"Alvin, what you're talking about is suicide!" Simon pleaded.
"Yeah," Eleanor agreed, "you mean to tell us you think we should get the drugs those bad guys are asking for?"
"And for what?" Brittany asked. "So you can keep that freaking money all to yourself?!"
"This has nothing to do with the money," Alvin said, "this is about getting all of us out of here in one piece!"
"Which it'll never happen..." Theodore groaned, as he curled up in the fetal position.
"Never isn't in my vocabulary!" Alvin boasted.
"Boy, don't we know it..." Simon remarked.
"So what exactly is this plan of your's?" The original hostage asked.
"Well, first things first," Alvin said, pointing out the door, "we need to get out of this room..."
"In case you haven't noticed, Alvin, the door's locked, and there's no windows..." Brittany growled.
"Leave that to me..." Alvin said, as he walked towards the back of the room, lined himself up with the area of the door, and with all the strength he could muster, ran towards the door, attempting to knock it down.
A vintage car drove recklessly through out the quiet suburbs back home, all the while the driver kept calling out the names of his sons.
"Alvin! Simon! Theodore!" Dave yelled, as he drove through all the side roads, and streets in his neighborhood, looking for his boys, who never returned home from school.
Miss Miller was also driving around the neighborhood, even more recklessly than usual, calling out for her girls.
"Brittany! Jeanette! Eleanor! Where are you girls?!' Miss Miller called out.
Coincidentally, both Dave and Miss Miller had returned to their houses around the same time, to which, Miss Miller promptly ran over to Dave.
"David, have you seen..." Miss Miller began.
"The girls? No." Dave said, before Miss Miller asked him. "The boys seem to be missing as well.
"Where in the world could those youngens be?!" Miss Miller asked.
"I haven't the fainted idea..." Dave said, "have you tried calling around to see if anyone has seen them?"
"No," Miss Miller said, sadly, "I did manage to drive over to the mall, I didn't see Brittany... Jeanette wasn't at the library, and I didn't see Eleanor at the frozen yogurt shoppe."
"I didn't think to look for Alvin at the basketball courts," Dave said, "I'm sure Simon is aware the new science museum isn't open just yet, and I wouldn't think Theodore would be spending anytime at the bakery, or the candy store, now that he has that fondue maker. I think we'll have to call the authorities."
"I think you're right," Miss Miller agreed, "those kids have to be around here somewhere, and we need help finding them."
"Where ever they are," Dave said, "I sure hope they're alright..."
Again, and again, Alvin ran into the door of the room he, his brothers, the chipettes, and the middle man of a drug dealing ring were being held prisoner.
"Alvin," Eleanor spoke up, "this is obviously not working!"
"No wait," Alvin said, picking himself up, "I can feel it now, the door's getting weaker by the minute..."
Again, Alvin rammed himself into the door, but fell back from not being able to break it down.
"Okay... this time for sure... I've just got to use my head..." Alvin backed up, lowered his head, and ran for the door, attempting to butt it down. When that didn't work, Alvin, in a daze, took to the ground. "I think I'll take a little nap now..."
"Okay, time to use some serious brain power around here!" Brittany said, as she walked up to the door. "Give me a hair pin, Eleanor!"
"I don't have one." Eleanor said.
"Why not?" Brittany asked.
"I have my hair tied off in pigtails, remember?" Eleanor asked. "What about you?!"
"I doubt my scrunchie would help us here." Brittany said.
"I could eat through the door..." Theodore suggested.
"Save your appetite, Theodore," Simon said.
"You got any bright ideas, Simon?" Brittany asked. "You're the smart one."
"If only we had something sharp to cut around the door knob," Simon suggested, "we might be able to get out that way."
"Say... wait a minute..." the hostage said, as he started digging through the pockets of his flannel shirt, then in his jeans, "I think... yeah, I got this pocket knife..."
"It's a little small," Simon said, "but with effort, it just might work."
As if that wasn't the only knife in the whole building, another knife was just inches away from Jeanette's fingers, as her hand was held down on a little table in what the two crooks, and their accomplice were using as an interogation room.
"Eeny, meenie, miney, moe..." the first crook said, playfully, as he tried to decide which finger to start with.
Jeanette felt like she was going to have a heart attack. She wished these men would believe what she's trying to tell them regarding their missing drug money, but as far as their concerned, they feel she's making up excuses, and playing ignorant with them on the matter. Before she realized it, she felt the cold sting of the blade resting at the base of her pinky finger.
"I do believe this is the one that goes 'wee, wee, wee, all the way home', huh?" The crook asked.
"Wait a minute..." Jeanette pleaded, "is there anything else?"
"I haven't gotten to the ones who went to the market, and had roast beef yet!" The crook said, as he began to press the knife down Jeanette's finger.
"No!" Jeanette screamed. "I mean... is there anything else I... can... possibly do?"
The crooks were confused.
"What do you mean?" The second crook asked.
"To make it up to you guys?" Jeanette asked.
The men were still confused.
"You mean, like, to work off your little 'debt'?" The first crook asked, as he slightly eased off his knife.
"... Yeah..." Jeanette said, softly.
There was a pause in the room, as Jeanette anxiously awaited their response.
"Hold that thought..." the first crook said, as he, and his partner, went off into the corner to discuss the matter, while their accomplice still kept his tight grip on Jeanette's arm, pinning it to the table.
"What do you think?" The first crook asked, in a whisper.
"About what?" The second crook asked. "How the hell is some little pipsqueak gonna work off fifty grand?"
In the other room, the hostage worked feverish, as he carved around the door knob.
"How's it coming?" Eleanor asked.
"Slowly, but surely..." the hostage said, as he manage to already saw one-fourth of the way around the knob.
"Please hurry," Brittany pleaded, "they've had Jeanette for a long time now... boy if they hurt her, I'm gonna hurt Alvin for getting her into this mess!"
"Must you keep reminding me?!" Alvin asked.
"I can't believe you said what you did!" Eleanor barked.
"About what?!" Alvin asked.
"About saying Jeanette was stupid enough to be suckered into guarding the money for you, and not telling anybody about it!" Brittany snapped.
"I didn't mean it like..." Alvin began.
"Yes you did!" The others, including the hostage interrupted.
Alvin sighed. He knew he shouldn't have said what he did about Jeanette, no matter how true it is. To him, at least. Admittedly, both Brittany and Eleanor were surprised Jeanette agreed to hide that much, unknown money, for Alvin, irregardless of his intentions. While the hostage continued to carve around the door knob with his little pocket knife, Jeanette continued to wait, anxiously, on the crooks' decision to make up losing the money to them. The wait seemed to take forever, but after a while, both the men nodded, then turned their attention to Jeanette again.
"Alright, girly," the first crook said, "we'll let you work off your debt."
With that said, the accomplice released Jeanette's arm, as she rubbed her wrist.
"Great..." Jeanette said, with false enthusiam, though relieved that at the thought that she just saved her own life. "Um... what... what exactly am I going to do?"
The hostage was now halfway around the door knob with his pocket knife, while each of the kids were pestering him to hurry up his progress.
"Come on, hurry!" Brittany whined.
"We're losing time!" Eleanor added.
"We need to get out of here!" Theodore said.
"Alright, alright, I get the point!" The hostage said. "I can't work with this, and argue with you kids at the same time, so just chill!"
"Sorry..." all the kids said.
The hostage shook his head in frustration, and continued to saw around the door knob, not realizing the door, by this point, had been unlocked, and was now open. Slowly, the hostage looked up, and saw the two crooks, staring him down, each with one eyebrow up.
"Uh... this isn't what it looks like..." the hostage lied.
The second crook grabbed the knife away from the hostage, and pocketted it.
"Alright, you all are free to go..." the first crook said, "we're through with you."
"You haven't even heard our new proposition first!" Alvin said.
"New proposition?" The second crook asked.
"What are you talking about?" The first crook asked. "We don't need no deal from you guys."
"Just listen..." Alvin began, "now look, we know you're money has disappeared, without a trace, and it would be near impossible to retrieve that much for you again, without resorting to robbing a bank..."
"Now there's an idea..." the second crook pondered.
"So, how would you like us to get the drugs you asked for?" Alvin asked.
"You?!" The first crook asked.
"Get the dope for us?" The second crook asked, before he and his partner exchanged a look of amusement, before bursting into loud, guffaws of laughter.
"I don't believe they're buying into your new deal, Alvin." Simon said.
"You damn serious we don't!" The second crook continued to laugh.
"Thank you, Dr. Obvious." Alvin moaned. "Come on, boys, what do you say?"
"Are you really serious?!" The first crook asked Alvin.
"Sure!" Alvin said. "If we got you your drugs, in a way, your wouldn't have any losses, as a matter of fact, you'd gain your... your... well whatever it is, you'll gain it."
The crooks smirked.
"Alright, shorty..." the first crook said, "you want to get the drugs for us, we'll make up a little 'shopping list' for you."
"Take your time," Alvin said, "we'll wait right here."
The crooks left the room, and compile a list of drugs they attempted to obtain with the money they gave to who would eventually become their hostage.
"Alvin, are you out of your mind?!" Simon asked.
"How are we going to buy fifty thousand dollars worth of drugs?" Theodore asked.
"We're not," Alvin said, "we'll just have to swipe them ourselves."
"We'd have a much better chance at robbing the fifty thousand from a bank." Simon groaned.
"I agree, Alvin," the hostage said, "it's not going to be easy to try to swipe these kinds of drugs from another dealer!"
"Who said anything about going to another dealer?" Alvin asked. "I'm talking about casing a pharmacy."
"You seriously think some pharmacist is going to just hand over a bunch of drugs to a group of kids who are getting them for drug dealers?" Eleanor asked.
"Don't you guys realize what time it is?" Alvin asked, pointing at his watch. "All the pharmacies will be closed, all we have to do is sneak in, grab whatever it is that's on these guys' list, give it to them, and we're all scot free!"
"And I'm going into early retirement." The hostage said.
"Alright, kiddo..." the first crook said, as he walked back into the room, with a relatively long list of specific, brand name drugs that they were intending to buy, "here's all the stuff we're looking for."
"Great." Alvin said, as he looked over the list.
"You have twenty four hours to get us this stuff." He told them.
"No problem, we can do this!" Alvin said, over confident, as the other kids all slumped over, knowing that Alvin was practically digging their graves for them.
"Alright, then hop to it!" The crook demanded, as he led them out of their room.
"What about my sister?!" Brittany demanded to know, as they all exited the room.
"Don't worry about her," the crook told her, "we're going to keep her here, just in case you all don't come back."
"How's that?" Simon asked.
"She offered to pay off her debt for us," he told them, "that's why if you all try to bail on us... we still don't suffer any losses."
By this time, Alvin was met with even more evil glances, not only are they having to resort to breaking into a drug store to steal the drugs the crooks are asking for, now they having to do it to resort to bail out Jeanette for paying off a debt that shouldn't even have to pay off.
"Run along now, you're wasting time!" The crook said, as he marched his new delivery service out of the building.
On the way out, Brittany glanced over in the other room, while the door was open, seeing Jeanette, cowering in the corner of the room. Head on her knees. Crying. The crew marched out of the building, and into the night.
"I'm telling you, Alvin," Brittany said, through her teeth, "you are swimming in dangerous waters!"
"We're not going to let Jeanette take the fall for your mistake!" Eleanor barked.
"I have to agree, Alvin," Theodore said, hesitantly, "if anyone should have to work off the money for those guys, it should be you since you found the money in the first place."
"I get the point, already..." Alvin moaned, "come on, let's get this over with... where's the nearest pharmacy around here?"
"There's one ten miles down the ridge here..." the hostage pointed out.
"Then we better get started... lead the way!" Alvin said, as the group pressed on down the hill.
"You really think those retarded little kids and that fool are gonna be back here tomorrow with the stuff?" The accomplice asked.
"It won't matter now," the first crook said, "if they ever make it back, she'll be gone anyway..."
The crook walked back into the room where Jeanette was waiting, took her by the arm, and led her down the hall.
"Come on..." he said.
"Please..." Jeanette sniffled, "isn't there any other way I can work off my debt?"
Without answering, Jeanette was taken into another room, and the door was locked behind them.