Hometown Heroes, National Nobodies (All Time Low) TO BE UPDATED NOV 13

Hometown Heroes, National Nobodies - Chapter Ten

Chapter 10

Rian’s P.O.V

Alex still wasn’t answering his phone. It was dinnertime and he wasn’t home yet. I assumed he’s slept at Stella’s, but I couldn’t help but worry a little bit. He always answered his phone, and was always home before lunch. I shrugged it off and took a chunk out of the salad sandwich I’d made. Zack would be over shortly so we could start working together on some beats for the new song Alex was writing.

I couldn’t wait to get back into the swing of touring. After all that had happened recently, the normality of riding around the states in a tour bus comforted me. I cleaned up the mess I made in the kitchen and wrapped Alex’s sandwich in cling wrap before shoving it into the door of the fridge. I pushed the couch against the wall of the living room and began to retrieve the cases of my drum kit when I heard a knock on the door.

“Come in,” I called from the storage cupboard.

Zack crashed through the door with his bass guitar in one hand; an amp in the other and several leads tucked under one arm. He looked terrible. His eyes were bloodshot and deep bags were visible beneath them. He dropped the stuff in the living room before heading back out to the car to get more stuff. I started to set up my drum kit in front of the fireplace and sat behind it as Zack slammed the front door shut and dropped more stuff on the floor.

He took his bass out of the case and started tuning it as I tapped away on the cymbal. A loud twang sound follow by a yelp of pain stopped me from playing and I looked in Zack’s direction. He had his hand covering his eye, and his face was contorted in pain. His bass was on the floor with one of the strings coiled and snapped and the neck hanging on for dear life. I got up and moved over to him, trying to see the damage the broken string had caused.

“Zack, move your hand so I can see!”

I pushed his hand away from his eye and tried to see past the blood that had run down the side of his face to where the cut was. Luckily it was just above his eye, underneath his eyebrow, but there was still a lot of blood pouring out of it. I grabbed one of the towels hanging over a chair and held it up to his eye so it would soak up some of the blood.

“Get in the car, I’ll drive you down to the hospital.”

Zack attempted a nod and we both headed outside. He sat in the passenger side with one hand clutching the towel to his face and the other clenching and unclenching into a fist on his knee. I tried to ignore the nausea in my stomach at the sight of the blood dripping down into his lap as I backed the car out onto the road.

A loud bang and the sound of crunching metal erupted through the air. My ears rang. I could smell petrol. There was so much pressure against my chest it felt like my ribs were going to crack at any moment. I couldn’t hear or see anything, my vision clouded by smoke and my ears filled with a high pitched ringing sound. I strained to try and hear sirens, or other people, or any form of help, but there was nothing. It took me a while to realize that we were upside down and somehow the car had flipped over. My head was thumping and I could feel the blood rushing to it. I needed to get out of here.

I thrust my arms forward with as much force as I could in an attempt to lift whatever was crushing down on me off my chest. Pain erupted through my body and my arms shook as what was left of the dashboard slid away from my chest. If I squinted hard enough through the smoke that was billowing around the car I could see a faint light near my head. The window.

I could feel my heart beat in my head as if my heart was making its way up to my brain. Tentatively, I reach out to feel for the glass. In its place were jagged shards where the window should have started. Preparing myself for the force of gravity, I pressed my left hand to the roof of the car while unbuckling my seatbelt with my right. I hit the roof with a thump before flipping myself onto my back.

Ignoring the searing pain in my back, I clutched at the door as I slid myself out of the shattered car window. The remains of the glass sliced through my hands as I shoved my body out of the tiny window, however I did not feel the pain or notice the blood dripping through my fingers onto my face. Adrenaline was causing through my veins.

Halfway way out, I rolled onto my stomach and crawled the rest of the way out of the car until my legs were free. I crouched for a few seconds as the world spun around my. It wasn’t until I stood up straight that I realized the thumping ache behind my eyes. I peered against the smoke at the wreck that was my car. I couldn’t see Zack. I couldn’t see help. It was almost as if the entire street was abandoned.

How had no one heard the crash? Why was no one calling for help?

The smell of petrol filled my nose as I became aware that the wreckage was on fire. Adrenaline kicked in and my instincts forced me to put one foot in front of the other as I bolted as fast as I could away from the car. The explosion knocked my to the curb. I covered my head with my hands as debris soared into the air.

As the ringing in my ears subsided I listed for a siren; for someone, for anything. A groan arose from behind the blazing skeleton of the car along with muffled voices. Around the corner I saw two men and a woman standing in a circle by the car. One of the men was short with a shiny bald head, the other was tall and bulky with dark hair and a scar that ran from just above his left eyebrow to just below his lip. None of them looked like Zack.

“Hey!” I shouted toward them, “Somebody help us!”

The trio didn’t so much as look in my direction. I called to them again and waved my arms, trying to attract their attention. I moved closer to them, one the men, who was short and bald, and the woman looked very familiar. I yelled again but none of them even flinched at the sound of my voice.

Of all the times for my invisibility to kick in, now was definitely one of the worst.

I crept closer toward the group in an attempt to bring some form of attentiveness to myself. I realized why the woman looked so familiar. She was the same woman whose car had broken down out the front of my house two days ago. Stella.

“Well, Stella, you have once again proved yourself to us,” The dark haired man said to her.

“Oh Tidus, you know I live only to serve!” Stella laughed sarcastically, “Besides, its not you I’m proving myself to. Asema will be impressed with out work.”

The dark haired man, Tidus, frowned, his eyebrows furrowing together and a crease forming on his forehead.

“I’m sure she will,” He muttered, “But where is the other one?”

“The other one?” Stella questioned, batting her eyelids at him.
“There was another one in the car, Stella. We can’t return without him.” This time the bald man spoke.

“Magnus you are so paranoid. Asema will be happy with anything we bring back, you know that.”

“Maybe so,” Tidus spat, “But she now has three out of four, you know how she loves a set.”

Stella folded her arms across her chest and rolled her eyes.

“They are not toys, Tidus. We can come back for him later.”

I inched closer to the group, careful not to make too much noise. I suddenly no longer wanted to draw attention to myself. As I got closer, I saw person lying on the ground between Tidus and Magnus.

“Let’s take him back to her and see what she has to say for herself,” Magnus said shortly.

With a flick of her golden locks, Stella stepped over the person on the ground and began to strut away from the two men. Magnus gestured toward the body before Tidus hauled it over his shoulder. As they began to walk further away from me, I realized that the person being carried off was indeed Zack.

A million questions filled my mind as I watched the trio helplessly walk away with my friend. Did “three out of four” mean they also had Alex and Jack? I began to follow them, but as I began to gain ground, they disappeared from view.

I stood in the middle of my street, beside the smoldering wreckage of my car, completely stunned. What did this Asema person want with Alex, Jack and Zack, and where was I supposed to go to find out? The only answer I did have was that I was running out of time to find them. I’m next.