Chapter 9

Chapter 9

“Three fucking days and nothing!”  AJ slammed his fist down on the table.  “There has to be something else we can do!”

“What else do you want us to do?” Nick asked, “I guess we could tie up one of the girls and set them on the porch as live bait so we can jump him when he pokes his head out but other than that, I don’t think there is anything else we can do.”

“Fuck you,” AJ growled.

“Nicotine withdrawl,” Kevin whispered in Kristine’s ear. 

“Oooh,” she winced, taking his hand. 

“AJ, I know you’re upset but we all are.  If we start flipping out, we’re just going to be easier for him to pick off,” Cassy spoke up from where she was sitting next to Brian, her bad foot in his lap. 
           
“Cassy...was that just logic?”  Jedia asked.

Cassy stuck her tongue out at Jedia who immediately flashed her the finger with a smile.  “I still blame you for corrupting her,” She informed Nick.  “Our sweet, innocent, bookworm Jedia never would have acted like this without you around.”

“You’re welcome,” he grinned. 

Howie walked back in the room, taking a chair next to Cassy and Brian.  “The best thing would probably just keep searching.  He can’t be everywhere at once and if we break up into smaller groups, he’ll probably stay closer to the ones who get closer to his hiding spot to make sure they don’t find him.”

“Unless he just follows whichever girl he wants next,” AJ pointed out. 

“God forbid that happen, but the more he does, the better of a chance we have to figure this out.  We’ve just got to hope that Alana is still alive, wherever she is,” Brian gently moved Cassy’s foot to the floor.  “I think Howie has the right idea, we really do need to keep looking out there.”

“The smartest thing would be for one of us to stay here with all four girls but I get the impression you guys aren’t going to let us do that, are you?”  Kevin looked at Kristine who shook her head adamantly. 

“I know you guys mean well, but she’s our friend.  We’ve always been there to help each other out.  If it was the other way around and I went missing and Alana was still here, I know she wouldn’t rest until she found me.  Actually...it’s more than just a friendship.  It’s like how you guys always talk about each other in interviews, we’re really more of a family and in Alana’s case, she’s closer to us than she was to her real family.”

“I guess that settles it then.  Cassy is obviously staying here so one of us is going to have to as well...” Kevin’s voice trailed off as he gazed around the table. 

“I’m going out today,” AJ insisted.  “Just, don’t say anything guys.  I need to be out there looking for her.  Sitting here all day and just waiting for her to come home is driving me crazy.”

“I wish I could go out,” Cassy glared at her foot. 

“I know,” Brian patted her leg, “unfortunately you really don’t have much of a choice.  If your foot gets any worse, we’re in serious trouble because we can’t leave to find a hospital.”

“I...” Starr swallowed, “I just think I’d slow you guys down if I went out.  I want to help, I really do, I just don’t know if me going out would actually be any.”

“Don’t worry about it,” Howie flashed her a smile, “You staying here actually makes the numbers probably  works out for the best.  We can have two groups of three go out looking around...two of us and one of you and then Cassy and Starr staying here with one of us.  This house is probably safer so as long as the three here stay in one room and no one is left alone, we should be fine.”

“Does anyone actually want to stay here?”  Kevin asked.

“I’ll stay if no one else wants to,” Howie volunteered. 

“Okay, then AJ and I will go with Kristine and Nick and Brian can go out with Jedia,” Kevin decided. 

“Maybe you guys should switch that,” Cassy suggested.  “I mean...just because of the distraction that might be there if you go out with the couples intact.”

“Not to mention AJ and Brian having to feel like third wheels,” Starr muttered.

“Okay, so Kristine will go with Nick and Brian and Jedia will go with Kevin and AJ, alright?”  Howie asked. 

Nick and Kevin nodded reluctantly.  “I was poking around in Alana’s father’s hunting chest and found a few things,” Howie laid four hunting knives out on the table, “They aren’t much but I just don’t think you girls should be unarmed, just in case.”

Starr and Cassy reached out, tucking the knives into their pockets.  “Jedia?”  Howie offered her one of the remaining two. 

Jedia hesitated before closing her hand around the small knife.  “You don’t think I’m actually going to need it, do you?”  She asked.

“As long as we’re careful you shouldn’t,” Nick assured her. 

Howie silently held the last knife out to Kristine.  “I can’t take it, I’m sorry,” she whispered.  “Whoever is doing this, we know them.  Even if whoever it is had a gun to my head, I don’t want to hurt them back.  In their mind, we already hurt them and hurt them badly enough to make them snap and kill innocent people.”

“You don’t think you could fight back?” Kevin asked.

“I’m just afraid of what would happen if I tried to,” she tried to explain. 

“Alright then,” Kevin said standing up.  “Brian and Nick, you two better take care of her.”

“You know we will,” Brian replied.  “Ready to go?”

“Make sure you’re back by two.  If you’re not, we’ll assume the worse and come out looking for you,” Howie warned. 

“Fine,” AJ said as he slipped into his sneakers. 

“Take care of yourselves out there,” Starr murmured, hugging Jedia and Kristine. 

“Stay with the guys no matter what,” Cassy added, hugging them both. 

The two groups of three paused at the bottom of the steps, Nick kissing Jedia’s forehead and Kevin giving Kristine’s hand a final squeeze before they parted. 

“So where do you guys want to hang out?”  Howie asked, “The kitchen isn’t particularly interesting.”

“Maddy probably needs to go outside and I could use some air too,” Starr replied, picking up the frisbee from the counter top.  “Come on, boy!”  She gave a short whistle but the dog didn’t appear in the doorway.  “That’s strange,” she muttered, walking into the living room. 

“Hold on a second!”  Howie said, helping Cassy to her feet and maneuvering her into the other room. 

“Hey boy, don’t you need to go out?”  Starr knelt down next to Maddy at the bottom of the stairs and scratched his head. 

Maddy pawed at the bottom stair and let out a short bark.  “Starr, do you think...?”  Cassy’s voice trailed off. 

“Is someone up there?”  Howie asked. 

“I don’t know, I didn’t hear the door open so I don’t think anyone came back,” Starr frowned.  “I’m going to go up and look,”

“Hey!  Wait a second, not by yourself you’re not,” Howie hesitated, glancing over at Cassy. 

“I’ll keep Maddy next to me and if I see anything, even if it’s just a shadow, I’ll scream my head off,” she promised. 

“We’ll be right back down then,” Howie eyed the dog, obviously not liking the arrangement.

He headed up the stairs, right behind Starr.  They opened the doors to the three bedrooms and to the bathroom, glancing inside the rooms and the closets.  “Nothing,” Howie said. 

“Unless you count that,” Starr pointed to a small patch of dirt outside of the blue bedroom.  “I guess it doesn’t really mean anything though, it probably came off of one of our shoes.”

“Okay then, we’re going back down then,” Howie stayed right next to her until they were back in the living room with Cassy. 

“I take it you didn’t find anything.”

“Everything is just the way it was when we came down,” Starr shrugged. 

“Well, Alana always said the dumb dog would keep barking at nothing if he thought it was intimidating enough,” Cassy shrugged. 

“I guess,” Starr helped her to her feet.  “He does need to go outside though,”

Howie followed them outside onto the back deck.  Cassy was settled into a lawn chair and Starr was tossing the frisbee around for Maddy to chase.  “Are you ever going to say anything to her?” Cassy asked softly. 

Howie looked up, startled.  “Did Kristine...?”

“No, even I could see that one on my own,” Cassy let out a short laugh. 

“Does everyone know?”  He asked

“Well, there’s at least one person who doesn’t,” Cassy replied, staring at Starr and the dog playing tug-of-war with the plastic disk. 

Howie shook his head and settled down on the steps where he could keep an eye on both girls. 

Starr laid down in the grass, staring up at the clouds.  Maddy was barking but she didn’t feel like getting up just yet.  The dirt spot bothered her even though there was a perfectly logical explanation for it.   It looked like a boot print more than a sneaker one but Kevin and Howie both had boots that they wore around the house.  Both of them had gone out searching the previous days so it had probably just come off of one of their boots and no one had thought to clean it up.  Keeping the house neat and tidy wasn’t really at the top of anyone’s priorities at the moment. 

Howie acted like he hadn’t seen it before so it probably wasn’t him.  He was a naturally neat person and if he had mud on his shoes, he probably would have rinsed them off on the hose outside or left them at the door.  Plus, it was outside the blue bedroom.  She’d have to remember to ask Kevin about it when they got back from searching.  He was still staying in the blue room although his roommate had changed. 

Starr wasn’t bitter about it, even if she was the only one who hadn’t found a partner in the guys.  She had found five great friends and that was more than she had ever dared to hope for.  She was thrilled for Cassy, Jedia, Kristine and even Alana.  They were her best friends, she couldn’t hope for anything but the best for them. 

No, it wasn’t bitterness or even envy for the most part, she just felt like a third wheel four times over.  Even when Cassy, Jedia, and Alana seemed like they were on their way to happy endings, she still had Kristine.  Starr knew that out of the girls, she and Jedia knew Kristine the best, but even they never would have predicted her connection with Kevin.  Now, as much as she tried to push the feelings aside, she felt lonely and left out. 

Okay, so it was envy.  No point in denying that one anymore. 

“Starr?  Are you ready to go in?”  She heard Cassy’s voice break through the air. 

She sat up and immediately had Maddy prancing around her, barking happily.  “Yeah, I’m good.”  She brushed the grass out of her hair, whistled for Maddy, and followed Howie and Cassy back inside. 
                       
~*~*~*~*~*~

“Fuck!  It’s cold out here!” Nick exclaimed, shivering.

“You should have worn something heavier than that jersey,” Brian said, ducking under a branch.  “Maybe it’ll warm up when we get out of the woods.  There isn’t much light getting through here.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Nick muttered darkly, Kristine close behind.  He was definitely uncomfortable heading into unknown woods, searching out a serial killer who had taken or maybe killed one of the girls he’d just met.  While Nick respected the strong bond of friendship that held the other girls in Wanakena until they found Alana, he knew that he wouldn’t have stayed for so long.  Maybe it was a sense of self-preservation, but it seemed that staying in one place while being hunted was not a good idea.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn’t notice when a branch Brian had pushed out of the way came swinging back, hitting him squarely in the face.  “Auggh,” he spluttered, clawing the branch away and spitting out pine needles.

“Nick!  Are you okay?” he heard Kristine’s exclamation as he bent double, shaking bits of tree out of his hair.

“Yeah,” he muttered around pine needles caught in his teeth.  “Watch out for any other flying branches around here.”  He glared in mock anger at Brian who had hurried back to the other two.  “Although,” Nick said thoughtfully, turning to face Kristine and running his hand parallel to her head, “you might just be short enough to miss them completely.”

“Vertically challenged, thank you very much,” Kristine said, drawing herself to full height and marching on, nose held in the air.  She held the pose for a moment, then broke and looked at the two men, grinning.  “Nick,” she said, giggling, “You’ve got branches sticking out of your hair!”

“Fuck, no way,” Nick exclaimed, bending over again and shaking his head to remove unwanted foliage.

“Never mind,” Brian said, nudging his friend.  “Let’s just keep moving.”  The group began moving along the trail again silently except for the occasional twig snapping or rustled leaves underfoot, each hiker lost in their own thoughts.

Brian was choosing his steps carefully as the leader of the group.  He was careful to hand branches back to the following person now instead of having them snap back.  The last thing they needed was for another one of the girls to get hurt.  Kristine was following him and every time he would turn to glance behind, her face was still as if thinking deeply.  He couldn’t help but wonder what she was pondering.  Of all the other girls in the group, Kristine was the hardest to read, the most closed off.  She would vary widely between comic and serious in the span of seconds.  As much as he would rather not admit, Brian was confused by Kristine and her motives, especially when it came to Kevin.  He was pretty sure she wasn’t a gold-digger, none of the girls seemed to fit that description, but at the same time he was going to protect his cousin if needed.

The other girls, Brian mused, all had very distinct personalities.  Starr was the pensive, morose one who was very creative.  Alana was the wild child, and her hookup with AJ was definitely understandable.  If there were ever two souls who were more alike, it was his friend and the outrageous Filipino woman.  Jedia seemed to be the most intellectual and upbeat.  Brian grinned.  Although Jedia was cute and bubbly on the surface, he’d bet Nick had no inkling of the iron will that ran beneath.  His little bro probably didn’t have a clue what he’d walked into, but Jedia would be good for him.  Cassy- well Cassy was Cassy.  Brian couldn’t see her being any other way and was glad for that.  She was everything he’d wanted in a partner, minus her lack of faith.  Brian let a bit of worry show on his face, his mouth turning down and his eyebrows furrowing.  Being a devout Christian was one of the major aspects of his life and he couldn’t foresee being with a woman who didn’t share the same beliefs.  He sighed softly.  It was always too good to be true.  Whenever he met a girl there was something wrong, something missing.

They had been walking for a good 20 minutes when Kristine stopped in her tracks.  Nick, lost in his own thoughts, stumbled right into her.  “Whoa, whoa, what’s going on?” he asked.

“Brian!” Kristine hissed at the other man who was still following the trail.  Brian stopped and looked over his shoulder.

“What?” he asked, turning to rejoin them.  Kristine frantically motioned him to silence and pointed off to their right.  Several yards off the main trail stood a dilapidated cabin, windows dark.

The trio stood silently looking at the cabin, hearts racing, for several moments.  “What should we do?” Nick whispered finally.  It seemed hard to breathe; his heart was pounding so quickly.

“We’ve gotta check it out,” Kristine breathed, hands clenched at her sides.  “Alana could be in there, hurt or worse.”  There was an intent look of barely suppressed fury in Kristine’s eyes as she stared at the wooden cabin.

“All right,” Brian whispered, squatting and grasping a nearby stick.  “We should probably move in from different sides so that we can see the whole place.”  He rapidly sketched a rough rectangle in the packed dirt of the trail.  “If we all split up we can meet around the far side of the house and get to the door.”

“I’ll go around to the left,” Kristine volunteered after another quick glance at the cabin.  “That end looks pretty overgrown and you guys may have trouble getting through.”

“Then I’ll take the back,” Nick said.  “Keep an eye out on both sides so you two don’t get into trouble.”

“All right,” Brian said.  “So we should all stay within sight of each other.  Nick, that may mean that you hang back a little to be able to see both Kristine and I.”

“That’s fine with me.”  Nick was marginally relieved.  He squared his shoulders.  “Let’s get this over with then.”

Kristine immediately set out, walking quickly and half-bent as she tried to remain out of sight of the cabin windows.  Looking over her shoulder, she saw Nick and Brian heading off the trail and wading through the underbrush toward the cabin.  Kristine checked her position relative to the structure and decided she’d swing wide around the far end to come out on the other side.

Making as little noise as possible, she headed toward an overgrown clump of vines and shrubs near a back corner of the cabin.  She could clearly see Nick as she stepped over a moss-covered log and could barely make out Brian as he worked around the other side.

The cabin loomed nearby, its windows dark but seeming to look right at her.  Barely breathing, she slowed her movement and tried to slip from tree to tree.  Her skin seemed to crawl as she imagined the eyes of the killer on her.  Pushing aside branches and leaves, she stepped into the overgrown thicket and momentarily lost sight of Nick.  Her foot came down on a twig and it snapped, sounding unnaturally loud in the eerie quiet that had fallen over the forest.

The silent moment was broken by a gunshot, coming from the house.  Kristine jerked her way out of the thicket to see Nick, standing frozen, his eyes wide with terror.  Faintly, Kristine heard Brian’s voice, “Guys, run!  Get out of here!” and saw Nick turn and flee for the trail.  Without really knowing how, Kristine began running after Nick, frantically trying to catch up.  Branches struck her face and neck, leaving stinging welts but she pushed them out of the way and tried to move forward.

Breathing heavily, her feet got tangled in some underbrush and she looked down, kicking one foot then the other to free them.  She glanced up, but could no longer see the shapes of Nick or Brian.  Spurred on by a rush of adrenaline, she spared a glimpse over her shoulder to ensure she wasn’t being followed while taking her first few running steps outside the thicket.

Suddenly she was tripping forward over a log, her head coming closer and closer to the ground.  With a startled yelp, she twisted midair to land on her left shoulder, curling her head in to protect it.  Stunned, Kristine lay on the ground a moment, the wind knocked out of her.  Rolling to her stomach, she rose to all fours and was beginning to stand when she heard the unmistakable sound of a gun hammer being pulled back.  In a half crouch, she froze, not knowing what to do.  Her mind raced and screamed at her legs to move, to run away, but then didn’t respond.

Slowly, Kristine straightened and began to turn to see her captor when she saw a flash of a million stars, followed by excruciating pain and then a soft, enveloping darkness.

He stood over her limp form, mentally preparing the next step.  She had fallen onto her right side and the side of her face was beginning to swell from the impact of his shotgun.  It had been the only way.  He could only hope she would realize that, when the time came.

Taking the time to look around carefully and ensure there were no prying eyes, he bent to lift Kristine and place her over his shoulder, his gun slung over the other.  Carefully, he picked his way back to the trail and headed toward the end.

It was funny how simple traps like this worked perfectly.  Hunters had been trapping prey for millennia but most people had yet to learn that the same snares worked just as well on humans as on animals.   Careful and methodical, that was the way toward a goal.  Knowing what your prey was going to think and do kept the hunter one step ahead, and the hunter always won the game.

Nick had never run so fast in his life.  Legs and arms pumping in rhythm, breathing rapidly, he pushed his body to new speeds.  He had only one thought – to get back to the cabin and its relative safety.

He didn’t know exactly where the gun had been fired, but he had felt the bullet whiz by his ear and had stood in place for several seconds while it sunk in.  Brian’s voice had been his wake-up call and Nick had never been so scared in his life.  He felt his insides quake and thought for a moment he might be sick, but nothing came up.

Still running, he glanced over his shoulder to check for pursuit.  He only saw Brian running, a look of horror plastered on his face as he too sprinted for his life.  “Come on, Bri, hurry!” Nick managed to call out as he turned to face the trail again.

The two men sprinted for the trailhead they could just make out ahead of them.  Sunlight glinted from the edge of the trees, beckoning them to new efforts and promising safety in the daylight.  Together, they burst from the forest and, without a second glance, ran across the wide grassy field toward the cabin where the rest of the group waited.

Nick didn’t even stop to take the porch stairs.  He cleared them in a single leap and flew across the porch and through the front door, Brian close behind.  The two managed to shut the door behind them and leaned against it, breathing heavily, knees weak with fright and exhaustion.

Hearing the commotion, Kevin, Jedia, and AJ came out of the kitchen curiously, while Cassy and Starr turned from their seats on the couch and Howie came running downstairs.

“What is it?”

“What’s wrong?”

“What happened to you?  Are you guys ok?”

Nick and Brian were unable to answer, still breathing too heavily to speak.  “Found a cabin.  Shot at.  Ran back here,” Nick was finally able to gasp.

Various sounds of shock echoed throughout the room.  “Did you find her?  Did you find Alana?” AJ asked roughly, pushing past Kevin and Jedia to face the two members of his group.

“Where is the cabin?  How far away?” Cassy asked, standing carefully and balancing one hand on the back of the couch.

Brian was just about to answer when he was interrupted by Kevin.  “Where’s Kristine?” he asked in a deadly quiet voice.

Nick and Brian looked at each other.  “She was right behind us,” Brian said.  They opened the door and looked out onto the field, but there was no sight of the small girl running for the cabin.  “She was running right behind us.  I know she was.  I heard her running behind us.”

“She must have fallen behind,” Nick said softly, not daring to look at Kevin.  He knew that Kevin’s face was a mask of fury, and for good reason.

“Did you guys let her fall behind?” Kevin roared, startling everyone with his vehemence.  “How could you?  Brian, I trusted you!”

Before anyone could say anything else, Kevin had pushed past Brian and Nick and was striding across the field quickly, heading for the trail that they had just run from.

Jedia and AJ were out the door next.  “Come on,” Jedia said.  “We can’t let him go alone.  He could be killed!”

Nick’s heart sank in his chest.  What if it had been Kevin and Jedia on the search this morning?  What if Kevin had come back without her?  Feeling sick with guilt inside, Nick swallowed hard against his sudden nausea and followed Jedia.

“Don’t you dare leave me,” Cassy said, leveling a finger at Brian’s chest as she hobbled over.  “I couldn’t stand it if you, if you…” she had to break off, too frightened and upset for words.

Brian closed the distance between them and enveloped her in his arms.  “It’s ok,” he murmured, stroking her hair softly.  “It’ll be all right.  Kristine probably just fell behind.”  At his touch, Cassy fell apart.

“They’re gone!” she wailed. “Two of my best friends, they’re gone, he’s taken them!”  She dissolved into tears, laying her head on Brian’s chest.

Howie and Starr had finished putting on their shoes and quietly left, closing the door behind them.  They hastened to catch up with the rest of the group, led by Kevin, who was just entering the trail.

AJ and Jedia were trying to console Kevin, who wouldn’t respond to their reassurances that Kristine was fine and pleas for him to calm down and be calm about the situation.

“Where were you when you heard the shots?”  Kevin’s voice was quiet and cold. 

“There was this cabin, more of a shack, really crappy looking thing.  We thought Alana might be inside it.  We came around it on three different sides to see if we could peak in somehow.  Someone stepped on a branch and then the shot went off and we started running for it.  I know Kristine was behind me, I saw her there!”

“Show us where it is,” Kevin commanded. 

Nick swallowed hard and led them further back on the trail and pointed out the small cabin, set back away from the trail.  It was still dark, still undisturbed.  Kevin, AJ, and Howie approached it from the different sides, Nick staying back on the trail with Starr and Jedia.  “There’s nothing there,” Kevin said frowning, “just a lot of junk.”

“Maybe Kristine got back to the house without us noticing her,” Jedia suggested, gripping Nick’s hand tightly. 

“Maybe,” Kevin’s voice was unconvinced as he shot Nick another glare.  “I hope so.”

“So we’re heading back?”  Howie asked

Kevin nodded and the group turned and made their way back down the trail.  “Wait, what’s that?”  AJ asked. 

Starr knelt down and picked up the small object.  It took her brain less than ten seconds to place it.  “Kristine’s...scrunchie,” she whispered, turning it over and spotting the dark red stain on it.  “Oh...” Starr’s eyes rolled back in her head, falling onto the ground. 

“Starr!”  Jedia cried, rushing over to her friend. 

Howie and AJ were right there next to her.  “She just fainted,” AJ said, rubbing Jedia’s shoulder.  “She’ll be fine,” he glanced over at Howie who nodded in agreement. 

“Probably shock.  Either way, we’ve got to get her home and in bed,” Howie took the scrunchie out of Starr’s hand and gave it to Kevin.  “Nick, do you think you could carry her?”

“Yeah,” Nick scooped her up and looked back down at Jedia.  “Are you going to be okay?” 

Jedia shook her head, tears streaming down her cheeks.  “I don’t know,” she whispered.  First Alana, now it looked like Kristine was gone too.  Cassy stilly only had one good foot and now Starr passed out.  Jedia felt dizzy for a moment, the reality of the situation hitting her hard. 

“Hey, don’t you dare faint on us too,” AJ pressed his cool palms against her cheeks and forehead.  “You’ve got to be strong for us right now.” 

Strong?  Jedia would have laughed out loud if it wasn’t so sad.  Out of all her friends, she was the only one she thought that was lacking in that inner strength.  Cassy, Kristine, Starr and Alana all had an easy confidence about themselves, their dreams, their opinions, or their skills.  Jedia was forever second guessing herself, usually relying on her friends for her strength.  Ever since the nightmare had started, she had found herself relying less on her friends but more on Nick. 

It frustrated her so much.  More than anything, she wanted to be able to stand on her own two feet. 

The walk back to Alana’s cabin was slow and silent.  Cassy took one look at them when they walked in the door and burst into tears again.  “What happened to Starr?”  Brian asked, rubbing his girlfriend’s back as she sobbed into his chest. 

“She passed out back on the trail, probably out of shock.  She found Kristine’s scrunchie and it looks like there’s blood on it,” AJ glanced over at Kevin who’s face was getting stonier by the minute. 

Brian’s face went white “Oh God...Kevin...”

His cousin held up his hand.  “Blaming you isn’t going to get her back.”

“We better put Starr in a bed until she comes to,” Nick said, shifting her.  “Do you want me to put her up in that yellow room?”

“Why not put her in the purple room,” Howie suggested, “If we’re all going to be down here, it’ll be easier to have someone watching her and being within earshot of everyone else.”

“I’m sure I can make it upstairs if she doesn’t wake up right away,” Cassy sniffed again. 

“So are we going to go out looking again?”  Jedia asked. 

“No!”  Nick and Brian exclaimed in unison. 

“Well..at least you’re not,” AJ declared.  “We can’t risk losing the rest of you.  Three of us will probably keep going out at a time but you girls are staying here from now on.”

“He’s right,” Nick ducked from the glare she shot at him.  “Don’t get like that, it’s only because we care about you.”

“But Alana and Kristine are my friends, my responsibility,” she insisted.

“And you’re ours,” Nick shook his head, “We’re not going to back down on this one.”

“I should be fine going out with you guys,” Jedia pouted. 

“Kristine should have been too,” Kevin replied bluntly.

“Anyone want the first shift watching Starr sleep?”  Nick asked, heading down the hall. 

“I’ll sit with you and her,” Jedia offered. 

“Okay then, Kevin and I can try and make up something for dinner,” Howie decided, “AJ, you want to help?”

“In a sec, I’m going to go have a smoke first.” 

The rest of their group cleared out of the living room, leaving Brian and Cassy sitting on the couch.  Cassy’s sobs had subsided but she still clung to him as though she’d never let go.  Brian hugged her tightly, kissing the top of her head.  “It’s ok babe,” he whispered.  “They’re fine, the others will find them.”

Cassy looked up at him, her face tear-streaked and her eyes puffy.  “You sure?” she asked.

“Of course,” Brian answered.  “It’s always better to think positively.”  He winced inwardly as he realized Kristine had told him the same earlier that day.  “I promise they’ll be ok.”

Cassy sighed, looking away as if lost in thought.  “I hope so,” she murmured dejectedly. 

“Are you going to be okay?”  Brian asked.

Cassy looked into his face, she could see the concern plainly written across it.  She didn’t know what she had ever done to deserve a man as amazing as Brian but she knew better than to take advantage of a good situation.  Communication, that was always the hardest part of relationships for her.  She was strong, her father’s amazon warrior.  She was used to facing her obstacles and barreling her way through them.  Talking her feelings and problems over with someone else just wasted time that she could be using to fix things. 

Unfortunately in this case, her actions were limited so she might as well try talking it through. 

“I guess...I feel guilty,” Cassy spoke slowly, trying to figure out each word before she let it drop.  She glanced up at Brian again, searching his face for any kind of pity or disinterest.  Not seeing either, she decided to press forward a bit more.  “Just that if I had payed more attention to what I was doing on the hike up here then my ankle wouldn’t have gotten busted and then I could have gone out looking too.”

“Do you think it would have changed anything?”  Brian asked

Cassy nodded quickly “Given, Starr is the klutz, but Kristine is a lot faster in the water than she is on land.  Plus, she’s not used to hiking around in the woods and I am.  I went hunting with my uncles a lot and I know my way around them and I know how to get lost in them if I need to.  If you put me in place of Kristine this afternoon, I probably would have made it back on my own.”

“You might have, but there’s still the chance that this guy would have ran off with you just like he did with her and instead of Kevin being the one wanting to cry right now, I’d be doing it.”

“It doesn’t make me feel any better about it,” Cassy said miserably. 

“I know,” Brian lifted up her hands and kissed them.  “But Cassy, you have no idea how grateful I am that it wasn’t you.  I don’t have any idea how I’d be able to deal if I lost you.  I don’t even want to think about it because as long as I’ve got a breath in my body, I’m not letting you go.”

“Is there any way to get rid of this feeling?”  Cassy asked.

“I don’t know if anything is going to get rid of it completely for you,” Brian said thoughtfully.  “You girls have a bond that you don’t see very often and you care about each other so much that you’re going to feel that pain until they’re back here with us again.”

“So I’m stuck feeling like shit?” 

“Well, you could always try praying,” Brian pressed her palms together, holding them in between his.  “Just pray to God, ask him to watch over your friends and ask him to give you the strength and perseverance to get through these dark trials.” 

“I told you I wasn’t really religious,” Cassy said doubtfully. 

“Just give it some thought.  If you decide that it’s worth a try, He’ll be there waiting for you and listening to what you have to say.”

“I love you, Brian.”

“I love you too.  Come on, babe, you wanna wash your face or have a drink of water?” Brian draped an arm around her shoulder and led her toward the downstairs bathroom, closing the door softly behind them.
                   
~*~*~*~*~*~

Kristine’s  head hurt.  A lot.  It wasn’t a dull throbbing she’d always associated with headaches; this was an insistent pounding on the raw nerves in her brain.  She winced and found that moving facial muscles caused her to hurt more.

Her head hurt and her mouth tasted bad.  It was a mix between dirt and motor oil.  Thinking on this, she became aware of her growing nausea and the bad taste in her mouth definitely wasn’t helping.  Trying to ignore the growing nausea, she moved her tongue and tried to swallow, stopping when she encountered a foreign object in her mouth.

Startled, she stopped moving and re-evaluated her position.  She was lying (or she thought) on her right side and everything was black.  Moving her head slightly, she realized her eyes were covered.  Her hands and ankles were bound; she discovered a moment later after moving violently to free herself.  In doing so, her tongue caught again the cloth wadded in her mouth.  The motor oil taste was definitely from that, and her stomach roiled.  Knowing she was going to throw up, she tried to roll onto her knees so the cloth would exit her mouth.

With a low moan, she vomited and a thought flashed through her mind that with the cloth stuffing her mouth she was going to choke and suffocate.  Before the bile rose to her mouth however, the cloth gag was swiftly removed and Kristine knelt over the ground, unable to stop.

When it was over, she gasped, shuddering and trying to stand.  After no more than two hurried breaths the gag was shoved back into her mouth and Kristine dry-heaved at the taste.  She tried to speak, to scream, but the only sound she was able to produce was a soft wail.

She heard a soft chuckle before her and turned to face the sound although she couldn’t see anything.  Her captor!  Suddenly, her mind was filled with images of earlier that morning (was it still morning?  How long had she been out?).   She remembered searching with Brian and Nick, the cabin, the gunshot, tripping over the log, and then… nothing.  How was she captured?

A sudden chill set over Kristine’s body and she shivered.  Tears began to wet her blindfold and stream down her cheeks as she contemplated her imminent death.  Kristine heard faint movement and her breath caught in her throat.She was alone.  Alone and blind and gasping for breath, but she was still alive.  Kristine set to work trying to free her hands and free herself from her captor.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Starr woke up slowly, feeling like she had been asleep for a week and had been run over by a few eighteen wheelers for good measure.  The room was mostly dark aside from the bedside lamp that was glowing next to her. 

She rubbed her eyes, her vision was still a little blurry.  “AJ?”  She asked, spotting the figure sitting in a chair next to the bed. 

“No, it’s me,” Howie moved further into the light.  “How do you feel?”

“Like hell,” Starr grimaced and sat up.  “What happened?  The last thing I remember is finding Kristine’s scrunchie back on the trail.”

Howie hesitated momentarily.  “There were...some stains on it.  When you saw them you passed out.” 

“I fainted?”  Starr asked in disbelief.  “Are you kidding me?”

“You’re under the same emotional and mental stress all of us are under right now, seeing the bloodstains probably just sent your brain into overload and it shut down for awhile,” Howie shrugged.  “You’ve been asleep for about five hours, most everyone else has gone to bed.”

“Where are Cassy and Brian sleeping if I’m in here?”  Starr glanced around, noticing the dark purple walls. 

“They didn’t want to risk moving you because none of us knew how long you were going to be out for.  They’re sleeping up in the yellow room tonight.”

“Lovely, so first I make an idiot of myself and pass out and then I kick Cassy out of her bed.  By any chance did I dump a bucket of acid on anyone or kick a few puppies?  I’m a roll here making things worse.”

“You didn’t kick them out,” Howie objected, “They were perfectly fine with moving upstairs.  In fact I think Cassy was happy to be allowed to move somewhere else in the house.” 

“Where’s AJ sleeping then?” 

The small smile faltered on Howie’s face.  “He’s still on the couch.  Kevin offered to move the twin beds apart again in the blue room so he could have one of those but AJ didn’t want it.”

“Has anything else happened while I’ve been sleeping my life away?” 

“We haven’t gone back out to look around anymore, if that’s what you mean.  AJ, Kevin, and I are going to go out tomorrow and leave you girls here with Nick and Brian.  They feel so guilty about losing Kristine that I think they’re even more determined to keep you girls safe.”

“I never thought I’d have to sit around and let someone else protect me,” Starr spat out in disgust.  “It just makes me feel so completely worthless.” 

“You’re not!”  Howie exclaimed, grabbing her hand.  Starr stared down, her eyes widening at the sudden contact.  Howie felt his face get warm but didn’t let go.  “You’re not...” He repeated. 

Starr lifted her chin, her eyes a cloud of confusion and anxiety.  “How long?”  She asked finally. 

Howie shrugged, “A little bit ago...I guess on the hike up here.”

“Oh.”  She fell silent, staring back down at their hands. 

“Starr, if it’s....if you....don’t feel you have to fake something just to spare my feelings.”

“I’m no good at faking these things anyways,” she pulled her hand out from under his.  It was strange how cold it felt without his warmth covering it. 

“It was a gamble, I didn’t really plan on saying anything.”

“Howie, I’m sorry...” her voice trailed off. 

“It’s not your fault, it’s nothing you should feel sorry about.  I’m going to be here for another hour or so anyways and then Kevin is going to come down and switch out with me.  Why don’t you try and get some sleep, you probably need it after the day you’ve had.”

“Easier said than done,” Starr replied but settled back down under the blankets.  “Howie?”

“Hmm?”

“I really am sorry.”

“So am I.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

Kristine heard another low, evil chuckle and the sound of a door opening and slamming.  There was a pause, then the noise of a lock being engaged, a chain run through an opening.  The door being unlocked and the chain removed caused Kristine to raise her head, tilting it toward the noise.  She’d only been alone for a few minutes, how was she ever going to escape?  She heard footsteps coming closer and shrank back until her shoulder hit a barrier.  The footsteps continued until she could tell her captor was directly before her.  She trembled in fear, gasping through her gag.  Her shoulder was grabbed roughly and before Kristine knew what was happening, she was slung up and over a broad shoulder.

She remained frozen in shock as her captor began moving.  The only sound was the dull tread of his footsteps in the room and the harsh sound of his breathing.  He paused a moment and Kristine began to flail around, trying to get off his shoulder or, at the very least, kick him.  He ignored her struggles and started moving again, his stride faster but purposeful.  Suddenly they were climbing stairs and Kristine stopped flailing a moment.  Stairs?  Why would he be taking her up stairs?  His footsteps sounded different now, the floor was a different material.

There was another short pause and the barely audible sound of a door latch disengaging.  He shifted to one side and Kristine imagined that she was being carried through a door.  If she wasn’t in the most horrific situation of her life, Kristine would be interested in the fact that her hearing seemed to be at an all time high.  It had to have something to do with the lack of visual stimulus and her body making up for it.

She heard a low growling sound, like that of a dog and immediately perked up?  Maddy?  No, there was no way it could be Maddy.  Why would this guy be taking her back to the cabin where everyone else was?  That was just stupid.  Unless… maybe there was someone here who could help her.

Kristine began to wildly kick and flail again and was rewarded with a louder growl from the animal, whatever it was, and a tightened grip on her middle by the captor as they started moving again.  She tried to sway her entire body from side to side, maybe to have him lose his grip on her, maybe so she could wound him.  She didn’t know.  Everything that was happening now was a panicked blur, nothing made sense and all she could think about was Kevin and her promise to be back to him by lunchtime.

Somehow her foot connected with an object placed about hip height on her captor and fell with a loud crash to the floor below.  The dog started barking excitedly and, over the commotion, Kristine distinctly heard her captor mutter several curses.  He began to jog now, and then they were moving up more stairs, and then a ladder-like thing where Kristine’s head was continuously knocked against the rungs.  Her captor didn’t bother to hold onto her when they reached the top of the ladder; she was simply slung to the ground, knocking her head again.

Feeling slightly woozy from all the blows, Kristine barely realized when her arms were grabbed roughly from behind and she was dragged backwards on a cold, hard floor until her back hit a wall.  She was forced onto her stomach and her captor knelt on her back while she tried not to pass out and he unbound her wrists.  Before she could make a move, he had her sitting upright again and her hands were bound, this time in metal (maybe handcuffs) to a ring about a foot above her head.

Totally disoriented and feeling more than a little sick again, Kristine allowed her head to loll to one side against her arm.  She heard her captor stand and tighten her wrist restraints.  It hurt and she couldn’t help but whimper.  Her head hurt too and she felt something warm trickling down the side of her face where she’d been scraped along the ladder.  Her captor tore the gag from her mouth and Kristine gasped and coughed alternately for what seemed to be forever.

During that time she was aware of her captor’s footsteps moving slowly away and when she could hear him no longer she sighed and let her head sag.  He hadn’t removed her blindfold which made her believe that he was going to take her someplace else but her wrists were held in handcuffs now which made her plans of escape from before not realistic.  There was no way out.

Tears began to stream down her face as Kristine realized that she was truly and utterly alone and there was no way she’d be able to get out of this predicament.

“Kristine?”  A harsh whisper broke the silence.

“Alana?”