Chapter 13 - Emotional
It wasn't until late that night that Brian finally stirred.
Sierra shook Becky, who had been dozing lightly. "He’s awake!"
The two leaned over their patient.
Brian’s eyes slowly opened. He started to speak, but the sentence dissolved into a groan halfway through.
"Just take it easy," Becky told him. "Try not to move."
The others slowly gathered around.
Kevin knelt next to him. "How ya feelin’, cus?"
"I’ve felt better," Brian managed. "Did we . . . catch the guy?"
For a moment, no one answered.
"Howie and Tom went after him," Maggie said finally. "They haven’t come back yet." I just hope they’re still in one piece.
Everyone sat back down around the fire while Becky and Sierra checked Brian’s wound.
"So, what do we do now?" Karen asked.
"We wait for Tom and Howie to come back," Maggie said confidently.
"What is something happened to them?" Nick asked.
"NOTHING’S GOING TO HAPPEN!" Maggie screamed at him.
"What do we do if they don’t come back?" Kevin asked, despite Maggie.
"We can’t afford to move Brian a long distance," Sierra answered.
"And I don’t know how much longer we can keep him here without proper medical treatment," Becky admitted.
"Maybe we should just give ourselves up to the kidnappers," Karen suggested. "They probably wouldn’t kill us."
"No way!" Brian cried.
"She’s right," Becky said. "We should at least keep it as a last option."
"That bastard shot me!" Brian shouted.
"Bri, take it easy," Kevin said, putting a hand on his cousin’s shoulder.
"I think it was a lucky shot," Nick stated. "He barely looked before he fired."
"Well, if that’s our last option, what’s our first?" Ellie asked.
"First, we wait and see if Howie and Tom are back in the morning. They might have found something," Maggie answered.
Everyone seemed to agree that this was the best course of action.
Nick stood up. "I’m starvin’. Someone come help me make some dinner?"
"I will," Karen volunteered.
~~~
Howie peeked into a darkened window.
"See anything?" Tom asked.
"Not really . . ." Howie answered. "Just some tables and chairs."
"Uh . . . H-H-Howie?"
Howie turned around. "What?"
He and Tom were face to face with the wolf Ellie had described. It growled softly.
"This is not good," Tom said simply.
"Can we make a break for it?" Howie asked.
"For one thing, it could outrun us. For a second thing, no, it’s pretty much got us cornered."
A figure emerged from the darkness behind the wolf. The tall man patted the wolf affectionately. "Good work, Logan."
~~~
The group sat in silence after finishing their meal.
Brian turned to AJ, having been propped against a tree for the meal. "You all right, Bone? Ya haven’t said a word all night."
AJ poked at his half-eaten food.
"Come to think of it, you haven’t said a word all day," Nick continued.
AJ shrugged.
Kevin leaned over and put a hand on his friend’s shoulder.
"LEAVE ME ALONE!" AJ shouted, standing up. "Just leave me alone!" He got up and stormed off into the woods.
"Bone, get the hell back here!" Kevin yelled. "Don’t go running off into the woods in the dark you moron!"
He followed after his band mate only to discover that AJ had broken into a run.
"Shit! AJ!" Kevin ran after him. As Kevin chased him, he soon realized that his friend was running around the camp, instead of just running away. Probably doesn’t want to get lost anymore than I do. After a minute or two, he caught up to his friend and tackled him, hoping not to re-injure him.
"GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" AJ screamed.
Kevin pressed his body weight on top of him, effectively pinning him to the ground. "Not until you tell me what the hell is going on RIGHT NOW!"
"LEAVE ME ALONE!"
"I’m not getting off you until you tell me what’s going on."
"Then you’re in for fucking long wait."
Kevin sighed angrily and got up, pulling AJ with him.
"What the hell are you doin’, man?! LEMME GO!"
Kevin dragged him back into camp and forced him to sit back down.
"What the hell is your problem?" Maggie snapped.
AJ didn’t answer.
"Bone, talk to us," Nick pleaded.
"Do you just want to talk to someone alone?" Sierra suggested.
"NO! I don’t wanna talk to ANYONE!" AJ shouted.
"Well, you’ve gotta talk to someone," Karen stated.
AJ stared at the ground.
"Bone, please," Brian said quietly.
After a minute, AJ whispered, "It’s my fault."
"What is?" Becky asked.
"Hazel," AJ answered.
"Bone, that isn’t your fault," Kevin said. "You did what you could for her. That guy is probably a trained killer."
"She was my responsibility," AJ replied stubbornly.
"You couldn’t have seen that coming," Maggie told him. Oh God, now I’m comforting a Backstreet Boy. What is the world coming to?
AJ lapsed back into silence.
"You know what you need, man?" Kevin said.
AJ managed to raise his eyes to his band mate. "No, Kev. What will make all my problems go away?"
Kevin leaned over and pulled his friend into a fierce hug.
For a moment, no one moved.
After a minute, AJ returned the hug just as fiercely.
"Something tells me that’s what we all need right now," Brian said.
Nick leaned over and hugged his friend gently.
Maggie and Ellie immediately glomped onto each other.
Sierra and Karen hugged each and Becky made a triangle with Brian and Nick.
It might have been AJ first. Or maybe it was Ellie. Or Brian. But after a few minutes, there wasn’t a dry eye in the campsite.
"This is supposed to make us feel better?" Ellie managed.
"Yes," Kevin told her. "We’re all scared shitless. I think this is exactly what we need."
"You’ll feel better afterwards," Brian added.
After a minute, AJ gently pulled away from Kevin and went to Brian. Nick and Becky just hugged each other. Kevin crossed over to Sierra and hugged her, surprising both himself and her a little.
Maggie and Ellie looked over at Karen, who was crying by herself. Ellie opened up one half of the embrace to let her friend in.
After a few minutes of exchanging hugs, they sat around the fire quietly.
"Feel better?" Brian asked Ellie.
"A little, I guess," she answered.
"You should get some rest," Becky told her patient. She and Nick helped him lie back down and covered him with another blanket.
Brian shivered. "I . . . I don’t think I can sleep."
"You’ll be fine," Becky told him quietly.
"We’ll all be here, Bri. We won’t let anything happen to you," Nick assured him.
Brian still looked uneasy.
Becky looked over at Ellie, who had fallen asleep against Maggie. She looked to Kevin and AJ for help, but they were talking by themselves.
She looked at Nick.
Nick shrugged.
Becky sighed and stroked Brian’s hair. "Shh, just close your eyes and relax. You’re with your friends now."
Brian closed his eyes, but still shivered a little.
Nick put a hand on his shoulder. "It’s all right, man. You need to rest. Relax."
Becky started to sing softly. "Dream by night, wish by day. Love begins this way. Loving starts when open hearts touch and stay. Sleep for now, dreaming’s how lovers’ lives are planned. Future songs and flying dreams, hand in hand." She continued singing the lullaby, with Nick humming a soft harmony until Brian’s muscles relaxed and his breathing became even.
Nick leaned over and kissed Becky softly on the mouth. "That was beautiful."
She blushed. "Thanks."
~~~
The next morning did not begin well.
Brian was still freaked out about being shot. Maggie was rocking back and forth, mumbling, "They’re not back yet. They’re not back yet. They’re not back yet." Ellie was trying to comfort Brian and Maggie, but couldn’t stop thinking about Hazel. Neither could AJ. Kevin and Nick were both worried over Brian. Becky, Karen, and Sierra were worried about their patient and couldn’t help asking themselves whether they’d done the right thing.
"Okay, we can’t just sit here worrying," AJ said. "We’re gonna have to do something."
"They’ll be back," Maggie said, not looking at him.
No one paid any attention to her.
Nick looked up, seeing a camera over head. He stood up angrily and hurled a rock at it. Bits of the camera sprinkled down to the camp.
"That sounds like a damn good idea to me," Ellie said, standing up and grabbing some rocks. "Where the hell are the rest of these things?"
"Are you crazy!? They’ll come out and get us!" Karen cried.
"That’s the idea," Becky replied, also standing up. "Right now, that’s what we want. We have no other choice. We can’t get out by ourselves. Brian needs medical attention and we need to find out what happened to the others."
"We’ll break their cameras and stop being their fucking actors," AJ concluded.
"Sounds good to me," Kevin agreed.
"Hit a few for me, guys," Brian told them with a smile.
~~~
Silvanus watched with vague interest as the cameras started shutting off one by one. There were ab few they couldn’t reach, of course. But the project was essentially ruined.
Hm. I guess it’s time for Plan B.
"What the hell is going on?!" Alejandro cried, walking into the room. "The cameras! What the fuck are they doing?!"
"It was their only option," Silvanus replied calmly. "Nolan, Logan, and I are going to get them and bring them here."
"Here?! Are you crazy?!"
Silvanus glared at him.
Alejandro tried not to squeak and shut his mouth.
"Keep an eye on the ones in the basement and prepare some food for our guests."
"Y-Yes, sir."
~~~