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"Alright thanks, yeah I'll let you know if I hear anything" Nick said hanging up the phone.

"Nat's mom?" Brian asked.

"Yeah, she hasn't seen or heard from Nat" Nick said.

"This isn't right, what the hell is going on over at that school?" Brian asked, Nick felt his phone buzz.

"Neilson?" Brian asked.

"No, text from Howie, Harry's okay" Nick said.

"Well that's great for Harry, but what about the others?" Brian asked.

Vicki paced around with her phone in her hand "Something is wrong Sash, I can feel it" Vicki said to Sasha.

"This is crazy, I've called Neilson how many times now, I've called Nat apparently she doesn't answer her phone either" Sasha said irritated. "I've called the house, I called over to the elementary school, all of the boys are still unaccounted for" she said.

"Excuse me? Are you Dr. McAdams?" Mrs. Geary asked approaching Vicki.

"Uh yeah, that's me, can I help you?" she asked.

"I'm Gloria Geary, I run the library at Hilridge High School" she said.

"Oh right" Vicki said "Hi, can you tell me if you've seen my son at all today? Bradley Littrell?" she asked.

"That's what I wanted to talk to you about, Bradley was scheduled for study hall in the library today and he never showed up" Mrs. Geary said to her.

Vicki looked at Sasha "Was Neilson Carter supposed to be there too?" Sasha asked "It's okay, I'm his mother."

"Oh...oh yes of course, I'm so sorry, but yes, both Bradley and Neilson failed to show up for study hall" she said.

"Okay uh...what about Natalie Cappel? Neilson's girlfriend? was she there?" Sasha asked.

"No none of them!" Mrs. Geary said "Oh I'm so sorry" she said sadly.

"No it's okay, we appreciate you telling us" Vicki said.

"Yes, thank you" Sasha said.

"How...how are Mr. Burns and Coach Reinhart?" Mrs. Geary asked.

"Oh uh, I'm not completely sure but if you ask someone at the nurses' station I'm sure they'll tell you" Vicki said.

"Thank you dear" Mrs. Geary said walking away.

"I knew something was wrong" Vicki said.

"We have a problem" Sasha said to Nick.

"What now?" he asked.

"Bradley, Neilson and Natalie are missing, they were supposed to show up for study hall and they never did" she said to him.

"Well that doesn't mean anything, they've ditched study hall before" Brian said.

"No if they did ditch they would've came here or went home as soon as they heard about this" Vicki said to him.

"No one's home I already checked" Nick said defeated.

"Exactly” Sasha said.

"Where could they be?" Brian asked.

Vicki spotted Melissa sitting in the waiting area, her face paled and bleak "Miss... hey, you alright?" Vicki asked getting her attention.

"AJ called me" Melissa said.

"Okay..." Vicki said as they all approached the waiting area and took seats "Adam and Kyle are being held hostage by Damien Winchester" she said in disbelief,

Both Brian and Nick groaned in aggravation "Oh god not that kid" Brian said.

"Who's Damien Winchester?" Sasha asked.

"Some little prick the boys go to school with" Nick said to her.

"He and Kyle are on the football team together, his dad's some big-time business man which apparently gives him license to act like a jackass...he's been picking on the boys for years" Brian said.

"Winchester...as in Derek Winchester?" Vicki asked.

"Yeah that's his dad" Brian said.

"You know him?" Sasha asked.

"He's on the hospital board he donates thousands of dollars to the hospital every year" Vicki said.

"What happened?" Sasha asked.

"Damien came and took Kyle and Adam from their classroom and now he's holding them hostage" Melissa said.

"Oh my god" Sasha said "Are they okay?"

"They don't know they're waiting on the swat team but they haven't heard any gunshots" Melissa said to them.


~*~



"We have to do something" Adam whispered to Kyle.

"Like what? He has a gun!" Kyle said to him.

"I don't know! You're the football player, tackle his ass or something!" Adam said to him.

"Are you insane?!" Kyle asked him in a harsh whisper.

"What are we having social hour over here?" Damien asked them as he fired more shots towards the ceiling, causing the lights to spew out sparks.

Kyle pushed Adam down as they huddled together and hid behind one of the lab stations.

“Stay down!” Kyle said to him as he stood up “You want to do this Damien? Let’s do it” Kyle said "You made your point okay? You're pissed off and you have every right to be, you deserved that award just as much as I did maybe even more than I did" Kyle said to him. “You want to the MVP award? It's yours take it, I don't care, it’s in my locker alright? Just go get it, it’s yours" Kyle said. “it’s not worth it, just let this whole nightmare be over” Kyle pleaded to him.

"This isn't just about the award this is about everything else you've taken from me!" Damien yelled at him, Kyle looked at him confusedly.

“I haven’t taken anything from you!” Kyle said to him.

“Oh yeah? What about quarterback?” Damien asked "Everything I ever wanted, everything that was supposed to be mine, you took from me!” Damien screamed at him.

Adam quietly peeked over the table and spotted a glass beaker, keeping his eye on Damien. Kyle stood up against the table, while shielded by his back, Adam pushed the beaker towards him. Kyle’s eyes shifted as he felt the beaker against him.

“And everyone just loves you so much, friend to everyone, straight-A student…it makes me sick” Damien said, tears forming in the corner of his eyes.

Kyle reached behind him grasped the beaker in his hand, Damien came closer, the barrel of the gun mere inches away from Kyle’s chest. Adam grabbed a pair of goggles from underneath the lab station.

“Damien I’m…I’m sorry” Kyle said “I didn’t mean to…I didn’t realize this stuff was so important to you” Kyle said, the beaker still tight in his hand.

Adam then threw the goggles against the wall, grabbing Damien’s attention, Kyle smashed the beaker over Damien’s head and grabbed the gun, Damien still held on tight. Harry opened the door to another floor, he could hear voices coming from the science lab, he quietly crept towards the door as the voices were getting louder and more familiar. Kyle punched Damien in the face, his nose began to gush blood as Damien kneed him in the groin, struggling over the gun.

Harry slowly opened the door “Kyle?” he asked.

“Harry” Adam said, Kyle and Damien still fighting over the gun, the metal glistened in the light when there was a deafening bang.

Natalie and Neilson looked around as the gun shot echoed throughout the school.

"What was that?" he asked, wrench still in hand.

"It was another gunshot" she said to him as he began to bang harder on the glass with the wrench.

Natalie knelt down beside Bradley, she looked around and saw something lying on the floor of one of the stalls. She stood up and opened the stall door, she saw a brick laying there by the toilet, she quickly picked it up.

"Neilson" she said "Use this" she said handing him the brick.

"Where'd this come from?" he asked.

"They use it to prop the door open we must've kicked it aside when we were blocking the door" she said.

"Stand back" he said to her Neilson heaved the brick towards the window, it broke through "Got it" he said knocking the excess glass away with the wrench.

Harry dropped his bag and looked down, a giant blood stain began absorbing through his sweater vest.

“Harry” Adam said rushing to his side, Harry's knees buckled and he began to collapse.

“H…he shot…he shot me” he said in shock. Adam held onto Harry as he sunk to the floor, Adam grabbed his bag and propped Harry’s head up.

“2 down...3 to go" Damien said wickedly as he smiled at Kyle.

Kyle looked down at Harry who was bleeding profusely, mixed with the thought of Bradley also being shot and all the years of torment and taunting raced through his brain as he heard Damien's evil cackling.

Kyle sunk his teeth into Damien's hand that held the gun so tightly, he bit down hard, Damien screamed and the gun fell free. Kyle then grabbed it and turned it on Damien.

"What are you going to kill me?" Damien asked, still cowering on the floor.

“You think I won’t?” Kyle asked “Why shouldn’t? after everything you’ve put me through? After the hell you’ve inflicted on everyone today?” “tell me why shouldn’t I end your sorry life right now?!” Kyle asked angrily.

"You don't have it in you" Damien said taunting him.

"Try me" Kyle said to him angrily “You shot Harry, you shot Bradley, you’ve been torturing us for years, that’s all the motivation I need” Kyle said to him. “But you know what? As much as I would love to blow your head off, it wouldn't make me any better than you are, besides you'll get yours, when you're in prison and are being passed around like the bitch that you are" Kyle said to Damien "One can only hope" he said before clocking Damien cold over the head with the gun's handle.

"You sure about this?" Neilson asked.

"It's the only way to get Bradley help" she said to him

"Okay, come on" he said lacing his fingers together, she put her foot in his hands and he carefully lifted her up to the window.

She slid through placing her hands on the ground behind her and scooting herself up. "Tell Bradley to hold on, I'm going to get help" she said before getting up and running.

"Bradley, don't worry help is on its way alright?" Neilson said going back to Bradley's side, he stayed silent. "Bradley...Bradley J." he said trying to wake him up "No, come on, Bradley wake up...Bradley!" he said "Bradley, Bradley, come on, Bradley J." Neilson said lightly smacking his face.