Chapter 10 Game Over…

Logan and James stay together, until their crying subdues. They don't talk, but just sit with their backs against the wall. Both have things on their minds and aren't willing to share. Not until they know their other friends are safe.

A loud click jolts them out of their thoughts and they look up to see the big men throwing a figure inside the cell. The figure groans and moves to sit up, but collapses again right away.

Logan and James share a look before jumping up to help their friend.

"Come on, Kendall, you're okay." Logan sniffles as tears of relief fall down is face. He wasn't sure if Kendall survived or not. Just seeing him now, so weak, but alive, he can't help but feel happy.

They hoist Kendall up as much as they can and lay him on his back, carefully carrying him into the corner. They quickly draw a blanket over him, which lay in the corner.

"Logan?" Kendall weakly asks, before coughing.

"Don't talk, okay? Just rest up, you're going to be okay." Logan assures him.

"Alex… he.." Logan just shushes his friend.

"Don't talk. Save your strength to get better alright?"

"I didn't know it was him.. I could have warned you, Logan.. Why did you save me first?" Logan gulps at his last question and just stares at Kendall, no longer able to speak.

"Go to sleep, Kendall. We'll talk when you feel better, bud. Just close your eyes." James tells his friend, but eyes Logan with a concerned glance as he does. Kendall finally nods and lets his eyes droop.

Logan still sits there, not able to talk. He suddenly feels a hand on his shoulder and looks up to find James' concerned eyes staring down at him.

"You okay?"

"He's right.. He asked me to save Alex first. Why didn't I listen to him? If I had helped Alex first.." His eyes tear up again.

"Then Kendall would have died, Logan." James tells him as he sits next to him again. "This wasn't your fault. You tried to save him, but Shane stopped you. There was nothing you could have done."

"Do you think Carlos will see it like that?" James sighs.

"I don't know, Logan. But Kendall and I can back you up on it."

"Oh god.." He sobs into his hands. James pulls him to his chest again.

"It's going to be okay, Logan. I'm sure whatever happens, we'll be able to handle it."

"He's going to hate me…"

"No, he won't.."

"I killed his little brother, James. Of course he'll hate me!" He yells at James, before breaking down sobbing again.

James sighs again and just holds his friend once more.

They seem to sit like this for hours, when Logan falls asleep and James lets him lie on the floor, while he keeps watch over both his friends.

After a while Kendall starts to groan and move around. James goes over to him and puts his hands on his shoulders.

"Kendall, it's okay. Wake up." He gently shakes his friend's shoulders and Kendall slowly opens his eyes. He blinks a few times, before looking up at James.

"James?" He tries to sit up, but James pushes him back down.

"You've had a rough time, man, better stay down for a while longer." Kendall nods slightly. "How do you feel?"

"Tired, really tired and a little dizzy, I guess." James nods. Kendall moves his head up a little, seeming to look for something, before lying back down.

"How's Logan?" Kendall asks his friend, concern washing over him to find his friend curled up on the floor.

"Not good. He cried himself to sleep.. He's really broken up about Alex.. He blames himself." Kendall looks down.

"But it wasn't his fault."

"I know. But you told him to save Alex first and he didn't." Kendall sighs at that.

"And I asked him why he didn't before didn't I?" James nods. Kendall rubs a shaky hand through his hair. "Damn it..." he says, before almost punching the floor beside him in anger.

"Kendall…"

"I made him feel guilty about it..."

"He already did, Kendall."

"Yeah, maybe, but I made it worse…" he holds out his hand and punches the wall next to him weakly. "This is all so messed up... How did I not recognize Alex?"

"Kendall, please don't go blaming yourself over this too... I've got enough trouble convincing Logan that it's not his fault…"

Kendall looks at James, his face full of anger. But one look into his concerned friend's eyes makes him soften his look. And turn into a frown right after.

"James, is that… do you have more cuts in your face than before?" James stops dead in his tracks at that question.

"W-why would you say that?" Kendall eyes him carefully, even reaches out a hand to touch the long cuts, before James pushes him away. "What are you doing?"

"James, the other cuts are healing already, but there are new ones right there.." He says in a soft voice, pointing to his cheek, where a seemingly newer cut has formed right next to older ones.

"They're not new, Kendall. Look, why don't you lie back down, you need to rest." James pulls the blanket up to Kendall's shoulders again and moves away.

"James.." He starts and reaches out a hand to him. But before he has a chance to say more, slight shuffling can be heard from the hallway by their cell.

They both look up when the door opens. They gasp at the sight of Carlos being led through the door. The moment he's inside, the door is locked behind him and the other person walks away.

Carlos stands in the cell for a moment, not moving an inch. He doesn't look at his friends either. He holds his head down and seems to be shaking slightly, his face a lighter shade pale as he hugs his arms to his chest. James gets to his feet and slowly approaches his young friend.

"Carlos?" He softly calls out and walks closer as to where he can almost touch his friend. "Carlos?" He calls out again and puts a hand on his shoulder gently.

Carlos slowly looks up at him with big eyes, filled with fear. "It was so horrible, James… I was alone and it was dark and you weren't there to talk to…" James quickly envelops him in a tight hug, giving him a slight déjà vu, as he seems to be doing this a lot lately. "I was so scared… I fell asleep and kept seeing her face right there… she screamed so loud..." He trembles in James' arms and the taller boy slowly guides them both to the corner, where their other friends lay.

Kendall watches with worry as James guides Carlos to sit on the floor, right in between him and Logan.

"Please don't let me go back there... I don't want to go in that room again..." James' heart nearly breaks at the pleading eyes in front of him. He just hugs his friend closer.

"I won't, Carlos. You don't have to go back in there…"

He slowly lets Carlos go and his younger friend just nods, his body still trembling, but he now seems to notice his other friends.

"Are they okay?" He quietly asks James. James shares a quick look with Kendall, who looks down and then shifts his gaze to Logan.

"After they took you away, uhm, Shane took Logan for another project." Carlos just looks him in the eyes with concern etched on his face. "He wanted Logan to experience what it's like to be a real doctor."

"What does that mean?"

James sighs before continuing. "They uh, they inject two people with a deadly virus and told Logan he had to cure them in 30 minutes without telling him what they had or how to cure them." Carlos gasps and quickly glances at Logan, before looking at James again.

"Did he do it?"

"He found out what the virus was and even made an antidote, but..." Carlos sits up further.

"But what?" James is afraid to look at him.

"He only managed to save one of them... he had the antidote at the other person's lips, but the time was up and they forced it out of his hands.." James ends quietly, now looking at his hands.

"Oh my god… so they just let the other person die? Poor Logie..." Carlos looks at Logan sleeping on the floor, his cheeks tearstained. "He must feel awful… I can't believe they made him do something like that... Who does that? Who makes a person choose between life or death?" He looks at James, looking disgusted. "What kind of a sick person does that to another human being?"

James doesn't respond. "So, who were they?" James looks up at Carlos' question.

"What?"

"Who were the people injected with the virus? Did Logan know them?" James shares a helpless look with Kendall, but he seems at a total loss whether or not to tell him.

"Uh, well, one of them was Kendall..." Carlos' gasps at this and quickly looks at Kendall, before moving his awaiting eyes back to James. "The other…uh.."

"Well, who was it?" James takes a deep breath. "James? Who was it?"

James shares one more look with Kendall, who bats his eyes down and nods, before looking back into Carlos' eyes.

"It was Alex, Carlos…" A soft voice suddenly exclaims from next to them. They both look over and see Logan, who is shaking, clearly trying to keep another batch of tears from spilling. His voice was so soft, they hardly heard him.

"What was that, Logie?" Carlos asks him and Logan gulps before looking Carlos in the eyes and opening his mouth.

"It was Alex… Shane made me choose between Kendall and Alex…" Logan's lips quiver as he says this, everyone watching Carlos to see his reaction.

"That's not possible..." Is the only thing Carlos says, his eyes full of disbelief.

"I didn't recognize him at first, I mean, we haven't seen him in a while, but then he opened his eyes and he said my name and I knew… It was him, Carlos, it was Alex…" Carlos starts to breathe heavier beside James.

"No…" He whispers.

"I tried to save him, I really did… I had the beaker at his mouth, when Shane came in and they pried the beaker from my hands and threw it to the floor… I tried, Carlos, I really did... But they wouldn't let me… I'm so sorry…" He chokes on his words as he leaps over to Carlos and clings to him, sobbing loudly. Carlos doesn't react, he just lets Logan cry, while he stares ahead.

"Carlos..." James softly starts, putting a hand on Carlos' shoulder. "It wasn't his fault… Carlos?"

Carlos doesn't respond, he just stares ahead and sits there, with Logan clinging to his shirt, sobbing.

"Carlos, I'm sorry… Please forgive me… I didn't meant to…I'm sorry…" He keeps repeating over and over, but Carlos doesn't respond.

James throws a plead of help towards Kendall, who is also watching the exchange.

"Carlos? Are you okay?" Kendall tries, before sharing another look with James. "Carlos? Please say something."

"Buddy?" James watches Carlos and looks on in concern when he sees Carlos clenching and unclenching his fists. He can see anger building up in his face as well, clenching his jaw, hardening his features.

Somehow it reminds him of Gustavo whenever he got mad. His face became like this before he started minor earthquakes. But this process is moving slower.

He watches as Carlos closes his eyes for a moment. When he opens them again, James tries not to gasp. The darkness is back and it looks worse the before. It pains him to think it, but he feels a little terrified for and of his friend.

"Carlos?" He squeaks out, trying not to flinch when his friend looks up now. He wouldn't want to be in his line of sight right now.

"I don't blame him." His voice sounds low, dark, no emotion seems to be held in it. But James knows better, Kendall knows better, even Logan probably would if he wasn't still crying his eyes out.

"What?" James almost whispers. Then he does gasp as Carlos turns his blackened orbs towards him.

"I don't blame Logan." He slowly turns his head back and James shoots Kendall a terrified look. "You hear that, Logie? I don't blame you."

It feels weird to have him use that nickname with the voice he uses right now. Even though the guys have seen this dark Carlos before, it still chills them to the bone. It's not right. They shouldn't feel terrified of him. But right now, they're very glad he's not mad at them.

Logan's cries subdue a little and he lets go of his tight hold on Carlos. He wipes his eyes.

"I'm sorry… I got your shirt wet..." He slowly looks up and finds Carlos not looking at him. He looks at the other guys and frowns at their nervous faces.

"I don't blame you, Logan. You did what you could." Logan frowns at the coldness in his friends' voice.

"I really did, I mean I..." He stops talking when Carlos looks at him with dark eyes, giving Logan chills.

"I said, I don't blame you." His voice sounds a little harsher now and he turns his head back. He sits against the wall and aims his gaze at the cell door.

His friends follow his gaze and look at each other for a moment. This can't be good…

Kendall lies back down fully, but keeps his eyes open. Meanwhile, Logan and James also sit with their backs against the wall, eyeing Carlos and each other once a while.

The thickness in the air could be cut with a knife. Everyone's afraid of saying a word.

"Carlos…" Logan starts with a small voice.

"I'm fine." Is his harsh reply, making Logan shrink back against the wall.

With this the four friends sit in silence. Only some water can be heard dripping somewhere in the distance. They sit like this for what seems like hours, when they can hear footsteps coming down the hall.

Three of the guys tense up and exchange looks. But Carlos just keeps his cold stare on the cell door.

"Wow, if I didn't know better, I would've thought you were dead." Shane laughs from outside the cell. "It's so quiet in here." He opens the cell and walks inside with his three men in tow. "What's wrong with you boys? Was I too hard on you?"

The three friends roll their eyes as they hear the mock concerned tone in Shane's voice.

He laughs again, but soon stops when he sees Carlos staring at him.

"What's with him?" he asks the other three, pointing at Carlos. The friends don't respond, they just avert their gazes to Carlos as well.

Shane just stares back at him. "What is it? Why are you staring at me? You like me that much, huh?" He laughs again, but the guys can tell he's starting to feel nervous. The big men just smirk with him with their arms crossed over their chests. "Come on, Carlitos, tell me what's wrong?"

He steps closer towards Carlos who follows his movements, but his look doesn't change. Shane opens his mouth as he stares Carlos up and down investigating, but closes his mouth again.

"Seriously, what's with the staring?" He asks the other boys on the floor, who don't respond and keep looking at their fourth friend. "I think he really must like what he sees, huh?" He turns his back towards the guys and laughs at his men, before suddenly being thrown to the floor and turned on his back.

He looks up with shocked eyes to find Carlos on top of him, looking angrier than ever.

"You know, not that I haven't been longing for this moment, but what do you think you're doing?" Shane asks him, a small amused smile on his face. Then suddenly his breath is cut off as Carlos clenches his teeth and wraps one hand around his neck nightly. His other hand comes up, holding a scalpel, which he seems to have pulled out of thin air.

James' gasp goes unnoticed at this as everyone has their full attention on Carlos and Shane.

The three big men in the back get ready to rush forward, when Carlos holds the scalpel to Shane's throat.

"Don't come closer. I will use this." Carlos tells them and they angrily stay back.

Shane suddenly smiles big. "Ooh, nice scalpel. Hm, where have I seen that before? Oh, yeah, I remember now. Nice to see it's being used." He turns his head slightly to smile an evil grin at James, who gulps and tries to hide.

Carlos quickly pulls Shane's head back.

"This isn't about the scalpel." Carlos hisses.

"Oh, I know. But do be careful, the previous user forgot the wipe the blood from it." Carlos looks at it for a moment and then shakes his head.

He doesn't see the sudden shocked glance Kendall gives James, who refuses to look at him.

"Stop distracting me." Carlos warns and holds the scalpel to his face.

"You know, I've been dreaming of this very moment. Only there weren't any other people in here. And there wasn't a scalpel involved. But I don't mind, I'm all for new experiences." Shane grins, while Carlos looks disgusted.

"Shut up, just shut up! I am going to kill you… You killed my brother… He was only 11, 11!" Carlos yells at him, the hand holding the scalpel wavering slightly as his whole body trembles with anger. "And you murdered him and you even made Logie feel guilty about it… I am going to cut you open, slowly, just so you can feel the pain they felt…" Carlos holds the scalpel to Shane's face, trembling, but pushing down enough to make blood come out.

But Shane suddenly starts to laugh. "Oh, Carlos, you crack me up…"

Carlos looks confused. "I'm holding a scalpel to your face, Shane, I don't see what you have to laugh about."

"I'm laughing because you don't have a killer inside of you. You don't have an evil bone in your body, Carlos. You're not going to kill me. You'd like to hurt me, but you're not going to."

"Yes, I will. I'll do it right now." Carlos tells him, but his voice is wavering and the hand holding the scalpel shakes even more.

"See, you can't do it. You can't hurt other people." Shane tells him and holds out his hand, tightly grasping Carlos' hand. Carlos struggles, but Shane grabs his hand tighter, until Carlos cries out and lets the scalpel fall to the floor.

Shane pushes Carlos off of him and gets up, leaving Carlos to sit on the floor, looking upset.

He brushes some dirt from his clothes and looks at Carlos with some pity, before kneeling down in front of him.

"Don't feel bad, Carlos. It takes a long time to kill someone without feeling remorse. I mean, I even felt a tiny bit of remorse when I killed your little brother. But then it went away, just like that." He clicks his fingers and smiles. "Don't worry, you'll get the hang of it, someday."

He gets up and walks back to the three men, when suddenly Carlos jumps up and lunges for him, jumping on his back and holding him tight, trying to punch and kick him. Shane rolls his eyes and looks annoyed. He clicks his fingers again and two of the men grab Carlos, who struggles in their grasp, still kicking and screaming.

"Hey! Let him go." Shane turns around in surprise to find Kendall standing on his feet, looking determined and angry.

"Excuse me?"

"I said, let him go." Kendall says in a warning tone, his jaw and fists clenched.

"Oh, so now you're going to be the leader, Kendall? I was wondering what was keeping you."

"Just let Carlos go. He doesn't know what he's doing." Shane walks closer to Kendall.

"He doesn't know what he's doing? He seemed to know perfectly well what he was doing when he held a scalpel to my face."

"Well, what do you expect, Shane? You killed his little brother and you killed a girl right in front of him. He's not going to hug you for it." Kendall yells at him.

"Hm, now what's another dream." Shane suddenly smiles, making Kendall feel nauseous.

"Stop talking about him like that!"

"Oh, Kendall. You're just jealous that I don't feel that way about you."

"Don't make me throw up." Kendall sneers at him. "Look at you. Who would ever want to be with an ugly ass face like yours?"

Shane's smile fades slightly. "I am not ugly."

"Oh, but you are. I know you're the one who made James think he's ugly. But I know why you did it. You know James is a lot better looking than you are and you can't stand it."

"I'd stop talking now if I were you."

Kendall just smirks. "No, I don't think I will. Because I think I'm getting to you, aren't I?" Shane doesn't respond and Kendall walks towards him and starts to circle him. "Any why is that, Shane? Could it be that you have really low self-esteem? Which you can only get over by hurting other people? That's it, isn't it. You feel so bad about yourself that you have to make other people feel worse just so you can feel better. I don't blame you. I mean, with a face like yours, who wouldn't feel bad. You were teased a lot in school, weren't you?"

Kendall just keeps on going and everyone just watches the exchange in silence. Logan and James keep their eyes on Shane and suddenly see a smle appearing on is face.

"Uh, Kendall…" James starts.

"…were you also the last to be picked at every sport? Who were you? The fat kid, the nerd? Who?"

"Kendall, maybe you should stop…" Logan also says as the smile on Shane's face becomes bigger.

But Kendall ignores them and keeps talking, until suddenly Shane starts to chuckle and lets it go into full-blown laughter.

"Why are you laughing? Have you lost your mind?" Kendall asks him and Shane stops laughing and grabs him by the throat, squeezing tightly. Kendall's eyes widen as he tries to pry his hand away.

"Kendall!" Logan and James yell out in panic.

"You know, I am getting so sick of all of you. Of playing all these games. I've been waiting for all of you to break down, but here you are, with enough strength to still taunt me and attack me." He keeps hold of Kendall's throat, while Kendall can't breath and slowly starts to slide to the floor as he struggles to get loose. "Well, I've had it. I'm done playing games. It's time to get down to business." He harshly lets go of Kendall and he falls to the floor, coughing and gasping as he struggles to breathe. Logan and James rush towards him and try to calm him down.

Shane stands back, watching them.

"Take him back to solitary. I'll deal with him later." He points to Carlos and the big men holding him, drag him away.

"No, wait, don't make me go back there… James! James, you promised… James!" He screams as he is led down the hall. James watches with sad eyes as he stays with Kendall and Logan, who softly rubs circles on Kendall's back, to calm him down.

"Now as for you." Shane says as he points to the three guys on the floor. They look up in slight fear. "I will make you all break down, if it's the last thing I do."

The menacing tone in his voice sends shivers down their spine.

He waits until the three men all complete again. "Take them into our playroom. Time to make them pay."

The three men grin evilly as they walk towards the three friends, who shiver and struggle as they grab them and drag them away…

A/N Uhoh…

Sorry for the slight cliffhanger. Thanks for all the amazing reviews and story and favorite alerts and all. I'm really grateful and it's good to read how much you like this story

I'm not going to say anything about the next chapters, only that the games are over. But that might be clear away from the story itself ;)

Hope you enjoyed this chapter and until next time…

Love, Baxxie