Chapter Two

"You know, you're a lot more useful now that you've hit puberty," Sam said as I held the trailer hitch and she lowered the bar to the ground.

I grimaced, the weight straining on my arms. "Uh huh." I was still very unsure about what we were doing.

"Okay, let go."

I released it with much relief, flexing my reddened fingers. Carly stepped out of the motor vehicle, closing the door very slowly to prevent any noise, then tiptoed towards us, her face bright white in the moonlight.

"Carls." Sam sighed. "Chill out."

"What? I'm chill. I'm cool," Carly feigned casualty, but when she put her hand on her hip, it was clear that she was trembling.

I always found it a little disturbing how bothered Carly would get when doing something bad. I patted her calmly on the shoulder.

"Carly, it's okay. We don't have to-"

"Get caught," Sam finished, yanking the eyes from Carly and tossing them to me. I glared at her. "Start the truck, Freduardo."

I sighed, frustrated. "Fine." I honestly wasn't sure why we always listened to Sam. I suppose she was just the dominant personality. That, and, well, I think we all had a little bad side wanting to have fun once in awhile, and Sam brought that out.

Well, at least I did. I opened the driver's side door and clambered in, Sam and Carly scooting in next to me from the other side. Carly lifted a shaky styrofoam cup to her face, shuddered, then dropped it to the floorboard, while I adjusted the seat and mirrors.

I muttered to myself, "Check your mirrors and your seat, you'll see so you're not dead meat. Turn the key, turn on your lights, make sure that they are not your brights-"

"Fredward. What are you doing?" Sam asked, but it was more of a statement.

I pouted, a bit defensive. "I'm... saying the car-rhyme..."

"...Why?"

"Because it helps me remember things!"

"Yeah, and you don't get respect if your back's not erect," Carly threw in, snickering. Well, at least she was starting to calm down.

"Haha. It helps me concentrate, okay?" I started the car and put it in drive. "Okay, which way do we go?"

"Um... go right," Sam said. "Seems like a safe bet."

"Do you have any idea where we're going?"

"Nope, but I figure we'll eventually hit a town, right?"

So we were flying by the seats of our pants. Metaphorically. I slowly pulled the truck out onto the main stretch of road, my headlights the only thing illuminating the road through the thicket of trees. Carly was watching the road with a nervous interest.

"I don't see anything."

"Chill out, Carls. We're only a couple of miles down the road. Fredward, could you please stop driving like an old woman?"

"I've only got a permit, Sam. What if there are police-"

"There's no police in a little place like this! Just go! This road's gotta be 45 miles per hour at least."

"Sam, I would rather we get there slowly and safely."

"But at this rate, we won't get anywhere in time to do anything! And this is hardly a joy ride."

"Sam, I am not- What are you doing?" Sam unlatched her seatbelt.

"Sam, don't!" Carly yelped as Sam dived between my legs. I yelped too, for a much worse reason. I never wanted her within hitting distance of my testicles. It was just not a good thing. But when she pressed her hand down on the gas, I was even more horrified.

"Sam! Sam, stop it! This isn't funny!" The speedometer began to creep up over 40, then 50, then 60. "SAM!"

Carly was tugging at the blonde's hips, trying to yank her out from under the steering wheel, that was currently under my white-knuckled grip. Suddenly the road was zipping by me, and I was just barely keeping control of the vehicle.

"Sam! Get out from there!" Carly finally yanked Sam free, but in a massively unfortunate event, her head knocked hard against the steering wheel, sending us into a spin that I couldn't stop.

All I could remember was the girls screaming, my white hands gripping the steering wheel, and the circulation in my arm running thin due to Sam's death grip as we sped to our doom.

…

My head was killing me. And there was a high pitched chirp irritating my headache to new heights. I groaned, opening my eyes slightly only to squint them shut due to the bright light that seemed to burn my retinas. I felt as if I was floating, and yet very heavy at the same time. I lifted a shaky hand to my brow, trying to remember what happened. The memories were still a bit hazy when the pain died down in my head enough for me to open my eyes again. I realized that I felt like I was floating because the truck was currently floating – in a river. And it was headed to a very large river bank.

Oh, and did I mention it was daylight?!

The air bag was puffed in my face and I pushed it until it deflated, then whirled to look at my friends. Carly was limp, hanging over her seatbelt like a rag doll, her long black hair a curtain hiding her face. One of the sleeves of her crimson shirt hung off her shoulder messily. Sam was halfway in the seat, her torso thrown over Carly's legs like a blanked, and the other half of her was in the floorboard. Trash was littered all around us. The truck shuddered as the water pushed it to the bank. Fear flooded over me as I looked my two friends over. I couldn't see any real injuries besides a few bruises and scrapes, but I had been trained by my mother to believe the worst, and I worried one of them or both of them had internal injuries.

"Guys. Guys, wake up! Guys! It's daylight!"

"Wh-what?" Carly's head was the first to move, a small bob of consciousness, followed by her delicate hands slipping up to pull the hair out of her face. "Freddie?"

She looked at me, and I read terror and devastation in her eyes. I swallowed. I wasn't sure what to do. "Freddie, what happened?!"

"I think we had a car accident. No, scratch that. I'm pretty sure we did."

"No... chiz." Sam lifted her head as if it weighed a ton, grimacing. "Owww. Holy crab, what did you do?"

"Me? You're the one that-"

"Please don't argue right now," Carly groaned, clearly not wanting to hear it. "Let's just make sure everyone's okay."

The two of us nodded, knowing Carly was in the right. "Well," I said, "It looks like we've stopped, so... come on, let's get out and survey the damage."

We tumbled out of the truck, still a bit wobbly from our ordeal.

"So much for not getting caught,"Sam moaned regretfully.

"Yeah," Carly replied, her forehead wrinkling. "I imagine Socko and Spencer are up and looking for us."

I was examining the crunched up grill of the truck, frowning. "How are they going to find us without the truck? And we crashed into the river. Who knows how far we went downstream while we were unconscious?"

"Ohhhh," Carly cried, running her hands down her face.

"It's okay, Carly. We just have to find where the truck skidded in, then follow the skid marks back to the road. It can't be that hard," I suggested.

Carly took a deep breath, shaking out her worry and attempting to show strength. Though she still looked fairly frazzled. Sam was oddly calm, stretching and walking to the edge of the river to wash her face.

"Well, this didn't turn out to be as fun as I expected."

"Maybe we can call for help," I said, pulling out my cell phone. For a moment of bliss, we all flipped open our phones, only to discover--

"No bars."

"Mine got crushed in the wreck."

"My battery died."

Followed by a simultaneous "NO!"

"This sucks!"

"Okay! Okay," Carly said. "Let's just... start... walking." She had trouble wording her sentence due to complete realization of the situation we were in.

So we did. We spent a good ten minutes walking along the riverbank in silence.

"Man..." Sam growled. "You sure screwed this up, Freddie."

"Sam, if I remember correctly, I believe you were the one that was so desperate to speed things up!"

Carly groaned, walking ahead of us, but I was in the mood for fighting, and Sam was a good person to argue with, mainly because she was a challenge, and, well, it was her fault. Her fault for pushing us onto he trailer. Her fault for insisting we take the truck. Her fault for wrecking it. And she blamed me?

"So, how in the world could this be my fault?!" I pressed.

"You're a sucky driver."

"Yeah, well, not many people can drive very well with a chick between their legs pushing the gas---" I paused. That came out weird.

"You were driving like an old woman!"

"An old woman wouldn't have driven into a RIVER."

"She could've!"

"That's not the argument!"

Sam rolled her eyes. "Look, we're stuck out here, and you're too much of a priss to survive out here on your own, so don't start trying to blame me!"

"You started it, Sam! You started this whole stupid thing! I don't know why Carly and I listen to you all the time. You always get us into trouble, and you never take responsibility!"

"Hey, you don't have to go along with it. You know you just want to have a little fun once in awhile. I can't help that I'm not a freak like your mom."

"Don't talk about my mother!"

Sam went into a chorus of "Super-freak." "She's a super-freak! Super-freak! She's super freakyyy!"

"Sam," I started, my jaw tightening. "Y'know what? You think you're so great? You got us into this mess, why don't you get us out of it. Take the lead."

"Oh yeah?"

"Anything to keep you from talking to me works for me." I pushed her to the front of the line, then backed away, hanging by Carly.

"Do you guys have to fight all the time?" Carly whimpered, hiding a bit behind her hair. I blinked, worried with this reaction.

"Oh, you know how we are. We'll... we'll make up. Are you okay?"

"Yeah, physically. I'm just... a little shaken."

"Well, Carly," I started.

"Do you blame me?! We were just in a car accident and Spencer and Socko don't know where we are and you and Sam are fighting and on top of all that we're lost! Ohhhh!" Carly ran her hands through her hair.

Sam cooed at her friend. "Okay, Carly. It's okay. You're just..."

"I'm FREAKING OUT!" Carly wailed, her voice echoing off the surrounding area.

"Uh... uhh..." I grabbed Carly by the arms and shook her. "Get a hold of yourself, woman!"

Carly breathed. "Okay. Okay. I'm okay."

Fighting was forgotten, and the three of us walked alongside each other for a bit.

"We're okay," I said putting and arm around each of them. Carly rested a weary head on my shoulder. "We're gonna find our way back without a problem."

"Well, not without... any problems..." Sam murmurred.

I looked up, feeling my heart sink.

The river was forked.

"Aw, chiz."

"Which way do we go?" Carly asked.

Well, I hadn't expected that. I can be an idiot sometimes.

"Well, let's see if we can find some markings or something."

I moved away from them, concentrating on the ground, trying to see any sign to take us in the right direction. But after about an hour of searching, we all discovered that there was really nothing to clue us in.

"We have to guess."

"But what if we're wrong?"

"Then I guess we'll have to turn around and go back the other way."

"That could take days!"

"I don't have any better ideas."

Carly sighed. "Maybe we should just... sit tight, until someone finds us?"

"Well..." I glanced around. "We need to at least find shelter for the night. We can't just wait it out in the woods."

Sam started walking. "Well, come on then." She shoved her hands in her purple hoodie pockets, her blonde curls falling over her slumped shoulders rather dejectedly. I ran a hand up my arm, suddenly aware of how cold it would probably be getting by evening-time, and I could only hope we were better at finding shelter than we had been at trying to find civilization.