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I groaned under my burdens. I was on my way up the steps to my apartment. I was trying to balance my backpack, gym bag, laundry basket, and my mocha. I got to my door and banged on it with my foot. Kyung should be home and I waited impatiently for her to let me in. It was crisp out and my wind pants and thin sweatshirt weren’t really enough to keep me warm. There was no answer so I sighed and dumped the laundry basket and gym bag on the ground so I could fish my key out of my pocket. Normally I wasn’t carrying this much stuff, but the laundry facilities at my apartment complex were “Temporarily closed due to renovations.” Perfect. I had to drive all over town to find a Laundromat that wouldn’t make my clothes come out dirtier than they had gone in. It was dark now outside so it was dark inside the apartment I shared with Kyung also. That was weird, she should have been here.

“Kyung??” I called. No answer. I wasn’t too worried though. My bigger concern was checking my e-mail. I haven’t heard from Nick in two days. It had been five months since I had seen him. That was in the hospital. I had finally gotten released, but he still went in as an outpatient for physical therapy. Ever since then, we had talked every day. At the very most we had skipped a day. Either on the phone, but more often by email. Even if it was just a quick one to say hi. Now it was almost the end of Wednesday and I hadn’t heard from him since Monday morning. He hadn’t returned an e-mails and both his and Brian’s cell phones only rang. I was worried.

I left the front door open, leaving my gym bag and laundry basket on the porch. When I tried to flip on the light, nothing happened. “Damn.” I muttered. Was the power out? But, no, the neighbor’s lights were on. I had noticed because they always leave their blinds open and you can see everything. I started to go find a flashlight when I felt a monstrous arm circle my neck. I gasped at the sudden lack of oxygen.

“We’ve got a little surprise for you.” A deep voice growled, in my ear.

I struggled to break free, but whoever was holding me was huge. I couldn’t even budge him. My heart was pounding. I increased my struggle.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.” He stated menacingly.

Out of desperation I threw my hand back and my nails connected with something. I dug my nails in.

“YOU BITCH!” My assailant screamed as he let go of me. I took my chance and started to run. I didn’t make it two feet before I felt something crack down over the back of my head. I didn’t even have time to react as I pitched forward, falling unconscious.

I slowly sat up, immediately feeling dizzy. I reached my hand up to the back of my head and felt a good sized knot. My thoughts were still fuzzy and I felt disoriented.

“You too?” I squinted into the room and as my eyes focused, I made out the shape of three more cages. Nick and Brian occupied two of them. The more my eyes focused, the more I could see that they were shackled much as I was. Brian was motioning to the bump on my head. His hand was resting gently on the back of his own head and I guessed that whoever had done this, had hit him too.

“I feel like I’ve been slammed in the head by a two by four.” I mumbled.

“Are you okay?” Nick asked anxiously.

“I think so. What’s going on? Are you guys okay?” My head was beginning to clear now.

“We’re fine and we have no idea what is going on. We’ve both been here for two days. We’ve only seen a short fat man and once a woman that looked to be about his age. They won’t answer any of our questions.” Brian explained.

I looked around the room. There were no windows and it felt damp. Not to mention, it had a rather unpleasant smell. “What day is it?” I asked.

“As far as I know, late Wednesday night. Maybe early Thursday morning.” Nick suggested.

“I was just getting home and when I let myself into my apartment someone came up behind me and grabbed me. He was huge. I don’t think he was the guy you described because this guy was tall. He wasn’t fat either, just huge. I scratched him and when I tried to run he must have hit me. I don’t remember anything after that.” I said, trying to keep the tremble out of my voice.

“Lizz, we...” Brian started. He was interrupted when a large door over in the corner of the room opened. A tall, younger looking guy strode in, something draped over their shoulder. As he walked closer I could see that the something was a someone. He opened up the cage next to mine and dumped the unconscious figure in and chained her up. I gasped when I saw who it was.

Kyung.

Without thinking, I jumped up in the tiny cage. “You bastard!! What the hell did you do to her?!”

The guy walked over to me and I could see his face now. Angry, red claw marks went down the length of his cheek and I knew he was the one who kidnapped me.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON?!” Nick yelled at him.

“Who are you?” Brian also demanded. Neither one of them had seen this guy before.

“You asshole! If you hurt her, I swear to you...” I continued to holler. The guy grinned at me. He might have been decent looking if his eyes weren’t so cold and hard. I tried not to shudder. “Why did you bring us here? Who are you?!” I yelled.

His grin disappeared and was replaced by a menacing glare. “You know what happened to the cat when it got curious?” He sneered at me.

“Do I look like a cat to you?!” I shot back.

Once again his look changed and this was one I did not like. I shrank away from him in my tiny cage.

“Oh, maybe.” He then purred at me. “I can see you’ve already used your claws. Don’t think you are getting away with that.” He rubbed his cheek.

“You’re a fucking sicko.” I whispered. I was scared, but I didn’t want him to see that.

He grabbed a metal pole that I had missed before. “You’re gonna get the same treatment as your loudmouth friend over if you don’t watch your mouth.” He snarled. With that he jammed the pole into the cage and into my side. I sucked in my breath and dropped back to the floor of the cage. No way was I going to show him my pain. Instead I glared at him.

He whirled around and stalked off to the door. “I have a surprise for you guys. Someone who has been waiting a long time for this. I’m sure you will be very glad to see her.” He opened the door.

Terri stepped into the room, a smug grin pasted on her face. I couldn’t believe it was her. How did she get out of jail? She was the one behind this?! But why? I glanced over at Nick and Brian. Brian looked as shocked as I felt. Nick looked just plain pissed off.

“YOU BITCH! THIS IS YOU’RE DOING?!” He screamed at her.

The guy I had scratched walked over to Nick’s cage and picked up a metal bar that was lying near it. “I don’t think you better be talking to my girlfriend like that pal.” He stated angrily, brandishing the pole.

Nick backed away from the front of the cage, although he only had room to move about two feet.

Terri smiled sweetly at him. “You’re looking so much better. I didn’t think you would ever be normal again.” Her gaze shifted towards me. “You either. You were supposed to die.”

I didn’t say anything. I didn’t want that pole in my side again.

“Well, I suppose you are all wondering why I brought you here. You see, I was supposed to get a lot of money because of you guys, but no, you had to go and ruin it for me. Well, I will get what I deserve. The National Enquiror was supposed to give me a lot of money. I was promised a job there. I would have had it all. But, NO, you had to ruin that didn’t you?! Instead, I lost my job at the hospital, I lost my money, I lost my offer to be a reporter, I WENT TO JAIL!” Terri paced back and forth in front of our cages. Thankfully Kyung was still out. I knew she would be freaking out when she woke up.

Just then an older woman peeked her head into the room. “Terri, sweetie, the letters were delivered. They should be reading them now. I even postmarked the envelopes so they won’t have any idea we are so close.”

“Thanks mom. We won’t be here for much longer anyway.” Terri replied as her mom went back through the door.

What the heck was that?! What did she mean by so close? If the mom had delivered them, but postmarked them, does that mean we were in Florida? That didn’t make sense. Did it? And what did they mean about not being here for much longer? Were they going to kill us or move us or what? My head was pounding and trying to fit the pieces together only made it hurt worse.

Terri turned back to us. “Don’t think we are going to make this easy on you. The four of you ruined my life and while we are waiting for my demands to be made, I am going to put you all through just what I went through. Do any of you know what it’s like to be in jail?! Trust me, you’re going to find out.” Terri was getting more and more agitated. Apparently she didn’t have a good jail experience. Sarcasm noted. The more she said, the more uneasy I got. What the hell did she plan on doing with us?

After her little speech, she turned around and flounced out of the room. Her boyfriend followed her. After he slammed the door it was silent for about two seconds when I heard a sob.

“Kyung?! Oh god, are you okay?” I called to her.

She was breathing hard and repeating over and over, “Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god.”

I looked over at Nick and Brian and they both looked pained. How could we do anything when we were in these damned cages? “Kyung. Kyung! Listen to me! Hey!” I called sharply.

She continued to breathing in the same fashion. Shit. “Kyung, sweetie, you gotta stop hyperventilating. Besides, that’s my thing. C’mon, hun, breathe. Take in a deep breath okay? Slow. C’mon babe. Look at me okay?” I coached.

Finally she looked up, her eyes wide with fear. “Kyung, I am not gonna let them hurt you okay? We’re going to get out of this. All of us. Okay? Sweetie, do you hear me?!” I said sternly.

She nodded, breathing a little more regularly. I ran my hands through my hair. “What now?”

“I don’t know. What are they gonna do? I can’t believe this, I really can’t. That girl is totally psychotic and she’s got her whole family into it. And her boyfriend I guess.” Nick replied.

I shuddered. “He scares me.” I whispered.

Brian nodded. “It seems as though they have it all figured out. That woman, the mom, said she delivered the letters. I’m guessing ransom letters? And delivered them how? Are we local and she dropped them off today and they were delivered today? She said whoever was getting them should be reading them now. They have this planned to a ‘T’.”

“But they said something about us going somewhere else? Why? When? Where?” I countered.

Brian shook his head. “I don’t know...”

“She’s got so much anger in her. She is going to take that out on us.” I said, wrapping my arms around my knees.

The next hour went by painfully slow. I was getting hungry and my head was still pounding. Kyung had barely said two words and I was getting really worried about her. Brian had fallen back asleep and Nick mentioned that he thought that Brian might have a concussion.

“Nick?” I called quietly, breaking the silence.

“Yeah?”

“I don’t have my meds.” I have to take a bunch of immunosuppresants for the rest of my life now. They keep my body from rejecting my kidneys and lungs. If I didn’t take them, I risked rejecting the organs. That could kill me.

“Shit, Lizz...” He was quiet for a second. “I don’t have mine either.”

I shook my head. “You haven’t had a seizure have you?”

“No, but...”

“But what?” I pressed.

“I felt kinda funny earlier.” He said so quietly, I could barely hear him.

I shut my eyes. “This is really bad.” I hadn’t cried yet, and I was determined not to now.

Before Nick could answer, the door burst open. A guy walked in that appeared to be about Brian’s age. He looked a lot like Terri and I wondered if he was her brother. Terri’s boyfriend was behind him. Terri pushed her way around both of them and announced “Time for some fun!”

I stared at the two of them standing before us in the center of the basement. Terri had an evil smile on her face and her eyes looked dark. I could tell that each of us were sitting on the edge of apprehension, not knowing what she had in store for us.

I glanced over at Brian, wondering if he was thinking of a way out of this mess. His eyes looked funny to me, I knew he had a splitting headache going on and it worried me about the concussion. He was sleeping quite a bit. Brian just shrugged his shoulders.

“I bet you guys have never done man’s work in your life have you? Terri laughed menacingly. “Kurt, I need you to open the doors on Brian’s and Nick’s cells.”

I watched Kurt open up Brian’s cage and removed the paddle lock on the shackle releasing the chain that had him attached to the cage. He left the shackle back on, be re-threaded the thick chain back through the shackle and clamped a new shackle on the other ankle and did the same with the chain.

Lizz was starting to panic in her cage as they did the same to me and then commanded Brian and I to get out of the cages.

“What are you going to do with them? Why are you doing this to us?”

“Because you ruined it for me, you and your best friend here ruined it and took six months of my life away from me. I’m gonna see that you pay for it, and pay for it dearly,” Terri spat.

“Then leave them alone, it’s me you evidently want to hurt,” Lizz argued.

“NO LIZZ, JUST LET IT GO,” I pleaded. I saw Terri’s boyfriend enter the room holding the metal rod and I knew damn well he was itching to use it.

“Yeah, listen to Nick here, odd that they always label you as the goofy dumb blonde in the group, you’re actually kinda smart,” Terri quickly replied.

Then I saw that woman that was Terri’s mom come into the room holding a camcorder. “Here honey, I thought maybe home videos of this could be an added touch.”

“Thanks mommy, okay now Nick and Brian, you have to follow me, I’ve got wood that needs to be chopped and stacked. You shouldn’t have any problems, I think they predicted the temperature to only be in the mid 90’s,” Terri laughed. “And that’s in the shade!”

It was difficult to walk with the heavy chains linking my ankles together. I looked over towards Lizz, wanting to tell her not to worry about us, but was stopped from doing so when the tall man poked me in the back with the steel probe.

“Keep moving, Carter,” the man growled.

“Marcus, if they start slacking feel free to do whatever you want okay?” I heard Terri call from outside the room. A moment later she returned. She turned to Kurt. “Sweetie, if you want to join in on the fun, you can go with.”

“I might enjoy that. Loudmouth gets under my skin.” Kurt leaned over and kissed Terri before going out the door.

I glared at Terri. She stood just out of reach of me. I wanted her to step just a couple feet closer so I could strangle her. “You’re making them chop firewood?! Why the hell would you do that when it is almost a hundred degrees outside, dumbass?” I couldn’t keep my contempt for her out of my voice.

She only smiled back at me. “So they can suffer like I did. They made me fold laundry in a steaming hot room for hours on end. Do you know what that’s like? Don’t worry, you and your little friend will get to have some fun too.”

“If you think I am going to chop firewood for you, then you have another think comin.” I snapped.

Her smile faded into a snarl. “You better watch how you talk to me. My boyfriend is already pissed off for what you did to his face and so am I. Like he said before, you aren’t getting away with that and wait until you see what we’re gonna do.” She grinned again. Then her eyes lit up. “Oh! I almost forgot! Look what I’ve got.” She went over to a fanny pack that was sitting on the floor by the door. How had I missed that? She opened it and pulled out several bottles of pills.

My eyes grew wide. I recognized a couple of those bottles. “Oh my god. My pills. And Nick’s?!” I breathed.

“Yup. To tell you the truth I might even have more pills than that. Kurt and Marcus raided your stash and the guys’ stashes. So who knows what all’s in here.” Terri was grinning at her accomplishment.

“Terri, please, we need those pills. You know full well what could happen if we don’t take them.” I pleaded.

“Forget it. You think I am going to just hand them to you? You are going to have to earn them.” Her smile grew and I felt sick inside. Nick had already said he felt funny earlier.

“Laters!” She called as she danced out of the room. I was forced to sit there worrying to death about Nick and Brian.

“Kyung?” I called. She was still sitting there motionless, almost as if in a trance. She had been this way ever since she tried to hyperventilate. I kept talking to her, but I still wasn’t getting any response. I think she must have been in some sort of shock.

The door flying open made me jump. I don’t know how much time had passed since Brian and Nick had left, but it had to have been at least an hour or two.

“You bastards! If he’s...” Nick was yelling. I could hear the anguish in his voice. I immediately jumped up and grabbed the bars of the cage.

Nick came in first, fighting Kurt, who finally out frustration, pulled out a gun and shoved it into the back of Nick’s head.

“If you don’t shut up I’m going to blow your fucking head off.” He yelled.

“NO! NICK!” I screamed.

Immediately behind Kurt and Nick, Marcus came in carrying Brian, who appeared to be unconscious.

“What happened?! Brian?!” I cried.

“He passed out. From the concussion. He’s...” Nick started to tell me.

“Shut up!” Kurt yanked open Nick’s cage and shoved him inside. He shackled him back up to the cage and slammed it shut. Nick immediately jumped up back up. He opened his mouth to say something, but was stopped by the gun pointed in his face. I felt my breath catch in my throat.

Marcus opened Brian’s cage and dumped him roughly inside. Then he shackled him just as he did Nick.

“What the hell?! They need to be alive!!” Terri ran in the room, screaming. Her mother followed, wringing her hands.

I turned to them. “Please. Let me go over there. What use will he be to you if he dies? Please! You have to let me help him.” I begged, my voice cracking. I wished Kyung was with it. Even though I had a lot of medical knowledge, Kyung was the one that majoring in med.

“Forget it.” Terri snapped.

“Sweetie, she’s right. If the guy dies, that isn’t going to help our cause.” Her mom calmly explained.

“But mommy!” She whined. But then she stopped when she saw the look on her mother’s face.

Her mom nodded at Kurt. He walked over to my cage, touched the scratch on his cheek, and grinned at me. Why the hell did he keep doing that?! He open the cage and undid my shackles. Then he grabbed me and dragged me out, not even giving me a chance to stand up. I looked over at Nick and his eyes shone with unshed tears. I tried to smile at him to let him know that it was going to be okay. I guess you could call it a smile. Sort of.

“Don’t think you are staying. You are only in there long enough to make sure he isn’t going to die on us.” Terri spat at me. I could tell she was pissed. I was getting my way here and she was not happy about it. I knew she was going to make me pay for it later, but right now I didn’t care.

I held my breath as I watched Lizz get shoved into Brian’s crate. As she picked up an arm, the hand flopped around like it wasn’t connected to his body.

“He’s burning up you assholes! He’s probably got sun poisoning. Didn’t you give them any water?!”

“They didn’t give us anything Lizz, we were out in the ...” the metal bar striking the cage where I sat stopped me from finishing my sentence.

“Shut your mouth if you know what’s best for you, Carter,” Marcus hissed.

“Can I have some water, a cold cloth, something? He needs to cool down,” Lizz begged.

I could tell she was holding back tears, hell I was holding them back myself. Brian was so pale, I’ve never seen anyone look that white. He looked better after his heart surgery than what he does right now.

Marcus reached in and tried to pull Lizz out of the cage. She let out a scream something short of what a wild animal would make. As he pulled on her waist, Lizz clung onto the fencing of the cage with her hands. Marcus ended up winning the battle, ripping her hands from the sides, tearing the skin in the palm of her left hand.

Terri’s mother approached where Brian laid, a compress in one hand and an ear thermometer in the other. She crouched down and placed the thermometer in his ear. After the quick beep, she looked at the reading. She cleared it and tried it again.

“What is it?” I tried to calmly ask the woman. She ignored me, pressing her hand onto Brian’s forehead.

“Terri, we need to put him in my room, someplace cool, fast,” the woman said with quiet urgency.

“What’s his temperature?” Terri asked.

“105.8 and we need to cool him down or he could have some serious problems,” the woman replied.

I looked at Lizz and Kyung’s reactions to the temperature. Kyung’s mouth dropped open, but she didn’t say anything. This was frustrating since she was a nurse. Lizz started to let the tears she had been keeping held in finally free.

‘WHERE ARE YOU TAKING HIM? HE NEEDS TO GO TO A HOSPITAL. HE HAS A HEART CONDITION!” I yelled after them as I watched Marcus sling Brian’s body over his shoulder.

They ignored my shouts and carried Brian off, out into another section of the place we were being held in.

I don’t know if it was because we had been chopping wood out in the heat or if my medication levels were completely off, but that weird feeling was coming back and the room was starting to turn grey. I could barely hear Lizz yelling at me before everything went dark.

“Oh god!! Nick!! NICK“ I screamed. I was still standing in front of Brian’s cage. Marcus had given me to Kurt before taking Brian away. My arms were pinned behind me, but as soon as I saw that Nick was having a seizure, I started to struggle again.

“Shit. What the fuck is wrong with him?” Kurt growled.

“He’s having a seizure. Nobody bothered to give him his meds since he has been here. He could hurt himself. You have to let me help him.” The bitterness and then desperation in my voice was showing.

“What the hell is all the racket?” Terri cried as she came flying into the room. She saw Nick and her eyes grew wide.

“Please, Terri, let me go in there.” I begged.

She glared at me and I could tell she was having a hard time deciding. On one hand, she didn’t want to give into me, but on the other, she didn’t want anything to jeopardize her plans. And if anything happened to Nick, then she might lose out on some of her money. “What if I said I would give you a dose of his med or a dose of yours? One or the other? Then what would you do??” She sneered.

“Give me his.” I replied without hesitation. “Look, just let me go in there long enough to make sure he is okay, then you can do whatever you want with me. Please.” I pleaded. I hated begging her for anything, but my pride was the least of concerns right now.

“Shit! If he dies, he isn’t any good to me. I’m just going to add this to the list of shit you gotta pay for though.” She sighed heavily as she pulled a couple pills out of one of the bottles.

Kurt dragged me over to Nicks cage and shoved me in. Then Terri handed me a glass of water and two pills. “If he isn’t okay, then you are gonna pay, got it?”

“I got it.” I replied. I leaned over Nick and patted his face gently. He had stopped seizing, but he wasn’t conscious. “C’mon Nick, wake up okay? You gotta take these.” After a few minutes I managed to rouse him and get him to take the pills. He was still pretty out of it and I knew it would be a little bit before he totally came around. I crossed my legs Indian-style and pulled his head into my lap. Then I leaned against the back of the cage, totally drained. Terri had since left, followed by Kurt. I wondered where Brian was and what was going on. Kyung was still being unresponsive so I was pretty much alone. My hand was throbbing and I finally took a look at it. The skin was torn up pretty nice and I grimaced. I wadded up the bottom of my sweatshirt in my fist and held it as tight as I could to stop it from bleeding. God, I wished Nick would wake up. The meds would help, but it would take more than one dose. I wondered if I could somehow bargain with Terri to get her to shell out some more doses.

Terri’s mom paced around the room while Brian feverishly slept in the bed. She kept changing the cold compress and it was helping. His temp had gone down, but not all the way. “Marcus?” She called her older son.

“Yeah?” He appeared a moment later.

“Do any of those bottles of pills belong to him?” She jerked her head towards Brian.

“Hell if I know.”

“Well go check.” She snapped.

Terri came in a moment later with a bottle of pills. “Mommy, he is supposed to be working and so is Nick.” She glared at Brian’s sleeping form.

“Terri, baby, when his concussion goes away, he will be more than able to keep working. Until then we have to keep him still. He isn’t any good to us dead. And as for Nick apparently he needs those damn seizure meds.” Her mom explained.

“Well, it’s gonna cost him then. And that little bitch too. She’s gonna get what’s coming to her. I hate her momma.” Terri’s face twisted to show her anger.

“I know sweetie and don’t worry, they are both gonna pay. They all will.” Terri’s mom promised.

At that point Brian started to come around.

Brian’s eyes quickly darted around the room. The last thing he remembered was sitting in a shower with cold water beating on his face. It took him a few moments to put the pieces together.

Terri shook the brown vial of pills she had in her hand. “Hey Brian, what are these pills for?”

Brian’s eyes narrowed as he looked at the bottle.

“It says: Brian T. Littrell, Dr. Sherman Stephanovich, take one 25mg table twice daily. Lasix. What’s that for?”

“They’re mine,” Brian mumbled.

“No shit, I just read your name. What do you need them for?”

Brian’s eyes started drooping. He was struggling to keep awake. He had a terrible headache and he reached up to touch his forehead but drew his hand back when it came in contact with the cold compress.

“So is this life and death medication or what?” Terri persisted on answers.

“Eventually,” Brian quietly replied.

“Eventually? What the hell kind of answer is that?” Terri snapped.

Brian weakly cleared his throat. “It’s a water pill, it keeps the fluid levels down in my body. My heart can’t take excess fluid and it’s compromised and this just helps it out.”

“So what do you mean by eventually?” Terri questioned.

“Meaning, the longer I’m off it, the more fluid can build up in the pericardium, as if you’d know anyways,” Brian snapped back, irritated at having to explain something to this girl that wasn’t understanding or realizing the seriousness of her situation.

Terri pasted a fake smile on her face, tossing the vial of pills on the dresser. “Well, Brian, you have to make a choice here. I’m leaving the entire sacrifice in your hands. Either you get your lasix on schedule or I can make sure that Lizz gets her medication on sechedule, OR, Nick gets his anti-seizure meds on schedule. By the way, he just got finished having a seizure, just thought you’d want to use that in your judgement of who gets what.”

“You can’t make me chose! That’s not fair.” Brian argued.

“Oh yes I can, don’t you see Brian? I control everything, I have you guy’s meds and I can do what I damn well please. I mean I don’t plan on killing any of you, I just plan on you getting really sick and then I rescue you for a bit and let you get sick again. Pretty simple, huh? So, who’s it gonna be?”

“Stupid bitch, do you not know the difference between the liver and the kidneys? And you completely missed the lungs. My god, you’re pathetic.” I sneered.

“Lizz, shhh.” Nick whispered weakly, knowing what was coming next.

“DON’T PUSH ME! I swear to you, you are going to get it good. Just wait, you’ll be sorry you ever met me.” Terri screamed at me.

“Oh don’t worry, I already am.” I shot back.

“Lizz!“ Nick urged.

Marcus laid a hand on his sister’s shoulder. “Not now. Later.”

Terri sighed and stormed out of the room. Marcus turned to me, his eyes daggers.

“Your smartass mouth is going to get you in trouble. Next time I hear anything out of your mouth that I don’t like, I am going to personally beat the shit out of you, do you hear me?” His voice was ominous.

I felt the color drain from my face. He wasn’t kidding. I had no doubts that he really would beat me to a pulp.

“DO YOU HEAR ME?!” He bellowed.

“Yes.” I whispered. He nodded, satisfied, and followed after his sister.

“Well, I’m out.” I stated as soon as Marcus left. I was shaking. It was useless to hide it because with Nick leaning on me, he could feel it too. I tried to push it away and focus on the matter at hand.

Nick looked up at me with raised eyebrows.

“What do you mean you’re out?” Brian called warily.

“I mean just that. Don’t pick me to get my pills.” I said flatly.

Nick started to shake his head just as Brian started protesting. I cut them both off.

“Look you two, at the present time I am in better shape than either one of you. Let’s be logical here. We know for a fact what is going to happen if you don’t take your meds, Brian. And Nick, you’ve already had one seizure. If you don’t get your meds, then you will more than likely have another one. At least with me there is a chance that my body won’t start rejecting stuff. You guys don’t really have much of a choice at this point.” I explained. I didn’t want to even think about rejection factors.

“Lizz, no.” Brian continued to argue. I knew he was going to be stubborn about this and I tried to think of a way to reason with him.

“Look Bri, I haven’t missed my meds as long as you guys have either. You both are in a more serious situation right now and you know it. It just makes sense. With me it is only a risk and there is more time, but with you both it is a definite thing.” I stressed.

“It’s pretty definite with you too.” Nick whispered. God, it killed me to seem him like that. I don’t know who I was more worried about at the moment.

I narrowed my eyes at Brian. “If you pick me, I’ll never forgive you.”

Brian glared back at me. “Lizz, you are so damned stubborn. I hate that what you said makes sense in a way, but what if something happens and you do reject your lungs or your kidneys? That would be my fault!”

“No it wouldn’t! I am telling you to not pick me. A real gentleman would respect my wishes.” I wasn’t going to give this up. I could hold my own for now, but these two weren’t doing so hot. They both needed their meds.

Brian hung his head in defeat. “Nick, I am going to tell them to give the meds to you. But Lizz, if anything happens...” He trailed off.

“It won’t.” I assured him.

“No, Brian! No!” Nick cried. He tried to sit up, but it was clear he didn’t have the strength. His whole body trembled from the exertion. I rested my hands on his shoulders and gently pushed him back down.

“Nick, don’t argue with me cause you aren’t gonna win.” Brian stated quietly, setting his jaw.

“Brian, please.” Nick wouldn’t give up.

“Drop it Nick, I’ve made up my mind.”

“Then give them to Lizz! Don’t waste them on me.” He pleaded. He was getting worked up, yet he didn’t have the strength to get worked up. My heart started beating faster. I leaned close to Nick and whispered softly. “Hey, you gotta calm down. The last thing either one of us needs is to panic. You need to conserve your energy for tomorrow okay? Don’t worry about Brian. I’ll think of something.”

He shut his eyes and I could tell he was struggling. He was beyond upset and he was also having a hard time staying awake. The effects of the seizure would hopefully be gone by the morning. Upon glancing over at Brian, I saw that he was out too. I didn’t know whether to be worried or relieved. He still looked awful. He needed his meds. And soon. Kyung was awake, but still in that trance. “Kyung?” I called softly. I didn’t want to wake up either of the guys. She remained unresponsive. “Damn it.” I whispered. This was probably something similar to Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. I wondered how long she would be like this. I was emotionally exhausted and wanted to be able to sleep more than anything, but I knew that sleep wouldn’t come. Kyung wasn’t in any immediate danger, but I had to watch over Nick and Brian, the best I could.

I don’t know many hours passed. I knew what I had to do, but I was scared. My eyes were heavy, but every time I heard a moan from Brian’s cage or Nick stirred against me, I was jarred awake. The longer it went on, the more sure of my decision I was. That was when I finally fell into a fitful sleep.

“Rise and shine!!!”

For the umpteenth time I jolted awake. I knew I wouldn’t be going back to sleep this time though. Terri was standing in the middle of the room. Kurt stood in the doorway next to Marcus.

“Sleep well?” She grinned at us. Brian rubbed his eyes and looked around, confused. He looked even worse and that only strengthened my resolve to stick with my plan. Nick started to wake up and I groaned. He needed to not be awake yet. He was not going to like my plan. Neither would Brian, but I had planned on explaining it to Terri very quietly so Brian wouldn’t hear what I was saying.

I motioned to Terri to come towards me. She glared in return, but complied.

“What, bitch?” She snarled.

“I have an idea.” I started, pushing the lump in my throat back.

“Yeah?”

“I know more than anything right now you want to just tear into me huh? Well, if you give both Nick and Brian their meds, you can do whatever you want with me. Come on, you know you want to.” My voice betrayed me. I wanted to come off cool and calm, but my voice was trembling.

A smile played on her lips.

Terri turned and whispered something to her brother. He nodded and left the room. I looked up at Lizz, she must have sat up all night long inside my crate, holding my head in her lap. I was still a little out of it from the seizure, but I was sure that once I was able to get up and move around, I would be fine.

Terri’s mother came into the room carrying some cups. She stopped at Brian’s crate first and handed him a small cup of what I was guessing was water and another cup.

“Take these and I’ll let you get up and go use the bathroom,” she growled at Brian.

Brian looked into the cup and then he looked at Lizz questionably. “I thought we said the meds go to Nick.”

“Don’t worry, he’s getting his next. Hurry up, I’m gonna miss the Today show,” the old woman barked. “Marcus, this one’s ready to go!”

The woman moved over to me next. She opened the door and ordered Lizz out of the cage. She shoved a cup at me and it was filled with all the meds I needed to take. “I don’t need them, make sure Lizz takes her meds.”

“But the deal is that you’re to get them boy,” the old woman snarled.

“I don’t give a shit what the deal was, I told you, Lizz and Brian need the meds, you give them their meds, I will be fine.”

“Nick!” Brian growled from his cage.

“Bullshit Brian, I don’t want your deaths on my hands! Give Lizz her meds,” I said as I picked up the cup full of medications and threw them across the room.

I suddenly felt a sharp stab at my back making me jerk around too see where it was coming from. Marcus stood on the giving end, a sick smile on his face.

“Good going there Nicky, now neither one of you get your medicine!”

I could tell by the looks on their faces that Lizz and Brian were just a little upset with me. I shrugged my shoulders.

“Okay hero, I need you out of here, NOW!” Marcus hissed as he uncuffed my ankle from the cage.

After Marcus put the chains around my ankles, he went over to Brian’s cage and ordered him out as well. I was thankful that he at least got his meds after being off them for two days. His skin was looking pale and his face looked a little fuller to me, which I knew was the effects of the fluid slowly building up because of his heart.

“What are you doing!? That’s not what the plan was!” Lizz cried out from her cell.

Marcus slapped the bar across the front of her cage sending Lizz shrinking towards the back. “Well, Nicky here ruined your little deal by refusing his stuff, but don’t worry, Terri will be here in a few minutes to deal with your ass.”

As if almost on cue, Terri appeared in the room and walked over towards Kyung’s cage.

“God, I swear she is so damned worthless. I knew that from the first day I started working at that god forsaken hole of a hospital.”

“What are you doing with Nick and Brian? You know what the deal was!” Lizz shouted at Terri.

“What deal?” Brian snapped. “Lizz, you better not have done something you weren’t supposed to!” Brian looked at her with fear in his eyes.

“What are you doing with Nick and Brian? Can’t you see that both of them are too sick to be doing anything?”

“That’s none of your concern missy,” Marcus snapped.

“If you need to know, I have a rock garden that I want built,” Terri smiled.

“A rock garden? Are you that crazy? You nearly killed Brian the other day in that heat! Take me and leave them!”

“LIZZ!” Both Brian and I shouted at the same time.

“Bitch, I have my own plans for you, simmer down!”

I was worried about both Brian and Lizz. I was also hoping that I had the strength in me to pull off moving around rocks in the sun. Every misstep that either Brian or I made the other day, the other person paid for the mistake. I didn’t want Brian to have to pay for my weaknesses, he was took sick to have anything happen to him.

I watched helplessly as Marcus herded Nick and Brian out the door. Terri’s mom had already left and I had no idea where Kurt was. Terri kept tossing irritated looks towards Kyung. I was getting more and more concerned about her, the longer this catatonic state lasted. And now Nick and Brian were being forced back out into the heat.

“Do you have any idea what you are doing?!” I narrowed my eyes at Terri. “Do you have any idea the danger you are putting Brian in? And Nick’s already had one seizure and this could provoke another one!”

“That’s his own damned fault. He had the chance to get his meds.” Terri glared back at me. She walked over to my cage.

I didn’t know what to say to that. I was a little more than upset that he refused them. I realized it was out of good intentions, but I had it all set up. He was going to get the pills! “Then try again damn it. You aren’t doing jack with me until he gets his meds.” I folded my arms defiantly. I bet the dumbass didn’t even realize that no one bothered to put the shackles back on my wrists.

“Oh no, I’ve got plans for you.” Terri smiled. She opened my cage and undid the shackles on my ankles. I fought with everything in me not to try anything, but I needed to gather my thoughts first.

She grabbed my arm and yanked me out. “Go.” She pointed towards the door, holding one of those metal bars. I glanced helplessly at Kyung, but she didn’t return the look of concern. Terri pushed me out the door and into a hallway. It was long and only one dim light lit it. The paint on the walls was peeling and it smelled much like the room we had been held captive in. She walked behind me.

“Where are we going?” I asked. My legs felt rubbery from the lack of movement and I was weak from the lack of food.

“Bitch, if I wanted you to know I would tell you. Maybe I’ll show you how much your friends are suffering out there. Maybe Nick had another seizure huh? Or maybe Brian kicked the bucket.” She laughed as she said it.

That was it, really. That was all I needed to hear. I got a sudden rush of adrenaline, angered solely by her words. I whirled around, catching her off guard. Without thinking, throwing all caution to the wind, my fist shot forward. It made a sick crunch and she reeled backwards, her hand over her nose. Blood oozed through her fingers.

I barely had time to get over my shock. Never in my life had I hit someone, but never in my life had I felt such anger, fear, desperation, hatred, and vengeance all at once. It threatened to take me out of control. Before I knew it, she had recovered and I felt her fist connect just under my eye. If at all possible, my rage doubled. With that same unfathomable adrenaline, I shoved her into the wall with everything in me. It shouldn’t have been, but it was enough. Terri was a good several inches taller than me and she definitely out-weighed me. But right now my anger was greater. She hit her head against the wall and sank onto the floor. Without a moment’s hesitation I took off running. The first door I opened, led outside.

“HEY!” Kurt’s voice rang out.

I ran outside and around the side of the house. It was the first time I had seen sunlight in I don’t know how long. My eyes have always been light sensitive so this was blinding. It was hot outside and all I could make out in my blurred vision were trees.

“BITCH! GET BACK HERE!” Kurt screamed after me.

In the distance I could make out three blurry figures. As I got closer I could see that it was Brian, Nick, and Marcus. Nick and Brian were hauling rocks. I couldn’t seem them very well, but it was obvious that they were struggling.

Then, a lot happened all at once. Nick and Brian both saw me and shouted my name. A loud noise was heard. Then, with a fiery pain in my arm, I stumbled forward and fell into the ground. I looked down in shock and sure enough, my upper left arm was bleeding. I was shot. The bullet looked like it had barely grazed me, but you’d never know it with the pain. I tried to pull myself back up to my feet, to no avail. All my strength had left me. I was too woozy now. Nick and Brian were both running towards me. Both of them were still yelling, but I couldn’t make out their words anymore. There was also yelling behind me, but that too, seemed all jumbled up. Everything was happening in slow motion, but yet it was all going too fast. Nick reached me first and immediately closed his hand over my arm. I winced, but before I could say anything I felt someone grab me from behind and pull me up. With his other hand, Kurt shoved Nick away. Brian started to react, but Marcus seemed to appear out of thin air.

“Now you’ve done it.” Kurt hissed in my ear.

I could do nothing but watch as Marcus literally dragged Lizz back into the building. Kurt forced Brian and I back towards the rock pile, forcing us to continue to work in the unbearable heat. I was feeling sick to my stomach and getting that funny feeling again, but there was no way in hell I was going to mention it to Brian or anyone for that matter.

I glanced over at Brian to see how he was holding up during all of this. Sweat poured off his face and his shirt was soaked. The only color his skin had was chalky white. I knew he had suffered heat stroke the other day and here they were sending him back out in this heat. Water to drink was pretty much non-existent to Marcus, although he drank it freely in front of us.

Just when I thought we had reached our breaking point, Kurt called out to Marcus that Terri needed us back inside.

“You heard him, move it,” Marcus hissed.

Brian walked ahead of me. He swayed once in the hallway, the wall breaking his fall.

“Brian, are you alright?”

“Just move it Carter, worry about yourself,” Marcus spat as he shoved something into my back.

Upon entering the basement, I immediately saw Lizz sitting in a chair, a white bandage around her upper arm, tinted with a small circle of blood. She smiled weakly at me. I was guessing it was her way of silently letting me know she was okay.

“Okay Lizz,” Terri began as she paced the floor in front of the three of us. “Because of your decision to try and leave, you have to be punished. You know we’ve tried everything to teach you a lesson, withholding your medications just doesn’t seem to bother any one of you. I think the best way to prove my point and teach you is to take something that is near and dear to you.”

I narrowed my eyes at Terri wondering where this was going. I was ready to kill Terr or any of them for that matter if they tried to harm Lizz.

Terri walked over towards me and smiled.

“Since you thought Nick here was good enough for you to die along with him a few months ago, I’m guessing that he means something to you. I want to teach you a lesson not to screw with me----”

“How the hell will doing something to Nick teach me a lesson? Leave him alone!” Lizz yelled.

“Lizz!” I glared at her, trying to convey that she was treading on thin ice with Terri.

“Listen to your friend here Lizz, you’ve already got yourself into hot water by trying to run away. Now, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted. I want to teach you a lesson not to screw with me. Kurt, you know what to do.”

I wasn’t sure what to expect as I was led over to the opposite side of the room. There was a long metal bar suspended from the ceiling. A handcuff was placed around each of my wrists and the opposite ends of the cuffs were attached to the bar. Brian and Lizz were led over to a bench that faced me. I heard a crack of what sounded like a whip behind me and I suddenly realized what Terri had planned for me.

I stared in horror at the scene that was unfolding before my eyes.

Kurt cracked the whip again and grinned sadistically.

"NO!" I screamed, jumping up. Marcus grabbed my shoulder and forced me back onto the bench.

"You're going to kill him!" Brian cried, his eyeswide with fear.

"You should't have tried to escape. And you definitely shoulndt have messed with my sister." Marucs growled.

Tears were flowing freely down my face. This was all my fault. If I hadn't tried to escape, then Nick wouldn't be going through this. Terri stood just out of reach. She turned around and grinned at me. Her nose was all bruised up from when I hit it. "Bet you wish you hadn't done that huh?" She sneered.

"Oh god, please Terri. Dont do this." I sobbed. It killed me to knowing I was causing this to happen to Nick. I struggled against Marucs again.

"Let me guess, you want to run up there and stand in the way dont you? You stupid bitch. Fine, your next." Terri threw her hands up in the air.

"No! Lizz! Damn it if you..." Nick was cut off when Kurt snapped the whip. It hit Nick with the worst sound I have ever heard in my life.

"Lizz don't say anymore!" Brian said, horrified.

"SHUT UP BOTH OF YOU!" Terri screamed. "You want to go to?!" She snarled at Brian.

I sucked in my breath. Before Brian could reply Kurt cracked it again. Nick shut is eyes and ground his teeth to keep from crying out. Thin stripes of blood started to appear through his shirt.

"Please, stop this. God, I'm sooo sorry. I won't try anything again. Please don't hit him again." I begged. My left eye was so swollen I could barely see out of it. I almost wished Terri wouldpunch the other oene so I didn't have to see this.

"It's your fault Lizz. You shoulnd't have tried to leave. You fucking near broke my nose. You think I am going to lket you get away with that?!" Terri started pacing back and forth.

Kurt grinned and snapped the whip again. Every time Nick flinched and it was getting harder and harder not to make a sound. I turned away, unable to watch the blood soaking through the back of his shirt.

"Please, stop this before you kill him." Brian pleaded. His voice cracked and I could tell he was having a hard time controlling his emotions.

I felt sick. He had to blame me for this. I had caused this. I would never forgive myself. Never.

Kurt snapped it a few more times and then looked over at Marcus. "You want a go?" He nodded.

Nick's face was completely drained of color and his jaw was still clenched. A single tear slipped out and I felt my heart shatter.

Marucs nodded. "Sure. Maybe this will shut Loudmouth up huh?" He glanced at me. "She's not getting away with attacking my sister. Her next or Brian?" Terri beamed at her older brother.

Nick's eyes flew open. "No." His voice was barely a whisper, but the agony showed through as clear as day.

Kurt strode over to where the bench that Brian and I were sitting on. He looked at both of us in turn, smiling like it was Christmas.

"You sick bastard." I whispered, my voice dripped with hate.

"Dig yourself in deeper, girl. That's it. You'll be lucky if you survive this one." Kurt glowered at me.

Marcus poised his arm over his head and cracked the whip with more strength than Kurt had. Unable to keep it in any longer, Nick cried out.

Simultaneously Brian and I yelled out.

"No more. No more. Please." I sobbed brokenly.

Terri turned around and looked at me, then Brian. Both of us had tears streaming down our faces. She glanced at Nick thoughtfully, then her her eyes lit up. "Okay Nick, your turn for the hard decision. You get to choose who gets to follow after you. I will let one of them off the hook. One! If you don't choose, they both get it. Think real hard Carter. Brian here is in terrible shape. It could likely kill him. But Lizz here, she's a girl. What's it gonna be?"

It took everything I had in me to remain halfway standing. Terri’s face was blurry and I couldn’t understand what she had said to me. I wound up just staring at her, I could see the anger slowly build in her face.

“I said make a choice here Carter, Lizz or Brian, who gets it now?”

I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. She wanted me to make a choice between the two people I cared about. She also wanted me to pick someone that was either very sick or having a girl step in my place.

“Take me again,” I mumbled.

“Oh, so we have a martyr here huh?” Terri laughed.

“Nick! NO!” Brian shouted.

“Don’t be crazy Nick,” Lizz argued.

Brian stood up, holding his hands out. “Take me instead, you know you want to do this.”

Terri smiled at Brian. “Well, I do want to make Lizz suffer and watching her two friends suffering would be the best possible way.

“Brian! No, I’ll take it, I know I can do this again,” I argued as they undid my handcuffs. One of them placed his hand on my back and shoved me towards the bench. I drew a sharp breath in to avoid crying out. It felt like a million pins and needles sticking into me.

I watched helplessly as Kurt chained Brian up to the bars. I could see the fear of anticipation in his eyes and my heart ached for him. I tried to sort through my thoughts thinking of a way to stop them from hurting Brian, but before I could actually act on it, the room started spinning and getting dark.

Brian tried to go to Nick to help him when he fell forward to the ground, but was stopped quickly by the handcuffs around his wrists. He was at first thinking that Nick was having another seizure, but was a little relieved when he figured he was more than likely overcome by the heat and the blood loss and lack of water.”

“God you killed him!” Terri snarled as she looked at Nick laying on the floor. She walked over towards him and kicked him in the side, trying to make sure that Nick wasn’t playing games to take the attention off of Brian.

“Haven’t you done enough?” Lizz hissed as she knelt down next to Nick trying to protect him from Terri. “You realize it’s only a matter of time before he has another seizure, dumbass. He needs his meds and Brian, he needs his as well. Please, I’m beggin you to give them their medications. You already are worried about them dying on you. Let me be the first to educate you that without their meds death is inevitable.”

“Lizz, you need yours too, I can live without mine but yours has more serious consequences,” Brian agrued.

“Oh please, let’s stop this martyr bullshit,” Terri interrupted, her gaze shifted. “At least we haven’t heard from your friend Nurse Kyung here.”

“Leave her alone!” Lizz screamed.

Terri spun around, her gaze now fixed on Lizz. “Oh, so I struck a raw nerve? Here I thought you cared about only Nick.”

“Terri! I’m begging you to leave Kyung alone. She has nothing to do with this!”

“Like hell, I tried to run and she stopped me. I will never forgive her sorry ass for that.”

Terri walked over to Kyung’s cage, her steps slow and deliberate. The look on her face was one of sick pleasure. Kyung didn’t even flinch. I jumped up.

“Terri, leave her alone. You want to blame someone here? Blame me. The entire reason that all of this happened was because of me okay? I didn’t stop Nick several months ago. If I had, you never would have gotten the opportunity to get all this money or publicity or whatever the hell you’re after.” I exploded, running towards her.

She glared at me. “How true, but ya know what? Kyung is going to pay for her part she had in this too. I never liked her. She always thought she was better than me.”

“She is.” I muttered.

Terri heard me. I thought she was going to come after me, but she was stopped by the door flying open. Her mom and that short, fat guy both rushed into the room. I had almost forgotten about him.

Terri, Marcus, Kurt, get over here!” He barked. The mom had urgency written all over her face and she was wringing her hands together again. Brian and I watched as the five of them engaged in a heated conversation over in the corner of the room. They were speaking to quietly for me to hear what they were saying. Satisfied that Kyung was momentarily safe, I darted over to Brian.

“Lizz, don’t, you’re going to get into trouble.” He whispered as I tried to find a way to get him off that damned bar.

I ignored that. “What’s going on?” I whispered.

“I don’t know, something bad.” He whispered back. I could tell that it was taking every ounce of strength he had to keep standing. Not that he had much choice, suspended from the bar.

Marcus looked up and saw what I was trying to do. “Nice try you dumb kid.” He marched over to us and shoved me roughly away from Brian. I crashed hard into the wall against my bandaged arm. The impact cause me to cry out from pain shooting all down my arm.

“Lizzie?!”

I had started to slump down the wall, but my head shot up when I heard her voice. Kyung was staring at me, her eyes wide with horror. Her gaze shifted to my arm and her eyes filled with tears. My jaw dropped. This is what broke her from the trance that had held her captive since this nightmare started? Not Nick’s seizure, Brian’s heat stroke, my attempted escape and being dragged back in to be bandaged up after being shot, not Nick’s whipping and Brian’s near whipping, but this, me being shoved into the wall.

“Kyung, sweetie, are you okay?” I exclaimed. Her eyes filled with tears and as looked at Brian, chained to the bar, Nick unconscious on the floor, then back at me, slumped against the wall.

“Welcome back to the land of the living. Too bad it won’t last.” The mom said brusquely as she hurried over to Kyung’s cage.

“NO!” I howled. Before I could go anywhere, Marcus yanked me up and held me tight.

“We’re running out of time here! Drug them.” The fat man snapped.

“Wait! What’s going on?” Brian looked around as everyone flew into action. Kurt undid the handcuffs around Brian’s wrists and Brian nearly collapsed. Kurt shoved him into the cage and before Brian could react, he slammed it shut.

I watched as the mother pulled out a syringe and injected something into Kyung’s arm. Kyung tried to fight her, but in the end she lost and the drug started to take effect.

“Shit, I don’t want his blood all over...” Terri’s mom glared down at Nick. She looked at me. “Clean him up.”

Marcus released me, left the room, and returned with a couple washcloths, some water, some gauze bandages, and a roll of medical tape. He dumped it in my arms and then the fat man whispered something in his ear and they both left the room. I knelt down by Nick, but looked back up when I heard the mom say, “you’re turn,” to Brian.

“What are you doing?” I cried. Why were they suddenly in a frenzy and drugging us? I was terrified about what was going to happen.

“Shut up and take care of what we told you too before I knock the shit out of you.” Kurt snapped, turning around to me.

I started to say something back, but the look on Brian’s face told me to keep my mouth shut. Saying anything else at this point was useless. The mom pulled out the syringe, but suddenly swore under her breath. “We need to give them their meds first. We don’t need anything happening while we’re...”

“Mo-om!” Terri yelled, cutting her off.

“Shut up Terri. We knew this could happen so be a good girl and get the pills.” The mother returned.

Terri huffed and snatched the pills off the table. As she walked by I couldn’t help but smile in relief. She glared at me in return.

The mom saw me. “Don’t look so happy. You think this is bad now? Wait until you wake up again. This is nothing.” She snapped.

After the pills were given to Brian, he was given the knockout drug. I busied myself with my task. Slowly I peeled up the back of Nick’s shirt, cringing when it stuck to his skin. There was blood everywhere. Not only was my own blood all over me from before, but now I was covered in Nick’s. God, there was so much of it. I poured some of the water on one of the washcloths and gently started to wipe some of the blood away. The stripes across his back were raw and deep.

“Bet you feel like shit huh?” Terri smirked at me. Both she and her mom were watching me now that Brian was knocked out. Kyung had long since been out.

My eyes filled with tears. Once again, Nick was hurting because of me. I would never be able to forgive myself for this. He was still unconscious and I was worried. How much blood had he lost? As carefully as I could, I taped the gauze over the marks. I felt like I had no fight in me left. Trying to escape was the stupidest thing I had ever done. What the hell was I thinking? Was I going to get away and go free Brian and Nick? Please! And what about Kyung? How had I planned on getting her out? I had to face it, my plan was desperate and foolish. My sole thought was to stop these bastards from hurting my friends any longer. I didn’t even have a plan. Now this had happened to Nick and Brian had almost gotten the same punishment. I didn’t deserve to live.

“That’s good enough.” Terri’s mom said as she walked over and pulled me away from Nick. I didn’t even fight her mother as she jabbed me with the needle. It didn’t take long before the blackness took me away.

A tremendous amount of noise brought me out of my drug-induced sleep. The jerks and rocking motions played a part in it also. I opened my eyes are slowly moved them around my new surroundings. The first thing I saw was a chair back. I looked around and saw that I was in a plane. Actually a jet, guessing by the size. It looked to be about the size of a Concord. Only enough room for one seat on each side of the aircraft and about 5 rows deep. Nick sat to my left, Brian in front of him, and I guessed Kyung to be in front of me. There was a homemade curtain hanging one extra seat in front of Kyung and Brian. I was shocked to think these people had enough money for their own jet. I could hear talking on the other side of the curtain and I recognized our kidnapper’s voices, but I couldn’t hear what they were saying.

The turbulence was pretty strong since the jet was so small. I hoped Nick and Brian would stay asleep until we reached our destination. My hopes were shattered when I heard my name a moment later. It was Nick. I looked down, unable to face him. How could I?

Crash landing?! I risked a glance over at Nick. He was trying to hide it, but I knew better. He was terrified. Hell, I was too. Not for myself because I didn’t deserve to live anymore, but for Nick, Brian, and Kyung. Lightning flashed again, illuminating the whole sky. It was immediately followed by thunder so fierce that I swore it cracked the sky wide open. The plane shook violently. Kyung and Brian had woken up by now and were putting their pillows between their faces and knees. Terri was already sitting down in her seat.

The plane took another dive and Nick gasped. He was fighting the panic that was in him. I wanted to reach out to him, but my handcuffs wouldn’t let me. “Nick! We’re going to be okay!” I hollered, straining to be heard over the racket.

He didn’t get a chance because the plane made one last dive. At least that was the last one that I was conscious for. I think I hit my head or something because I felt a sharp pain and that was it.

I felt the air first. It was cold enough to take your breath away. It made a whooshing noise and I thought that was weird. Why would I be hearing such an odd noise. Next came the pain. Actually, that might have been what was taking my breath away. It was really hard to breathe, I noticed. Finally, I opened my eyes. Big mistake.

There was a lot of white all over. It was on the ground, blowing in the air, and even starting to accumulate on me. What disturbed me is a lot of the white was tinged red. I didn’t think snow was supposed to be red. I shut my eyes, trying to block out the pain and confusion. After a few haggard breaths, I opened my eyes again and looked down at my hands. They still had the handcuffs on them, but the chain that held them together in the middle was broken. Everything was starting to click now. Our plane crashed. That realization hit me with a sickening clarity. Immediately I turned my head to the right. Nick was still strapped in his seat. He was unconscious and there was blood all over him. A sob caught in my throat.

“Nick!!“ My voice was barely audible. Shit. Why was I the first to wake up? My head was pounding and I felt blood running down my face. It still hurt to breathe and my ribs felt like someone had slammed them with a two by four.

“Lizz?! Are you okay?” Brian’s anxious voice called.

“I don’t know. I think so. Are you?” I rasped back.

“I’m pinned. The seat in front of me was shoved back and it’s stuck. I can’t even budge it.” He sounded like he was in pain. “Is Nick...”

“I don’t know Bri. There is a lot of blood.” My eyes welled with tears, but blinked them back. I needed to stay focused. “Kyung?”

“She’s breathing, but other than that I don’t know.” He replied. I could barely see his outline from being across and in front of me. I felt like my vision was messed up or something. I had been in so many planes in my life and I knew that they weren’t supposed to be spread all over the place like this. There were sharp chunks of metal everywhere.

I decided that I needed to get up. I very cautiously eased out of the seat. The pain in my ribs was excruciating and my shirt was all bloody. My face was sticky with it too.

I looked closely at Nick and was relieved to see that he was breathing. I gently shook his shoulder. “Nick, come on wake up.” He stirred, but didn’t open his eyes. I felt a little relief that he was at least responding so I turned my attention to Brian. He was a mess of cuts and lacerations, much like I was.

“Anything broken?” I whispered.

“I can’t tell, everything hurts too much.” He smiled wryly. I tried to pull the seat that was keeping him pinned to his. The strain sent shooting pains through me and that made me dizzy.

“Whoa Lizz!” Brian exclaimed, watching me sway. “Take it slow okay?”

I shook my head and tried to move the seat. It wouldn’t budge. Damn! Brian’s color wasn’t looking very good. It might have been from the biting cold though.

“Lizz, you’re going to have to wait until someone can help you. It isn’t moving at all.” He whispered. I turned around to Kyung’s seat next to Brian. To my shock and relief, she really didn’t look that bad. Her chest was rising and falling at a steady pace. I wondered if it would be better to let her wake up on her own, considering the shock that she had just come out of. I looked at Brian, my eyebrows raised.

“I’d let her be, she looks okay for the most part.” He said softly. His color was growing paler and paler. That really worried me, but I didn’t want him to see that. I looked around the rest of the plane and then something dawned on me.

“Brian, we’re alone. Where’s Terri and Marcus and all them?” They were nowhere to be seen.

“I don’t know. That isn’t good.” He mumbled in return. He shut his eyes. I was extremely concerned, but I didn’t want him to see how upset I was. That might make him even more upset. I started walking back towards Nick, but stopped when another wave of dizziness hit me full force. A fit of coughing, much like I haven’t had much experience with for months, overwhelmed me and I leaned over an empty seat. I put my hand over my mouth and when I was done I noticed flecks of blood on the back of my hand. Shit! I was coughing up blood?! That was serious.

“Lizz?” Brian called, worried.

“I’m fine.” I choked out. Right fine. Covered in blood, messed up ribs, and now coughing up blood. Granted, I had done that before, but this was from a different reason. I turned my attention to Nick.

“Come on Nick. Wake up okay?” I gently patted his face to try to get him to come to. His eyes started to flutter and I smiled. Then I was slammed with another wave of pain, this one so intense that it brought me to my knees, gasping for breath.

“Lizz?!”

My breath caught before I could make it deep enough. It hurt too much. “I can’t Kyung... it hurts.” I whimpered. I was taking rapid, shallow breaths and the pain was getting worse.

“Lizz, you have to! There is no choice here!” Kyung cried, her eyes filled with terror.

I shook my head miserably. “It...won’t...work...” I gasped.

“You have to have faith Lizz! You have to try! Please. I almost lost you seven months ago and it nearly killed me. I cannot lose you!“ She pleaded.

I shut my eyes and the image of my family flashed through my mind. I knew they had to be worried sick about me. Then images from seven months ago flashed. It was people’s eyes that I remembered. My family’s when they finally could make it down to see me. Kyung’s when she broke down after hearing that I was more than likely going to die. Brian’s when I would ask him about Nick and he would have to give me bad news, knowing that every time, my heart broke a little more. Then Nick’s when our eyes locked right before I passed out in his room the day Terri got caught. My eyes still shut, I used every ounce of strength and determination within me to take the breath that would keep me alive just a little longer.

Kyung watched with a mixture of relief and horror as her best friend opened her eyes and took that breath. It was Lizz’s eyes that Kyung couldn’t tear herself away from. They were so filled with pain that Kyung wondered how Lizz was strong enough to do it. The torment was a merciless onslaught that tried to beat her down. Kyung was almost relieved when Lizz passed out. She couldn’t look into those eyes any longer.

Kyung’s medical knowledge kicked in and she busied herself with seeing how bad condition Lizz was in. She had a nasty cut just above her eye that left a trail of blood all down her face. She definitely had a few broken ribs. Lizz was very fortunate that it was a small puncture to her lungs because otherwise taking a deep breath would have had no effect. Kyung shook her head. Lizz was a walking miracle it seemed. Only now, if she didn’t get help soon she wouldn’t make it through this one. Other than that, she just had a lot of scrapes. She noticed a bandage on her arm and wondered what had happened. The last several days were a blur to her and she couldn’t recall very much. She made sure Nick was covered up as much as possible. She had a hard time telling what was wrong with him since he hadn’t woken up yet. She didn’t want to disturb him too much cause that might send him into shock.

“Kyung?”

Kyung jumped up and made her way to Brian. His was sheet white and he didn’t look like he was breathing very easily. “Brian! Are you okay? Do you need another blanket?”

Brian shook his head. He was frustrated that he was pinned into the seat and it was starting to make him claustrophobic. He tried to push it away. “Lizz...Nick...?”

“Lizz’s lung collapsed and if she doesn’t get help soon, it will happen again. It is reinflated now, but I am really nervous about it. Nick is still out. I covered him and we’re just waiting for him to wake up. It shouldn’t be too much longer.” Kyung explained.

Brian nodded, his eyes falling shut. He tried to fight it, but it wasn’t doing any good. He was out a moment later. Kyung was the only one awake now so she decided to go look outside the plane. All she could make out was snow and trees. She guessed they were in the mountains somewhere. Who knew where? For all she knew they were in the friggin Alps. Her eyes scanned the surroundings and then did a double take when she saw movement towards the plane she started to yell out for help, but when they got closer, her words died on her lips. It was their kidnappers.

“Oh shit,” Kyung cursed under her breath. These were the last people on earth she wanted to see approaching. Her eyes scanned the snow that was building up outside the wrecked plane and stopped when she saw the unmistakeable vision of a hand sticking out of the snow. She gasped.

Kyung turned around and headed back into the plane. She silently prayed that the kidnappers were only returning to grab their belongings and head out to a highway that could miraculously be nearby. Her heart sank as she heard them coming closer. Nick was starting to moan from his seat, this was not a good time for this to be happening, Kyung thought to herself.

Adjusting the blankets around his neck, Kyung spoke soothingly to Nick, hoping she could buy time until he became conscious.

“Sh-h-h Nick, it’s gonna be okay, you need to keep quiet.”

Kyung winced when she heard Terri’s shrieking voice.

“I don’t care if it’s murder or not, he has to pay for this! First my money and now my Kurt! I hate him! Nick Carter better have died in this crash if he knows what’s good for him!” Terri broke down into heart wrenching sobs.

Kyung stepped away from Nick. She hoped he remained quiet, maybe she would think he was dead. She wondered if she could pull it off.

“So I see one of you survived the crash,” the mother spat at Kyung.

Kyung dared not say anything to agitate her kidnappers, she stood there, staring at them, her mouth agape.

Marcus and Terri walked directly to where Nick was sitting. Terri poked her finger into his side.

“Well, what about mister perfect? Did he make it?”

“No,” Kyung lied, hoping she would take her word.

“How come his skin is still warm?”

“He just died you bitch, can’t you see that? He’s dead! And if we don’t get help soon, Brian will be and Lizz next,” Kyung urgently added.

“Whoppee shit, do I look like I care?” Terri glared.

As the kidnappers started grabbing blankets and other belongings, Nick moaned again. They stopped short, Kyung’s heart caught in her throat.

“That was Lizz, she’s got a punctured lung,” Kyung stated quickly.

“Awful deep moan for a girl,” Marcus observed.

“She’s in pain, you’d do the same if you were too,” Kyung corrected.

It was unfortunate that Nick decided it was time to start coughing. All eyes were fixed on him at that moment. Marcus rushed over to Kyung and slapped her across the face with an open hand.

“You damn lying bitch!” Marcus spat.

“So the wonderful Nick Carter is still alive?” Terri laughed. “We are gonna have fun now, aren’t we mommy?”

“Just like a party, ain’t it? We will make him pay for his crimes. That Lizz has gotten everything she wanted in life and you didn’t get squat,” Marcus observed.

Nick’s eyes fluttered open and then they grew wide as he sureveyed his surroundings.

“Wha...what ‘appened?” He whispered.

“Plane crashed, are you okay?” Terri asked sweetly.

Nick thought for a moment. “I think so.” He looked over at Brian and then at Lizz laying on the floor. “Are those people okay or are they dead?”

”He said those people” Terri thought to herself.

“Honey, I think they’re going to be alright. I’m just more worried about you, babe.” With the words spoken, Terri smoothed the hair off of Nick’s forehead and kissed it.