So this appears as my second update for the day if you're going by Australian Eastern Standard Times. But I'm sure you all don't mind. Happy reading.

Chapter 49

I didn't show Mama my room. I didn't want to risk being alone with her just yet. Instead, I led her to the break room to show her the footage I'd taken earlier that day of the prank the Lost Boys had pulled on Gazz. I'd made sure that there were at least two other guys in the room before making my final decision, and was careful to seat myself in one of the arm chairs, rather than on the couch where she could sit right next to me. It was one thing to allow her back into my life despite the completely scary scene she had pulled in the control room. Letting her be physically close to me, where she could wield her affection for me so easily and possibly brain wash me into thinking I wanted to go with her after all? That was something completely different. So I decided to keep some distance between us, at least for now.

We were sitting in awkward silence, the footage having finished a few moments ago, when Tank came in and asked us to go with him. He led us down the stairs to Bobby's infirmary where Bobby was waiting with two trays filled with the kinds of equipment that always make me nervous. You know the shiny kind? There were two syringes and swabs on each tray. The second I laid eyes on them I tried to back out of the room, shaking my head in an effort to mentally deny what I was seeing.

"No," I told them. "Nope. Not gonna happen. If I needed a needle jammed into my flesh I would be in the hospital. I won't let you do this. Nope. Not at all. I'm gonna go hide someplace out of the way until you get over whatever is running through your minds right now. I don't need things piercing my flesh at the moment." Having reached the outer door once more, I turned, intending to run all the way down the stairs until I reached my fort, but one large hand on my shoulder put a stop to all that. I hunched my shoulders and trudged back to the room where Bobby was already swabbing Mama's arm. "You have no idea what he can do with one needle," I told her, sullenly allowing Tank to lift me onto the second bench bed thing. "I've seen what he does to some of the crims they parade through the interrogation rooms. It's not pretty."

Tank cut his eyes to me, giving me a stern look as he rolled my sleeve up to my shoulder. "You're not supposed to know what happens in the interrogation rooms," he told me with a quirk of his brow.

I crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him. "I'm not supposed to know that you snuck McDonalds into the building while Papa was away two years ago, either. But I know."

"Promise me you'll stop snooping in that area of the business," he requested, a stern edge to his voice as he gently cleaned my upper arm with the swab from the second tray.

"Promise me that neither of those needles are going to put me to sleep," I countered. "Or give me seizures. Or make my eyes roll back in my head while I scream in agony."

"You do that kind of thing to people?" I heard Mama ask nervously. I looked over to see her eyeing the needle Bobby was holding with suspicion. He'd already injected her with the first.

As Bobby turned to face me, I realised the needle he held was from the second tray, and intended for me. Without thought, I started scooting over the table like surface to get away, but Tank clamped his strong hands down on my thighs, preventing me from moving. Anxious, I stared up into his eyes, almost desperate to feel the calming effect they often had on me, but there was nothing. "Please," I pleaded. "Don't do this."

"I promise that both of these needles are completely harmless," Tank said, continuing to maintain eye contact. "Pinkie promise," he added, extending he pinkie as he removed one of his hands. I hooked my own into it just as I felt the needle jab into my other arm.

For a moment nothing happened, I just glared over at Bobby as he disposed of the needle and prepared the second syringe from Mama's tray. Then it hit me. A wave of drowsiness forcing my eyes closed momentarily. As the wave receded I gathered all the strength I had and raised my eyelids once more. I cast what felt like a half-assed glare at Tank. "You'll eyed a me," I slurred, realising that my words were coming out completely mangled, but unable to help it. A massive yawn spilled from me and I swayed back. "You – you lied a me!" I tried again, mustering more of my anger through the thick soup that was my brain.

"Shh," Tank murmured, laying me down on the bed as my eye lids fluttered closed once more

When next I opened my eyes the world was vibrating. Wait. Nope. That was my head. I shut my eyes against the disconcerting image and tried to move my head away from the cold surface it was resting on. The best I could do was roll it back so that it was leaning against a soft something behind. A moan escaped me as a sudden pain jabbed at my head.

"Is that Magenta?" I heard Tank say from somewhere in front of me.

"The girl," confirmed a deep voice, vaguely familiar with its thick accent. Great. Russian Lost Boy. Can't say I was thrilled that he was involved, considering what I learned about him during the only time I'd ever spoken to him. Was that today? Or yesterday? How much time had passed.

"Gen?" Tank called back. "How you doing?"

"Where the hell are you taking me?" I managed to croak out, keeping my eyes squeezed shut. I had an odd feeling that if I opened them they would roll right out of my head in disgust. It was better to keep them shut and not see anything until that feeling passed, rather than see something for a few precious seconds but then be blind for all eternity when they left me. Silence was my only answer, so I risked losing my eyes to take in my surroundings. What I saw confirmed my suspicions. I was in the back seat of a car, probably one of Rangeman's SUVs and we were driving through darkness. The only light came from the dashboard and the headlights. Everything else that could possibly have been in sight was black.

I shifted in my seat so that I was more erect and noticed that Mama was slumped on the opposite end of the seat. It was obvious she was simply sleeping; her gentle exhales caused a light fog on the window she leaned against. The hair on her head, which had been perfectly in place every other time I'd seen it, stuck out all over the place, reminding me of the time Meli had experimented with hair gel on a school camp.

"Tank?" I called. "Where are we going?"

"Why don't you go back to sleep for a while and we'll discuss it when you're more awake," Tank suggested.

"I'm awake now," I told him defiantly. "Why don't we just skip straight to the you telling me what's going on bit?"

"We go to Disneyland," Russian Lost Boy said quietly. ". Is big amusement fun. Must rest before get there."

Mama snorted and suddenly jerked against her seatbelt. Her chesty cough filled the small space as she melted back into her seat, rubbing her chest where the seatbelt caught her. "I heard someone say Disneyland," she stated groggily. "Are we going there?"

"Da," said Russian Lost Boy. "We just make stop on way. I promise friend he come too."

I narrowed my eyes at the front seats despite knowing that my actions would be lost in the dark. "I don't trust you," I stated flatly. "Something's up."

Mama chuckled beside me. "Definitely," she drawled sluggishly. "The Merry Men don't do Disneyland. That'd be weird. They're probably just taking us to a..." Her words trickled to a stop before she finished the sentence and I watched her shadowed form curl into the back of the seat as she settled back to sleep.

I sighed and crossed my arms. "You broke a pinkie promise, Tank," I said, both annoyed at my current predicament and hurt that he would do such a thing.

"I promised you no harm from the needles," Tank explained patiently from the driver's seat. "And I kept that promise. The first one Bobby gave you was a mild sedative. The other was a," he paused for thought before finishing with a lame lie. "Vitamin supplement."

"And the lies roll on," I accused. "Where's Papa?"

"He's back at Rangeman," Tank said, sounding exasperated, like when I used to question everything he did in detail. "He's busy though. He'll be in contact with us as soon as he can."

"Then can you please tell me what's going on?" I asked, slipping into my scared little girl voice, which was only a slight exaggeration of how I was feeling. I was certainly a little freaked. Wouldn't you be if you woke up in the back of an SUV as it drove through what appeared to be the middle of nowhere? Besides which, I wasn't getting any truthful information about the situation at all. Anxiety level? Rising by the minute.

It was Russian Lost Boy who once again spoke up to answer my question. "We take you and mother to -."

"Safe house!" Mama exclaimed, abruptly sitting up as she woke and again being jerked back into her seat when the seatbelt resisted. Another cough broke forth as she looked around. I could just make out the confused expression through the gloom. Her hand came up to comb through her hair and she shook her head. "After all the times I'd dodged the bullet, he'd finally managed to make me go," she muttered.

"Is it true?" I asked Tank. "Are you taking us to a freaking safe house?"

"I'm afraid so, Genny," he said softly.

With that news, I began rummaging in my pockets for my cell phone. I was going to give Papa a piece of my mind. What right did he have to send me off to some little cabin in the woods that was barely big enough to contain a kitchen sink and a bed with two massive guys and my mother? The mother I was still unsure of. Probably, there wouldn't even be separate rooms for us all. I was probably going to have to share a room with her. I'm not sure if I trusted her enough to sleep in her presence yet. Her blow out kept running through my head every time I looked at her, despite the fact that I'd decided to forgive her and give her a second chance.

"What are you doing" Tank asked sharply.

"Looking for my cell phone," I grunted, lifting my rear from the seat to make sure I hadn't put in one of my back pockets. "Papa needs to know that this is not okay."

Mama reached over and awkwardly patted my shoulder. "They've probably taken your cell phone," she informed me calmly. "As a safety precaution."

I growled out my frustrations, ending my search with an angry thump of the middle seat. "I suppose I should just get some sleep then," I seethed, shifting so that I was facing the window with my head on the back of the chair. "Wake me when it's all over and we're back home," I added before squeezing my eyes shut and willing myself to sleep.


That's all from me for the moment. Now I'm going over to check out my bestie's story. Shreek has recently been inspired (or perhaps I persuaded her) to continue her awesome JEV story 'D Bomb', but first she is editing and re-releasing what she's already done. Y'all should head over and check it out if you haven't already. But first, don't forget to give me a review!