Disclaimer: I own nothing besides a few made-up characters in this story and my shiny pennies.

Summary: Nathan, Lucas, Haley, Brooke and Peyton have been kidnapped. Now, they must try to survive in a new environment and find a way to catch their kidnapper and return to Tree Hill.

Chapter One: Anywhere But Here

A door slammed in the distance. A young blonde awoke with a startle and an aching head. She tried to lift herself up, which was a difficult task as she felt weak and there was something that weighed about a ton on her legs. Blinded by the scorching sun, she looked around. This was odd; she seemed to be in a desert. There was sand and dirt everywhere, and a few cactuses with big, red fruits growing on them.

She quickly turned her head as she heard a car driving away, which resulted in a painful crick.

"Ow," moaned Peyton Sawyer, rubbing her neck. Where am I?, she wondered. Looking down, she saw a boy's head on her knees. She gasped as she realized that it was Nathan Scott, her ex-boyfriend and companion. She looked around and saw three other people, her friends Lucas Scott and Haley James, and her best friend, Brooke Davis.

Instantly, she shook Nathan off her legs, wincing as his cheek fell harshly onto the dirt ground. She tried to lift herself up, but it was too painful. She crawled over to Brooke.

"What the..." muttered Haley Scott, her eyes fluttering open. She had just felt someone's foot on her face. She turned around and saw Peyton crawling.

"Peyton?"

"Haley?"

"What's going on?" asked Haley, lifting herself up with her hands to join her friend.

"I don't know! I just woke up, and we're in a desert, which is weird because there are no deserts near Tree Hill, and I heard a car drive away, and I'm scared...and my head hurts like crap!"

"Slow down, Peyt. Let's wake everyone else up and figure out what's going on. Hopefully this is a joke, a very cruel one."

Together, they woke up their other friends, who were just as dazed and pained as they were.

"Okay, what the hell is going on?" demanded Brooke Davis, after they'd established that they didn't know where the hell they were.

"Don't you think we'd all like to know that, Brooke?" snapped Nathan, sporting a large, bloody gash along his left arm.

"Shut up, Nathan. I don't have time for your sarcasm right now. I just need to find out where on God's green earth we are and get home, because I have a mani-pedi at four thirty, and Eliza won't give me a refund if I miss it."

"Aww, poor Brookie's going to miss her beauty treatment! WE'LL, I'M GOING TO MISS MY BASKETBALL GAME!" Nathan screamed angrily, kicking dirt.

"Calm down, Nathan! The last thing we need is to bite each other's heads off," advised Haley, clearly frightened by Nathan's little temper tantrum.

Brooke pushed herself up, picked some dirt clumps out of her hair, and start walking away, with a broken heel, her nose high in the air.

"OKAY!" she shouted desperately. "HAHA! VERY FUNNY JOKE! NOW LET US GO HOME!"

"No one's there," said Lucas quietly, speaking for the first time since he woke up.

"How do you know?" spat Peyton, rubbing her wrists.

"Because, we aren't in Tree Hill anymore. Hell, we aren't even on the east coast! By the looks of this desert, we're somewhere in California."

"Oh, great. My parents will be so happy to have a little family reunion with me," said Brooke sarcastically.

"Guys, guys! Stop fighting. The first thing we need to do is find out where we are and contact someone from Tree Hill." Haley said calmly.

"She's right," agreed Nathan. Haley looked at him strangely. Even though they were friends, he never spoke much to her. Seeing her expression, he quickly averted her eyes and started kicking dirt clumps again.

"Look, there's a road right there." stated Peyton. "Maybe we can stand by it and hitchhike."

"Hitchhike? Only losers do that." Nathan scoffed, earning angry looks from Lucas and Haley.

"Well then, little brother, you can find yourself another way." Lucas said briefly.

"Whatever," he murmured to himself.

They walked together to the paved road about a mile away. Brooke and Haley tried to shade themselves from the hot sun with their hair. Peyton, who had short hair, had to bring her tank top up to cover the back of her neck, and the boys were defenseless.

When they arrived, they all sat down, knowing it would be a while before anyone passed by this empty desert. About an hour after, they saw a car coming up the road. They stood up, anxiously awaiting it to arrive, and hoping that the driver would allow them to ride. They began to wave their arms until the car slowed to a stop. Lucas stepped forward to talk to the driver.

"Hello, sir. My name is Lucas...Rowe." he greeted, not wanting to release his real name. "My friends and I are lost, and we were wondering if you would be willing to give us a ride to the nearest town."

"Sure." said the driver. Lucas walked back to the rest of them.

"Okay, the driver looks pretty shady, but I'm not willing to wait for the next person." Lucas informed. All of them agreed.

Lucas stepped into the passenger seat next to the driver. Peyton entered first, next to the door on the far side, then Brooke, Nathan and Haley. They were all uncomfortable with having a driver that they didn't know or trust, and the unbearable heat and stickiness of the leather seats didn't make the ride any more pleasant.

"So, Lucas Rowe. Where are you guys all from?" questioned the driver, who sounded genuinely curious.

"California." Lucas answered, like it was obvious.

"California, eh? What are you guys doing here in Nevada, then?"

"Umm...just traveling."

The driver fell silent and concentrated on the road that lay ahead of him. Half-way along the trip, however, he began to fiddle with his rear view mirror.

"Need help with that?" asked Lucas suspiciously. The driver shook his head. Peyton, who was looking out the window at the orange cliffs and blue sky, suddenly turned back and looked at the front windshield. To her horror, she noticed that the driver had tilted his rear view mirror to get a good shot of her thighs, since she was wearing cut-off's.

"Eww!" she screamed, waking Brooke, who was sleeping on her shoulder.

"What is it?" asked Haley.

"That pervert is looking at my legs through his mirror!" she accused.

"Stop the car." Lucas said in a low, dangerous voice. When the driver wouldn't obey, Brooke started hitting the back of his head with her fist, shouting "Perv! Perv!".

The driver stopped his car abruptly and yelled at them to get out. He turned to Peyton.

"This is your last chance, baby. You either stick with these losers, or drive with me to Vegas."

"First of all, I'm not your 'baby'. Second of all, these are my friends, not losers, and I think I'd rather stay with them than with a creepy scumbag like you."

He snorted, and started his engine again. Brooke stuck her tongue at him before he speeded away. They walked together in the direction that they had been going.

"Sorry, guys." Peyton apologized.

"For what?" asked Nathan.

"For losing us our only ride into civilization."

Brooke comfortingly put her arm around her best friend's shoulders. "Don't worry, P. Sawyer. We'll find our way."

And they did. After walking about twenty minutes, they saw a sign that read "Amberley Falls—1 ½ miles".

"Looks like we've found our destination." Lucas said.

"Yeah," said Haley softly.

A/N: Please review and tell me what you liked or didn't like about it, and whether or not I should continue it.

Jules