Nowhere To Go

Chapter Seventeen

Russell woke up somewhere along the river feeling tired and beaten up from his second attempt to murder Nick. He found the gun lying next to him and knew it wouldn't work so he left it. Getting up, he walked until he came across the camp ground.

“Hello?”

Nobody answered so he poked around the campsite. He found some food, which he immediately took advantage of. Hoping he wouldn't get caught when the owner came back he made sure to hurry up in case. He was even happier when he found another gun, a shotgun and some ammunition in the second tent.

He was a failure, but not for long…

He knew he had failed and this made his blood boil, hearing Jason’s laughter in the back of his head. Echoing and taunting him from the forest.

"I told you so….."

"Shut up!!!" Russell shouted to no one....he was all alone on the empty road. He started to walk, muttering to himself. He saw the truck ahead and aimed, firing at the tires. Several of the guys screamed, urging the driver to hurry.

He would show everyone who the failure was this time.

**************************

“Shit!!!”

Kevin whirled around in the back of the pickup truck, hearing the gunshots. They were nearing the main highway when the shots fired. Carl was swerving to avoid them as they saw Russell firing from behind.

“Don't worry, Nick. We won't let him get you…” Brian said shakily. Nick was pure white, his eyes wide in fear. One of the tires burst angrily, causing the truck to swerve some more and veer off the road. Carl was cursing in the front. He managed to narrowly miss a nearby tree and stopped the truck. Russell ran towards them, firing wildly.

You'll show them. You'll show everyone.

Russell was going for Nick right away, a wild look in his eyes….almost laughing.

“Nick!!!” Brian said, pulling him along. Nick was so tired. Tired from running and not sleeping or eating…mentally and physically exhausted.

“Please hurry…”

Nick nodded and followed Brian but Russell had caught up to them and grabbed Nick, pulling him away. The others screamed in protest, pulling him back. It was a literal tug of war.

“Don't let him get me, please….”

Brian pulled with all his strength and AJ charged at Russell, knocking him to the ground while Carl was on the radio, shouting for whomever was in the area to send help. Russell fired the gun off but it didn't hit anyone. He was yelling unintelligible things, struggling under AJ as he punched him.

“Get Nick out of here!” he grunted.

Brian and Howie helped Nick and Kevin out of the truck as AJ continued to restrain Russell.

“I'll fucking show you. I'll show all of you!!” Russell screamed, punching AJ in the face. AJ reeled for a moment but came back full force. Russell knew he had to make a break for it if he was going to get the job done.

He had to prove everyone wrong. That he wasn't a failure.

Time was running out.

*************************

“See any sign of anyone?” Jason asked, as they were poking around the bus wreckage again to find anything they could about where the missing Backstreet Boys could be. Now that he knew that his brother was involved, things got a bit more complicated. The bus was completely destroyed, there wasn't much to go off of from that.

“No. It's like they vanished,”

“Officer Sawyer, We have reports of a incident just off the main highway, please respond. Over.”

Jason ran to his car and picked up the radio, his heart pounding.

“Sawyer here.”

“We had a witness saying they heard gunfire and saw a struggle. Pickup truck driving erratically.”

“Okay. I'll go check it out. Please send back up.”

Jason smiled. This was it. He was about to solve the case and find his brother.

When he arrived on the scene, he could see Russell struggling with one of the other men, yelling and screaming obscenities.

“Drop the weapon!”

Russell’s head shot up at the sound of his brother's voice.

“Fuck you, Jason! You're not winning this time. This time I'm finishing what I started.” he said, pulling one of the other men along. He did not seem to be putting up a fight. In fact, all of them looked like they were about to fall over.

Jason knew he had to act quickly. He assumed they were dehydrated and hungry…and in need of medical attention.

“Russ, please don't do this. You don't want to throw your life away…”

Russell fired a shot into the air.

“I'm not a failure and I'm going to prove it to you!”

So that's what this was about. Jason knew his brother was stubborn but not this stupid. Especially after the last time he was arrested for robbery, he was sure Russell didn't want to add murder to his list. Yet he seemed completely serious and that worried Jason, especially knowing that he now had a victim to barter.

Russell held Nick by his underarms, but he didn't even have to because he wasn't struggling at all.

“Why don't you just kill me and get it over with?” Nick whispered hoarsely.

“What?”

“That's what you want, isn't it?”

Russell closed his eyes….his hand holding the gun trembling.

“Or are you scared?” Nick asked.

“You're scared, aren't you?”

Russell was on a hunting trip with his brother and father. One of the many times they'd tried to “toughen” him up. They'd given him his own rifle and and his father had shown him how to shoot.

“I'm not scared of anything….”

“Look at the big wuss.”

Jason laughed and taunted him as he stared down a young deer, his hands shaking. He didn't want to kill it to prove he was tougher.

“Russell, you aren't a man until you've killed something.”  his father said.

“I'M NOT AFRAID OF YOU…” Russell yelled, holding Nick tighter. Nick was finding it harder to get breath and knew he didn't have long.

Russell eyed down the deer, pointing the gun straight, but he couldn't shoot it. His father shook his head.

“At least I have one son who isn't afraid to do what it takes to be a man.”

The words echoed in Russell's head as he thought of Chloe…the one person who believed he could do anything. The one person who thought he was worth anything, and this asshole had taken that from him. Jason continued to warn him to drop his weapon as more police officers arrived.

“Well, if you're gonna do it….get…it over with then..” Nick strained.

Holding the gun, Russell again closed his eyes. The world around him seemed to stop, everything went in slow motion.

He wondered if he made the right decision.