Chapter 2
Kris's words hung heavily in the air, opening up a myriad of both good and bad possibilities.
"What?" Sabrina asked in confusion.
Kris sighed and rubbed her temples in worried frustration. "That wasn't Jill screaming. It wasn't her- her voice." she moaned.
"Who's screaming?" Kelly asked quietly. She swallowed, looking as if her brain had just answered her question in a way that made her physically ill.
Sabrina fidgeted restlessly and pulled her arm out of Kelly's grip. "I don't know, but someone needs help and Jill might be with her." she said, decisively pushing her way through the underbrush. Kelly and Kris followed closely behind her.
"Did you bring your gun, Bri?" Kelly whispered when they caught up. Sabrina frowned and shook her head. "You?" she asked back.
"It's in the car."
Sabrina and Kelly sighed in irritation at their poor planning. But nothing could be done about it now.
The three girls pushed their way through the brush in the vague direction of the terrified scream that had jarred their senses moments before. Their flashlight beams bounced across the brush, bright, but not nearly enough to illuminate the gloomy darkness that they were losing themselves farther and farther inside. The trio wandered around aimlessly, growing increasingly unsure of the direction of the scream. Just as the frustration became unbearable, the same woman's shrill, heart stopping scream tore through the forest again, making the three girls jerk backwards in surprise.
This time it was much closer.
Sabrina recovered first from the shock of the abrupt noise and hurriedly shut her flashlight off and jammed it into her pocket. There had been a gnawing feeling of dread eating away at her since they had first noticed Jill's prolonged absence and she couldn't shake the feeling that something bad was going to happen.
"Turn off your lights!" she whispered harshly. Kelly and Kris quickly followed suit, stuffing their flashlights into the waistband of their jeans. Their carefree evening was over. All three girls were frightened now, tense and anxious, their breathing just as quick as their racing hearts. They stood stock still, unsure of how to proceed.
Kelly suddenly whirled around with a startled gasp and stumbled back into her two friends. She immediately began to frantically push them towards the protective shadow of a gnarled old tree. "Someone's coming!" she hissed. "Get out of sight!"
The three girls scrambled backwards behind the old tree and waited with baited breath for signs of someone approaching. Kelly's intuition proved to be correct an instant later, when the distant sound of rapid footsteps plowing their way through the underbrush came floating from their left. The girls pressed their backs against the rough surface of their tree and strained their ears. The distant sound of leaves crunching and twigs snapping grew louder and louder as the unidentified person trampled closer. Harsh female breathing came into their ears just before the dark silhouette of a slim woman came through the thick brush. Her moves were erratic and careless. She stumbled, fell to one knee and immediately righted herself, obviously desperate to escape whatever was pursuing her and not caring how much noise she made in the process. The dark shadow paused for a moment, whirled around frantically as if deciding which direction to take, and then lunged in the direction of their tree.
As she came closer, the girls' previous hope that the dark figure was Jill, quickly dissipated. She was shorter than Jill, dressed in a hooded sweatshirt as opposed to Jill's long sleeved tee, her movements not as graceful, and most telling, she was not in possession of Jill's usual calm control in the face of danger. This girl was scared out of her mind.
The girls shared a quick look, mutually deciding to help her, and then pushed themselves out of their hiding place into the path of the oncoming girl.
At the sudden appearance of three people, the girl shrieked, and stumbled backwards out of sheer surprise. She lost her balance and went sprawling to the ground. Sabrina and Kelly immediately rushed to her side and misunderstanding their intentions, the girl began screaming and flailing her arms.
"Let me go!" she shrieked.
"Hey! Calm down!" Sabrina hissed to the struggling girl. "We're trying to help you!"
"Get off of me!" the girl continued to yell. Kelly grabbed her from behind in an effort to stop her thrashing long enough to realize that they meant to help. The girl screamed her high pitched piercing scream again and Sabrina instinctively lurched forward and clapped her hand over her mouth.
"Shh! We're trying to he-"
The rest of her reassurance dissolved into a string of curse words. The girl had broken free of Kelly's grip and punched Sabrina solidly in the face. Sabrina toppled backwards, cupping her nose in both hands and cursing unintellibly through her fingers. Kris scrambled to her side, leaving Kelly to deal with the hapless victim.
"We're trying to help!" Kelly grunted through clenched teeth, as she wrestled with the terrified girl. The girl wrenched an arm free and made a desperate wild swing at Kelly's head. Having learned her lesson from Sabrina a few seconds ago, Kelly dodged, grabbed the girls arm and used her momentum to swing her to the floor. Once down, she sat on top of her, pinning her to the floor and in one fluid motion, twisted her arm behind her back and grabbed the back of her neck to force her head still. The girl yelped in protest, but the fight was over. Now in control, Kelly bent her head to the girl's ear.
"I am just about to lose my patience with you." she hissed. "Stop trying to kill me, I'm going to help you."
The girl stopped struggling and lay panting in the dirt for a moment before answering.
"What?" she breathed fearfully. "Who are you?"
Kelly sighed. "My name is Kelly. That's Kris, and the one whose nose you just broke is Sabrina. We're not going to hurt you, alright? Calm down."
The girl lay quietly, still panting loudly as her frazzled mind considered Kelly's revelation.
"Ok." she whimpered finally. "Ok, I'll stop."
Kelly let her up and looked to where Kris was peeling Sabrina's hands away from her face. Sabrina finally relented and revealed a steady stream of blood trickling down her chin. Kris winced and turned to Kelly for help.
Kelly sighed. "You ok, Bri?" she asked wearily.
Sabrina tilted her head back and tried to wipe up the blood with her sleeve. "Terrific." she muttered. Kris smiled and gave her friend an understanding pat on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry." the girl whispered quickly. "I thought you were him." She looked nervously around the forest and then suddenly jumped to her feet. "Look, we have to get out of here, they'll be here any second."
Kelly grabbed her arm. "Who?" she demanded.
The girl let out an anxious moan and covered her face with her free hand. "Gary and his friends. We have to go, they're trying to kill me!" she cried desperately. "Please!"
All four women turned as a rustling came from behind them. The unmistakable sound of male voices floated over their hurried footsteps.
"It's them!" the girl whispered in terror. She jerked her arm out of Kelly's grip and bolted, tearing through the woods just as loudly as before. Kelly watched her helplessly, and then began to realize that they had just stumbled onto someone else's extremely bad situation.
"I'm really starting to wish I had my gun." Kelly said nervously.
Kris ran a hand through her hair and gave a shaky laugh. "I don't suppose there are any gun trees out here, are there?" she joked nervously. Sabrina and Kelly tilted their heads and stared at her. Punishment would have to wait until a more convenient time, however. They settled for a sad shake of their heads.
"I do have my pocket knife with me." Sabrina offered, her face brightening at the thought. Kelly and Kris groaned and shared a look. They had just watched their friend spend at least fifteen minutes trying to get the dull, flimsy blade to cut through a tangled nylon strap earlier in the day.
"Oh, Bri, I could do more damage with my teeth." Kelly muttered in defeat. The three girls shared a knowing look and shook their heads. They had just gotten themselves in trouble, deep in the woods where help was miles away. Jill had been missing over half an hour.
And they were unarmed.
"Let's get out of here." Kris said quickly. She helped Kelly pull Sabrina to her feet and the three shuffled back into the protective shadow of their tree.
"I don't know what's going on, but we have to find Jill." Kris whispered anxiously as they walked. Sabrina nodded and patted her shoulder. "We will, Kris." she answered quietly, her bleeding nose still buried in the crook of her arm. The faint voices drew closer, becoming more and more intelligible as they did. The girls huddled behind their tree.
"I just hope we're the first ones that do." Kelly whispered softly. Sabrina and Kris glanced at her and then turned their attention to the same collection of brush that the girl had come from moments before. The voices grew to loud shouts as two men came crashing through them. Bright flashlight beams swept across the dirt and inches from the girls' feet as the men scoured the area, forcing them to scoot away and flatten themselves as out of sight as possible.
"Where'd she go?" one of the men growled in frustration, breathing heavily from exertion.
The two men looked around, their loud ragged breathing betraying their anger and desperation. They were looking for that girl and it was plain that their intentions were less than civil. The three girls glanced nervously at each other, feeling trapped and off guard.
"This way." The shorter of the two panted. He pointed towards the girl's tree and the two men rushed past, wheezing and cursing under their breath. The hidden girls held their breath as they watched them go.
"Let's get back to our camp, call the cops, and get our guns. We can still help her if we move quick enough." Sabrina whispered, once the men were out of earshot.
"This way." Kris answered tersely. "I don't think we want to run into whoever she's running from."
Kelly and Sabrina nodded in agreement and the girls crept away through the dense underbrush, enduring painful scratches and bumps in the darkness because flashlights were now out of the question.
Sabrina suddenly stopped in her tracks.
"Bri-" Kris started, but Sabrina held up a hand to silence her. "Someone's coming. Listen." she whispered quietly. The three girls crouched down and strained their ears in the darkness. Again, their glimmer of hope that they would soon be reunited with Jill flickered and then died within a few seconds. The footsteps and the breathing were both heavy, winded, and decidedly male.
"Don't move. Let him pass us." Sabrina breathed, protectively gripping the sleeves of both of her friends.
The girls would again have gone unnoticed, just another unseen secret of the forest, had they not heard the same terrified scream yet again. Only this time a few yards separated them from it's source.
"Hey!" a man's gruff voice called out in surprise. There was the sound of a scuffle, the same girl cursing and yelling, desperately trying to free herself.
"I got her!" the man's voice called out, no doubt to his unsavory companions the girls had just seen. The three girls watched in horrified silence as the two dark figures wrestled just a stone's throw away.
"We have to do something!" Kelly whispered anxiously. She restlessly patted her knees and then whirled around to her friends, her eyes asking for support. Sabrina nodded and quickly rose to her feet, her long legs already striding towards the struggle right behind Kelly.
Kelly beat her by less than a second, but made it count. She launched herself off of the ground and went sailing in the air, all her weight connecting solidly with the taller shadow's upper body. She was slender, but her one hundred and twenty pounds was more than enough to render her victim off balance. His ankle twisted, he lost his footing, and the two went crashing to the ground in a tangled heap.
Sabrina and Kris took advantage of the precious few seconds of confusion they still had over him. As the three girls struggled to subdue the deceptively strong man, the girl they had just saved watched in stunned silence. The man's dropped flashlight illuminated her auburn hair and shocked features, giving the girls their first real look at her.
"Run!" Sabrina shouted to the terrified girl. "Get out of here!"
The girl's eyes flitted back and forth, registering Sabrina's order but unable to tear herself away. Currently flung away from the fight, Kris rushed toward her and grabbed her arm.
"Come on!" she yelled at the petrified girl. Whether it was Kris's shout or her rough yanking of her arm, the girl wasn't sure. But something snapped her out of her spell and with Kris halfway dragging her, the two girls sprinted away from the scuffle.
The element of surprise gave Kelly and Sabrina an advantage, but only a temporary one. Their opponent was stocky and strong and now that he was on his feet and fully aware of what was going on, fending off two women half his size was not a challenge. The fight turned tides within a few moments.
Luckily the goal was not to win the fight.
Kelly watched Kris crash through the dense bushes, the auburn haired girl dragged behind her and though she had just been knocked to the ground, felt a keen sense of triumph.
"Bri! Now!" she shouted. She scrambled to her feet as quickly as she could. Her flying tackle had given her a momentary advantage to a fight, but along with that, had also given her a very sore shoulder. Kris couldn't have dragged that girl away a moment too soon.
Sabrina managed to pull herself away as well, and together the two girls raced through the woods, headed in what they hoped was the direction Kris had taken. Branches snagged in their clothes and hair and slapped their faces as they ran, but the girls ignored the abuse. It was time to get out of here and if a few scratches on their face meant that they could accomplish that all the more quickly, then so be it.
"Which way?" Kelly gasped, frantically looking in every direction for a sign of Kris.
Sabrina grabbed her arm and yanked her slightly off course to the safety of a dense pocket of trees. "This way!" she called. She didn't have any better idea than Kelly did, but if Kelly wanted her to take the lead, then she would. Though her direction was a complete guess, it turned out to be their first bit of luck since Jill left to gather firewood forty five minutes earlier. The girls were rewarded with the sight of Kris and the new girl's backs in the dim moonlight, as they raced as fast as they could towards their camp.
But just as soon as their good luck came, a bit of bad luck immediately overshadowed it. There was not even time to shout out a warning to Kris and her companion.
Two men suddenly appeared, seemingly out of nowhere and without time to react, the two girls in the lead slammed right into them. The men wasted no time in reaching down and getting a firm hold on their struggling victims.
Kelly and Sabrina could only watch in horror as one of the men brutally struck the auburn haired girl in the face with his flashlight. She yelped in pain and crumpled to the ground unconcious. Kris fared slightly better, managing to put up enough of a fight that the man that held her was forced to drop his light to restrain her. Sabrina and Kelly continued toward them, still running full tilt in the faint hope that these two men could be surprised as well. The hope lasted until one of the men pulled out a gun.
"Stop right there!" one of the men barked. He had arm tightly hooked around Kris's neck. She kicked and thrashed, unmindful of his weapon, but wasn't strong enough to even faze him. Feeling helpless, Sabrina and Kelly shared a look and slowed to halt, their hands raised in surrender.
"Let me go!" Kris grunted angrily, still fighting. Her captor shook her angrily, his rough treatment making Sabrina and Kelly's blood boil.
"Kris, just do what he says!" Sabrina called out. "It's alright."
Kris looked furious, but stopped struggling. Her captor laughed. "Hey, smart girl." he taunted. He looked back at Kelly and Sabrina and waved his gun at them.
"Lie down. Now." he ordered.
The girls shared a look and then grudgingly did as they were told. Both felt a heavy sense of dread. This was it, they were captured and only Jill remained.
Wherever she was.
"Hey, it's a slumber party!" a mocking voice came from behind them. Sabrina and Kelly didn't have to turn to realize that it was the voice of the man they had surprised a few minutes earlier. His heavy footsteps walked right up to them and stood in front of their faces. Their gazes fixed on his dirty shoes. "You girls got no manners." he said, with a disapproving click of his tongue.
His big foot shot out and stomped painfully on Sabrina's outstretched hand. She yelped and quickly drew her injured hand through the dirt to her chest. Both girls lay panting quietly, fearing a retaliation if they so much as moved.
"Not much now, are you?" the man sneered, giving Kelly an angry kick to her sore shoulder. She winced but didn't cry out. The stocky man was still wheezing from his sprint, and that offered a bit of consolation to the defeated detectives.
"That's enough, Emmitt. Tie them up." the man holding Kris ordered.
Sabrina and Kelly winced in pain as the two men squatted beside them and roughly lashed their wrists together behind their backs with a length of rope. Once restrained, the men pulled them to their feet, being sure to keep the gun visible in case the girls happened to forget how much danger they were in. The stocky Emmitt shoved the girls over towards Kris, who also had her hands tied behind her back. The auburn haired girl was seemingly unconscious on the floor beside her, her wrists bound as well, though she showed no signs of waking.
The situation was not improving in the slightest.
"Where is your camp?" one of the men demanded loudly. The way he spoke and carried himself indicated that he might be the one in charge
"Over by the police station. Just follow us." Kelly snapped sarcastically, helplessness frustrating her to the point of anger.
The man slapped her across the face before she realized he had moved at all.
"I wouldn't be cute if I was you, sweetheart!" he warned angrily.
"You wouldn't be cute no matter what." Kelly shot back. The man narrowed his eyes, then suddenly grabbed Kelly's shoulder and drove a fist into her stomach. She gasped in pain and doubled over to her knees, coughing and struggling to breathe. Sabrina quickly dropped to her knees by her side.
"Will you shut up?!" she hissed in her ear. "You're going to get us killed!"
"Are you finished?" the man in charge asked menacingly.
"She's finished." Kris said quickly, looking down in concern at her friend. Sabrina stood up and nudged Kelly with her foot to get her to stand as well. Kelly glared at the man and slowly pushed herself to her feet.
"Now, you're going to lead us back to your camp." the man repeated. He paused and stared at Kelly as if daring her to say something. She didn't plan to, but Sabrina gave her a discreet kick in the shin anyway just in case "Lead the way, ladies."
Left with no other choice, the girls looked around to get their bearings and started walking east with Sabrina and Kelly in the lead and Kris closely behind him. The three men took up the rear, the unconscious auburn haired girl slung over one of their shoulders.
"Are we really taking them back to our camp?" Kelly whispered.
Sabrina shook her head. "I don't know what else to do, Kell. If they think we're playing them, they'll probably kill us."
"I think they plan to do that anyway." Kris muttered glumly. A hand pressed itself between her shoulder blades and she was shoved forward roughly by one of the men behind her. She stumbled forward, but caught her balance.
"No talking, ladies." a deep voice behind them growled.
The girls shared an irritated look, but walked in silence through the dark woods toward their camp. Though it seemed that they had been wandering the dark forest for hours, it didn't take long before the constant trees began to thin out. The men's flashlight beams suddenly reflected off of the white paint of Jill's car. They had arrived. The girls looked around their once cheerful and inviting campsite. Their fire had completely burned out in their absence and because it was on a slight incline, Jill and Kris's tent had blown over and flattened sadly on its side. The site of so many happy laughs and carefree conversations looked sullen and dark now, like an abandoned ghost town.
The men pushed them forward and forcibly sat them down next to the remains of their fire. The auburn haired girl was dropped unceremoniously at their feet, and with a threatening glare, the three men walked the short distance to Jill's car and began speaking in hushed tones, periodically glancing at their four prisoners.
"What do we do?" Kris asked softly.
Kelly shook her head. "I don't know, but we need to figure something out fast."
Kris suddenly looked like she wanted to cry. She stared between her two friends with a sudden urgent look on her face. "My sister. Do you think they-?" she said, trailing off.
"No." Sabrina answered immediately. "They would have said something."
"She's smart, Kris." Kelly offered helpfully. "She's probably hiding out looking for a way to get us out of this. She'll help us as soon as she figures something out."
Kris studied her face for a moment, looking for a sign that her friend's words were only empty means of comfort. She didn't find it. Kelly was confident in her sister's safety and abilities.
The thought made her feel better.
"I hope you're right." Kris sighed.
A sharp crack caused all three girls to jerk their heads up in surprise. A tennis ball size rock bounced off of the charred wood of their former fire and rolled to a stop between Sabrina's feet. One of the men had thrown a rock at them.
"I said no talking!" the man in charge shouted. They had only heard his gravely voice a few times, but already they hated the sound of girls glared at him through the darkness, but stopped their conversation. With a sigh of defeat, they looked at each other and then back down at the ground. There wasn't much they could do but wait for Jill. If she was still out there and able to help. Kris swallowed, hoping to relieve the unpleasant taste in her mouth, and looked into the dark mass of trees, hoping for any sign of her sister. She didn't see anything, but that didn't necessarily mean Jill wasn't out there waiting for a chance to act.
Hopefully, Sabrina and Kelly were right.