“Calm down babe! What do you mean Riley’s missing??” a very confused Justin asked his girlfriend over the phone.
“I mean he’s gone,” Keeley replied almost breathlessly. She was on the verge of tears.
“Funny Kee, really funny. April Fool’s day has already come and gone. You didn’t get me then, you aren’t going to get me now. I gotta go. We are going to start recording in just a minute.”
“No! Justin wait. I am being serious. Riley is gone.”
“What do you mean he’s gone?” Justin asked hearing the urgency in her voice. To this Keeley let out a noise that was somewhere between a growl and a scream, even she wasn’t sure what it was. She couldn’t believe that it was this difficult to get Justin to listen to her.
“I mean he is gone! Remember, we put him out in the backyard this morning before you left. He was sleeping back there when Monica and Cari got here. So we went in the front yard and were sitting on the steps. After a while I realized that Riley was being really quiet. So we went in the back to check on him and we can’t find him!”
“Are you sure you looked everywhere? Maybe he dug under the fence,” her boyfriend suggested.
“No, we already checked. There were no holes anywhere in the backyard. Justin what if something happens to him? He’s so little, there’s no way he could defend himself! What if a car hits him? What if…”
“Ok, baby calm down. Everything will be ok. Look, the guys and I will leave the studio and come help you look for him. I will leave my cell phone on. Call me if you find him or figure anything out,” Justin replied and hung up before Keeley could continue verbalizing her worries. He turned to his friends and explained what had happened. They quickly made their way out of the studio and back to Justin and Keeley’s house.
Keeley made her way back outside and heard her friends calling to Riley from the front yard. She exited the backyard through the gate.
“Justin is on the way home with the guys,” Keeley said quietly. “Have you had any luck yet?” Monica turned and looked at her friend when she heard her voice. Keeley was walking towards Monica and Cari with an unsteady walk. She was trying so hard not to cry. Monica quickly walked over to Keeley and led her to the front steps and helped her sit down.
“Not yet sweetie. We haven’t been able to find any signs of him,” Monica answered Keeley’s question. Keeley looked at her and burst into tears. Monica hugged her and told her not to worry, that Riley would turn up soon.
“Things just don’t want to get better you know! First we have to run from three mad men during our vacation. We get stuck on that island for what seems like ever. And just went things are starting to look up, my new puppy disappears,” she sobbed. Just as she finished her last sentence, Lance’s 4-Runner pulled into the driveway and Justin hopped out of the passenger’s seat and ran over to Keeley who was still sobbing on the stairs. Justin reached down and pulled her into a standing position before taking her in his arms and hugging her tightly.
“No luck huh?” Justin asked as he smoothed her hair with his hand.
“Nothing,” she said in between her sobs and then buried her head back in his chest.
“Baby stop crying. You need to be level headed so we can figure something out,” he said as he gently pushed her head away from his chest and wiped the tears off her face. “Ok?” he asked. Keeley nodded her head slightly and then tried to pull herself together. Justin looked around and discovered they were the only two left in the front yard. They could hear chattering coming from the backyard and once Justin was sure Keeley was ok they made their way towards the fence leading into the backyard.
“The girls are right. There are no holes in the backyard. So he didn’t dig his way out,” JC told Justin. Justin nodded his acknowledgment.
“Well guys he isn’t anywhere around the house. Maybe we should split up and begin to search around the area. He was being really curious yesterday. Maybe he squeezed out of the gate somehow, and is exploring around the neighborhood,” Cari suggested.
“Good idea,” Justin replied, nodding his head. “Monica and Lance, you come with Keeley and I. We’ll go look down the street towards the park. The rest of you go in the opposite direction. Joey, turn on your cell phone so that if we find anything we can reach you, I’ll have mine on as well so you can get a hold of me.” Joey pulled his phone out of his pocket and switched it on. They all broke into their respective groups and took off on their search.
JC’s group was headed into a residential area and they figured they would probably have little luck without help from the residents themselves. So the group split up and went to all the houses asking if anyone had seen Keeley’s puppy. They described it for everyone, but no one had seen a dog that matched that description. Soon they had walked for what seemed like forever and still no Riley. They were running out of options and running out of hope.
Meanwhile Justin’s group wasn’t having much more luck. They had made it to the park with no signs of the puppy. So they did a complete search of the park, to no avail.
“Maybe we should ask some of the people around if they had seen Riley,” Monica suggested. Everyone agreed that was a good idea and then they too split up to start asking around. A little while later Lance walked by and bench and was beginning to ask the person on it if they had seen anything, when he realized it was Justin sitting there.
“J…what’s up man? Why did you give up?” The older man asked his friend.
“I just don’t know what else to do. We have looked everywhere. Keeley is so upset. I am still shaken up about everything that has been going on lately. I feel like my life is spinning out of control and I have no power to make things better,” Justin confessed and he stared at the ground never making eye contact with his bandmate.
“I know how you feel buddy. Things will get better soon. They have to…I mean how much worse than running for your life on a half deserted island can you get?” Lance laughed and then elbowed Justin playfully in the side trying to cheer him up. Justin let out a little chuckle.
“Well I guess we have done all we can do for now. We might as well go find the girls and go back home and hope for the best,” Justin replied solemnly. The two men slowly rose from their seat and began their journey to find their girlfriends. Justin was dreading the moment that he had to tell Keeley there was nothing else they could do for now. She had already become so attached to the dog and he knew this was breaking her heart. They soon saw the girls sitting underneath a tree. Keeley was staring off into space. Justin could tell that she was tired and she needed to go home and try to get some rest. When they reached the girls, Keeley barely even acknowledged they were there.
“Come on sweetie. There is nothing else we can do right now. We can go home and make some flyers or something, ok?” Justin reached down and grabbed Keeley’s hand and pulled her into a standing position. She looked at Justin, tears welling up in her eyes, threatening to spill over at any second. She simply nodded her head and allowed herself to be lead back towards their house.
When they got to the house Justin ran to the back of the house and checked the yard once more in hopes that Riley had returned. He was disappointed to see that the dog still wasn’t home. He joined the rest of the group who was standing at the door waiting for Keeley to unlock the dead bolt. Once inside the house, Keeley turned on the air conditioner before joining the other three who had collapsed in the living room, their sweaty bodies sprawled out everywhere. They were hot, nasty, and frustrated.
“Man I am so thirsty,” Justin said breaking the silence after they had been still for a couple of minutes. He slowly raised himself out of the recliner that he was lounging in. “Does anyone else want anything eat or drink?” he asked. Everyone responded saying they wanted some water. Justin nodded even though no one had their eyes open to see it. He then made his way out of the living room heading for the kitchen.
Once inside the kitchen he walked over the cabinet that contained the glasses and took down four. He placed them down gently on the counter before walking to the freezer to get the ice tray. Justin had just opened the door to freezer when he felt the cold metal touching the clammy skin of his temple and then heard the distinctive click of a gun being cocked. Justin, confused, tried to turn around when the harsh male voice filled his ears.
“Don’t move. I would hate for your little girlfriend in there to have to clean up the mess I would be forced to make if you move,” the man whispered. Justin froze. “Good boy. Now hold your hands up where I can see them and don’t make a sound or I will blast your head off,” the mystery man growled. Justin held his hands up and felt the metal of the gun leave his temple while his hands were jerked down and tied behind his back. Then the man took a rag and gagged the younger man. The man then turned Justin to face him and grinned at him evilly. “Now time to get you out of the way before my next victim comes in here wondering what’s taking you so long,” he laughed at Justin. Then the man grabbed Justin by the arm and began to drag him towards the stairs that led to the basement.
“Man, wonder what is taking Justin so long,” Lance thought out loud from the sitting chair that he was occupying.
“I don’t know. Why don’t you make yourself useful and go find out,” his girlfriend answered from her place on the floor near the couch that Keeley was almost asleep on. Lance grumbled an answer back that neither girl understood before standing up and dragging himself into the kitchen. The first thing he noticed when he entered the room was the four empty glasses still sitting on the counter. Then he glanced quickly around the room and his eyes fell on the freezer door that had been left open.
‘That is weird,’ he thought. He walked over and shut the freezer. As he turned toward the counter he heard a quick movement behind him. Before Lance could turn around he heard a sickly loud thump. Pain seared through his head and a moment later everything faded to black.
The girls were still relaxing in the living room, sprawled out on the couch and the floor. Several minutes after Lance had left in search of what was keeping Justin they finally heard them walk back into the room.
“Jeez, took you long enough!” Monica exclaimed; her eyes still closed.
“Yes it did, but revenge sure will be sweet,” was the cold reply. Both girls’ eyes flew open in confusion and fear. The quickly sat up to see that they weren’t joined by either Justin or Lance. A strange man neither had seen before was standing in the living room staring at them with angry eyes. As their eyes trailed down from his head they both let out a sharp gasp when their eyes fell on the cold steel of a gun. The man’s face twisted into an eerie smile when he saw the look of sheer terror on their faces.
“If you both do what you’re told then you might not get hurt,” the man growled as he motioned for them to get up. Both girls did as they were told and quickly stood up and walked in the direction the man was jerking the gun towards. As soon as they’d walked past the man all of Keeley’s muscles tightened when she felt the cold metal pressing into her back. He continued poking her in the back leading her where he wanted to go. When they were standing outside the basement door the man reached in front of Keeley and grabbed Monica’s arm roughly. She cried out as his dirty fingernails dug into her bare arm. He released her arm and grabbed the doorknob and opened the door that lead down to the basement. He gave Monica and Keeley a shove through the door. The girls quickly made their way down the long staircase.
When they reached the bottom the saw Justin leaning against the wall with his hands behind his back and his ankles tied together. He had some sort of gag in his mouth preventing him from talking. A few feet away from him to the girls horror they saw Lance lying on his stomach unconscious. His arms and legs were also bound together. They could see a large lump beginning to grow on the back of his head.
“Lance!” Monica screamed as she tried to run to help her boyfriend. In mid-stride she was halted when the man grabbed her arm and dragged her back over to Keeley. The man grabbed some rope from the nearby table and quickly bound Keeley’s hands behind her back and then did the same to Monica’s. When he had finished he led them over to where their boyfriends were and forced them to sit down on the ground. With the remaining rope he tied each of the girls ankles together. After both girls were securely tied up the man stood up and examined the situation. Satisfied that no one was going anywhere, he walked over to Justin and yanked the gag out of his mouth. He walked back over to the girls and looked down greedily back and forth between the two girls before reaching his hand out and running it up Keeley's thigh. She flinched away and drew her legs in closer to her body.
"Get your hands off of her you bastard! I’m going to kill you!" Justin screamed and tore against his ropes with no luck.
"Those are big words, coming from someone in your position," the man replied. He glared down at him as he walked over and kicked Justin in the leg. Justin just glared back up at the man. Their captor gave them one last satisfied smile before turning around and headed up stairs to wait for the rest of them to return.
When she were sure that the man was gone, Keeley looked over at Justin helplessly. “What are we going to do?”
“I don’t know, but I do know there’s no use in screaming,” he replied.
“What do you mean there’s no use in screaming? Someone could hear us and come help!” Monica exclaimed. She couldn’t believe Justin had already given up!
“Don’t you remember, I turned this basement into a private studio last year. This place is completely soundproof.” With his words Justin watched Monica's face fall. He tried to give her some hope by adding, “Don’t worry, we’ll find a way out of here. There’s got to be something down here that can help us.”
They all looked around the room in search of something to use as a weapon, or cut their hands loose. When Keeley looked towards the opposite corner of the room she saw a patch of golden fur behind a box.
“Oh my gosh what did he do to Riley!” She exclaimed as she closed her eyes and burst in to tears.
A second later the fur began to move. The little puppy’s head popped up when it heard it’s name and trotted over to the group. Riley walked over to Keeley and sat down in front of her and placed his paw in her lap.
Feeling something, Keeley opened her eyes and gasped in shock when she saw her very much alive puppy in front of her. “Riley!” she exclaimed happily.
The pup climbed up into her lap and began furiously licking her face. She laughed as she realized she couldn’t push the little dog away and he continued to bathe her face. After a minute he finally stopped and walked over to Justin to check him out. After bathing his dad in kisses Riley went over to Monica. The puppy wagged his tail as he grabbed the shoelace of her shoe and pulled. Monica laughed and drew her legs up so the pup couldn’t destroy her shoes. Disappointed that his new toy was taken away, Riley went over to Lance.
The puppy sniffed the unconscious boy’s face. When he got no response he gave it a couple of swift licks. Still eliciting no response the puppy realized something was wrong. He turned back towards the others and began to whimper. He circled near Lance a couple times before laying down next him, pressed up against Lance’s arm.
“Hello?” JC called out as his group entered the house. The door was unlocked but he didn’t see or anyone. “Anyone home?” He wasn’t sure if Justin had accidentally left the house unlocked when they had all left in such haste or if the others were around somewhere. He was just about to go head and let everyone in when he was pushed out of the way.
“Move Jayce!” Joey exclaimed. “I gotta pee!”
“Geez, Joey. Calm down,” Cari called after Joey as he sprinted up the stairs. The rest of the group went in the living room that had been formerly inhabited by the four people now tied up in the basement.
Joey ran down the hall and into Justin and Keeley’s room, which held the closest bathroom. After he had finished using the bathroom, Joey was heading back towards the stairs when a hand reached out from a spare bedroom and clamped down over his mouth. He first instinct was to elbow whomever it was in the ribs to escape. Then he was going to beat up the owner of the hand for scaring him.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” the stranger whispered in Joey’s ear and then held the gun up in front of Joey’s face. The gun caught the light from the window and it gleamed in Joey’s eyes. Joey lowered his elbow and slowly nodded his head. The stranger led Joey down to the basement to join the others.
The group in the basement heard the door opening and all looked up hopefully. Their faces fell when the realized that it was the stranger leading Joey into the basement. The man did the same routine with Joey tying up his hands and then his ankles before looking around the group and smirking at the sight and then heading back up the stairs without saying a word. Joey had a disheartened look on his face as he looked around.
“I see you found the puppy but what happened to Lance? Is he ok?” Joey asked quietly. To this tears began to run down Monica’s cheeks.
“We don’t know. He has been like that since that mad man brought him down here,” Justin answered.
“Where is everyone else?”
“I think they are in the living room Keeley, but I am not sure. I went upstairs to go to the bathroom and got attacked on the way back.”
In the living room, Chris was laying down on the couch trying to think of anything else that they could do to help Justin and Keeley find Riley. He felt bad for them losing the puppy right after they had gotten it. JC was sitting in Justin’s favorite recliner. He understood now why he liked it so much. It was the most comfortable thing he had ever sat in. His eyes drifted to his girlfriend, he wondered what she was so deep in thought about.
Cari was standing next to the fireplace looking at some pictures that were on the mantel. There were several pictures of Justin and Keeley together, and shots of different members of their little clique together. Cari’s eyes fell on a picture of the entire group and she reached out to pick it up. The picture was taken right before one of the guys’ concerts. The guys already had their costumes on and the girls had insisted on getting a photo of all of them in the costumes before they got all hot and sweaty. They had agreed once they convinced the girls to be in the picture with them. It was one of the few pictures in which the entire group was being serious and not goofing off. Johnny had taken the picture for them. The thought brought a smile to her face.
All three individuals were so deep in thought that they didn’t hear the stranger among them walk into the room. The man stood and studied the group for a second before cocking the gun. Cari spun around to see what the noise was and the other two pairs of eyes quickly glanced up for the same information. They were met with the image of a man holding a gun in his right hand that was currently pointed to the ceiling. Cari left out an involuntary gasp and dropped the picture to the floor. She went to bend down to pick it up when the man’s angry voice filled her ears.
“Don’t move,” he advised, but Cari was so scared that she wasn’t thinking straight.
“No, Keeley is going to kill me when she finds out that I broke her frame. I gotta clean it up,” Cari rambled on. Then she stooped down and was beginning to reach for the first piece of jagged glass.
“I said don’t move,” he yelled and pointed the gun at Cari. She acted like she didn’t hear he and grabbed the first piece of glass. Just as soon as she did, a gunshot rang through the air. Cari screamed and then fell over backwards, nearly missing hitting her head on the bricks of the fireplace.
“What was that?” Keeley asked concerned. “J, I didn’t think you were supposed to be able to hear anything in a soundproof room.”
“You aren’t,” he responded. “That had to be something really loud.” He looked at his friends, concerned about what was going on upstairs.
Several minutes later they heard the sound of several feet slowly making their way down the stairs into the basement. Finally the group in the basement could see who was joining them. The sight they were faced with worried them all. JC was carrying Cari in his arms like a baby, and Chris was near her feet, holding a towel to one. JC looked over and saw his friends lined up against the far wall. He flashed them a concerned look as he made his way over to them. He gently placed Cari down on the ground next to Monica. He took Chris’ place at Cari’s feet, applying pressure to her foot. Blood was beginning to soak through the towel.
Monica looked at JC and whispered, “What happened?”
JC’s eyes didn’t leave Cari’s foot as he quickly replied, “She got shot in the foot.”
“Is she ok?” Monica asked. She looked over as Cari began to groan and roll her head back and forth.
“I think the bullet just grazed her foot, but she needs to see a doctor.”
The man walked over to the table and grabbed more of the rope and quickly tied up his new captives.
“Well, well, look what we’ve got here,” the man said when he’d finished. He paced in front of them several times, still holding his gun and the knife he’d used to cut the ropes.
“Why are you doing this?” Keeley yelled at the man.
“Don’t you recognize me?” the man replied with a smile as he waited expectantly. Slowly they each began to shake their head no.
“Justin, you recognize me don’t you,” the man asked.
“I have no idea who you are,” Justin replied coldly.
“What about you JC?” the man asked as he came to a stop in front of him.
“Nope, I don’t think I know you either.”
“Damn it!” The man replied. He was beginning to get visibly agitated. “I can’t believe you all. You get famous and you forget everyone!”
“Calm down man!” Joey exclaimed.
“Who the hell do you think you are? Telling me what to do! Who has the gun here?” The man screamed. He began to pace again, this time even faster than before. He walked over the table and slammed the knife down on it. He raised his hands to his head and pulled at his hair. “Man, I’ve gotta get some air!” he said to himself, and quickly made his way up the stairs. A moment later the door clicked shut, and they heard the lock turn into place.
“So, where’d you find Riley?” Chris asked to break the silence after a few moments.
“We didn’t, he was down here the whole time. That guy took him,” Monica replied. She looked over at the puppy that had fallen asleep at Lance’s side.
“Why is this guy doing this,” Keeley asked in frustration.
“Yeah, and why does he seem to think we should know him?” JC asked as well.
“I don’t know man, but one thing’s for sure, I don’t want to stick around to find out!” Justin said. “There’s got to be something around here that can break through the rope.”
“It’s your basement, what do you have down here?” Joey asked.
“Well, I have the studio over there, but there’s no way we can get to that,” Justin said as he nodded his head to the left.
The group scanned the room in search of something to help them. As they were about to give up Monica gasped. “Oh my gosh, that guy left his army knife over there. If we can get it we can use it to cut the rope.” Just as she said, on the edge of the table lay the knife. The blade was tucked safely inside, but they knew it would definitely do the trick if they could get to it.
“Yeah, but how are we supposed to get to it?” Cari asked. She’d finally come totally conscious. The group sat and pondered for a minute starring the knife that was just out of reach. JC tried to stand up with no luck. With his ankles being tied and no hands to help support him, it was almost impossible.
“Well Justin you are the tallest, see if you can scoot over there and try to knock it off,” Monica suggested after thinking about the situation. Justin thought about it for a second and nodded. He situated his body so his back was facing the table and then began to push himself backward towards the table. He didn’t make it very far and he fell over on his back.
“Damn it,” he cursed almost inaudibly.
“Don’t give up J. Concentrate!” Keeley cheered her boyfriend on. Justin took a slow deep breath before turning over on his stomach. The he proceeded to inch himself closer to the table like a worm would move. When he was finally close enough to reach the table, he laid on the floor to catch his breath. He turned over and used all his strength to get back into a sitting position.
He positioned himself so he was facing the table. He had to strain to reach it, but he could just barely touch the knife with his nose. He used his nose to pull the knife towards him and just kept edging it more and more towards the end of the table. Finally once a little was hanging off he stretched as far as he could and clamped down on the knife with his teeth and pulled the knife the rest of the way off the table. Once the knife had cleared the table he unclenched his jaw and watched as the knife fell to the floor. Then he relaxed all his muscles. His body was in pain from his movements. The group cheered when they realized he had obtained the knife. He sat for a few seconds and rested before situating his body where he could reach the knife with his hands. He looked over his shoulder to help guide his hands were they were close enough to get the knife and then when it was in reach, grasped it with his left hand. With the knife in hand, he turned his back towards the group and scooted himself back to them.
“Babe, I need you to turn your back towards me. I’m going to cut your hands free,” Justin said as he tried to catch his breath. Keeley nodded and scooted herself around so Justin could have access to the ropes tying her hands together.
Justin looked over his shoulder and still holding the knife in his left hand he then maneuvered the fingers of his right hand to open the knife. His fingers slipped several times and he was getting discouraged. Right before he was about to give up and let someone else try he got a good grasp and the knife swung open and clicked into place.
“Keeley you need to hold really still. I’ll try not to cut you,” he said as he gently guided the knife to her hands. He began to saw back and forth against her ropes while still looking over his shoulder. After a couple seconds he got the hang of it and he could see and feel that he was making progress. When he knew the rope was very thin, and was about to break he slowed down a bit so he wouldn’t cut her. After about a minute more he felt the rope snap.
Keeley felt the ropes around her wrists go slack and fall to the floor. She brought her arms around to the front of her and gingerly rubbed her wrists. She saw the beginnings of rope burns around them. Once she knew that she was ok she turned and took the knife from Justin’s grasp. It was a lot easier for her to cut them than it was for him, and she was able to quickly cut the ropes from around his wrists.
Once his hands were free they both cut their ankles free and hurried over to Monica to help her.
“Hurry up you guys, he could come back soon!” Monica exclaimed as she watched her friends work on the rope around her ankles.
They continued down the line and it only took a couple minutes before all of them were free of the ropes. They all stood up shakily on their legs, all but Cari and Lance.
“Cari, I think it would be best if you waited down here with Lance. You’re in no condition to walk, and someone needs to keep and eye on him until we can get him some help,” JC told his girlfriend. She looked up at him and nodded her head. He leaned down and kissed her before turning back to the group, they were still trying to work out the kinks in their bodies.
“Man my butt fell asleep!” Joey exclaimed as he rubbed his backside trying to increase the circulation.
“I know what you mean, my arms fell asleep,” Keeley responded.
“Ok you guys, how are we going to get out of here? We need to call for help!” JC said.
“Hey J, isn’t there a phone in your studio?” Joey asked as he looked over at the dark studio room.
“Yeah, but the door’s locked, and the glass is shatterproof,” Justin replied.
“Well then we need to get upstairs,” Chris said.
The group made their way over to the stairs and walked up them cautiously.
“What if that guy is waiting on the other side?” Monica asked fearfully. She didn’t want to walk into another one of the man’s traps. He’d already shot Cari; there was no telling what he’d do to them if he caught them trying to escape.
“We’ve got to take that chance. We have to try,” Justin said. He put his arm around Monica’s shoulders reassuringly. She looked up at him and gave him a grateful smile.
When they reached the top of the stairs JC reached out and turned the doorknob firmly, but it wouldn’t budge.
“Guys, it’s locked,” he said in defeat.
“Stand back you guys, I’ll see if I can break it,” Joey exclaimed. The group went down a couple steps to give Joey some room. Joey stepped back a bit and rushed towards the door, slamming his shoulder into it. It made a loud boom as Joey bounced back. He went to try it again but Justin reached out and grabbed Joey’s shoulder.
“Joey, that’s making way too much noise! If that guy is anywhere in the house he’ll hear you! We need to try something else,” Justin said to his friend. The rest nodded in agreement. They didn’t get this far just to get caught again.
“Well, what else can we do?” Chris asked. The group sat there in silence for a second before Monica spoke up.
“We can try to pick the lock with something. Here try this,” she said as she reached into her hair and pulled out a bobby pin that was holding a strand of hair out of her face.
“That could work,” Justin said as he took the hairpin from Monica.
He walked up to the door and kneeled down in front of it. He inserted the pin into the lock and carefully twisted it and poked it, trying to find the latch inside. After several minutes he was starting to get frustrated. “Man, this isn’t working!”
“Here J, let me try,” Keeley offered. Justin nodded his head and handed her the pin.
Keeley got down on her knees just as Justin did before. She’d been locked out of the bathroom before so she’d picked a few locks in her time. She inserted the pin back into the lock and a moment later they all heard the distinct click of the latch releasing.
“Got it!” She exclaimed. She pulled the pin from the lock and stood up. Justin wrapped his arms around her waist and picked her up and swung her around.
Keeley laughed and exclaimed, “Justin put me down!” He carefully set her down on the ground and stepped in front of her. He reached out and grasped the doorknob and slowly turned it. He inched the door open carefully; unsure of what he would face on the other side. He glanced around the kitchen to find it empty.
“Looks like the coast is clear,” he turned and told his friends. He opened the door a little further and slipped into the kitchen. The rest followed, and Chris being the last person to come in, quietly closed the basement door behind him.
The group crouched low on the floor and crawled farther into the kitchen. Justin looked up at the wall where the kitchen phone hung and pointed to it. He crawled over to it and picked it up, ready to dial 911. His face fell when he realized there was no dial tone. He shook his head to his friends and replaced the phone in the cradle. He crawled back over to them and whispered, “It’s dead, we’ll have to find some other way to call.”
“I left my cell phone at the studio,” JC whispered. “Damn it, the one time I actually need it…”
“JC, how were you supposed to know something like this would happen?” Monica said as she laid her hand on his arm and gave him a smile. The group sat there for a moment.
Joey’s eyes grew really wide when he remembered, “Oh my gosh! You guys when I went to the bathroom upstairs I used the one in your room and I left my cell phone up there. It’s upstairs in Justin’s bedroom on the dresser!”
“What if he’s up there?” Keeley asked.
“I don’t know. How about if Justin and I go upstairs and get it, you guys try to make it into the front yard. We’ll meet you down by the road.”
Reluctantly Keeley and the others agreed. They didn’t want the group to split up but they didn’t really see any other options at this point. Justin leaned over and kissed Keeley slowly on the lips. He ran his hand through her hair before pulling back and giving her a reassuring smile.
“Don’t worry babe, I’ll be back before you know it! Everything will be fine.” With that Justin and Joey left the rest of the group.