Chapter 9 Call a Doctor

"He's not our friend. We only hang out with him because he doesn't have anyone else."

"Who would to date him? He's so fat and creepy…"

James tosses and turns as the voices continue to taunt him.

"That guy? Hell no… He's really ugly."

"He keeps following us around like some lost puppy. It's sad really."

"Yeah, you're so pathetic, James."

"No… I'm not.."

"Yes, you are. Look at yourself. You think you're all that. But honestly? You're nothing, James. You're so fat and ugly, who would ever want to be friends with you? I sure as hell don't." Kendall laughs in his face as James starts to cry.

"No, stop it.."

"See? Completely pathetic. You're worthless, James. You'll never find a girl. You're going to end up all alone with that stupid mirror, which will shatter from the sheer ugliness of your face." Carlos spits in his face.

"No, no…" James holds his head as they continue to taunt him, laugh at him. "Stop… You're my friends… Stop!"

"James…"

"Noooo, stop it!"

"James, wake up.."

"Stop, I'm not ugly…"

"James, wake up!"

"James!" James shoots awake suddenly from the loud yell in his ears. His eyes dart around nervously and he is met with the concerned brown eyes of Carlos. "Are you okay?"

James quickly turns his head away.

"James?"

"I'm fine…" He can hear Carlos sigh and grunt a little as he seems to sit down against a wall.

"Nightmare?"

"Shouldn't you be sleeping?" James asks a bit harshly.

"Funny. What was your nightmare about?" Carlos asks back, his voice sounding completely flat now.

"What are yours about?" James tosses back.

"I don't have any."

"You should go to sleep."

"I'm not tired." Now it's James' turn to sigh. "James? You do believe the things we said yesterday right? We are your friends, James. We care about you and you're not ugly or fat. You're an amazing person."

James doesn't respond, but he tries to keep his tears at bay.

"James?"

"Yeah. I know." He whispers so quietly, he's not sure Carlos can even hear him.

"Good, because I don't like seeing you down. You're the confident one. You're The Face. You're the reason all the girls at the Palm Woods keep staring at us when we walk around the pool."

James looks down a little. "They don't stare at me…"

"Yes, they do. I hear them whispering sometimes. You should hear the things they say about you.. I mean, they make me blush sometimes and they're not even talking about me."

"Stop it, Carlos.." James says with a blush and a small smile even appears on his lips.

"No, no, I mean, you should really hear them. They keep talking about wanting to do stuff to you that I don't think I should know about. I swear I learn more about sex ed just listening to them then.."

"Alright, I get the picture.." James laughs a little, finally turning his head back to Carlos. He finds his smaller friend staring at him with an accomplished smile on his face.

"I got you smiling." He says with an amused expression.

"You always do, Carlitos." He tells him, playfully pushing him with his shoulder. "I don't get how you do it, Carlos."

"What?"

"How you're able to still cheer us up while all this bad stuff is going on. Yesterday I really thought you were losing it. You turned so dark. And now, you're making me laugh again. How are you able to change back to such a positive mood so quickly?" He turns serious and looks at Carlos. His friend's smile fades and he looks down, playing with a string of his hoodie.

"I dunno. I guess I just don't like seeing you so unhappy. I wanted to see you smile again, so I thought happy thoughts."

"Kittens?"

Carlos shrugs again and a small smile appears. "Rainbows." He confesses.

"Ah." James smiles. "But do you feel happy?"

"Does it matter?" Carlos looks him in the eyes in all seriousness and James' smile fades and he looks confused and concerned.

But before he can respond, he hears Logan stretching and groaning when he uses his sore muscles.

"Hey…" He says when he sees James and Carlos both awake. "Why are you guys up already?"

"Nightmare." James responds. Logan nods and looks at Carlos, who looks at the floor, and back to James, who shakes his head.

"Ugh… I have such a bad taste in my mouth… what's for breakfast?" Kendall's voice suddenly rings through sleepily.

"Bread and water, like always." Logan tells him and Kendall groans in response from the floor, his voice sounding muffled.

"Oh, good, you're already awake." Shane cheerfully announces from the bars.

"Oh, great. Just the ugly face we need to see in the morning." Kendall says in an annoyed tone.

Shane just smiles at him as he walks through the door. He seems to be walking straight for Carlos and eyes him, tilting his head from side to side. He appears to be thinking about something.

"Hm. No sleep again, tonight, huh? You poor thing. You must be exhausted." Carlos doesn't respond and keeps his head down. "Yet, you still find the energy to keep a smile on your friend's faces." He leans down close to Carlos, who still doesn't look at him.

"Don't worry, I get it. You must be seeing that girl's face every time you close your eyes, right?" He quietly tells Carlos.

Carlos lifts his head now with pure hatred in his eyes. The guys have to keep from gasping at the look and the realization.

"I'll bet you feel really guilty that she died because of you, right? I know how it feels." In a split second, Carlos punches Shane in the face with every ounce of strength he has, making Shane fall back on the floor with a thud.

A big guy comes and grabs Carlos, keeping him from lunging at Shane, who puts a hand to his nose and pulls it back to see some blood. But a smile appears soon and he chuckles.

"I am nothing like you!" Carlos growls at him. "Don't ever say you know how I feel. I didn't kill that girl, you did, you bastard!" He screams and tries to lunge for him again, but the big guy holds him tightly.

Shane slowly gets up and wipes the blood from his nose. He wipes some dirt from his suit and walks close to Carlos. He eyes him curiously and starts to move up a hand, resting on his throat. He squeezes his hand tighter, making it hard for Carlos to breathe.

The other guys try to go for him, but the other two big guys immediately hold them back. All the lack of proper food and water is slowly draining them of their usual strength and energy, making it impossible to go against the men.

"That was a nice punch. It's great to see some fire come out of you. But arousing as that may have been, don't try it again. Because if you do, I will make you pay." He says in a low menacing voice. He squeezes one more time, before letting go.

He turns around, his back to Carlos and he signals for his men to follow him. Very unexpectedly, Carlos suddenly begins to laugh.

Shane whips his head around and the guys look at their friend like he lost his mind completely.

"That was it?" Carlos says while laughing. "I punched your nose, making it bleed and you give me a threat that if I do it again, you'll make me pay? Dude, you already are!" He yells, while he holds his stomach laughing.

Shane just looks amused and crosses his arms, before sharing a look with two of his men.

They walk up to Carlos and grab him, but he just laughs harder.

"Oh, what now? You're going to punch me? Yeah, that's not predictable." He laughs, while Shane smiles and walks closer to him.

"I think a nice day in solitary might do you some good." He announces and the guys' eyes widen.

"No, wait… he didn't mean it.." Kendall starts, wanting to stop them, but the other big man stops him.

"He just hasn't been sleeping.." James adds, but one of the big men hauls Carlos up and throws him over his shoulder, while he keeps laughing. The laughter continues while the man starts to walk.

"Bye, guys, see ya later!" Carlos waves to them while laughing. The guys try to help him, but the other big men keep them away with a lot of force.

"Carlos! Carlos!" James yells, but one of the big men grabs him and pushes him back with his other friends.

Shane keeps watching Carlos as he disappears from the cell, before turning his attention back to the other three.

"Don't worry. He'll be back tomorrow. He just needs to learn to calm down a little." He says with an amused smirk. "Now, as for what I came in here for. Logan." He clasps his hands and Logan looks up with scared eyes. "It's your turn again…"

He motions to his men and they grab Logan right away.

"No, no… wait.." Logan tries, but the men drag him away.

"Logan!" Kendall yells and he wants to follow, but Shane walks close to him and grabs him. James watches in horror as Kendall suddenly looks shocked and then falls to the floor, unconscious. Shane smirks at James' horror-stricken face, holding up a syringe with amusement.

"Don't worry. It's all part of the project. Logan will save him. Hopefully." He winks at James and walks out, while the guy who took Carlos walks in and tosses Kendall over his shoulder like a ragdoll. Then he walks out as well and the door closes with a CLANG.

James just stands there in shock with his back against the wall and lets his body slide down, while putting his hands on his head.

All alone, just like they said. I'm alone…

"Oh, by the way, James. Here's a mirror and something extra for you. Help yourself." He looks up to see Shane slide something underneath the cell door. He winks again and walks away, whistling to himself.

James gulps, before hesitantly crawling over the floor towards the objects. He finds a hand mirror and a scalpel? He turns the mirror over and with shaking hands pulls it up towards his face. Tears flood his eyes when he catches his reflection, dropping the mirror in an instant and sobbing against the wall.

Meanwhile with Carlos…

Carlos was thrown into a fully white room, square shape with soft walls. He still laughs like a maniac as he eyes the room and the door is shut behind him and darkness takes over.

The man looks at him through the small window on the door and shakes his head before leaving.

Carlos lies on his back, the laughter slowly dying down as he comes back to earth. He sits up as he wipes the tears from his eyes. Then, in an instant, the smile is wiped from his face completely as he realizes where he is.

He recognizes this room. His dad used to take him to the police station ever so often, even though he wasn't allowed to, and he showed him the cells. He also showed him the 'special' rooms, one of which was the solitary confinement space in which inmates would be locked up when they got out of control. They would be locked up in there for days sometimes or just a few hours, depending on the situation. But all would come out completely pale and quiet.

"it's a scary place to go. No one to talk to, no colors, no sounds. Just you and your mind, with all the time in the world, left alone with your thoughts. It's almost as if being locked in your mind itself. It's not something I'd want to go through…"

He remembers his dad telling him that several years before. He shuddered then, never wanting to go in. He had nightmares after that; they would always be about his dad throwing him in there when he'd been bad. He joked about it sometimes.

But now he was actually here. In solitary confinement. In the dark. Without his friends to distract him from the thoughts he so desperately tried to block out. It's why he refused to go to sleep.

Shane had been right. He did see her panicked face every time he closed his eyes. He could see her pleading him to save her, before the flames engulfed her and only screaming could be heard. That was something he hadn't been able to block out. No matter how much he tried, he kept hearing those screams.

He slowly sits against a wall, pulls his knees up to his chest and closes his arms around them. Whatever you do, don't close your eyes. Just think happy thoughts… Kittens, rainbows, puppies… His head starts to droop.

All gone up in flames… Wait, what? His head shoots up, his eyes wide open.

Oh no… Stay awake, Carlos…

He tries all he can, but soon the fatigue catches up with him and he lets the darkness fully take over. Let the nightmares begin…

In another room…

Logan was led into a different kind of room. Judging from the beds and the instruments, this must be the prison infirmary.

Logan knows no good can come from this, none at all. He looks around and is led to the back, where two curtains seal off two more beds. Not good, that's never good…

Suddenly, the men holding him let him go, but they grab his arms and try to put something on him. He looks back and sees they try to put an old doctors coat on his body. Oh no, it just got worse…

He struggles with them, but n the end he can just glare as he now wears the old doctor's coat. The smell of the old fabric is enough to almost make him vomit. But he can't let them see this. He holds it in and tries to ignore it.

"So, what do you think?" Logan looks at Shane, who walks around, showing everything off like it's a mansion. "I knew you'd like it. I found this especially for you, you know. I mean, I know how you've always wanted to be a doctor."

Logan cringes a little. His eyes wander to the two hidden beds again. Shane follows his gaze.

"Ah, I see you've already found your patients." Logan's eyes widen. Patients?

"What do you mean?"

"Well, you've always wanted to become a doctor, Logan. I know it was never your dream to become a popstar like the others. So, I want to help you out and let your dream come true. You see, behind these curtains are two patients you will get to save." He smiles. "Well, when I say save, I mean, you can only save one of them. Just like a real doctor sometimes has to make difficult choices, so will you."

Logan gulps at this.

"You can't be serious…" He quietly utters.

"Oh, but I am. This is what a doctor does, Logan. Surely you know that. It comes with the profession." He makes his way towards the curtains. "So without further ado, Logan, meet your patients." He grabs the curtains and pulls them aside, like he's on a stage.

Logan gasps. On one bed is a young boy he doesn't recognize. He has jet-black hair and caramel skin. He reminds Logan of Carlos when he was younger. His eyes are closed tight, but Logan can see his chest rising steadily, while he is drenched in sweat. This is not what made him gasp, though. On the other bed is none other than his best friend, Kendall.

He looks pale, breathing heavily, sweat running down his face as he looks at Logan through half-lidded eyes, panic coursing through them.

"No, you can't be serious…" Logan asks in a pleading tone, turning his head towards Shane.

"Both of these young men have been injected with a deadly virus. It's up to you to save one of them. I will give you some time and when time is up; game over. Alright?" Shane explains like everything is normal. "Now, in these cabinets up here, there are ingredients and books you can use to save them."

"Ingredients and books? I don't.." Logan's panicked voice sounds.

"You have books to look up which virus it is and how to make the antidote and the ingredients to actually make the antidote are right next to it." Logan's voice widens in shock and he looks back at the two figures in the bed.

"You can't make me do that.. I'm not a doctor.. I can't just make an antidote. They might both die!" he exclaims to Shane.

"That's why it's such a fun game, Logie." Shane smiles.

"No, no… You can't! Just give me the antidote. I'll play another game.. Just don't make me do this…"

"Logan…" Kendall's weak voice sounds from the bed. Logan turns towards him and Kendall beckons him to come closer. He walks close with tears building up in his eyes.

"Kendall, I can't do this.. I'm not a doctor… he can't do this.."

"Logan, I trust you. You're the smartest guy I know. If there's anyone who can do this, it's you.." He coughs weakly and Logan winces.

"But I can't… He's giving me a time limit.. I might not be able to save you… He's making me choose, Kendall… I don't want to kill the other guy.. He looks so young.."

"then don't." Kendall replies.

"What?" Logan asks him with confusion etched in his eyes.

"Don't let him die. Save him first, then me." Logan's eyes widen.

"Kendall, no… I won't let you die.. You're my best friend…"

"Logan. You can't let that boy die because I'm your friend. He's innocent in all this. We don't even know who he is."

"Kendall, I can't…" Kendall weakly grasps his hand.

"I believe in you, Logan.." Then he starts another coughing fit and closes his eyes, trying to catch his breath.

"Come on, Logan, time's ticking…" Shane says in a sing-song voice.

"Oh god.." Logan mutters, trying to keep tears from flowing freely.

"You don't have a choice, Logan. You have to play by my rules, meaning, you have to play this game. Besides, you'll all die in the end anyway." Shane whispers the last bit in his ear, making him gasp. Shane chuckles.

"let's go. I'm going to set the clock." Shane starts to walk towards the door and presses a switch.

"No, wait!" Logan yells, but he's too late. A timer has been set into motion. 30 Minutes remain. 30 minutes to save two people, his best friend, whom he's known since kindergarten, his brother, and an unknown young boy, of about eleven. He doesn't want to choose, so he decides not to.

"I'm going to save them both, Shane. You'll see!" he suddenly exclaims with a triumphant smile. Shane just nods with a sinister smile of his own and closes the door behind him as he leaves.

Logan's smile fades right away when he hears the door click shut. His mind starts to pour over with thoughts, his stress levels start to reach dangerous levels.

Can he do it?

(A/N: I'm very sorry about this next part. I wanted to write this, but honestly I have no idea how. I'm not a medical expert, so I'm just going to leave this up to your own minds and skip the whole game, until the end. Enjoy ;))

25 minutes later…

"Come on, come on, why is this thing dripping so slowly?" Logan voices as he holds a beaker filled with a yellow liquid upside down. It slowly drips into a different beaker, now colored green. The opening is very small, but Logan can't open it another way.

While dripping, he keeps looking over his shoulder at the clock and then to the two figures in the hospital beds. They're looking worse every second now. Both are extremely pale, skin glistening with sweat. Their lips have turned ashen and the young boy has started to get a nose bleed, after he coughed up blood before.

Logan is feeling desperate as he feels the pressure mounting with only five more minutes on the clock.

This is the last ingredient, but he has already noticed both their heart rates have started to slow down. Their pulses are weak and their breathing is labored.

When finally the last drop he needs is inside the beaker, he quickly stirs it. And with only three minutes left he jumps for joy.

"yes! Here I come, guys, just hold on." He quickly heads for both beds and chooses to sit in a stool in the middle. He turns to Kendall first and puts the beaker at his lips. His friend groans, trying to push him away weakly.

"Come on, Kendall. You need to drink this. You'll die if you don't.." he pleads softly. "Kendall, please!" he cries out as he reads only two minutes left on the clock. Slowly but surely he can see Kendall is drinking the liquid. He almost chokes on it, but Logan coaxes him through it.

"Easy now.. that's it, slowly…" he lets Kendall drink enough, before hastily pulling th beaker away. "Alright, next up.." he turns to the young boy and puts the beaker to his lips.

To his surprise, the boy's eyes suddenly open weakly. He gasps when he is met with the same eyes of another best friend, Carlos.

"What the…"

"Lo-gan?..." the voice croaks. Logan pales as he finally realizes he does know this person.

"A-Alex? Oh god.. Uh, here, quickly, drink this…" He puts the beaker at his lips.

"Alright, time's up." Shane suddenly announces and Logan's eyes widen.

"No, no.. Wait, I've almost got him. Here, just drink up, Alex.."

"I'm sorry, Logan, but rules are rules. I gave you 30 minutes and those 30 minutes are up now. Game over, remember?"

Strong arms come to take the beaker from his hands. They have to struggle, because he tightens his hold on it, refusing to let go.

"No, no… You can't! I already finished it, you have to let him drink it! Please!" Logan cries freely now and tries to hold on, but the beaker is pulled from his grasp and thrown to the floor, where it shatters. Logan watches in horror as the liquid spreads out on the ground. "No…" He voices, now whispering, he looks into Alex' eyes. "I'm sorry… I'm so sorry.." He keeps repeating to the boy as he lays his head down on the bed and closes his eyes.

Suddenly, two pairs of strong arms grab him and start to pull him from the bed. Logan struggles hard.

"No, wait! Just let me stay with him.. He can't die, you can't let him die! Let me be with him, don't leave him by himself!" he keeps screaming at Shane while he is dragged out of the room. Shane just smiles and closes the infirmary door, letting Logan scream down the hallway as he walks up front and they start walking.

"Nooooo! Nooo…. Let go of me! Alex!" Logan screams as they draw closer to the cell again.

"How does it feel, Logan? Knowing you just chose your best friend over your other friend's little brother?" Shane asks with a smile. Logan lunges for him, but the big men hold him tight.

"You bastard! You could have let me save him, he didn't have to die! Why did you let him die!" He screams while tears fall down.

"Congratulations, Logan. You've now officially experienced what it's like to be a doctor." Shane exclaims with a big smile as they throw Logan into the cell and immediately close the door. Logan scrambles to his feet and grabs the bars, pulling at them.

"You're a sick bastard.. You're sick, you hear me!" Shane starts to walk away, leaving Logan to scream after him. "You'll pay for this.. You could have saved him! You monster!" When Shane is out of his sights, Logan screams one more time, before he falls to his knees on the cold floor. Sobs wrack his body and soon a strong pair of arms wrap around him.

When his sobbing subdue a little, he looks up to find James holding him, his eyes full of worry and tears as well.

"What happened?" he whispers to Logan, fear having now taken over.

"They made me choose who to save… they gave two people a deadly virus and told me to save them within 30 minutes… I made the antidote and just in time saved Kendall.." James eyes widen and he looks slightly relieved. "I didn't recognize the other boy, he looked so young, but not familiar at all, until he opened his eyes. I had the beaker at his lips, but Shane came in and told me time was up. I was right there, James.. I could have saved him… But they pulled the beaker and threw it to the floor. They could have saved him… I could have saved him…"

"Who was it?"

"Alex.. Carlos' younger brother…" James stares in horror at the realization of what he said. "I killed Carlos' brother.. He was 11, James.. 11… And they wouldn't let me save him…" James just engulfs Logan in a tight hug as he lets fresh tears of his own fall down.

"Shh, It's okay, Logan… It wasn't your fault… It's okay…"

They sit on the floor, crying together at the monstrous things Shane has made them do…

A/N Yeah, I was in a flow with this chapter, resulting in how long it is :P

I hope you like it, I tried to put something for everyone in here, some BTR angst. Next chapter, can you guess what will happen?

Thank you for all the reviews and story alerts and favorites, they really keep me going. So review again and I'll try to update as soon as possible!

Thank you all again, also for some of the great ideas. I can definitely use them, so look out for them in later chapters, I'll make sure to leave a credit

Until next time and Love, Baxxie