The plane was now losing altitude very quickly and everyone was panicking. They all knew that if they crashed, they would crash straight into the ocean and there was a very good chance that no one would survive. Val looked out the window and paled when she saw the water getting closer at violent speed. As soon as the plane hit the water, there was an ear-deafening explosion and then there was silence.

*~*~*

Nick opened his eyes and at first didn’t recognize what he was seeing. The entire part of the plane that the BSB and Val were in had been torn up and things were thrown all over the place. Nick slowly moved his body examining whether or not he was seriously hurt. He winced as he tried to move his left wrist, pain shot through his arm and Nick decided against moving it anymore. He then looked around for his fellow band mates and his girlfriend. But since the place was such a mess, he didn’t see anyone.
“Val? Frick? Kev? D? Bone?” called Nick. For a few seconds, he got no response, but then he heard someone.
“Nick? Where are you? Are you hurt?” yelled Kevin.
“I’m somewhere in front, and only my wrist is hurt.” Yelled back Nick. He soon saw Kevin digging himself out from a pile of luggage. He slowly made his way over to Nick. “Are you hurt?” asked Nick.
“Just my shoulder.” Said Kevin massaging his shoulder. “Where is everyone else?” he asked worriedly looking around.
“I don’t know, I haven’t heard anyone call out.” Said Nick.
“Hey guys!” yelled Brian. AJ was leaning on Howie, and they were walking behind Brian.
“Oh man, I’m so glad you guys are safe!” exclaimed Kevin when he saw the three of them. “How badly are you hurt?” he asked. Brian had a gash on his forehead that was bleeding profusely, Howie had a similar cut on his right arm, and AJ looked like he had sprained his ankle.
“Not badly.” Said Howie. “We’re all pretty much okay, we got out with minimal injury.” He added.
“Guys, we haven’t found Val yet.” Said Nick solemnly.
“VAL?” yelled all the guys. They got no response.
“We have to look for her physically, come on let’s go.” Said Brian. The guys slowly started walking around the plane looking under every overturned item looking for Val.
“I found her!” yelled Nick a few minutes later. The guys quickly went up to him and looked at where he was pointing. Sure enough he found Val, she was trapped under her seat. Her eyes were closed but she slowly came around and opened them.
“Ugh, where am I?” she asked.
“We crashed remember?” said Nick while trying to figure out how to get his girlfriend out from under the seat.
“Oh yeah, that’s right.” Remembered Val.
“Can you move your legs?” asked Brian, trying to determine how hurt Val was.
“I think so, my ribs hurt, but I’m okay otherwise.” Said Val.
“Ok good, that means that there’s no spinal injury. Now we have to get you out of there.” Said Brian.
“We just have to lift it.” Said AJ.
“Easier said that done. The seat is heavy and Nick’s wrist is probably broken Kevin dislocated his shoulder, and Howie cut his arm, that leaves all of them out.” Said Brian.
“I don’t care about my wrist, I’ll lift with my other hand.” Said Nick determinately.
“Same here, both me and Howie still have one good arm left.” Said Kevin.
“Ok, so we lift on three.” Said Brian and all the guys gathered around the seat and prepared to lift. “One…two…three!” he said and they all lifted. The chair was raised high enough for Val to wriggle out from under it. As soon as she was out, the guys lowered the chair.
“Are you okay?” asked Nick worriedly.
“I’m fine, how are all of you?” asked Val.
“We’re okay, we’ll live. But what we should be worried about is that.” Said Nick pointing at the opposite wall where there was water leaking into the plane.
“Oh shit!” said Kevin. “We didn’t even see that!”
“Are we under water already?” asked Val. Brian looked into one of the unobstructed windows.
“Yep.” He said after seeing nothing but water in it.
“This is bad, really bad.” Said Howie shaking his head. “Does anyone even know that we crashed?” he asked. The guys and Val looked at each other.
“Good question.” Said Kevin.
“Maybe we can use the radio in the front of the plane to call for help.” Suggested Val.
“There is no front of the plane.” Said AJ. “When we hit the water, there was an explosion and the plane broke in two.” He explained.
“Damn.” Said Val. “So how are we supposed to get out of here?” she asked.
“I don’t know, but we better think of a way soon, we don’t have much time left until this whole plane fills up with water and we drown.” Said AJ.
“Oh yeah, that’s a lovely picture.” Said Nick sarcastically.
“It’s the truth.” Said AJ simply. By then, the water was already up to their ankles and rising.
*~*~*

What the guys and Val didn’t know was that just before the plane had crashed, the pilot managed to send a distress signal to the Coast Guard informing them of their position and the problem. Unfortunately, there was no physical evidence on the surface of the water indicating where the plane had crashed. The Coast Guard was now using sonar to find the plane, but it was taking time, time that the guys and Val didn’t have.
*~*~*

“Anyone got any ideas?” asked Howie. The water was already up to their knees.
“How do you people feel about taking a swim?” suggested Kevin.
“Kev, we don’t know how deep we are!” pointed out Val. “There’s a good chance that we won’t be able to hold our breath long enough to reach the surface.” She added.
“Yeah, but there should be some oxygen tanks somewhere in this plane, for emergencies like this one.” Said Kevin. They all immediately began looking.
“Found them!” exclaimed Brian joyfully a few minutes later. He found a bag that contained five oxygen tanks.
“Okay, so there are five of them, and six of us, two people will have to share one.” Said AJ.
“We’ll share.” Said Val referring to herself and Nick. Nick nodded in agreement.
“Okay good, but before we try to do this, we need to find some life vests. Of course what we could really use are wetsuits. It’s the middle of January and the water is freezing. We’ll be lucky if we don’t get hypothermia.” Said Brian.
“Good point, but I think saw some life vests in the back. I’ll be right back.” Said Howie. A few minutes later he came back carrying six life vests. Everyone quickly put them on because they didn’t have a moment to lose, the water was now rising quicker and was almost up to their waists.
“We have to open the door.” Said Kevin when everyone was wearing the vests. “This way we can swim out.”
“Will we able to open it?” asked Val.
“I hope so.” Said Kevin as they all walked over to the door. “Now everyone be prepared, as soon as we open it, and I hope we will, this entire part of the plane will be flooded with water and we’ll have to act fast.” Everyone nodded and put the oxygen masks in their mouths. Nick insisted that Val put it on first, since he was a certified scuba diver; he knew how to hold his breath. Once everyone was done, Kevin counted on his hands one, two, three and they all put their weight against the door. It opened and water flooded in. Kevin swam out first and held the door so that everyone else can get out. Once they were all out, they all started to slowly make their way to the surface. Nick and Val kept passing the oxygen between them because it was a long way up. Finally, after fifteen excruciating minutes, their heads surfaced and they all breathed in the air.
“I can’t believe we made it.” said AJ.
“I know what you mean.” Said Brian and everyone else agreed.
“We’re not out of the woods…um…water yet.” Said Nick. “We’re stuck in the middle of the ocean in freezing water.” He said gesturing with his hand towards the vast ocean. They all kept bobbing in the water for the next twenty minutes trying to figure out what they were supposed to do now. All of a sudden, Nick saw something resembling a ship in the distance.
“Okay, either my eyes are playing tricks on me, or that’s a ship I see!” he exclaimed pointing ahead of him. Everyone looked in that direction and saw the ship. Everybody was overjoyed. They waited in anticipation as the Coast Guard got closer and closer. About an hour later, the guys were all sitting aboard the ship in wrapped in thick blankets and drinking hot cocoa. Brian, Kevin, AJ, and Howie were all checked over by a doctor and were told that they were fine, except for their slight injuries. Unfortunately Nick and Val weren’t so lucky. Val’s body temperature dropped dangerously low and she had to get to a hospital immediately. Nick had also gotten hypothermia and his body temperature dropped almost as low as Val’s. Since the plane crashed closer to the North American coast, the Coast Guard had to make the journey back. That would take at least a couple of hours and neither Val nor Nick could wait that long. They were airlifted into a Coast Guard helicopter and flown to the hospital. The other guys were told that they would see Val and Nick when they got back to shore.
*~*~*

Three long hours later, the remaining members of the Backstreet Boys finally reached the hospital where Val and Nick were. They were told that the doctors were able to slowly raise both Nick’s and Val’s body temperatures, but they were far away from being normal, which meant that no one was able to see them yet. While they were waiting for news on Val and Nick, the guys had to get their injuries taken care of. Brian and Howie got stitches on their cuts, Kevin’s arm was put in a sling to help his shoulder heal, and AJ’s ankle was put in a soft cast. When they all got back to the waiting room, they were told that Val and Nick had both been stabilized and they were moved into the same room, the guys were now able to see them. They almost ran to see their friends. They went into Val and Nick’s room and saw that they were both awake.
“Hey!” said Brian.
“Hi!” Responded Nick and Val.
“You guys gave us quite a scare.” Said Kevin standing in between Nick and Val’s beds.
“We didn’t mean to.” Said Nick playfully pouting.
“Yeah, it was an accident.” Said Val trying to imitate Nick’s pout.
“Cut it out you two, it’s bad enough when Frack does it, but now you too!” exclaimed AJ laughing.
“Couldn’t help it.” said Val now grinning.
“Do you know when we can get out of here?” asked Nick.
“I think the doctor said that you have to stay for another day, to make sure that you’re both fine.” Replied Brian. “After that, you’re free to leave.”
“Good, but what’s gonna happen to our tour?” asked Nick, his face expression now serious.
“Well, we spoke to management, and they said that we’ll pick up the tour with the shows that are supposed to be on the day when we get back to Europe. As for the shows that we’ll miss for the next few days, they will be added on at the end of the tour and we’ll have to do them then.” Explained Kevin.
“I see.” Said Nick. “What about the press?” he asked.
“What about it?” asked Brian.
“How much of this do they already know?” asked Nick.
“We don’t know, we haven’t seen the news today.” Replied Brian. He then proceeded to turn on the TV in the room and flick through channels until he found one that showed the news. They didn’t hear anything about their crash on the news so they turned to MTV. It was the time when TRL was being shown and then they heard that they have a special news report on the Backstreet Boys. The guys and Val listened intently.
“This is Kurt Loder (I’m not sure how to spell his name lol) with MTV special news. We just heard that the plane that was carrying the Backstreet Boys and Valerie Stans to Europe to continue their tour had crashed into the ocean. Brian, Kevin, Howie, and AJ escaped with only minor injuries, while Valerie and Nick had both gotten hypothermia and are now in a New York hospital being treated for it. We’ll keep you updated.”
“Well, it’s safe to say that pretty much everyone knows what happened now.” Said Kevin turning off the TV.


chapter 11 chapter 13