Date: Fri, 04 Apr 2003 22:08:20 +0000
From: JV
Subject: Boy Bands - Human All Too Human - Part 6

I don't know N'Sync, nor do I know that much about them, so excuse me if I
make any mistakes or imply anything about them which isn't true. This is all
a product of my imagination, and shouldn't be taken literally. Also, if it
is illegal for you to read this, wherever you are, then don't cos you might
get in trouble, and who knows? The karma might just come back and bite me in
the butt for some reason! Without further ado, please enjoy my
story...'Human, all too human'.

Human, All Too Human -- Part 6

	Josh woke up the following morning feeling terrible. He had tossed and
turned for half the night, with images of Mark's lifeless body in a ditch
somewhere, or maybe he was somewhere Josh hadn't thought of, maybe he had
another home or something, and he was sitting in his kitchen having taken
another bottle of pills, and he was dead anyway. Josh couldn't control his
own thoughts. Terrible images of Mark lying dead somewhere carried on
flashing through his mind and he was terrified. During the night he had
heard a bang somewhere in the house, and that woke him up too, but he
figured that it must have just been a creaky house. Josh slowly washed and
got dressed in the same clothes he had on yesterday, a pair of jeans and a
hooded sweatshirt. Slowly trudging down the stairs, Josh saw the front door
was open! He ran to it, and saw that the chain on the door had prevented it
from coming open anymore, but in the gap Josh thought he saw a coat, but
more importantly, there was an arm in the coat! Josh pulled open the door,
and Mark's body slumped inwards. Josh almost screamed, vomited and laughed
all at the same time. He almost fell over in his anxiety to check whether
Mark was alive or not. Josh pushed his hands against Mark's neck, and felt a
faint throb every couple of seconds. Mark was still alive... barely.

	Josh phoned 911 and an ambulance was there very quickly. He carried on
begging the operator to tell him what to do, what he could do, but the woman
on the end was no help at all, and just told him to keep Mark warm and there
was little else he could do until the paramedics arrived. Putting Mark onto
the ambulance, they refused to allow Josh to get in with him, so Josh
watched helplessly as the ambulance swerved around the corner and
disappeared. Steeling himself, he ran to his own car after shutting Mark's
door and wrenched it open. Jumping in, he revved the engines and shot out of
Mark's road and was on the ambulance's tail in no time. He followed the
ambulance as the siren's blared and they were soon approaching the hospital.
The ambulance stopped outside the emergency room, while Josh pulled around
to a staff parking space nearby. He knew he'd probably get towed, or at
least get a ticket, but he didn't care. He ran into the emergency room.

	"Hey, I'm looking for a guy named Mark Carey, he was just brought in, he's
unconscious?"

	"And are you a relative."

	"No, but I'm listed as next of kin."

	"Hold on a moment sir." The nurse behind the counter ran to a couple of
doctors and pointed Josh out, then looked around for a second, reading off a
clipboard. A couple of other stretchers were run in from ambulances while
Josh was standing there.

	"They're just running some tests sir, I'm afraid you're going to have to
wait over there. Is there any relative we can contact."

	"Only his mother, and she's got Alzheimer's, she's in a care home." The
nurse nodded, and went back to her station. Josh released a sigh and sat
back in the chair she'd pointed out to him. He pulled out his cell phone and
dialled Justin's number.

	"Hello? Josh?" Justin answered groggily.

	"Justin, he turned up."

	"What? Who? Mark?" Justin was clearly excited by the news, and Josh could
just picture him sitting up in bed. Josh heard a murmuring in the
background. Justin was with someone.

	"Yeah, I was over at his house and he just turned up this morning on the
doorstep. He was unconscious and I phoned for an ambulance. I'm at the
hospital now."

	"Ok, we'll be right there."

	"Just, you don't have to do that. I'll be fine, I just wanted to let you
know where I was, don't worry, I'll keep you updated." There was a moment of
silence. "Just?"

	"Josh. Do you really believe that I'm just gonna sit here and let you sit
at the hospital alone?"

	"Just, do you realise how much trouble it's gonna be, you coming in here?
You'll get mobbed! At least I can sit here quietly."

	"Yeah well, they might give us a little more attention and look after us a
little bit better if there are more of us there, I'm coming."

	"Fine." Josh smiled subconsciously, he wanted Justin there. "I'll see you
later."

	"See you soon." Justin replied, and hung up. "Charlie?" He turned to see
her lying with her hair splayed out in every direction on the pillow. Her
auburn hair hung halfway down her spine when she stood up and was now
covering most of the pillow and her face. Justin pulled the hair out of her
face and smiled as she blinked her eyes open. She smiled softly as Justin
greeted her good morning. "Josh found Mark." Charlie's eyes blinked open all
of a sudden. "Josh was at Mark's house this morning and he found Mark on his
own doorstep." Charlie sat up. "I'm going over to see Josh now." Charlie
nodded and stifled a yawn.

	"I'll come with you." Charlie smiled at him, and they both climbed out of
bed.

***

	"We expect him to wake up soon sir, but the thing is, we need to ask you
some questions. You say you just found him?" Josh was concerned about the
presence of the police officer standing behind the doctor talking to him.

	"Yes. He was just there on his doorstep when I woke up this morning."

	"And what were you doing in his house?" The officer asked.

	"Please." The doctor interrupted. "The thing is, Mr. Chasez, we've found
traces of certain...substances in Mr. Carey's bloodstream."

	"What kind of substances?"

	"Well, illegal ones mostly, and some that we just can't identify. Chemicals
which probably shouldn't have been introduced into the bloodstream. All I
can say is, it's lucky Mr. Carey was a very healthy individual, a person
with a weak heart, or a remotely infected immune system would have been
killed by some of the drugs in his system."

	"I have no idea what Mark would have taken, or possibly had put into his
body. Mark's been missing for about a week now, and I don't know where he's
been, you'll have to ask him." Josh said quietly.

	"Will you be staying around the area?" The policeman asked him. Josh nodded
and sat down in the chair he'd been in for the last hour. They were just
leaving him alone when Justin and Charlie walked in.

	"Just!" Josh said as he ran up to Justin and put his arms around him. "They
say Mark has drugs in his system, some they can't even identify."

	"But how? I mean, Mark didn't take drugs did he?"

	"No, I mean, I don't think so. We're just gonna have to wait till he wakes
up." Josh said sadly, and sat down. Justin sat down next to him, making sure
his coat came up to cover his chin and his hat hid the top of his head.
Charlie sat down next to him and he took her hand in his while he tried to
comfort Josh.

	"I just feel so fucking useless sitting here, doing nothing." Justin knew
that Josh was prone to melodramatics, but he only swore when he was getting
upset.

	"Josh calm down, there's nothing we can do...we just have to wait for him
to wake up, if the doctors really have no idea what it is his system, then
it could be a while..." Justin trailed off as a male nurse came down the
corridor and stopped in front of Josh.

	"Mr. Chasez?" The nurse hesitated. Josh looked up, and the nurse's mouth
went slightly slack, on recognising Josh. But Josh took it the wrong way.

	"What's wrong? What's happened? Where is Mark?" Josh suddenly went almost
hysterical.

	"Josh calm down!" Justin stood up to tell Josh to calm himself before
someone noticed them.

	"Oh my God! You're Justin Timberlake!" The nurse said, a little too loudly.

	"I wish you hadn't done that." Justin said looking at the nurse with a
pained expression on his face. Over the nurse's shoulder, Justin could see
about ten to fifteen girls slowly approaching their group. As he stuck his
head out to look though, he realised that was also the wrong thing to do,
and the group started coming quicker and quicker, getting louder and louder
and larger and larger each time he dared to look. Finally, he took off
himself, grabbing Charlie's hand. Josh realised what was going on very
quickly, and despite his near hysterical state realised that he wasn't
exactly going to be left alone if they saw him too, so he ran with Justin.
They headed through the ER and turned left before running into a side room
quickly. Josh slammed the door behind him and got out the way of the window.
He could see at an angle out the window and saw the gaggle fly past. He was
slightly out of breath and he noticed Justin and Charlie standing, leaning
against a wall. Then he saw who else was in the room.

	"Mark!"

	"Josh." Mark answered with a croaky voice. "The nurse said he was just
coming to get you."

	"Oh shit, we just ran from a gang of girls chasing Justin." Mark looked
over at Justin who was blushing a deep red colour. He turned back to Josh.

	"I hear I've got you to thank again for getting me into this place?" Mark
asked Josh with a slight smile on his face. Josh nodded.

	"Mark, what happened? Where have you been? The doctor said they found drugs
in your blood, what's going on?" Josh got quiet as he trailed off. Mark
looked over at Justin and Charlie, realising they were waiting for something
too.

	"Err... guys, would you wait outside a sec?" Josh asked the two younger
people.

	"But Josh..." Justin started in a whiny tone, not wanting to go outside to
the girls again.

	"Yeah sure." Charlie said quickly. Holding Justin's hand, she stuck her
head out the door, checking the coast was clear, and they ran out to find
another hiding place.

	"So... what happened?"

	"Work."

	"What? What do you mean work?" Josh snapped.

	"The military, they took me to a secret base somewhere, Area 19. They made
me finish the project." Mark said softly.

	"The bomb?"

	"Yeah." Mark said quietly, he felt his throat tighten slightly and his lip
quiver, but he refused to cry in front of Josh yet again.

	"Oh my God, and you've been there for the last week? How did they capture
you? How did they make you finish it?"

	"I'm guessing they drugged me and just transported me there. They finished
it by threatening me. They were gonna kill my Mom. I couldn't... I didn't
want to lose the only person who cares about me Josh, even if she doesn't
remember me." He said softly. Josh stayed quiet. Mark sighed, and rolled
over from his semi-sitting position, so that he was lying on his side facing
away from Josh.

	"I care about you Mark. I was scared when you went missing. I went to see
your Mom. She thinks you're mad at her by the way, because she couldn't
remember your name. The reason I found you was cos I went to your house the
night before, I tried to find something, anything to help me find you. Mark,
I can't believe the army did that to you, I'm so sorry. But, I can see why
you did it." Josh said to the figure who refused to turn back to him.

	"I can't!" Mark started. "It was completely stupid and immoral and
unethical, and everything else. Man, I'm so dumb. I'm risking millions of
lives to save my Mom's life. How fucking selfish am I? I'm probably going
down in history now as the guy who destroyed the world order!" Mark was
holding back a sob, but not very well.

	"Mark, listen to yourself! You knew when you were working on this bomb that
was what you were making, you knew that one of the results of the project
was going to be a bomb, but you wanted to finish the project, but you've
changed now? Because they kidnapped you? What's the truth Mark, why are you
getting like this?"

	"Because you made me feel like this, ok?" Mark shouted turning around to
face Josh, his face finally creasing with tears running down his cheeks. "I
never thought about any fucking ethical implications, then you came along
and I realised that there are more important things in life than getting
your name on the front of Scientific America or the Scientific Journal. I've
put myself and everyone else at risk cos I was so fucking careless and
selfish."

	"At least you admit it. What do you want to do about it?"

	"There's nothing I can do."

	"Why did you get on the project in the first place? It wasn't just glory
was it?" Josh asked.

	"No, the military persuaded me." Mark was consciously trying to slow his
breathing, but it was ragged.

	"How? How did they persuade you?" Josh asked, his voice soft, trying to
calm Mark.

	"They showed me, pictures, photographs of installations in the Middle East
and Korea and even Africa where there were nuclear weapons, pointing right
at America." Mark swallowed. "I've still got them, if you want to see them.
Maybe that will make you understand!" Mark said hopefully, turning back to
Josh.

	"I doubt it Mark." Josh said, sitting on the side of the bed Mark was
facing. "I doubt it, but I still feel something for you. You're no longer
involved with this project are you?." Mark shook his head.

	"No."

	"Then I'd like to think of you as a friend. I always said if you got out of
the project, then I would think of you as a friend."

	"But I didn't get out of it! They made me finish it!"

	"But you wouldn't have, if you felt you had any choice, right?" Josh asked
with a small smile on his face. Mark shook his head.

	"I guess not." Josh smiled, and hugged Mark around the shoulders.

	"Do you mind if we come in?" Josh heard from the door, and standing there
were Justin and Charlie, both looking a little out of breath. "It's just,
we've been running around for the last twenty minutes, and we could really
do with a break. Sorry if we're interrupting something."

	"You're not, I think we were just about done." Josh said, smiling gently at
Mark. Mark smiled back, smiling genuinely for the first time in weeks.

***

	"Mr. Carey, my name is detective Rampling of the drug squad. We need to ask
you some questions, I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask your guests to
leave." The police officer entered the room and the guests filed out,
casting worried glances at Mark, who had an almost exasperated expression on
his face. Josh, Justin and Charlie stood outside for about two minutes
before the door opened again and a slightly stunned looking detective walked
out. The three of them looked into the room, and saw Mark sitting
comfortably on the bed. They filed back in.

	"What happened?" Josh asked first.

	"Well, nothing, why?" Mark asked, seemingly confused.

	"Well, he had questions to ask, about the drugs in your blood, right?"

	"Yes." Mark almost chuckled. "But, I work for the military." The three of
them got confused expressions on their faces. "To help with things like
administration and basic hierarchy in the bases, they give like, honorary
military positions to scientists. Like if they're just lab assistants, they
call them privates. If they're higher up, like I was, in charge of the most
important project going on at any military base at the moment, then they
give a higher title -- like colonel." Mark said with a smug expression on his
face. "I just showed him my military ID in my wallet," Mark indicated his
wallet on the nightstand. "And I told him he had no jurisdiction. He left
after that." Mark smiled slightly.

	"Damn, I could do with one of them, next time I get pulled over for
speeding!" Justin said with a big grin on his face.

	"Don't even think about it pretty boy." Mark said, everyone started
laughing, and for the first time in several weeks, he felt like himself
again -- before his Mom got sick, before he had to work for the military,
when he was just Mark Carey. And he was really happy.

***

	"Mark can go home today, so I thought I'd go pick him up at the hospital.
Is that ok?" Josh said over the phone. He was talking to Lance -- they had
work to do today, but he knew that Lance wouldn't mind.

	"Yeah, I guess so Josh, but you can be back in Orlando by tomorrow, right?"

	"Yeah, sure. I'll see you later alright scoop?"

	"Yeah, bye man." They both hung up, and Josh sped up. He wanted to catch
Mark before he got out the hospital and had a chance to call a cab. He was
so far over the speed limit he was sure he didn't want to look at the
speedometer. "Mark!" He shouted as he pulled up at the hospital. Mark had
just been hailing a cab when he got there. He looked a lot better than he
had two days before.

	"Josh!" Mark looked at Josh with surprise. "What are you doing here?"

	"I wanted to come pick you up." Josh said, with a slightly hurt tone to his
voice. Mark sounded almost accusing when he'd asked why Josh was there.

	"I didn't mean it like that -- I meant, haven't you got recording today?"

	"Yeah, well, I got out of it. I wanted to spend some time with you now
you're out the hospital." Josh smiled and grabbed Mark's bag. He didn't have
very much, just what Josh had picked up for him that first day. Josh hugged
Mark as they moved away from the hospital.

	"Thanks Josh." Josh smiled at him and they both climbed in.

***

	"So... what do you want to do?" Mark asked as he threw the dirty clothes
from his bag into the washing machine.

	"I don't mind... talk?" Mark smiled slightly and turned around to turn on
the machine.

	"Ok, do you want something to drink?"

	"No thanks." Josh seemed nervous about something. "I was wondering..."

	"Yeah?" Mark asked expectantly.

	"I was wondering if I could see those photos, you know, the ones you said
the military gave you, the proof of nuclear weapons aimed at America..."
Josh bit his lower lip. Mark nodded slightly, he was back again, three days
ago, in the facility, and he felt miserable again. He sighed, remembering
what he'd done. The thoughts washed through his head, and for a moment he
felt like telling Josh he couldn't see them, after all, they were the entire
reason he'd put the entire world at risk. He ran up the stairs, and pulled
the brown envelope out of the slim box at the top of his closet. He walked
back downstairs, and handed it to Josh, he felt tired and sat down next to
him at the kitchen table. Josh pulled out the photos, and saw rocky
terrains, presumably Iraq, or somewhere in the Middle East that showed
nuclear weapons. It didn't tell you they were pointed at America, or even
which compass direction they were pointing in. The next picture was of a
port looking facility, taken from above, a satellite photo, and it said
along the bottom -- `Pyongyang' Josh thought that was in North Korea... then
he turned to the final picture. It showed a sparsely wooded area, and what
looked like an abandoned airstrip.

	"Where's this one?" Josh asked, as it had no writing on it.

	"Oh, they said... I think, Mozambique or somewhere like that... somewhere
in Africa -- apparently, someone like Saddam paid their government to let the
Iraqis use their airfields." Josh nodded, then looked back at the photo. It
didn't look like Africa. In fact, something felt wrong about it.

***

	"I guess I'd better get going." Josh said quietly. They'd been talking in
Mark's sitting room for about three hours now. Mark looked up, and saw Josh
pulling on his coat.

	"You could, you know, stay if you wanted to?" Mark said cautiously. Mark
stood up and followed Josh towards the front door.

	"I think we'd better save that for another night." Josh said to Mark as he
reached the door. Mark hung back, about five feet behind Josh. Josh smiled
slightly at the scared expression on Mark's face. He held out his hand, and
Mark, looking shocked, reached out and took it. Josh pulled Mark towards him
and kissed him. "Doesn't mean I can't look forward to it though." He rested
his head against Mark's. "I'm glad you're home." He said before kissing Mark
again. He turned and opened the door. Barely looking back, he climbed in his
car and reversed out the driveway. Only when he was about to speed off did
he look back towards the door and wave at Mark who was standing there with a
slightly goofy grin on his face.

***

	Josh climbed into bed and quickly fell asleep that night. His dreams came
hard and fast.

	He was lying in his back, looking up at the sky as the clouds flew past.
The grass was soft underneath him and the sun was just right -- not too
bright, but not overcast either. Suddenly above his head there was a face;
it was his first girlfriend, when he was 16 -- her name was Vicky, and he
really had thought that he was in love with her. "Come on, let's go through
the woods." Vicky said with a big grin on her face. Josh knew what was
coming -- the woods were, well, a place to go for teenagers interested in
getting some heavy petting in, in Bowie. He stood up and she grabbed his
hand as they ran into the woods and made their way through the undergrowth
and pine trees to the far side, where they knew there was a private airfield
and a couple of old shacks, but the whole place was abandoned, had been
since the Second World War. They got to about ten yards from the clearing
and stopped -- Josh sat with his back to the clearing, resting up against a
tree. Vicky sat astride his lap and they started making out, their tongues
down each others throats. Josh's hands crept around her hips and up to her
waist, then a little higher, taking in the curve of her hips to her waist,
then her ribs swelling out slightly, and then her breasts, oh those perky
teenage breasts that made him hard at night! Suddenly there was a crash and
what sounded like a pneumatic drill starting up. There were a lot of shouts
really suddenly, and Josh wondered how the people who were making so much
noise got so close without him hearing them. Vicky jumped from Josh's lap
and quickly stood and rearranged herself.

	"Where's that noise coming from?" Josh whispered to Vicky.

	"I don't know. It sounds like it's coming from those shacks in the clearing
-- but there shouldn't be anyone in there should there?"

	"I don't think so, I never knew they belonged to anyone -- I wonder who it
is? Shall we go and have a look?" He said with a smirk. She smiled back and
holding hands again, they made their way to the clearing. Looking from
behind a mulberry bush which provided plenty of cover, they watched as some
men seemed to be constructing a chain-link fence. They were all big men,
with close cropped hair and they appeared to be working very quickly. The
two of them watched for maybe three-quarters of an hour and in that time,
the fence was up most of the way around the airfield.

	"Look!" Vicky said hoarsely -- they'd been whispering the whole time, and
her throat was sore. Josh looked where she pointed and there was another guy
with a load of signs which he was attaching to the fence with what looked
like a giant stapler. `Property of U.S. government -- keep out' -- short and
to the point.

	"Hey! You kids! What do you think you're doing?" One of the burly
construction workers had come up on the other side of the bush while the two
were looking in the opposite direction. In an instant, the two of them were
to their heels, making their way through the undergrowth, scratching
themselves in the brambles and bushes and low hanging branches.

	Josh woke up, slightly out of breath, but fell back onto the pillow and was
asleep a few seconds later.

	The next morning, Josh woke up and trudged down the stairs yawning. He went
out and picked up the newspaper off his front porch before heading back
inside. Josh made himself a breakfast of a large cup of coffee and went to
sit on the terrace outside his kitchen. He opened the newspaper to the first
page:

"Palmer Airbase, Fort Lauderdale, to close next Tuesday -- job losses
expected." Josh almost spat out his coffee. The dream from the night before
came back to him, the shacks, the position of the airfield, even the trees
around it. He stood up, almost spilling his coffee and ran inside to the
kitchen. Picking up the phone, he dialled Mark's number.

"Mark? We need to talk about one of those photos..."

End of Chapter 6
TBC...

Hey all, sorry it's taken me...six months to write this instalment, but
basically, with On The Streets slowing down to a halt as well, what can I
say, I've actually gone off boy band members. I don't even find Justin
attractive, and I know everyone says he is... am I a freak or something? I
will try to finish the next instalment of OTS for those who are interested,
and I'm gonna try and round this story off, as it was only supposed to be
about 8 chapters long from the start, anyway, hope to hear from some of you
soon...James