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Author's Chapter Notes:
We are finally getting to a point. It may get a bit creepy from here on out.
8.

The entire drive happens in silence. Instead of asking me twenty questions, Brian has chosen to give me his most imminent stare until I start talking deliberately, not willing to beg me for answers. His gaze bores holes through my skull and I’m pretty sure he can see the sweat that is trailing down my forehead. Maybe dragging him to a park wouldn’t be a problem if it was in clear daylight, but it’s almost midnight now and the whole city seems to be abandoned.

I almost jump in relief when the taxicab finally pulls up at our destination. I grab Brian, drag him out of the car and pay the driver, promising him a huge tip if he could stay and wait for about thirty minutes here. This way, I’m going to be out of money before I can say Millennium.

Although the city we’re in is quite big, the Grunloff Park is not much to speak of. The sandy path that winds through the bare grass is dusty and the park has only a few trees and bushes to decorate it with. As if I know where I’m going, I lead the way down the path, Brian following closely behind, determined not to lose me out of his sight.

“Remind me why we’re here again?” he grunts, carefully stepping over a stray branch, “I kinda missed your first explanation.”

“I have to talk to someone,” I offer.

“What? Now? It’s ten past midnight!” he comments disapprovingly.

I shrug, standing still at the open area in the middle of the park. This place too, seems void of all signs of life. Or-

“Did you hear that?” I hiss, turning around just in time to see Roland stabbing a needle into Brian’s neck.

“Hey! What are you doing!” I scream, lunging myself towards them. Two strong arms grab me from behind before I can reach them and hold me back.

“What the hell, man?! Let me go!” I demand, kicking and screaming I watch Brian’s eyes roll back as he falls limp into Roland’s arms. “You son of a bitch! You told me to keep him away! You told me to keep him away from you!”

“I lied,” Roland comments simply, hoisting my bandmate upright before sliding his arms underneath Brian’s legs, lifting him from the ground, “What do you boys eat? Twigs? He weighs nearly nothing! I gotta watch my back though, cause I have to admit I’m not the youngest anymore,” he chats as he leads the way out of the park. I follow him unwillingly, forced by the unknown arms that push me forwards. I can’t see his face, but I know he’s taller than me, and definitely much stronger.

We should have brought security.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Once we’re out of the park, I get shoved roughly into the back of a massive SUV that Roland apparently parked on the opposite side of the park as where Brian and I had gone in. Before I can start on my escape plan, Roland carefully places Brian beside me, who immediately starts to slide down before I grab him.

“Keep an eye on him,” Roland informs before he walks around to the driver’s side.

A part of me has figured that if Roland wanted to hurt and/or kill us, he probably would have done so by now.

Although Brian is completely out of it, he seems alright.
His pulse is a bit too slow, but his breathing is fine.

“What did you do to him?” I demand, trying to keep the tremor out of my voice. Anger has mostly turned to fear as I can’t seem to figure out what Roland’s intentions are with this.

“Don’t worry, it’s not poison, it’s just a sedative,” Roland’s raspy voice resounds through the car as he pulls the SUV away from the parking space, “Though I gotta admit, I probably used enough to keep a horse down, that’s why I need you to keep an eye on him.”

“Where are we going?”

“Somewhere private,” he offers, looking at me in the rear-view-mirror, “There’s an old warehouse outside of the city.”

“I trusted you,” I comment, as the tension spreads from my chest to my stomach. I feel like throwing up as I watch Brian’s eyelids flutter helplessly, trying to open, but not having the strength to do so.

“No, you didn’t, Nickolas. You had no choice. None of this is about you, basically.”

“Then what?” I lash out, frustrated.

“Listen, the part where I said I needed something that is your friend’s is still true. It’s just that he has to be there when I take it, otherwise it won’t work. That’s where the strong sedative comes in, we can’t have him waking up too soon.”

“You’re a sick bastard,” I comment. By now I have thrown my kidnap-theory out as well. He clearly drugged Brian, but didn’t find it particularly necessary to drug me too, or to hide where we were going. I can only guess about what he wants from us, and it’s making my heart hammer all over the place.

“Please, mister Carter, trust me when I say I take no pleasure in doing this and have no intention of hurting you or your friend, it's going to be for the greater good, eventually,” Roland’s voice sounds soft and reassuring, but I’m having a bit of trouble trusting his words at the moment.

“Then wh-”

I shut my mouth as the car suddenly comes to a stop. I notice Roland sigh and stare in the distance for a few seconds before he walks around the car and fishes Brian out of the backseat. Almost solemnly, he carries him inside, closely followed by me and the giant guy that has taken hold of my arms again and turned them behind my back, making me powerless.

I try to look around as we enter the warehouse silently.

Roland wasn’t lying when he said it was an old abandoned warehouse. The area is empty aside from a few wooden boxes and some giant staging in the middle. Roland walks towards it, grunting as he lays Brian down on the first stair.

“Miguel,” he calls and I get shoved forward, making me assume the guy behind me is called Miguel. “Se puede ir,” Roland comments. Miguel nods and my heart surges in the false hope that maybe now I’m freed of the tense hold on my arms and on my life. Before I can do or say anything though, I hear an unmistakable click, followed by another, indicating I am now chained to the wooden staging.

“Don’t move, I’ll be right back,” Roland orders before walking to the far other side of the building, massaging his back as he walks.

“Bri? Bri, can you hear me?” I whisper harshly, trying to get close to my unconscious friend. The handcuffs rattle and I feel my shoulder nearly popping out of its socket as I strain to hear him breathing. It’s a bit more erratic than before and my heart drops ten floors as Brian doesn’t even flinch when I shake him roughly. “Come on man, we gotta get outta here!”

“Don’t sweat it, kid, he can’t hear you,” Roland’s voice echoes as he walks back to the staging, his hands full of instruments I can’t directly call by name.

“He needs a doctor, you jackass!” I yell, pulling against my restraint.

“I’ll take care of it.”

“So you’re a doctor now too, all of a sudden?” I sneer, seeing him pulling out what looks like a stethoscope, only a really advanced version of it. With a display.

“He’s fine,” he comments, not taking his eyes off of Brian while he examines him, “we just gotta make this quick.”

“Make what quick?” I scoff.

“You’ll see, Nickolas, all in its time, alright? It’s gonna be fine.”

“No, it’s not, you son of a bitch! He has a heart defect, you can’t go around putting sedatives in people with heart defects!” I try, not knowing or caring if my statement is true.

“From what I heard, that defect was fixed last year. Which is why it has to be done now, while he’s still young enough.”

“What the hell are you talking about?”

Roland’s jaw clenches as he gets up, rummaging through a bag and carefully retrieving a series of tubes and wires.

My eyes get wide, my mouth goes dry and I’m sure I suddenly get three shades whiter than before.

“You-you’re n-not gonna-” I stammer, scrambling back, pressing myself into the hard wood of the staging.

“I don’t just need some object of your friend here, like you may have assumed,” Roland mumbles, his voice muffled as he rips open a package with a sterile syringe with his teeth. “I need his blood.”
Chapter End Notes:
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