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Worst Case Scenario

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Date: June 2nd, 1999

 

Place:  Pelham Bay Prison

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

+ Kevin +

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The lack of proper food or sleep made it hard to keep up with the guards as they transported Alan from the docks to the prison. We weren’t sure if they were going to the big one that supposedly held everyone including famous people, or if he was going to a smaller place. Really there was even the smallest of chances they could have shot him right then and there because of his age.

 

 

 

Luckily the small car they were using had a huge PB on it. They were going to the Pelham Bay prison camp. That’s the one where we also hoped Nick would be held.

 

 

 

Two birds with one stone.

 

 

 

Even though we lost the car after only two blocks, the guy on the ferry was able to give us pretty solid directions to the actual camp. It was still a pretty long haul and by the time we had the place in our sites, I was ready to pass out from exhaustion. Even the added adrenaline from the idea of breaking into and out of a prison and killing someone, didn’t help.

 

 

 

Don told me that if we did find Nick, he would take care of him. I have to admit that made me feel a lot better. He told Howie and me that we needed to stay the hell out of his way and only interfere if he ran into trouble.

 

 

 

I have to admit, at first I was annoyed. I wanted to actually break into the camp with him and help get his father out of there, but now that we were within arms reach of the place, I was happy to do nothing but be ‘on the lookout’ for any signs of trouble.

 

 

 

From a distance, the place looked kind of nice, actually. You can tell that before the attacks, it was a park where people used to bring their kids after school. If it weren’t for the high fences with barbed wire at the top, you might even think it still was a nice place to visit. Eerily, there was a slide and swing set within our view. Two people were sitting on the swings wearing plain drab grays and slippers on their feet.

 

 

 

“Do you think this is how it looked at the concentration camps?”

 

 

 

I jumped at Howie’s words, so entranced by the scene in front of me that I forgot I wasn’t alone. I had been thinking the same thing.

 

 

 

“I don’t know, but I hope not.”

 

 

 

“It’s kind of feeling that way though, isn’t it?”

 

 

 

“I don’t really want to think about that right now.” And I didn’t. My head wasn’t ready to go somewhere as dark as that. As it was, I already needed a flashlight to get through some of my thoughts.

 

 

 

Don squatted down beside us and once again mapped out his plan. I think he was verbalizing it more for himself than for us. He needed to get past the fence and into the actual camp without being detected. There was supposedly one blind spot that the guards ignored. He should be able to dig his way under the fence and get in at that spot. The fence was supposedly electrified but the guy on the ferry said that it was just a sign to keep anyone from trying to escape. This is something we didn’t totally trust. So he would have to make sure before he moved forward with his plan because one wrong move would mean the end to him and most likely us because it wouldn’t take long for the guards to search the surrounding area for intruders and there really was nowhere to hide here. Once the sun came up, we were pretty much sunk.

 

 

 

We had to move fast.

 

 

 

Judging by how tired I was and the night sky, I would guess it was already close to 3 in the morning or so. It took us that long to get to this place by foot. I hate not having any idea what time it is. For all I know, I could be way off and at any minute the sun would begin to peek through the horizon.

 

 

 

Once Don was done rambling off his plan he looked at me, dead in the eyes, “If for some reason this plan back fires, you need to get out of here as soon as possible.”

 

 

 

“And how will we know if it backfires?”

 

 

 

“If you hear those alarms go off, you’ll know they found me.”

 

 

 

I nodded at him.

 

 

 

“Wait just a few minutes to see if my father comes out, if not just go and meet up with my brother.”

 

 

 

This was surreal. How did we get to this point? We were pop stars for God’s sake. We weren’t meant to be doing this kind of crap.

 

 

 

“Okay.” Howie answered when I didn’t think there were any appropriate words in response to what he was saying.

 

 

 

He nodded at us, checked to make sure he still had his gun and then hesitated slightly before making a run towards the gate. I watched as the two men on the swing set still sat there and hoped that they wouldn’t blow it. The ferry man was right though, since we have been here, not one guard had passed by.

 

 

 

“If he gets in, how do you think he’s even going to find his dad or Nick?”

 

 

 

I shook my head, “I have no idea.”

 

 

 

We both watched as if it were a movie. Don was now at the gate and hunched down as low as possible. It was hard to make out in the total darkness but I’m pretty sure he was trying to dig his way in which meant he had checked the gate and it wasn’t electrified. Within a few minutes he disappeared from view only to show up on the other side of the fence. My eyes went directly to the two people on the swings at that point. Clearly they would see him once he made it out of the dark and into the area where they sat.

 

 

 

The lights were bright within the park itself. I wasn’t sure how he was going to make it past the playground area without being detected. He had said this would be the trickiest part of the plan. I could see him lying on the ground just out of the light’s view.

 

 

 

One of the people on the swings suddenly looked in his direction.

 

 

 

“Shit!”

 

 

 

The guy stood up and walked into the shadows while the other guy just sat there staring.

 

 

 

“He’s gonna get caught. Won’t they notice the guy missing? And the other one needs to stop staring.”

 

 

 

Howie’s play by play was beginning to annoy me, probably because my own stress level was beyond what would be considered normal. I actually felt my blood pressure rising. I was just about to tell D to shut the hell up when the guy showed up again. He went over to his friend, said something and then they both got off the swings and walked out of our sight, leaving the dark figure of Don all alone.

 

 

 

“What do you think is happening now?”

 

 

 

I turned to Howie, “He might be trying to figure out how to get to the main tent over there without being detected.”

 

 

 

“Maybe he got those guys to help him out?”

 

 

 

“Finding an ally was part of his plan, so maybe?”

 

 

 

“I just hope we don’t have to use that.”

 

 

 

He was looking down at the gun I had forgotten about. I hated guns and vowed never to use them. Now here I was, in the dark right outside a prison camp with the possibility of having to not only shoot a gun but possibly aim it at another human being, worse case scenario being someone who I actually loved and cared about. Whether I knew this Nick or not, he was still Nick. Thank God I don’t have to worry about that.

 

 

 

My thoughts traveled to our Nick for a second. With everything going on here, I hadn’t had time to think about the others and how they made out. I hope they were able to find Matt and were working on a way to get out of this place before it was too late. I hated being separated from them again, seems like we just found each other and now here we were apart again. It’s funny to think that just a week or so ago, I would have paid good money for some alone time. Now, the only time I felt at ease is when I had my four band brothers with me.

 

 

 

Crisis situations really do put things in perspective, don’t they?

 

 

 

I remember less than a month ago, Howie and I were sitting on the tour bus and bitching about not being able to get a first class ticket on a flight to Germany. They had accidentally overbooked the flight and couldn’t accommodate us with anything besides coach. I was outraged to the point that I marched right into the offices at Jive and threatened to cancel our appearance all together. All the guys had agreed, except for Nick who didn’t care one way or the either, barely looking up from his videogames to pretend to care.  I was persistent and by the end of my argument a few nasty phone calls from management later, we were on the flight in first class. I never once thought about the ramifications of anyone else. Maybe my ranting resulted in five innocent people losing their seats. It didn’t matter to me though, I got my way and we were nice and comfortable. What an ass I was. It’s one of the many things I plan on changing if and when we get out of here.

 

 

 

“He’s gone. I didn’t even see him leave.”

 

 

 

I glanced over to where Don had been hiding to see no one there.

 

 

 

“That’s a good thing. If we didn’t see him move then chances are neither did anybody else.”

 

 

 

“I wonder what time it is.”

 

 

 

I was wondering the same thing. I looked down and was able to see my hands pretty easily which meant either my eyes were adjusting to the darkness or it was beginning to become a little lighter out. The moon was still out but the smallest inch of reddish pink outline was starting to show.

 

 

 

“We’re running out of time.”

 

 

 

“He didn’t say what to do if the sun came out before he got out of there.”

 

 

 

“Let’s hope we don’t have to worry about that.”

 

 

 

Suddenly there was a dark shadow moving very quickly towards the fence. It was only one. That’s not a good sign. I was preparing myself for the sound of alarms, but luckily none came just as the dark figure made its way under the fence.

 

 

 

“Is that him?”

 

 

 

“I don’t know.”

 

 

 

From this distance it was hard to tell if it was Don but it really didn’t look like him. The person stood up and looked all around before staring at us. I know he couldn’t really see us from here but he definitely knew we were there.

 

 

 

“It has to be him.” I said as the guy started to make his way towards us at a slow jog.

 

 

 

“What if it isn’t?”

 

 

 

I felt for my gun, hoping I wouldn’t have to use it. I’m not even sure if I would be able to do it. I didn’t have the best aim.

 

 

 

But as the figure got closer, I knew I’d have to be using it after all. I couldn’t believe how similar they looked. Right down to the confused expression on his face.

 

 

 

“Holy shit, he said you’d be out here but I didn’t believe him…how is this possible?” The other Nick said to me as he pulled me into a hug.

 

 

 

He then let go of me and grabbed Howie, “This is like a dream…I saw you both die. Thank God you’re okay…” He pulled away from D and wiped at his tears, “Oh before I forget…That guy said for me to tell you it was going to be harder than he thought it would be to get his dad out and that you’d know what to do…what does that mean?”

 

 

Chapter End Notes:

Hope you enjoyed! In case you missed it, I also wrote a short story called The Haunted House in response to the Suspense challege on AC. Thanks for reading and reviewing! :O)