NOTE: This story includes some people that you may not have heard of unless you've talked to me before on a message board or like hockey...Darcy Tucker (yes, he's a guy!), Danny Markov, Yanic Perreault, Sergei Berezin and Curtis Joseph are a part of the Toronto Maple Leafs....a pro hockey team.
Daniel shivered and reached for his blanket. Why is it so bloody cold? He wondered. Yawning, he rolls over to fall back asleep, but something catches his eye. "What the hell?" He cried, startled. He sat up abruptly and looked around. "Something tells me I'm not in Newcastle anymore..." He muttered.
He got up cautiously and stepped out of his bed. He shivered as the night's frost melted under his bare feet. How the hell did I get in a forest, and why is my bed here? He wondered. He glanced down and saw his shoes on the ground. "How convenient," Daniel muttered sleepily, and quickly put them on. Suddenly, Daniel panicked as he realized that he did not know where he was. "Sweep?" He called his beloved dog. He strained to hear any sign of his missing dog. "SWEEEEEEEP?" He hollered again.
He heard a rustling in the bushes. Daniel smiled as he waited for his little companion. His smile faded. The rustling was far too loud to be a dog. His heart began to thump loudly in his chest and he turned to run. Unfortunately, he didn't notice the protruding tree branch. Everything went black as he smacked his head on the limb.
Daniel blinked...his vision was blurred...he thought he saw a figure standing over him. "Please, don't kill me!" He screamed, his arms instinctively covering his face. He screamed as the figure grabbed his arms.
"Daniel! It's okay, it's me Ben!" A familiar voice said. Ben helped Daniel to his feet.
"Dude, where the hell are we?" Daniel asked, his voice shrill. He picked a dead leaf from his blond hair.
"I don't know, but I want to get myself away from here A.S.A.P." Ben replied, shivering.
"Do you think Chris is out here somewhere?" Daniel asked. "I mean, we're here..."
"I don't know, but we should look for him," Ben suggested. Daniel nodded, rubbed his throbbing head and the two set off slowly into the night.
Four men trudged through the grasping branches, cautiously stepping over fallen logs. Their expressions were all the same...confused, and scared.
"How the hell did we get here?" Darcy Tucker, the smallest man asked aloud.
"I not know," Danny Markov replied in his broken english, being a Russian native. He ran his hand through his mussed up blond hair, his blue eyes alert to any sudden movements. A twig snapped, and Danny yelped and skittered ahead of his teammates.
"Danny, it was only me stepping on a twig. Whatever happened to the big bad Elvis, huh?" Darcy teased, laughing at him.
"You need a whole lot of shut-up," Danny retorted, his face going red.
"We hafta get out of here," Yanic Perreault muttered. "We have a game to play tomorrow, and if we aren't rested, Pat Quinn is gonna kill us!"
"Yeah, let's just find our way out of the forest, and get to the nearest payphone so we can get out of here!" Sergei Berezin agreed. "This place is creepy."
"Hey, Sergei...I heard that there's man-eating bears in the forests...and they feed at night time," Darcy informed him. Sergei's face went white.
"You're only trying to scare me," Sergei stammered, looking around for any signs of the bears. "That's not funny, I have a wife and a kid to go home to..."
"Shhh...Hear that?" Yanic whispered, cutting Sergei off.
"WHat?" Darcy asked anxiously. From the depths of the forest they heard a low growling. "Oh man, what the hell is that? Is that you Danny?" Darcy asked, frantically.
"N-n-n-o," Danny stammered. The growling was heard again, louder this time.
Darcy let out a yelp and jump right into Yanic's arms. "What the hell? Get off me!" Yanic demanded, dropping Darcy into a heap on the ground.
The bushes rustled louder and the hockey players screamed in horror as a dark figure leaped out at Danny.
The Russian rolled around on the ground screaming words in his native language, only Sergei could understand him. "Danny!" Darcy shouted out.
Danny stopped rolling on the ground and opened his eyes, standing before him was a small black dog, licking his face excitedly. "It's only a dog!" Yanic shouted out. Darcy burst into a fit of laughter. He clutched his stomach and fell to the ground.
"You need a whole lot of shut-up, Darcy!" Danny sputtered, still in shock over the ordeal. His teammates could not help themselves, as they were laughing hysterically at their confused teammate.
"Wait till the guys all hear about this!" Sergei chuckled. Danny's face paled.
"No, no, no, no tell guys!" Danny pleaded. "Please, no tell!"
"Don't worry, if we don't get outa here soon, there will be no guys to tell!" Darcy said bitterly. He bent over and patted the dog's furry little head. "Cute little gaffer, ain't he?"
"Nope," Yanic replied.
"What are you talking about?" Darcy demanded. "He's an adorable little guy!"
"Yeah, but it's a girl," Yanic pointed out.
Darcy looked puzzled. "Ooooh, okay...Sorry 'bout that girl!" He said to his new found friend. The dog licked his hand in approval. Danny stood up and brushed the dirt off of his suit, he straightened his tie and ran his hand through his mussed blond hair.
The little dog trotted up to her victim. "Get away," Danny snarled at the dog. "Scare my life away from me..."
"You mean, scare the life out of me," Sergei corrected.
Danny looked at him. "Hmmm?? Yes, yes, scare my life away from me," He repeated.
Sergei shrugged, and pulled a long brown, curly strand of his hair out of his eyes. "We'd better get moving, we have a game to play tomorrow."
The 4 hockey players, along with their new companion trudged off into the woods, trying to find their way out of the forest.
*******Fade in******
"SWWWWEEEEEEEEEEEEEP???" Daniel called, his hands cupping over his mouth. "CHHHHHHRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIISSSSSS?"
"Oh, Christopher? Come here boy!" Ben called, patting his knee.
"Very funny, Ben, but we've gotta find him, if he's out here some where..." Daniel scolded his friend. "CHRIS! GET YOUR ARSE OUT HERE NOW!"
"Hey, what was that?" Ben asked, his eyes straining to see what was making the noise in the bushes ahead of him.
"I don't know, man, but I ain't sticking 'round here to find out!" Daniel replied and took off running.
"Hey! Get back here you chicken shit!" Ben screamed at his friend. He began to walk after his friend. The rustling in the bushes grew louder. "Oh man!" Ben whimpered and scrambled after Daniel.
Daniel and Ben ran furiously through the mass of trees, cringing as the twigs slapped against their arms. Daniel let out a scream as something grabbed his ankle, and hauled him to the ground. "GET IT OFF ME!" He wailed, terrified. He cold feel its fingers wrapped around his leg, and pulling him towards it. He kicked frantically, trying to break out of the thing's grasp. Tears of fright streamed down his face, as he continued to yell out for help.
"Daniel?" Ben's small, frightened voice called. "Where are you?" Ben squinted his eyes, and saw his friend lying on the ground, thrashing frantically. He rushed over to Daniel's aid. His concern was ripped away, and he fell to his knees, laughing hysterically. He reached over and grabbed the vine that had entangled itself around Daniel's ankle and pulled it away.
"Oh my God!" Daniel cried, jumping to his feet. "What the hell do you think is so funny?" He stared at his friend in disbelief. Ben grinned and held Daniel's predator. "IT'S A BLOODY VINE?" Daniel demanded, his eyes still wet with the tears. "Holy shit!" He couldn't help himself...There he was crying like a baby when his "attacker" was a vine. "Jesus, I gotta get myself out of this place. It's making me go loony!"
Ben was still on his knees. "Oh Lord, Daniel! You shoulda seen yourself! Flopping around like a fish out of water, tears rolling down your face...AND IT WAS A VINE!" He cracked up all over again, falling backwards into a pile of leaves.
"Ha ha ha ha...SHUT UP!" Daniel snapped at him, irritated. His ears burned with embarrassment. "I can't believe I made such a jack-ass of myself!" Ben sat up, his smile faded as something caught his eye. Crawling, he approached the object that lay a few feet ahead of him. Daniel watched on in confusion. "Ben?" Ben ignored him, and continued to approach the object cautiously, afraid to make any sudden movements. "Ben, what the hell is it? You're creeping me out," Daniel stammered.
"Shhhh," Ben hissed. He carefully picked up the object. Gasping, he threw it down. "HOLY SHIT! LET'S GET THE HELL AWAY FROM HERE!"
Before Daniel could react, Ben had scrambled to his feet, and charged off. "BEN!" Daniel screamed after him. His brain screamed at him to run, but he knew he had to see what had brought upon such terror to Ben. He swallowed away his nervousness, and walked over to the object.
He picked it up, bringing it close to his face. It was a soft material, and he thought it was orange. He ran his fingers over it, he recognized the material. He examined it closely, the tattered, muddy peice of material. It had torn off of something..."Oh my..." He couldn't finish his sentence. He tore his eyes away from the fabric in his hand, and noticed something the moon had illuminated on the ground. He bent over and picked up the small, metal object. It felt cool in his hands. He traced the object with the tip of his fingers, and it hit him. He choked back the cry that had climbed into his throat, and tore off into the direction that Ben had run in, still clutching the objects in his hands.
He groaned as he sat up, his eyes adjusting to the dark surroundings. His arms curled around him as he shivered from the dank cold that swept over him. His eyes began to focus and he noticed he was lying in a small, dark room. Confused, he stumbled to his feet. He walked unsteadily towards the doorway of the room. It led into a hall. He followed the hall into a smaller room, his eyes now fully adjusted to the darkness. He peered into the doorway, and gasped as three hooded figures stood before him.
"Well, what do we have here? Awake are we?" One of the figures crooned eerily. "How are you on this fine night, Christopher?"
Chris shook his head, thoughts whirled throughout his brain as he tried to piece together the puzzle. "Who are you?" He whispered. The three hooded creatures looked at eachother and cackled. He couldn't see their faces.
"I think it's time for you to go back to sleep," one of Chris' hooded kidnappers suggested, and approached him swiftly. Chris screamed as a strong force hit the side of his head. His knees weakened, and black dots clouded his vision as he slowly sank to the floor....
"OW! GODDAMMIT!" Darcy screamed as he slapped the back of his neck. "I'm gettin' eaten alive out here!"
"You're not the only one," Yanic retorted, twisting around, trying to scratch his back.
The sun was starting to peak through the trees. "Oh thank God, now we can see where we're going," Sergei sighed, as he trudged through a thick mass of twigs. "Hey, it's sorta pretty out here..."
"What day is it?" Darcy asked. His teammates looked at him in confusion.
"It's the same day...but only a few hours later," Yanic replied, smirking.
"Oh man! We're going to miss the mandatory practice!" Darcy whimpered. "Maybe we should live in the forest...Build little huts out of trees...it'll be safer than facing our coach when we get back!"
"Now, now...Pat's a patient..well...Pat's an understanding...no, he's not that either...Hmmm...Pat's a nice guy...as long as you don't piss him off," Yanic offered, meekly.
Darcy glared at him. "That's reassuring," he snapped. "We're dead! He'll kill us!"
"He not kill us," Danny chimed in.
Darcy let out an exasperated sigh. "Danny...I want
you to listen, and listen good...Understand?"
Danny nodded.
"No, you don't understand, huh?"
Darcy asked.
Danny shook his head.
"So you
understand?" Darcy repeated.
Again, Danny shook his
head.
"Oh my God!" Darcy shouted in frustration.
Danny burst into a fit of laughter. Darcy looked
over at Yanic and Sergei, who only shrugged. "Okay,
Danny-boy...what the hell is so funny?" Darcy
demanded.
"You sound like funny man from Friends!" Danny howled with laughter. Darcy stared at him in disbelief. Slowly, his face broke into a smile.
"At times, I'm not sure if you act like this to piss people off...or because you're crazy!" Darcy exclaimed.
Danny's eyes lit up. "Oh no..." Sergei muttered, as he flopped down onto the ground.
"What?" Yanic asked anxiously.
"He's gonna do it," Sergei groaned, covering his face with his hands.
"You HAD to say it, didn't you Darcy?" Yanic demanded.
"Say what?" Darcy asked. He thought for a moment..."OH GOD!"
Danny turned his back to the others, he reached into his pockets and pulled out two elastic bands. He quickly tied his hair into two ponytails that stuck out from his head like two owl tufts. "CCCCCRRRRRRRRAAAAAAZZZZZZZZZY!" Danny let out a long, off-key wail. He spun around and broke out in a few clumsy dance moves. "Baby, I'm so into you..you got that something, what can I do?"
"This is soooo humiliating!" Darcy muttered, as he, Sergei, and Yanic watched as Danny did his Britney Spears impression. "Thank god, this is a secluded area!"
"BAY-BEE THINKIN' OF YOU KEEPS ME UP ALL NIGHT!" Danny howled, as he flung his arms open for his ending pose.
"Well, if you look on the bright side...At least its a different song than 'Oops, I did it again'," Sergei suggested.
"SHHHH! He might hear you!" Yanic hissed.
"Okay, Danny...are you done making an ass of yourself?" Darcy asked hopefully. Danny nodded, grinning. "Are you sure?" Darcy asked cautiously.
"Da!" Daniel replied nodding.
"Da? What the hell does that mean?" Darcy asked aloud.
"My son calls me 'Da,'" Yanic offered.
"OH MY GOD! He better not think I'm his father! Okay, I read about people getting disoriented from hunger, or whatever...but never becoming SENILE!" Darcy cried.
Sergei burst out laughing. "Darcy, 'da' means yeah, I don't know why, but people who aren't very fluent in English say it that way," Sergei said.
A look of relief washed over Darcy's face. "Thank God, for a minute, I thought I was gonna hafta deck him!" Sergei and Yanic rolled their eyes. "What?" Darcy demanded. They didn't reply. Darcy's face began to redden with anger. "What were those looks for?" Darcy asked again.
"This should be good..." Sergei whispered to Yanic. Yanic nodded in agreement.
"His temper tantrums are always comical," Yanic replied. Darcy's eyes began to take on a wild look. Danny slowly began to move away from his teammate, scooping up the innocent little black dog that had been following them. "Where the hell do you think you're going?" Darcy snapped. Danny jumped, and smiled nervously at him.
"Me? I stay right here," Danny replied innocently.
"Darcy, stop this macho crap...we're in a forest, not on the ice, and if you injure any of us...your ass will be grass once Quinn gets hold of you," Yanic pointed out. Darcy's expression immediately changed, and he grinned at his teammates.
"What? Can't take a joke?" Darcy asked sheepishly.
Yanic sighed, and began to walk once again. "The more we stand around here yakking, the more likely we'll miss our game," he called over his shoulder.
One by one, they continued to hike through the forest.
Ben clutched his side, as he was forced to slow down to a walk. Breathing heavily, he reluctantly sat down on a rock. Oh God, I left Daniel back there! Ben realized. Suddenly a figure lept out at him from the bushes. "AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Ben screamed shielding his face with his arms.
"BEN! It's me!" Daniel cried, his eyes wide with terror.
Ben stopped screaming, and slowly lowered his arms. "It's..." He couldn't bring himself to say it. Daniel nodded.
"This material is EXACTLY the same as the material that Chris' orange pants are made of...And this is Sweep's collar tag," Daniel said, quietly. His voice was choked, as he fought back tears. "Ben, someone wants us dead."
"BULLSHIT!" Ben shouted at him, making Daniel jump. "Don't say that, Chris could've torn his pants on a stick, and maybe Sweep's tag just fell off...That happens, y'know!"
"Oh, wake up Ben! Chris' pants tore at the exact same place as Sweep's tag fell off?" Daniel snapped.
"Listen, just because you have problems with depression, doesn't mean you have to fuck with my head too!" Ben shot back. He winced at his insensitivity.
Daniel stood frozen before him. "Fuck you," he hissed at Ben through clenched teeth. His hands were balled into fists.
"Oh Jesus, I'm sorry...I didn't mean it," Ben stammered.
"YOU BASTARD!" Daniel screamed and lunged at Ben. Ben flew backwards as Daniel hit him with a surprising force. Before he could react, Daniel's fist caught him in the nose. Using his legs, Ben flung Daniel off of him, and jumped to his feet. Daniel charged for him again, but Ben nailed him in the mouth with a punch. Daniel cried out in pain, as Ben tackled him to the ground.
Daniel's arms and legs thrashed furiously as he tried to get Ben off of him. Ben pinned him down, breathing heavily. "You gonna stop?" Ben demanded. Daniel was too exhausted to continue struggling. "You gonna stop?" Ben repeated.
Daniel nodded, and Ben climbed to his feet. He offered out his hand to help Daniel to his feet. Daniel ignored it, and stood up himself. He wiped the blood from his mouth and faced Ben.
"Daniel, I swear to God, I didn't mean what I said," Ben stated, his hand cupping his nose. "I-I was scared...I didn't know what I was saying."
Daniel stood in silence, studying Ben's face to make sure he was sincere. He sighed. "It's all right, I know you didn't mean it...You just hit a soft spot..."
"So did you! Jesus Christ can you pack a punch!" Ben joked half-heartedly as he removed his hand from his face, displaying the blood from his nose. Daniel grimaced.
"Yeah, I guess so...But you sent my teeth into my lip!" Daniel pointed out. Ben grinned.
"Sorry 'bout that," he said.
"Me too," Daniel responded.
"Daniel?"
"What?"
"I-I heard something when I was running," Ben announced.
"What?" Daniel asked, his eyes wide with fear.
"I don't know...But I think it was a version of Britney Spears' 'Crazy', expect really off-key...kinda like a dying cat would sound if it could sing," Ben replied.
"Oh, like how Britney sounds live?" Daniel cracked, chuckling. Ben burst out laughing. The grin on Daniel's face vanished.
"What?" Ben asked, his laughter diminishing immediately.
"L-l-look," Daniel stammered, pointing to something in front of him. His hand trembled violently.
Ben slowly turned around. "OH SHIT! What the HELL are they?"
"SHHHHHHHH! Do you guys hear that?" Yanic whispered, stopping dead in his tracks. "OOMPH!" He uttered as Darcy ran into him. "Clumsy idiot, watch where you're going!" Yanic commanded.
"Sorry," Darcy retorted. "Hear what?"
"It sounded like voices in the distance," Yanic replied.
"HALLELUJAH!" Darcy shouted, joyously.
"Shut up!" Yanic hissed.
"Hey I had enough of you tellin' me what to do," Darcy snapped.
"Ben!" Daniel whispered. "Someone out there yelled 'hallelujah!' They KNOW where we are."
"Who?" Ben asked, unable to move his eyes from the llama, frog, and maple leaf objects made from peices of vine and twigs that hung from the trees.
"Whoever kidnapped Chris," Daniel replied. "They KNOW we're here...Whoever it is knows that I ask for hallelujahs at our concerts!"
"That really narrows it down," Ben cracked. "And take a look at this...llamas, and frogs? These are sick people, Dan."
"How do you explain the maple leaf shaped objects?" Daniel pondered. "I mean, I know where they got the llamas and frogs...but maple leaves?"
"I dunno, but I'm not stickin' 'round to find out," Ben announced.
"Ditto," Daniel agreed.
Ben and Daniel walked away from the creepy vine objects nervously and continued their search for their friend.
"We hafta find those voices," Sergei said. "Maybe they'll know a way outa here."
The four men began to jog through the trees, ducking under low branches, and hopping over logs. "OOOMPH!" Danny grunted as he tripped over something. He landed on his stomach.
"Are you okay?" Darcy asked, stopping. Danny nodded and stood up, trying to brush off the dirt from his suit.
"Hey...that look like Cujo's helmet," Danny announced.
"Huh? What does?" Darcy asked.
"Look in bushes," Danny replied. Darcy walked over to the bushes that Danny was pointing too. He bent down and picked up the object.
"I don't believe it!" Darcy murmered. "SERGEI! YANIC!" He screamed, his body numb with shock.
"What?" The two men came running furiously towards their teammates. The found Darcy holding an object in his hand, trembling, as Danny stood with him, his face pale.
"Hey, isn't that...Oh God," Sergei ran his hands nervously through his hair.
"What does it mean?" Yanic asked, unable to remove his eyes from the goalie mask.
"Curtis is out there, and we've got to find him," Darcy announced. He pulled a vine off of a nearly tree and strung it through the bars on the mask. He tied the two ends together and slung it over his shoulder. Danny began to giggle. "What the hell is so funny?" Darcy barked.
"You wear a purse, like Anna!" Danny explained, referring to his wife.
"Shut the hell up, this isn't time to joke," Darcy snapped. "We've got to find Curtis."
The four men began their search for the missing goaltender. "I bet the kidnappers are the people belonging to those voices we heard," Yanic concluded, his voice wary.
"Yeah, we've gotta find them, so I can beat the shit out of them," Darcy agreed.
"Hey, I hear those voices again," Daniel said. He stopped walking. "I think they're to the left of us..."
"I hear them too," Ben retorted. With that, he bolted towards the direction of the voices.
"Ben, where are you going?" Daniel hollered.
"I'm gonna find those bastards who kidnapped Chris!" Ben called back.
"Bloody hell," Daniel muttered, and followed his friend.
"Guys, someone...or something is coming towards us...and fast!" Sergei whispered.
"I hear 'em," Darcy announced, removing the goalie mask slung around his shoulder, and his suit jacket. He tossed them to the ground and made his way past Sergei.
"Darcy, don't be an idiot, you don't know who or what is coming, we'd better turn around," Yanic warned.
"Yanic, our teammate is in trouble, and there is no way I'm abandoning him now," Darcy replied, fiery determination burning in his brown eyes.
Chris groaned and sat up...He looked around the dark room, his eyes trying to focus. Off in the corner laid a dark heap. "Oh Jesus," he muttered to himself. "Is that a body?" He crawled forward, careful not to make any noise, fearing that he'll be attacked again.
He crept towards the heap and slowly reached out to poke it. He jumped and bit his lip to prevent the scream that built up in his throat as the object move.
Good, he thought. It's alive. What is it? He wondered. The figure stirred and slowly sat up. Chris backed off quickly.
"Where am I?" A murmer came from the figure.
At least it's human...Chris thought. "Hello?" He whispered.
"Who's there?" The person called out, frightened.
"Shhh...they'll hear you," Chris hissed. "My name's Chris."
"I'm Curtis, who are you talking about?" The person responded.
"These three people abducted us...I don't know where we are, or what they want," Chris replied, quietly.
"You're...joking right?" Curtis asked hesitantly.
"Nope..."
"Oh God! My...my family! Nancy...Taylor...Tristan...Madison! Oh God..." A choked sob came from Curtis.
"Hey man, ummm...we'll get out of here..." Chris said. Tears built in his eyes as he thought of his family and friends in Australia. "We'll get out..." In his head, he was thinking totally different.
Ben dodged a few trees, ahead of him he saw something moving. I got you, you bastards...he thought as he ran towards Chris' kidnappers.
"BEN!" Daniel shouted from behind him. Ben ignored him and kept running...he ducked under a branch. And was tackled by an amazing force onhis right side.
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