By the next morning, Chrissy woke up to Howie doing crunches beside her. She groaned and turned away.
“Sorry if I woke you up, I usually do them before I go to bed, but I was too tired last night.”
“No, I understand, it’s just that, how can you do that so early in the morning?”
“Habit. It’s like a bad habit.” A loud noise came from outside their cell all of a sudden. It was a guard, beating a stick against the bars.
“Wake up! Time for you to work and earn your breakfast.”
“What now, sewing dolls to trade with foreign lands,” Howie mumbled under his breath.
AJ woke up with a jerk. He just realized something. “Where’s my mom? What did you do with my mom?”
“You want your momma already? We haven’t even begun to torture you yet.”
“No really. They brought her in and…”
“That’s enough! All of you come with me! Now!” They grudgingly got up, but before they left, Brian noticed Nick giving Dakshana a kiss, and AJ following close behind. He sighed. They had no idea that they could end up heartbroken.
They were led in a dark and gringy place, full of rats and filth. While AJ was looking around, he noticed that there was someone in the corner of the room, tied to a chair.
“Hey, who is that?”
“That’s your motivator.” The man turned on a dim light. AJ could see that he looked more like an army dud in the light. He took a close look at the person in the chair.
“That’s my MOM! What did you do to her? Let her go…” AJ had started to walk toward her, but was pulled back by the collar of his shirt.
“BEHAVE! Maggot! Now! You five men take off your shirts, and dorp and give me fifty!”
AJ dropped to the ground first. He started counting, “One for my mom, two for my mom, three for my mom…” And the others joined in.
“Now ladies! Sit on them and do six hundred crunches!” There were only three girls there, Charn chose AJ, Dakshana chose Nick, and Chrissy chose Howie, because he looked the most solid out of all of them.
Ash and Robyn entered the room and Ash sat on Brian and Robyn sat on Kevin. They didn’t do any crunches. The man apologized to them for the inconvenience and Robyn shrugged him off. Kevin was like a rock, and the only thing she had to worry about was getting seasick.
AJ finished his push-ups before Charn finished her crunches, so she slid off his back. Immediately after, she was smacked with the stick the man was carrying and was forced to go back onto AJ. AJ lay on his stomach, breathing hard.
The boys were glad that they were in shape. For the next five hours they exercised like they never had before. They had never exercised before breakfast either. The man was true to his word, and let AJ’s mom go.
Breakfast was a joke. It was some kind of green mush that looked like something off the walls of the place where they had just been. They were all very hungry and ate it anyway. By mid afternoon, the guys had gotten so hot they obliged and wore only their boxers.
“It’s not like we stripped you, she says…” Brian lay on his back, breathing mechanically.
“I spy something with my little eye, if I get my hands on it, the government will die.” AJ groaned and pointed to the guards’ gun. “I feel sorry for you girls.”
The girls had to wear their shirts, the guards refused to let them go farther. The guys had helped them rip their pants as high as possible and they tucked their shirts into their bras.
“Thanks AJ. Now if only you could keep me cool…” Charn grinned.
“Love to babe, but one of the guards stole my Dentyme Ice! Can you believe the nerve?”
“Seriously?”
“Yeah.”
“How did you guys happen?” Brian asked suddenly. “I mean, I was there for a minutes, and the next minute…”
“This sort of thing brings people closer together.” Nick replied smiling at Dakshana.
“I don’t believe that. Leahanne…”
“Sorry Rok.”
“But what if it happens to you? I’m not jealous or anything…”
“Ya, I know you’re not, thanks man. I’m already worried. I thought I was working the hardest years of my life as a Backstreet Boy, but now I know differently. Ya know what I think? I think it’s going to get worse. A lot worse.” Brian nodded his head I agreement. After a few minutes of silence, Brian started to sing Show Me The Meaning (Of Being Lonely) and the rest of the guys joined in.
“Shut up!” the guard yelled at them rudely. Because he liked the way it sounded, he believed that it was evil. The guys looked at him blankly for a moment, not sure whether to cry or scream. AJ chose to scream.
Charn held him down and he let it out, yelling at the top of his lungs, no what the consequence. Surprisingly, the guard didn’t move, possibly because he was amused that he defeated a demon. A singing one at that. Charn held AJ until he calmed down.
“D, do ya remember the last time you were hapy?”
“Eighteen measly hours ago.”
“God.”
* * * *
* * *
That night Kevin and Brian lay awake, stiff and restless. Kevin could hear Brian praying quietly into his hand. A few moments later, Kevin joined in.
“Please help us Lord, amen.” Brian ended the prayer.
“Please,” Kevin added, looking up, “I know we haven’t been here long, but please.”
“I’ve never wanted to see a fan so badly in my life,” Brian said, turning to Kevin. “I miss my om even more now, and I’m not on tour. I’ll never see her again, I know it.”
“That’s not necessarily true…”
“Denial. Don’t try it, I already have, it doesn’t work. I know this may sound crazy, but I’ve known you for a long time, and I know you won’t jump on me…well maybe I should wake up Howie…”
“Naw, I won’t, I promise.”
“Okay. I…I saw these guys inject Jansin, they made me watch it. It was so awful! It’s not just that I don’t want that to be me, but uh, I feel badly for the guy. He had marks, needle marks, all over his stomach. They treat him differently from us. The needles are stabbed into him, and with us they’re way gentler. And the blood…” Kevin put his arm around Brian’s shoulder. “It was everywhere, he was coughing it up. I think about it all the time, and the worst part is, that I think, after they keep us here for a while, that they’re going experiment on us.”
“With what?”
“Whatever they put in those needles. One of Jansin’s was red. I think it was contaminated blood. They’re killing him, for these experiments, and nobody will ever know. If he dies then they have us.”
“But…”
“It’ll take months Kev. Like, six. They said they’re gonna keep us here that long because that’s how long it takes for the effects to settle in. I don’t buy it. After they keep us that long, we’ll have stuff to leak, and they’ll keep us. It’s just a lie to keep us hoping.” Brian noticed that Kevin had turned away. “Do you…believe me?”
“I do! It’s just that, why? I’m really too upset to think this through…”
“I know how you feel! I wonder, if I could talk to Jansin, before it’s too late for him, and he could tell us how to blow this joint. He’s done it before…”
“Ya, we gotta trick them. I was feeling angry at Jansin, but I thought it over too, and it’s really not his fault. There was no where else to turn. I mean, I wouldn’t believe him if he told me that story. Will Smith would, though, he’s a good guy. Brian? Rok?” He looked down and saw that he had fallen asleep. “I’m not that boring am I? Oh well…” Kevin flopped down on the floor (there were only six beds and the floor was padded…so they slept on the floor) and tried to go to sleep. He found it much easier the second time around.
Chapter 12
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