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Howie squeezed his eyes shut as tight as they would go, and then slowly opened them. He winced in pain as he attempted to sit up properly. Broken glass was everywhere, bits of metal were strewn around him, and music was playing, the bus radio. Other than that, it was silent.
Attempting to sit up he found he was still strapped into his seat. Undoing the safety belt he pulled himself to his knees and looked around. His side hurt like hell. He seemed to be bleeding everywhere and he couldn’t move his left arm. Then there was the bus. As he knelt there he realised the bus was no longer on its wheels, but on its side. And the glass he now knelt on was that of the broken windows.

“Guys?” he called out “Kevin?”

He waited for a response, but he heard nothing except the radio.

“Brian?”

“Howie?”

Howie looked up to see Brian stagger over to him. He was limping and his head was bleeding, other than that he seemed okay.

“What happened?” Brian asked his older friend.

“I think we crashed.” Howie replied. Brian bit his lip and looked around before helping Howie to his feet.

“Can you walk? We’ve gotta find the others.”

“Yeah, I can. Have you seen any of the others?” Howie said, trying to keep his balance once standing.

Brian shook his head.

“Nick was sitting in front of you though. If we’re both inside the bus, shouldn’t he be in here too?” Howie asked, his concern growing.

Brian nodded. “But he’s not back there. Neither is Kevin.” He said pointing to where he’d just came from.
“Maybe they already got off the bus.” Howie hoped

“Uh… how?” Brian said looking around. The door of the bus would be above them if they were to go to the front of the bus, and the emergency exit was on the floor, making all escape routes pretty much blocked.

“Lets try climbing out one of the sun roofs.” Howie suggested.

Brian nodded. “Is your side gonna be okay?” he inquired, noticing how Howie had been holding it the hole time they’d been speaking.

“It should be fine. But you’re gonna have to help me Bri, cos I can’t move my left arm.”

After what seemed forever, they finally made it off of their wrecked bus.

“I still don’t understand. What happened?” Brian asked once they were on the road.

“There must have been something in the road that Jeff had to swerve to avoid. I think I remember us hitting something too.” Howie said, “Then, from the looks of things, I guess we must have rolled over.”

Brian nodded as they surveyed the damage. Their bus was now currently lying on its side in the middle of the road, blocking both lanes. Broken glass and twisted metal was everywhere, and there, lying in the lane where the bus was supposed to be, was a fallen tree.
“Jeff, must have only just seen it as we came round the corner.” Brian said.

“And when he tried to avoid it the back of the bus must have hit the hillside.”

“Howie. It’s a mountain.”

“I was trying to look on the bright side Brian. Hill’s are so much more welcoming than mountains.”

“Hey, wasn’t Kevin at the back of the bus?”

“Yeah… oh God.” They both ran… or rather hobbled, towards the bus as fast as they could.

“Kevin?” Brian called

“Kev?” Howie shouted

“Oh, so I see I’m not as important as Kevin.”

Brian and Howie stopped to see AJ walking towards them.

“AJ!” Brian said, his voice a mixture of relief and worry.

AJ smiled in reply. “You guys look pretty bad.”

“Yeah, we are.” Howie replied.

“How come you got off so easy?” Brian confused.

AJ grinned, “I’m invincible.”

Howie rolled his eyes, and Brian muttered a “Whatever”

“I am! Look, not a scratch on me… almost.”

“Whatever, we gotta find Kevin and Nick.”

“Well I assume Nick’s gonna be near where you guys were.” AJ said scratching his head. “As for Kevin I’ve—“

“Guys?” They heard Kevin’s voice shout. “Brian? Howie?”

“We’re here Kev, where are you?” Brian called in reply.

“Again I’m obviously just not as important as the rest of you.” AJ commented to Howie.

Howie looked at AJ in the way older siblings do when they’re little brother or sister says or does something weird, and shook his head. “AJ, we just crashed. Our bus just toppled over and we don’t know where Kevin and Nick are; yet you’re talking as though nothings happened. How the hell are you so calm?” Howie asked in a tone that was more one of confusion than anything else.

“I told you. I’m invincible.” AJ replied. “Besides, we just heard Kevin.”

Howie rolled his eyes again. “Whatever.”

“Guys? You gotta get help. Nick’s hurt. Bad.”

At this Howie, Brian and AJ all froze. Although the crash had obviously been severe, they hadn’t realised how severe. When you travelled all the time, you were always getting into minor accidents and they became commonplace events. Up until now, even though the bus was on its side, they thought this was one of those times.

“Where are you?” Howie called trying to remain calm.

“What’s wrong with Nick?” Brian asked, not bothering to hide the panic in his voice.

“We’re by the wheels. He’s really bad guys.” Kevin told them.

“How did you get to the wheels Kev? It’s to near the edge of the road.” AJ asked his stomach quickly tying itself in knots.

“You gotta climb up the hillside a bit to get past the front of the bus. Hurry guys he’s really bad.” Kevin repeated.

The three remaining Backstreet Boys headed to the hillside and began to make their way around the front of the bus.

AJ, being uninjured, was first round and ran towards Kevin and Nick.

“AJ, we gotta get help. He’s not breathing well, there’s something really wrong with him.” Kevin told him.

AJ didn’t say anything for a moment. He just stared at Kevin and Nick. Nick was lying on the floor. Still and on his side, his head in Kevin’s lap. Kevin, himself, just kept repeating that there was something really wrong with Nick and that they needed to get him help soon.

“AJ? AJ?” Kevin said loudly trying to get his attention.

AJ stopped staring and acknowledged Kevin.

“We gotta get help.” Kevin repeated.

AJ nodded slowly. ‘This isn’t happening’ he thought to himself.

Howie and Brian joined him. “What happened?” Howie asked

“How did you get out here?” Brian interjected before Kevin could answer.

“I got up and Nick wasn’t on the bus. So I went looking for him.” Kevin said, his voice filled with panic and anxiety. “He was out here. I think he must have flown through the window or something. I don’t know. But we have to get him help now. He’s really not breathing right.” Kevin repeated.

“Oh God.” AJ said quietly.

“Guys we’ve got to get him help.” Kevin told them again.

“Where’s your cell?” Howie asked AJ.

“On the bus.” AJ replied absent-mindedly. “I’ll go get it.”

AJ ran as fast as he could back up the hillside and round to the sunroof he’d climbed out of. Squeezing through as fast as he could, he ran down the bus to where he’d been sitting and began searching for his cell phone. Or any cell phone. Unable to find one he ran up to the front of the bus to see if there was one there. He jumped back when he saw Jeff. He was dead. His body was slumped against the floor, part of it still being held in the seat by the safety belt. AJ stared at it for a minute. He’d never seen a dead body before, and it wasn’t pleasant. He began to shake as he looked at it, yet he was strangely transfixed.
Howie’s voice tore him away from the sight.

“’J, have you found it yet?”

“Not yet, I’m still looking.”

“Hurry, they’re in a real bad state out here.”

“Howie, Jeff’s dead.” AJ said, his voice breaking.

For a moment Howie said nothing. “Be quick AJ, this is bad.”

“I’ll be as fast as I can.” AJ replied. ‘This wasn’t like them.’ He thought to himself. Normally they could handle things like this. But this time it was different. Jeff was dead. And something had to be seriously wrong with Nick, for Kevin to be so panicked. AJ was pretty sure the oldest Backstreet Boy wasn’t saying everything.

“AJ, hurry up.” Howie yelled at him again.

“I can’t find one anywhere!”

“Get Jeff’s.”

AJ turned back to the body. Jeff always kept his cell in his shirt pocket, which meant AJ would have to reach over him to get to it. Fear began to eat away at him. His hand shook as he reached out and he had to try as hard as he could to watch what he was doing.
After what seemed like an eternity, AJ held the phone in his hand and began to call 911 as he made his way back out to the others.

“Give me the phone.” Kevin said firmly as AJ ran up the group, telling the operator what was happening. AJ said nothing but complied with the request.

“We need an ambulance now.” Kevin almost ordered into the phone. His tone had changed, and he was now a lot more firm than urgent.

“I’m aware of that sir. The ambulance is on its way. Can you tell me anything about the injured person, or persons at the crash site.” The operator replied, her voice ever calm.

“We’ve got a twenty-two year old male, approximately 6foot 2. I’m not sure, but I think he’s had a heart attack. His breathing’s shallow and…”

Kevin continued to talk, but AJ didn’t hear anything after the gasps from Howie and Brian. ‘A heart attack’ he said to himself over and over in his brain. ‘Nick’s had a heart attack?’ He felt his knees give way beneath him, and he saw Brian and Howie run to his side, but still he heard nothing. Nothing, but his voice begin to scream in his head. ‘Nick’s had a heart attack.’ It kept repeating. ‘Nick’s had a heart attack, and the last time you spoke to him, you were screaming abuse at him. You were shouting at your little brother over nothing and now he’s had a heart attack.’ The voice was screaming at him now.

“No, no I didn’t mean it.” AJ began to sob.

“Didn’t mean what?” Howie asked him.

AJ didn’t seem to have heard him. “I didn’t mean it, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” He said again.

“AJ what’s wrong you’re starting to scare us.” Brian asked him.

AJ just shook his head and began to cry into his hands. “I’m so sorry. I’m so, so sorry.”