CHAPTER SEVENTEEN - ATTACKER
“Ugh! Gross!” B said as he stared at the fish which had used its mouth to stick to the side of the tank. He prodded the glass, but the fish still did not move. “That fish is ugly!”
“It probably thinks you’re ugly as well, B!” Brian laughed as he peered over his shoulder.
B gave Brian a mock glare and then turned his attention to the next water tank, this time full of bug eyes black fish. He had never seen anything like this in his life. The only fish he had ever seen were tiny glimpses of speckled brown fish in the lake by his old home, but none of them had been nearly as interestingly ugly as these fish.
“Are there any sharks in here do you think?” he said, turning to look at Brian.
“Probably in the big tanks,” he replied. “I can’t believe that you didn’t know what an aquarium was!”
“It’s not my fault,” B protested, feeling a little stupid at his ignorance. “There’s not exactly a lot of aquariums in my time. Hell, you’re lucky if you can even find a lake, let alone any fish!” B’s eyes suddenly spotted the sign above another tank. “Hey cool! Flat fish!”
He heard Brian laugh behind him as he peered over the open tank to stare at the strange flat fish that seemed to almost stare back at him with their huge, black eyes. He glanced about the rest of the aquarium, almost completely empty due to the inclement weather outside which meant that people would rather stay at home then risk a trip to the beach. He liked it better this way as it felt like the entire aquarium was just for him and Brian.
“B, there’s a shark tank round the corner,” Brian said suddenly.
“Really?” B said, his eyes wide as a small child’s. He happily scampered around the corner and saw a huge tank that spanned half of the room. He leant closer and watched as the grey shark swam past, its buggy eyes darting about. There were two other smaller sharks as well and they nosed about an old log at the bottom of the tank. “I thought they were bigger.”
“In the sea they are,” Brian said quietly. “Trust me.”
B looked at him curiously. “Have you ever seen a shark in the sea?”
Brian paused for a moment and a shadow crossed his face. “Yes,” he murmured. He peered into the tank beside the sharks and B could have sworn that he saw him shudder for a brief second as his eyes lingered upon the shark.
He was about to follow him when he began to cough. As he did, the room began to spin and the headache that had been burning inside since he had awoken began to bubble out with pain that made him almost feel as if his head were swelling up like a balloon.
B’s eyes closed for a moment and he took a deep breath as his head began to spin. He sneezed and almost cried out at the burning pain that ruptured inside of his skull at the same time. He leaned against one of the tanks as he felt his legs beginning to sway and dissolve from beneath him.
“B, are you all right?” a voice asked anxiously.
B carefully opened his eyes and he felt sick as the light spilled onto his retinas. He nodded briefly, but couldn’t reply before he began coughing, moaning slightly as each convulsion ripped at his throat.
He felt Brian’s hand entangle with his own and then he was being led somewhere, but ti was difficult to see with everything blurring. He found himself being pushed down and he held his head in his hand for a moment, watching as everything spun back into focus. “That’s better,” he whispered, feeling the sickness dissipate now that he was seated.
“What was wrong?” Brian asked, kneeling down beside him in concern.
“I felt sick and dizzy. Everything hurt,” B murmured.
“Do you want some water?”
B nodded and heard Brian call to someone behind him. He rubbed is eyes and then stared about their new surroundings. Brian had held him out of the main aquarium and into the small restaurant area. He was relieved to see that it was mostly empty, so their arrival had not caused much attention. The last thing he wanted was to show Brian the Backstreet Boy up and ruin the day. From stories Sammy had told him he knew that it could get pretty bad.
“I’m okay now,” B said. “I don’t know what came over me.” He sneezed again and fumbled in his pocket for the pack of tissues he had brought with him.
Brian pressed a hand against his forehead and frowned slightly. “You’re a little warm. I think we better stay in here for a bit, let you recover.” He glanced down at his watch. “It’s lunchtime so do you want to eat here? It might make you feel better?”
B nodded. Food sounded like a good idea. He hadn’t eaten much at breakfast and his stomach was definitely protesting now. He wiped his nose on the tissue and then shook his head once more. It still ached and felt heavy with stuffiness, but that was what always happened when he got a cold.
A waiter arrived with a glass of water and B seized it gratefully, but it seemed to do nothing to dampen his parched throat. He placed the cup down and coughed again into his hand.
“What do you want to eat?” Brian asked him as he held out a menu. “Something hot would be best for you I think.”
“Yeah,” B agreed. “I don’t mind what. You pick.” ‘I don’t mind what it is as long as it doesn’t make me worse.’
He didn’t want this day to be spoiled by his sickness.
*******************************
Brian watched B carefully as they exited the aquarium, but he did not seem to be on the verge of collapsing again. It ahd terrified Brian as he saw him almost falling to his knees in the aqurium as the colour slowly drained from his face.
The food seemed to have worked and the pink had returned to his cheeks as well as the twinkle in his eyes.
The wind blew ruthlessly at them and Brian bowed his head instinctively as he led B over to the more sheltered side of the street. Already the boy was beginning to shiver and Brian feared that this day out might not have been the best idea.
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” B replied. “It’s just windy! My headache’s not as bad as it was though at least.”
“Let’s head over there,” Brian said gesturing to the arcade on the right. He took his arm and gently led him out of the howling wind and to the shelter the place provided them with.
B immediately began to stare about him, eyes on stalks at the wonders of this new world as he took in the flashing lights and bleeps from the games that surrounded him. There was several children dotted about the place but the majority of them were boys.
“What’s that?” B asked, pointing to a plastic tank full of blue, fluffy toys.
“A grab machine,” Brian said pulling a handful of change from his pocket. “Watch.” He slotted in a few coins and waited until the buttons were flashing. “There’s this claw thing and you have to use it to grab a teddy!” He tried to seize hold of the teddy atop the pile, but the claw missed and returned to its perch on the roof. I’m normally pretty good at this. AJ and Nick taught me every trick to it.”
He tried again and smiled as the claw scooped up a blue… thing. It looked vaguely like a cat but Brian couldn’t be sure. He pulled it out and then tossed it at B. “Here ya go!”
B stared at it and raised his eyebrows at its ugly face. “What am I gonna do with it?”
Brian shrugged. “I don’t know… cuddle up with it at night?”
“I’m a little old for that,” B replied. “Besides, something like this would give me nightmares!”
“Well save to and give it to a girlfriend when you get one! They always love teddies and the uglier they are, the cuter they are apparently!”
B tilted his head and then looked up at Brian, a smile on his lips. “What makes you think that I don’t already have a girlfriend?”
Brian spun around. All of a sudden, the conversation had turned very interesting indeed… B wit a girlfriend? Parental nosiness was immediately bubbling with curiosity. “Really? Tell then.”
B smirked slightly. “All of a sudden we’re very nosy aren’t we?”
Brian scrutinised him carefully and the mischievous light with the green eyes. “I don’t believe you. If you did, I don’t think you’d run away and if you have got a girlfriend and you haven’t told her then you’re gonna be for it when you get back!”
B rolled his eyes. “We split up a few weeks ago.”
“Oh, I’m sorry.”
B shrugged, but he suddenly looked a little miserable. “It’s no big deal. It was mutual. Too many things going on in my life… it made things difficult.” But from the look on his face, it appeared that it was a big deal indeed.
The Gerai really did seem to stamp down on B’s life. He couldn’t even be normal with them around. The computer chip in his arm really had put a curse on his life.
“Who was it?” Brian asked. “Anybody I know?”
B eyed him for a moment. “Maybe.” His eyes drifted away from Brian’s face and he blushed slightly as he held the blue teddy close to him.
“C’mon B, you gotta tell me now!”
But B had gone into shy mode and his face had turned crimson with embarrassment. Why is it that kids will never tell their parents any interesting details about their lives?
“What’s over there?” B said, suddenly becoming very interested in the stalls a little way down the street.
“I’ll find out when Sammy arrives,” Brian teased. He nudged B slightly, still seeing that he was a little down. “Don’t worry, I’m sure she misses you. You’ll find someone else anyway.”
B smiled weakly, but didn’t reply. The first love was always the hardest to get over…
“As for who the lucky lady was, I’m sure I’ll find out when Sammy arrives,” Brian teased.
B stuck his tongue out. “Don’t you wish?”
“Come on, we don’t have that much longer left. I don’t want to be driving really late at night. Let’s check the shops out.”
“All right.”
Brian led B over to the small shops clustered at the other end of the street. Most of them were closed during the winter season as the place was less than productive when there were no tourists about but a few were open and broadcasting cheerful glows in the grey day. There wasn't much around and the only thing B took an interest in was a stall selling doughnuts which Brian bought him to keep him warm as the day was rapidly growing colder as the wind picked up.
Brian kept his head down as they mingled through the tiny shops. He did not like not having a crowd to hide in and he was always recognised when there were few people about. He stopped for a moment outside one shop as he caught sight of the huge pile of beanie babies. Sammy would love one of those...
“B, do you wanna wait out here with the doughnuts? I just want to get Sammy a welcome home present for the weekend.”
B nodded. “Sure.”
Brian smiled at him and glanced about the deserted street. There was nobody else about and no sign of the shifty stranger Brian disliked so much. He quickly dashed into the tiny shop and picked up the small beanie baby he had spotted from outside. It was a horse, exactly like the one Sammy had said he once wanted.
He glanced outside and saw B leaning against the window, his back to Brian and he immediately set about looking for a small present for him too. He smiled as he picked up a small photo frame, decorated with beautiful fish. That could be a nice thing for B to take back with him along with the photos Brian intended to give him…
He paid for everything and then he heard the excited squeal from behind him. The unmistakeably cry of a fan…
“Brian! Brian! Brian!”
He turned and smiled at the dark haired girl that had suddenly appeared in front of him. “Hi,” he replied.
“I can’t believe I’m meeting you!” she said, breathless with excitement. “I’m Angie!”
“I’m Brian,” he said playfully.
She grinned and then pulled out a scarp of paper from her pocket. “Can I have your autograph?”
“Sure, you got a pen?” he asked. He took a brief look outside and frowned as he saw B beginning to wander about.
She fumbled about her pockets and Brian tried not to look too impatient as she clumsily rummaged about her bag until she smiled broadly as she pulled out a pen. “Here you go!”
Brian wrote her name and then signed his below it. “There you are!”
“Wow! Thank you!” she said, leaping forward to give him a tight hug. “Wow! I met a Bcakstreet Boy!”
Brian carefully pulled away and feigned a smile while his eyes drifted back to the window.
B wasn’t there.
Damn, where had he gone?
Brian ducked his head down, aware that almost everyone in the shop was staring at him now. He smiled at the shop keeper and then hurried as casually as he could out of the door, saying a quick goodbye to Angie.
The wind hit his face as he exited the shop and he glanced about in fear until he spotted B leaning over a wall over at the far end of the street where he could see the sea.
Brian smiled, feeling his breathing ease and the weight that pressed down on his heart disappear. B still didn’t know about Brian’s ‘friend’ or the Gerai. It was better then as it stopped him from worrying, but it also seemed to make him a little too carefree. He shouldn’t have wandered that far… but then again Brian shouldn’t have left him on his own.
He began to walk towards him and then suddenly a man clad in black rushed past him and smacked him with his arm.
Brian cried out as he hit the concrete heavily and for a moment everything blurred with dizzy pain. He groaned and raised his head as he heard the startled cry and his heart leapt in terror as he recognised B’s voice.
“B…” he murmured as he felt blood trickling down his face.
He stared up and as his vision cleared he saw that the man had seized hold of B and was dragging him away down the street. He glanced about him, but there was nobody else to see what was happening, nobody else to help or to stop him as he kidnapped B.
He crawled to his feet and stood up.
“Dad!” B screamed as he frantically tried to rip his hand out of the man’s as he was ruthlessly dragged forward. “Dad!” The Gerai clapped a hand over his mouth and gripped him all the more tighter to prevent him from wiggling away.
Brian began to run after him and the man turned for a moment and his eyes widened as he saw the small, grey gun in his hands. It wasn’t the same man he had seen before, he could sense that and the gun was definitely not like anything Brian had ever seen… not in this time anyway.
A Gerai.
The gun was pointed at him and then suddenly Brian felt something hit him hard in the chest. He groaned as he stumbled to the floor, gasping as he felt an awful burning sensation paralysing him. He tried to open his eyes, but everything hurt…
What the heck had that gun done? It hadn’t many any noise and there had not even been a flash of light. The perfect weapon for creeping about a time where guns were not common…
He curled himself up into a ball as his body burned with icy flames of intense pain that ripped into every part of him.
“Brian, are you okay?” a voice asked.
He forced his eyes to open and saw Angie looking down at him. He gulped and nodded. “I fell,” he said hoping that his voice didn’t sound too strained. He clambered to his feet and stumbled forward, his entire body feeling as if he had been hit by a truck.
“Brian, you don’t look well,” Angie said slowly.
“Fine,” Brian breathed.
He stared about him and then began to stumble away in the direction the Gerai had gone. Where were they? He couldn’t see them anymore…
He gasped in pain, but refused to allow himself to fall again. He stared madly about him and then spotted several alleyways a little ahead of him. The Gerai had to have taken B into one of them.
Brian just hoped that he could make it before they jumped times.