Chapter
9
Warning: This part contains some adult situations
Late
that night, I woke up with a start. I
had been having a bad dream, I knew, but I didn’t remember much about it. I turned over to see Brian sound asleep next
to me. From across the room, I could
hear Heidi’s deep steady breathing. I
decided to go check on her.
There
must have been a full moon that night, for the moonlight shining through the
windows was very bright. I made my way
over to where she was lying and sat down on the blankets next to her. Looking at the light reflecting on her face,
I said another prayer that we would all make it out of this alive.
***
When
I woke again, I found myself lying next to Heidi, and I realized I must have
fallen asleep while I was checking on her.
I started to get up to head back to my bed with Brian, but I was stopped
by a moaning sound from across the room, where Brian lay.
Startled,
I looked over to Brian’s bed and was shocked to see someone else with him. To get a better view, I slowly and silently
crept across the floor.
Suddenly,
Brian screamed. My eyes widened as I
realized there was someone nearly on top of him. With horror, I realized it was one of our
kidnappers, with his customary black outfit on, complete with the black face
mask. What was he doing to Brian?
At
first, I thought he was trying to strangle or suffocate Brian, but then the man
in black let out a loud moan, and I saw Brian struggle and squirm under
him. My eyes widened as I realized the
man’s pants were halfway down. I blinked
and shook my head, hoping this was just a horrible nightmare. But when I looked again, the man was still on
top of Brian, raping him!
Brian
let out another whimper and tried to squirm out from under him, but the man was
heavier than he. My rage and disgust
took over, and I let out a shriek and made a running leap at the man. I knocked him off of Brian.
“You
sick son of a bitch!!” I screamed, clawing and punching at the man. I slapped him hard across his masked face,
and the fight went out of him. His body
collapsed to the hard floor. Breathing
hard with rage and fear, I leaned over and pulled the face mask off of
him. And I gasped.
***
Kevin
grabbed his ringing cell phone and pressed ‘talk’. “Hello?” he asked.
“Hello,
Kevin?” asked a voice.
“Yeah,
this is Kevin,” Kevin replied. “Who is
this?”
“This
is Officer Kessler,” Kessler said. “I’m
happy to tell you that we’ve caught the kidnappers.”
“You
did?! That’s great!” Kevin exclaimed.
“Yeah,
it is. They showed up in a black semi
right at the west entrance, where Heidi, Julie, and Brian were taken from. We surrounded them, and they surrendered
without too much trouble. There was one
that shot one of the officers, so we had to shoot him, but only in the
leg. He’ll be fine in time for a trial,”
Kessler explained.
“How
is the officer?” Kevin asked.
“Oh,
he’ll be fine. The bullet just grazed
his shoulder,” Kessler replied.
“So,
what are these son of bitches’ names?” Kevin asked.
“Well,
this might be shocking, but their names are…”
***
“Lance!?!?!”
I gasped. I blinked rapidly, staring at
the still figure in front of me. I
couldn’t believe it, but I recognized him.
It was Lance Bass, from ‘N Sync.
Brian
weakly sat up. I turned to him. He was shaking. “Who did you say it was?” he asked, his voice
trembling with fear and shock.
“It’s
Lance,” I whispered.
“Lance? You mean… Lance Bass?” Brian asked, his
scared blue eyes widening.
I
nodded, horrified. I looked down at him
again. It surely was Lance, potato
shaped face and all. I just couldn’t
believe that Lance was behind all of this.
“He…he
tried to rape me,” Brian said, sounding vulnerable and terrified.
“I
know, Brian,” I whispered, wrapping my arms around his quivering body. “I always knew he was a little fag, but I
can’t believe this. It’s all a horrible
nightmare.”
Brian
said nothing, just held onto me. I held
him for sometime, until finally the shock wore off. I knew what Lance had tried to do had
terrified Brian, as it had me. But at
least we knew who he was now.
“Brian?”
I asked. “Do you think the rest of ‘N
Sync is who the other guys are?”
“I
think so,” he said gravely. “That must
be Justin who is here. You know, they
called him J.”
“Yeah,
and now I recognize his voice. The
ebonics,” I said, trying not to giggle.
Brian’s blue eyes sparkled, and I realized how strong he was. What he had been through must have
traumatized him, but he was trying to forget it and keep his sanity.
Suddenly,
I heard loud, pounding footsteps, and before I knew it, the door was bursting
open. There, in the doorway, stood
another man in black, who I assumed was Justin.
He stared at us and scanned his eyes across the room. Suddenly, he saw Lance.
“Lance?!”
he cried, forgetting the secrecy of who they really were. He ran to his knocked out friend and knelt
beside him. Then he whipped off his face
mask and turned to face us, his eyes filled with fury.
“Justin?!”
Brian cried.
“Yo,
‘sup B-Rok? Din’t think dat you’d eva
see me again, huh?” Justin asked. “You
prolly thought dat we’d dropped right off da face of da Earth, din’t ya? Well, you’s was wrong.” He cackled evilly.
“Timberlake,
why are you doing this to us?!” Brian cried.
It didn’t make much sense to me either.
What was his motive?
“What
you foos tryin’ to do comin’ back fo a reunion tour like dat? You know we’s was always better dan you!”
Justin cried, his voice filled with hate.
“Oh
yeah, if you’re so good, then how come you guys haven’t made an album since
2000. How come all your teenybopper
‘fans’ betrayed you? You know why? It’s cause you suck, that’s why!” I yelled at
him.
“Oh
yeah, bitch! Well, we’s just be seein’
about dat!” Suddenly, he whipped out a
gun. I had no time to react before I
heard the shot. I head Brian’s scream,
and suddenly, it felt like a fireball had shot into my stomach. I gasped and shrieked, falling to the
ground. I lay, seething in pain,
shaking with my terror, when Justin leaned over me. “You know why you be here, bitch?” he
asked. “You been screwin’ wit my
plans. You made a big ass mistake by
givin’ Carter da CPR, yo. If you had
just left him alone, he’d be dead now, and you’s wouldn’t be shot! It serve you right, sistah! You don’t go messin’ wit J-Dawg’s plans and
git away wit it, yo!” he yelled, his
sour breath invading my nostrils. I was
too afraid and in too much pain to make any kind of comment now. I just wanted for him to go away. And then he did. “Yo, Lance, git yo’ ass up!” he cried,
grabbing Lance by the shoulders and shaking him. Lance quickly came to. Justin pulled him to his feet and practically
dragged him to the door. “Peace, yo!”
Justin called, grinning evilly, and left, locking the door behind Lance and
him.
Brian
immediately was by my side. “Julie, are
you okay?” he asked worriedly. His eyes
were as huge as saucers with his fear, and I didn’t blame him. I was terrified.
“My
stomach hurts so bad,” I said, tears filling my eyes. My hand drifted to my stomach, were the wound
was, and I gasped when I felt blood on my fingertips. I didn’t have the strength to bring myself to
a sitting position, so I couldn’t see how badly I was hurt. But I knew it had to be bad. “Brian?
Is it bleeding really badly?”
“Shh,
lay back. It’s okay,” he soothed, but I
could see right through his fake calmness.
He was scared, and I knew it. He
pressed a towel over my stomach to try and stop the bleeding. I just prayed that the bullet hadn’t gone
into me too deeply. But I knew in
reality that I could have severe internal damage from the bullet plunging into
my stomach. Still, I tried to push that
thought out of my mind and think about good things. I thought about being at home, safe and
sound, warm in my own bed. I thought
about being with Josh. Then I passed
out.
***
“Joshua
Chasez, Joseph Fatone, and Christopher Kirkpatrick,” Kessler finished.
“You
mean ‘N Sync?!?!” Kevin exclaimed. He
couldn’t believe it.
“Yes,”
Kessler said. “Joey and Chris won’t talk
much, but JC’s told us everything. He
was the one who called Josh earlier.
Fortunately, he told us where they’re keeping Julie, Brian, and Heidi.”
“He
did?! Where?!” Kevin demanded
excitedly.
“It
seems that they’re being held at Lance Bass’s old home in southern
Mississippi,” Kessler replied.
“Lance? He and Justin must be down there now then,”
Kevin said.
“I
think so,” Kessler said. “Anyway, I’m
going to make a few calls and get some cops over there. We’ll have them out as soon as possible.”
Kevin
nodded, relief washing over him. It was
almost over. At least, that’s what he
thought.
***
Brian
looked down at Julie. She was still
unconscious, and he was afraid she wouldn’t make it long without medical
attention. He had finally stopped the
bleeding, but she had lost a lot of blood in the process. All of their towels were completely soaked. He had finally ripped one of their blankets
into strips to use as bandages and wrapped them around the wound the best he
could. But still, her breathing was
ragged and shallow, her skin was pasty white, and she was sweating, even though
it was freezing in the basement.
“Brian?”
called a voice from across the room.
Brian’s eyes lit up when he saw Heidi sitting up in her bed. He left Julie and scrambled over to her.
“Heidi!”
he exclaimed happily.
“Man,
my head hurts,” Heidi said, gently rubbing the back of her head.
“You’ve
been unconscious for almost a day,” Brian told her. “Julie thinks you must have hit your head
pretty hard during the seizure.”
“Seizure?!”
Heidi asked, her eyes widening.
“Yeah,
you had a seizure this morning,” Brian replied softly.
“Oh,
God,” Heidi moaned. “When can we get out
of this nightmare?”
“I
don’t know, Heidi,” Brian said sadly.
“But we need to get out of here even sooner now.”
“Why?”
Heidi asked. Brian took a deep breath
and began to explain all that had happened while she had been unconscious.
***
“Brian?”
I moaned weakly. Immediately, he was by
my side.
“Hey,
Julie, how are you doing?” he asked sympathetically.
“I
hurt so bad,” I said. The pain in my
stomach was so horrible, it brought tears to my eyes.
“I
know, honey,” he said, looking pained himself.
I knew there was nothing he could do to stop the pain, and it was
killing him. “But, hey, I’ve got some
good news. Heidi’s awake.”
“She
is?” I asked, forgetting about my pain for a moment. “Where is she?”
“Heidi,
come here,” Brian called. In a moment,
Heidi was on the other side of me.
“Hey,
Julie,” she said, her eyes widening with fear as she looked at my wound.
“Hey,”
I said, forcing a smile. “I’m glad
you’re awake now. Did Brian tell you
what happened?”
She
nodded solemnly. “He told me everything,”
she replied softly. “I can’t believe
Justin Timberlake would do this to you.
How could he shoot an innocent girl?
What have you done to him?”
“I
saved Nick,” I replied softly.
“What?”
she asked.
“He
was the one who cut Nick’s cord, and his intent was to kill him. I gave him CPR and got his heart beating
again. I ruined Justin’s plan,” I
whispered.
“Oh,
God,” Heidi gasped, tears filling her eyes, for the whole thing was too
horrible to imagine.
“But
I would do it again in a second,” I added.
“Nick’s life is more important than mine.”
“Julie,
don’t say that,” Brian said sharply.
“Nick is my best friend, but his life is no more important than yours
is.”
“Well,
still, if I hadn’t have done CPR on him, maybe I wouldn’t be lying here with a
bullet in me, but I wouldn’t have ever met you guys, and I would probably be at
home now, feeling horrible for not doing anything. Personally, I’m glad to be here with
you. At least I know I did the right
thing,” I said. I saw tears dripping slowly
down Heidi’s cheeks, and Brian’s eyes looked shimmery. “Don’t cry, guys,” I said. “I’m going to be okay.”
“I
know,” Brian said. “You’re strong,
Julie. You’re going to make it.”
I
nodded, just praying that I would.
***
