Chapter Twelve
~Port Charles, 3 AM~
Lucky Spencer is caught in the middle of a nightmare, the type where you are only half-asleep and aware of the coming horror, but paralyzed and unable to run or move.
He’s swimming in a big lake, all alone, with only the moon as his light. The water is so cold. He can barely move his arms and legs. Wait……there’s a shape in the water up ahead. Big, black. It’s MOVING! It’s headed right toward me, but I can’t swim, my arms and legs won’t work right! As the big shape moves nearer, suddenly, a big mouth full of teeth opens, and Lucky can tell that it is a huge alligator. It must be 20 feet long, Lucky thinks. The alligator dives down deep into the water as Lucky is left alone with his thoughts and his feeble attempts at staying afloat. Lucky jerks abruptly as he feels a sharp slice and pull at his leg. It’s the alligator! It has my leg! Lucky is pulled under water for several long minutes. Finally, Lucky can hold his breath no longer and succumbs to the watery depths. He feels very sleepy as he inhales his last of the water.
"HUHHH!!" Lucky jerks awake. Where am I? @$#@@! Lucky blinks for a moment, then realizes that he is lying sprawled in a chair. He tries to jump up, but something is wrong with his leg. It pulls him back down into the chair with a thud. Looking up, Lucky stares into the face of three big men. Andreas speaks first.
"Mr. Spencer. Welcome aboard."
Lucky looks down at his leg, which by now is swollen and beginning to hurt quite a bit. He sees that his jeans are ripped. There is some blood covering his lower leg, and it is twisted at an odd angle to his knee. Grabbing his leg, he cries out in pain and remembrance of the last few hours.
***flashback***
<<< Lucky and Todd Manning are in Todd’s office looking at the programming for Buchanan Enterprises’ network. Lucky spots the trail of the hidden virus code and is mentally noting the software that he intends to use to capture and neutralize it before it has a chance to activate. Suddenly, the door to the office splinters open by force, and two armed men reach for Lucky and Todd. Todd is quickly taken by a several swift blows to the head, but Lucky manages to run across the room and defend himself behind a credenza. When Lucky sees that Todd is being zipped up into a body bag, he freaks and lunges over the credenza at his attacker. Lucky catches his foot on the edge of the credenza, and feels his leg turn and give as he hears a vicious snap. Writhing in pain on the office floor, Lucky can’t avoid the chloroformed rag that is placed over his face. As he drifts down into oblivion, Lucky feels himself being lifted and placed into a bag. In his last conscious moment, he feels the cold, stiff plastic scraping his skin and hears the rough zip of the bag that covers his face. >>>
Lucky looks up again at Andreas and the other two goons and begins to hyperventilate. The memory of the chloroform and being placed in a body bag cause him to feel like he can’t catch his breath. He grabs his leg, attempts to support it, and gets up out of the chair. He hops over to the wall and leans his shaking hand back against the smooth surface, but slides down to the floor in defeat as the intensity of the throbbing nerves in his leg make escape seem impossible.
Andreas walks over to Lucky, grabs him by the arm, and pulls him into the chair again. At this time, one of the men ushers in a half-conscious Todd Manning. Todd lays his blood-matted head against the back of the chair and moans. One goon swats Todd’s head upright, and the other lifts Lucky by the armpits until he is sitting upright as well. The armed men station themselves behind Lucky and Todd.
Andreas speaks again. "Gentlemen, sit up straight and behave. We have company."
As Helena Cassadine enters the room, Todd looks up with bleary eyes. His eyes focus, and he looks quizzically for a moment at her severe profile and demeanor and says, "Cruella DeVille. Kill any Dalmatian puppies lately?" Lucky snorts beside him. A guard steps up to Todd and backhands him across the length of his face. Todd sputters blood from his lips.
"Mr. Manning. Your reputation does you no justice," smirks Helena. "You are foul as well as stupid."
Todd’s eyes glare death towards Helena, but he stays silent. Helena walks over to him and traces with her finger the long scar across his cheek that has become red from the blow to his face. An unpleasant shiver runs down Todd’s spine as Helena meets his hazel eyes with lascivious glee. Todd is the first to break the lock that she has on his eyes, and he looks down at his feet.
Turning away from Todd, Helena says, "And Lucky…How is it that you are always so valiant, yet so defeated?" She looks down at his damaged leg and smiles. "You must take after your father." Lucky scowls at Helena and attempts to get out of his chair again, but is promptly knocked down.
"Let’s not waste time with these social pleasantries," says Helena. "Andreas, show our guests to their new homes."
Todd and Lucky file out of the room, followed by the three men and Helena. Todd is a bit subdued, hanging his head down with his hair in his face. His grimace demonstrates the effects of his concussion. Lucky is having trouble walking, and half walks and half hops as he grunts in pain. Lucky looks over his shoulder at Helena and desperately asks, "What are you doing now, Helena? Let us go! We haven’t done anything." Helena ignores him. The guards push both men forward.
The young men are stupefied when they stop in front of two coffins. "Mr. Manning, Mr. Spencer, your new homes." Helena laughs and gestures toward the boxes.
Lucky feels his mind race and slow down at the same time. It is hard to emotionally process what his subconscious already knows.
Todd and Lucky totally panic. Lucky shrieks obscenities at the top of his lungs and throws a wild head butt at Andreas. He catches Andreas on the forehead, and both men topple down together to the floor. Todd attempts to throw a punch at one of the large guards, but his rignt arm is firmly grasped by the other guard and promptly twisted out of socket and behind his back. Todd just moans as his knees buckle and he starts sinking to the floor.
The other guard picks Lucky up off of Andreas, carries him to a coffin, and throws him inside. Lucky’s bad leg is further twisted as he lands in the box, and he cries out in pain. As the bottom half of the coffin is slammed on top of him, Lucky is essentially paralyzed from the neck down and is now so terrified that he can’t speak. His arms and legs are immobilized inside of two hundred pounds of wood, metal, and padded satin. His hands crush the padding beneath them as they tear at the fabric. All he can do is lay there with his head resting on the satin pillow, his dry mouth twitching, his heart pounding, and his eyes staring wildly at Helena. In a motherly gesture, Helena gently smoothes a lock of hair to the side of Lucky’s forehead. Lucky blinks and flinches, then turns his head away. "Goodbye, Lucky," she says cheerily. He hears Todd struggling and yelling in the background, but all sound is cut off when Helena slowly closes the top of Lucky’s coffin, then fastens it tightly over his screaming face.
Jason pursues his dream
Luke in Llanview
A call from Laura