm.

"It's Frank! Remember? We had some business to take care of?" He gave a small smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Of course you remember."

How did he get in?

"Where's the rest of you? It's just the two of you now?"

We were silent. I didn't trust my voice and Brian was staring at Frank with big eyes. I gave his knee a pat even though I was just as scared as he was.

"You better start answering or I'm gonna forget what friends we were," Frank started with a frown.

"Sorry," I started uneasily. "Yeah, it's just us."

"Bull." Frank's frown deepened. "I saw the five of you together yesterday."

The fact that he'd been watching us made me even more uneasy.

"Then why'd you ask?" Brian retorted. I elbowed him as Frank sent him a glare. Great time for the kid to be mouthy.

"I remember you . . . The funny one."

Brian didn't answer. Thank God.

"What do you want?" I tried.

"You know what I want. What you owe me. The agreement you never followed through with."

"We never had an agreement."

"Oh, but we did." Frank smiled slightly. "We definitely did." He got up from the table. "Don't move."

I felt my heart pounding in my chest as I took a breath. We needed to get out of here. Relax, Howie. Just be calm. We'd get out of this.

"I want Kev," Brian moaned.

Yeah, me too. "Just relax, we'll get out of this somehow."

"I thought this wasn't gonna happen again . . ."

"Me too."

Second Time Around

- Chapter 15 -

~Nick~

Alright, I was starting to lose a little patience. I was starving, the pizza was looking to be a lost cause, and Kev and I couldn't find AJ. The jerk. He was probably having a better time then I was.

"Nick, you wanna head back? He's probably already up there."

"I doubt it," I answered.

"You wanna go back anyway?"

I shrugged. It was just as boring down here as it was upstairs. "I guess."

"Yeah, let's go. C'mon."

I pulled myself away from the window. Yeah, that's how successful we were, we were wasting our time staring out the window.

I got this funny feeling when we we started back down the hall. I can't really describe it. It was just something in the pit of my stomach. I glanced behind me, but no one was there.

"We being followed again?"

"Shut up," I muttered, rolling my eyes. He had to be sarcastic. You'd think he might be worried that right at that moment AJ could be in the hands of some crazy deranged psycho who wanted to get money or kill us. But no. He had to be sarcastic.

I shook my head and followed Kevin to the stairwell slowly. So shoot me if I thought something might be wrong. I thought we'd agreed it was better to be cautious? Well I was just being cautious.

"Nick, no one is following us. C'mon. We gotta get started."

"What if AJ's really in trouble?"

"What if he's upstairs with the guys getting pissed off that we all have to get ready for the show now and we're not there?"

"What if-"

Kevin grabbed my arm and pushed me through the door before him. Fine. Okay. I just had this feeling that wouldn't go away. For Kev's sake, I'd ignore it.

By the time we reached the door upstairs, I had pretty much convinced myself that I was wrong. That I was just being stupid. AJ was fine. Let the show go on. I let Kev step in front of me and open the door.

"Shit," he muttered. I frowned and looked up. Shit what? I tried to look over his shoulder but he pushed me sideways. What the hell?

"So another returns," I heard someone note.

That voice . . .

Frank.

Shit. My stomach clenched.

"Nicky, go. He didn't see you," Kevin hissed. "Git."

"But-"

"Go," he repeated, giving me a harder shove. One look at his face and I took off back down the hall toward the stairwell as fast as I could.

No, no, no. This wasn't supposed to happen. And what was I supposed to do? I didn't like leaving them. What if he'd already done something to Brian and Howie?

My stomach twisted and I hesitated on the stairs, trying to breathe steady. Should I go back?

And what, fight Frank? Not likely. Then I'd be stuck there too. At least this way I could try and get help. My legs felt weak but I forced them to move and hurried down the stairs.

~AJ~

I was making my way back around to try and find the stairwell I'd come out of when someone grabbed me from behind. I nearly screamed.

"AJ! God, Jay. You'll never-"

"Get off of me, man." I tried to shake Nick off, but he had my arm in a death grip. "What the hell is wrong with you?"

"Bone, he's- he's back. Upstairs. He's- They're- . . ."

God, the boy was getting a lot better with those acting skills.

"Funny, dumbass. Let go of my arm."

"I'm serious. Frank's upstairs," he said shakily. He had that scared wide eyed look. I frowned.

"Then how'd you get away?" I wasn't going to fall for his stupid jokes that easy.

"Me and Kev were looking for you down here, we left Bri and Howie up there. We gave up on you and went back upstairs and when Kev opened the door . . . He- Frank only saw him."

I stared at him and suddenly felt a little dizzy. Okay . . . "Is it just Frank or are there more?"

"I dunno." Nick shrugged.

I glanced up and down the empty halls and felt a cold feeling travel down my spine. How did Frank even get in? Hell, I couldn't even get out if I wanted to.

"What're we gonna do?"

"First you're gonna give me back my arm, kid."

He loosened his grip but he didn't let me go.

"Did you see anything while you were down here?"

I shook my head. "Nope. I was just hanging with the band but they had to go get ready so I thought I'd come back."

Nick narrowed his eyes. "It's about time."

"Whatever. Look, we'll just go on a search for security, tell them what's up, and let them worry about it." I tried to act calm even though my stomach was telling me a different story.

"What if Frank killed them all?"

I stared at him. "Are you serious, Nick?"

"How else did he get through though? Didn't you ever see that movie with that guy that-"

"God, no. You're not gonna watch any more movies." No wonder he couldn't sleep at night.

"Well what if we can't find any? We can't leave them up there."

"I know, I know." I tried to think. "Then we'll have to come up with our own plan to get them out of there."

Nick nodded slowly. "Okay . . ." He started down the hall, pulling me with him. "C'mon."

I tried not to freak out as we walked. Freaking out wouldn't help anything. We would find security and they would know exactly what to do. Everything would be cool. And look on the bright side, we didn't have to wonder where Frank was anymore. We knew.

Oh yeah, that was reassuring.

"Phone." Nick suddenly stopped and moved toward the payphone. I hadn't even noticed one was there. He grabbed the reciever, holding it up to his ear. His hand hovered over the numbers. I rolled my eyes.

"Nine, one-"

"There's no dialtone. Shit."

"Maybe it's disconnected."

Nick gave me a look. "Yeah, you think?"

"Shut up, you prick."

"Now what?" Nick sighed.

"We keep looking. I don't know, Nick. I don't know what to do."

"Okay, let's just keep looking. We'll try and thinking of something."

Something, something.

I had no clue. I was scared out of my mind just thinking about the guys back with Frank.

-

- Chapter 16 -

~Brian~

I didn't know whether to be relieved or disappointed when I saw Kev come through the door. I felt better having him with me and Howie, but it also meant one less person on the outside who could get us out that room.

And where was Nick?

I chewed on my thumbnail anxiously and watched Kevin as Frank approached him. I couldn't hear what either of the two of them were saying. We needed to get out of this. I swallowed and scooted closer to Howie on the couch.

"Howie . . ."

"Yeah?" His voice was in a whisper like mine.

"I'm thinking of a plan."

He stared at me.

"To get us out of here." Need I elaborate more?

"Just run anything through me before you do something stupid, alright?"

And I could feel the trust he had toward any of my ideas.

Maybe he was just sick of the numerous times in the past half hour that I had told him I'd count to three and we'd make a run for it. What was so bad about that? It could have worked. Frank wasn't quite all there.

"Alright, so now there's three of you," Frank said as Kevin dropped down on the couch next to me.

The guy had good math skills.

"Welcome to the party," I said softly, leaning against Kevin.

"Hey, buddy," Kevin answered evenly. His eyes were checking out the room. "You guys okay?"

I shrugged.

"I guess," Howie answered.

"It's alright, we'll get out of here soon," Kevin started. I nodded.

"I know, I'm thinking of a plan," I told him. He gave me the same look that Howie had given me before and I frowned. "What?"

"Nothin'." Kevin shook his head.

"Kev?" Howie looked up. "Where's Nick?"

"He's okay, he just got out of here before Frank saw him."

I nodded slowly. "You didn't find AJ, huh?"

Kevin shook his head with a frown.

I frowned too. If me and the kid only didn't have a stupid little fight over who knows what. I sighed. God.

"Maybe they'll get help-"

"Guys, guys, guys ..." Frank stepped forward and shook his his head. "We were off to such a great start as friends, don't ruin it by talking."

We stared at him.

"And if you think your friends downstairs are gonna help you out ..." He chuckled and my stomach tightened. "You can go on thinking that I guess. But I'm not the only one in on this you know. Do you think I'm stupid?"

"Yes," I answered. I couldn't help it. But he was in my face.

"Listen," he hissed, grabbing onto my shirt and giving a shake. "I don't want to deal your shit! Keep your mouth shut or else. I'm only gonna tell you once." He cuffed my head roughly and backed off.

And then Kevin hit me too. He smacked my leg hard and I looked at him.

"Don't start, Brian."

I just stuck out my lower lip.

~Nick~

Alright, we weren't getting anywhere. Rescue team Nick and AJ was failing. But only because no one in the world was around. Nobody that we could see.

"Stop looking behind you, man. God, you're starting to make me paranoid."

I glanced at him and frowned at his tone. He'd been getting less and less social in the past half hour. "Sorry."

He just shook his head. "God. Why the hell isn't there anybody around?"

"I don't know," I said softly. I stopped walking and went to a window. AJ only took a step more before he turned and came to stand next to me.

"Sorry, Nicky, I don't mean to be short with you ..."

"That's okay," I said absently, leaning my head against the window. I squinted down at all the little people below.

"I'm just kinda pissed at what's going on now. That's all, not at you." God, now he felt bad or something.

"Me too."

"So if I'm mean to you, you can just hit me or something, okay?"

I smiled a little and turned my head to look at him. "Okay, Jay."

He just rolled his eyes. I sighed and turned my attention back outside. We needed to think of something ... I looked over as I felt AJ sink to the floor next to me.

"We gonna stop for a bit?" I asked.

He nodded and stared at the tiled floor.

There was a pause.

"If worse comes to worse, AJ, you know what we can do?"

"What's that."

"We can disguise ourselves and leave back here and go up front and try and find somebody."

AJ looked up at me, amused. "Yeah, Frack. I'll let you go first."

I kicked him. "It was just an idea."

"Alright, alright. Geez. Don't kick me, boy."

"You told me if you were mean to you I could hit you."

"I wasn't being friggin' mean! And who said anything about kicking?"

I shrugged with a small smile. "Details."

"Yeah, yeah," he muttered, punching me in the leg tiredly. I slid down to the floor next to him.

"Jay, what're we gonna do?"

"Beats me." He rubbed his eyes with his hands. "Damn ... This doesn't seem real yet."

"Yeah ..." I trailed off. Wait a second, I heard something. Like footsteps. "Do you hear someone?"

AJ listened for a second and started to shake his head. "No- wait, yeah." He sat up a little. "Somebody's coming."

We both pulled ourselves up off the floor and waited for the footsteps to come nearer.

"A guard?" I whispered, staring at the older guy coming around the bend in a dark blue suit and a walky-talky at his waist. I touched AJ's arm.

"He doesn't look like one of ours," AJ agreed softly. "What do we do?"

What do we do? Oh God.

"Run?"

"We don't know if he's bad," AJ whispered.

"Well how are we gonna find out?" I hissed.

"I don't know, but I'm sure as hell not running!"

"But-"

"Boys?"

Our heads shot up. The guy was right in front of us. I shot AJ a glare. Nice going, dimwit.

"Thank God, we've been looking all over for you guys."

We both stared at him.

"We took care of this whole security fiasco, don't worry. C'mon, I'll take you back upstairs to get ready for the show."

"Who're you?" I didn't trust this guy.

"Henry." He stuck out his hand. I ignored it and moved closer to AJ. Henry cleared his throat. "C'mon. You don't have a lot of time."

"Okay, okay. Sorry. C'mon, Nick."

I stared at AJ. Was he crazy?

"I'm thinking of something," he mouthed.

I just nodded.

-

- Chapter 17 -

~Kevin~

Damn humming.

Frank was sitting over to the side with his back to us, humming.

And as if it wasn't bad enough that he was humming in the first place, he wasn't even humming a tune. He was just humming.

And Brian was starting to hum with him. Great.

Brian I shot a glare at, but his eyes were shut. Howie made a face at me over his head.

"Torture," he mouthed.

I nodded. Yeah it was. "Brian, stop it," I hissed.

His eyes remained shut, but the humming stopped.

"You know," Howie said softly. "This is three against one. We should be able to get out of this."

"Yeah, but-"

"But pow," Brian cut me off, opening his eyes. He stuck out his pointer finger like a gun.

Howie and I stared at him a second, but it was true and we knew it. Who knew what that man was hiding. If it was simply a battle with strength, not weapons, then the three of us would have the upper hand. But on the other hand if he was armed ... I didn't even want to think about it.

"We'll think of something ..." I felt like that was all I had been saying the whole time. But we would.

Howie just nodded. "Yeah, something."

He didn't sound so certain.

Brian, on the other hand, was worrying me with his certainty.

"We'll just count. One, two, three, and then go. Or we can go on three, which might be even better because then he wouldn't be-"

"Are you serious," I interrupted. He looked at me solemnly. "Brian?"

"Yeah. No."

Alright then, kiddo. I just nodded slowly and started to turn back to Howie. Brian touched my arm.

"You can use the bathroom thing again. I was thinking ... about last time." He said it uncertainly, as if he was afraid to bring it up if we had blocked it out.

The bathroom thing.

"Yeah," Howie said softly, glancing quickly at Frank out of the corner of his eye. The humming continued and his gaze came back to us. "Ask if you can use the bathroom and he'll have to go with you. Or we'll all have to go, but at least we'll be out of here."

It could work. Unless he'd gotten a little smarter in those couple of months.

I shot a glance at the humming man with his back to us. Not likely.

"Then," Brian started in a whisper. "We can count to three and -"

"You're gonna be counting to three in a second," I interrupted. "Enough with that."

His blue eyes narrowed slightly.

"Anyway," Howie eased in, clearing his throat. "It's worth a try, either way."

The humming suddenly stopped.

A pause.

"What's worth a try?" came Frank's voice. He turned around slowly with a frown. My stomach suddenly felt like it had dropped to the floor.

"Well you know what they say ..." Brian's beginning of a comment didn't seem to surprise me. When he got nervous he either clammed up or got mouthy. There wasn't really an in-between point for him.

"Don't," I warned softly. He quieted.

Frank shook his head at us with this odd look in his eyes. "Please. No more talking."

And as we stared at him, silently, he turned back around and the humming resumed.

~AJ~

"Where are we going?"

"I told you, back to the room."

"Well we passed the stairwell for the room a couple minutes ago." I exchanged a look with Nick.

"They changed rooms," Henry said after a pause.

"Yeah right," Nick muttered. I cleared my throat.

"We don't change rooms," I said.

"Well you did this time." If Henry was trying to be nice to us before, I don't think he was anymore. His voice sounded annoyed. "For security."

Ah, security.

Yeah right.

"Well we-"

"I have to go to the bathroom," Nick interrupted.

Henry and I both stared at him. Nick stared back innocently.

"What?"

"You're gonna have to wait," Henry said as I smiled slightly. I got it.

"Are we gonna have to go upstairs?" Nick asked.

"Yes ..."

"Then I can't wait." Nick gave the dark older man a sweet smile. Henry glowered back.

"You're gonna have to."

"I can't." Nick shook his head.

"You're gonna-"

"I can't, okay? Listen you guys can go up, tell me where you're going and I'll meet you up there."

Henry let out a heavy breath. "We'll all go."

"No, AJ needs a long time to get ready," Nick lied. "So I think-"

"I think we'll all go," Henry finished, giving him a look. I didn't trust this guy one bit. I could see Nick swallow.

"Yeah, uh, okay. You can come if you want to." He glanced at me and I just shrugged. Nice try, Nicky. Time to think of another plan.

It took about ten more minutes of walking around until we did actually come across a bathroom. Nick paused with his hand on the door when he saw Henry just one step behind him. And I was just one step behind Henry because there was no way I was leaving that kid alone with him.

"I can take a piss without any help, thanks." Nick gave Henry a look and the man actually backed off. I stepped back too, unsure.

"Window," I mouthed to Nick. He frowned for a second and then nodded. I glanced at Henry but he was staring across down the hall.

"Okay." Nick disappeared through the door and I leaned against the wall. I noticed Henry looking at me after awhile and tried not to do anything rash.

"So what's up, man?" I said easily.

"Nothing," he said. I think he was going to say something else but the walky-talky at his belt crackled.

"Henry, come in," a voice said unclearly. "Did you catch them?"

Henry glanced at me before grabbing the walky-talky and bringing it up to his mouth, saying something into it. My heart had started pounding a little too hard for me to hear.

Catch them.

If the voice had said 'get them' or even 'find them' then maybe I wouldn't be so worried after all. But 'catch them'?

Time for something rash.

"Hey!"

Okay looking back I suppose that taking a shaky swing at the guy might not have been the best game plan right then but the only thing really on my mind was get away. Fast.

However I knew it wasn't really a good idea when the larger man slammed me up against the wall and my head made impact with it.

Ow.

But I did the only thing I could - shoved him away as hard as I could and scrambled for the bathroom door. I got through quickly and shut the door behind me, hoping for a lock.

And there was.

I turned the deadlock as pounding on the other side started. Shit.

"AJ?"

I looked up and saw Nick coming away from the rows of sinks. He stared at the door with wide eyes for a minute before looking back at me questioningly.

"He's not a guard," was all I said.

"Surprise, surprise," Nick mumbled. He looked kind of pale.

"Well Nicky-boy, it's always been one of my wildest fantasies to be stuck in a bathroom with you," I said slowly, giving him a weird smile.

"Don't even, AJ."

-

- Chapter 18 -

~Howie~

Oh boy.

I had this weird feeling that getting out of this room wasn't going to be such an easy task. I was also beginning to realize that Frank was a little over the edge. I mean, he had to be to begin with, but now?

I stared at his back as he sat there humming.

Definitely over the edge.

I picked at some loose threads on the couch cushion and tried to think. I was beginning to think that we didn't have much of a choice besides Brian's idea. One, two, three.

Yeah, but one, two, three, what? Run? Attack?

I glanced oveer at Kevin and Brian, who seemed to be lost in their thoughts as well. Brian suddenly looked up and caught my eye.

"Are we gonna do something?" he whispered.

"I guess, but what? Just count and go?"

"Yeah. We'll sneak up on him. Jump him."

I rolled my eyes.

"One," he mouthed, holding up one finger. Two fingers. "Two-"

Kevin enveloped Brian's fingers in his hand. "Hang on," he said softly. He pointed to the table next to the television and my eyes widened slightly as they caught on to what he was bringing attention to.

A cellphone.

One of our cellphones was sitting silently on the tabletop, taunting us.

Damn.

Sitting right there, just out of reach. It was closer to Frank then it was to us. I glanced at Kevin and he gave me a shrug.

"Should we get it?" Brian whispered softly.

It seemed like our only option right then.

Kevin nodded slowly and I guess he figured the same thing.

"I'll distract him," Brian said to Kevin in a soft voice. "And you and Howie can get it."

"I don't want you to distract him."

"Then how else are we gonna get it?"

"Shush," Kevin interrupted. "Howie, what do you think?"

"I think Bri's right, Kev. We gotta distract him somehow or else he's gonna see us."

"Not if he's like that," Kevin argued, motioning to the humming, rocking figure that we were all afraid of. Ironic, wasn't it. I glanced back at Kevin and tried to think of a way to convince him that one of us was going to have to risk it.

"He's not gonna stay like that when he hears us get up," I said. "And the table's too close to him to just take a chance."

I could tell that Kevin was debating it in his head.

"Oh, I'll go get it," Brian muttered. "C'mon, I'll be there and back before he hums the next line of his song."

The humming suddenly stopped and the look that Kevin gave Brian was priceless. Brian chewed his lip, looking away from his cousin's eyes.

"So what are we talking about, boys?"

Frank was crazy.

"Oh, c'mon! We're all friends. You can share whatever it was with me." He was spinning something on the table, I heard it making a noise against the wood.

We were silent.

"Don't stop talking now!" The voice that was soft only two seconds before was now almost yelling. "What were you talking about?!" He stared at us and his eyes were bloodshot.

Brian tried to save the day. "I was just saying I gotta go to the bathroom."

There was a pause.

"You have to go to the bathroom," Frank repeated, his voice strained.

Brian nodded.

"You'll die if you don't get to the bathroom, huh?"

We stared at him and Brian was silent.

"Well!?"

"Yes," Brian said quickly.

Frank laughed and I knew that was the response he had been waiting for. "Then why don't I just kill you now?!" He grabbed the spinning object and raised it up quickly. I felt Brian jump in surprise.

A gun.

He was holding a gun.

There went any doubt of him being unarmed. We stared at him and he stared straight back, unblinking. The hand that held the gun was trembling slightly.

"Well, c'mon," he said suddenly.

C'mon? We stared at him questioningly.

"You have to go so bad, c'mon." Frank raised up from his seat, the gun falling to his side. I heard Brian let out a soft moan. "Let's go!"

Brian didn't move. "I don't wanna go anymore," he whispered to me and Kev. He looked like he wanted to cry.

"It's okay," Kevin started lightly, but his voice didn't really make it sound like it was. "Just do what he says. No 'one two threes', alright tough guy?"

"Right," came the soft answer. Brian sighed and slowly got up, following Frank to the door. I could tell he was trying to keep about a ten foot range, but Frank didn't seem to want to move unless Brian was at his side.

The second we heard them down the hall, our attention was on the cellphone. We both jumped up to grab it.

~Nick~

I have had tons of nightmares about getting trapped in places.

In an elevator, on the bus, in a closet, lots of places. But in a bathroom?

I had never imagined I'd ever get trapped in a bathroom.

"Man," I muttered.

The banging on the door suddenly stopped and I froze. Was that good or bad?

"AJ?"

When I didn't get an answer I turned to look at him, but he was standing there rubbing the back of his head with a pained expression. I frowned.

"Jay, you okay?"

He groaned. "Pretty much," he mumbled. "I just hit my head."

"Right now?" I frowned some more. "How?"

He looked up and stared at me for a second. "No, dumbass," he said slowly. "Not right now. When I got away from that guy out there."

Oooh.

"Are you okay? Are you dizzy?"

He shrugged. "I'll be fine, man."

He sat down right there on the dusty tiled floor and I knew he was feeling a little dizzy. I didn't say anything though since I knew it would make him more pissed. If he wanted you to worry about him then you could, but if he didn't, then forget it.

So I just sank down in front of him, sitting in indian style. He looked up.

"So what's the deal, Nicky? What's our plan?"

"He stopped banging."

"What?"

"The guy outside stopped the banging," I repeated. "You think he went away?"

"Maybe he went to go get a key."

Maybe AJ liked to scare me.

"Jay-"

"So did you find some place outta here?"

"I didn't get much time before you came barging in. I didn't even get to take advantage of the facilities."

AJ smiled at that one. "They're all yours now, buddy boy. Go ahead."

I shook my head. "No thanks. There's a window." I pointed.

"Good job. There's two windows."

I rolled my eyes. "Well if you really want to be specific, then there's three windows," I said sarcastically. "If you count that little one over there."

"Three windows then," he said with a chuckle.

"And they're kinda high but I guess if we got them open we could climb out, right?"

"Right ..."

"And so that's the only way out that I see."

"Yeah, I think you're right. Unless you wanna go peek out the door?"

"You can go peek out the door."

"Alright then, no door. Let's see if we can get these windows unlocked."

Don't ask me how I got picked to be the one to climb up on the sinks and try and get the first window open. I sure as hell didn't volunteer, but there I was, struggling with the damn window and hoping I wouldn't fall and break a leg.

"It's not opening, AJ."

He gave my leg a swat. "Use some muscle, little man."

"I am. They're like painted shut or something, AJ."

"You want me to try?"

"Jay, you're not gonna get it open."

"Okay, then c'mon. We'll think of something else."

Yeah, something else.

"These window sills are disgusting," I said as a side note. "Just so you know."

"Thanks for sharing, Nick. Now get your ass down here before you fall and break it."

"Right. Thanks for caring." I managed to turn and get back down to the floor with no major problems. "So now what?"

"Now we ... I don't know, kid, back to the drawing board I guess."

I sighed. There was no other way out besides those windows. If we couldn't get them open, then we were stuck.

-

- Chapter 19 -

~Brian~

Why.

Why did I have to open my mouth.

I didn't even have to really go to the bathroom and now look. I had a crazy guy walking me there with a damn gun hanging out of his hand.

I really didn't think that things could possibly get any worse. Not unless aliens came and took us to outer space to do experiments.

"I can go by myself." I really didn't want Frank pointing a gun at me in the bathroom. It was uncomfortable enough outside of it. He just stared at me. "Okay? Just give me five minutes."

"Two minutes," he said quickly. Paranoid.

"Four."

"Three."

"Five and a half."

"Okay," he agreed.

God, he was stupid.

"Don't try anything or I'll blast your brains out," he said when I was halfway through the door. I just bit my lip and let the heavy door close behind me.

Never underestimate the stupid.

I glanced around the bathroom for something, but don't ask what I was hoping to find there. Escape. A plunger maybe. That could work out to be quite a weapon. Beware of Brian- The Plunger Man.

Yeah. Right.

I knew I didn't have much time, but I was pretty much trying to stall as much as possible to give Kev and Howie a little time to grab that phone and call somebody. Anybody.

Watch, they were probably sitting there quietly doing nothing and this whole entire thing would be a waste. They would do that too. I would kill them.

There was a janitor's closet in there so I opened it up and pulled the string attached to the lightbulb dangling from the ceiling, glancing around at the room's contents. Things useless to me lined the shelves. Paint, extra lightbulbs, a bucket, cleaning supplies. Why didn't the darn janitors in this place carry weaponry?

I heard a heavy knock from the bathroom's outside door and Frank hollering something.

"Just a minute," I called, looking around the small dusty closet desperately. There had to be something I could use. Anything.

But nope, of course not. Things wouldn't be that simple, would they.

I lingered in there for a few more minutes, getting a little more frantic in my search. I needed to find something.

"Hey!"

I jumped about a foot, slamming into one of the shelves and knocking a hundred things to the floor with a clatter.

"What the hell are you doing?"

"Um ..." I stared at Frank with wide eyes. I had never even heard him come in. "I'm looking for ... soap. They ran out of soap."

For I minute I swore he was going to hit me or shoot me and so I started saying a prayer, but instead he grabbed me by the arm and yanked me out of the closet.

I thought it was all good.

Until he slammed me up against the wall.

"What did I tell you?" His voice was low, almost like a growl. I swallowed slowly.

"I -"

"Not to try anything or ...?"

He trailed off as if he wanted me to finish the sentence, but I kept silent. I stared into his bloodshot eyes but it was only a second before I had to look away.

Then I felt something on the side of my head.

Something cold and heavy.

Something metal.

My eyes widened and I glanced to the side quickly, catching a glimpse of his shaking, trigger-happy finger about an inch away from shooting me. My head grew light and my legs suddenly felt like jelly.

"Or ...?" Frank hissed.

"I was looking for soap," I said in a whisper, shutting my eyes for a second. I didn't trust my voice.

"Or?" he repeated, growing louder. The metal pressed against me harder.

I could have said it. 'Blast your brains out'. Simple. But I was afraid that that would be the magic words, like okay, I know he knows so now I can shoot him.

I opened my eyes and strained my eyes to the side. His finger was resting on the trigger now, shaking like mad. At this rate he'd shoot me even if he didn't want to.

I swallowed. Come on, Brian. You're not dumb. Find a way out of here.

There was a tiny click from the gun that made me make my move. You know the sound in movies, when they press down on the trigger slowly and you hear the long cliiiick?

So when I heard that, I freaked and twisted away from him, just as the gun went off. I don't know whether he was actually going to shoot me or if my movement just caused him to press it accidentally, but all I know was that the bullet hit the wall about an inch away from my face.

And I ran.

I felt like I was moving really slow, but I was running as fast as I could down the hall, unable to breathe. It's hard to run when you can't feel your legs.

~AJ~

I glanced at my watch and shut my eyes again, leaning against the wall. The opening acts should be going on any minute, and Nick and I were stuck in a bathroom together.

Simply delightful.

I can't say that it would make me enjoy it, but if my headache would go away then it would be a little more pleasant. But as it was, here I was sitting on the cold tile floor listening to Nick sing to himself and trying to think of some way out of here besides the window and the door.

Yeah right.

Neither of us could work up enough courage to unlock the door and look out. Maybe that was exactly what that Henry guy was waiting for. Maybe there was a whole army outside the door now. We just didn't know. And didn't really want to find out.

"AJ?"

"Yeah, Nick?"

"Think of anything yet?"

"No, Nick."

I heard a sigh.

"I'll tell you if I do," I said. "At least we're safe here, right bud?"

He rolled his eyes. "Yeah, but what about the guys?"

I couldn't say the same thing wasn't running through my mind.

"What if Frank is like ..." He trailed off and I sucked in a breath.

"You see that mop over there? If you don't stop worrying I'm gonna attack you with it," I said. Nick smiled slightly, but then his eyes lit up.

"That's it!"

What was it? Me beating him with a mop? I frowned. "What are you talking about, Nick?"

"The mop! We can use it to break the window open."

The kid was already on his feet and grabbing the mop from the corner. I stood up slowly and followed him back to the rows of sinks.

"Be careful," I warned.

"Isn't it a good idea?"

"Yeah, it is," I said, giving him a smile. He grinned. Why hadn't we thought of it before. "Here, gimme that before you climb up." I took the mop from him and gave him a hand up to get on the sinks.

"Okay, maybe you should stand back when I do it," he started. "So it doesn't hit you."

"Yeah, okay. Watch your eyes and face, man, alright?"

"Yeah, yeah."

I backed up and watched him as he brought the mop back and slammed it forward, using the end of the wooden stick. The glass cracked.

"Do it again and watch your eyes," I said.

"AJ, I know," he said. "Geez."

I chuckled. "Just looking out for you, Nicky."

He had to do it several times in order to get out the whole pane of glass from the window. When he was done I moved closer again.

"You okay?"

"Yup. I'll see what's on the other side if I climb through, okay?"

"Yeah. Watch your hands this time."

"AJ, I know, I'm not - Shit," he cursed suddenly, pulling back the hand he had just put on the sill to pull himself up. He had cut it of course.

"Dammit, Nick, I just told you, man."

"Shut up."

"Is it bad?"

"No."

"Are you just saying that?"

"Shut up, AJ," he said, looking down at me from up there. "It's fine."

"Then why's it gushing blood, huh?"

He glanced down quickly at the hand and then glared at me. "It's not gushing, okay?"

"Okay," I agreed, not wanting to argue over it. "You want to rinse it off before you keep going?"

"No, just give me something to get the glass off of the window first. I can use the mop if you give it to me."

I handed it up to him and watched him brush the shards of glass off of the sill. He tossed the mop to the floor when he was done and grabbed the sill to pull himself up through the window. I heard his sneakers hit the pavement outside and waited.

"Okay!" he called after a minute.

I pulled myself up on the sinks and hoisted myself up by the sill through the window, dropping to the pavement. I looked around. We were in some back parking lot. There were dumpsters along one side of the building. It looked deserted.

"Okay, so now what," Nick was saying.

"Lemme see your hand," I said, turning on him.

He held up the good one and smiled.

"Funny, dumbass, now c'mon." I grabbed the other one as he rolled his eyes.

"It's not bad, AJ, it just looks that way."

"Yeah, okay." I wasn't any doctor anyway, but it didn't look great to me. There wasn't much we could do though. "Alright, I guess we'll just walk, alright? See what we come to?"

"Yeah," Nick answered, pulling his hand back from me. "Which way?"

I shrugged. "The left."

Hopefully we'd come to something that would get us out of here.

-

- Chapter 20 -

~Kevin~

"Maybe if you try-"

Any idea that Howie might have had was cut off by the door to the room flying open and hitting the wall behind it with a resounding thud. We both jumped, and the cellphone clattered to the floor.

Brian.

Forgetting the phone, I was on my feet and grabbing him, glancing out the door for any sign of Frank. Brian was already pulling the door shut and fumbling at the handle for the lock.

"Bri, what happened?"

"He ... There's ..."

"Brian?" I could feel him shaking.

"There was ...He shot me," came the empty voice.

My heart skipped a beat. I held him at arm's length, looking him up and down and expecting to find blood everywhere. I didn't see anything.

"What happened?"

"He sh-shot me."

Was he in shock? What happened?

"Kev, he shot me."

I frowned.

"Where?" Howie said from behind me.

"The head," Brian was saying. "He shot me in the head-"

"Brian, listen," I started softly. I cupped his face in my hands and looked him in the eye. "He missed, alright? You're okay, you're fine. No damage. We're okay, right?"

He nodded slowly, the shock in his eyes slowly disappearing. I saw his face fall and I pulled him into an embrace.

"It's okay, we're getting out of here," I soothed softly, rubbing his back. I was mad now. Frank had passed the line. Well he'd passed it a long time ago but scaring the hell out of Brian was what got me. "It's gonna be okay." I released him slowly.

"Why don't you sit down?" Howie touched Brian's shoulder. He did still look shaky.

"I'm okay."

"You sure?"

"Yeah ... I will be." He glanced toward the door as if making sure it was shut and locked, and then back at us. "Did you call somebody?" His voice sounded pleading.

"We tried," Howie said slowly.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"The damn battery's dead."

Brian was visibly disappointed. "Oh."

"You know what ..." I ran a hand through my hair and tried to think rationally. Forget rational. We had tried rational and it wasn't working. "Let's make a run for it."

"A run for it?" Howie looked at me like I was crazy.

"Yeah. Open the door, check if the coast is clear, and run as fast as we can to the stairs."

"Just like that," Brian said skeptically. I nodded. "Did you hit your head or something, Kev? Because-"

"No, listen. Sitting here isn't doing us any good. I think we should just take a chance."

Brian and Howie were looking at each other now, as if each other's expressions would help them decide.

"What if Nicky and AJ come back up looking for us?"

"I think we're gonna be the one's looking for them." I honestly hadn't thought that it would take them as long as it had to get some help. For all we knew, Nick was still wandering around looking for AJ.

There was a long pause, and I let them think. I wasn't going to force anything on them. I wasn't so sure it was the greatest idea myself.

"Alright," Brian said finally. I hadn't expected him to be the first to agree after his last time out in the hall. I expected Howie to maybe agree and then we'd have had to convince Brian. Howie was nodding soon enough after.

"Okay, just get to the stairwell and we'll take it from there, right?"

They both nodded.

"Alright, let's go."

~Nick~

We weren't getting anywhere.

I was tired, I was cold, it looked like it was going to rain, my hand hurt, I was scared, and we weren't getting anywhere. And it was getting dark outside too. There were these lights at the top of the building flickering on that had bars around them, and the building looked like the outside of a jail now. It was almost spooky.

"AJ?"

"Yeah." We hadn't said anything since we first got outside and started walking. I think we were hoping to get to the front of the building. But it was like this labryrinth of different wings and parking garages.

"You think maybe we should find a way back into the building?"

"You don't think we're getting anywhere either, huh?"

"No, not really." I kicked at the ground and stopped walking. "It's getting dark."

AJ stopped a few feet in front of me. "Yeah, better get in before the vampires come out."

He thought he was so funny. I wouldn't give him the pleasure.

"What do you think they're tellin' the audience?"

"They might still be on opening acts," AJ answered, looking at his wrist in habit. But he wasn't wearing a watch. It had to be past eight now at least.

"Maybe."

"C'mon, we'll go up through one of the parking garages and find our way back in."

"And then?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. You decide."

Me decide. Sure. I just shook my head and started walking towards the overhang of a massive parking garage. I heard AJ coming behind me.

There were signs for elevators and stairwells up ahead, so I just moved past the rows and rows of cars toward that. I shivered as I felt a breeze. It was even damper in here then it had been outside.

I heard a noise from across the garage and stopped short. Everything echoed in here. AJ moved in behind me and grabbed my sides, pushing me forward slightly. "Keep going."

"Did you hear something?"

"Like what?" He let me go and kept walking ahead. I had no choice but to keep up with him.

"A noise."

"Obviously a noise. What kind of noise?"

"Like a ... something dropped."

"It's probably just the wind," AJ said, but I saw his eyes scanning the broad garage too. "C'mon, man, we'll just go quick."

A car door slammed.

"It's just people," AJ said softly, his voice a whisper. He moved behind a van, pulling me with him.

"Then why are we hiding? If it's just people."

"Just because."

Right.

Footsteps echoed from up ahead. From where we had to get to.

"It's probably no big deal," AJ said slowly.

"Right ... Probably not."

"But I'll go check it out for us, alright?"

"AJ, no ... Don't."

"Nick, c'mon, man. Then what?"

"We'll stay together."

"It's easier if you stay here and I come back for you. Or vice versa."

"AJ-"

"I'll be right back. Just stay put."

"What if you don't come back."

"I'm coming back," he answered with a frown. He hesitated. "Alright, listen. Ten minutes. If I'm not back in ten minutes, then you can come after me."

"A hell of a lot can happen in ten minutes, AJ, what if-"

"Nick, my man, stop. Ten minutes. Stay right here."

"I'm not going anywhere," I said, rolling my eyes. "Go."

He looked at me a second and then disappeared around the side of the car. I heard his soft footsteps moving away and waited.

And waited.

I got a weird feeling in my stomach after awhile. Something must have happened. I didn't have a watch, but it felt like hours had passed. At least ten minutes.

I rested a hand on the side of the van and moved along the side of it slowly, trying not to make any sound at all. I didn't even breathe.

I got about three cars down before someone grabbed me from behind. Someone big. I tried to scream, but their hand was over my mouth before I could even open it.

"Be quiet," a deep voice said slowly. I breathed in deep through my nose. God. I was going to die. "Are you going to scream?"

I shook my head no and the hand came away from my mouth. It hovered there a second but I stayed silent and it dropped down. The hold on me didn't let up though.

"Where's AJ?" the low voice questioned.

"I don't know, what'd you do with him?"

"Which way did he go?"

"Towards the signs over there. Did you hurt him? If you hurt him I'll kill you."

The man chuckled deeply and I frowned. What was so funny?

"C'mon. Don't fight me or I will hurt you."

Great, just great. He started pulling me with him, heading towards the direction AJ had disappeared to. Well, AJ, it had been ten minutes and now look.

-

Chapter 21

~Howie~

We sat in the stairwell a second, trying to catch our breath. Well we had made it. This far at least, but we were out of that room and getting somewhere. That was the major step.

"You guys okay? Howie?"

I nodded. "Yeah."

"Brian? You alright?"

"Mm-hmm." He moved against the door and felt the handle. "Is there any way we can lock this? At all?"

"I don't think so ..." Kevin looked the door up and down. "No. You guys want to rest a minute or keep going?"

"Keep going, he's gonna come and -"

"Bri, relax, buddy." Kevin turned around and faced both of us. "It's gonna be fine. We're okay."

"Yeah well let's just keep on moving so we stay that way," came Brian's answer as he pushed away from the door and started down the cement steps.

Kevin let out an exasperated breath and exchanged a look with me. I just shrugged.

"C'mon, let's catch up with him," Kevin said, started down the first step. I glanced back at the door before starting forward and he saw me. " 'D, c'mon."

"I'm coming ..."

Brian was waiting for us around the next flight down, arms akimbo. "You know, if Frank follows us he's gonna think we went to the first floor-"

"And he'll be right." Kevin dropped his hands on Brian's shoulders and tried to move him forward.

"No, then maybe we shouldn't do what he expects." Brian tried to twist away from the hold. "Maybe we should go on the second floor or something."

"Brian, now's not the time to get into the head of a psycho."

"I'm not, I'm just saying ..." Brian trailed off and let out a breath, getting that look he always got when somebody didn't see his way. And I knew what was coming next. "Howie?"

I caught his look. "Yeah?"

"Howie, don't you think I'm right?"

He was whining now.

"Bri, I don't think ... Look, I see your point but I don't see how that's going to help us any either." I think he was still spooked from before.

"It will help us ..."

"No it won't," Kevin broke in. "It won't, Rok. We're just gonna go to the first floor ..."

"You just hate to be wrong, don't you?" Brian turned and glared at him. "You always have to be right. I'm always wrong."

"This isn't about who's wrong or right." I could tell Kevin was trying to be patient. Brian was just acting weird, I think from before. "Look, I don't want to argue with you-"

"Then don't."

"- but we're not gonna run around floor hopping just to try and outwit this guy. No way. Honestly think about it, babe. How is that going to help us?"

"It will." He didn't sound so forceful this time. He sounded tired.

"It won't. C'mon. We're wasting time just standing here."

Brian let out a sigh and then gave me a look as if to ask why I couldn't just agree with him. I shrugged.

"C'mon guys ..."

Kevin hung back next to me as we started down the next flight. Our footsteps echoed in there. "You think he's okay?" His voice was low.

"He's freaked."

"Yeah ..."

"He'll be okay."

"Yeah," Kevin said slowly. "He better be."

~AJ~

"Don't move."

I froze.

Shit.

"Turn around slowly."

I turned slowly and found myself facing two darkly dressed guys with sneers on their faces. Damn. I hadn't even heard footsteps. The taller one moved toward me and grabbed me by the arm roughly.

"So we finally meet ... Where's the blonde one you were with?"

I didn't answer.

"Where?!" He waited a minute and then shook me a little. "I don't think you understood me. Where's the other kid you were with?"

"I don't know who you're talking about. Nobody's with me."

"Like hell!" He hit me and I sucked in a breath. "Where is he?"

"I don't know!"

He stared at me a second. "If we run into him down here, both him and you are gonna be sorry."

I just stared back at him, setting my jaw. I just hoped that Nicky would have the smarts to get out of there and not play hero.

"Damn, man, c'mon," the other guy started. "Let's hurry this up."

The guy with the grip on my arm started dragging me to the elevators and I fought to get away with him. It wasn't that easy. Before I knew it he had me up against the hard wall and a tight hand on my throat.

"Listen here kid-"

A shot rang out from out of nowhere and I jumped. The guy's partner fell to the ground with a thud and I saw a growing red stain on his chest. My stomach rolled and I looked away.

The man holding me turned without letting me go. "Who's there?"

I held my breath.

"If you don't show me who you are I'll shoot the kid."

I squeezed my eyes shut and felt like I was really going to be sick.

"Listen, whoever you are, if you really think-"

Another shot rang out, echoing in the garage, and the hand on my neck grew limp. I stared in horror as the man's eyes rolled back into his head and he slumped away from me. I moved away quickly. Ugh. Ugh.

Lord.

"AJ?!"

Nick's voice came around me, but I was feeling kind of dizzy and I couldn't tell what direction it was coming from. I heard another deeper voice telling him to shut the hell up and frowned.

I took a deep breath and tried to calm myself. Two dead guys. Just like on TV. No big deal. Not at all. Didn't bother me. Nope. Not at all.

I heard Nick telling the guy to 'let me go you big ape' and he must have listened because then the kid was right there next to me.

"AJ? AJ, you okay?" He grabbed my arm.

"Yeah, Nicky, fine. You?"

"Yeah ..." Nick frowned and glanced behind him with a nervous look. "Except this big guy is gonna kill us, so we gotta get out of here, c'mon. He shot those two guys that had you, but I don't think ..."

"T?" I stared at the large man behind Nick in shock. I'd recognize that face anywhere. How could I forget.

"Hey AJ."

And that deep voice ... I frowned.

"You know him?" Nick asked incredulously. "No you don't. What the heck, AJ, c'mon. Let's get outta here."

"No, wait, Nick-"

Nick had tried to move past the man and pull me with him, but T had another plan in mind. He caught Nick's arm again. "You're not going anywhere, kid ..."

"Yeah I am."

"No you're not."

"Yeah, I-" Nick cut himself off and looked back at me. "AJ?"

"Nicky, this is T ... Remember I told you guys?"

"T?" Nick repeated. He looked at the man in surprise, but I don't think he was trusting me one hundred percent. "I thought 'T' was dead."

"Dead?" T repeated. He looked at me.

"You were all ... You got shot."

He chuckled that deep low laugh. "It takes a lot more to get to me than one bullet."

Nick looked back and forth at the two of us. "That's great ... Super. But I don't think -"

"Both of you are staying with me," T interrupted. "End of story."

"AJ," Nick tried. He gave me one of his 'are you crazy' looks and then frowned. He shook his arm out of T's hold. "AJ ..."

I shrugged at him. How was I going to convince him that this guy could be trusted? I mean he had saved Howie and my life, what more could I tell him?

"AJ, c'mon." Even T was losing patience.

I looked at T and back to Nick."Nick, just trust me on this one okay?"

I got a glare in response.

"Hate to break this up, but this isn't exactly the best place to be hanging out right now." T pointed toward the elevators and gave us both a look. "C'mon. I will hurt you if you don't listen to me."

"Are you crazy," Nick hissed as I pulled him with me.

"Nick, this might be our chance."

"Yeah, but still."

The elevators dinged as they opened and we stopped talking as we were confined in the smaller space. He was just going to have to trust me on this one. And I was going to have to trust myself.

"So what brought you back?" I looked at T.

"AJ don't talk," T muttered.

I guess things hadn't changed much.

Second Time Around

- Chapter 22 -

~Brian~

I knew what I was talking about. They just didn't believe me. But I was right. It was going to be one of those 'I told you so' situations. But I didn't want that. All I wanted was to not go to the first floor. Because I had this feeling that if we did, something bad was going to happen.

"C'mon guys ..." I couldn't help the pleading tone in my voice. They just didn't understand.

This was the last chance. We were standing in front of a door in the stairwell that said Level 2. The next flight of stairs would take us to the first floor.

And that would be that.

End of story.

"No. Let's go, Littrell." Kevin's voice had one of those non-arguable tones.

"Bri, it'll be fine. C'mon." Even Howie was on Kevin's side.

"Why are you always in charge? How come we have to do what you say all the time?" I didn't bother with the fact that it was two against one now, so it was more like a democracy anyway.

"This is just my opinion on the matter."

"Then why doesn't my opinion count?" I demanded, holding onto the wall.

He and Howie exchanged a look. I hate that.

"Look, I know you're scared. I know he freaked you out up there, but this isn't going to help anything. We're wasting time as it is."

Wasting time.

Frank was getting closer every second we stood here.

"Fine, you guys go down wherever the heck you want but I'm gonna stay here," I answered, glancing at the door and pushing at it slightly. If they didn't want to believe me, then fine. Their loss.

But instead of an answer, I was physically caught and pulled away from the door. "We're not splitting up, we're going down to the first floor, no more arguments."

I tried pulling away from Kevin, but that's not a very easy thing to do sometimes. Especially when you're shaken up.

"Let me go," I objected. "Howie ..."

"Kev, just let him go."

Ha.

But Kevin still kept a hand on my shirt. Like I was going to take off. As much as I didn't want to go down to the first floor, if that was where they were going, then I was going to come too. Only because I didn't want to go off solo too much here.

"Okay, fine," I muttered. I knew I wasn't going to get my way. "Let's go."

"It's gonna be fine, buddy. You're just building it up in your head and scaring yourself."

"No I'm not, Kev."

But maybe I was.

As we got closer and closer to the end of the last flight of the stairwell, I felt my heart speeding up and I got this weird feeling in my stomach.

"You know this is the part in the movies when the music gets really loud and fast," I whispered. "And everybody sitting watching starts going 'Nooo don't open the door...', and then the stupid people in the movie open the door and whatever they were running from is right there ..."

Kevin just wrapped an arm around my neck, pulling me into a loose chokehold. "We're going to be fine," he said lowly. "Alright? I don't like seeing you getting worked up."

Well some things you just can't help.

"Alright?"

I nodded slightly and he let me go.

If he didn't like seeing me getting worked up he shouldn't have made me come all the way down here.

Howie pushed open the door and I cringed as it let out a creak. I got pushed out before either of them too, either I was bait or they wanted to make sure I was going.

I held my breath for a minute, looking up and down the hall both ways. It was empty.

"See, nobody?" Howie said, and his voice echoed slightly.

"Shh," I hissed.

The two of them just exchanged another look.

~Nick~

AJ was crazy. I was getting convinced of that.

I don't know if he was crazy the whole time, or whether that hit to the head outside the bathroom really made him lose it. Probably a bit of both.

Speaking of bathrooms. I turned my hands over to look at them and frowned. Still bleeding a little. I hoped we would get out of here before I bled to death.

"Still hurt?"

I looked at AJ and nodded, turning them back over.

"We'll have to get it checked out and make sure you don't have any glass in the cuts."

I made a face at him. Just thinking about that made me cringe. They hurt enough already.

"Guys, quiet."

I glared at the big man, and he just glared back at me, then turned away to keep talking on his phone. I didn't trust him. 'T' or whatever. He probably wasn't even the same guy that helped AJ before. I mean especially if AJ was crazy and all.

"Nicky, trust him," AJ said in a soft whisper. We were sitting in a hallway against the wall where T had politely told us to park it while he talked to who knows who on his little phone.

I hesitated. "I can't."

"Why?"

"I don't know ..."

"Don't you trust me?"

I nodded.

"Then if I trust him, can't you?"

"I don't know, AJ ... "

"Do I trust just anybody? C'mon, man. Don't be scared."

"I'm not scared," I lied, glaring at him.

"Yeah, well I am you little fibber. But I'm telling you-"

"Will you be quiet already?" the deep voice warned. T moved back closer to us, grabbed AJ by the arm, and slid him a good five feet down the wall from me. I made to move but the man held up a finger and I froze. "You stay put and be quiet."

I didn't answer. When I glanced at AJ he just sighed and shook his head. But the second T turned his back to us, I scooted back to AJ's side.

"You're gonna get your ass kicked," he muttered.

"I thought you said we could trust him."

"That means listen to him, don't piss him off."

"Yeah well I don't have to listen to him."

"Well then listen to me. Do what he tells you to do."

I glared at him.

"Nick, c'mon man, I swear to you-"

"Dammit to hell, guys. What the hell don't you understand about staying put and being quiet?"

My stomach sank because T really did look like he wanted to kick my ass. Maybe I should listen to him afterall. My eyes widened as he moved toward us again.

But he froze suddenly and glanced down the hall to the right as if he heard something.

"Hold up. I'm gonna check something out ... Stay."

We both nodded and watched as he jogged down the hall to go check it out. With it being quiet, I could actually hear something up that way.

I could tell AJ did too.

"Maybe we should hide," he said.

Sounded good to me. I heard voices suddenly. From the other direction too.

"That janitor's closet," I said, pointing across the hall a little ways. AJ nodded and we both got to our feet, moving toward it quickly.

We got the door open and looked inside. It was roomy enough. I guess. He pushed me in first and then came in behind me, pulling the door shut.

And that's when I regretted it.

It was pitch black in there.

I hated the dark.

Almost as much as I hated small spaces.

What a winning combo. I felt my heart speed up.

"AJ," I whispered unsteadily.

"Sh, it's alright. It's just me and you."

He knew I didn't like it in there.

"Just breathe easy, little man. We won't be in here long."

"Okay ..."

We were just gonna hang out until the coast was clear.

-

- Chapter 23 -

~Howie~

"Should we risk it?"

"It's not really risking much," came Brian's reply.

I stared down the hallway before us. Going further through the next door would take us to what was no longer considered the 'backstage' area. Meaning open to everybody. Meaning chance of riot. Chance of being stampeded to death. "Kev?"

"Bri's right, we don't have much else to lose."

"It's safer there anyway," Brian continued. "I mean, we'll be around more people. Right now it's just us and like ... people lurking. At least there we'll have security."

"Security's seemed to have disappeared," Kevin muttered. "But yeah. Pretty much. Wait though, hold up," he added as Brian seemed ready to go.

"Wait for what?"

"Plan?" Kevin looked at me.

"Now you want a plan," Brian muttered. "Alright, I have a plan. We go up there, look for a phone. Look for security. Get help, and get out."

"That simple, huh," I remarked.

"What more of a plan do we need?"

"We-"

A gunshot rang out from somewhere down the hall and we all jumped. It sounded kind of distant, but with a gunshot you can never be too far away.

"I like my plan," Brian said with a frown, starting to move. Kevin caught his arm.

"Stay close."

"You stay close."

"Wait, guys wait a second ..." I thought I had heard something.

They both turned and looked at me like I was crazy.

"What, you wanna see how close it can get before we die?" Brian asked with a frown.

"What is it?" Kevin asked, obviously ignoring Brian's comment.

"I thought I heard a voice..."

"Of a madman?"

"No, Brian." I shook my head, too busy thinking to let his comment bother me. "You remember that guy me and AJ told you about?"

They both looked at me as if they were trying to remember. Brian raised his eyebrows slightly but Kevin looked lost.

"The one with the letter for a name?" Brian asked suddenly.

I nodded. "Yeah, T."

"Oh ..." Kevin remembered. "What about him? You heard him?"

I nodded. That deep, deep voice. I would recognize it anywhere.

"That's nice, Howie, real nice. C'mon guys, let's go already."

This time both Kevin and me caught Brian.

"You really think you heard him?" Kevin repeated, keeping a hold on his cousin even after I had let him go.

I nodded.

"Positive?" Kevin insisted.

"Yeah."

"He's a good guy, right?" Brian asked. "Cause if you're thinking about going back there ..."

"You can wait here," I offered, but I regretted saying it after. I didn't want to go back alone either. I hoped Kevin would come with me.

"Well if you really think you heard him ... Why would he be here?"

"I don't know," I admitted. "But he helped us out last time. Maybe he just has a vendetta against Frank or something."

"Did you hear his voice before or after you heard the shot?" Brian asked.

"After."

"I guess it's possible that if he's after Frank he would be here," Kevin said slowly.

"I think we should go back and check it out. Just in case. He could help get us out of here."

"What do you think, Bri?" Kevin asked.

"I guess ..."

Kevin looked at me a second as if trying to decide. "Okay. Let's just go slow. It's not really smart to be heading in the direction of gunshots."

"I'm glad you at least realize that," Brian said. "I was beginning to get a bit worried there, Kev."

"Yeah well."

"So are we going?" I asked.

"I'm gonna stay here, alright?" Brian gave us both a look.

"Yeah pal, just don't go nowhere," Kevin said.

"I don't plan on it," came the smiling answer. Then he turned serious again. "You two be careful."

"We will. We'll be right back."

"With help," I added.

"Oh I hope so."

~AJ~

Nothing.

Silence.

There had been a gunshot five minutes ago up the hall, and I think we both stopped breathing. I didn't hear any more voices or anything.

"Nick?" I whispered.

"Yeah."

"You alright?"

"Yeah."

I leaned back against the wall, trying to ignore whatever was digging into my side. We had sat down and in the process of knocking over various other crap, I had been wedged up against a bucket or something.

"You think he's dead?" Nick whispered.

"T?"

"Yeah."

"No, I bet he's the one who shot somebody."

Nick didn't answer for a minute. When he did his voice was in an even softer whisper. "I know I didn't trust him much, but I hope he's not dead."

"I know, Nick."

"When he first went to check out the noise I was kinda hoping that something would happen to him but I take it back now."

I smiled slightly in the dark and shook my head. Did he feel guilty about thoughts? "I know," I repeated.

"If he's dead, I'll feel real bad."

"There's nothing to feel bad about."

"Yeah but if something happened to him."

"There's nothing we can do about that now."

"But still. I would-" He cut himself off.

"What?" I frowned in the dark and accidentally hit into something that made a clatter.

"Shh!" Nick hissed.

I waited a second. "What?"

But by then I heard it to.

"Footsteps," Nick said in a low whisper.

"Maybe it's -"

"Shhh ..."

"Nick, it might be T."

"It might not."

"But it might."

"Might not."

"Might-"

"Shhh. Please, AJ?"

I was quiet for a minute, listening to the footsteps move closer, pause, and continue on their way.

"Frack, if it's T he's not gonna know where we are. He'll think we took off."

Nick didn't answer.

"Nicky?"

"Yeah maybe, but if not's him then we're dead. Is it worth the chance?"

"We're gonna be stuck in here a million years, man." I shifted on the floor and knocked over the bucket. I heard whatever was inside of it fall out.

"AJ, be quiet," Nick hissed, hitting me. He's lucky he got only my arm.

"I am quiet."

"Then show me."

"Psh. We're gonna wait a little bit and then we're coming out."

"Coming out of the closet, AJ?" came Nick's reply. And he laughed.

"You're not funny." This time I hit him, none too gently and with better aim then he had had. I heard him let out an 'oof'. "At all."

He didn't answer. I shook my head. Let him sulk.

"Five minutes," I said.

"Fine."

-

Chapter 24

~Kevin~

We made our way down the hallway slowly and quietly, hanging to the side of the wall. It was quiet then, I couldn't hear any voices or noises from up ahead. It was too quiet. It made me nervous.

Howie kept glancing behind himself, as if to make sure I was still right there. I kept glancing behind myself to make sure no one else was right there.

Howie stopped walking abruptly and I had to catch myself before I collided with him.

"What's the matter," I whispered, touching his arm as I moved out from behind him to have a look.

"There's ... Uh. look there."

Damn.

My stomach sank at the view in front of us on the floor. To the side of the hallway, on the tile floor, a man in uniform lay with a growing dark stain on his chest, his head posed at a weird angle. His eyes were closed and his face was a pasty white.

I pulled Howie closer to me and glanced around, a little more anxious. I expected someone to jump out at us at any second.

"You think he was good?" Howie whispered as I kept a hold on him.

"That guy?"

"Yeah."

"I don't know, 'D," I said honestly. And I didn't know. A uniform didn't neccessarily make a good man. I swallowed and tried to keep my eyes off the sight of the guy. I pulled Howie away physically and tried to think.

"I think we should keep going," Howie said suddenly, interrupting my thoughts. "I swear I heard his voice, Kev. And if we can catch up to him that's our key out of this."

He was right. I nodded slowly.

"Alright," I agreed, keeping my voice low. "I trust you on this. Let's go so we don't keep Brian alone too long."

We started to edge down the hallway slowly again, trying keep our distance from the guy on the floor. I don't think either of us could help but stare, but it made us sick.

I got this weird feeling that we were being followed, but everytime I turned my head to look back, nothing was there. The hallway was empty except for the two of us.

"He shouldn't be too far," Howie whispered, glancing back at me. "I mean, if he shot that guy."

"If he shot the guy," I repeated, trying stress on the fact that someone else might be down here. I was suddenly feeling pretty uneasy about the whole thing. We were basically walking into fire.

Howie just looked at me for a second and then concentrated his attention on ahead.

Ten minutes later, I was getting frustrated.

"Howie?"

"Yeah."

"I'm thinking we should head back, bud."

Howie frowned.

We're not getting anywhere and Brian's sitting back there alone. If he's even still in the same spot."

"Yeah, but Kev if we can just find T ..."

"Well let's keep looking, we'll just head back to where we started from as we look, alright?'

Howie seemed hesitant, but I just shook my head. We were just getting further and further away.

"Okay," he said finally, and we started back in the direction from which we had come. I felt a little better, mostly because I had been starting to feel guilty for leaving Brian alone such a long time. The guy was freaking himself out enough with us there, let alone without us.

We just needed to get out of there. I was getting that followed feeling again, and I began to think that Nick's fears had finally rubbed off on me.

Nick.

I frowned as I got that kid on my mind.

"You know what's weird?" I said suddenly.

"What?"

"We haven't run into Nicky and AJ all." I was starting to make myself worry just thinking about the guys.

Howie was quiet for a minute, and I caught his frown. "Well they were supposed to be finding help too, I'm sure they would have gotten pretty far in the time we were upstairs," he said finally.

Always reassuring. "Yeah, you're right. They're probably pretty far."

~Brian~

I hated waiting.

Waiting was not a good thing. It made the mind crazy. In fact, wasn't it true that people who are alone for a long period of time go crazy? They start talking to imaginary friends and like eating bugs.

I shifted on the floor and wondered how far away I was. If they didn't come back soon I didn't know how much longer I was going to last just sitting there.

Maybe they forgot about me.

Actually that's what I was hoping more than the other reason they might be delayed. They could forget about me all they wanted as long as they came back eventually.

Preferably soon.

Very soon.

I layed down on my side and shut my eyes tightly. I just wanted this whole thing to go away. I wanted to do our show and go home. Go home and never have to think like this again.

Everytime I shut my eyes I felt the coldness of Frank's gun right next to my head and a chill went through me. I actually shivered. Just a millimeter away. If I hadn't moved ...

My eyes shot open and I took a deep breath, trying to calm my stomach.

I wasn't going to think about that, I wasn't going to think about that.

I just had to keep my eyes open. Another shiver went through me and I sat up slowly.

Alright, enough with waiting. They could forget me as much as they wanted but I wasn't about to just sit around and freak myself out. I would rather catch up with them.

They couldn't blame me for being lonely and scared, could they?'

I pulled myself off the ground slowly, using the wall for support. I hesitated a minute and then started down the hall in the direction Howie and Kev had gone. Eventually I'd have to bump into them right?

Or into someone else.

"Hey. Hold up."

I froze against the wall at the deep voice.

"Don't move, don't make a noise."

I wasn't about to. I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to keep breathing. Why was I so dumb, why, why, why. Why couldn't I have just stayed in the one spot. Why-

"Kid, hey kid." He hit my cheek, but not hard. My eyes flew open.

"You alright?"

No, I wasn't alright. I shook my head no, wishing I could disappear through the wall against my back.

"Listen to me," he started.

I was listening. I was trying hard to breathe too. Trying very hard to listen. I was-

"Hey. I'm not gonna hurt you, kid, relax."

Relax, relax. He wasn't going to hurt me. I tried to see if he had a gun.

"You listening?"

"Uh huh."

"I'm gonna help you, alright? What's your name?"

"Brian," I answered slowly.

"Alright Brian. You're with AJ and the blonde kid?"

"AJ and Nick. Yeah." I nodded slightly and tried to breathe steady. A thought hit me. "Wait, where are they? You know where they are?"

"I did," the man muttered.

"What do you mean, you did?"

"I did," he repeated annoyedly. "And if they had stayed where I told them to then I would still know where they were."

"Oh ... " My stomach sank. "Did you run into anybody else in the hallway?" This guy seemed kind of trustable. He hadn't shot me yet.

"Should I have?" came the response.

I just sighed. I was disappointed.

"What."

"Kev and Howie went to try and find some dude named T," I said, looking down at the floor. "Howie swore he heard his voice and that the guy would help us out or something. But that was awhile ago and they're not back yet so ..."

I looked up and the large man had an amused look on his previously hard face. I frowned.

"You're him, aren't you."

"You're pretty smart, kid."

I don't think he meant that. "So you're a good guy?"

He shrugged. "If you want to call it that."

"Did you shoot somebody?"

He just looked at me.

"Do you have a gun on you?" I asked cautiously.

He started to pull it out as if I had asked to see it, but I jerked back and away. No more guns. The man frowned and let his hand drop down.

"Yeah, I do," he said instead.

I stared at him, not even realizing I was moving back slowly until he caught my arm.

"Listen, kid, I'm on your side, alright?"

Alright. Sure.

"I want you to come with me."

"I can't," I said quickly. "I have to wait for Kev and Howie. They told me to stay in one spot."

"You weren't staying in one spot when I found you."

Good point. I hesitated.

"Come with me." His period of introduction was over and now he was all business. I sucked in my lower lip and glanced up and down the hall. No one else was in sight. Where the heck were Kevin and Howie?

"Just don't shoot me."

"I'm not gonna shoot you," he muttered, grabbing my arm. "C'mon."

-

Chapter 25

~Nick~

"One .... two ..."

"Wait," I interrupted in a whisper. I tried to listen.

The only thing I heard was AJ cursing under his breath.

"One ..." Now he was being loud. I frowned, expecting someone to shoot us through the door any second. He sighed. "Nicky, I would think you would want to get out of the dark already."

"I do." And I did. I really did.

"So what's the problem?"

"Well let's think about this, shall we?" I cleared my throat. "Let's weigh the options. Being in the dark ... or being shot. Being in the dark ... being shot. I don't know, it's a toughie. Which would you-"

"Two," he interrupted with an annoyed tone. I don't even know why he was counting off. Probably the sole reason of driving me crazy.

Well, if I was going to die, then I might as well get it over with. "Three," I finished, reaching up for the knob and shoving the door open.

There was a thud.

The door collided with something.

Something that cursed.

I screamed.

AJ let out a grunt as I slammed backwards into him to try and get away from whatever it was the door collided with.

Someone said, "What the hell" and I thought I recognized the voice but I was too busy falling because AJ and his grace had lost his balance when I barrelled into him and decided to go for a dive back into the closet. We landed in a heap among the various objects that had been invisible to us only moments before.

A hand pulled the door open wider as I held my breath and prayed my heart wouldn't explode.

Wait a second ... Kevin?

"Kevin!!"

"Nick?"

"Howie!" I squealed.

They were both right there!

I wondered if I was hallucinating. But no, Kevin was pulling me off the floor of the closet with a grin and as soon as I got to my feet I threw my arms around him tightly.

"What the hell were you doing in a closet? Playing seven minutes in heaven?" He hugged me back.

"More like eternal minutes in hell," AJ muttered as Howie helped him up. "Eternal minutes in hell with Nick."

"I resent that ..." I was attacking Howie with a hug next when I suddenly noticed something. I let go of Howie and hung back onto Kevin, frowning at him. "Where's Brian?"

"He's down the hall a bit," Howie said, throwing an arm around AJ. I nodded slightly.

It was all good.

Nothing to worry about.

I tried to convince myself that we could get out of there now.

"You guys are okay?" Kevin was asking. He had a hold on me now like he was never letting go.

"Pretty much." AJ shrugged. "You guys?"

"Yeah," Howie answered.

There was a moment of silence. We just stood there like we couldn't believe we were seeing each other again. I felt so relieved, like a weight had been lifted. But I wanted it to be over fully.

"Can we get out of here now?"

"I hope so, kiddo," Kevin said, giving me a squeeze.

"Is this over?" AJ asked. "I mean, is Frank gone? Is it safe?"

Howie and Kevin exchanged a look at his question and I frowned again. That was never good. "Why're you looking at each other like that?"

"Like what?"

"Like that," I repeated. I glanced back at AJ, but he was frowing too. I leaned into Kevin. "Why?"

"We're not even looking at each other, bro."

Yeah right.

"Can we go?" AJ interrupted.

Howie nodded. "Yeah, let's start to walk ..."

~Brian~

"Where are we going?"

Silence.

I must have already asked the same question at least three times, but either the guy didn't know the answer or he was doing a really good job of pretending he didn't hear me. Something told me it was the latter.

He was pressing the button for the elevator now and I was starting to get a little worried.

"Where are-"

"Garage, kid, alright?" He gave me an irritated look. "We're going to the garage."

"Why?"

"I think it's safer."

"Safer? You think?" I frowned.

"Yes," came the annoyed growl. I began to wonder whether he even had a plan or if he going on whatever he 'thought' was best at the moment.

The elevator light popped on and as the metal doors slid open I found myself being physically moved inside. I pushed against his arms but it was like pushing against a cement wall. The man didn't move.

"Howie and Kev will kill me if they come back for me and I'm not there," I tried, but he was pressing the button on the panel for the garage level and the doors were already closing shut. I pushed the 'Door Open' button desperately and they started to open again.

T pushed me roughly and I fell back against the wall of the elevator. "Do that again and I'll hurt you."

I stayed there, staring at him.

"Listen kid, you have more things to worry about than your buddies being mad at you. Don't be an ass."

I didn't answer.

"If you want, I'll go back up and look for them after we get set down here."

"What about me?"

"Stick where I tell you to and you'll be fine."

Alright. I nodded slowly.

The elevator dinged to announce our arrival at garage level and the metal doors popped open.

"Stay here a minute," he said, pushing me back as I started out with him.

"Don't push me."

"If anybody but me comes, shut the doors," he directed, pushing me again. I narrowed my eyes.

Once he was gone, my mind started going nuts. Now was my chance to escape, to get back to Kev and Howie. Honestly, I didn't know whether I could trust this guy. I mean, he could be lying to me the whole time.

None of it was true.

He wasn't going to go back for the guys.

The only reason he was checking that no one else was down here was so he could shoot me freely.

I swallowed and felt my heart speed up as a cold chill swept over me. I was starting to make myself panic and wish I had some sort of weapon.

"You didn't take off, good job."

He was back.

"C'mon," he said, pulling at me. Then he paused. "What's the matter?"

"N-nothing."

"Did you see somebody?" He glanced behind himself, and I shook my head. "No one else is down here, kid. Let's go. Watch your step."

The added warning was due to the two bodies sprawled in wet redness on the cement floor only a few feet from the elevator doors.

I swallowed, suddenly feeling sick.

"You said nobody else was down here ..." My voice was caught in a whisper.

"Well, they're dead, Brian. I didn't go around counting the dead onces." His voice was sarcastic.

"There's more?" I tugged away from him, away from the bodies. I'm not staying down here, no way."

"It's safer." His gruff voice was slow and steady.

"I'm sure they thought that too." I shook my head quickly. "Half the people down here are dead!" My voice was getting louder and it echoed off the damp cement walls.

T clamped a hand over my mouth. "Shut up."

I couldn't answer but I fought to pull away from him as hard as I could. The man didn't even budge from his stance.

"You done?" he asked gruffly after I had paused in my stuggle. I had only succeeded in tiring myself out.

I didn't answer. I couldn't anyway, his hand was over my mouth.

-

Chapter 26

~Kevin~

Almost out of here, almost out of here. I kept repeating it in my head, as if saying it a few times would force me to believe it. I wanted to believe it.

It was a major relief, to say the least, to have AJ and Nicky back. And in one piece. As far as I could tell, aside from being as shaken up as the rest of us, they seemed no worse for wear.

As long as we all got out of here okay I could count myself lucky.

"Too bad the A-Team isn't here," Nick muttered softly.

"Charlie's Angels," AJ threw in.

"The Mob Squad." Howie sighed.

They all seemed to look at me then for my two cents so I shrugged. "Batman?"

There was a collective groan.

"Batman's not real." AJ gave me his 'duh' look.

"He's as real as Charlie's Angels."

"He's a fictional character."

I wasn't going to argue. The kid had his own logic.

"Oh well, at least Kev knows Kung-fu."

"I don't know Kung-fu, Nicky."

"You don't?"

"No ..." I couldn't tell if he was serious or not.

"Oh. I guess we're screwed then, huh?"

Guess so.

"Oh shit. I'm gonna be sick. Man. God! Ugh!"

I looked up sharply at AJ's sudden outburst and it was only when I saw it again that I remember the uniformed body we had to pass in order to get back to Brian. It was just as shocking seeing it again as it had been the first time and I almost had to fight a gag reflex.

"I'm gonna puke," AJ repeated, and he sounded pretty weak too. I caught his arm and pulled him to me loosely.

"Don't look, Aje, we gotta pass it so just try to ignore it."

"Ignore it? Ugh," he moaned, but his shrugged his shoulders. His brown eyes looked disturbed.

"C'mon, Nick," I heard Howie saying. When I looked back at the two of them, Nick was staring hard at the wall.

"Is he sick?" I asked. Howie shrugged and gave me a helpless look. "Nicky, c'mon, baby," I tried. "Just don't look and it'll be past before you know it. Alright?"

He shook his head.

I felt stuck. I breathed in slowly, trying to make my muddled brain work. It felt like I was stuck in some sort of twisted nightmare.

"Howie, why don't you start ahead with AJ? Me and Nick will catch up with you."

Howie nodded silently and I moved toward Nick as the two of them started past the distraction. I winced when I looked at the image again but quickly averted my eyes.

"Nick."

He glanced at me for a quick second but then was staring at the wall again.

"C'mon, pal. It's just like one of those horror movies on TV you always watch."

"It's not a movie." The statement was directed to the wall.

"I know that, kiddo. I don't know what to tell you. But I want to get out of here as much as you do, alright?" I sighed. "C'mon, bro, I'm doing it too."

He shrugged his shoulders.

"Brian's waiting."

That got him.

~Brian~

"Here."

I turned and froze.

A gun.

He was holding a gun out to me.

I stared at him. I knew where he got the extra too- off of one of those guys we had passed back by the elevators. The thought of even touching it made me sick.

"I want you to have it just in case."

"I don't want it."

"Put out your hand."

"I don't want it." I took another step backwards and felt the cement wall behind my back this time. I was almost glad for the support it offered.

T looked like he was at the end of his patience. "If somebody comes while I'm gone I want you to shoot them."

"I'm not gonna shoot anybody, man. Uh-uh." I shook my head at him, frowning. "I'll just hide."

"Look." He grabbed my hand before I even blinked and wrenched it out in front of me, pressing the cold metal weapon into it. "Take it, alright?"

"I'm not shooting anybody," I repeated softly, looking him straight in the eye.

"All you do is pull the trigger. Right there. And see, kid, you should trust me now, I'm putting a loaded weapon into your hands. Do you trust me?"

I shook my head. Slowly though, because I wasn't really sure.

"I'll be back in a short time. Stay right here." He released my hand and the no longer supported gun fell to the ground with a noisy clatter. I jumped, expecting it to go off. Ever since the close call with Frank in the bathroom I wasn't taking any chances.

"I'm not using it."

"Well just leave it there then, shorty. If somebody comes you better use it before they use it on you."

I swallowed. "Be fast," I told him.

"I will."

"And bring back everybody."

"I'm aiming for it, kid."

I nodded. I almost trusted him. How could I not? He disappeared back in the direction of the elevators and I stared at the shiny metal gun at my feet.

It was ugly.

I leaned my head back against the wall and tried to breathe in deeply through my nose. I was feeling sort of dizzy. I couldn't get the image of the bloody corpses out of my mind, no matter how hard I tried to think of other things.

I tried to think of the guys. I couldn't figure out how it was that I got left alone in this. I should have gone with Kev and Howie when they wanted me to. Now look.

I was an idiot.

Such an idiot.

I wondered where I was going to be tomorrow. Or even the rest of the night. A sudden chill went through me.

I glanced back down at the object at my feet and gave it a tentative kick with my foot. It made a scraping nose against the light concrete. I didn't want to pick it up. Did he really expect me to?

I just had to hope that no one else would venture down here before T returned. I almost missed the big guy already. As much as I may not have trusted him, he was at least some sort of protection.

Right now, I had no protection at all.

And then, I thought I heard a noise. I held my breath and waited. Was it the elevator? T wouldn't be back so soon, would he? I swallowed and tried to listen, keeping my back against the wall. I was afraid to move.

-

Chapter 27

~Howie~

The hall was empty.

We had come around the final corner and no one was there. At first I thought I didn't remember correctly. I tried not to get worried and had almost had myself convinced I was wrong when Kevin and Nick caught up with us and I heard Kevin's opinion on the matter.

"Oh shit."

Then my stomach sank.

Brian was gone.

"Oh shit what?" I heard Nick say as AJ elbowed me.

"What is it?"

I swallowed uneasily and glanced at Kevin. He looked up and when our eyes met I saw a look of fear.

I sucked in a quick breath. Damn.

"Howie ...? This is where we uh ..." Kevin hesitated and I just nodded reluctantly, watching as the little trace of hope left Kevin's eyes. Yeah, this was where we had left him.

"Where what?" Nick demanded. He looked at me and then back at Kevin, obviously getting irritated at the increasing seconds of silence. What were we supposed to say? A million thoughts ran through my head, and I didn't want to be the one to say it first. "Where you what?"

"Shit," Kevin repeated again, and I watched as he leaned against the tiled wall and sank down to the floor slowly. He massaged his temples and ran a hand through his hair anxiously.

"Howie, what the hell." AJ looked at me with a frown. "Are you gonna say anything?"

I didn't know what to say.

Nick dropped down next to Kevin on the floor and grabbed his sleeve. "Kevin." He started to tug on his arm but the older man just shook his head in warning and Nick stopped.

"Maybe he came to find us, Kev," I said softly.

Nick's head shot up. "What?" His blue eyes blazed at me from the floor. "He? You mean Brian?" A sudden realization seemed to transform his face. "This is where you left him? Is that it?"

I nodded slowly, still not saying anything, and Nick's angry gaze sank to the floor.

"Wait up," AJ spoke up. "So you left him here? Right here. And he's not here now."

"Bingo," Kevin said from the floor tensely.

"Where is he?" Nick was starting to panic. I was starting to freak. AJ was starting to pace. "Where the hell could he go?" Nick continued. His voice broke and I started hoping he wasn't going to cry. "Kev, where could he go?"

Kevin shrugged his shoulders and rubbed his face with his hands tiredly. He was silent. "I don't know, baby. I just don't know."

"You don't think ... I mean, Frank couldn't-"

I elbowed AJ gently and he cut off mid-sentence, sending me a look. It was a mix between worry and 'don't elbow me'. He started pacing again.

"We gotta find him, we gotta look for him," Nick said desperately. He started to get up but Kevin finally raised his head and grabbed the back of his jeans to pull him back down.

"Lemme think, Nick."

Nick just nodded through his worried daze and kept still. I tried to think myself and still only I came up with two possible scenarios. One, Brian had given up on us coming back and had gone to look for us himself. Or two, Frank had come.

I think we were all thinking the same thing.

"So what're we going to do?" AJ stopped his pacing.

We all looked to Kevin, like we always looked to Kevin, expecting him to have some sort of answer. I had never known him to not have some sort of answer.

I was almost beginning to worry that this time might be different. Then he spoke.

"We'll look," he said finally, straightening up. "And I swear to God if we don't find him-"

"We'll find him," Nick interrupted. And I could tell he was desperately trying to believe that. "We're gonna find him."

Kevin nodded absently, ruffling the kid's hair slightly before pulling himself off the ground. "I know."

We started in some direction, I think the direction that we had just come from, and I tried to get my mind off the idea that Frank might have something to do with Brian's disappearance. But we hadn't been gone that long, had we? And we hadn't been so far that we wouldn't have heard had he called for us.

"Howie?" AJ asked softly, moving in next to me.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think he just went looking for you guys? And that we just didn't run into him?"

I glanced at him and felt a tightening in my throat as I saw how his brown eyes betrayed his fear. I nodded slightly, sucking in a breath. "Yeah ... that's what I think."

AJ seemed to think about that for a minute. "So do you think-"

"Hey," a deep voice suddenly interrupted from behind us.

We all froze.

"Oh no," Nick muttered as we turned around. It was T. I felt a wave of relief wash over me suddenly.

"That's T," I whispered to Kevin. He nodded slightly as the larger man approached.

"Hey," he said as a short greeting. "C'mon. The cops should be here shortly and Brian's downstairs."

"Really?" Kevin looked relieved.

"What'd you do with him." Nick's voice was accusing.

"Nothing, kid. C'mon, let's go."

~Brian~

The noise.

It was like a mechanical grating, the sound of the elevator. I held my breath as it stopped and footsteps picked up its sudden silence.

Maybe it was T. Maybe he was back. But if it was him then that would mean that he hadn't found the guys, because there was only one person's steps.

Hollow, echoing steps.

I inched along the wall, sliding my hands along its rough cemented surface for some kind of support. When I reached the end I just stood there and listened.

The footsteps were moving away, and then back. Like they were looking for something. That was how I knew that it wasn't T- he knew where I was, and he wouldn't have to look for me. This guy seemed to be checking if anybody was down here.

Which would mean he would probably come across my spot pretty soon. I warily looked around the corner and froze at who I saw.

Frank.

Shit. The feel of the gun against my head in the bathroom came back to me and I suddenly felt really dizzy. My legs got this weak sensation. Oh God. I made a quick prayer to him not to let me die.

I swallowed quickly and started cautiously back to my original spot, trying not to breathe or make any noise. My heart was going to explode any second, I could feel it coming.

Alright, Brian, think.

I couldn't stay in my spot, I had to move. I looked around frantically for some place to go, and my eyes caught on the main part of the garage where there were rows upon rows of cars. It was as good a hiding place as any. Looking for someone in there would be a maze.

Okay then. I just had to move.

I was working up the guts to take the sprint when my eyes caught a glimpse of the dark gun on the floor in front of me.

I had almost forgotten about the thing. It was staring at me with this taunting 'take me, take me' sort of look. I swallowed again. I didn't want to touch it. I really didn't. But if something happened, maybe it would be better to have it just in case?

T's words about using it before somebody used it on me soon echoed in my head and I shut my eyes for a second, quickly deciding. I would take it. Just in case. What was the harm.

I picked it up carefully, trying to holding it in a way that would have my finger as far away from the trigger as possible. It felt cold and unnatural in my hand, but I forced myself not to drop it.

The footsteps were getting louder now, and I took a deep breath before I quickly made the dash from the safety of my wall and into the soup of cars.

I held my breath, almost expecting the footsteps to race after me, but their pace stayed constant. He hadn't noticed. That was a relief at least, and as I slowly made my way through the cars I could almost breath a little more confidently. I rested my free hand against the side of an SUV and moved along slowly, trying not to make any noise.

From where I was now I couldn't even hear the sound of the elevators. Everything seemed to echo over.

I was nearing the end of where cars were parked when I heard a noise. A shuffle, a footstep.

Shit, he was right there. I felt my hand tighten on the gun nervously and wiped my forehead with my sleeve. Oh man, oh man. I looked down at my hand and shut my eyes as I moved my index finger up to the trigger. I didn't even know what I was doing.

Then there was the sound of a heavy footstep less than ten feet away and I shot by accident before I even saw who it was. My hand was shaking and my finger just pressed and it went off. I screamed simultaneously and so did the person, and as I let the gun fall from my hand I looked up.

Nick.

The gun was still clattering on the cement floor when I recognized his face behind the car. Shit.

My legs suddenly gave out and I grabbed on to the side of the van next to me before I sank to the ground. My face probably looked a lot like Nick's- sheet white with an open mouthed look of shock.

"Brian?"

Dear God. My stomach felt like I had dropped twenty stories. I almost killed him. My best friend. I shot at him. I almost shot my baby brother. I couldn't move.

And then a whole load of shots rang out and I instinctively ducked behind the hood of the van. I raised my head to call to Nick but right as the words left my mouth, Frank had grabbed him and had a gun to his temple. Oh God.

-

Chapter 28

~Nick~

Oh God, oh God, I couldn't breathe. I squeezed my eyes shut until it hurt and prayed for it to go away. But it wasn't going away, and the cold metal pressing into the side of my head was making me nauseaus.

And I kept hearing the shot, the empty hollow sound echoing through my mind, that came from Brian. Brian had a gun. I squeezed my eyes shut harder until I saw red.

"Shut up," somebody hissed into my ear. "Shut the hell up."

The pressure against the side of my skull grew even harder and I heard this faraway whimpering sound. It took me a second to realize it was me.

Voices, I heard voices. Arguing, whispering, and then the voice in my ear was yelling. Telling somebody to shut up. To be quiet or he was going to shoot.

I heard Brian. Talking, he sounded scared. I tried to make out what he was saying, but then the gun came off my temple and the voice in my ear was screaming at him to shut up. To be quiet or he was going to shoot.

I waited for the explosion but I heard nothing.

No shot, no Brian, no nothing.

There was this weird rush through my head and then the pressure was back on my temple, digging into me. I felt a burning in my eyes as the tears came. I was going to die. After everything it was going to be over right here, right here.

Nothing was happening, I still heard the voices but they weren't making any sense. I opened my eyes for a split second and the room was spinning. I saw movement.

And then I was being pulled, but my feet weren't working.

"Move, dammit," the voice in my ear was growling. "Move or I'm gonna shoot you. Do you want to be shot?"

I couldn't answer him. I tried to say something but it was like it was no longer me, and I couldn't tell myself what to do. I was stuck there.

"Nobody move!" the voice yelled. I felt somebody else with me and then there were hushed voices.

" ... the perimeter ..."

"- flashing lights," came a murmur. " ... any second."

"Hold them off," the voice in my ear argued, and I realized the hushed voices were partners, associates. I heard them move away but I didn't want to open my eyes.

Oh God, oh God.

"Shut up," was hissed in my ear. Crazy, he was crazy.

I didn't even realize I was making any noise. I felt pain suddenly and realized I was clenching my fists, including the sliced up one. I quickly opened my hand and looked down as best I could, seeing blood.

My head suddenly grew light.

~AJ~

All hell had broken loose.

I don't think much else could have possibly gone wrong from the moment we stepped off the elevator and into the garage. I didn't know where to step next, it was so crazy.

They had Nicky, we had gotten split up, and I had no clue what the hell to do next.

And then I saw Brian. Even though all the shit was going on I smiled involuntarily because I was so glad to see him. He was okay. As of right now, we were all okay. I started to move through the maze of cars, keeping low. I finally got close enough to touch him, and when I did, he screamed.

"Bri, Bri it's me." I covered his mouth out of impulse and moved so close our noses almost touched. "It's me," I repeated in a whisper, bringing my hand down.

"AJ." He sounded so relieved, and the next thing I knew we were hugging. I don't know who had moved first. He pushed me back then, holding my sides and studying me carefully. "You alright?"

I nodded silently and almost felt like breaking now that I had somebody to lean on. But Brian looked like he needed somebody to lean on too so I didn't let go just yet.

"Man, we gotta do something."

"I shot him."

"What?" I thought I misunderstood his words.

"I shot Nicky."

My eyes widened and I quickly glanced over to the side where Frank had Nick in a hold. The kid didn't look hurt in any way so I was a little confused at Brian's statement.

I jumped when I heard a scraping sound and looked down to see he had kicked at a gun on the ground.

"T gave it to me and I wasn't gonna take it but I did just in case 'cause Frank was down here. I heard a noise ..." He trailed off shakily.

"But you missed," I said. Thank God he'd missed.

He shrugged, not seeming convinced.

I shook my head and took a deep breath. "C'mon man, we gotta do something. Any ideas?"

"We have to distract him."

"Yeah ..." I thought for a second. Distraction, distraction. "Wait, I got it." I tried the handle of the car next to me but nothing happened. He gave me a funny look. "Set off a car alarm," I said. "It'll sound like sirens."

Brian nodded, moving down a line of cars and trying each one. I watched him a second and then started down a different row myself, grabbing at each handle.

I jumped about a foot when the car behind me let out a deafening honking that soon exploded into a siren alarm. Mercedes. Nice going, Bri. I crouched down lower and peered over the hood of the car in front of me, in the direction of Frank and Nick.

It had worked. For now at least. I think Frank's schizophrenia had him convinced that the alarm was real live police and he had basically flipped out and dropped his gun. Even though he was still holding onto Nick the threat of the gun was at least gone.

A hand suddenly touched my arm and I jerked away in surprise.

"Easy." It was Brian. "Do you hear that?"

I nodded and gave him a tiny smile. "Yeah man, nice going."

"No, no. Not that siren. Listen."

I listened for a minute with a frown and sure enough, there were other sirens over the sound of the car alarm, quickly getting louder and louder.

Real police.

"Saved," Brian whispered.

"Took them damn long enough," I muttered.

And the next few minutes were a rush that I can't even remember too clearly. All I knew was that about three cop cars sped into the garage at breakneck speed, breaks squealing to a halt as Brian and I watched with round eyes. Frank looked like a deer caught in headlights.

Then some shots rang out and all within a minute Frank was on the floor and the cops were moving in. It all happened so fast that nest thing I knew there were cops by me and Brian, grabbing us, talking to us in calming voices.

"Lemme go," I objected, resisting the older man that had a hold on me. Heavy hands fell on my shoulders and I instinctively twisted away.

"Aje, it's me ..."

"Kev?"

"You alright?"

I nodded through my daze and let him pull me into an embrace. I hugged him back tightly. As soon as I pulled back he cupped my chin with one hand and made me look at him.

"You sure you're alright?"

I nodded again and he dropped his hand. I watched as Kevin pulled Brian into a hug that lifted him about a foot off the ground. "Where's Nicky?" I started. "Is Nicky okay?"

People were nodding.

"Where's Howie?"

"Behind you," I heard Howie's voice say.

And it was over.

-

Chapter 29

Two weeks later

~Kevin~

Dream-filled, haunted nights.

I rolled over in my bunk and stared up at the ceiling with heavy eyes. It only took a minute before your mind would shift to that certain thing, and you'd start to sweat, start to breathe a little heavier. It was almost involuntary.

Sleep seemed out of the question. The dreams stole that away. It had been almost two weeks now and I was beginning to feel it wear on me.

I rubbed my eyes tiredly, propped up my pillow a little more, and gave up on it. My watch read 1:36 am. I listened to the humming sound of the tires on the highway, felt the vibrations beneath me, and shoved open the curtain to my bunk. I gave up.

By the sounds of the TV in the back, it sounded like I wasn't the only one that had given up either. I was almost afraid that the whole non-sleep thing was becoming a little too routine.

I made my way to the back of the bus and stopped in the doorway. It looked like everyone had given up tonight. The four of them were sprawled over each other on the long couch back there, tired eyes glued to the TV. It didn't look like sleep was a prospect any time soon.

"Having a party without me?" I spoke finally, entirely regretting it when they all jumped in surprise and Nick actually let out a cry. I frowned and moved out of the doorway. "Sorry," I said quickly. "Did I scare you?"

"No," Brian lied promptly, making room for me next to him. As I squeezed in beside them and accepted the offer of sharing a blanket, the thought crossed my mind that there hadn't been one night in this whole two weeks that I hadn't awoke and taken part in this routine.

Not a good thing. I pulled Nick to me and rubbed the back of his blonde head absently. "Guys, I think we should really talk ..."

"Not during I Love Lucy," AJ objected softly. Alright then.

"When's it end?"

No one answered and when I looked at the bottom of the TV screen I knew why. The words 'I Love Lucy Marathon' scrolled across in bold letters. Nice try, AJ.

I shook my head and leaned across to peel the remote control out of Howie's hand, flipping off the TV. There was a sudden silence, the whirring road the only sound.

"We can't keep doing this, guys."

"Doing what?" AJ asked with a frown. He knew exactly what I meant.

I rubbed my eyes tiredly. "This. Coming in here every night."

"I like coming in here every night," Nick countered, looking down at his bandaged right hand absently.

"No you don't."

"Yes I do."

"No, you just don't like trying to get to sleep."

He didn't answer.

"Everything's fine, Kev, we just didn't wanna miss the Lucy marathon," Brian told me. I don't know how the kid kept a straight face, but he did.

"Brian-"

"And you're making us miss it," he continued, pulling suddenly at the controller that rested loosely in my hand. I quickly tightened my hold on it and gave him a warning look. We had gone this far without talking, we were going to talk.

"Look guys, it's me too, alright? I can't sleep either. We can't keep doing this."

"Yeah well we always thought you needed therapy, Train," AJ answered in a joking voice. I rolled my eyes.

"If I were sitting next to you right now you'd be hurting, Aje."

"Glad you're not."

"Well so what're we supposed to do," Howie said. He looked at me for an answer and I suddenly wasn't too sure what to say. I had wanted to talk this over, and now that we were, I wasn't so sure what I was supposed to say. I was in the same boat as they.

"That's the thing, what can we do? We all know this shit is over, it's not gonna happen again-"

"That's what we said last time," Nick interrupted. "We said that after last time and look what happened."

"Yeah," Howie agreed. "But this time is different. There's nobody that can come back. I think that's what we have to convince ourselves."

"Right, it's over. And we all came out of it okay ..."

There was a moment of silence and I guess we were all arguing in our heads whether we really were all okay.

"You know what I keep thinking." Brian surprised me by speaking up suddenly, even though his voice was really quiet. "I keep thinking that I almost shot Nicky ..."

I sighed, wrapping an arm around his neck. I think we had been through this every day, but he still couldn't get the guilt out of his head. "But you didn't, buddy. Nobody's blaming you for anything."

"Forget it, Frick," Nick added, and I had to give him credit for that because I knew it was bothering him too. I realized that this whole thing was going to take a long time. And I had a feeling this wasn't going to be the last of our sleepless nights.

"Kev?" AJ sounded tired.

"Mm?"

"Can we just watch TV again?"

Why not. At least we had talked a little. The TV would at least would put us to sleep eventually. I flipped it back on with a sigh just as Ricky Ricardo was coming through the door.

"Lucy, I'm ho-ome."

THE END