The Final Countdown. This is most possibly the second last chapter of this story. Never the less, I shall try to make these the most suspenseful, hilarious, chapters you'll ever read….. Well, maybe not suspenseful… (I have run out of ideas for suspense).

Chapter 25.

Syrus coughed and choked as he inhaled a fresh cloud of exhaust fumes. He'd been trudging along the highway on-ramp for at least an hour now. 'Darn bus driver!' he thought. 'He shouldn't be allowed to do that to me. Oh, where are Jaden and the others? Why haven't they come to rescue me?' A truck roared by him, blaring it's horn and belching out another huge cloud of exhaust. Syrus jumped back in fright, desperately trying to wave the fumes away. He didn't really succeed much, his eyes were watering and he ran on.

Syrus stopped, gasping for breath, next to a flight of stairs that descended from the on-ramp. After a few moments he started down the stairs. There was a neighbourhood underneath the overpass. Syrus moved onto the sidewalk and cautiously advanced. He stopped and starred at a car that had it's windshield smashed in, it's wheels stolen, the hood was up and there was no engine inside.

Syrus continued walking. He could hear dogs barking, and some indistinctive shouting. He started to tremble. This neighbourhood had a bad feel to it (besides the obvious). Syrus quickened his pace. He turned the corner and stopped dead. There was a ring of people ahead, all of them dressed in red clothes. They had their backs turned to Syrus, talking amongst themselves and laughing.

Syrus gulped and moved to the other side of the street. He stared straight ahead and walked robotically. 'Don't look at them. Don't look at them. Don't look at them.' He told himself. He walked past them and was about halfway up the street, he let out a sigh of relief and continued walking. "Hey, what the fuck are you doing?!" shouted a voice.

Syrus froze. He half turned and looked back. All the members from the ring were advancing on him. Some were revealing knives from their pockets, others were cracking their knuckles, and a couple of them even had baseball bats. "Check it out." One of them said, grinning an evil grin. "A lost little Crip, on our home turf."

Syrus was momentarily puzzled, but he managed to make out the writing on their clothes. "The Bloods". Syrus' eyes widened, he looked at his blazer in horror as the thought struck him. He'd been walking through a Bloods neighbourhood in a blue outfit.

"Hey, wait guys. I'm not a "Crip". I'm just a normal person." He said shakily. The one who had spoken glared at him. "What, you sayin' we ain't normal? Is that it?" he demanded. Syrus panicked and ran for it.

Behind him he could hear the Bloods cheering and laughing loudly as they gave chase. He dodged trash cans and ducked as a bottle flew past his head and smashed into the side walk. "MOMMY!!!!" he screamed.

XXX

Jaden stepped out of the bus and stretched his arms above his head and then immediately wished he hadn't as pain shot from his cracked rib. Hassleberry stepped off after him and looked around. Jasmine and Mindy pushed past him and rushed into the bus terminal's bathrooms. Alexis was next off the bus and she was followed by Axel.

The door slammed shut behind him and the bus took off again. Hassleberry was looking up the street from the way they had just come from. "Where do you think the little man is?" he asked.

Jaden turned to look up the street as well. "Dunno, we should go look for him." He pondered. Hassleberry turned to him and grinned. "Well, I'm sure he'll turn up anyway, in person or on the back of a milk carton." He chuckled darkly.

"That's cruel Hassleberry!" scolded Alexis narrowing her eyes at him. Hassleberry raised his arms in front of him in a "whoa, back off" kind ofway. "What's the deal?" She crossed her arms. "My brother was missing for the best part of two years." She said. Hassleberry flinched. "Sorry Alexis." He mumbled.

Alexis grabbed his ear and pulled. "What?" she demanded. "Ow! Ow! Sorry!" he shouted. Alexis let go of his ear. "Thank you." she said. Hassleberry rubbed his ear and moved away from her until he was a safe distance.

Mindy and Jasmine had returned from the bathroom. "What's going on?" asked Mindy. "Nothing." Said Alexis, rather heatedly. Axel stepped forward. "Look, I'm sure Syrus will find us, he knows where we are going." He said, trying to break the tension by changing the subject.

Jaden smiled. "Yeah, that's true." He turned and started up the street. "Come on guys, let's go to the police station and get Chazz." He called over his shoulder. "Jaden! The police station is this way" called Alexis while pointing across the street. Jaden stopped dead and then strolled back. "Uh... I knew that." he said.

XXX

Chazz woke to a loud tapping sound. He blinked rapidly, his hands were shaking and his neck hurt. The tapping noise had stopped and a voice had replaced it. "Hey, you've got visitors."

Chazz turned his head and tried to focus on his visitors. Eventually he saw who it was, Jaden. Jaden gave Chazz his trademark grin and said "Hey Chazz, long time no see. How have you been?"

Chazz stood up, although he had trouble keeping his balance. He stumbled over to the bars and beckoned Jaden to come closer. Jaden leaned forward and Chazz reached out and gripped his collar and pulled him right up to the bars.

Chazz said something too soft for Jaden to hear. "Can you speak up a bit Chazz?" Jaden said. "I can't hear you." Chazz swallowed, licked his lips, took a deep breath.

"HOW HAVE I BEEN?!?!" he shouted. Jaden cringed. "DO YOU HAVE ANY IDEA WHAT I'VE BEEN THROUGH SLACKER?!?!" Jaden shook his head slightly. "Well, I… No" he said.

"I'VE BEEN FALSELY ACCUSED, BETRAYED AND BECOME A VICTIM OF POLICE BRUTALITY!!!!" Chazz continued. "THAT'S HOW I'VE BEEN, JADEN!!" Jaden moved Chazz's hand from his collar and stepped back a little.

"You know Chazz, I could hear you just fine, you didn't have to shout." Jaden said while cupping his hands over one ear and then the other to check his hearing. "I'LL GIVE YOU SHOUTING!!!" Screamed Chazz.

The officer that had tasered Chazz just an hour ago stepped up and said to Chazz. "Sir, you've already been warned about the volume of your voice, do you need to be reminded again?" He began to pull the stun gun from it's holster.

Chazz's face went even paler and he backed away from the bars. "No, I'll be good." He said. The officer smiled a grim smile and moved away back into the office area. "You low down son-of-a-bitch." Chazz muttered under his breath.

Jaden hadn't been paying attention to the officer's warning to Chazz. "Well anyway Chazz. Me, Alexis, Hassleberry, Axel, Mindy and Jasmine are here to see you." He said. Chazz stared at him. "What happened to Atticus and Syrus?" he demanded.

"Well Syrus got thrown off the bus on the way here. I'm not too worried, he should be able to find us, After all, he is seventeen, he can't rely on us all the time." Jaden said thoughtfully. "As for Atticus, he was supposed to meet us at the hospital, but I guess he doesn't know where we are or our plans to bail you out."

"Bail me out?!" exclaimed Chazz. "Well don't just stand there slacker. Round up some money and get me out of here." Jaden said slowly. "Chazz, we don't have enough money to bail you out. Could you loan us some."

Chazz just about fell over. "How can I loan you money to bail me out? I haven't got my wallet with me you clueless moron!" Chazz said nastily. Jaden pondered on that. "Well, we could try to bust you out of here. But we'll need Hassleberry's strength and a good diversion."

Suddenly Atticus burst into the office with is guitar in his hands. "Oh Jaden." He called in a sing-song voice. "Lexi told me you guys were here. Now I can finally sing you my "Get Well Soon" song!"

Chazz's eyes widened in delight. He muttered to Jaden just one simple word.

"Perfect."

End Chapter.

Please review on this chapter and let me know what you thought. And who know, reviews might make the next chapter come faster.