[ - ]
Table of Contents [Report This]
Printer Chapter or Story Microsoft Word Chapter or Story
- Text Size +
Chapter One

“Wow, it’s crazy out there,” Brian stated.

He looked out of the dark tinted window and at the crowd of fans that were surrounding the Backstreet Boys bus. They were lining the streets, some attempting to run after them, others even trying to jump on to the bus and cling to it.

“How did they find us?” A.J. asked as more of a rhetorical question, “How did they know we’d be passing through here?”

“They always find us,” Brian answered with a sigh, “What I don’t get is it’s almost eleven. Don’t they have school or something in the morning?"

Brian knew that they all loved their fans, but they were late as it was for a meeting, and the mob of screaming girls was just slowing them down by jumping in to the bus’s path. If it weren’t for them being in such a rush, he was almost sure that they would have stopped for a little while to sign autographs and even take pictures. Brian could see out of the front window that there was a clear opening in the street. As if their driver, Malcolm, had read his mind, he sped up, flying past the fans at a speed that would be impossible to catch up with. He turned a corner sharply, and then another, slowly turning down what looked to be an alley. Brian raised an eyebrow. They’d lost the fans…he knew that much was for sure. So why were they heading down this spooky dark place? The high beams of the bus barely lit the place, and they couldn’t have been driving any more than five miles an hour.

“Come on,” Nick muttered to himself, totally oblivious to what was going on, “Just a little bit more.”

Brian looked over at his friend, chuckling lightly. Nick was always playing Nintendo, and whenever he was playing, it was if the world had stopped otherwise around him.

“Nick, the world won’t end if your little car doesn’t pass the finish line a full minute ahead of everyone else,” A.J told him.

Nick stuck his middle finger up at A.J with one hand after he’d come in first place by thirteen and a half seconds. Less than a minute later, another race had started, only this time, he was lagging behind in fifth place. After a fight, Nick’s little yellow Porch was ahead of the other sporty cars.

“Yes,” he shouted triumphantly, proud of his accomplishment.

Suddenly though, the bus jerked to a stop without warning. Although they’d been driving extremely slow, it was enough to knock Nick’s car off course right before the finish line, causing him to come in last place.

“Damnit,” Nick cursed, shutting off the Nintendo, “What was that for?”

“There’s something blocking our path,” Malcolm called back.

“So go around it,” Nick stated.

“I can’t, not enough room,” Malcolm informed them, “and it’s too big to go over. Think some of you guy’s can help me move it?”

The five Boys’ all looked at one another nervously. None of them knew what to think of this ordeal, and the spookiness of the alley wasn’t helping calm their nerves much. None of them wanted to get out of the safeness of their bus. Finally, Kevin, A.J. and Nick all got up, moving to the front of the bus to help out Malcolm. They hopped off, one by one, walking over to the “lump” that was blocking the already narrow path. They all saw that whatever it was, newspapers were covering it in attempt to hide it. Malcolm, A.J. and Kevin, with the light of the headlights from their bus, both saw what appeared to be the top of a head sticking out of the thin paper. Nick though, obviously wasn’t paying attention to details.

“Is it a person?” Nick asked, hiding behind Kevin slightly and peeking over his shoulder.

“No, Nick,” Kevin muttered, his heart pounding in his chest, “It’s a buffalo.”

Nick’s eyes widened in amusement, “Really? It must be a baby one then. It’s so small.”

Neither Kevin nor A.J. said anything in response to Nick’s idiotic comment. This was no time for stupid comments.

“What’s a buffalo doing here?” Nick asked.

He still got no answer as Kevin cautiously walked towards what was so obviously a person. Bending down, he gently folded the newspapers off of the body, and gasped at what he saw. Suddenly, Kevin felt as if he were going to throw up. The young girl looked to be in her late teens, maybe early twenties. She was completely nude, and there were bruises all over her body from where she’d been battered, he was guessing. And then there were the gun shot wounds. Kevin stumbled backwards, unable to look at the sight any longer.

“Kev, what’s wrong,” A.J. asked, walking closer to the body. His eyes widened. As he drew in a shaky breath, he muttered, “Holy shit.”

Malcolm had turned a pasty shade of white. There was blood everywhere. It was all over the girl’s body, the newspaper, the pavement around her. The blood had obviously dried up, freezing from the coldness of the night.

“What’s wrong with everyone?” Nick asked.

He walked past everybody, his curiosity getting the better of him. He stopped short thought at what he saw. Nick himself took in a shaky breath. It was the most horrific thing that he’d ever seen. The image was so vivid, so gory. It was something that he thought he might see in a horror movie, or even some sort of drama, but not in real life. Nick backed away a little. The images were too much for him to handle, but he couldn’t tear his eyes away from the ghostly image lying before them.

“It’s not a buffalo,” was all he could think of to say, and it came out in nearly a whisper.

Nobody said anything for a few long seconds. Nick’s comment wasn’t exactly fitting the setting. In fact, it was almost as if he were trying to make light of it. Kevin knew though, that not even Nick would try to joke about something like this.

“No shit, Nick,” Kevin eventually answered, annoyed, running a hand through his thick, dark hair. All he could think of was what they were going to do. He wasn’t sure who to call, or what to say. He was guessing, by the looks of her, that she was a victim of rape. The question was, how long had she been there? It could have been a few days, maybe hours. It was hard to tell.

“Is…is she alive?” Nick asked, his voice quavering slightly.

Nobody moved. Nobody wanted to be the one to see if she was or not. It was a morbid task to take care of. What if she wasn’t? Kevin knew that no matter what, they couldn’t just leave the scene of what had obviously been a crime. They would have to call somebody, whether or not she was alive. A.J. gulped, staring at Kevin expectantly. Nick’s eyes were wide with fear and Malcolm had his back turned away. With a sigh, Kevin closed his eyes and drew in a deep breath, hoping that it would make him strong enough to check the girl’s pulse. He took four steps forward and bent down, still on his feet with his knees bent. At first, Kevin gently took the bruised wrist, placing his thumb on the underside. He shut his eyes, praying for a signal of life still in the small body. He was about to give up, not feeling anything, but something made him stop and double check. He waited a few seconds, but sure enough, there was a faint pulse. Kevin quickly put the back of his right hand up to her mouth, which was hanging ajar slightly. Kevin felt the weakest breath coming from her, but at least it was something. With his heart pounding in his chest, wildly beating with excitement, fear and nervousness, he looked to the bus.

“Brian,” he called, his voice soft and weak. Kevin swallowed, and then yelled again, “BRIAN.”

Brian appeared in the doorway of the large bus seconds later. He seemed to be annoyed with his cousin.

“What?” he asked, “What’s the holdup?”

Kevin ignored Brian’s impatiens, “Call for an ambulance,” he ordered.

“Wha?” Brian asked in confusion, beginning to get off of the bus completely to see what was going on.

“Call an ambulance, NOW,” Kevin barked, “Tell them we’ve found a rape victim that’s been shot.”

Brian froze, his eyes widening significantly from shock. He caught Kevin’s glare though, which caused him to snap out of his daze, scurrying back on to the bus. Kevin looked behind him at Nick and A.J. They were just standing there, staring at the scene, Nick feeling as if he were in a crime show made for TV, like CSI, or COPS.

“Is…is there anything we can do?” A.J. stuttered.

Kevin nodded, “See if you can find her clothing…anything.” He demanded, although his voice wasn’t mean.

A.J. and Nick nodded, searching the ground for any articles of clothing that may have belonged to the girl. They figured that if there were anything, it would be near by. Nick bent down about ten feet from Kevin, picking up a thin, soft sweater, or what used to be one. He choked on a sob as he examined the tattered and torn rag. Whatever had happened to her had obviously been violent.

“Kev, I found something,” Nick said, holding up the sweater.

Kevin looked up, and about flipped, “Nick,” he yelled, “Drop it now,”

Nick jumped a little, dropping the sweater. It fell to the ground. Nick had confusion written all over his face.

“I thought you said to look…”

“I said look,” Kevin informed him, “Not touch. If your fingerprints are on it, you’ll be a suspect.”

Nick’s eyes widened. He didn’t want to be tried for rape and attempted murder. He hadn’t meant anything by bringing the sweater to Kevin. He had just been trying to help him.

“The police will take care of it,” Kevin muttered, checking the girls pulse again. It was still there, but seemed to be weaker than it had before. Kevin looked skyward, doing a quick prayer that she would live. Kevin took off his jacket, laying it over top her exposed body, hoping that it would keep in some of her body heat, unless it was too late for that.

“Kev,” Brian called, “They’re on their way,”

Kevin nodded, acknowledging that he had heart Brian. Kevin told Nick and A.J. to get back on the bus to wait. Nick immediately ran to the bus, eager to get warm. A.J. was more hesitant, but decided that Kevin knew what he was talking about. Malcolm had since returned to the heated vehicle. Kevin decided that the others should stay warm until help arrived. Only one was needed to wait with the girl who was barely clinging to life. Besides, the more of them that were outside, the less access the paramedics would have to the girl. They needed all of the room that they could get. Kevin swallowed, hoping that they would be able to find the alley. It was pretty well hidden, and Kevin knew that they had found it by chance, just trying to escape fans. He thought that maybe they’d been led there though, by fate, to help the girl. Kevin knew if they hadn’t driven by, nobody else would have for a long while, dooming the girl to an untimely death.

Again, Kevin checked her pulse. He had a harder time finding it this time around, and his heart fell to his feet, but then he felt it. Breathing a sigh of relief, Kevin composed himself. There was no doubt about it though: the young woman was slowly slipping away.

When Kevin heard the distant sound of sirens, he held his breath for the longest moment, hoping that they were on their way to the alley. The sound was getting closer, and he felt his heart was going to beat its way out of his chest from anxiety. Kevin saw the flashing lights of what appeared to be police cars and an ambulance coming down the alley opposite the way their bus had. They slowly turned the corner, and Kevin let out a shaky breath as they found their way over to them. Help had arrived.