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Chapter Four

The ride up the elevator was in silence. Nick shifted uncomfortable from one foot to another, feeling Dr. Jones’s gaze on him. A.J. and Brian were glaring at the professional, both having an intense disliking towards him and his holier-than-thou attitude. Kevin had one thought in particular in his mind, not knowing whether or not he should ask it. He wanted an answer, and the question he wanted to blurt out wasn’t exactly leaving his thoughts. Figuring he had nothing to lose, Kevin decided to ask while he still had the chance.

“Dr, um, Jones,” Kevin began, “Amber was shot in the chest, right?” he asked, wondering if what he’d seen back in the alley many hours before had just been an illusion.

“Yes, that’s correct,” Dr. Jones replied, taking his eyes off of Nick and looking to Kevin, “Why do you ask?”

“Wouldn’t that have killed her?” Kevin asked.

“Not necessarily,” Dr. Jones answered as the doors to the elevator opened. He stepped out and the Boys followed him, “The bullets missed all of Amber’s major organs. We’ve removed one of them. The other is still lodged in her chest. If we attempted to remove it, more damage would have been done than just leaving it there.”

“Isn’t that still dangerous?” Brian questioned, not being able to picture having a foreign object in his body, used to try to kill him. The thought made him shudder.

“It isn’t doing any harm being there,” Dr. Jones replied, but the Boys didn’t look convinced, “There is a young woman who goes around the nation speaking to high school and college students of her experience of being raped and shot five times. Three of the bullets have not been removed…one is lodged in her skull, the other two in her lungs. She is doing perfectly fine today and leading a normal and healthy life.”

Kevin stopped for a second, amazed and facinated by the information. He hadn’t had a clue that one could live under such conditions. He soon realized that he was lagging behind the others as he picked up his pace to catch up.

After a few turns down several different hallways, and passing several nurses and other doctors walking at a fast pace, breezing past them in about every direction, Dr. Jones stopped at a closed doorway.

“This is Amber’s room,” he informed them, “Before you go in, there are a few things I need to go over with you.”

Nick snorted and A.J. rolled his eyes. This man really was acting as if they were dumb and knew nothing. Uneducated. A.J. decided that the best thing that any of them could do was go along with it. Even if they tired to inform him that they weren’t entirely in the dark, he wouldn’t listen anyways. A.J. could tell that that was just the kind of man he was.

“And what would that be?” A.J. asked out loud, crossing his arms over his chest and giving the doctor a skeptical look, as if he were testing him to tell him something new that he may learn from.

“For one, it might be a bit overwhelming for her if all of you go in at once,” Dr. Jones stated, “Beings she doesn’t know any of you.”

Dr. Jones could see the incredulous looks cast in his direction from all five Boys. Sure, they wanted to do what was best for Amber, but they felt it would be odd of they went in separately.

“Do as you please though,” Dr. Jones said, “Remember, her whole family doesn’t want anything to do with her. She is in denial at this point…about everything. Don’t say anything that will upset her.”

“No shit,” A.J said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, “Like we would intentionally try to upset her.”

“She doesn’t need the attitude,” Dr. Jones warned, “If you don’t drop it, then you won’t be permitted to see her.”

“I just have this attitude when it comes to you,” A.J. spat.

Dr. Jones ignored the comment, letting it roll right off of his shoulders as if he were used to people saying that sort of thing to him all of the time. A.J. figured that he probably was.

“How long until the denial wears off…and she…Amber realized what happened to her?” Kevin asked, so that they would be better prepared for when it did happen.

“Couple of days up to around ten days,” Dr. Jones replied, “It varies with each individual. Are you ready to go in?”

The five Boys all looked at each other, suddenly wondering if they were ready to face Amber. With a shaky breath, Howie was the one to answer for all of them.

“Yeah, I think so,”

Dr. Jones gave one curt nod before slowly opening the door, holding it for them to enter. The Boys slowly walked in to the room, surprised when the doctor didn’t go in with them. Instead, he let the door click shut, leaving them alone with the victim of a violent crime that they happened to stumble upon.

Amber appeared to be sleeping, but for the first time, they could all really see what she looked like, and each of them found her to be attractive. Despite it being winter, Amber had a glowing light brown tan, giving them the clue that she most likely went to tanning beds. Her hair was a cross between light brown and dark blonde, which fell in soft, layered curls around her face and spilling over her shoulders.

But then there were the bruises that were in rings around her thing arms from where the perpetrators hands had wrapped around them so tightly. There was a hand mark visible on her face, telling them that she’d been slapped. They could only imagine the kind of physical damage that had been done to the rest of her body. All five of them stood there, just staring, none of them knowing what to do. They were face to face with the girl that they had saved…the girl that, if given the chance, they would be caring for. Nothing had prepared them for what she would look like, or her physical condition. For the first time, they understood just what they were getting themselves in to, but none of them regretted it. If anything, it made them want to help her more.

“Jeez…wow…” A.J. said, his voice coming out just above a whisper.

“God, that poor thing,” Nick muttered.

For the first time, he could not think of something completely off the wall to say or try to make humor of the situation, not that he even wanted to. He was completely serious, and at loss of words.

Tears had filled Brian’s eyes at the sight of the stranger. He hadn’t expected to be affected like this, but being face to face with her made the ordeal all the more real. Wiping his eyes, Brian knew that he had to compose himself so that when Amber woke up, she see him upset, sending her into early emotions that needn’t come before their time. As if on cue, Amber turned her head towards them, opening her eyes. She stared at them for a long moment before struggling to sit up.

“I…I heard voices,” she said softly, “I thought you would be my parents.”

Startled, none of the guys knew what to say or do. The situation was awkward and each of them was nervous. They knew though, that they could not continue to stand there like mute fools.

“Sorry to disappoint you,” Brian answered with a soft smile and light laugh.

Amber returned the smile sadly and shrugged, turning her head for a second to look out the window and out at the city below them, “They’ll be here,”

The Boys looked at one another, their eyes questioning what they were going to say. None of them wanted to discourage her by saying the wrong thing, knowing she would remember everything soon enough.They didn't want to falsly encourage her either though.

Amber turned back to the Boys then, her eyes lighting up in recognition, as if noticing just who was in the room with her for the first time, “I know who you are.” Then her brow furrowed in confusion, “What are you doing here though?”

Again, none of them had an answer that came easy to them. There really was no explanation of why they were there, besides the truth. Coming up with an alternative excuse was hard. A.J. elbowed Kevin, hoping he would be the one to come up with something and save all of them, as he so often did. For once though, Kevin couldn’t think of anything.

“Um, just in the area,” Howie blurted, “Decided to visit some patients.” He shrugged as if it were nothing, staying surprisingly composed.

“Yeah, just like the good ole days,” Brian grinned his charming smile, “Like we did way back.”

The guys all laughed, lightening up a little. A.J. had to admit that Howie’s cover was a good one…until they had to tell Amber the truth. That might be sooner than they all thought, as Nick spoke.

“So, what are you here for?” he asked, and then realized he’d screwed up by the death glares he was getting from all around him.

“The doctors tell me that I was raped,” Amber said, “But that couldn’t have happened to me. They must have me confused with someone else…they have to,” she paused, “I’m thinking a car accident or something. I don’t remember though.”

Amber spoke as if it were a normal thing to be landed in the hospital. She seemed totally unaffected. A.J. supposed that was what denial did to a person…made them calm and completely normal. He was just thankful that Nick’s moment of idiocy hadn’t struck something. The thing was, Amber’s calmness was almost scary. He was afraid to see what she would be like after she realized that everything she was denying was actually for real. For about the millionth time, A.J. realized that they had a lot of work that would be cut out for them and they would have to have a lot of patients, understanding, and caring towards the girl.

“How are you feeling?” Kevin asked, figuring that it was an innocent enough question for anybody who was in the hospital.

Again, Amber shrugged, “Sore all over. I don’t feel too good either. The doctors have been poking at me with needles and stuff for tests.”

“I’m sorry,” Brian offered, knowing exactly how that felt, “Hopefully they…”

Suddenly, the door burst open, cutting Brian off as three police men walked in to the room. Everyone looked at one of them, the officers staring back evenly, eyeing each one of them individually.

“Which one of you is Nickolas Carter?” the noticeably heavier of the three asked.

Nick nervously stepped forward, “That would be me.” He answered him, then snickered a little, being his nervy self and asking, “Have a doughnut lately?”

“We’re going to have to ask you to come with us,” the officer said, ignoring the typical cop stereotypical joke that had been delivered by the blonde.

Worry came over Nick’s face as the others just looked confused and bewildered. Nick took a few steps back, distancing himself from the three large men.

“Officer, what’s going on?” Kevin asked, his tone firm and direct, ready to take Nick’s defense.

“We’ll explain it on the way down to the police station.”

Fear filled Nick’s eyes as he didn’t know why they were after him. The other two men walked towards Nick, one of them swiftly grabbing him as the other handcuffed him. Nick tried to struggle out of their grasp as they tried to lead him out of the door.

“What did I do?” Nick cried out, confusion written all over his face, “I…what’s going on?” Nick continued to ask as he was drug further and further away from Amber’s room, his band mates close behind, telling Amber they would be back soon, then shouting out their own questions and protests. The officers still weren’t answering, but all five Boys were determined to get some and get to the bottom of why they were taking Nick if it was the last thing that they did. Before they knew it, they were outside of the hospital and headed towards a police car.

“I didn’t do anything,” Nick yelled as he was thrown in to the back of the car.

Before the other four Boys could stop the officers, the car was gone. Running to their bus as fast as they could, Kevin told Malcolm to follow the patrol car. They had to catch up with it and find out why they had taken Nick.