“Oh Jesus!” Starr groaned. “Don’t you two have an off button or something?”
Cassy and Brian separated quickly, the same sheepish grin on both of their faces.
“Don’t worry you two,” Jedia objected. “I think it’s sweet.”
“It was sweet five days ago,” Starr said. “Now it’s just giving me a cavity.”
“Jealous?” Cassy retorted.
“Yeah, right,” Starr scoffed. “I’ve seen bullfrogs catching flies with better technique than that.”
“Wanna find out for sure?” Brian teased, blowing a kiss at her.
Starr backed up a step, holding up her hands. “If I ever want that much of Cassy’s spit, I’ll go and suck on her toothbrush for awhile.”
Ewww!” Kristine and Jedia gagged over the scrabble game they had set up on the picnic table with Kevin and Howie.
“Waxing,” Kevin spelled out, marking down the points.
Kristine glared down at the board, “I’m going back to playing with Cassy and Alana. At least then there’s a shot in hell that I might actually win a game,” She grumbled.
Jedia stared down at her pieces, the letters flowing together. She had been right when she decided not to pursue an interest in Brian. He and Cassy had shocked everyone by starting a relationship about a week and a half after they met. Although they stayed quiet about it, Jedia sensed that most of the guys were completely bewildered by his actions.
She supposed that it was because they hadn’t know each other for very long but Jedia and the other girls were willing to overlook it. It was like what happened in college, people started dating within days of knowing each other because they were around each other so much, it seemed like a lot longer. Cassy and Brian had been spending more time together in that week and a half than they had apart. They were completely natural together, it seemed like they had been a couple longer than 6 days.
They wouldn’t talk about what would happen if the guys suddenly had to move on, at least not with anyone else. Jedia couldn’t blame them, why worry about the future when the present seemed nearly perfect? The three days had come and gone and the press still hadn’t found them. The boys had talked it over and although Nick was pushing for them to leave and find a more comfortable place to stay, the other four were content camping out and just having a good time with the girls.
“Do you want to go for a walk or something so we can stop grossing Starr out?” Brian asked.
“I’d rather go for a swim,” Cassy grabbed her suit off the clothesline.
“Fine with me.” Brian looked back over to where Starr was completely absorbed into her writing once again.
“Do you want to go with them?” AJ asked Alana from where they were sitting near the fire, a few empty bottles around their feet.
Alana gulped down the rest of her Jack and coke, shuddered at the burn, and shook her head, getting up from the lawn chair and going over to watch the scrabble game. AJ followed her after a beat, resting his arm lightly around her shoulders. “Stop doing that!” She finally exclaimed, shrugging away from him.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, taking another drink from his coke bottle. It was straight Jack Daniels, just the way he liked it. Alana had been shuddering at the taste since they opened the bottle but she was pushing her way through it, just like every other girl he had been with lately.
“Just leave me alone,” She clenched her hands in fists at her sides. “I don’t need you following me around like I’m a fucking toddler, alright? If my parents were here my father would kick your ass for even trying it.”
“If your parents were here we wouldn’t be able to drink this stuff either,” AJ took another gulp and grinned.
Alana wrinkled her nose. “Your breath seriously reeks like that shit. You better brush your teeth before they come back.”
AJ watched her stalk away and chucked the rest of his bottle into the woods. He had never been with a girl who tossed him aside after only one night. Just looking at her made him hot, she was the only other person he had ever met who could match him drink for drink and still have enough ego to fight back against him whenever she felt the need to.
She was also currently sitting on Nick’s lap, kissing his neck and snuggling up against him. AJ felt his body temperature skyrocket and he saw crimson through the black lenses of his sun glasses. Who the fuck did Carter think he was, coming onto his girl like that?
“What the fuck do you think you’re doing?” AJ growled, clenching his fists at his side.
Alana stepped away from Nick, not even bothering to hide her satisfied smirk.
“Dude!” Nick exclaimed. “I wasn’t doin’ anything!”
“Bastard,” AJ gritted his teeth. “There are four other girls here, why are you trying to get with her?”
“I’m not yours!” Alana yelled at him, “So we had sex, big fucking deal. If Nick wants me, I’m still fair game.”
“But I don’t want her!” Nick protested. “She was coming onto me! It’s not like I asked for it...”
AJ swung his fist out only to have it caught by Kevin. “You’ve been drinking again,” Kevin said with disgust. “Nick, you might as well take a walk. He’s not going to calm down as long as you’re still here.”
“But I didn’t do anything!” Nick whined.
“That doesn’t matter when he’s like this and thinks you did,” Kevin pointed out. Nick threw his hands up in the air and stormed off down the road. Kevin let AJ go long enough to pluck up the pot of water sitting by the camp stove. He quickly dumped it over AJ’s head and set the empty pot back down. “Maybe now you’ll cool off,” Kevin muttered, walking away.
“What did you do that for?” Kristine grabbed Alana and pulled her aside, “You don’t even like Nick.”
“Maybe I do,” Alana objected, trying to pull her arm out of Kristine’s grasp.
“No you don’t. You would never go for a high maintenance pretty-boy even if someone paid you to do it. Why in the world would you do something like that?”
“It’s none of your business,” Alana shot back.
“Cut it out, Alana,” Kristine said with a shake of her head. “Right now I’m the only one who gives a damn about what’s going on in that twisted little mind of yours. All those guys see is a girl who can’t keep her pants on. You’ve got your friends to back you up and you still won’t let us. I don’t know what’s going on between you and AJ but why did you drag Nick into it?”
“AJ was getting on my nerves,” Alana admitted with a sigh. “I told him to back off but I knew he wouldn’t unless I did something to make him hate me.”
“So instead of actually talking this through with him, you’d rather see him attack his friends so you can play the role of the independent woman?” Kristine asked in disbelief.
“Look, I’m not as fucking smart as you are,” Alana yanked her arm away. “So sue me already.”
“I’m sorry for getting upset at you,” Kristine said softly. “I just wish you knew the damage you might have just done. They’re good friends Alana, they’ve known each other for over a decade and if you did something to break up that friendship, you could hurt them as a band and really disappoint millions of people across the globe. This goes so much further then you wanting him to leave you alone and there are so many other ways you could have taken care of the situation. If it really got bad, you could have come to one of us or even any one of those guys for help dealing with it. You don’t have to be as alone as you seem to think you are.”
Kristine kept her eyes on Alana who was staring down into the dirt, watching a few ants working. “I’ll talk to AJ when he sobers up,” Alana said finally. “I’ll talk to Nick when he gets back.”
Kristine smiled and hugged her. “You know, he’d still be a good friend for you, even if you didn’t want to date him. You two are a lot alike and you could have a lot of fun together still.”
“I just don’t think he’d be happy with that,” Alana said before walking into the camper.
“Hey! Wait up!” Nick stopped and glanced over his shoulder to see Jedia running up behind him.
“Let me guess, you want to bitch me out and blame me for your friend being a ho too, right?” Nick chucked a rock into the woods.
“Alana isn’t a ho,” Jedia disagreed. “She’s really confused, very boy crazy, and makes some bad choices but she’s not a ho.”
“You sure could fool me,” Nick scoffed.
“You don’t know her the way the rest of us do,” Jedia said. “Everything she does is because she’s rebelling against her family or an image or something else in her life. She has this internal need to set herself apart from the norm to make herself stand out and to make people take notice.”
“Right. So why did you decide to follow me?” Nick asked.
“I just wanted to make sure you were okay. Everyone else seemed to think you were because they were more worried about AJ but I recognized the early signs of internal aggression and I wanted to make sure you someone to talk to so it wouldn’t lead to any violent outbreaks later on,” Jedia explained. “ I have a feeling that inner pressure would be worse on you because you’re forced to live two different lives, one in the spot light and then your real life outside and you’re not supposed to feel things like anger or frustration so they’d just keep building and building until you would explode in these fits of violent rage.”
“Just...stop it there,” Nick cracked a smile and held up a hand. “Girl, you’re cute, you’re funny, but you try to act too damn smart all the time. Don’t you ever take the time just to feel without analyzing the fuck out of it?”
“Can you go a conversation without bringing in the bad-boy crude language that you keep using?” Jedia shot back, crossing her arms over her chest.
“Anger is a start,” Nick grinned. “You’re pretty when you’re upset like that.”
“Why are you saying that to me?” Jedia asked. “I don’t understand you. I don’t want a guy to like me for my looks, I want them to like me for me.”
“And quoting everything you learned from your psychology book is really reflecting your true personality?” Nick asked. “Come on, you’ve got to be able to find the balance. The first thing guys look at isn’t your degree, it’s your looks. If there’s something behind that, then fantastic but when it comes down to it, looks are what grabs the guy’s eyes first.”
“That isn’t how it should be,” She objected.
“But it’s how it actually is. You can’t change instincts, even with a master’s degree.”
“There’s more to me than my face. Why doesn’t that matter?”
“Well, what more is there?” Nick sat down on the guardrail. “All I see is a pretty girl who tries to act like a complete brain all the time.”
“Not all the time,” Jedia protested.
“What else do you do?” Nick asked. “There’s got to be something you do at school when you’re not studying and I know you can’t do that all of the time. What’s your little secret past time?”
“Swear you won’t tell the other girls?” Jedia asked.
“Cross my heart,” Nick drew an invisible X over his chest.
“I dance...like two or three times a week.”
“Ballet or tap, or are you talking going out and shaking your ass on a bar for free drinks?” Jedia’s cheeks went scarlet, making Nick burst out laughing.
“I do ballet too,” She put in quickly. “Or at least I did until my parents couldn’t afford the lessons anymore. I just like going out and being able to dance away the stress away. There’s something about a bass thumping in my ear that just get’s me...”
“Hot?” Nick grinned and tapped his finger against her nose, making her blush even more.
“I don’t do that,” Jedia turned away from him.
“You shouldn’t have to if there’s a guy willing to do his job right,” Nick stood behind her and wrapped his arms around her shoulders. “Come on Jedia, just loosen up a bit. I really like this side of you.”
Jedia turned around and stretched up to kiss him quickly. She doubted her face would ever return to its normal color again after that day, but she might as well make it worthwhile.
“Now that’s what I’m talking about!” Nick bent over to kiss her a little longer.
“I...don’t normally do stuff like that,” Jedia stammered, breaking away from him.
“That’s the problem. You don’t let yourself take chances, even when they could work out for you. You hide behind books because you’re too damn afraid to take what you want. Well, it’s right here if you’d take it.”
“How do you know that I even want you?” Jedia asked. “You’re about as far from the image that I had a crush on as you possibly could be. I don’t think you’ve gone a full sentence without swearing since you’ve been here. Why in the world would I want you?”
“If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have made an excuse to come after me because trust me baby, it was a pretty lame one. You would have told me to fuck off when I started complimenting you and you never would have kissed me,” Nick wrapped his arms around her. “Don’t let this Jedia go away, she’s the type of girl my mom always told me I should be with and for once my mom might have been right.” He held her a moment longer before releasing her. “I’m going to head back, are you coming?”
“In a bit,” She murmured, starring down into the ground. “I just need to...well...think.”
“Whatever,” Nick shook his head and turning to walk down the road.
Jedia stared after him, wanting more than anything to catch up to him again but not being able to convince herself to actually do it. “I guess it’s not meant to be then,” She muttered, before putting her face in her hands and letting the tears go. “It’s probably better this way,” She sniffled, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. “He’d get bored with me after he realized there really isn’t much else to me besides me being a brain. It’s got to be better for it not to start at all,” She choked back another sob. “I just wish I knew why it feels like I stabbed myself in the chest.”
“Did you talk to him at all?” Kristine asked the next night, climbing over Starr into her sleeping bag.
“I don’t know what to say to him,” Jedia sighed. “He kept looking at me with this smile like he expected me to say something and I don’t know what it is.”
“How about, ‘hey Blondie, I should have told you yesterday that I really like you too but I was too hung up over your hot kiss that I couldn’t put a sentence together?’” Cassy suggested.
“I don’t think it’s that easy anymore,” Starr said.
“Why isn’t it?” Alana asked. “He likes her, she likes him.”
“He likes a side of me,” Jedia said miserably. “I’m not like that all of the time, I’m not even like that most of the time. I think that’s the first time I’ve ever just randomly kissed a guy.”
“You’ve never just gone up and kissed someone?” Alana asked in disbelief.
“You’re worried you’ll start something only to get ditched later, aren’t you?” Kristine asked
“So you’re worried about something ending when you won’t even start it,” Alana shook her head. “Jedia, he was right about one thing. You need to take a chance for once. Cassy and Brian are working out so why can’t you and Nick?”
“He’ll leave eventually and I’ll have to go back to campus,” Jedia explained. “What’s the point?”
“Long distance doesn’t always end badly,” Starr spoke up softly. “It could work out if you really wanted it to.”
“Just take it for what it’s worth,” Cassy suggested. “Don’t worry about when they’re going to leave or what’s going to happen later. You can have fun with him now and that should matter the most.”
“You know Cassy, I think that’s the most sense you’ve ever made,” Alana nodded in agreement. “Jedia, if you don’t go for it, you’ll regret it for the rest of your life guaranteed. If you go for it and it fails, you may regret it or you may not so you might as well give yourself a chance.”
“Thanks girls,” Jedia smiled. “I’ll think about it at least.”
“You better do more than that after keeping us up this late,” Cassy teased, walking to the back of the camper with Alana.
Maddy woke with a start, growling at the shadows around him. He put his nose in the air and whined loudly before barking several times. “Shaddap dog,” Mr. Johns shouted from inside his camper.
Maddy whined again, pacing back and forth with his ears laid back, growling softly at the darkness. He barked loudly as a large shadow drifted inside the camper. There was a muffled scream followed by the softer sound of a knife cutting with a faint gurgling ending in silence. Maddy barked again, pulling at his chain as the shadow stepped out of the RV again, blood dripping from the three prongs of the garden hand-rake. Maddy whined again, lunging at the shadow but being restricted by his chain.
The shadow stood facing the RV for a moment, giving Maddy time to start barking again. He swore softly before melting away into the night again.
“Kristine, wake up,” Starr said, pushing at her after dawn.
“You’re up early,” Kristine muttered. “What’s wrong?”
“I feel sick to my stomach,” She replied.
“Me too,” Jedia said. “I didn’t want to wake anyone else up but my stomach is in knots.”
Kristine gazed at the door and was overcome with nausea. “I think something’s wrong. Go wake up Cassy and Alana.”
“We’re already awake,” Cassy said, her voice shaking. “Guys, what’s going on?”
“The boys?” Jedia asked.
“It doesn’t feel that way,” Starr said slowly. “I really don’t want to go out there.”
“We’ve got to though,” Alana said, pushing open the door but standing away from the frame in a group with the other girls.
The gray light filtered into the RV, allowing them to gaze outside. Maddy’s head perked up and he started barking again. “Didn’t you hear him going crazy last night?” Starr asked. “Do you think someone was sneaking around?”
“He shut up after Dad yelled at him though,” Alana pointed out. “He could have been barking at nothing again.”
Maddy tugged at his chain, barking again. “If it was anyone, they’ve got to be gone by now,” Jedia said. “He never would have stopped barking to lay down if they were still around, right?”
“He’s dumb but too loyal to do something like that,” Alana agreed, walking down the steps into the cool dew-tinted grass.
The other four girls followed closely behind her, gazing slowly around the campsite. “What’s that?” Cassy asked, pointing to a darker puddle in the grass.
The four girls paled, Alana turning as white as a ghost and running over to the camper. “Mom, Dad?” She called, knocking on the door.
“Cassy, grab her now,” Kristine ordered.
Cassy reached for Alana a step too late. She flung open the RV door and let a piercing scream ring through the woods, leading into cries of disbelief. Cassy led her away from the door, clearing the way for the other girls to see what remained of her parents. There were holes in their necks, skulls, chests,and stomachs. Blood seemed to be covering everything. Alana’s mother’s mouth was frozen open in a silent cry for help. With the door open, the blood began to drip from the floor of the camper to a ground, forming another small puddling and tainting the air further.
“Jesus Christ!” Nick swore, running over with the other four guys. “No fucking way!”
“That’s what Maddy was barking about,” Starr wailed.
“This couldn’t have been an accident. There’s just no way,” Kevin said.
Cassy wrapped her arms around Alana’s shaking body, hugging her tightly. “We need to do something,” AJ said finally. “We need to call the fucking cops or something.”
Howie and Kevin both flipped open their cell phones and gazed down at them “No fucking service,” Kevin swore.
“Well we can’t just stand here!” AJ yelled.
“What else can we do?” Kristine sobbed, falling to her knees in the grass. “No one is going to get cell phone service in the middle of the mountains.”
Starr bent over and started to gag in between choking sobs. Howie wrapped an arm around her stomach, moving her hair behind her as she threw up into the grass. Within minutes, Jedia followed suit.
“We can’t stay here,” AJ said again. “We’ve got to get to a phone. Where else up here is there a phone?”
“In town,” Kristine said, being helped to her feet by Kevin. “You’re right, we need to get to a phone."
“Five of us will stay, five will go,” Kevin decided, turning Kristine away from the bodies. “We need to make sure the evidence is still here when they get here and no one is going off alone.”
“Take Alana for sure,” Howie said, gazing over to where she and Cassy were being embraced by Nick and Brian. “AJ, can you drive?”
“Yeah. I’ll be okay.”
“Take the four of them with you. The rest of us will stay here in the RV until you get back, okay?”
“Yeah,” With Nick’s help, AJ managed to get Alana tucked into a seat in the van between Cassy and Brian. Nick sat up front, his eyes still wide open from everything he had just seen.
“General store,” Alana muttered, rocking back and forth.
AJ didn’t need to be told twice. He made it there in minutes, squealing to a stop in front of the store. “Come on,” He nodded to Nick. “Just stay with her in the car for now, okay?” He glanced back to receive two nods from Cassy and Brian.
AJ slammed into the store “Dude, we really need to use your phone,” He marched towards the side where the top of Mr. Sierra’s head was visible over the counter. “Are you even fucking listening to me man? There’s been a goddamned murder and we need to use your phone!” He still received no answer and growing furious, AJ yanked the shopkeeper’s shoulder. “Oh fucking ass!” He yelped, jumping away from the counter.
Nick felt a lump rise up in his throat when he saw the hoe sticking out of the bloodstained forehead. Mr. Sierra’s fists were still tightly gripped around the pole, as if struggling to pull it out. “This is insane!” He yelled.
AJ hopped the counter to yank the phone from its receiver. “This is not happening!” He cried, slamming it back down and running to the back room. “Fuck! The asshole cut every phone line in this place! What the hell is going on here?”
Nick swallowed hard, forcing himself to look back at the counter and noticing a green piece of paper stuck to the register. He tried to avoid looking at the body as he picked it off of the register and read it.
Now you’ve seen what I’m capable of. If there was anyone else left in this town, they’d be in the same boat as your old friend here. I left a little present for you in the ranger station if you wanted to check there.
As for phones, I took care of all the ones in this place. Try smoke signals next time. For such creative girls, you really didn’t make a creative choice at all.
“Girls?” Nick muttered, “AJ, you’ve got to read this thing. Holy shit, he’s playing with us.”
“He’s playing with them,” AJ crumpled up the note and jammed it in his pocket. “We’re just stuck now.”
“If he’s playing with them, why the fuck can’t we just leave?” Nick asked. “We can get help and send it back up here but man, we’ve got to get out of here.”
“And leave them?” AJ asked in disbelief. “You know we can’t do that.”
“We’ll take them with us then!” Nick yelled. “Let’s just get the fuck outta here!”
The two of them bolted to the car. AJ threw it back into drive and started back to the campsite.
“It won’t come off,” Starr gritted her teeth, scrubbing at her already bright pink hands. “Why can’t I get rid of it?”
Kevin took her hands out of the wash bin and set them on the towel next to it. “It’s the damn smell,” Starr started crying again. “I don’t think it’s ever going away. Shut the door, please!”
Kevin nodded to Howie who went to shut the door, staring down at the floor as he did so. He reached out for the small sheet of green paper, propped up against the small cabinet, the edges dark with the blood.
Now, you wouldn’t want to do anything stupid like try and get help or leave now would you? If you leave these woods, I will find you and I will kill you all one at a time when you’re completely alone. You’ve got a choice here girls, die together here or alone being stupid.
Howie’s face paled as he hurriedly shut the door rest of the way. “Kevin, you need to read this,” He said, handing it over.
Kevin read it, his eyes widening with each word he processed. “So we’re stuck here,” He said flatly.
“What is it?” Kristine asked.
Kevin handed it over to her with a sigh. “We’re in the middle of a horror movie,” She cried, slamming it down in front of Starr or Jedia.
The van stopped quickly in the site. “Come on,” AJ called from the driver’s seat, holding the note up in the air. “We’re getting out of here now!”
“We can’t!” Kevin yelled back, snatching back the other note and holding it up.
AJ spoke a few words into the van before walking over to exchange papers with Kevin. “The bastard cut the phones in town,” AJ said. “He fucking thinks it’s funny too.”
“We can’t leave them,” Howie said. “There’s got to be another phone around here somewhere.”
“You can leave,” Jedia spoke up softly. “They don’t want you five, they just want us.”
“We’re not leaving you!” Kevin and AJ shouted.
“You’ll just get hurt if you stay,” Starr protested, her body trembling. “Get out of here!”
“We’re not leaving you,” Howie embraced her tightly. “He’ll have a harder time getting the five of you with the five of us here.”
“Not if we’re all just sitting around this damn bloody campsite,” Starr’s eyes filled back up as she glanced over at the camper.
“We need a phone,” Kevin said. “Howie’s right, there has to be another one somewhere.”
The van door slid open and Brian poked his head out. “Alana thinks there might be one up at the cabin that works. She said we’d be better off up there because it’s harder to find then the marked campsites.”
“He said not to leave,” Jedia protested.
“He said not to leave the woods,” Kristine pointed out. “We’d still be in them. Not like it matters when we’re not making the rules but we’re technically following his.”
“So the cabin?” AJ asked, pulling out the keys again and climbing back into the drivers seat. He jammed them back into the ignition and turned, only to be greated by some sputtering and the van groaning.
Cassy climbed out and poked her head under the van. “He cut the gas line,” She said, wiping the smudge from her face. “I can’t believe you got from the general store and back.”
“Unless he just did it while we were talking,” Jedia pointed out. “You were all in the van and we weren’t paying any attention to it.”
“You mean he’s here?” Kristine cringed, her eyes darting from tree to tree.
“Don’t panic yet,” Kevin rested his hands on her shoulders, rubbing softly. “How far is this place?” He called to Brian. “On foot I mean.”
Brian ducked his head back in the van for a few moments before reappearing “About a six hour hike through the trails she actually knows,” He replied.
Kevin and Howie shrugged at each other. “What other choice do we have now?” Howie asked.
Author's Chapter Notes:
And the main plot gets going!
