Disclaimer: I do not own Lord of the Rings or any of the languages spoken in the books or movie. I do own Nicole, Susan, Jake, their parents, Matt, and Bill. I do not own the hummer (but I wish I did), The Wizard of Oz, or Deliverance.

Chapter 2

HONK HONK!

Nicole groaned as she raised her head at the absurd noise.

HOOOOOOOONK! HONK!

"I'm up, damn it!" she swore, climbing off her bed. Opening the window, Nicole looked out onto the campus to curse the bastard and his car that woke her up to hell.

"NICOLE!"

Nicole looked toward the parking lot to see Susan standing in the sun roof of a new silver Hummer.

"Look what I got!"

"How, why, and what the fuck?"

"Come down here, and I'll explain!"

Nicole shut the window, and went to her dresser. She quickly slipped on another black tank top, black jeans, socks, and her sketchers. Grabbing her keys, she ran down the steps and across the campus to Susan. As soon as Susan saw Nicole running, she got out of the car and ran to her.

"Don't run!" she commanded. Nicole stopped and placed her hands on her hips while Susan ran to her.

"I didn't mean for you to," reasoned Susan.

"I'm not going to get a heart attack running, Susan," said Nicole with annoyed look.

"Still, I don't want you to over exert yourself," she explained as she grabbed Nicole's hand, and dragged her to the car. Sure enough, it was a brand new, silver H2.

"Where did you get it? I thought your dad closed your checking account."

"Mom came back from California late last night," said Susan, leaning up against the car. "She calls me on my cell, and says 'Hi. How's it going? Are you studying hard?' When I try to answer she says, 'That's great. I bought you a Hummer as a reward. It'll be out in the parking lot tomorrow morning. See you in six months.'" Susan scoffed and crossed her arms. Her parents had ignored her since kindergarten. Nicole remembered that she would stay at her house for weeks on end, without her parents noticing. It took a call from their teacher before the parents realized where she was and came to pick her up.

Susan was officially annoyed and pissed off now because of the memories returning. She ran her hand through her stiff hair and drummed her fingers on the new paint job.

"Just once," she spat, "I would like to have a two minute conversation with them. Just once!"

"I know," whispered Nicole. Susan pushed off from the car and began to pace. She then kicked the tire in fury, and continued kicking until Nicole pulled her away in a hug. Susan sniffed and wiped her tears as she let go.

"Let's get drunk and trash the car, huh?" Susan offered. Nicole laughed.

"Are you kidding? Jake is going to want to test drive it, then trash it." Both girls laughed as they walked to the boys' dorm.

KNOCK KNOCK

A stressed looking boy with blood shot eyes opened the door to Jake's dorm.

"Hi Bill!" said Susan in her perky voice. Once Bill recognized Susan, he slammed back into the door. Bill was Jake's roommate, and one of the smartest people on campus. However, he was also the most paranoid. He was paranoid of germs, bad grades, bullies, severe weather, confrontations, and most of all, Susan. The president paired him with Jake in hopes he would straighten him out. Of course it didn't work.

But that's not why he was scared of Susan. They were lab partners for their Chemistry class, and when Bill bugged Susan constantly about doing her share of the work, she kneed him in the groin in the middle of the campus, and burnt his books in the nearest trash can. Needless to say, they don't talk much anymore.

Without taking his eyes off her, he slowly backed into his room and hide behind the door. Jake looked up from his book, and then stood to grab his jacket.

"Whatcha reading?" asked Nicole. Jake handed her the book.

"Oh! Dracula!" she said in an accent. The girls began to make hissing noises and pretended that they were going to bite each other as they crossed the campus.

"JAKE!" barked a voice from across the lawn. Jake looked up and saw his dad, the president, coming toward them at a fast pace. Jake sighed and stepped out in front of the girls.

"What do you think your doing?" his father asked.

"We were just going to go for a ride in Susan's new car, President Howard," answered Nicole while Susan jingled the keys for him to see.

"I didn't ask you, Nicole. I'm trying to talk to my son."

Jake balled his fists and glared at his father, but didn't say anything.

"I heard you skipped class again yesterday, and missed the meeting with your guidance counselor. Why do you do this to me? Why do you insist on embarrassing me in front of my colleagues?"

Jake just stared at his father's face.

"You will be graduating with your class, no exceptions! If I have to, I'll put you in the summer semester. I will not have a failure as a son, Jake. Do you understand?"

Jake nodded and continued to hold his father's gaze.

"I'm glad your mother isn't here. She would have been ashamed." Jake's father turned on his heel and strode away, leaving a raging son. Once he was out of sight and sound, Jake picked up the nearest trash can and threw it across the lawn, spilling trash everywhere.

Jake's dad was the complete opposite of Susan's parents. Instead of never talking to Jake, all he did was criticize him. Jake learned at a young age that to talk back was to receive pain. It finally got to the point where Jake couldn't take it anymore.

During lunch in middle school, a boy began to tease him for dropping his lunch on the cafeteria floor. Jake snapped and began to punch the kid until finally five teachers pulled him off the broken boy. The boy suffered five broken ribs, a broken arm, and several severe bruises, while Jake served a week in Juvenile detention hall. Nicole had never been so scared in her life. She had a front row seat to the boy she had grown to love, the most caring boy in the world, almost beat another boy to death.

Jake's mother, Lara, on the other hand, was an angel sent from God. She was the kindest person Nicole, Susan, and Jake ever knew. Nicole had very few memories of her, but her favorite was when Lara made a tent in the family room of her house, and all four of them camped out. Little did they know that Lara was diagnosed with Leukemia right after they were born. She died when they were only six.

Nicole was brought back to the present when Jake snatched the keys out of Susan's hand, and marched to the car. Susan and Nicole exchanged a glance, and quickly followed him. As Susan and Nicole got in the car, Jake started the engine.

"Jake, what they hell are you doing?" Susan asked as she buckled her seat belt.

"We're going for a ride," he muttered, and pulled out of the parking space.

"Where are we going?" Nicole asked from the middle seat. Jake ignored her and sped out of the parking lot, heading west.

"Jake, pull over. This isn't funny," pleaded Susan.

"I'm not laughing," responded Jake in a calm tone.

"Please Jake, let one of us drive," begged Nicole.

"NO!" he yelled, and made a sharp left through a red light, causing four other cars to swerve.

Jake was heading into the rural area of town. They drove for three hours with no break. Nicole and Susan had given up on persuading Jake, so Susan starred out of window at the cattle farms and corn fields. Nicole began to look around the car. She noticed that her guitar, Susan's bass, and Jake's trap set were in the back.

"Hey, Susan?"

"Hmm?"

"Why is our equipment in the back?"

"Oh, I thought we could drive to the warehouse and practice a bit, but I don't think that's going to happen now," she said, giving Jake a death glare. Jake's eyes had not averted from the road, and his posture had not relaxed.

"Jake," said Nicole softly, putting a hand on his shoulder. "Come on, let's stop."

"Jake, come on, I'm hungry!" whined Susan. "We haven't eaten since last night!" Jake glanced at the both quickly, and then sighed. None of them had seen a gas station or exit sign for miles, so Jake turned into the nearest road, hoping it was an exit. The road continued on for another 15 minutes until it turned into a dirt road. Jake stopped the car.

"If I hear 'Dueling Banjos,'" said Susan, pointing at Jake, "You're the first to die."

"Guys, what are we going to do?" sighed Nicole.

"We can't turn this big ass car around," reasoned Susan. "The road is sided with wooden fences and it's too narrow!"

"What if Jake backs out the entire way?"

"He's going to mess up and scratch the side on the fence." It was now Jake's turn to give Susan a death glare.

"Then let's just continue on," said Nicole. "Maybe there's a clearing up ahead that we can turn around in." Jake drove the car forward, and the continued to drive another two hours. The fence finally disappeared, but now the car began to sputter.

"What now?" yelled Susan.

"The car is out of gas," sighed Jake as he hit his head on the steering wheel. Nicole leaned back in her seat while Susan began to scream at Jake.

"WHAT THE FUCK DID YOU BRING US OUT HERE FOR?"

"Susan, stop yelling at him," said Nicole. Susan became so frustrated that she slammed the car door as she got out, shaking the entire Hummer. She was soon followed by both Nicole and Jake.

Nicole began to scan the landscape. It was nothing but hills and rocks as far as she could see. She noticed that they all seemed to slope down, and at the bottom of the valley was a river.

"There's no river in this county," she muttered. She began to shiver as the wind blew.

"Why is it so cold?" yelled Susan as she hugged herself. "It's April for Christ's sake!"

"You guys, we're next to a river," Nicole yelled as the wind blew her hair in her face.

"What?" yelled Susan as she and Jake approached Nicole.

"Look," she pointed out. "Do you know what river that is? Let's go check it out."

"Dorothy, honey," said Susan. "We're not in Kansas anymore, so we shouldn't wander around. Let's just get back in the car and wait for someone to pass by."

"Who, Susan? We haven't seen a car or a person for hours! We have a better chance of finding food and heat if we leave the car."

"I'm not leaving the car and the equipment!"

"Then will take the guitars, but the rest has to stay!" Susan looked at Jake, who nodded, and then looked to the car.

"Fine!" The girls went back and grabbed their guitars. There was no way Jake could carry the entire drum set, so he just grabbed his sticks. They strapped the guitars to their backs, and made their way down the hill. Susan and Nicole huddled together to keep warm, while Jake flipped up his collar and stuffed his hands in his pockets.

The skies were growing dark and the air colder. Nicole felt her heart contract in her chest, and grimaced. Susan saw this, and began to panic.

"Oh! I knew we shouldn't have left the car!" she whined. "You're getting sick!" Jake immediately took off his jacket and wrapped it around Nicole.

"I'm fine, really I am," she lied. Nicole could feel her chest getting colder. Breathing was getting harder, and her vision was blurry.

"We have to cross," she struggled to say. Why she felt they had to cross the river, Nicole didn't know. A certain sense purpose filled her, like when on stage as she led their band.

"Oh, no we're not. Especially not you! The water is too cold."

"We don't have a choice Susan, we have to—" Nicole collapsed and fell back into Jake's arms. As he laid her down and tried to warm her arms, Susan began to scream.

"HELP! SOMEONE HELP US! PLEASE! HELP!"

"It's going to be okay," whispered Jake. "It's going to be okay. Oh, Nicole, I'm so sorry. You'll be fine. It's going to be okay."

Nicole felt herself fall unconscious. She heard the beat of horse hooves, the muttering of a strange language, Susan's screams, and strong arms lifting her up.

"Avo 'osto. Gerich faer vara, hiril nin. Estelio nin."