I couldn t help but lay on the bed and wonder as I stared at a sleeping Lizz as the tour bus sped down some highway towards Boston, MA. The past few days in Raleigh was weird. After the incident with the blood smeared across her cheek, there were a few other incidents, rather coincidences that made the hair on the back of my neck stand up. I tried to dismiss them as coincidences, but in the back of my mind, I wondered if this was Agnes seeking revenge.
My two-way beeped and I glanced at the name in the screen. Dumbass.
I sighed, debating if whether I really wanted to talk to AJ right now or not. He kept beeping so I decided I better answer or Lizz would wake up.
"Yeah?" I answered as I stood up and walked towards the front to the living quarters.
"So have you said anything to her yet?"
I rolled my eyes and groaned inwardly. Why was AJ so committed into finding out about my personal life? "What does it matter to you?"
"Ah, so you didn t say anything, god Carter, I swear you re such a coward!"
"I am not," I defended, feeling the heat rise to my face.
"Then just tell her!"
"AJ, this conversation is done, bye," I replied and with the same motion, shut the phone off. I knew he would keep it up until I either caved in or gave him the answer he was waiting for. God, you would think he was my dad or something.
I decided that I would have to do something, suck it up and confront Lizz with my feelings. The groundwork had been laid, so-to-speak, but I was such a coward, I was afraid that if I told her my feelings she would laugh at me or reject me. I don't think I could stand that. If I read what had happened in that vending machine room before AJ interrupted us, we were going to kiss, at least I think she wanted me to kiss her.
"God Carter, it's something so simple, why do I have to keep making it so fucking hard?"
"Make what so hard?"
I spun around to see a disheveled looking Lizz, hair all touseled, sleep still in her eyes, cheeks pink.
"Oh, it s nothing," I lied, unable to confront my feelings yet.
"You are a bad liar Nick, you know that. Tell me what's wrong," Lizz asked as she plopped down onto the couch, patting the cushion next to her. "Maybe I can help you."
"Hey did you see the look on Brian's face the other day during lunch?"
"Nice try in changing the subject. Come on, don't shut me out, something's bugging you and I want to help, I'm a good listener."
I turned my back to her as I walked towards the windows and peered out from under a mini blind. "I doubt you can help when it involves you."
I was expecting her to say something to me, but I was met with dead silence. I turned around to see her sitting there, her face ashen, tears in her eyes. I suddenly realized that I did what I was so good at doing: saying one thing and meaning something completely opposite than what had been said.
"Oh, shit, no Lizz, it s nothing bad, please don t cry!"
"Did I say something to hurt you? Embarrass you?"
"NO, god, please listen to me, there's something I've been wanting to tell you, but I've been too much of a wuss to come right out and say it," I grasped at words, hoping this time I was making sense.
"Okay," came the quite reply.
I suddenly realized that I was spinning my tires and digging myself into a deep hole. Lizz was never this quiet unless she had her feelings hurt. I must have hurt her feelings or she was being guarded about her feelings. 'Nick you have to stop analyzing her moods, just tell her, dammit,' I mentally coached myself.
"Okay, how long have you and I known each other? A year? Two years?"
"One year and eighteen months," came the reply, this time she was grinning. Thank god she was grinning.
I nervously smiled back at her.
"Okay, during that one year and eighteen months," she giggled at my emphasis of the eighteen months. "Do you think we've gotten to know each other pretty good?"
"Yes, because I know how to piss you off pretty good and you know how to definately piss me off," Lizz teased.
"Besides that," I began again as I sat on the cushion next to her.
"Well, yeah, I think I've really gotten to know you pretty good. The real Nick Carter versus the media fabricated Nick Carter, and I really like the real Nick dispite the moodiness and you being grumpy," she smiled.
"I really like your bitchiness," I smirked and then smacked her with a throw pillow for good measure.
"HEY, you are going to so pay for that one, Carter!"
"Oooooh, I'm so scared," I mocked.
A brief pillow fight ensued, too brief for my liking because it was buying me time to tell her my true feelings. I was still scared of rejection.
CRASH
"Oh shit, that wasn't something valuable, was it?" Lizz asked sheepishly.
"Nope," I replied as I took the pillow and pushed it into her face.
"Nick!"
I froze when I realized I was probably suffocating her to death. That was probably not a good idea since her lungs were still a little compromised from the transplant.
"Lizz, I love you," I blurted.
She was gasping for air momentairly and then her eyes focused on mine. "What did you say? I'm sorry I didn't here you."
Figures, I get the balls to tell her and she didn't hear me again.
I took a deep breath and willed the courage again. "Lizz, I'm in...."
The lurching of the bus threw me against her tiny body. When the sound of squealing tires and crunching metal hit our ears, our eyes locked and I instinctively threw my arms around her to protect her.
"Hold on," I yelled.
She didn't get the chance to answer me, the next thing I knew, something hard came down on my head and everything stopped.
"Nick!" I screamed as I watched his eyes roll back into his head. His grip on me loosened so I held on tighter, determined to keep us together. The bus was fishtailing and I knew we were out of control. Suddenly, almost as if someone had pushed the slow-motion button on their VCR, all movement ceased. In a split second, the bus started to tip. Nick and I were thrown roughly to the floor and my desperate grip on him was torn away. Stuff was being thrown everywhere, hitting me and probably Nick in the process.
I landed hard and the impact knocked the wind out of me. I laid face up, unmoving on the floor of the bus. Only thing was, windows were straight above me. That would mean we had tipped over and I was actually laying on the side of the bus, right? "Nick?" I called, disappointed in my weak voice. I started to roll over, letting out a sharp gasp as my broken body protested to the movement. "God..." I murmured. "What the hell happened?" My eyes widened as I took in the surroundings. It looked like a tornado had blown through, wrecking havoc on everything it touched. Furniture was overturned and broken. Cabinet doors were open and shattered dishes were scattered about. I forced myself to sit up, groaning softly. "Shit! Nick! Why couldn't I think straight??"
I very quickly noticed the left arm of my dark sweatshirt was soaked in blood. Slowly, I crawled over to Nick. Putting any weight on it was out of the question. It hurt like a bitch. I pulled the neck of my sweatshirt away to try to steal a peek of the injury. Okay, that s pretty...About three inches below my shoulder was a pretty little gash. Nick was laying prone, a few feet away from me. From what I could tell, he was unconscious.
"Nick, honey, open your eyes." I coaxed, trying to fight the panic that was building. I needed to stay calm. There was a nasty cut on his forehead and it was bleeding freely. I grabbed a kitchen towel and pushed it up against his head. I'd hoped the pressure would get him to wake up, but he didn't even stir. Even in my clouded mind, I realized that we were in trouble if I didn't think quick. "Nicky, sweetheart, I'm going to go try to get help. I'll be right back okay? I love you."
I crawled over to an overturned table, using one of the legs to pull myself up. "Okay, just take it slow." I coaxed myself. I staggered over to the door and was surprised to be faced with floor of the bus. I looked up, gasping as a wave of dizziness washed over me. The door was above my head, along with a row of windows, but there was no way I could pull myself through one of them with my arm hurt like it was. "Maybe, oh no..."
"Dave?" I yelped, rushing over to our bus driver. He was laying sideways in his seat, the seat belt having prevented him from going anywhere. I held a shaky hand out, almost afraid to touch him. I took a deep breath and felt the side of his neck for a pulse. When I felt a steady beat, I sighed with relief. Unfortunately, he was unconscious as well.
It was gonna have to be one of the windows above my head. I went back to the table that I had used before and turned it right side up. Slowly, and nervously I climbed on top of it. To my relief, the window was a lot closer to me than I had thought. Fueled by pure adrenaline, I pulled myself as carefully as I could through the broken window, wary of the shards of broken glass that rimmed the edge. If any of it cut me, and it probably did, I was too much in shock to feel it. As it was, it felt like the accident had happened hours ago when I knew it had only been a couple minutes.
Now on top of the bus, my only choice was to just jump off. I took a deep breath and jumped, hitting the ground hard and dropping to my knees. Shakily I stood back up. The sun was setting and the sky was rapidly growing dark. In the distance I could see one of the other guys buses.
"Oh god, dont leave." I whimpered.
Almost as if they heard, the brake lights lit up and the bus started slowing down. They were just going to turn around, thank God. I had no idea who had been ahead of us and I didn't care. Nick's bus had been last cause when we had stopped at a fast food joint a few hours ago, we took the longest.
The noise of an oncoming car caught my attention and I whirled around. A white panel van had appeared out of nowhere. I waved my good arm frantically at them as they approached, my desperation starting to get overwhelming. The van came to a stop right next to me and my stomach clenched. There was suddenly something about this van that made me very uneasy. Probably just cause panel vans had a bad rep. Kidnappers used them because they were perfect for hiding in and keeping their victims from being seen. The door flew open and a man jumped out.
"Please help us! Our bus crashed and my friend is hurt. So is the driver. Please..." I froze. "Vinnie!"
"That's right, Lizz. Remember me?"
"Oh god... " I choked out, my knees getting weak.
The passenger window rolled down and another familiar face grinned at me.
"Terri?" I whispered, unable to believe what I was seeing.
Time to pay your dues, bitch. "Where's Carter?" She sneered.
"He must be the one that's on the bus, still hurt, right?" Vinnie snickered. I only stared at him in horror, not comprehending the events that were unfolding before my eyes. A heard another door open and moments later, Agnes appeared from around the other side of the van.
"Well, well. Lizz, don't look so shocked. You knew you would never be rid of us didn t you?" She laughed. I could only stand there and shift my gaze across their faces. I was totally helpless. I couldn t go anywhere, not with Nick still in the bus. Not like I would have gotten far anyway. The squealing brakes of bus tires got all of our attentions. Whoevers bus I had seen braking only a few minutes ago was now coming to a stop in front of us. The door flew open and AJ bounded down the steps.
"No, AJ! Go back!!!" I screamed.
"Oh no, I think you ll keep on coming this way." Vinnie called out.
AJ stopped in his tracks. "What the fuck is going on here?!" He demanded.
"AJ RUN! It was them!! Get help!!!" I cried.
Shut up! Agnes whipped around and raised her hand at me. I shrank back. "Keep it coming, AJ. You wouldn't want us to kill her, would you?" She coaxed him.
"Sonofabitch." He swore as he walked towards us. I whimpered in despair. Now they were gonna get him too.
"Perfect, time to get out of here." Agnes announced as she looked off in the distance. We followed her gaze to see the rest of the buses coming.
"Wait! Momma, we need to get Carter!" Terri whined.
"No! You aren t fucking going near him. You'll have to kill me first." I growled.
"As if you have a choice in the matter." Vinnie sneered.
"Where is he? Is he okay?" AJ's attention shot towards the bus, alarm in his voice.
"He's unconscious, he got hit in the head. H-he was b-bleeding." Tears filled my eyes.
"New plan. We re leaving. Now." Agnes announced.
"Momma!" Terri protested.
"Shut up, Terri!" Agnes barked. She turned to AJ. "Get in the van."
"Over my dead fu-"
Agnes whipped out a gun. "Don't make me say it again".
"No..." I moaned, planting my feet. "I'm not leaving Nick."
Vinnie reached over and grabbed my arm. I gasped as his fingers snaked around the gash. The pain made my vision go black for a split second and my knees turned into rubber.
Aw, whattsa matter? Lizz got an owie?" He mocked. He jerked me roughly, and I nearly fell. I felt a rough shove against my back and I tumbled onto the van floor. AJ managed to partially break my fall and pulled me closer to him. Vinnie hopped in and pulled the van door shut. Agnes was already starting the ignition.
"Momma, why did we leave him there? It was our chance!" Terri protested angrily.
"It was not our perfect chance." Agnes snapped in return. "Did you not see the other buses heading this way? It doesn t matter, this is even better."
"How?" Terri grumbled.
"We want Carter to suffer in the worst possible way right? Hurting him isn't going to make him suffer nearly as much as hurting his friends. Knowing that they are going through pain and there isn't anything he can do to stop it. This is the new plan..".
I looked up at AJ, fearfully. We were both huddled against the side wall of the van, not daring to move. Vinnie sat across from us, keeping the gun trained to our faces.
What did we want from the beginning? Our money from the National Enquirer. We're going to take it a step further now. A kidnapping case is bound to be newsworthy right? We take some pictures, send them in, get our money. Maybe after we get sick of that tattooed freak, we could arrange for a trade for that other one. We're keeping the bitch though. That way, Carter will do whatever we want. Finally, of course, in the end, we ll get Carter and kill him slowly. All of it will be publicized and we will get our just payments. Then, disappear into Mexico or something." Agnes explained, grinning at her cleverness.
I felt sick. "You can t..". I whispered.
"You fucking psychos! You will never get away with it!" AJ spat.
Agnes glanced at us in the rearview mirror. "Oh we will. If the media doesn t cooperate, you' ll die. If the Enquirer doesn't cooperate, you'll die. If your group doesn't cooperate, you'll die. Either way, Carter dies in the end. I guess the only part up to you guys is how many people will join him"
