We'll Be Okay [Solby]

Chapter 7

Elton was bone tired. He rubbed his eyes with the heels of his hands, opening them to look at the boy laying asleep in front of him.

Elton had spent his fair share of time in the hospital, either as a patient or visiting friends and family, and he hated how small and defenseless people always looked while they were admitted. It was something about how they were stripped of their own clothing and jewelry, the defense of the insides by the dressing of the outsides. Colby's lanky form, just starting to fill out, was dwarfed by the oversized blue gown he wore. His wrists wore matching bracelets of bruises, his left hand wrapped to protect the I.V. feeding fluid into Colby's dehydrated body, providing the nutrients he had been unable to consume.

His face... God, Elton swore that if he was ever left in a room with Sam and Colby's captors he would murder them nice and slowly. His face was bruised, both eyes swollen with impressive black marks, his lips split in placed and swollen... Elton shuddered, not wanting to think about what had likely caused that.

The ICU had single rooms only, so Sam was next door, a worried Kat and Corey and Devyn at his side. Elton sat quietly, watching Jake flip though the TV (there was nothing on) and Aaron tap away at his PSP. He'd been here almost 4 hours now.

Elton glanced at the clock on the wall. Almost noon. The end of the most chaotic and emotionally exhausting 24 hours Elton had in a while.

After watching the video again (desperately trying to ignore what was going on in the foreground) and about an hour of carefully cross referencing his own footage, Elton had concluded that there was a 99% chance that he knew were the guys were.

He had hated watching the footage of his brothers, but some good had come from it. He had recognized the wall behind them from an abandoned warehouse just outside LA he had debated bringing the guys to months ago, when Sam and Colby were still doing UrbEx videos on their channel. He had read about the location online, showing up to scope it out before he brought it up to his friends. After some climbing of fences, he had made it inside. The place had seemed promising, but he only got to see a few rooms before shouting and gunshots from security sent him running.

What the fuck kind of abandoned place has security? He remembered grousing, beating the hell out of his body with the desperate speed at which he was moving to get out without a chest full of holes. A couple of careless leaps and tumbles later, Elton lost his pursuers and had definitely crossed that place off of his list.

But as he examined the video, and compared it to his own footage, he was pretty damn sure they were the same place. He had called in to the investigative team using the number he had been left in case their friends heard anything, and been told they would take his tip into consideration.

Elton didn't sleep at all the rest of the afternoon or into the night. He might have caught a few hours of a very light doze before the ringing of his phone woke him up instantly.

It was the Brocks, tearful and joyous.

The rescue team had found Sam and Colby. They were being transported to LA Regional Hospital.

Elton's whoop and yell of jubilance woke the whole house (it was nearly three a.m. and he was still crashing with Corey and Devyn and Kat). It only took "They found Sam and Colby" for the grumbles and cursings of his name to disappear and be replace with cheers and tears. The Brocks stated that they were on their way with the Golbachs and that they would catch the quickest flight out they could.

Elton thanked them for the information as he and everyone else threw on clothes to get to LA Regional as quickly as possible. Elton drove, white knuckled on the wheel, just hoping that he wouldn't get pulled over for his driving.