Chapter 7
“Well, this officially sucks,” Nick announced shaking
out a blanket and wishing he hadn’t done so.
A cloud of dust spawned from the dirty linen, making him cough and
sneeze, “Damn it! Why couldn’t we be
kidnaped by rich people who own vacant luxury hotels?” Nick dropped the blanket
and caught the looks he was getting from the others, “What? I bet you’re wishing the same thing.” He went on about his task of dusting off the
blanket.
“Nick, I’m in no mood for your jokes!” Howie said,
his usual calmness fleeting away from him.
“Who said I was joking?” Nick remarked with a
chuckle, “I meant that.” Nick stopped
what he was doing again to stare at the others who were still gawking at him
like he had grown a second head, “Ok, I guess I’ll be quiet now.”
“Yeah,” AJ nodded at him, “Good choice.” He stalked towards the pantry and yanked
open the door, “Anyone else work up an appetite.”
“I can’t even think of food!” Howie groaned, “I feel
like I’m gonna throw up.” Howie sat
down on the overstuffed sofa and dirt mushroomed from the cushions. He made a disgusted face. Nick giggled at him, “What’s in there to eat
Bone?”
AJ threw him a look, “Crackers, peanut butter and
jelly, bread, dry cereal and warm cokes.”
“Yum, yum,” Nick said sarcastically and decided to
check out the bathroom. Gross. He would spend as little time in there as
possible. He hadn’t even turned on the
light, and was glad he hadn’t. He shut
the door back. He looked at his
friends, his older brothers, all pacing around the small underground room in a
daze. They looked horrible... Man wouldn’t N’Sync like to get a picture of
this! Nick whooped.
“Why are you smiling Nick?” asked Howie looking and
sounding annoyed with him.
“It’s just that..
Well. You guys look so pitiful. And, and, we’ve just been kidnapped and are
being held hostage like in that movie with Mel Gibson! It’s funny, because..” Nick never got to
finish his sentence as Howie leapt onto him and knocked him to the floor. For a little guy Howie was strong, he had
Nick in a choke hold, that took the others almost 5 minutes to get him out
of. Nick sat sprawled on the floor
panting and looking dazed, “What’d ya do that for?”
“WHAT THE HELL IS WRONG WITH YOU?”Howie screamed, “We
are in SERIOUS TROUBLE! Have you
noticed the guns, Nick? Guns are not
used to play nice, guns are used to KILL!
Those guns might kill us, and you’re playing around like nothing’s going
on?”
“Howie calm down,” Brian held Howie’s arms behind
him, “Take it easy on him. He’s still
flying off that half a bottle of Dimetapp and Benadryl he drank before he went
to bed along with that penicillin shot he got this morning.”
Howie was breathing rapidly, but visibly trying to
get himself under control. Nick laughed
at Brian’s brilliant deduction and stood up, “I’m sorry Howie... But he’s
right. I am high as a freakin’ kite and
glad of it. If I wasn’t I’d probably
still be freakin’ out and wetting my pants.”
Brian let Howie go cautiously, “So what are we gonna
do guys?”
“What do you mean what are we gonna do?” AJ asked
gazing at Brian like he was insane, “We are gonna sit here and wait for them to
come back and say we can leave! That’s
what. I’m not anxious to see my head
being blown off anytime soon.”
Nick looked curious, “I wonder what direction it
would blow if it did. Get blown off I
mean.” AJ, and the others shot him a
look of death. Ok. He got the point, he’d be quiet.
“Guys, we just need to relax for a while. Eat, sleep, keep our strength up and try to
stay healthy. We don’t know how long
we’ll be here, and we don’t know our enemies.
They said there were more..”
“But that might be bull...”
“And it might not be, willing to take that chance
Brian?” Kevin asked. Brian paled at the
suggestion, “Didn’t think so. So for
right now. We lay low, see what
happens, ok?”
Everyone nodded, except Nick who had chosen that
moment to fall asleep, much to everyone’s relief.