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AJ literally fell into the lobby of Brian’s apartment building; his knees hitting the marble tiles as he scrambled to catch his breath and to regain his composure. His lungs were burning from the combination of the cold and the adrenaline, and it took almost all of AJ’s remaining strength to pull himself back into a stranding position and stumble towards the elevator. He jabbed at the upwards arrow with all of the force that he could muster and leaned against the wall to steady himself. The elevator doors parted and AJ lurched inside. He pushed the button for the third floor and closed his eyes along with the doors.

Had had made it. He was safe – for now. AJ’s stomach churned. What about Nick? Nick hadn’t made it. Nick wasn’t safe, and it was all his fault. He shouldn’t have left him. He shouldn’t have run away like a coward.

The elevator arrived on the third floor and AJ dragged his feet down the hallway towards Brian’s unit. His legs felt abnormally heavy. His jeans were soaked and practically frozen to his skin, and he could actually see the ice crystals clinging to his beard. For the first time since he had started to run, AJ realized that he was freezing; that his body was dangerously cold.

After what seemed like an eternity, AJ reached Brian’s apartment. He lifted his fist and banged on the door as loudly as he could, his body sagging against the frame. He had never felt so cold and exhausted in his entire life.

“AJ, what hap ...?”

Brian pulled open the door and stopped short as his friend’s body swayed towards him. There was too much for him to take in all at once. AJ was trembling. His clothes were soaked. His face was streaked with ice, and his eyes were wide and wild.

“I left him.” AJ wheezed. His legs gave out as he moved to step into the apartment and he welcomed the warmth and tightness of Brian’s embrace as his friend’s arms stopped him from hitting the floor. “I left Nick all alone.”

Brian gasped. Not from AJ’s words, but from the bitterness of the cold that was radiating off of the other man’s body. He stumbled under AJ’s weight as the front door swung shut with a loud bang. “AJ, you’re freezing!”

“They-they came and they-they took him.” AJ sank to the floor, taking Brian down with him. “I-I just ran away.”

“You ran away from what?” Brian was barely listening. He was too preoccupied with the fact that AJ was now shivering uncontrollably on the floor. “Never mind, you can tell me later.”

Brian untangled his arms from around AJ’s torso and leaned his friend gently against the wall. He pushed himself off of the floor and hurried down the small hallway into his temporary master bedroom. He yanked a random assortment of clothes out of the closet before turning towards the dresser in search of socks. Brian could actually feel his heart beating against the confines of his chest as he gathered the clothing and ran back down the hallway to where AJ was waiting for him by the front door. Something was terribly wrong. What did AJ mean when he said that he had ‘left Nick all alone’?

“Here!” Brian tossed a pair of his jeans and a hooded sweatshirt in AJ’s general direction. “Take your clothes off!”

“Aren’t you at least going to make me dinner first?” AJ feigned shock as he snatched Brian’s clothes out of the air. His skin was starting to tingle as it warmed up, and he could feel his heart rate gradually returning to normal as the adrenaline slowly left his body.

Brian rolled his eyes, but he couldn’t stop the smile from creeping across his face. The fact that AJ was cracking jokes was a good sign. “There’s no time for dinner.” He drawled. “I need you to get naked right now!”

“I always knew that you had a thing for my butt.” AJ got tentatively to his feet; fighting against the weakness in his legs. He tugged at the zipper of his jacket and shrugged it off of his shoulders before depositing it in a wet pile on the hardwood floor.

“AJ, what happened?” Brian’s voice had lost its easy tone. He instinctively held his breath as he watched his friend continue to shed his wet clothes. “Where’s Nick?”

AJ clenched his teeth as he buttoned Brian’s jeans around his hips. Nick’s earlier reference to Brian’s ‘hobbit sized pants’ flashed through his mind. Nick had made that comment less than an hour ago, but it seemed like a lifetime ago. The fear and the dread immediately came rushing back as he pulled Brian’s oversized sweatshirt over his head. Where was Nick?

“These two guys ...” AJ took a long, shaky breath and started over. “We were walking over here to your place and we hailed down what we thought was a cab. These two guys got out of the car and started chasing us down the street. I mean, like, for real running after as like they wanted to kill us or something. I mean, I guess they kinda did want to kill us seeing as how they were shooting at us. Anyway, we were running and Nick slipped on the ice and then one of the guys caught him by the leg ...”

Brian’s mouth fell open. “AJ, are you trying to tell me that Nick has been kidnapped?!”

“I wanted to help him, Bri!” AJ took another ragged breath. Fat, wet tears were starting to slide down his cheeks. “Like I said, he fell and one of the guys was on him so fast that I didn’t have a chance to help him. There’s no way that I could have fought these guys off by myself; they were massive! Nick – he – he – told me to run. I shouldn’t have run though, Brian! I should have tried harder to help him. Now’s he’s gone and it’s all my fault! What if they kill him?! If Nick ends up dead, it will be my fault!”

“They’re not gonna kill him.” Brian felt as though he were operating on autopilot. He didn’t believe a word that was coming out of his own mouth, but he couldn’t think of anything else to say.

For the second time that night, Brian allowed AJ’s body to sag against his. He twisted his arms around his friend’s back; his fingers clutching at the fabric of his own Kentucky Wildcats sweatshirt as he struggled to keep his tears at bay. The thought of Nick alone, and scared, and fighting for his life was too much for him to handle. His mind felt fuzzy; he didn’t know which thought to concentrate on. As worried as he was about Nick, he knew that AJ needed him to be strong; to reassure him that he had done the right thing.

“This isn’t your fault, AJ.” This time, Brian believed the words as he said them. “You did what you needed to do. At least, now, you can tell the police about what happened. If these men, whoever they are, had managed to capture both of you than I would have been left here alone with nothing to go on.”

AJ wiped frantically at his tears with the back of his hand as he forced himself to pull out of Brian’s embrace. Brian’s words had made him feel slightly more confident that he had done the right thing by running away, but nothing would ever be able to ease the guilt that was growing in the pit of his stomach. Nothing, that is, aside from the sight of Nick standing unharmed in front of him.

“I should call now. The police; I mean, I should call the police.” AJ stumbled over his words. “Not that I really know what to say. I’m no good at describing shit man. This is why we have Kevin ...”

“Kevin!” Brian’s head snapped up at the mention of his cousin’s name. He had completely forgotten that Kevin had left; that Kevin had yet to come back.”

“Where is ...” AJ trailed off as he watched Brian’s face grow pale. “Oh shit ...”

“He – he – went out to look for you and Nick.” Brian filled AJ in, his voice breaking in the process. “He got all pissed off with me. He thought that you guys were goofing off instead of worrying about Howie. I don’t – I don’t – he hasn’t come back.”

AJ knew that his face was turning as pale as Brian’s. He could practically feel the blood draining away from his skin as his brain processed the implication of Brian’s words. “Howie’s accident ...”

“We’ve gotta call the police!” Brian scanned the apartment for his phone and hurried to retrieve it from the coffee table. “What’s happening? Do you really think that they’ve all been – that they’re all together?”

“Oh God ...”

Brian whipped around just in time to see AJ launch himself in the direction of the kitchen sink and begin to dry heave. AJ must have taken his own phone out of his jacket pocket because the device was now lying on the counter. Brian took a tentative step towards the glowing screen, his own phone clutched tightly between his fingers. Whatever AJ had just seen on the screen was responsible for the fact that he was now being violently ill in the middle of the kitchen.

As much as he didn’t want to look, Brian knew that he ultimately had no choice. His whole body tensed as he forced himself to look at the phone; to take in the image that would likely haunt him for the rest of his life.

A notification generated by AJ’s Twitter account was open on the screen. A message from someone with the handle ‘NetPhantom’ was on full display, and below the message was a three-paned, collage-style photograph depicting solo shots of Howie, Kevin, and Nick. They had each been photographed in some sort of vehicle, and they all clearly had their hands bound behind their backs and pillowcases pulled down over their heads. Brian gripped the edge of the counter for support as he read the accompanying message over and over again. He swallowed hard against the bile that was rising in his throat. He was inches away from joining AJ at the sink.

Phantom @NetPhantom (3 mins)
‘You’re next @brian_littrell and @skulleeroz. You’re next.’