The Price of Friendship Chapter 6
�The plan is working just nicely,� said Mr. Johnson as he gazed into the monitor at the lone figure lying unconscious and tightly bound and gagged on the forest floor. One step in having his plan work, was to have the young men fearful of any natives that might happen to wander about on the island�namely Davis�s family. Russell Johnson felt sure that this situation would put that fear into the hearts of the five young men.
Wishing to replay the events leading up the young man�s current plight, Russell quietly pushed various buttons, rewinding the video taken earlier that lead up to what he had just been looking at. When the proper portion of the video had been reached, Mr. Johnson retreated to an overstuffed chair to sit and watch the events replay across the monitor screen.
�JC! Lance! Where are you guys?� Justin had been yelling the same words over and over again for the last 45 minutes in his attempt to find the pair and his lack of luck was evident in his frustrated tone of voice.
The young man stopped his wandering long enough to take a gulp of water from his water bottle. As he drank, he turned to look at the area around him�trees, trees, trees�nothing but trees.
�Duh J�you�re in a forest,� Justin said sarcastically to himself. �I really hate this�this is so not good. Man�where are you guys?�
He once again took another drink from his bottle then, suddenly, he thought he saw something out of the corner of his eye�off to the left. Justin quickly turned his head in that direction as he called out.
�JC! Lance! Come on guys! Joey�s hurt! We need to get back to the beach!�
Justin kept his gaze in the general direction of where he thought he saw movement but was disappointed to seeing nothing resembling his two friends.
Justin quickly whipped his head around when he heard some movement in the underbrush.
�Uh�guys?� Justin nervously licked his lips and tightened the cap on the bottle of water as he began to take small backward steps in the direction that he had just come from only to once again abruptly stop when he heard more movements in the brush up ahead of him.
�JC? Lance?� Justin quietly called out as he slowly walked toward the sounds.
�Come on guys,� he called out. �Don�t play games�Joey�s hurt�Chris is worried and I�m scared.� Justin stood silent as he turned a full 360 degrees, his eyes searching for whatever was making the noises that he was hearing.
What happened next would later be a blur to Justin�s memory. A very tall, dark skinned man walked out from behind the trees off to Justin�s left. Startled, Justin jumped and dropped his water bottle�his breath caught in his throat�his heart hammering against his chest..
�Man�you scared me,� Justin yelped as he clutched at his chest, trying to catch is breath while at the same time willing his heart to slow its frantic pace. After taking some deep calming breaths, Justin slowly approached the man, knowing that he should be cautious, but still, this person could help him and the others and, unfortunately, those thoughts for his friends pushed the cautionary feelings out the window.
�Me and my friends need help�do you understand�no, I guess you might not,� Justin eagerly, as he watched the man begin to approach him. Justin raised his hands before him as he struggled to find a way to communicate his needs to the native. In mere seconds, Justin came up with a plan and gazed at the stranger only to see the calm look on the stranger�s face slowly fell away to reveal cold, hard eyes, and a slightly evil grin.
Justin�s own look suddenly became surprised as he stopped his forward steps and slowly began to take some tentative steps backwards all the while talking�or rather, babbling as he tried to put distance between himself and the approaching figure.
�Uh�don�t let me interrupt anything. My friends�uh�we�re just fine�I won�t be bothering you anymore.�
Justin�s look of surprise quickly turned into fear as the stranger�s slow approach was becoming faster in order to keep up with the now scrambling young man. Just before Justin turned to run away from the large man, he saw that the stranger was carrying a large machete in one hand and in the other, several coils of rope.
�Oh no,� Justin whispered as he turned around to run, but much to his despair, he ran face first into the chest of another much larger man behind him who quickly grabbed Justin�s arms and pushed him roughly toward the ground. With a sharp yelp of fear, Justin hit the ground on his back and frantically began kicking at his attackers who were now standing above him.
The first man moved behind Justin�s back and grabbed the kicking youth from behind then forced into a seated position. Justin continued to yell out in anger and fear as he struggled against a meaty arm that was now wrapped around his neck. Justin�s breathing became ragged with fear as he instinctively, clutched at the arm with both hands and began pulling with all his strength all the while, kicking out at the other figure still standing above him.
�Stop�what do you want?� Justin shouted out, but the tightening of the arm around his neck choked off any further cries causing the young man�s struggles to increase as the fear of choking to death filled him. As Justin continued to frantically pull at the arm wrapped around throat, he missed the other hand raising itself into view until he felt the cold blade of the machete resting against his neck. In terror, Justin stilled his movements as the pressure of the blade resting against his throat increased. He choked back sob and felt a lone tear trail down his face. He then opened his eyes seconds later only to see the second man dousing a white handkerchief with some sort of liquid from a bottle before approaching him. Ignoring the blade resting against his throat, Justin again began furiously struggling against the arms holding him all the while trembling in fear, but stopped when he felt the blade nick him.
�Ppp�please�ttt�tell me�what do you want,� Justin rasped out, his voice strained with fear as he continued to struggle against the arms holding him, only to that his movements were weakening, frightening him even further.
�Please don�t hurt me�please just leave me alone�� he whimpered as the second man grew closer and the arm wrapped around his neck tightened causing Justin�s vision to dim and his ears to roar with the sudden lack of oxygen. Without a word, the second man knelt down beside Justin and slowly placed the handkerchief over the young man�s nose and mouth pressing hard while holding the back of Justin�s head while the first man released his hold on Justin�s neck causing the young man to suddenly gasp for the air that his starving lungs were screaming for. The first man then dropped the machete and grabbed Justin�s flailing hands, preventing him from batting away the soaked cloth that was being held to his face while the second man straddled Justin�s thighs preventing him from kicking out any longer. Justin was now hopelessly being held immobile.
Justin continued to weakly struggle against the strong men holding him as he realized that the cloth was soaked in chloroform and that he was still not getting enough air.
As precious seconds ticked by the pressure of the cloth against Justin�s face loosened as his struggles began to further weaken and turn into feeble attempts at escape...his oxygen starved brain letting him know that his body was slowly shutting itself down. As darkness began to close in on Justin, the stranger holding the cloth over his face lifted it ever so slightly and, with the sudden ability to take deeps breaths again, Justin drew in several deep, gasping breaths before succumbing to the approaching darkness being brought to him, thanks to the chloroform. Justin�s last conscious thoughts were of his friends and if they would find him�dead or alive.
�Davis�Marco.� The two men glanced up from the unconscious form lying at their feet. A small ear-piece in each man�s left ear provided them direct contact with the Johnson�s, as did small, microphones hidden in their shirts.
�Yes, Mr. Johnson?� Marco said, panting from the effort that he had expended trying to hold the strong young man.
�You both did very good work. The drug that you used will probably cause a memory loss up to the point that you knocked him out. He probably won�t remember the drug, but he will remember the attack up to your having drugged him. You do need to finish the job quickly. His friends will be looking for him and you both need to ensure that they find him after an hour or so of searching.�
Mr. Johnson watched on the monitor as Davis lifted a small club and brought it heavily down onto Justin�s left temple, and instantly, there was a thin line of blood indicating that he had broken the skin. Then, without wasting any further time, as one man began to bind Justin�s hands tightly behind his back, the other bound his ankles together. The cords that they used resembled the thin, but strong vines that littered the forest floor and hung in mass from various trees and would further lead the young men into believing that the inhabitants of the island were not to be trusted.
To finish the job, Marco pulled a rough, home spun cloth from his pants pocket. He placed it between Justin�s parted lips and jerked it roughly into place before tightly tying the ends of the cloth behind the young man�s head, effectively silencing any sounds that he may make when finally awake.
�Marco?�
�Yes sir?�
�Davis will lead the others through the forest�I want you to carry out the next phase of the plan.�
�Yes sir.�
Marco and Davis took time for one more glance at the unconscious man lying on the ground before trudging through the forest to continue with the Johnson�s plans. Marco looked on in fascination�Davis in guilt.