Chapter 25

Brian finally stood up. He still hadn't completely caught his breath, but he didn't want to worry Nick. He was a little worried himself though. He was very athletic and usually had no trouble catching his breath after a game of basketball. "I just overworked myself," he thought. "I'm just tired from the tour."

"You ready?" Nick asked, also standing up.

"Sure," Brian replied. "Let's go." They started walking through the park to the shopping area. They had only gotten a few yards when Brian began to feel dizzy. He stopped a moment and took a deep breath. Nick was a few feet ahead of him and didn't notice. Brian walked on, trying to catch up to him. But he was suddenly hit with another wave of dizziness, this one stronger. It overtook him, and he dropped to his knees.

Nick turned around when he realized that Brian was not directly behind him. He saw Brian collapse a few feet behind him.

"Frick!" he cried, running back to Brian. Brian was sitting on the ground breathing hard. He looked up at Nick. His face was sweaty and pale. "What happened? Are you okay?" He knelt beside Brian and gripped his shoulder. "Talk to me!"

Brian tried to assure Nick that he would be fine, but he couldn't catch his breath. He started to panic. He couldn't breath. "Calm down," he told himself. "Panicking will only make it worse." He tried to take a deep breath, but his chest hurt terribly and he couldn't get a breath.

"Brian!" Nick cried. "Say something, man! What's the matter?" Nick began to panic as he watched Brian struggle to breathe. Suddenly, Brian fell backwards and lay flat on his back on the grass.

Nick hovered over him. Brian's eyes were open wide, but they had a glassy look to them. He started thrashing around, struggling to breathe. Nick grabbed him by the arms and tried to hold him down. "Brian! Calm down, man! You gotta calm down!" he shouted. But Brian didn't hear him. Suddenly, his eyes rolled back in his head and he stopped thrashing around and lay still. "Oh my God!" Nick screamed. "Brian!!"  He looked around frantically, not knowing what to do. He needed to get help, but he couldn't leave Brian.

Luckily two men heard his screams and hurried over. "Go get help!" he shouted to them. They might not have understood English very well, but they saw Brian and understood what was happening. One shouted something to the other in German. He ran towards the shopping area. The other man hurried over to Nick and Brian.

***

 

 

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