A bulky man in his thirties picked Kevin up and threw him over his husky shoulders. Kevin kicked the poor man as hard as he could in the back until he couldn't take it anymore. Six men helped him cuff and tie Kevin's legs together, and they gagged him just in case. So that Kevin couldn't move at all, they strapped his legs onto the bulky man's back.
AJ had been cheering Kevin on the whole time, but got punched in the nose by Mallone, who was getting quite annoyed with him. Blood trickled it's way down his nose and he could taste it on his lips. This made AJ very angry, so after he got of the car, he attempted to tackled Mallone from behind with his torso. Running into Mallone was like running into a brick wall, and AJ toppled backwards after he hit him.
AJ landed on the ground with a force so hard it made his teeth rattle. He just laid there in stunned silence, and closed his eyes, thinking of what to do next.
Kevin was brought to a tree within AJ's eyesight, where he was roughly unhitched from the bulky man and tied to the tree. His legs were still bound together.
AJ looked at Kevin in disbelief, as if he was a ghost. 'He should be outta here,' he thought morbidly. Just then two more cars pulled up, one had Nick, Brian, and Howie, and the other was Ash's car. The two buses and several patrol cars passed by them, and continued farther down the trail.
"Hey there goes our stuff," AJ moaned. He looked up at the clear blue sky. " What did we do to deserve this?" Denise, Conan, all the guards, dancers and band members came from the other cars and were escorted to the out house.
"AJ, honey, are you okay?" Denise called, worried about her son.
"I'm fine mom," AJ croaked, "Just got the wind knocked out of me."
"But you're bleeding!" She couldn't say anymore, she was led to the out house along with Conan. They brought twenty more people to the out house, which AJ thought was impossible. It couldn't have been more than two meters wide.
After they loaded everyone except for the Backstreet Boys into the out house, they came back for them. They were preparing for a fight from them. AJ was hoisted onto Mallone's shoulder, which forced him to let out a series of dry coughs. Kevin was untied from the tree, and forced to stand on his feet. Brian, Howie and Nick were taken out from Stauffer's car and Ash helped to tie them up as well.
The Backstreet Boys, reunited, asked each other if they were okay, etc., all except for Kevin, who was still gagged. One by one they were brought into the out house. Brian came in last. He took in all he could, trees, landmarks, the works.
When he entered the out house, he started to gag from the terrible smell. It was so bad that it was almost inhuman. Brian was tempted to make a crack about it, but didn't want to risk it. He had seen what had been done to AJ, and it looked like it hurt. So he didn't want a part of that.
The second thing that Brian noticed about the bathroom was that there was a giant hole where they had pried the boards away. Inside the hole was a winding staircase, which must have wound a hundred feet. Brian looked and began to feel that familiar nauseous feeling come back to him.
The man that was carrying Brian paused on the second step to close up the hole. Brian could see the top of Nick's blonde head descending down the staircase. Suddenly Brian really didn't want to be there. He shouted desperately and kicked as best he could. Nick turned to look at him, the expression on his face read that he felt the same way.
The man carrying Brian had just finished replacing the last board, and was getting frustrated with Brian. He set Brian down on his feet, and Brian looked at him strangely. Suddenly, the man reached out and pushed him.
Brian didn't expect this, and he tumbled backwards, unable to stop himself from falling because of his bindings. There were no landings, the steps just descended awkwardly, for a hundred feet. Brian felt a jolt of pain each time he landed on a step, and he knew that he had to do something to avoid breaking all of his bones.
He tried straightening himself out, but his legs just swerved out of place. Brian landed on the next step with his arm and heard his shoulder pop. He had no time to think out the pain. On the step after that, he landed on his butt, which gave him a chance to stop himself from falling farther. He bounced as best he could, sending a jolt of pain up his stiff spine. But despite this, he managed to swerve to the railing, where he stuck out his bound legs, catching himself from falling onto the next step. He rested his head on the step, and noticed the blood coming from his forehead. It trickled down the side of his face, frightening him a little more. He could hear Nick calling his name from the bottom of the immense staircase. Nick begged the man to let him help Brian, but the man wasn't stupid, and didn't want to risk it.
The man who pushed Brian bounded down the staircase after Brian to finish him off. He picked Brian up and prepared to throw him over the rail when he felt a tap on his shoulder. The man turned around. It was Ash. She had been left behind by mistake and they didn't hear her scream at them from outside.
Leaving Jansin behind at the top of the stairs, she had raced down to see what was going on. She expected the worse, and she got it. It was the cute guy she had noticed when she arrested the people in the buses. He was bleeding and was groaning in pain.
The man carrying Brian put him down and stood obediently in front of Ash. Her anger encouraged her strength as she lifted the heavy man over her head and threw him down the railing. The man landed headfirst on the concrete, and his skull burst with a sickening crack. It was safe to guess that the fall had killed him instantly.
Ash looked up and saw that Jansin had somehow gotten to his feet and was halfway in the outhouse. She groaned and ran up the stairs to stop him.
"Clifford!" she shouted at the man carrying Nick, "Bring the blonde to his friend and help me close up the hole." Clifford struggled for the next five minutes getting Nick back up the stairs, which wasn't too long considering that the staircase drifted down a hundred feet. They were all used to it by now, every outside mission required the use of those steps.
While Clifford closed up the hole, Ash called for a few more men to help out and to clean up the mess. They came promptly, and Ash ordered them to take Jansin and Nick away. Clifford finished fixing up the hole, and carried Brian the rest of the way.
Ash thought it was cute how Nick didn't want to be separated from his injured friend. But she didn't say anything when they took Nick away, because she was afraid that people would notice. She walked beside Clifford and realized that this was the perfect opportunity to learn his name.
"What your name, sugar?" She asked sweetly, trying to be nice. Clifford didn't think that this was strange, Robyn did it all the time before she killed someone.
At first Brian really didn't want to answer, but changed his mind because he knew that Clifford who was carrying him so gently, could get outraged just like the other man. He had never been so close to instant death before.
"Brian," he croaked, looking the other way. Ash felt that his voice sent chills down her spine and goosebumps up her arms.
"And the others?" she probed, " I know the blonde is Nick, poor guy was pretty upset. I'm sure that if he wasn't bound he would have killed...oh what' his face? I don't remember. But he needed to be dealt with. Robyn will be very upset. So what about the guy with the tattoos?"
"AJ," Brian informed her, closing his eyes. Ash noticed that on his legs, the handcuffs they had used to keep his legs from moving were clamped on his leg, piercing the skin. His khakis were now very dirty, and blood was seeping through them where the handcuffs were clamped. She ordered Clifford to stop and used her spare key to take off the handcuffs.
"There!" she exclaimed in satisfaction. "AJ huh? How about Mr. Tall, Dark, and Handsome?"
"That might be Kevin." Ash laughed, and smiled at him. Her cell phone beeped and her mood suddenly darkened.
" Yello?" She questioned monotonously into the phone.
"Any trouble? I noticed that you're behind schedule, very unusual for you." Robyn was suspicious.
"Yeah, a few glitches. But it's all fixed and I'll be there in a bit."
"Did we lose any men?"
"One. For misconduct."
"Very well. And I trust that the rest are in their cells?"
"If they know what's good for them, they are." Robyn laughed and dismissed Ash.
"So," Ash addressed Brian again, " What about brown eyes?"
"Howie."
They walked the rest of the way in silence, down the long hallway, past many rooms. When they reached the second last one, Ash opened the door and they went inside.
Brian noticed that all his friends were locked up in sterile cells. He heard them call his name, but was afraid to say anything. Ash opened a cell and Clifford placed Brian on a bed inside.
After they left, Brian was approached by his room mates. "Brian!" Nick exclaimed hugging him. He untied the ropes that bound Brian's hands together. Kevin approached him next, then Tommy.
"We don't have enough room for this girl anywhere." They heard from outside
"Oh, just stick her in that cell, there's only four in there." A man opened their cell door and stuffed Dakshana inside.
"No hanky panky or y'all are going to get it," the man warned, laughing.
"Don't worry I trust you!"
"Brian, are you okay?" Dakshana asked, worried. She didn't notice Nick eyeing her. Brian did, but he didn't say anything.
"I'll be fine. I'm just a bit sore." Just then the cell door opened again, and Robyn entered...
Chapter 9
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