Hello dear readers! I hope everyone has been doing well and that you'll enjoy this update.
Fanfic-Reader-88: No, Sikowitz had no idea, but that doesn't mean someone else didn't.
Twilight Warrior 627: They can't deny something that is literally killing people in front of them. They might later say it was some mutated wolf or bear, assuming they survive the encounter.
PD31 has updated 'Something Better Comes Along', so make sure you take a read.
Rating: +T Violence and Language
Chapter 7
The performers had walked off the stage to join with their fellow students in their curiosity of what was going on, but remained behind the audience, rocking back and forth on their feet and craning their heads to see the commotion. However, Robbie slithered his way through the crowd to join the rest of the Sikowitz's favorites (including Freddie) in the near center of the crowd.
The sudden turn in the student body closest to the interruption with their screams caught off the rest of the students, causing the aforementioned panic and crashing and trampling of students.
In the confusion of the wave of students pushing passed and between them, the group of friends were caught up in the rush and separated. Freddie and Trina got lost in the wave and separated, but fortunately for Robbie, he was able to grab Cat's hand to keep her close when the students turned on them. Out of instinct, he turned away from the rushing teenagers and pulled her along as they ran with the crowd towards the opposite direction.
Near the back of the crowd, Jade held her ground, trying to figure out what was going on and spot Beck and any of her so-called friends as they were fairly in the middle of the group. However, all she saw was the chaotic herd mentality rushing towards her—and unknown to her—in trying to get away from a predator and hoping that individually they could get lost in the crowd. As she tried to stay in place and frantically looked around trying to pick them out, she was bumped hard on right shoulder by a terrified student, causing her to half-spin in place then bumped again in the back from another student and tumbled to the ground.
"Chizz," she frustratingly swore from the impact and attempted to push herself up by her forearms and hands, but immediately got nearly face planted back in the ground as someone stepped on her back in his or her panic in fleeing. She may not have eaten a mouthful of dirt, but with her head lulled as she attempted to get up, it was her forehead that hit against the compacted ground and the world around going black for her.
"Where's Jade!" Beck shouted over the terrified screams of the crowd and the animalistic roar of the creature as he stood his ground the best he could with the panicked students running past him and scanned the fleeing students in trying to spot Jade, but couldn't see her. His heart gripped in fear that whatever was charging at his classmates had gotten to her.
André shoved with his elbows at his fellow students that inevitably bumped into him as he looked around, but was unable to spot the familiar dark haired actress. "I don't know. I couldn't see her in the crowd. I don't see anyone. Where's Cat? Freddie? Trina?"
"I don't know. They were just here," Beck answered before he attempted to go against the crowd and towards the charging creature that was tearing through anything that got in its way, but André grabbed his arm and yanked him before he could get a few feet.
The taller and leaner teenager snapped around and shouted, "Let me go!"
"No!"
Beck glared at André with such hatred that it looked as if he was about to swing on his friend as he shouted, "I can't leave her!"
"You're not going to be any good to her if you're dead! Now come on!" André answered with a good yank onto his elbow to pull him along and with the direction of the students.
The mass of students reached the right (from the position as the audience) corner of the stage and had every intention of running right passed it, but another one of the creatures came charging out of the woods on all fours and roared.
Some of the students froze in terror, causing a number of them behind them to crash into them and tumble forward. A handful of others on either side of the group dashed towards the sides like a gazelle making a sharp turn away from a pursuing cheetah, the stage to their left and towards the right the trail back to the camping site and eventually their vehicles, seeing the only possible routes of escape.
The creature maintained its charge at the students and unfortunately for one random junior, he was tackled and with one swipe of a hand, his throat was torn out. The snarling beast with that face of a mutated rat with a mauling array of long teeth stood up and turned to the closest student. He was able to evade, but the creature caught up to another one in mere seconds and jumped on his back. It clamped down on the back of his neck and snapped its head back, tearing out the back of his neck along with several vertebrae.
Of the students that turned away from the stage, a number of them were able to quickly make it towards the campsite. Several students immediately noticed Beck's trailer and ran towards it, believing that it could serve as shelter from the creatures they believed had just come out of Hell.
Fortunately for them, the door had been unlocked and about half a dozen students were able to make it inside. They closed the door and locked it just in time to prevent another one of the creatures from getting inside with them. It slammed its closed fist on the door several times, frustrated from being denied its kill, and leaving several visible indentations into the door.
A messy short haired blonde blew out a fearful breath, but felt a momentary sense of peace that the creature could pound all it wanted, but it couldn't get inside.
However, that was soon discarded as the trailer suddenly rocked, shifting the floor out from under a number of the students that didn't catch their footing. They grabbed on to anything they could grab as the trailer settled itself then was rocked again.
At least half of them screamed in terror with one looking like he was having a mental breakdown while the trailer rocked and settled again. After several more starts and stops, the rocking started picking up the pace and swung greater and greater, tossing those not hanging on to something back and forth against each wall.
After several more seconds of the increasingly intense rocking, the trailer finally tipped over, throwing everyone off of their feet and crashing hard against the opposite wall.
A series of groans and moans filled the trailer as the occupants attempted to examine themselves and try to pull themselves up. They didn't have long to assess their situation as they heard the sound of loud footsteps on the side of the trailer that was now above them.
The glass of the window closest to the door thumbed hard as the creature struck it with the bottom of his fist. It took several slams, but the glass eventually started spider webbing from the impact. It struck several more times until the glass shattered and dropped into the turned over trailer. The creature stuck its arm inside, ignoring any cuts it could get from the inside of the window frame, and randomly swinging to try to claw at the students inside.
Apparently seeing that its reach was too short and it was too big for the window, it moved its arm from the inside towards the door. The students looked up in fear and amazement of something beyond simple animal intelligence as the creature found the door handle and turned it. The door opened and with a simple pressing of its fingertips, it was able to push it open enough for its other hand to grab the door and fling it open.
They stared in fright as the animal looked down at them. It stood up then dropped inside the turned over vehicle.
The group shrieked and shouted in utter terror as there was nowhere to run. It lashed out wildly with each clawed tipped hand, shredding any flesh that got in the claws ways.
In the commotion, one tried to climb out of the opened door, but as he pulled himself halfway out, he felt it grab his ankle and start pulling.
"NO! NO! NO!" he shouted while frantically clawing to grab any purchase to pull himself out.
He was jerked back down into the trailer and a roar later, the student was silenced with a splattering of blood in the trailer.
Dozens of yards further down the trail where most of the students had parked their vehicles, a short redhead freckled student shouted to his buddy as they climbed into the second guy's truck, "Come on! Come on! Get this thing going!"
The curly haired blonde turned the key again, but the engine whimpered and refused to turnover. He shouted back in frustration, "I'm trying, but it won't start!"
The engine wouldn't even make a noise and passenger got out of the truck to see if he could find out the problem and hopefully fix it before he became dog food. He opened the hood and his face fell at the sight of slashed and torn tubes and cables and the battery was cracked open and leaking acid on part of the engine. He shouted, "The engine is trashed!"
He didn't get a response he expected and closed the hood just in time to see his friend being pulled out of the truck. The animal opened its giant mandible and sank the mutated teeth into the teenager's throat then jerked his head back, ripping out most of the student's throat. It carelessly tossed blonde to the ground with the teenager's head rolling off the shoulders as he had been practically decapitated and turned its focus to the fleeing freckled face teenager.
The redhead turned to flee, but after a few strides the creature caught up with him and smacked the side of his head. The teenager's head snapped to the side and went down to the left, crashing his shoulder. His ears rang and felt an incredible pain in his neck, but it would be the last thing he felt as the creature leaned down and grabbed his head. It gave a hard twist and the teenager was dead a moment later with a snapped neck.
Dalton gripped Suzy's hand for dear life as they had been among the students that had made a break for the stage, jumping on it and running to the back of it to make a break for the woods. Once the couple and the others had made it to the tree line, they had fanned out to scatter.
A roar sounded behind them and the howling was getting closer, but they ran despite the burning sensation in their lungs and the muscles of their legs. Fear pushed them past their physical limitations, but some things in nature was faster and stronger than others.
Dalton felt a sudden massive weight on his back then tackled to the ground, slipping his grip from Suzy's hand. He and the creature rolled until the leathery gray skin monster was on top of him. It raised its right hand with visible long claws, ready to slash down at him.
Suzy screamed, catching the animal's attention before it could deliver a killing blow. It roared and tackled the redhead to the ground. She frantically swatted at the creature's face, but it was to no avail as it sank its long mutated teeth sank into her neck. The blood squirted out of her artery to fill its mouth and round down her chest. Her screams were cut off moments later as the teeth sank deeper and severed her windpipe.
Dalton scrambled back to his feet and jumped on the creature's back and got his left forearm under the animal's lower jaw. He raised a pocketknife that he had kept hidden on him and started stabbing at the animal's shoulder and trying for his neck.
The creature jerked to its left and right, trying to buck the teenager off his back, but Dalton clung on to it for dear life and trying to get the blade into its neck. He wildly stabbed, but was only making shallow stabs into its shoulder.
The animal reacted to the stabs and almost in a panic, jerked hard from its left downwards to its right, finally flinging Dalton off its back.
Dalton held up his blade, coated with the animal's blood and running over his gripped fist, ready to stab at it. However, the creature turned and started running on all fours.
The messy haired teenager pulled himself onto his feet, quite shocked that it fled. He shook his head to gather his wits then turned to his bloody girlfriend. He dropped down to his knees next to her and placed his hand over her neck to try to stop the bleeding.
"Come on Suzy. You're going to be okay. You're going to be okay."
It was for not as Suzy looked up with dead eyes at the starry night, blood soaking the upper part of her shirt.
Dalton stared at her for a few seconds as it sank in that she was gone. He blinked as hot tears began to fall from his eyes. He slipped his arm under the dead girl's left armpit and lifted her up enough to partially rest on his right thigh and cradled her. He gently rocked her with no intention of stopping.
The assistant webmaster sat there for uncounted minutes before he felt a soft hand rested on his shoulder and he snapped his gaze away from his dead girlfriend and ready to slip his short blade into the person or thing. He stopped when he looked up towards the older Vega sister's sympathetic gaze.
Trina softly whispered, "We got to go before it or another one comes back."
Dalton's pain and shock was swept away with a surge of anger and hatred. He carefully laid Suzy down then slipped off his light unbuttoned shirt to respectfully over her face. He looked back to Trina and definitely answered, "No… not until I send that thing back to Hell."
Trina softly let out a breath through her nose and dismissed the notion. "That's absolutely nuts."
The younger teenager lifted up the blade of his pocketknife and showed the residual of blood on it. "It can bleed, so it can die." He walked past her with fulfilled determination back towards the stage.
The brunette looked at his retreating form with a dumbfounded expression, but disregarded it seconds later as she realized she was being left alone. She jogged to catch up with him and called out, "Wait for me."
Robbie and Cat were fleeing into the woods with the same group of students as Dalton and Suzy, but had fanned out far to the left of them with a number of other students still on either side of them with the intention of not being the slowest one and thus, the easiest to catch. The redhead had taken the lead with Robbie keeping up right behind her, having paused earlier to snatch Rex that he had left behind the stage as he performed, but after several dozen yards or so into the woods, Robbie tripped over an exposed root and Rex flew from his hand and skidded just feet in front. Cat heard his cry and stopped, turning back to get him. She reached him in mere moments then grabbed him by the arm and struggled to help him get back up.
The puppet was left on the ground as Cat pulled him along as one of the creatures spotted them as the easiest targets as the others kept running. The pair frantically started running despite the creature being considerably faster than them and now the last ones behind the others.
However, the creature surprisingly stopped to look at the discarded puppet. Robbie realized that he had left Rex behind and attempted to stop with a shout, "Rex!"
He stopped and looked to see the creature was curious at the puppet. It poked Rex with its long nail then turned it over. He picked it up and sniffed it, picking up Robbie's scent on the puppet. Recognizing the strong human scent, he opened his mouth and grabbed Rex by the side and sank its teeth into the puppet and through it. It chewed and shook its head back and forth, treating the puppet as a dog's chew toy.
Robbie screamed in panic, "REX!"
The animal spit out the torn to pieces puppet then looked to turned its attention to the pair.
Robbie looked back in fear as his eyes met the animal's eyes.
"Robbie!" Cat screamed again and grabbed his hand to pull him along to feel.
The creature rushed them again and quickly caught up with the teenagers. It caught up with Robbie, but instead of catching him, the animal flung its arm out and swatted the ventriloquist out of his way. Robbie was hit hard in the shoulder and flung to the side, sending him off to the side and into a tree. Due to his momentum, he hit head first into a neighboring tree and bounced off and collapsing with a roll onto the ground.
Cat realized that Robbie wasn't behind her and paused for a moment to look over her shoulder. She spotted him on his back on the forest floor. In that moment, the creature's job was even easier in catching up with her.
The petite redhead let out a high pitch terrifying scream as the animal leapt on top of her. It tackled her to the ground, the teenager crashing hard on the compact ground with only her forearms cushioning her fall. The animal lifted up and flipped the redhead on her back.
Cat screamed in panic as it opened its mouth then closed around her throat. She experienced sheer terror as she thought she was about to experience the last moment of her life, but the creature somehow avoided sinking its teeth into her throat, but clenched around it. The redhead slowly blinked as she realized she couldn't breathe. She started vainly hitting the top of its head with closed fists as darkness closed around her vision until she lost consciousness.
More than a half a football field away to the right of where Dalton and Suzy had encountered one of the creatures, the rest of the students that had chosen that direction were heading deeper into the woods and towards the lake hoping that they too could escape from the monsters.
Alesha was one of those students, but falling behind has she had picked lousy footwear. Another grey leathery skinned animal ran on all fours in hot pursuit of those students. After several strides, it caught up to straight haired girl and sank its teeth hard into her upper left thigh, dropping her to the ground. It reared up on its hind legs, pulling the teenager off the ground.
"AHHHH!" she screamed helplessly and nearly indescribable pain of the teeth sinking into her flesh. The animal flung to its right and just flung her away like she was a rage doll.
The light skinned African-American girl soared through the air until she was stop with an audible crack of her back when she collided into a tree. She clasped into a heap on the ground.
Alesha coughed and groaned as the pain rippled through her body. Her fingers dug into the dirt, trying to pick herself up, but she couldn't feel her legs.
The creature stalked towards her, drawing out the terror that the disabled girl felt as she watched it come closer to her. It brought its snout to her face and began sniffing. She turned her face away and whimpered from the fear and the stench of the creature. After several heart pounding seconds, it grabbed her by the waist and lifted her up to toss over its shoulder.
Alesha shrieked from the sudden manhandling of being pulled onto its shoulder then started pounding her fists against its back. The creature ignored her struggles as it fled into the woods.
Jade blinked and stirred as she slowly regained consciousness to the sounds of screams of terror and ferocious screams from beings that had to crawl out of Hell. The sounds of various screams died down as she fully returned to the waking world and regained her senses. She lifted her head enough to peak over her arm to see what was in front of her. She saw that she had gotten left behind and apparently the creatures were too busy chasing her classmates.
The inspiring actress rubbed the side of her forehead where she had hit her head and debated what she should do as she was pulled by her fear for herself, her 'friends' and what would be the right thing to do verses possibly the smart thing to do. She could feel the tendrils of panic make their way over her brain and heart, potentially freezing her from making any decision.
Jade just stopped thinking for a moment and let her instincts took over, which had to choices: fight or flight. The instincts picked flight so she looked around to see in which direction she should head. She rolled over and looked to the stage and saw a potential hiding place as she knew she couldn't outrun the creatures if they caught her out in the open.
She crawled on her arms and knees towards the stage, hopefully not drawing attention if she just jumped up and ran. She crawled the dozen yards or so around overturn chairs and left blankets to reach the skirt of the stage. She slipped her head and arms under it and immediately felt something grab her arm and yanked, pulling her further under the stage. Unknown limps wrapped around her arms, causing the nearly black haired teenager to start kicking her feet out and swinging while starting to yell out a terrified scream.
A hand clamped over her mouth and hastily spoke into her right ear, "Shhh! It's me, Tori. It's alright, it's alright."
Jade stopped struggling and relaxed into the grip. She turned her head to the right and saw the Tori's frightened expression. She would admit it to no one, but she couldn't be happier to see the thorn in her side for the last few years.
Tori worriedly inquired, "Are you okay?"
Jade brushed the butt of her hand over her forehead where she hit her head on the ground. "Yeah, I'm fine. I was nearly trampled to death, but I'll be fine."
The brunette gave a squeeze to Jade in her arms and breathed out, "Thank God."
The blue dressed teenager slightly grimaced from the hug, but she was in no place to argue or make any snide remark.
Jessica hastily asked, "What's happening out there? We heard screaming after we dove under here."
Jade finally looked away from Tori to see Mark and Jessica lying on their stomachs giving her surprised expression.
Jade shook her head. "I don't know. I just woke up and saw that I was alone. I didn't think I could make a run for it, so I crawled over here."
Tori questioned with a fearful voice, "So you haven't seen anyone else? Cat, André, my sister? Anyone?"
Jade shook her head. "No, I got lost in the crowd. I tried looking for Beck and the others, but I got swamped. Chizz, I lost you guys and we were fairly together."
The younger Vega sister nodded in reluctant agreement.
Jade glanced to the other three and asked, "So the only ones we know are safe right now are us?"
Mark pointed out in a sarcastic tone, "For the moment."
"Then does anyone have a phone so we can get some help? I had to leave mine in Beck's trailer."
Tori finally let Jade go so the girl could support herself on her elbows then reached into her shorts pocket and pulled out her PearPhone as she answered, "I have my cellphone, but I can't get a signal."
Jessica added with a frustratingly fearful voice, "I have mine too, but I can't get one either."
Jade pointed out almost incredulously, "But they were working fine when we got here."
Mark sighed with a clearly frustrated expression. "I know. I don't know why they would suddenly stop working."
The mean girl of Hollywood Arts rhetorically asked, "So we can't call for help?"
Mark shook his head and licked his lips. "Nope, so our best chance is to make a break for my car and floor it until we either get a signal or reach a phone that can call out for help."
Tori squinted and dismissed his suggestion, "I just can't leave my sister or my friends."
Mark glared at the number one student at their school. He took several calming breaths and pointed out, "I have a sister too and I don't know if she's alive or dead either, but I can't just randomly search the woods looking for her when there are practically monsters out there that can turn me into kibbles and bits."
Tori clenched her jaw tight, fuming at his words.
Jade whispered in disgust, "He's right, unfortunately."
The brunette turned her furious expression to the girl that was still in her arms. "You think he's right? You just want to abandon everyone? You hate my sister that much?"
Jade practically snarled at Tori, "I don't give a damn about your annoying sister one way or the other right now. What I care about is finding Beck, Cat, André and Freddie… okay and Robbie too, but Mark's right. As much as I would want to—I desperately want to find Beck, we can't go randomly searching for them and we sure as Hell can't fight those… whatever the jank those things are. The best thing we can do to help them—including your sister—is to get out of here and bring back the cops—or the janking Army—to kill those damn things as fast as we can."
Tori bit her tongue, trying to hold back the helpless rage she felt at the situation and not wanting to admit that she had a point. What good would she be for anyone else if she was dog meat? The obvious answer didn't make her feel any better.
Mark picked up after several seconds of silence, seeing that Jade had ended Tori's objections, "Okay, here's the plan: we crawl out from the front of the stage. If it's clear, we make a dash to my car and get out of here."
"And if something catches us while we're out there?"
The heartthrob teenager shrugged a shoulder and reluctantly answered, "Scatter and run like Hell. You think it's going to take one of them long to find us after it's done with the others?"
There was a bit more silence among them as there wasn't any better suggestions and Tori didn't see the point of arguing further. Mark took the opportunity to crawl ahead of Jessica and past the rivals to reach the skirt of the stage. He turned his head to the side to rest his ear against the ground and barely lifted the cloth to look out
"Okay, I don't see anything." He slowly crawled out and stood up, looking around and straining his ears to pick up any sign of the monsters. He heard a few growls and screams in the distance, both terrifying and reassuring him at the same time. He looked over his shoulder and motioned, "Come on while we have our chance."
Mark led the quartet in a sprint across the discarded audience section and down the several lane wide trail down to the campsite. They rushed past and ignored several trashed tents to reach the first set of vehicles that had parked with the trailer area.
They stopped at the first truck they ran across and saw the first grisly sight of the mauled remains of some of their fellow students, one in front of the truck and another next to the driver side door.
Tori turned away and fought to keep her last meal, but she wasn't successful and threw up.
Jade had to look away despite her stronger constitution and fought the same urge at seeing the torn up remains. She turned to Tori who was barely on her feet with bracing her hands on her knees, upchucking the last of her stomach contents.
Jade rested a hand on Tori's shoulder and reassured her, "You're alright, you're alright."
Tori finished throwing up then wiped her mouth with the back of her hand then looked up to Jade. "Thanks."
The darker haired singer struggled with a smile from the compliment, but let any kind of sarcastic defensive remark die in her mind. There was no point in aggravating anyone's already frayed nerves.
Mark took a cursory look over the truck and under the open hood. "No wonder they didn't make it; they engine's been all torn up."
Jade joined Mark in front of the truck, careful to step around the body beside the fender, and looked under the hood to see the mentioned damage. She shook her head and muttered, "What kind of animal is smart enough to disable cars?"
Mark grimaced as he answered, "These aren't animals, there… there're just outright monsters and smart ones." He shook his head and urged, "We got to keep going and see if my car is in one piece."
Jessica pointed out the fearful possibility, "What if the others are like this—yours is like that?"
The handsome teenager stoically glanced over his shoulder. "If my car's like that then we either find some place to hide until help arrives when we don't comeback from the weekend, which isn't really a feasible idea or we try to make a break for the main highway and hopefully we can make it to civilization on foot."
The girls passed glances among one another, clearly showing to one another that neither plan sounded all that appealing to them.
Mark shrugged a shoulder and asked, "If you ladies have a better idea, I'm all ears."
They thought for several seconds, looking to each other to see if there was a better idea.
A figurative light bulb went off in Tori's head and suddenly asked with a sliver of hope, "Hey, wasn't there a park station by the lake?"
Jessica eagerly joined, swept up with the excitement, "Yeah, I think I saw it on the far side of the lake. They have to have a phone or a radio to call for help."
Jade tentatively pointed out, "It's a good walk in the dark."
Mark countered, "Yeah it is, but it has a better chance than trying to walk back to civilization and even if they don't have a working phone or radio, we can probably fortify it enough to keep them out until help comes."
The nearly raven haired color teenager frowned, but she had no reasonable objection to the plan. "Fine, but let's hope it doesn't come down to that."
Mark motioned a hand in their original direction. "Let's hope."
He started them back on their way, slipping between rest of the vehicles parked in this section to use them to shield them from visibility and careful to keep crouched and quiet. As they made their way through, the saw that all the vehicles were damaged in someway to prevent them from being used, however, Jade stopped when she passed Freddie's Charger and immediately noticing that it appeared to be undamaged.
It was a curious sight in light of the other vehicles to Jade's eyes and she felt a twinge of apprehension, perhaps a little bit of fear as she thought about Freddie's potential fate since she lost him in the crowd and he didn't make it to his car. She figured that Tori might be devastated by such news, but as her mind quickly processed such a possibility, she felt her stomach start to churn. He always seemed like a pretty decent guy from the limited interaction they had and after that last couple of hours spending with him, she had grown a bit attached to him. Heck, she had openly flirted with him in front of Beck and Tori and if she was honest with herself, it wasn't entirely for show.
As she fought down the physical reaction to her mind conjuring up the many possibilities to what happened to Freddie, she noticed that the trunk was partially opened. Teasing her curiosity, she carefully walked around to the end of the car. She looked inside and saw only an emergency roadside kit.
The others noticed that Jade had stopped and turned back to see why she stopped.
Tori quietly called out to her, "What is it?"
Jade licked her lips while keeping her eyes on the open trunk, trying to figure out why the trunk was left open. "It's Freddie's car."
The brunette swallowed, letting her mind swirled with all the possibilities of what could have happened to Freddie and took a place to Jade's right while Mark stood to her left. He rested a hand on the end of the trunk door and glanced inside, curious as to why she was looking in what looked like an empty trunk save for the emergency roadside kit. He asked, "How did you get the trunk open?"
"If found it this way. It was just halfway open."
Mark knotted his bow and uttered, "It was just open?" He glanced up, the lock catching his eye. He gazed at it for only a moment, hoping perhaps the key was still inside. He disappointedly commented when he saw it wasn't there, "Damn, no key, but the lock wasn't forced."
Jade pointed out wearing an equally confused expression, "He wouldn't just leave it open before we met up for the performances, so he made it to the car, but he didn't drive off. He got something out of the trunk then left?"
Jessica noticed the car was alright and asked, "Why wouldn't he just take off if his car's fine?"
Tori dreadfully pointed out, "Maybe it's not fine?"
Jade walked around to the driver's side door and opened it, grateful that it was unlocked, and slipped inside. She looked for the hood release and quickly found it. She pulled it and the hood popped open. Mark walked around to the front of the car and took a cursory under the hood. He couldn't spot any damage, in fact, the high performance engine looked practically pristine.
"It looks fine to me. There's nothing wrong with it."
Tori and Jessica joined him at the front of the car and saw the fine condition of the engine. The brunette idly commented, "I may not know about cars, but it looks perfectly fine to me."
Jade stepped out of the driver's side and asked, "So Freddie left his perfectly running car and grabbed something from the trunk and ran?"
Tori answered in a tone mixed with praise and self-loathing, "I don't know, but we know he's not just abandoning anyone like we are."
Mark was quick to answer, "We don't have a choice."
The brunette quickly defended her growing crush, "He's made that choice."
The lighter haired male snapped back, offended with her implying that he was a coward, "Then he's an idiot trying to play hero that's going to get himself killed. I have better things to do tonight than die."
Jade interrupted before they could get into an argument, "Enough. We just can't stand here debating what happened to Freddie. We got to get to your car and get out of here so we can get help for everybody."
Jessica motioned to the Charger and asked, "Why don't we just use his?"
Jade cocked her left eyebrow and asked in a dismissive tone, "You just want to steal his car?"
"He's not using it."
Jade crossed her arms under her chest and cocked her head to the side. She asked in a dry voice, "Do you know how to hotwire a car?"
The ambitious teenager licked her lips then gave a pouting frown, "No."
The blue dressed teenager smirked and pointed out, "Then I guess we're not stealing his car."
The singer turned without waiting for a response and headed in their original direction. Tori hastily attempted to catch up with her while Jessica turned a frustrated look to Mark, who wisely kept his mouth shut in not wanting to get involved with girl arguments.
Only about half a dozen yards later, Jade stopped and her gut tightened when she saw Beck's truck and that the trailer was turned over on its side.
The others joined her in their shock and Tori grabbed her frenemy's elbow, attempting to comfort her and push her own fear down, "It's okay."
Jade pulled from her grip and started walking towards the end of trailer. Mark stopped her and suggested, "Let me check."
The pale sink actress threw him a look that told him to move or she would move him.
He wasn't intimidated by the glance with his considerable strength difference and height advantage. "You really want to see him like that if he's in there?"
Mark didn't give her a chance to argue as he climbed up on the trailer hitch then pulled himself up and onto the side of the trailer. He crawled over the side to take a brief glance through the window. He snapped his gaze away and held a hand up to his mouth.
Jade licked her lips and fearfully uttered, "What do you see?"
"You don't want to know, but I don't see Beck or any of your friends… best I can tell… what's left of them."
Jade let out a breath she didn't realize she was holding.
Mark carefully turned around then slid back off the rounded end of the trailer. He regretfully passed a glance into each of their eyes and stated, "There's nothing we can do for them, so let's keep going."
Jessica took grabbed his hand while Mark led the group towards his vehicle.
Jade and Tori picked up the rear and with the relative discretion of walking behind the other two, the brunette leaned over to Jade and whispered, "I'm sure he's alright."
"I'm sure Freddie and Trina are alright too."
Tori let a small grateful smile. "Thank you. I just wished I knew why he wouldn't just take his car and leave."
"Like you said, he probably couldn't abandon us. He does have the hero complex I hear. Didn't he get hit by a truck one time?"
"Yeah to save Carly's life. He's a very brave guy."
"Or stupid…"
Tori threw a harsh glare towards Jade, perhaps ready to take her fear and frustration out on her rival.
"I'm just voicing what Mark said, but I don't believe it. I wonder if Beck would do something like that for me."
"I don't know… would you do that for him?"
Jade was able to answer without hesitation, "Yes. He may drive me nuts at times, but I do love him."
Tori held her tongue in wanting to question the sentiment when she had openly flirted with Freddie in front of Beck. She decided to turn to the mystery at hand and question, "But why go into his trunk?"
Jade did something that surprised them both and reassured her, "You'll ask him when we find him."
"Yeah," Tori forced a smile, but one she didn't feel as the worry was just getting too much for her.
As the girls finished their exchanged, they arrived at Mark's car, but he sighed in frustration when he spotted two of his tires had been slashed, "Chizz." He knelt down to his left front tired to get a closer seeing that the tire just didn't have a simple gash, but outright shredded. He had a spare for one, but not two tires.
Jessica fearfully uttered, "What do we do now?"
Mark stood up and turned to the ladies. "So it's the park station or the highway."
Jessica looked like a deer caught in headlights while Tori looked like she was weighing the options, glancing out of the parking lot towards the entrance of the camping area then back into the camp grounds.
Jade may have not liked the plan, but she stated in a firm voice as seeing it as their only viable option right now, "The station. We're heading to the station."
Tori and Jessica turned their eyes to Jade, surprised at her demanding they take the suggestion she didn't like.
The handsome teenager snorted out, clearly impressed with Jade's determination and answered, "Okay, it's the station. We'll move the way we came through the cars as they do give us some cover then hug the tree line until we get to the trail. I think it's best if we parallel the trail, so if we won't be out in the open and we have a better chance to disappear in the woods if one of them catches up with us."
Jade sighed out, "It sounds like a plan to me. Let's go." She was the first to turn to head back in the direction of the campsite and eventually the lake.
Tori and Jessica, especially Jessica looked hesitant of the idea, but they saved their objections and join her with Mark picking up the rear, hoping against hope that it was their chance to safety.
Author's Note: Some more people died, more disappeared unexpectedly, others stolen in the night without being killed and a little more mystery. I hope you stay tuned and if I don't update something again by Thursday, make sure you tune in for Elizabeth on 'Sex&Drugs&Rock&Roll' on FX this Thursday at 10 PM.
