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Nathan was the first to move,
'TIM!' he shouted rushing to his best friend's side.
Lucas rushed over to help Nathan.
Haley and Peyton stood rooted to the spot. Peyton stared wildly around her, until her terror-stricken gaze met Haleys'.
When she spoke, her voice was low and barely audiable, 'where's Brooke?'
'Ok so this is where they're supposed to be?' Deb asked her husband warily, bringing the car to a stop.
Dan frowned and unbuckled his seat-belt, 'Nathan said he was going camping at Mandrake Forest Deb, I don't know anything more than that, I'm not a mind reader.'
Deb swallowed hard the intense frustration she felt growing inside her stomach. Her mind slowly returned to the incident a month before when she'd thrown Dan out of the house. After Nathan's collapse, it had been the last straw for her. But then after Nathan had spoken to her and found out about her throwing Dan out, he'd been quick to immediately blame himself. It was naturally his fault his parents had fallen out. Deb had seen how he'd shouldered the responsibility of something that wasn't his fault and she had been so upset by his depression that she'd taken Dan back.
Of course he was still staying in the guest room and things were no better between them, but they played up the civility for Nathan's sake.
Now Deb found herself wondering if she could really put up with Dan anymore, even for Nathan's sake.
Karen and Keith climbed out the back of the car as they grouped next to the bonnet.
'So here's what we do.' Keith started, 'we stay together, we search every inch of this forest till we find the kids alright?'
Dan snorted incredulously, 'For Gods sake big brother, did you really think we were going to leave them here without looking everywhere?'
Keith stared at Dan long and hard, 'you might of.'
Dan took a menacing step forward, Deb grabbed him by the arm, 'hey stop it, stop being so pathetic, we have to find the kids.'
Karen nodded, 'Deb's right, come on Keith.'
She took Keith's arm and switched on the flashlight she held in her hand. Deb did the same. They started off into the forest.
'TIM, COME ON MAN, TALK TO ME!'
Lucas put a comforting hand on Nathan's shoulder, 'hey it's ok man, he'll be alright.'
'No Luke, it's not ok!' Nathan shouted brushing his brother's hand off, 'we should have been here, we should never have split up.'
Lucas sighed deeply, Nathan was right, they should have stayed together.
Peyton stepped up quietly behind him, as Nathan continued to try to rouse Tim.
'Lucas...' Peyton whispered, her voice no more than a whisper.
Luke reached out overcome by the urge to protect her, he took her into his arms, and slowly rocked her, 'hey Peyton, it's gonna be ok.'
Peyton stiffened and pulled back, as she did, Lucas noticed the awful pallor of her face, 'it's not ok Lucas...' she said shrilly, her voice rising, '.Brooke.' She shouted, 'Brooke's not here, where is she?'
Lucas and Nathan both lifted their heads, identical fear in their eyes and realised Peyton was telling the truth.
'Where is she Lucas?' Peyton screamed.
Lucas had no idea.
Brooke struggled with all the strength she could as she was dragged through the forest.
Her screams were consistently muffled by the hand that covered her mouth.
Brooke couldn't ever remember feeling this scared in all her life. She kept struggling but she just couldn't escape, a branch scratched her leg as she was dragged roughly over it, and Brooke let a lone tear fall down her cheek.
This couldn't be it, this couldn't be how her life was supposed to end. In a dark forest with some psychopathic maniac.
Desperately she tried to kick her legs out but again to no avail, as she made contact with nothing but air.
It was with a sinking feeling that she noticed she was no longer among the trees anymore, but in another clearing. She felt herself being lowered to the ground and then just when she was about to try what she knew would be her final chance of escaping, she smelt the sickly scent of chloroform and then the darkness claimed her.
Lucas looked from the huddled form of Peyton in his arms to the mournful group before him.
Haley was adjusting Nathan's jacket under Tim's unconscious head.
Nathan picked up his muddy phone from the floor, pocketed it and was stared into space, forhead wrinkled, eyes staring, unseeing into the night.
Peyton looked like a small child, she seemed to be in a state of shock.
Lucas stroked her hair gently.
He looked over at Nathan, 'Nate?'
Nathan continued to stare passed him.
Lucas tried again, 'NATHAN!'
His younger brother turned then, eyes hopeless, 'What?'
'We have do think of a plan.'
Nathan laughed humourlessly, 'Tim's unconscious, Brooke's missing, what plan can we possibly think of to make things better Luke?'
Lucas frowned, 'we have to do something'.
Haley slowly rubbed a hand against Nathan's back, 'he's right' she told her boyfriend softly.
'We should have stayed together, we should never have left them alone, if we hadn't Tim wouldn't be... and Brooke wouldn't be..'
Haley slowly brushed his forhead with her fingertips, 'Hey, hey...' She murmered softly, 'playing the blame game isn't going to get us anywhere now.'
Nathan looked away.
Then he sighed deeply and got to his feet, he glanced at Lucas and then gently picked Tim up and placed him over his shoulder effortlessly.
'I suggest we find the nearest road, find help, get Brooke...' He told them all seriously, '..and then get the hell out of here.'
Fuzzy, everything felt fuzzy.
Brooke slowly opened her eyes, remembered what happened and started to panic. Immediately she tried to move, and found she couldn't. She appeared to be tied to some kind of make-shift table, in the centre of the clearing.
Well this was twisted.
Brooke's heart began to race as she realised there was no way in hell she could get off this thing, her legs and arms were tied so strongly to the logs beneath her, she couldn't even move, let alone escape.
A dirty cloth prevented her from screaming and she felt nauseous as she moved her head slowly from side to side.
What the hell was this? Was this psycho going to sacrifice her, rape her, murder her? Brooke didn't know, but she didn't like any of those options.
Eyes welling with terrified tears she looked around her wildly, where was he? Where was the guy?
Was he about to jump her?
Brooke shuddered, this guy was like a snake, she'd always hated snakes, and at that moment she realised why, because they were at their most dangerous when you couldn't see them.
Nathan, Haley, Peyton, and Lucas moved cautiously through the woods, huddled together. They were all petrified.
Nathan still carried an unconscious Tim, as he brought up the rear. Peyton shone the flashlight ahead of her, calling all the while for Brooke.
Lucas wanted to tell her to shut up, if the psychopath heard her calls, he'd know exactly where they were, but he didn't have the heart to. Peyton was so distraught over Brooke's possible fate that he couldn't tell her to stop the only way she knew how of helping her.
Haley remained close to Nathan, he had insisted she walk infront of him so he could keep an eye, and while she appreciated his protectiveness, she found it annoying that he couldn't walk infront of her, she was just as worried about him.
Less than an hour ago he'd been unconscious and now here he was lugging a 13 stone guy over his shoulder, Haley knew this couldn't be doing him any good.
Nathan kept a hand against Tim's back as he struggled along, he kept Haley in sight at all times, he was not going to let her get hurt again, no way. His head throbbed mercilessly, but he wasn't going to start telling everyone that. He needed to be strong, for the girls, for tim...and for Lucas. He had seen the worry in his brother's eyes and Nathan wanted to protect him, just as much as Haley. No, he had to keep up the strength, he'd nearly lost it before, and there was no way in hell he was going to do that again.
A loud song, broke him from his thoughts as he walked and Nathan realised with a start that it was his mobile phone.
Lucas couldn't help himself as he recognised the theme, he chuckled, 'Baywatch?' he raised an eyebrow at his brother as Nathan lowered Tim to the ground, 'and you make fun of me for batman?'
Nathan ignored him and quickly answered his phone, it had been reading no signal, since they had arrived he was surprised it was working now.
'Mom?' He asked as the name came up onscreen.
'NATE!'
'MOM!' Nathan shouted, overcome with happiness to hear his mother's voice.
'Sweetie, oh thank God.' Deb gushed, 'I was...d...thought...danger, we drove..your dad.'
Nathan shook his head frantically as his mom's voice broke up.
'Mom I can't hear you! You're breaking up!'
Lucas tapped Nathan's arm, as everyone stared frantically hoping Nathan could talk to his mom.
'Tell her where we are.' Lucas ordered.
What everyone failed to notice as they watched Nathan on the phone was the movement by the unconscious Tim.
Nathan took a deep breath, 'Mom, look I don't know if you're getting this, but we're gonna try and make our way to the road, we've left the campsite, ok, and we're heading to the road, you got that?'
'What....hear...'
'MOM?'
Nathan swore as Deb's voice gave way to the sound of a dial tone.
'Damn it, I lost her!'
Luke, Haley and Peyton sighed. Lucas nodded, 'Look all we have to do is get to the road and just hope they understood us ok?'
The three others nodded and Nathan turned back to lift up Tim.
He bent down, then paused mid-way as his eyes caught sight of something. Nathan felt the breath whoosh from his body, he felt paralysed, nauseous, frozen.
In the moonlight the knife sticking out of Tim's chest reflected the moonbeams onto the ground beside him. Nathan didn't notice, all he saw was the look on his friends face. Tims' eyes were wide, frozen open, his mouth hung open, blood trickled down his chin.
Nathan stared at him for mere seconds, then he turned away and violently emptied the contents of his stomach.
So next time,
Brooke finds herself in serious danger. The adults stumble across a body. The kids come face to face with the killer.
Nathan was the first to move,
'TIM!' he shouted rushing to his best friend's side.
Lucas rushed over to help Nathan.
Haley and Peyton stood rooted to the spot. Peyton stared wildly around her, until her terror-stricken gaze met Haleys'.
When she spoke, her voice was low and barely audiable, 'where's Brooke?'
'Ok so this is where they're supposed to be?' Deb asked her husband warily, bringing the car to a stop.
Dan frowned and unbuckled his seat-belt, 'Nathan said he was going camping at Mandrake Forest Deb, I don't know anything more than that, I'm not a mind reader.'
Deb swallowed hard the intense frustration she felt growing inside her stomach. Her mind slowly returned to the incident a month before when she'd thrown Dan out of the house. After Nathan's collapse, it had been the last straw for her. But then after Nathan had spoken to her and found out about her throwing Dan out, he'd been quick to immediately blame himself. It was naturally his fault his parents had fallen out. Deb had seen how he'd shouldered the responsibility of something that wasn't his fault and she had been so upset by his depression that she'd taken Dan back.
Of course he was still staying in the guest room and things were no better between them, but they played up the civility for Nathan's sake.
Now Deb found herself wondering if she could really put up with Dan anymore, even for Nathan's sake.
Karen and Keith climbed out the back of the car as they grouped next to the bonnet.
'So here's what we do.' Keith started, 'we stay together, we search every inch of this forest till we find the kids alright?'
Dan snorted incredulously, 'For Gods sake big brother, did you really think we were going to leave them here without looking everywhere?'
Keith stared at Dan long and hard, 'you might of.'
Dan took a menacing step forward, Deb grabbed him by the arm, 'hey stop it, stop being so pathetic, we have to find the kids.'
Karen nodded, 'Deb's right, come on Keith.'
She took Keith's arm and switched on the flashlight she held in her hand. Deb did the same. They started off into the forest.
'TIM, COME ON MAN, TALK TO ME!'
Lucas put a comforting hand on Nathan's shoulder, 'hey it's ok man, he'll be alright.'
'No Luke, it's not ok!' Nathan shouted brushing his brother's hand off, 'we should have been here, we should never have split up.'
Lucas sighed deeply, Nathan was right, they should have stayed together.
Peyton stepped up quietly behind him, as Nathan continued to try to rouse Tim.
'Lucas...' Peyton whispered, her voice no more than a whisper.
Luke reached out overcome by the urge to protect her, he took her into his arms, and slowly rocked her, 'hey Peyton, it's gonna be ok.'
Peyton stiffened and pulled back, as she did, Lucas noticed the awful pallor of her face, 'it's not ok Lucas...' she said shrilly, her voice rising, '.Brooke.' She shouted, 'Brooke's not here, where is she?'
Lucas and Nathan both lifted their heads, identical fear in their eyes and realised Peyton was telling the truth.
'Where is she Lucas?' Peyton screamed.
Lucas had no idea.
Brooke struggled with all the strength she could as she was dragged through the forest.
Her screams were consistently muffled by the hand that covered her mouth.
Brooke couldn't ever remember feeling this scared in all her life. She kept struggling but she just couldn't escape, a branch scratched her leg as she was dragged roughly over it, and Brooke let a lone tear fall down her cheek.
This couldn't be it, this couldn't be how her life was supposed to end. In a dark forest with some psychopathic maniac.
Desperately she tried to kick her legs out but again to no avail, as she made contact with nothing but air.
It was with a sinking feeling that she noticed she was no longer among the trees anymore, but in another clearing. She felt herself being lowered to the ground and then just when she was about to try what she knew would be her final chance of escaping, she smelt the sickly scent of chloroform and then the darkness claimed her.
Lucas looked from the huddled form of Peyton in his arms to the mournful group before him.
Haley was adjusting Nathan's jacket under Tim's unconscious head.
Nathan picked up his muddy phone from the floor, pocketed it and was stared into space, forhead wrinkled, eyes staring, unseeing into the night.
Peyton looked like a small child, she seemed to be in a state of shock.
Lucas stroked her hair gently.
He looked over at Nathan, 'Nate?'
Nathan continued to stare passed him.
Lucas tried again, 'NATHAN!'
His younger brother turned then, eyes hopeless, 'What?'
'We have do think of a plan.'
Nathan laughed humourlessly, 'Tim's unconscious, Brooke's missing, what plan can we possibly think of to make things better Luke?'
Lucas frowned, 'we have to do something'.
Haley slowly rubbed a hand against Nathan's back, 'he's right' she told her boyfriend softly.
'We should have stayed together, we should never have left them alone, if we hadn't Tim wouldn't be... and Brooke wouldn't be..'
Haley slowly brushed his forhead with her fingertips, 'Hey, hey...' She murmered softly, 'playing the blame game isn't going to get us anywhere now.'
Nathan looked away.
Then he sighed deeply and got to his feet, he glanced at Lucas and then gently picked Tim up and placed him over his shoulder effortlessly.
'I suggest we find the nearest road, find help, get Brooke...' He told them all seriously, '..and then get the hell out of here.'
Fuzzy, everything felt fuzzy.
Brooke slowly opened her eyes, remembered what happened and started to panic. Immediately she tried to move, and found she couldn't. She appeared to be tied to some kind of make-shift table, in the centre of the clearing.
Well this was twisted.
Brooke's heart began to race as she realised there was no way in hell she could get off this thing, her legs and arms were tied so strongly to the logs beneath her, she couldn't even move, let alone escape.
A dirty cloth prevented her from screaming and she felt nauseous as she moved her head slowly from side to side.
What the hell was this? Was this psycho going to sacrifice her, rape her, murder her? Brooke didn't know, but she didn't like any of those options.
Eyes welling with terrified tears she looked around her wildly, where was he? Where was the guy?
Was he about to jump her?
Brooke shuddered, this guy was like a snake, she'd always hated snakes, and at that moment she realised why, because they were at their most dangerous when you couldn't see them.
Nathan, Haley, Peyton, and Lucas moved cautiously through the woods, huddled together. They were all petrified.
Nathan still carried an unconscious Tim, as he brought up the rear. Peyton shone the flashlight ahead of her, calling all the while for Brooke.
Lucas wanted to tell her to shut up, if the psychopath heard her calls, he'd know exactly where they were, but he didn't have the heart to. Peyton was so distraught over Brooke's possible fate that he couldn't tell her to stop the only way she knew how of helping her.
Haley remained close to Nathan, he had insisted she walk infront of him so he could keep an eye, and while she appreciated his protectiveness, she found it annoying that he couldn't walk infront of her, she was just as worried about him.
Less than an hour ago he'd been unconscious and now here he was lugging a 13 stone guy over his shoulder, Haley knew this couldn't be doing him any good.
Nathan kept a hand against Tim's back as he struggled along, he kept Haley in sight at all times, he was not going to let her get hurt again, no way. His head throbbed mercilessly, but he wasn't going to start telling everyone that. He needed to be strong, for the girls, for tim...and for Lucas. He had seen the worry in his brother's eyes and Nathan wanted to protect him, just as much as Haley. No, he had to keep up the strength, he'd nearly lost it before, and there was no way in hell he was going to do that again.
A loud song, broke him from his thoughts as he walked and Nathan realised with a start that it was his mobile phone.
Lucas couldn't help himself as he recognised the theme, he chuckled, 'Baywatch?' he raised an eyebrow at his brother as Nathan lowered Tim to the ground, 'and you make fun of me for batman?'
Nathan ignored him and quickly answered his phone, it had been reading no signal, since they had arrived he was surprised it was working now.
'Mom?' He asked as the name came up onscreen.
'NATE!'
'MOM!' Nathan shouted, overcome with happiness to hear his mother's voice.
'Sweetie, oh thank God.' Deb gushed, 'I was...d...thought...danger, we drove..your dad.'
Nathan shook his head frantically as his mom's voice broke up.
'Mom I can't hear you! You're breaking up!'
Lucas tapped Nathan's arm, as everyone stared frantically hoping Nathan could talk to his mom.
'Tell her where we are.' Lucas ordered.
What everyone failed to notice as they watched Nathan on the phone was the movement by the unconscious Tim.
Nathan took a deep breath, 'Mom, look I don't know if you're getting this, but we're gonna try and make our way to the road, we've left the campsite, ok, and we're heading to the road, you got that?'
'What....hear...'
'MOM?'
Nathan swore as Deb's voice gave way to the sound of a dial tone.
'Damn it, I lost her!'
Luke, Haley and Peyton sighed. Lucas nodded, 'Look all we have to do is get to the road and just hope they understood us ok?'
The three others nodded and Nathan turned back to lift up Tim.
He bent down, then paused mid-way as his eyes caught sight of something. Nathan felt the breath whoosh from his body, he felt paralysed, nauseous, frozen.
In the moonlight the knife sticking out of Tim's chest reflected the moonbeams onto the ground beside him. Nathan didn't notice, all he saw was the look on his friends face. Tims' eyes were wide, frozen open, his mouth hung open, blood trickled down his chin.
Nathan stared at him for mere seconds, then he turned away and violently emptied the contents of his stomach.
So next time,
Brooke finds herself in serious danger. The adults stumble across a body. The kids come face to face with the killer.