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Going after them next going after them next

Nick snapped awake, screaming in his hospital bed. He was covered in perspiration and shaking to no end. He did not even notice the presence of his friends in the room, as they rushed to his side.

"Nick! What is it? What's the matter?!" Kevin yelled, trying to get the young blonde's attention.

Nick continued to carry on, his blue eyes terrified and his arms flailing as he tried to fight off the invincible demons that seemed to be attacking him.

Howie looked at the others, his face pale and frightened. "I'm getting his doctor!" he decided, running from the small room.

"Nick, please! Calm down!" Brian begged, taking him into his arms.

The screaming stopped for a minute, as Nick gazed up at his best friend with fear filled orbs. "It's coming for you! Must run..." he babbled, his vision darting over the other boys.

"What?" AJ asked, coming closer. "Nick, what are you talking about?"

"It has you already! AJ, I'm sorry, I tried to stop it, but sheshe took me, I just couldn't!" Nick continued, his heart monitor racing as he took in gasping breaths.

"Nicky, please buddy, just slow down, it's okay," Kevin soothed, gently easing Nick down against the mattress as Howie and a tall balding man rushed in.

"What's going on?" the physician asked, placing his stethoscope over Nick's chest.

"I-I'm not sure," Brian replied, his voice trembling. "He woke up, and he just started screaming! Is he delirious or something?"

The doctor listened to Nick's heart and began to examine his eyes, shining a small flashlight into them as Nick stared blankly at the ceiling. "Nick? Nick, my name is Doctor Harris, can you tell me how you're feeling?"

"Don't worry about me, save them!" Nick insisted, tugging at the doctor's hand.

"Nick, I want you to listen to me, you took a very bad blow to the head last night. You may be experiencing some confusion. No one is going to hurt you. But, I need you to calm down, we don't want you making yourself worse."

The other Backstreet Boys watched in stunned silence as Nick blinked several times.

"I wasn't dreaming! I know I wasn't dreaming! It happened, they HURT me, they-" Dr. Harris held up his hand as Nick persisted in his rant, his voice growing louder and louder.

"Nick, I'm just going to speak to your friends outside, I'll be right back, just relax."

The four men followed the doctor into the hallway, concern etched on their features.

"Something is wrong," Howie started, "he really thinks someone is after him!"

Dr. Harris sighed as he viewed Nick's chart. "I believe Nick is suffering from some sort of post traumatic stress disorder because of his attack last night."

AJ's brown eyes widened as he removed his ever-present sunglasses. "I thought that only happened to like marines and stuff."

The doctor shook his head. "No, it's actually very common in attacks, or muggings or anything where the person is physically harmed to the point of terrifying them. Nick is reliving what happened to him, except I think it's coming to him in his sleep, which is why he wakes up so afraid."

Kevin kept an even gaze with the doctor as he listened to him speak. "Well, what do we do?"

"Right now he is emotionally numb, he's scared it's going to happen to him again. Maybe if you can get him to talk about it, we can help him get on the right track to recovery. He suffered a bad attack last night and he is lucky to only be experiencing these symptoms. The cuts and bruises on his body luckily spared his vital organs, but I'm a little concerned about his head injury. I'd like to keep him a few days for observation."

Brian nodded. "So we should just try and talk to him? Assure him that he's safe now?"

"Exactly," Harris said. 'I'll leave it to you to try and do that because he knows who you are, he trusts you."

"Not so sure about that after what happened yesterday," AJ mumbled.

"I'll check back in on him later when I make my rounds. If he has another episode, I can have a nurse administer a mild sedative to help him sleep."

"Thank you," Howe said, giving the doctor a small smile as he walked away.

***

Nick lay very still in his room. Maybe if he was quiet, the force wouldn't come back, it wouldn't take him again. He sighed with relief as the guys re entered, slowly approaching his bed.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to freak again on you," Nick said, laughing weakly at their faces.

Brian's face remained serious as he took Nick's hand. "Nick, I just want to tell you how sorry I am. I didn't mean any of what I may have said to you to make you angry and I didn't want you to get hurt" he said, his voice cracking as tears escaped his sad blue eyes.

Nick squeezed Brian's hand back. "I know, Brian, this wasn't your fault, it was mine. I didn't do the chant like I was supposed to."

"Chant?" Brian asked, his face a picture of confusion.

"You know!" Nick repeated. "The chant so they wouldn't take me!"

"Nick you are seriously scaring me," AJ said, stepping forward.

"That's how I got hurt!" Nick retorted. "And you toobut I don't know how you got better"

"Nick listen to me," Kevin said gently. "You were attacked last night. Someone hurt you when you went out. What you were having before was just a dream, buddy. It was just a dream but it may have seemed like reality because of what happened."

Nick started to shake his head and then suddenly, he remembered.

It had been late, he just wanted to get back to the hotel after drinking so much. The footsteps had come so quickly and all of a sudden he was struck. Before the world went black, he had seen his attacker, wearing a black ski mask and holding a beer bottle

Nick started hyperventilating, his pulse quickening within him. "NO! DON'T LET THEM TAKE ME AGAIN! I DON'T WANT THEM TO HURT ME AGAIN!"

Brian covered his face as he witnessed Nick's panic attack. This was just too much for him to handle! Bolting from the room, he ran from whatever was hurting his friend so badly.

"No! Brian, come back! You can't be alone!" Nick screamed.

Howie and AJ held him down as Kevin spoke again. "Nick, you need to stop this! You're safe here, no one is going to hurt you! Stop doing this to yourself!"

"Kevin you just don't get it! I'm not dreaming this, it really happened! You know how the force used to come and try and take me, well it finally got me! And it took AJ too! That's not really AJ right there, it's evil AJ!"

AJ couldn't help the smile that came on his lips. "Nicky, it is too me. Stop making this shit up, you're being ridiculous!"

"AJ! He has a head injury," Howie scolded. "he's confused and scared."

"I don't care if you believe me or not but please, don't let it get you too!" Nick screeched.

Kevin turned away from the blonde and glanced at his other friends. "If I ever find the guy that did this to him, I'm going to kick his ass myself!"

"It's not a guy, it's a girl! She works here and she's going to get to Brian if you don't get him! She's crazy and she'll take him to the Shadow Land and put evil Brian in his place, just like she did with me and AJ!"

"Nicky, when was this girl here?" Kevin asked softly.

"Before! Don't you remember AJ? You came in to see me and evil me tried to kill you and then she came in and you guys were here too!"

"Nick, this is the first time you've been awake since what happened. We just got here a little while ago and you woke up a few minutes after we got in the room."

Nick leaned his head back in frustration, turning on his side. If they didn't want to believe them, it was their own fault. "I'd like to be alone now, please," he said curtly.

"Nick, listen, we're always here if you want to talk, please don't shut us out, because right now, I'm not sure what's going on in that head of yours, but I promise you, you are going to get better," Howie told him.

Nick rolled his eyes. "There you go again treating me like a baby. I may sound crazy but I'll prove to you that I'm not! You know, this doesn't fix anything with the group situation. I still plan on leaving."

"Nick, stop being stupid-" Kevin started.

"Kevin, in case you're deaf, I said I wanted to be left alone."

Kevin set his mouth in a line as he stared into Nick's cold blue eyes. "Fine. Howie, AJ, lets go and find Brian. We'll leave Nick and his fantasies alone."

Brian was standing outside in the hall as the door swung open, revealing Kevin, Howie and AJ. His face was tearstained and he saw the feeling of worry he had inside of him on each of his band mate's faces. "What are we going to do guys?" he asked softly.

Kevin leaned his head back against the cold wall, shutting his tired green eyes. "I don't know just yet, Brian. But, we have a problem, a big problem.

***

Nick began to sob as the door shut behind his brothers. He didn't mean any of that. It was just frustrating they didn't believe him! He knew what was going on, he was just a little confused right now in the details. Soon, he would be able to show them what had happened and hopefully prevent the same from happening to the rest. He shut his eyes from the pain in his head and thought over what he had just said to the guys. It did sound a little weird and no wonder they thought he was nuts, but it did happen--didn't it? It couldn't have just been a dream, right? Nick put his face into his pillow, the tears coming quickly.

What was happening to him?