Chapter 15 - Misery
Everyone woke up the next morning tired and cold. They huddled together for warmth.
"It’s warm outside. Why the hell is it so cold in here?!" Ellie cried.
"Well, we are underground," Tom pointed out.
"When are they gonna feed us again?" Sierra complained.
"Try not to think about it," Howie told her.
Kevin, Nick, Becky, AJ, Hazel, and Karen were all quiet and had been so since they woke up.
They all looked up as the door at the top of the stairs opened.
"Two of you. Upstairs. Now."
"What for?" AJ demanded.
"Do as your told," the same voice commanded.
Sierra stood up.
"They might let me see Brian," Ellie said quietly, also standing. The two climbed the creaky stairs as nine pairs of eyes watched them.
Nolan met them at the top, training a gun on them.
Ellie looked around, trying to see Brian. She spotted him on the table in the next room and started to run to him.
Alejandro got in her way. "Just where do you think you’re going?"
"To see him!" Ellie cried, trying to push past him.
"That’s not what you’re up here for," Nolan told her, motioning to the bathroom.
"I don’t fucking care! Let me see him!" Ellie shouted.
"Stay back!" Alejandro yelled at her.
"FUCK OFF!" Ellie screamed, pushing him back hard.
He stumbled back, tripping over his own feet and landing on the ground.
Nolan growled angrily and whacked Ellie solidly in the stomach with his gun.
Ellie fell to her knees, then kind of rolled over on her side, trying to take in air.
Sierra knelt beside her, trying to help.
Nolan stepped forward to help Alejandro to his feet. Suddenly, his partner stumbled forward, sending them both back to the ground.
When Sierra looked up, she saw Brian leaning against the wall for support, a murderous look in his eyes.
If Ellie had any air to breathe in, she would’ve started screaming at him for being a moron.
"You leave these girls alone," Brian said slowly and deliberately in his Southern accent.
Sierra started to scream as she saw a shape behind the BSB, but it was too late as a gun came crashing down his shoulders and he collapsed to the ground.
~~~
Later that day . . .
The ten people remaining in the basement looked on angrily as Alejandro installed a video camera in the corner of the basement. Nolan and Logan were keeping them away from him as he worked. Silvanus was standing on the stairs, watching.
"What the hell is this for?" AJ demanded angrily.
"To keep an eye on you," Silvanus answered. "We already have enough footage for our project."
"But a little more won’t hurt if you’re interesting on this," Alejandro put in helpfully.
"What project?" Karen asked.
"Well, who wouldn’t pay top dollar to see the lost Backstreet Boys in the woods? Secret footage of what really happens. Romance! Adventure! Danger!" Nolan cried.
"You sick bastards," Maggie said.
"People won’t stand for it!" Kevin protested. "It’s an invasion of privacy!"
"Sales are already skyrocketing," Silvanus informed him. "The tape is only fifteen minutes long and people are just eating it up. Of course, the police are trying to track down the source, but they won’t find us. Our tracks are well covered."
"We’re gonna make millions off of you," Nolan stated.
"If there wasn’t a wolf and a gun between us right now, I’d rip your heart out," AJ said angrily.
"So, you’ll be our guests until the whole series is distributed," Silvanus continued. "Then we’ll ask for ransom to return you. End of story. If there aren’t any mishaps, you can all leave unharmed."
"All set!" Alejandro announced. He got off his step ladder and stood back to admire his work.
"If any of you touch it, one of your friends upstairs will pay for it," Silvanus told them pleasantly as Alejandro, Nolan, and Logan climbed the stairs.
"Fuck you," Tom told them.
Nolan just grinned as he shut the door and locked it.
"I don’t believe this," Sierra whispered.
"Those fucking bastards!" Maggie shouted.
"Well, at least everyone will know we’re okay for now," Howie said, trying to find the bright side.
Everyone just looked at him.
~~~
Ellie was displeased.
Nolan had wrapped her cracked ribs and now she was lying on the floor, next to the table Brian was tied to.
Yeah, real nice of him considering he was the one that cracked them in the first place, she thought.
She tried to shift a little to get comfortable. This wasn’t easy considering the hard floor and the fact that one wrist was handcuffed to the leg of the table.
Those bastards are so dead when we get out of this.
Of course, hearing most of the conversation downstairs hadn’t exactly put her in a better mood.
That son of bitch probably left the door open just so I could hear.
She glared at her captors as they came back into the room. Nolan quickly checked his two patients before flopping down in front of the TV. She and Brian were foribidden from talking to each other. She looked up, trying to see if she could see his face. She couldn’t.
"Welcome back to TRL," Carson Daly said from the TV. "And the number one video is of course the Backstreet Boys’ ‘Show Me The Meaning Of Being Lonely.’ They knock N’Sync out of the top spot with everyone’s support for their situation. We have Samantha on the phone who’d like to make a dedication. Samantha, you there?"
"I’m here, Carson," came back the tear-filled voice.
"Go ahead."
"I just -- I want to send this song out to the Boys, wherever there are so that they --" She broke off into a choked sob. "They know that they’re not alone and that we’re all still here praying for them. We love you guys!" She dissolved into tears.
Carson looked at the camera awkwardly, not quite sure how to react. "And, uh, here’s the video. The Backstreet Boys." As the camera turned off and the shot dissovled to the video, the live crowd in the studio didn’t break into their customary applause. No one knew what to say.
The video played.
Nolan changed the channel. "That song is total crap."
Brian phyiscally bit his lip before he could say something that would get him trouble.
~~~