Chapter 16 - Driven
A few days passed fairly uneventfully. Ellie was allowed to return to the basement. Even if the group had been able to come up with a plan, there was no way they communicate it to each other with the camera watching everything.
It was usually fairly quiet in the basement. They tried to play games and sing songs to keep spirits up, but it was nearly impossible. The thought of everyone watching their adventures in the woods and no one coming to help them loomed over them. Usually about once or twice a day, someone would end up crying and have to be comforted. Other than that, not much happened.
If they plan on selling this footage, people will fall asleep watching it, Nick thought.
Brian was slowly starting to heal. He had a lot of stitches in the wound, but at least he could get around with help. Their captors took turns watching them in shifts. Alejandro had the evening shift. After feeding them, he would let each of the "guests" use the restroom. He helped Brian off of the table.
The BSB leaned heavily on him as he led him to the bathroom and shut the door after him. At least that one hasn’t been too much trouble lately, he thought to himself.
He turned from the bathroom door and unlocked the basement door, almost directly across from it.
"You guys can bring up the dishes now," Alejandro shouted down.
Karen and Howie collected the plates from everyone and started up the stairs.
Alejandro didn’t see the bathroom door open and Brian creep out, but a second later, he fell forward and tumbled down the stairs.
Howie and Karen jumped out of the way, to avoiding getting hit.
For one second, no one moved.
Then everyone was immediately in motion. AJ and Howie pinned Alejandro down and clamped his mouth shut.
"Get up here!" Brian urged, as quietly as he could.
The girls and remaining guys sprinted up the stairs.
Ellie hugged Brian quickly. "Have I told you recently that you’re a genius?"
Brian grinned. "No, I don’t think so. Do I get a kiss out of this?"
"Is that all you can think of right now?!"
"Shh!" Kevin hissed at them.
"I’m gonna enjoy this," AJ said as he drew back his fist and punched Alejandro squarely in the face.
The Hispanic man slumped against the wall unconscious.
"Nice shot," Howie told his friend as they ran up the stairs.
Tom grabbed two sets of keys off the wall. "With any luck, one of these might start the car. Now let’s get the hell out of here!"
Ellie grabbed the keys from him. "I’ll drive, thank you."
Nick helped Brian to walk as the group poured out of the small cabin. They stopped as they reached the van parked outside.
"Check if it will start first before we all pile in," Kevin said.
Ellie nodded and climbed into the driver’s seat. "Well, at least it’s unlocked." She tried the first key. It refused to fit in the ignition. "Damn." She tried the second one, without better results. "Damn damn!" Tom handed the other set. She tried a third key. "Cluster fuck! Last one . . ." The car roared to life. "Get in!"
Maggie jumped into the front seat. Everyone else piled into the empty back.
"Brian, lie down!" Ellie shouted over her shoulder. "Someone can steady you."
Nick and Kevin lifted Brian into the back and did as she instructed. Karen and Howie slammed the doors shut.
Maggie looked up as the door of the cabin opened. "Oh shit . . ."
Ellie floored it.
The people sitting in the back were thrown against the sides and each other.
"Hold on back there!" Maggie yelled.
Tom leaned over her seat, holding onto it. "And exactly what else would we be doing!?"
Karen managed to look up out the back window. "FUCK! They’re following us!"
"Karen, DON’T TELL ME THESE THINGS!" Ellie screamed, trying to keep the van on the narrow dirt road.
"Oh God, please get us through this," Becky murmured.
Nick held onto her waist. "We’ll make it, we’ll make it."
Karen dared to look up again. "They’re getting closer!"
"SHUT THE FUCK UP!" Ellie replied.
"I think I see a light ahead," Maggie said, squinting.
"Where?" Tom asked.
"I think I see it too," Ellie said, manuvering the van around the curves. "It looks like it might actually be a street light -- AHHH!"
The van lurched forward as the car behind it rammed into it.
"GO FASTER!" Sierra screamed.
Ellie couldn’t press the pedal any further than it was. "I’M TRYING!"
"A ROAD!" Maggie shrieked.
Ellie jerked the wheel viciously to the right, pulling the van onto the main road. Everyone slammed into the opposite side of the interior.
"My arm!" Hazel cried.
AJ pulled her into his lap, putting his arms around her. "Just hang onto me, okay?" As the van jerked again, he absorbed the shock for her.
"AJ --"
"Just shut up and do what I tell you, girl! I’m tryin’ to do you a favor -- OW!"
"They’re still on our tails!" Howie cried.
"Howie, if you don’t have something positive to say, DON’T SAY ANYTHING!" Maggie yelled.
The black car behind them hit the van again. Everyone screamed.
The trees began to thin out and be replaced by more and more streetlamps.
"Why aren’t there any other cars on this fucking road?!" Tom cried.
"This is like Bob’s road or something," Ellie muttered to herself.
Gunshots began to ring out.
"HOLY SHIIIIIIT!" Maggie and Ellie screamed in unison.
"Just keep driving!" Tom yelled.
The black car sped forward and delivered another blow. The van doors began rattling.
"Oh God . . ." Karen whispered.
The black car struck again.
The van doors burst open.
Karen and Howie screamed as they nearly fell out of the van and onto the pavement.
"GRAB ON!" Kevin yelled.
AJ grabbed onto Ellie’s seat, with Hazel underneath him. Becky latched onto him, Nick onto Becky, and Howie onto Nick. On the other side, Tom, Brian, Kevin, Sierra, and Karen had formed a chain.
"That was another car!" Maggie cried as they passed by a shape on the other side of the road.
"GOOD! Maybe we can GET SOME FUCKING HELP!" Ellie yelled.
The gunshots started again.
"Fuck! Get your heads down!" AJ shouted.
"WE’RE GONNA DIE!" Karen screamed.
"NOT WHILE I’M FUCKING DRIVING!" Ellie screamed back.
A bullet punctured one of the van’s tires.
Ellie struggled to hold onto the wheel as the van fishtailed wildly out of control. The people in the back held on to each other for their lives.
Ellie slammed on the brakes, sending everyone forward into each other. The black car swerved to a perfect stop right in front of them.
"Fuck," Ellie squeaked.
Nolan and Silvanus got out of the car, leveling their guns at the van.
"Get out of the fucking car!" Nolan shouted.
"What do we do?!" Sierra cried.
"Unless you want Maggie and I to get shot, I think we’ll have to what he says," Ellie answered.
Silvanus ran to the back of the van. "Out. Now!"
Very slowly, everyone climbed out of the van. Kevin supported Brian. Nolan led Ellie and Maggie around to the others.
They separated the Backstreet Boys from the others. Nolan kept his gun trained on the Boys.
"What’re you doing?" Howie asked suspiciously.
Silvanus shoved and the girls and Tom up against the side of the van. "Spread ‘em!" Terrified, they did as they were told.
"Leave them alone!" AJ shouted, starting to step forward.
Nolan waved the gun in his face. "There are plenty of places I can shoot you that won’t be fatal. Don’t FUCK with me!"
"This is what you get when you mess with us," Silvanus said slowly. He aimed the gun at Becky’s back.
"NOOO!" Nick screamed. He shoved Nolan out of the way and threw himself in the line of fire.
Becky screamed as he fell to the ground behind her. "NICK!" She knelt beside him.
AJ and Howie grabbed the stunned Nolan, wrestling the gun away from him. Kevin snatched the gun and leveled it at his temple.
"FUCK!" Silvanus yelled, looking at the bleeding BSB.
"Leave them alone or your partner’s dead!" Kevin shouted.
Silvanus smirked. "For one thing, you don’t have the guts. And for another, I wouldn’t care if you did."
"Fuck you!" Nolan retorted.
Silvanus leveled the gun at Hazel.
In a blur of motion, AJ grabbed the gun from Kevin, aimed at Silvanus, and fired.
The gun flew out of Silvanus’s hand with a plang.
As it came back down, Tom managed to catch it.
Before he could move, Ellie grabbed it and aimed it Silvanus. "Don’t think I won’t FUCKING kill you!"
The whine of distant sirens filled the air.
Silvanus stared at her, unsure whether she would go through with it or not. Well, let’s see. We took them away from their families, stuck them in the woods, videotaped them, threw a wolf at them, got one of them shot, locked them in a basement and cracked her ribs. Hmm . . . Then again, this is a girl who probably hasn’t even seen a gun before or held one, let alone fire it. What about the Backstreet Boy? He wouldn’t want to mar his public image. Fuck this.
Silvanus made a break for it.
A gun shot rang out and he collapsed to the ground.
AJ dropped the gun, his hands shaking. "Oh shit . . . I-I killed him!"
Three police cars and an ambulance pulled up to the scene.
"Drop your weapons! Hands in the air!" a voice shouted.
Ellie threw down her gun. "We’re not the enemy you morons!"
~~~