Dominoes

Disclaimer: I do not own anything or anyone from Big Time Rush. I just own Andrew and the plot.

"Panic is a sudden desertion of us, and a going over to the enemy of our imagination."

~Christian Nevell Bovee

Chapter Four

Panic

It was a little after two in the morning when Kendall, Carlos, and Logan arrived back at the apartment. The doctor gave Logan clearance to go back home, saying he was just going to be sore for a few weeks and should get plenty of bed rest. The police were informed of Logan's reappearance and the proper reports were the police were now making a decision of whether or not to move the boys to a safe house.

Carlos opened the door and the three boys stepped inside. Then Carlos's foot hit something.

Kendall, Carlos, and Logan watched as a straight line of dominoes fell over and into the kitchen. They followed it and watched as dozens of more dominoes fell over and joined into a single line. The single line continued to three separate dominoes sitting on the table and knocked over to the one had to far end.

Kendall was the first to approach the table. He picked up the domino that was the last to fall. He flipped over to the domino. It was painted white on the back, and painted on the white in blood was Carlos's name.

When James came to it, he was lying on his side. He sat upright and waited till the world stopped spinning. Then he tried to sit up more and hit his head on something. Looking up, he found he was in a cage.

James crawled over to the door and found it to be locked. He was filled with panic and dread. Where was he? What was going on? Then it hit him…

He was in Logan's cage.

The one Ford had forced him to live in for two years. The one that was a consent reminder of the pain and loneness he was forced to suffer.

And James refused to do it.

He began slamming himself against the cage. It moved inch by inch, but it was better than not moving at all. Inch by inch, James found himself traveling through Andrew Ford's home. It was a normal apartment and much better than the one James lived in.

By the time James's made it in into the kitchen from the living room, his shoulder was killing him and he was out of breath. He wondered if Logan did this. How did he get out of the cage?

James resumed slamming the cage till he reached the front door. Then he was faced with an even harder problem than he had just getting the cage out there.

How was he supposed to open the door?

James knocked his cage upright till the long end was sticking up in the air. Now he could stand up, but still had to crouch a little. He slipped his fingers through the slots of the cage, bent over, and unlocked the door. Then he opened the knob, and the door opened to freedom.

James sighed with relief. Then he held the cage by its bars and jumped forward with it. He found himself in a hallway. He hoped down it and to a staircase.

Then James sat back down in his cage and tipped himself over.

He tumbled down the stairs and into a wall, covering his head the entire time. He hit the wall hard and his body flung around in the cage. James then shoved himself down another staircase.

And another.

And another.

Then the cage cracked open.

"What does that mean Kendall? Is he after me now?"

Carlos was trying to stay calm, for Logan's sake. But Ford left a message to him. And it said 'your next.'

"Logan, why don't you go to bed?" Kendall said, gesturing Logan towards his bedroom. "You could really use some sleep."

"No." Logan whispered. "Ford is after Carlos. Do you not see what he's doing?" Logan was crying now. He couldn't hold them in. Not with what was happening. "He's targeting you guys. To get to me, he's going through you. It should be me!"

"No it shouldn't! Logan, you have been though so much the past two years. We caught Ford once, and we can do it again. Were willing to sacrifice ourselves for you. And if that's what we have to do, then were going to do it even if you don't want us to!"

Logan was silent, taking in Kendall's words. But then he realized something.

"Who are you? You're not Kendall! You're not Kendall!" He pointed his finger at Carlos. "And you're not Carlos! The Carlos I know is bouncing up and down all the time. And the Kendall I know doesn't throw his friends in the line of fire! He comes up with a plan to stop the fire, not fuel it more. Who are you guys? Who are you? Who are you!"

Logan sank to his knees and leaned against a wall. Ford had destroyed him along with his friends. Nothing was the same. He wanted to go back to the old days. To the days of the Palm Woods. He didn't want this. He wanted normality.

Logan began to breathe heavily. He was hyperventilating. Carlos got a paper bag and Logan breathed into it, his falling tears onto the paper, making little wet circles.

"Logan, you're panicking. You need to calm down." Kendall said while rubbing small circles on Logan's back.

Logan pulled the bag away from his mouth.

"Who are you?" He wheezed out before resuming the bag breathing.

Carlos slowly inched out of the room. He couldn't watch it anymore. He decided to go find James and wake him. Maybe he could calm down Logan.

Carlos searched high and low for James. Then panic set it. Then he realized what Ford's message meant.

Carlos ran back into the kitchen. He picked up the other two dominoes that still stood upright on the table. He flipped them over and saw Kendall's name painted in blood on the back of one. On the other was James's name with a black line through it. Carlos dropped the domino, letting it fall to floor.

"Ford has James."