AJ glanced at his surroundings, not sure of how they make him feel. He started breathing heavily for reasons unknown to him. His shirt was covering his mouth, helping to stop him from breathing in any dust. But he still felt like he was choking.
Charn turned around to whisper Samantha’s new message in AJ’s ear, when she noticed that he was horribly pale.
“AJ, honey, are you okay? You look a little pale…”
“I’m fine, what do you want?” AJ replied moodily.
“Whoa… well aren’t you glad that you’re just to darn cute for me to get mad at you right now? I’ll leave you alone. It’s just that Samantha says it’s easier to crawl through tunnel when you put your right arm out and put your left slightly ahead of it to push forward. Pass it on.” Charn turned around still puzzled about AJ’s mood. She knew she would give him hell for it, if he continued to do this to her after they escaped.
AJ turned around to tell Mindy what Charn had just told him. He wondered why he had snapped at her like that. Again, he had no reason for it. He had just done it.
As AJ turned, his breathing became more rapid again. He was turned about halfway, so that he was facing the wall when he realized that he couldn’t breathe. AJ gasped and started thrashing his arms violently. He pushed as hard as he could on the wall, hoping that it would either break or expand. When it didn’t, AJ began thrashing his arms again, this time hitting Mindy on the middle of her forehead and Charn in the back.
By this time everyone had stopped to see what AJ’s problem was. Charn turned around and hissed, “Okay, that’s it mister, this time I deserve an apology!”
She looked at AJ as he continued to stare at the wall. He was sitting cross-legged with the front of him facing the wall of the vent. Charn and Mindy poked him in his sides but he still didn’t respond.
Finally he turned to her. Tears were streaming down his face. “I’m sorry,” he said, not taking his eyes of her.
Charn was scared to death now. “What’s wrong AJ? What’s wrong?” She could feel her own tears in her eyes now.
“I can’t breathe… Too small to…breathe.”
By now everyone was wondering what the holdup was. Charn mouthed to Mindy ‘ I don’t know what to do!’ and Mindy shrugged her shoulders. Desperate, Charn reached for AJ and turned him to face her.
“Think of the ocean,” Charn said, “ it’s so vast and wide and that’s where we’ll be soon. All you have to do is crawl through this tunnel to get there. When we get there, I’ll be wearing my bikini. Bikini!”
AJ smiled softly. All he could think of was how cute she looked when she was worried and how he would never be able to move through this tiny space. And how small it was. And how much his limbs urged him to stretch them out.
“I’m sorry. So…small,” he croaked. He hated how he talked like a baby now. His words were breathless and he sounded very stressed out.
“That didn’t help at all did it?” Charn took his pale hands into hers. They were ice cold.
AJ shook his head no. He hated being such a baby. Surely the guys would all have a good laugh about his claustrophobia. Or maybe kill him if he cost them their ticket out of the nuthouse.
“I have an idea!” Charn exclaimed suddenly. She asked Howie to pass her message on to Kevin and Samantha. She figured that if everyone spread out more, AJ could lay down and stretch his arms and legs. Plus it was one or two in the morning, and they were all tired.
******** ******** ******** ***
“ Do you snore still?” Samantha asked Howie. She was a BSB fan after all and had sneaked into stores on several occasions to read the sections on the Backstreet Boys in the magazines.
Howie flushed. “Yeah… that’s a major problem isn’t it? Cause they’d easily be able to hear me down there.”
“No, actually it’s not much of a problem. We’re still above safe ground. So this is your last night of sleep! Make the most of it!”
“So then why do we have to be so quiet, even though we’re above safe grounds?” Kevin wondered.
“For practice.” She smiled at the chorus of groans that followed. “Trust me it’s worth it! Just don’t tell the others, okay?”
Kevin and Howie nodded in agreement. They both laid down in the dust and Howie wished that he had cut off his hair. Now he was sure that the dust was clinging to every strand. If he got out, he swore to himself that he would chop it all off with the nearest pair of scissors. He preferred his hair to be longer, but the dust was so irritating! He tried to fall asleep, but even though he was tired and knew that he would be tired for the next couple of days, he just couldn’t.
Samantha had heard about AJ, sure enough, but there was little that she could do. She had prayed that this wouldn’t happen. And it had. She considered that a very bad omen.
********** ********** *********
Samantha awoke Kevin six hours later. She giggled when she saw that his hair was completely flat on one side.
“What, what?” he asked, rubbing his cold cheeks.
“Oh, nothing, your hair is, uh, sticking up a bit, that’s all. It’s cute.”
“Gee thanks.” He turned to tell Howie to wake up.
Howie was just as unpleasant as Kevin was earlier when he woke up to Samantha laughing at him.
“What’s so goddamn funny?” he growled.
“There’s dust in your hair.”
Howie balled up his fists and resisted the urge to yell at Kevin. “Well you don’t look so hot yourself. I’ll get you some frizz spray for Christmas.”
“Shut up and wake up Charn.”
Howie did what he was told. Charn’s hair was less than perfect as well, but Howie decided not to comment. She was having a tough time with AJ and as long as she didn’t say anything to him, he was cool with it.
“Morning Howie,” she mumbled, and he nodded. “How’s AJ?” Before Howie could answer, she checked for herself.
“Still sleeping. I’m just glad he COULD sleep.” She watched him for a few seconds. His chest was moving up and down regularly and his arms were stretched out above his head. Charn skipped waking him up, and woke up Mindy instead.
About an hour had gone by, and the large group continued crawling without a word. Charn looked over her shoulder as often as possible to check on AJ. He had gotten a bit better, but he was still very frustrated. Not being able to turn around had made him even more claustrophobic.
“Charn,” Howie said, “I have another message from Samantha. This one’s a good one too! Just twenty more feet and we’re out of here!”
“Oh wow! I can’t believe it!” Charn exclaimed.
“Yeah, but the area is surrounded with men. We might not be able to get out of here for awhile yet.” Charn turned to AJ with the message. She saw him brighten up instantly. But since AJ couldn’t turn around to give Mindy the message, Charn whispered it over his shoulder.
“Psst, Mindy,” she whispered.
AJ looked Charn straight in the face. “I can do it,” he said.
Charn sighed and kissed him lightly on the mouth. “No, AJ.”
“What is it Charn?” Mindy whispered back.
“I can tell her Charn,” AJ insisted.
“AJ…” Charn grabbed his shoulders in place, “no.”
AJ’s face went blank for a moment. Charn thought that he finally understood and started whispering over AJ’s shoulder. That was when AJ started screaming.
“LET ME DO IT!!!!!!!! I CAN DO IT!!!!!!!! I’M NOT A BABY!!!!!!!! DON’T BE SUCH A B…” AJ had turned himself around and was stuck again. He stopped yelling when he realized that he couldn’t breathe, then started up again when his breath caught up to him.
“AHHHHHHHHHHH, AHHHHHHHHHH!!!” he screamed and thrashed his arms out at the same time.
Charn covered his mouth and turned him around. “Stop it AJ! You’re going to kill us all!” But AJ just struggled under her grip and tried to bite her hands.
“Shit, they heard!” Samantha cried. “Everyone, let’s move, move, move!”
Charn pulled AJ forward, her hands still securely tightened around his mouth, while Mindy pushed him from behind. Fortunately for her, he had stopped kicking.
Samantha reached the end of the tunnel and looked through the louver. The guards were running around like chickens with their heads cut off. They still hadn’t figured out where the screaming had come from. She waited until the majority of the group had caught up and started to unscrew the bolts attached to the louver. The guards had gone to check the vents in the other rooms. They were using long batons to beat the vents, hoping that they would hit someone.
“We have to hurry,” Samantha told Kevin, “We’ll go right while the others will go left.” Kevin nodded. Samantha checked again to see if the coast was clear and then slowly lowered herself onto the table below her. She then got off the table and hid behind a stretcher.
Kevin waited a minute after Samantha left and then slowly lowered himself onto the table. Howie followed after them, then signaled to Charn not to go.
“Okay, here’s what we’re going to do. Kevin and me are going right. We’ll hide behind that table over there by the door and clobber the two guards blocking that exit. We’ll steal their uniforms and hide the bodies on the right side of the vent so that they’ll be out of the way. Then we’ll go and pretend to guard the right door. As soon as we do that, Howie will wait for Charn and AJ to come out, then Howie and AJ will beat up and steal the clothes of the two guards that are guarding the left door. Charn will wait for Mindy and Tommy to come out next and then wait behind this stretcher. In about ten minutes, the guards will switch places. Kevin and me will switch successfully, hopefully, and then Charn and Tommy will steal the clothes from the new guards. Since there’ll be no one guarding that door when Charn and Tommy leave, someone else will take their place. Mindy and the next two people will steal the clothes and leave through the left door. Since we’ll have people constantly guarding the left door, no one from the real guards will take the place. Now, I know I said a mouthful, but I know that we can do this.
Howie, when you go through the left door, turn right and keep going right. At the end of the hallway, there’s an unlocked door. Go into the room. Six boards from the bed; there’s a secret door under the boards. Use this screwdriver, then go into the passageway. Keep going straight down it, and then wait until everyone makes it. Do you understand?”
Howie swallowed. “Yes, yes I do.”
“Good. Kevin, let’s go.”
Chapter 17
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