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Andrew gave the rowdy Bearcats fans one of his murderous glares as he walked through the parking lot towards the team’s bus with Neil right in front of him.
Nicky kept his head lowered behind him, staying silent for once as the abuse being hurled towards the Foxes grew more intense.
The Foxes were almost halfway through the parking lot when a bottle came flying out of nowhere from the crowd, hitting Aaron on the shoulder and making him swear.
Andrew shot the crowd another angry look before a shoe was thrown right at him, followed by a bottle, and another one and another one. Until all hell broke loose when a cooler hit a Foxes Fan, knocking them to the ground with a thud.
The angry crowd swarmed through the metal railings and surrounded the Foxes, leaving them with nowhere to run.
A rioter punched Andrew in the jaw, and Andrew immediately swung back, hitting the young man hard enough to send him directly to the floor.
“Renée!” Andrew shouted out as he threw one of his knives at her, ready to defend their team.
Andrew and Renée stood back to back, on guard, ready to attack anyone who tried to attack them.
Andrew lost sight of the other Foxes in the mess of the rioting crowd. He saw occasional glimpses of them: Alison’s long, blonde hair being pulled, Matt beating the living shit out of a guy who had hit Dan, and Aaron being knocked to the ground when someone smashed something over his head.
Andrew and Renée continued to defend their team until the police were finally able to get the riot under control.
The aftermath was just as chaotic, with the bodies of injured fans strewn across the parking lot floor, the asphalt covered in blood and broken glass.
Andrew turned around to see Wymack and Nicky crouched over a member of the team. Andrew saw the blonde hair and quickly ran over to see Aaron unconscious on the floor with blood and glass in his hair. Nicky was crying as he tried to keep pressure on the still heavily bleeding wound. But Aaron was still breathing, so Andrew determined him to be in safe hands with Coach and Nicky and looked around to see the rest of the chaos.
Renée was gently cradling her arm, whilst Dan looked at Matt’s bleeding face, which he had gotten from that fight with the guy. Allison looked deeply offended at her smudged makeup and ruined clothes, whilst she gave one last kick to the guy who had pulled her hair.
Andrew turned around again and saw Kevin standing alone, a few gates down, with his back to the rest of the group. Andrew walked over to him and could immediately see something that looked like horror in Kevin’s eyes.
“Where’s Neil?” Kevin asked as he stared at the almost destroyed orange PSU duffle bag with the white lettering of Josten's almost coming off.
Andrew slowly spun in a circle, looking for any red-headed idiots causing more problems with the crowd or police.
He couldn’t see any. He couldn’t see him. He couldn’t see Neil.
Andrew stormed back over towards Coach and Nicky as Aaron was being loaded into an ambulance.
“Where’s Neil?” He demanded from Wymack, ignoring the fact that his twin was still unconscious. “I asked you a question”
“I don’t know, Andrew," Wymack replied. “I’ve been trying to help save your brother’s life”
Andrew scoffed and rolled his eyes, then turned his look onto Nicky “You go with him. I need Coach to stay with me”
Nicky nodded and climbed into the back of the ambulance and grabbed Aaron’s hand, causing Aaron to groan. The paramedics slammed the doors shut and drove out of the parking lot with their lights flashing and sirens blaring.
Andrew saw Renée next, who was still cradling her left arm close to her chest. “It’s just a sprain,” she reassured him when she noticed the look he gave her.
“Where’s Neil?” Andrew asked again for what felt like the millionth time in the last ten minutes.
Renée looked around at the remainder of the injured rioters and bystanders, looking for any signs of Neil, the same way Andrew had done the moment he found out that Neil was missing. “Matt!” She called out over her shoulder. “Have you seen Neil?”
“I kind of can’t open my eyes right now to see, so I’m gonna say no," Matt called back.
“Dan?”
“I haven’t seen him,” she replied.
“We’ll find him,” she reassured Andrew as she turned to face him again.
“NEIL!” Andrew screamed at the top of his lungs, making all of the other Foxes and people in the parking lot jump at the sound.
With that, the rest of the Foxes began joining in and calling out Neil’s name.
“We’ll split up and look for him,” Renée said. They all went in different directions, looking for Neil or for any more clues about where he might have disappeared.
“Well, the bus is over that way,” Allison pointed over towards the other side of the parking lot. “And his duffel bag is that way,” she said and pointed in the opposite direction. “So chances are that he’s not going to be on the bus”
“Go and look anyway!” Andrew shouted, fearing that maybe Neil had been one of the many people who were being taken to the local hospitals.
“I’ll go and speak to that police officer," Dan said, and jogged over towards an officer and began talking to him.
“Andrew?” Matt said in a calm voice, “Have you tried calling his phone?”
Andrew hadn’t. He hadn’t even thought of that. Why wasn’t that the first thing he thought of?
He pulled his phone out of his pocket, went to the first contact on his speed dial and listened carefully as the dial tone rang out.
“Andrew!” Allison shouted from over towards the team bus. Andrew looks around and sees her running towards him, waving Neil’s ringing phone in the air “Is it his?” she said, almost panting from how fast she was running.
Andrew snatched the phone from Allison's hand and pressed a few buttons on his own phone before the song about runaways began playing through the battered and broken phone that belonged to the Junkie.
“Ok,” Dan said as the team all started to gather around Andrew, who was staring at Neil’s phone like it would suddenly give him all the answers he needed. “The police haven’t seen him, but they said that he could have been taken to the hospital as one of the unidentified people”
“We’ll try Binghamton General first and then work our way from there. Aaron’s been taken there with Nicky anyway, so it’s the best place to start,” Wymack said in a firm tone. “Everyone, get your asses on that bus. Matt, when we get there, I want you to get that face of yours looked at. Renée that goes for you with that arm of yours, too. I don’t want you on my court until you’ve both had the all-clear. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Coach," Renée and Matt said in unison.