[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
I held my breath as I watched Lizz get shoved into Brian’s crate. As she picked up an arm, the hand flopped around like it wasn’t connected to his body. “He’s burning up you assholes! He’s probably got sun poisoning. Didn’t you give them any water?!” “They didn’t give us anything Lizz, we were out in the ...” the metal bar striking the cage where I sat stopped me from finishing my sentence. “Shut your mouth if you know what’s best for you, Carter,” Marcus hissed. “Can I have some water, a cold cloth, something? He needs to cool down,” Lizz begged. I could tell she was holding back tears, hell I was holding them back myself. Brian was so pale, I’ve never seen anyone look that white. He looked better after his heart surgery than what he does right now. Marcus reached in and tried to pull Lizz out of the cage. She let out a scream something short of what a wild animal would make. As he pulled on her waist, Lizz clung onto the fencing of the cage with her hands. Marcus ended up winning the battle, ripping her hands from the sides, tearing the skin in the palm of her left hand. Terri’s mother approached where Brian laid, a compress in one hand and an ear thermometer in the other. She crouched down and placed the thermometer in his ear. After the quick beep, she looked at the reading. She cleared it and tried it again. “What is it?” I tried to calmly ask the woman. She ignored me, pressing her hand onto Brian’s forehead. “Terri, we need to put him in my room, someplace cool, fast,” the woman said with quiet urgency. “What’s his temperature?” Terri asked. “105.8 and we need to cool him down or he could have some serious problems,” the woman replied. I looked at Lizz and Kyung’s reactions to the temperature. Kyung’s mouth dropped open, but she didn’t say anything. This was frustrating since she was a nurse. Lizz started to let the tears she had been keeping held in finally free. ‘WHERE ARE YOU TAKING HIM? HE NEEDS TO GO TO A HOSPITAL. HE HAS A HEART CONDITION!” I yelled after them as I watched Marcus sling Brian’s body over his shoulder. They ignored my shouts and carried Brian off, out into another section of the place we were being held in. I don’t know if it was because we had been chopping wood out in the heat or if my medication levels were completely off, but that weird feeling was coming back and the room was starting to turn grey. I could barely hear Lizz yelling at me before everything went dark.
~*~*~*~*~
“Stand him up in the shower stall and I’ll turn the cold water on him,” Terri ordered her brother. It was difficult for them to manuever Brian in the shower, his body was completely limp and although he was light, Marcus felt as if he was moving thousands of pounds. He finally managed to pull a plastic chair into the shower and placed Brian’s body into it. Terri turned on the water to the coldest setting and stood and watched Brian as the water beat onto his face and head. “If that don’t cool him down, I don’t know what will,” Terri smirked. Brian started choking on the water when he was beginning to come around. Terri quickly shut the water off. “Welcome back to the real world, Brian,” she cheerily stated. Brian looked around the stall, trying to get his bearings. The last thing he remembered was feeling dizzy and then everything went black. He started shivering, he felt hot and cold all at the same time. Terri pressed the thermometer into Brian’s right ear. “Let’s see what your temp is now.” A blood curdling scream that was coming from the basement, made Brian lean forward to get up off the chair and to where his friends were. Marcus held him back by placing a firm hand on Brian’s shoulder. “Hold on there, you aren’t going anywhere.” “What the hell is going on down there now?” Terri sputtered as she placed the thermometer down on the counter. “Watch Brian, I have to find out what is going on down there,” she called out over her shoulder.

~*~*~*~

“Oh god!! Nick!! NICK“ I screamed. I was still standing in front of Brian’s cage. Marcus had given me to Kurt before taking Brian away. My arms were pinned behind me, but as soon as I saw that Nick was having a seizure, I started to struggle again.

“Shit. What the fuck is wrong with him?” Kurt growled.

“He’s having a seizure. Nobody bothered to give him his meds since he has been here. He could hurt himself. You have to let me help him.” The bitterness and then desperation in my voice was showing.

“What the hell is all the racket?” Terri cried as she came flying into the room. She saw Nick and her eyes grew wide.

“Please, Terri, let me go in there.” I begged.

She glared at me and I could tell she was having a hard time deciding. On one hand, she didn’t want to give into me, but on the other, she didn’t want anything to jeopardize her plans. And if anything happened to Nick, then she might lose out on some of her money. “What if I said I would give you a dose of his med or a dose of yours? One or the other? Then what would you do??” She sneered.

“Give me his.” I replied without hesitation. “Look, just let me go in there long enough to make sure he is okay, then you can do whatever you want with me. Please.” I pleaded. I hated begging her for anything, but my pride was the least of concerns right now.

“Shit! If he dies, he isn’t any good to me. I’m just going to add this to the list of shit you gotta pay for though.” She sighed heavily as she pulled a couple pills out of one of the bottles.

Kurt dragged me over to Nicks cage and shoved me in. Then Terri handed me a glass of water and two pills. “If he isn’t okay, then you are gonna pay, got it?”

“I got it.” I replied. I leaned over Nick and patted his face gently. He had stopped seizing, but he wasn’t conscious. “C’mon Nick, wake up okay? You gotta take these.” After a few minutes I managed to rouse him and get him to take the pills. He was still pretty out of it and I knew it would be a little bit before he totally came around. I crossed my legs Indian-style and pulled his head into my lap. Then I leaned against the back of the cage, totally drained. Terri had since left, followed by Kurt. I wondered where Brian was and what was going on. Kyung was still being unresponsive so I was pretty much alone. My hand was throbbing and I finally took a look at it. The skin was torn up pretty nice and I grimaced. I wadded up the bottom of my sweatshirt in my fist and held it as tight as I could to stop it from bleeding. God, I wished Nick would wake up. The meds would help, but it would take more than one dose. I wondered if I could somehow bargain with Terri to get her to shell out some more doses.

~*~*~*~*~

Terri’s mom paced around the room while Brian feverishly slept in the bed. She kept changing the cold compress and it was helping. His temp had gone down, but not all the way. “Marcus?” She called her older son.

“Yeah?” He appeared a moment later.

“Do any of those bottles of pills belong to him?” She jerked her head towards Brian.

“Hell if I know.”

“Well go check.” She snapped.

Terri came in a moment later with a bottle of pills. “Mommy, he is supposed to be working and so is Nick.” She glared at Brian’s sleeping form.

“Terri, baby, when his concussion goes away, he will be more than able to keep working. Until then we have to keep him still. He isn’t any good to us dead. And as for Nick apparently he needs those damn seizure meds.” Her mom explained.

“Well, it’s gonna cost him then. And that little bitch too. She’s gonna get what’s coming to her. I hate her momma.” Terri’s face twisted to show her anger.

“I know sweetie and don’t worry, they are both gonna pay. They all will.” Terri’s mom promised.

At that point Brian started to come around.

Brian’s eyes quickly darted around the room. The last thing he remembered was sitting in a shower with cold water beating on his face. It took him a few moments to put the pieces together. Terri shook the brown vial of pills she had in her hand. “Hey Brian, what are these pills for?” Brian’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the bottle. “It says: Brian T. Littrell, Dr. Sherman Stephanovich, take one 25mg table twice daily. Lasix. What’s that for?” “They’re mine,” Brian mumbled. “No shit, I just read your name. What do you need them for?” Brian’s eyes started drooping. He was struggling to keep awake. He had a terrible headache and he reached up to touch his forehead but drew his hand back when it came in contact with the cold compress. “So is this life and death medication or what?” Terri persisted on answers. “Eventually,” Brian quietly replied. “Eventually? What the hell kind of answer is that?” Terri snapped. Brian weakly cleared his throat. “It’s a water pill, it keeps the fluid levels down in my body. My heart can’t take excess fluid and it’s compromised and this just helps it out.” “So what do you mean by eventually?” Terri questioned. “Meaning, the longer I’m off it, the more fluid can build up in the pericardium, as if you’d know anyways,” Brian snapped back, irritated at having to explain something to this girl that wasn’t understanding or realizing the seriousness of her situation. Terri pasted a fake smile on her face, tossing the vial of pills on the dresser. “Well, Brian, you have to make a choice here. I’m leaving the entire sacrifice in your hands. Either you get your lasix on schedule or I can make sure that Lizz gets her medication on sechedule, OR, Nick gets his anti-seizure meds on schedule. By the way, he just got finished having a seizure, just thought you’d want to use that in your judgement of who gets what.” “You can’t make me chose! That’s not fair.” Brian argued. “Oh yes I can, don’t you see Brian? I control everything, I have you guy’s meds and I can do what I damn well please. I mean I don’t plan on killing any of you, I just plan on you getting really sick and then I rescue you for a bit and let you get sick again. Pretty simple, huh? So, who’s it gonna be?”

“Definately skip my meds, I can live without them, but please, for the love of God, give Lizz and Nick their meds. They desperately need them.”