6/13/11 - 8/31/11
A/N: Maybe a little bit of OOCness, but, hey, it's my story. I could make this take place in Wonderland and make John Ryder look like Steve Carrell (ew, no, I wouldn't do that). Anyways, DISCLAIMER: I don't own the movie, the characters, actors, etc. etc. It'd be nice if I did though. ;P It's a shame that I never watched this movie when they still played it on SciFi. Now I feel like an idiot. Enjoy. :)
P.S. A little OOCness is good now and then.
Summary (for this chapter): A look into what happens when teens, or anyone for that matter, picks up a hitchhiker. The family is oblivious to what has happened and will not be informed until long after the incidents. But that's how he likes it. Unfortunately, this batch of victims isn't too well equipped with men's driver licenses - ergo, he remains John Ryder.
January 17 - Edith Adams goes to a sleepover at Rachel Stewart's house in preparation for trip
January 18 - Edith, Rachel, Veronica Hebert, Shelby Jones and Susanna Daniels finalize plans for said trip
January 19 - Edith, Rachel, Veronica, Shelby, Susanna leave Houston, TX at 5:39pm (a little later than planned, but not everything goes as planned)
January 19, 7:30pm - As they pass into an unknown town in Texas, Edith notices that the car is running low on gasoline
January 19, 7:59pm - Rachel stops at a gas station; everyone goes inside to get something to eat
January 19, 8:15pm - A man comes into the gas station and asks the clerk if he can call a tow truck, then casually greets Shelby and Veronica
January 19, 8:20pm - Shelby and Veronica can't decide whether to tell Rachel about the man or to just ignore him
January 19, 8:22pm - They decide to tell Rachel, who promptly decides to offer the man a ride; it's her "good deed for the day"
January 19, 8:25pm - The man thanks them, then introduces himself; Edith is somewhere else in the gas station so she misses the social gathering
January 19, 8:30pm - Edith joins the group and meets the man
January 19, 8:31pm - The man introduces himself to her; "Hi," he says, "I'm John Ryder."
"Hi," Edith replied quietly, smiling softly. She was never quite sure of how to greet strangers, and certainly not ones that had just been offered a ride in her friend's car.
The man stared at her, narrowing his eyes like he was studying her. She shifted on her feet and cleared her throat, avoiding eye contact. She was very uncomfortable.
"You're in high school, right?" he asked. What a strange question. Was he hinting at something?
"Yes, we all are," Rachel piped up, "but you might have noticed that Edy is the youngest of us all... She's in her second year of high school - a sophomore."
"The youngest?" John replied, looking at Rachel. "I thought she was older than all of you."
"Really? Oh..." Rachel glanced at Edith, an embarrassed look crossing her face. "I thought you were looking at her because you couldn't believe she was in high school... 'cuz she looks so young."
"Oh, no.. I thought she was in college." He turned his gaze back to Edith, tilting his head to the side, "You sure you're in high school? You're not lying to me, are you?"
Edith suddenly felt a bit nervous. She began rocking back and forth on her feet, "No, sir. Why would we lie to you?"
"It's easy to lie to a stranger. To someone you've just met."
An awkward silence ensued. Everyone felt a strange atmosphere in the gas station. Everyone was uncomfortable. Everyone except for John Ryder. He seemed perfectly at ease among the five teen girls. Rachel cleared her throat, catching all of the girls' attention.
"Well, I guess we'd better get going. I don't want to be on the road so late, you know?"
"I understand," John said, a slight smile on his lips, "that can be very dangerous."
"Right..." Rachel sighed, then gave a half-hearted smile. It seemed that no matter what, the awkward air wouldn't lift. It seemed that this Mr. John Ryder was keeping the uncomfortableness around. He was holding it down on purpose. Did he like to see these girls squirm?
Edith shuddered involuntarily, feeling a cold draft ride up her spine. There was just something wrong about that man. Even though he was smiling kindly at them and hadn't done anything (yet) that was strange, it was just the aura of him that signaled something wasn't quite right.
"So, where exactly are you heading?" Rachel asked, suddenly realizing that she had neglected to ask where the man was going before offering him a ride.
"Just into the next town. The clerk said there is a motel there. I'll stay there until I can get my car towed."
"Oh, well that's fine. We can do that," Rachel smiled happily, relieved she wouldn't have to go back on her word and leave the man at the gas station.
"You're absolutely sure?"
"Yeah, totally. It's not a problem."
"Great."
Shelby, Veronica, Edith and Susanna all piled into the backseat of the car (in that order). In most situations, the stranger would sit in the back (since he was an uninvited guest he wouldn't have to be treated kindly or offered shotgun), but the girls didn't feel like squeezing in next to a hitchhiker in the car. Rachel sat in the front seat, driving, and John Ryder sat in the passenger seat. It was actually a good seating arrangement, except the backseat wasn't meant for four teen girls. They were just lucky that all their luggage had fit into the trunk and hadn't needed to be placed inside the car.
Edith glanced out the window, over Susanna's head, at the gas station. As Rachel pulled out, the building fell away. For a moment it looked like someone was watching them...then Edith realized someone was watching them. It was the clerk. He was leaning over the counter, staring outside at the car. He held a phone to his ear. Suddenly he dropped the phone, ran around the counter and came outside. He was shouting something at them, but it was impossible to hear. He began to jump up and down and point at their car, then he tried to run after them.
"I think he wants to tell us something," Edith said, watching the man sprint after the car. Susanna turned and watched out the window too, as did Shelby. Veronica watched out the back window.
"Should we stop?" Susanna asked, pressing a hand against the cool glass, "I mean, he looks pretty anxious."
"Did you forget to pay again, Rachel?" came Shelby's half-joke, mostly-serious question.
"No. It must be something else. Should I stop?" Rachel glanced back at the girls in the rear, but they weren't paying attention to her. All of them were fixated on the man desperately trying to reach them. It was kind of like a movie, or a game. In a movie, the character runs after the car... sometimes he reached it, other times he didn't. It could have been like a dream. No matter how fast you were running, it was never fast enough.
The girls watched as the lights of the gas station faded away, engulfed in darkness. Still, they could see the silhouette of the man running after them.
Realizing no one was going to answer her, Rachel stated mostly to herself, "I'll just pull over to the side ... see what he wants to say -"
"Don't stop."
Rachel's head snapped to the side from where the voice came from. She looked at John Ryder who was calmly staring out the windshield. He tilted his head to the side a bit but never took his gaze from the glass. She felt a sudden chill run up her spine and goose bumps dotted her arms.
She didn't get a chance to say anything, or do anything before he spoke again:
"Don't stop."
His deep voice in the dark car make her feel like she had been kidnapped. Suddenly she regretted ever talking to this man. She should have just left well enough alone. He could have walked to the next town, no matter how far it was.
Rachel turned her eyes back to the road and quietly recited to herself, "It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay. It's gonna be okay." but for some reason, it wasn't helping. She gripped the steering wheel tightly, ready to slam on the brakes at any moment. She didn't dare to speak to him, but she wanted to see just one more time.. she glanced at him. He looked down at his lap, his hands folded neatly. There were a few streetlamps that were spaced unevenly alongside the road. Their lights shined down onto the black pavement. They were there just until the road widened and turned from a two-lane, accident-prone stretch of asphalt into a four-lane, rarely-used highway. From there it was a black expanse of nothingness. Only headlights and taillights glittered quietly in the dark. From the beam of one of these lights, something shined on John's hand. She turned back to the road but quickly glanced again when they passed another light.
She realized that it was a wedding ring; a silver band. She suddenly felt so silly for doubting the man. In an instant, a thousand explanations came into Rachel's head. She laughed mentally, and told herself, "He told me not to stop because he wants to get to the motel so he can call his wife - say that he's all right. I'm sure he's anxious to get home, just like how we're all anxious to get on vacation." She smiled a little bit and shook her head. "Silly me. I'm so paranoid."
"Where," came the voice, interrupting her thoughts, and surprising her quite badly, "are you girls headed?"
"We're going on a trip. It's kind of like a little vacation for us. We were all studying really hard for tests in school, and most of us did really well so they gave us time off. Isn't that strange? A week off from school because we did well on a test - if only they did that for every test. Anyways, we were going to go down to Corpus Christi, but it was a long drive. I guess we're just going to drive and see where that gets us."
"Sounds like fun."
"Yeah, really. It took us forever, though, to convince Edy's parents to let her come with us. They thought because she's so young, something might happen to her. But we all promised to look after her - she's like our little sister."
John glanced at Rachel and then turned and look at the girls in the backseat. Shelby and Veronica were playing with their Nintendo DSLites, Susanna was staring out the window and listening to music, but Edith was sitting quietly in the center, doing nothing. He looked at her, and she looked at him. She smiled shyly at him unsure of what to do. He smiled back and then turned around.
"How long have you known them?"
"Oh, geez. I met Veronica and Shelby in second grade, Susanna in fourth... there is another of us, Katie. We've known her since fifth grade. She couldn't come though. She's preparing for exams and stuff - I think she'll be taken into college early. And we've known Edy since eighth grade. She was always shy, always quiet..." Rachel gazed in the rearview mirror and smiled at Edith. Edith smiled back uncertainly and then turned to look out Susanna's window. "She's super nice, though. Never says anything mean about anybody. Even though she's the youngest she looks out for everybody."
"Does she look out for everybody all of the time?"
"Well, yeah..."
John said nothing. He looked out his window.
"So..." Rachel began a new conversation, "where are you headed? I mean, where were you headed? Before your car broke down."
"I was heading towards Phoenix Arizona."
"Oh, wow. That's a long drive from here."
"Yeah, it is."
"Aw, and your car broke down!"
"As luck would have it."
"Well that's too bad. I guess it's lucky we ran into you, then?"
"Yeah... "
For some reason it seemed like Mr. John Ryder wasn't too interested in conversation, but Rachel was trying to keep him talking. Maybe she was nervous and wanted to be sure she knew what he was doing at all times - kind of like how cops want you to put your hands in the air.
"So, how long have you been married to your wife?"
John laughed softly and then looked at his hand. He touched the ring, twirling it in circles.
"I don't have a wife."
Another chill ran up Rachel's spine, but she knew that the benefit of the doubt belonged to the stranger. She adjusted her grip on the steering wheel. When she did so, she heard the sound of her skin peeling away from the leather. Had she been holding onto it for that long? That tightly? She wiped the palms of her hands on her jeans. Maybe it was just because she was sweating.
"I'm so sorry," she said carefully, too afraid to see his reaction, "you lost her?"
Another soft laugh. "I never had one to begin with."
Again, "I'm sorry," then, "if you don't want to talk about it, I understand."
"You don't get it, do you?"
"I'm not sure I -"
In an instant he had pulled out a pocketknife and was pressing the blade against her throat, just under her jaw. "You think if you keep talking you can avoid it? It's too late for that. You picked up a stranger. This is what happens."
Rachel's grip on the wheel tightened again. She felt cold all over. Hot tears welled up in her eyes and pooled over, running down her cheeks. "What - What are you doing?"
"Do you ever stop talking?"
Her mouth clamped shut at that.
It took a moment before anyone else in the car realized what was going on. Edith had fallen asleep but was quickly awoken from upset cries from the rest of the car. Her eyes shot open and she jolted upwards.
"What's wrong?"
She had just finished asking when she saw what was wrong. The man in the front seat, the stranger, the hitchhiker, had a knife pulled on Rachel. Edith's heart pounded hard in her chest and her breath caught in her throat. It seemed to be a dream. That was it; this was a dream and she'd wake up soon. But the frantic protests of the other girls made her realize that it wasn't a dream. This was real.
Susanna pulled the earbuds out of her ears and sat up straight, "Hey! What do you think you're doing?"
John pressed the blade harder against Rachel's throat. The girl let out a soft whimper and more tears rolled down her face.
"If I kill her, you all die. There's no one to control the car. You'll crash."
"Wha - hey!" Veronica shouted, "You'll die too! You're in the car!"
It sounded as if he laughed a third time but he didn't answer them.
"Don't hurt her!"
"What are you doing! Are you insane?"
"Leave her alone!"
Everyone's exclamations had melded together into one long plead not to hurt Rachel. Even Edith was protesting, but quietly and less enthusiastically than the others. She watched the two in the front seat, the one driving and the one with the knife. Rachel shuddered and let out a stifled sob. John watched Rachel carefully...then turned his gaze towards Edith. She shrunk back but not quick enough. She was soon being held around the neck by the arm of John. The knife was pressed against her own throat.
The three girls in the back screamed at the same time.
"What are you doing?"
Edith was too scared to try to pry his arm off. She just sat there, halfway between the back and front seat. The cold blade was pushed upwards underneath her jaw.
"I'll kill her first and you'll all have to watch."
Shelby shrieked. "No, please! Don't hurt her! Don't hurt Edy!"
John readjusted his stranglehold on the girl, brushing his fingers across her jaw and cheek. "You don't want her to die?"
"No!" they all exclaimed at once.
"Then..." he looked at Susanna but kept the knife to Edith's throat. "All you have to say is four little words."
"What?"
"Say them and Edith lives."
"Wha... o-okay, fine. Fine!"
"Say, 'I want to die'."
Susanna's face transformed first to one that was scared and then to one that was horrified. She was silent as she stared at John.
"Say it."
"No! No, Susanna! Don't do it! Don't say it!" Edith shouted, trying not to squirm.
"You better hope she says it," he said, sliding the knife horizontally. Edith felt a few drops of blood trickle down her throat. She closed her eyes tightly and fought back tears.
"Please, don't say it Susanna..."
"No, do say it, Susanna."
The teen stared in shock at the man and her friend. Edith couldn't see her, but she knew she was scared to death. They all were. Susanna swallowed hard, her throat dry, and pushed strands of her dirty blonde hair out of her face. "I..."
"No!" Edith squealed. John removed the blade from her throat and forcefully flipped her so she was on her back. His arm was still around her throat and he forced her to look at Susanna.
"You better hurry up, Susanna. The longer you take the more I'm thinking about going back on my word."
Susanna swallowed again. She didn't want to die - who wanted to die? But she had to do it. She had to. For Edith.
Edith's wide eyes caught the gaze of Susanna. She tried to shake her head but it was nearly impossible. "Don't do it, Suze. Don't. Please, I'm okay - don't say it."
The blonde's eyes darted back and forth to Edith's. Tears began to dot the corners of her eyes so she blinked them away. Edith watched in horror as her friend took a deep breath and spoke:
"I ... want ... " she hesitated, gave Edith one last look and finished her sentence, "...to die."
Before either of them could do anything, John had taken the knife and slashed her across the throat. Susanna grabbed uselessly at her neck, trying to stop the bleeding. She let out a gurgling whimper and blood oozed from her lips and over her hands. Red liquid trickled from between her fingers, all over the front of her shirt.
"No!" Edith's scream was almost too high to hear.
The man tightened his grip and placed the bloodied knife back against her throat. "You might want to shut up."
Edith squeezed her eyes shut and tears beaded around the edges. She took a shuddering breath in and felt the cold metal forced upon her neck.
"All right," he said, looking at the other girls in the backseat, a twisted smile seemingly hiding just behind his lips, "who's next?"
Veronica had her hands clamped over her mouth and was staring in panic at Susanna who lay against the window, quietly gurgling out her last breaths. Blood splattered onto the glass and onto her face.
Shelby's mouth hung open as she sobbed, angry and terrified of the man in the front seat. John turned his attention to Veronica. He tilted his head to the side slightly.
"I'm sorry, what's your name again?"
She looked at him in stunned silence.
"Don't say anything," Edith whispered.
"Don't listen to her. I'll figure your name out eventually - so you might as well tell me."
"No, don't."
Veronica's green eyes bubbled over with hot tears. Everyone's emotions were running high.
"M-My name is - "
"Don't!"
John shook Edith, "Let her finish."
"My name is ... Veron - "
"No!"
"Veronica."
John let out a breathy laugh. "Right. So... are you going to save your friend, too? Or did Susanna die for no reason?"
"Rachel why don't you do something?" Shelby screamed, kicking Rachel's seat. The other girl let out an upset shriek:
"I can't do anything!"
"Why don't you do something?" John shot back at Shelby. She fell silent after that.
He turned his attention back to Veronica who had begun to shake. "Are you ready?"
She nodded.
"You know what to say."
Another nod. "I ... " She inhaled deeply and closed her eyes. "I want to .. d-die."
John sat silently and watched Veronica. She sat, rocking with her eyes closed. When she realized nothing was happening she sniffled and looked up, "What - ?"
The knife was quickly thrust into her chest. She screamed and grabbed at the small handle which was sheathed in the stranger's palm. He withdrew the knife and then plunged it into her chest again. Blood spluttered out of her wounds and flowed down her stomach. When he pulled the knife out again, he did not stab her. She pressed her hands against the gashes in her chest, sobbing loudly. She flung her head down in pain.
Shelby screamed as well, her hands covered in Veronica's blood. She tried to help her, but Veronica pushed her away, falling onto Susanna's limp body. She coughed twice, blood spilled out of her mouth and then she hiccupped. She fell silent, her eyes glazed over then her body twitched. She had died fairly quickly. One of the knife wounds must have been to her heart.
Edith wailed loudly, blood covering the legs of her jeans. Some drops had managed to hit her face. John retracted the knife and looked at it, turning it from side to side. Then he put it to Edith's mouth, pressing the flat side against her bottom lip.
"This is all for you," he said. "This is your salvation."
The girl sputtered and tried to resist the blood dripping into her mouth but it was too hard to wriggle away from the strong hold John had on her.
"Only two left," John said as he removed the blade from Edith's mouth and wiped the blood on the thigh of his jeans, "so who goes next?"
"Please leave them alone!"
John looked down at Edith. "Are you feeling left out?"
Even though she was full of fear she glared at him.
"Don't worry. I'll get to you eventually." He looked at Shelby. "Are you next? I'm sure Rachel would appreciate it."
Shelby shook her head, "You're sick."
He scoffed. "It's you or Rachel."
She glowered at him though distraught. "You are disturbed."
He sighed. She was stalling. Wasting time.
"Why are you doing this?"
John gave a half-smile. "Why not?"
"What will you do to me if I refuse to say it? What will happen?"
"It'll be a lot slower."
Edith whimpered, "Just forget it, Shelby. Don't say anything. He's insane - !"
"I want to die."
"Yes, ma'am."
"Do you think they got there safely?"
"Don't worry about it, hon! Rachel is a responsible young woman. She wouldn't do anything foolish - she'd stop at a motel if she thought it was too dangerous to continue driving at night."
"I guess you're right. But I'm worried about the other girls."
"Listen to me. Veronica is smart and brave, Shelby and Susanna can make great decisions - they'll be fine. Trust me, I know these girls. I know my daughter and your daughter."
"But what about Jessica's daughter, Edith? She's so young ... she's just a baby, compared to all of the other girls."
"Edith is mature for her age. She can tell if something's wrong. She'll tell the other girls if she feels insecure about something. Jessica wouldn't have let her go if she didn't think she'd be safe. None of us would."
"I guess you're right Mary."
"I know I am. Now to even more important matters... Since all of us moms have time away from our teenage daughters, let's do something. Like our own vacation."
"I don't know..."
"Oh, come on!" Mary sipped at her coffee, smiling warmly at her friend. "We won't go to Hawaii or anything, but like a shopping spree, going out to lunch, maybe seeing a movie."
The other woman sighed, unsure. "It sounds good, but, Mary, it's ... "
"I know it's hard being away from them, Angie. I've had my baby girl with me all of my life, but it's only vacation. Them being away is like a break for us and at the same time it's getting us used to how it'll feel like once they're all in college." She sipped more of her coffee. "You need to get out."
Angela played with the handle of her coffee mug. "I know I do. Rachel is 17 .. I know it's been 5 years since the divorce and Rachel's handled it well, but .. this empty nest thing has got me thinking ... I have too much free time now so ..."
"You didn't do anything wrong. You left David, okay? Rachel has no problem with it. She's even asked if you'd start dating again."
"Ugh. I don't even want to think about that right now."
Mary laughed. "Yeah, okay, fine. But promise me you'll think about us girls getting together?"
Angela sighed, "All right. I'll think about it."
"Good." Mary patted Angela's cold hand, "Now I hate to leave but there's business to attend to. I told Shelby to call me at home, so there might be a message. And I have a couple of things for work that I have to get done."
"I thought you'd finished for the weekend."
"It's just last minute stuff."
"You promise that you won't end up doing all of next weeks paperwork tonight?"
"I promise."
"Okay. Drive safe."
"I will." Mary picked up her purse and headed towards the door. She took her jacket off of the coat rack and pulled it on, buttoning it up to her throat. She shrugged inside of the warm fabric, hiding her face against the large collars.
"See ya later, Angie!"
"You, too."
"Sweet dreams."
"Ditto."
Mary opened the door. Just before she stepped into the dark, Angie called out after her:
"Don't pick up any hitchhikers."
She laughed, "I won't."
"Do you think Susanna is all right?"
Mr. Daniels grunted a response and turned the page of his newspaper.
"I know she's with Rachel, but ... "
"Mhm." The paper rustled as he scanned the bold-text headlines.
"Was it a bad idea to let her go? Maybe one of us should have gone with them."
"Then it wouldn't be a vacation."
"I guess you're right."
"I know I am."
Mrs. Daniels rolled her eyes playfully and rested her head on her husband's shoulder. "What are you reading?"
"Look at this - " he folded the paper in half backwards and pointed out one of the headlines.
"What?" She peered at the paper.
In thick, black font the headline read:
"FAMILY OF FOUR DEAD IN AUSTIN, FOUND IN CAR OFF HWY"
Below it was an article of the incident and below that was a photo of the car. It was a station wagon that was run halfway off of the road at an angle. The front half was in a field of grass, the back half was still on the road. Behind the back wheels were dark tire treads where they had obviously tried to stop. The most obvious guess would be a car accident, but no part of the car (not that they could see) was damaged. It just looked like they had been driving and then skidded off of the road, but hadn't crashed into anything. It looked like dirt covered the back window.
"What does the caption say?"
Mr. Daniels cleared his throat and read aloud:
"The station wagon was found by highway patrol at 2:30pm on Sunday. Police say that the family inside was already dead when they got there. It appeared that all four had been stabbed to death."
Mrs. Daniels gasped, covering her mouth with her hand, "How terrible!"
Her husband went to the beginning of the article and began reading. "Sunday, a station wagon was found seemingly deserted along the highway. A passing patrol car stopped to check out the situation. When the officer stepped out of his car he could tell something was wrong.
" 'It was unnaturally quiet there,' said Officer Ramirez, the first one on the scene, 'Usually you hear birds, bugs, something. But when I was there, it was nothing. It was like even the animals knew there was something wrong there.'
"Officer Ramirez approached the car and asked for anyone in the car to step out with their hands up. There was no answer. Obviously there was no one in the car, but the closer he got the more he noticed a strange smell.
" 'It was coming from the car. It was apparent something was dead.' " He paused and glanced at his wife. She was staring with wide eyes at the paper - staring at the picture of the car.
"Ramirez reached the car and by that time the smell was almost unbearable. When he looked at the windows he saw that they were covered in blood. Something terrible had happened. Without thinking he pulled open the door to look for survivors. Instead what he got was a good look at a family butchered and dead.
" 'They had been sitting in the car for a couple of hours before I got there,' the officer said, 'and they were baking in the sun for all of that time. It wasn't a good thing to see.' "
"Oh, honey," Mrs. Daniels whispered, gripping her spouse's arm tightly.
"It's okay, Diane." He reached around her and hugged her shoulders. "It's all right."
She whimpered quietly. "It's not dirt on the window, is it?"
He shook his head, "No. It's not."
"It's blood isn't it?"
"Yes."
"...who was in the car?"
"I don't think - "
"Richard, please. Who was in the car?"
He cleared his throat and scanned the article. "The four were the Hutchinson family, from San Antonio. Those in the car were Keith Hutchinson, his wife Mary-Jane, his daughter Kelly and his son Kyle. According to a source close to the family, they were in Austin for Kyle's 7th birthday."
Diane squeezed Richard's arm.
"I want Susanna home."
"They're nowhere near Austin - "
"I want her home."
He inhaled deeply and leaned over to kiss her head. "I know you do. I do too."
Jessica Adams skimmed through the newspaper. She hadn't had a chance to read any of it that morning, since she'd forgotten to set her alarm clock and ran late. Now it was nearly 6 or 7pm and she was just getting to the front page.
"Hey, hon."
Jessica turned around when she heard her husband calling. He came into the kitchen where she was seated at the island. He tossed his keys on the island counter and kissed his wife's face.
"Hi," she said, smiling. "You're home earlier than you said you'd be."
"Yeah, I got my work done early."
She smiled, "Yeah, right. Tell me the truth."
He glanced over his shoulder at her as he walked to the refrigerator, "Well they did get an intern who helped ... some."
"That's what I thought."
Mr. Adams poured himself a glass of apple juice and sat down across from his wife. He sipped some, looking over the clear rim at his wife. "Is there something wrong?"
"No," she said, sighing. "It's just that Edith said she'd call me once they were at the hotel."
"And?"
"I haven't gotten a call yet. I'm starting to get worried. She's only 16."
"Don't worry about her, Jess. She's with Rachel, Veronica, Shelby and Susanna. You know those girls. They're all trustworthy. They're smart. You wouldn't let Edy go out with them if you didn't trust her friends... Besides, it's a vacation. Away from us. I know she said she'd call - maybe it was late. Or maybe she was tired. Maybe she tried to call and it was busy so she decided to wait until tomorrow."
Jessica looked at him, unconvinced.
"There's a ton of reasons why she didn't call. Don't worry so much about her. You'll be prematurely gray."
"Yeah, that's what a lady wants to hear."
He laughed softly, "Sorry. But .. just trust her, okay? You trusted her on a field trip with kids you never even met. Edy practically grew up with these friends. They're okay."
She sighed, "You promise, Rob?"
"Yes, I promise."
The only ones that remained were John Ryder, Edith Adams and Rachel Stewart. Shelby lay lifeless among the other corpses in the backseat. The thick, coppery smell of blood filled the entire car. It made Edith sick but what really made her stomach churn was seeing her friends butchered in front of her. John wasn't exactly pleased with the way things were turning out. It was taking too long for all of these girls to die. He had known it would take a while to kill them all off but he didn't think it'd take this long. Honestly, he could have just finished the other two in a matter of minutes but that wouldn't have been fun. Half of the excitement was torturing them, seeing the look in their eyes when they know they're going to die. The other half was, obviously, the killing part. You had to have both. If you just had one or the other, it wasn't very entertaining.
Edith took a shaky breath in. "Why don't you just kill us?" She felt like crying but it seemed like all of her tears had been shed. There was nothing else she could do. She figured that the whole "pity party" attitude wouldn't work on Mr. John Ryder. It hadn't so far. Why would it work now?
John seemed impatient now for he grabbed the collar of Edith's shirt and pulled her up. Then he shoved her into the backseat. She landed atop her deceased friends. The girl quickly rolled around and tried to regain balance but by the time she did it was too late. John had grabbed Rachel's hand so she would remain holding the steering wheel but he kicked her feet off of the pedals. The car was coasting now while Rachel was forced to steer.
"Unlock the door," the man said. When Rachel whimpered instead of obeying, John squeezed her hand. She yelped as her hand turned white and then red. "Unlock the door," he repeated slowly.
Rachel quickly unlocked all of the doors with the press of a button. Her hand found its way back to the steering wheel. She stared ahead of her at the road; through tears she saw the yellow lines dictating the two separate lanes.
"What are you going to do?" Rachel foolishly asked. As soon as she spoke she regretted it. John smirked at her.
"Do you really want to know?"
Edith watched in silence, knowing there was nothing she could do. They would all go. One way or another, they would all perish by the hand of John Ryder. She doubted that was even his real name. But it didn't matter now. Soon it would all be over and she would be one of the cold, bleeding bodies that surrounded her. She didn't cry. She knew the outcome of it all, she knew the end to this story, but she didn't cry. Why should she? You can't cry over the inevitable. So she didn't cry when John sunk the blood-stained blade into Rachel's ribs, undoubtedly penetrating her lungs. She didn't cry when Rachel gasped for breath, her ragged pants a sure sign of pain. She didn't cry when John extended his leg and kicked open the unlocked driver's door and she didn't cry when John pushed Rachel, who was still alive, out of the moving car.
She didn't cry when John took his place in the driver's seat and slammed the door shut beside him. Then he pressed the brake, letting the car come to a slow crawl along the black pavement, and she didn't cry - she almost cried, though. But most importantly, she didn't cry when John turned around in his seat, stared intently into her eyes and said, "Your turn."