My vision was blurry, but there was no denying that the face in front of me was Randi's. Everything seemed to slide into place. Here was an insanely jealous Hanson fan who could give a double-whammy. She'd have Zac and would have given Gabby another blow. I was furious!
"What should we do with Zac?" one of the girls questioned.
"We'll leave them both here," Randi replied. "For one last goodbye. Time is slowly slipping by and I don't see any 50 million yet." Randi smiled evily. Her smile dropped to a scowl. "Come on, everyone. Out! We have some planning to do."
I heard the door slam. "Zac," I whispered. "This is the end. Celine and Gabby and the others couldn't make it. It's too late."
"No." Zac slammed his fist in his palm. "We're getting out alive. That girl's crazy!"
"Do you know who she is?" I asked. Zac shook his head. "That's Randi…the girl Jeremy dumped Gabby for."
"Geez, this is getting worse!" Zac turned to me. "Ellie, if we don't get out of here alive…I just want you to know that…that…"
"That what?" The pain in my head and ribs was growing, but I ignored it. I was gonna help Zac get out of here.
Before I knew what had happened, Zac slid beside me on the floor, grabbed me and gently kissed me.
"We're getting out of here," Zac whispered after he pulled away.
"How?" I asked, exasperated. Wow…that was a real kiss!
"The air vent. Hand me that rope that you cut off me." I reached around and grabbed it. Zac took the rope and shimmied up the pole again. "Get out from underneath me," Zac hissed as he hung the rope around one of the slots.
I scooted to the far wall. "What are you doing?" I asked.
"I'm going to jump."
"Zac, it'll fall on you! You're going to get hurt!"
"Ellie, this is the only way," Zac calmly replied. He clung to the rope and jumped. The vent held for a second then jerked out and fell to the ground on top of Zac. He let out a painful grunt, but managed to stand up.
"Come on, Ellie." He ushered me over.
"Zac, are you okay?" I asked.
"I landed really hard on my arm, but nothing that won't heal." Zac picked up the steel vent and tried to get himself up the pole, but he winced in pain. "I can't use this arm," he sighed. Dropping the vent, he managed to pull himself up. "Ellie, hand me the vent," he instructed from inside the tunnel. I handed it to him and began to pull myself up. About halfway up, I heard voices in the hall.
"Oh, God, Zac, they're coming!"
"Hurry," he whispered. He let his good arm down and I grasped his hand, scrambling into the tiny space above. The voices drew closer. Zac lined the vent up and squeezed it into place just as the door opened.
We heard a furious cry. "They're gone!"
Isaac stepped protectively in front of me as the girls neared us. "Isaac, what do we do?" I whispered frantically.
"Shh," was all he said.
"Aw…how cute. Isaac is protecting Gabrielle," I heard the girl laugh. "Grab her!"
"Run, Gabby!" Isaac yelled. I turned around and started to run but I collided with another girl. We fell to the floor.
I looked up and saw Isaac cringe and then stare at me worriedly from his place in between two girls. Why was he looking at me like that?
"You can't get away from me!" the girl yelled. I rolled over and was dragged to my feet. When I looked into the girl's eyes, I felt blind rage.
"Hello, Gabrielle," Randi breathed.
Zac and I clung together as angry voices filtered up from below us. We were paralyzed from trying to sit so still and not make a sound in the tiny space.
"How the hell did they escape?" one girl yelled as she stormed around the room. "You stay here," she demanded to two of the girls. "I'm going out to search around." She left in a huff. I wondered how we would manage up here.
Zac slowly tried to move his arm. I noticed his ripped shirt had caught on a piece of metal. I tried to warn him, but it ripped away, leaving the metal vibrating with sound.
"Up there!" one girl yelled. "Let's go get a ladder!" They raced away.
"Now what!" I hissed to Zac.
"Come on," he replied, and we started scurrying our way through the maze of tunnels, not knowing where they would take us. Within minutes, we heard voices behind us, echoing through at us. We crawled as fast as we could until Zac saw a side tunnel that had a lower place by another vent. We flattened ourselves down against the floor, blocked from view in the half darkness.
The voices drew closer as we huddled together in fear, but right when we thought they were right on top of us, the noise faded as they continued on away from us. Then another sound caught my attention. Voices below us! I squirmed over to the vent and looked down to see Gabby and Ike confronted by Randi. Oh, no, I thought. Very softly, I whispered Gabby's name, and amazingly, she heard me…
I was afraid of that. Gabby now knew who the leader of the Scream Squad was.
"It all makes sense now," Gabby was realizing. "The phone calls from Jeremy, Isaac and Taylor's secret whispering…" Gabrielle slammed her fist into her hand. When she raised her eyes again, she flew into a rage. She trampled Randi and the two girls started fighting.
"Gabby, don't!" I yelled. I couldn't get to her!
A couple of minutes passed, and I could see Randi had the upper hand. Just as Randi was about to knock Gabby out, one of the girls holding me leapt forward.
"Randi, if you kill her now, we'll have no plan!" she shouted. "We have Isaac too now!"
Randi jumped to her feet, leaving Gabby on the floor, wheezing. "Let's take them downstairs."
Randi grabbed Gabby to her feet. Gabby looked evenly at her, and I wondered if she was going to finally tell her off, when Gabby's eyes grew big for an instant. She quickly looked down, but I saw it. Had she figured something out? I wondered as we were dragged away.
Gabby's eyes grew wide, but she quickly glanced down, not to give us away. I couldn't make out exactly what they were saying, but as Gabby and Ike were dragged away, Gabby turned and mouthed, "Stay where you are."
I turned to Zac and whispered, "Gabby told us to stay here. Maybe they'll find some way to help us."
"I hope so," Zac replied, straining his voice. I turned and saw that his arm was dreadfully swollen. Suddenly, I began to feel woozy again.
"Zac, I think…" I began to say, but I passed out before finishing.
Celine's eyes scanned the room, and a deep feeling of panic filled my chest. Here we were in the room that Ellie and Zac were supposed to be in, but they were gone.
"No!" I shouted. "It can't be too late! They can't have killed her yet when we were so close!"
"Come on," Celine said. "Maybe they've taken them somewhere else." We hurried out the door and to our horror ran into a group of girls with a ladder. I felt fear creep upon me as they surrounded us.
Suddenly, a figure appeared from around the corner and had all the girls knocked flat in an instant.
"Eric!" Celine exclaimed to the bodyguard. "How did you get here?"
"I knew you guys had come to rescue them, and I knew where the building was, so I came to help," Eric said.
"We shouldn't stand in the doorway," I commented. Quickly, we ran back into the room and shut the door. I walked around the small room, wondering if this was really the room where they had been. My foot hit something and I slid a little, catching myself on the wall. I bent down and felt around.
"Does anyone have a flashlight?" I asked. Eric tossed me his. "Oh, my God!"
"What?" Celine asked, running over to me.
"Look!" I picked up the eyeliner, mascara and makeup bag off the floor. "Is this Ellie's?"
"Yes," Celine breathed. "So they were here!"
"But how did they get out? They couldn't have gone through the door!"
"I think that's your answer, Taylor," Eric said. Celine and I looked up and saw an air vent, loosely bolted in. We looked at each other.
"They're crawling around up there!" I said.
"Ow," I winced. For a moment, I was unsure of where I was. Then I remembered: I was hiding with Ellie. Ellie was still passed out. I tried to move to get to her, but the pain in my arm brought sharp tears to my eyes. I gasped for breath.
"Zac?" a small voice asked. "Where are you?"
"Over here," I called. Ellie crawled over to me, gasping for breath as well.
"Zac, I don't think I'm going to make it."
"Yes, we are!" I said. Ellie shook her head.
"I can't breathe, Zac," she whispered. It was then I realized Ellie was in serious trouble. I wished I had been the one they'd beat up on!
"Okay…you stay here. I'm going to crawl that way just a little."
"Don't leave!"
I kissed her cheek. "I'll be right back. Hang on a little longer." I got Ellie in a sitting position and, favoring my arm, crawled farther.
"We'll be back for you!" a girl shouted, tossing me in a room. I stood up once the door closed. I was alone, in a dark room. I wondered where Isaac was.
"Isaac?" I whispered, walking around the tiny room. My hand hit some sort of chain, and I realized Isaac was laying on the ground in the other half of the room. "Isaac!" I pulled on the chair harder, making a clanging noise. Isaac didn't move. I kept pulling, and finally, I got him awake.
"Gabby, are you all right?" Isaac asked, coming over to the chain.
"Yeah, I think so. Are you?"
"I'm okay. I'm so sorry you had to see that."
"Why didn't you tell me?" I demanded.
"I didn't want to cause you more pain."
"Oh, Isaac, I don't care anymore. Pain is a part of me now." I paused. "How do we get out of here?"
Isaac looked around. "We can't. We'll have to wait for Taylor and Celine to get Zac and Ellie. They'll come back for us." Isaac looked at me. "Don't worry. It'll be okay."
I wanted to believe him, but I couldn't.
I heard a noise below me. I forced my eyes open, but only darkness surrounded me. Had I passed out again? The noise was coming from the nearby vent, and I could feel the vibration of it being rattled. Where had Zac gone? I wondered. I was wrapped in fear of what would come through that vent. I heard voices below, but my head was so muddled that I couldn't make out what they were saying. Slowly, I tried to move my legs, but nothing responded. Here I was, stuck, and they were coming to get me. Screaming for Zac wouldn't help. It would only give him away as well.
At least, I thought, he's gone. Maybe he will escape and survive. I hope he will go on and live a good life. Inside I felt that he would. He was strong enough to go without me.
Suddenly, light poured through the vent, almost blinding me. It's over, I thought. This is the end. I felt many arms around me, lowering me down through the hole to my death. Deep jolts of pain shot through my hand and I knew I was about to pass out again. Good, I thought. Better that I be unconscious when I die.
My eyes fluttered open for the last time, and I found myself looking right into the face of Celine Dion.
