The Promise

Chapter 4

"Hey! It's 2:30 get up!" I groaned, rolling over and pressing my face into Nick's side, "Let's go guys get up," I sighed as I sat up, I ran a hand through my hair and then rubbed my eyes before nudging Nick slightly.
"Babe, get up." I whispered,
"Hmm?" He replied groggily,
"Wade,Dalton, Jessie get up! We're gonna miss the damn game!" Blake yelled louder,
"I don't even wanna go to this stupid game," I mumbled as I put on my underwear and bra, suddenly something hard hit the side of the tent, followed by Blake screaming,
"Nick! Get up!" I grabbed a fresh shirt and a pair of shorts before throwing them on and heading outside,
"Hey Paige,Carly." I said heading over to them,
"Hey girlie," said Carly,
"Damn I need to piss," groaned Paige
"I second that," I said as we began to walk over to the woods, we quickly did our business then began talking,
"You and Wade talked anymore?" Paige asked as Carly pulled up her jeans,
"We're just in different places right now," she replied as she did up her fly,"I mean he hasn't given me a guilt trip for going so I can't give him one for staying." I covered my nose as the disgusting smell from last night came back,
"Ugh there's that smell again," Paige said stating the obvious,
"I think it's coming from over there."
"Yeah, let's go follow the smell." Paige said rolling her eyes, I grinned at her before following Carly towards the woods,
"Well I wanna see what it is," I said with a laugh,
"Why?" Questioned Paige looking disgusted,
"Just c'mon!" Yelled Carly from further ahead, we managed to walk another 20 odd steps before Paige started to complain again,
"I cannot believe your making me do this, only you."
"C'mon it'll be fine,"
"I'm gonna throw up," I rolled my eyes at her over exaggerating,"oh my god I hate you," me and Carly looked over at each other laughing at our best friend. Suddenly the ground beneath me and Carly just seemed to disappear, I screamed as I tumbled down the hill, hands searching for something to grab,
"Carly! Jessie!" I heard Paige shout just as I managed to grab hold of a root and halt myself, Carly however wasn't so lucky, she screamed as she fell face first into a pile of roadkill.
"Carly!" I yelled as I slid down the rest of the hill, I placed my hands on her hips and tried to pull her up but I wasn't strong enough,
"Jessie help me I'm stuck!" She yelled, you could tell she was close to tears.
"Wade! Nick! Help!" I yelled as I continued to try and pull her up,
"Wade! Please! Help me, get me out of here!" Carly screamed, I pulled harder trying to yank her out but it seemed to do no good,
"Where are you?!" I heard wade yell,
"Down here!" I yelled back, my arms were shaking from the Carly's weight, trying not to let her fall face first into the road kill pit.
"Hey, hey, I'm coming, I'm here I'm here," wade said sliding down the hill, he placed his hands around her waist before pulling her up,
"I got you baby, I got you." He spoke gently, "oh god, are you alright?" He asked urgently, I sighed slightly as I pulled myself up from the edge, only now noticing the blood streaming down my leg,
"Fuck." I mumbled, suddenly I felt arms around my waist, pulling me up,
"Shit what happened to your leg?" I heard the concerned voice of Nick say,
"It's fine, looks worse than it is. I must've scratched it on the way down. " After checking Carly was okay, Wade came over to me, he looked at my leg before quickly ripping off the bottom of his shirt and dabbing away the blood, revealing a nasty gash,
"Shit..." He mumbled as he pressed the rag harder against my leg, "Its not too deep, just long, it'll sting for a while but just keep a bit of pressure on it, it should heal up fine." He said, tying the ripped off part of his shirt around my leg tightly, "Now the blood won't ruin your pretty little shoes!" He teased with a wink, I grinned before letting Nick help me up.
"Hey is that the truck from last night?" I heard Blake ask making me look up at the road,
"Not unless he fixed his headlight," replied Wade, I pressed my face against Nicks side as the man got out his truck and went to the back, he then grabbed the leg of a dead deer and threw the body onto the pile of carcasses.
"Hey!" Yelled Wade, getting the mans attention,
"Don't you see that?" Questioned Carly as she pointed towards what looked to be a human hand sticking up from amongst the animal remains, "what is that?" I felt Nick's arm tighten around me, his body going tense, as the man from the pickup began to step over and onto the dead animal bodies and over to where the hand was, I closed my eyes tight as the man began to bend down to grab the hand,
"No way..." I heard Wade mutter in pure shock, "what are you doing man?" Suddenly there was a loud ' POP ' before a hillbilly accent said,
"Anybody need a hand?" A joking tone to his voice, I glanced over at him to find that it wasn't a real hand, just the one of a manakin, I felt Nick breath a sigh of release as his body relaxed.
"I'm just fooling, it's not real, see?" He then proceeded to tap on the hand, a hollow sound emerging from it, "I found it on the side of the road a few weeks ago," I pulled away gently from Nick before heading over towards where Carly was,
"You okay?" I asked quietly, pulling out some tissue and hand sanitiser,
"Sorry we took so long," said Blake looking at Carly,
"It's alright," she replied, shock still clear on her face. I could faintly hear Wade in the background talking to the strange man, but I was too busy concentrating on Carly,
"Here I think I have some water in here." Paige said as she rummaged through her bag, all of a sudden Dalton spoke up in a whisper,
"You haven't seen my camera by any chance?" He asked, honestly this boy would be the death of me.
"Are you kidding?" Snapped Paige with a glare,
"No." Said Carly rolling her eyes,
"Now is really not the time Dalton." I hissed as I took the water bottle out of Paige's hand and began to pour it over Carly's, shortly after I handed her the tissues to dry off before giving her the hand sanitiser,
"You don't happen to know if there's a gas stations round here by any chance?" I heard wade question,
"I've got gas in the trunk if you need some..." Trailed off the man,
"I need a fan belt." At this me and Carly's heads shot up,
"What?!" We asked in unison,
"It's just busted," replied Wade with a frown.
"Of coarse, just perfect." Snapped Carly as she resumed washing her hands,
"Bo might have one?" Said the man, looking up at Wade, "Runs a station in Ambrose." He added helpfully,
"Where's that?" Wade asked glancing at Carly briefly before looking back at the man,
"About 15 miles up the road," the guy said gesturing to his left,
"Let's just get one at batonrouge," (sorry if that's wrong, I don't know what he said xox ) I made my way over to Nick and wrapped my arms around his neck,
"You okay?" I asked him as I rested my head on his chest,
"Yeah, I'm just tired." He replied nuzzling my neck, I zoned out slightly only tuning back in when I heard the man speak again,
"I'll give ya a ride,"
"You serious?" Wade asked, hope glinting in his eyes,
"If you'd like." The man replied, a crooked grin resting on his lips,
"Well yeah, y-yeah that's cool," wade smiled.
"I'm going with you." Carly spoke up, looking determined,
"Carly no..." Paige whined looking at her with pleading eyes,
"It's fine-" she started off but i quickly interrupted up,
"No, Carly you've been looking forward to this game for ages, and besides, me and Wade will be able to fix the car much faster considering we practically grew up in an auto shop, well grab the fan belt and meet you at the game." I said eyes flickering towards Wade checking to see if that was okay, he nodded affirmative,
"Alright, let's go!" Said Blake, making his way up the hill, "c'mon Paige."
"Carly," Nick said getting her attention,
"What?" She asked turning to him, he replied by taking off his shirt and handing it to her. "Thank you," she said with a small smile,
"I'll see you guys in a bit," I said, smiling at Paige and Carly,
"Keep safe." Carly replied eyes flicking towards the man in the truck,
"I always am," I replied with a smirk.
"Babe, just come with us please." Begged Nick, wrapping his arms around my waste,
"I'm not letting Wade go on his own, and besides, there's not enough room for me in the car anyways." I replied before leaning up and placing a soft kiss on his lips, "I'll be okay."
"You'd better be," he said smiling as he placed a kiss on my forehead, " see you in a bit Jess,"
"C'mon Jessie," Wade yelled, already half way down the hill,
"Coming!" I said with a giggle, as I made my way down the hill trying not to slip.
I smiled as Wade opened the door for me. I clambered in, holding my breath at the awful stench,
"Thanks for this man," Wade said as he climbed in behind me,
"Oh it's no problem." He said, the same crooked grin plastered to his face, I shivered slightly, something about this whole situation seemed wrong...
"Hey wade? Can you roll the window down please?" He turned, hands fumbling as he tried to find the handle,
"Sorry about that, this trucks seen better days." The man laughed, I subtly moved my hand to grasp Wade's bicep letting him know how uneasy I felt.
"Uhh... You mind rolling down your window then?" Wade asked turning to look at the man.
"Not at all," he replied taking one hand off the wheel and rolling down his window, "Sorry, You kinda get used to the smell."
"Oh I don't think I could get used to it." I said with an awkward laugh.
"Oh you can get used to anything if your around it long enough. if you get em in the morning before the sun bakes em out they're not so bad, if they're fresh though well I just take them home, why waste the meat?" I glanced at wade, hand squeezing tighter around his arm before looking straight back at the road.
"Are we almost there yet?" I asked feeling the unease spread through me,
"It's just up the road. Ambrose, it's a pretty nice town," I couldn't focus on whatever else he said, my eyes glued to the knife in the pouch on his leg. I nudged Wade drawing his attention to the knife too.
"You like knives!" He said enthusiastically,
"Not really..."
"You wanna see it?" He asked not bother to wait for an answer before yanking it out of the holder.
"No it's really okay."
"It's a Bowie. Good knife. It'll cut through anything," I gasped as he stabbed it into the dashboard, almost screaming as the car came to an abrupt stop.
"Hey what's going on here man? You said there was a town." Said Wade, his body tense hand moving to grip mine.
"Well there is, just around the corner." The man replied, " I gotta flip my hubs into four wheel, you mind giving me a hand?" He asked looking at wade.
"When was the last time you were here?" I questioned.
"What you don't believe me?" He snapped." I forgot this ways washed out, that's all."
"We'll walk the rest of the way then, thank you you've done enough." Wade said, his tone leaving no room for argument.
"Now why would you do that?" He asked obviously not understanding.
"Listen, thank you and all but I'd really just rather walk, so please let us out." I asked, honestly scared now. He ran his tongue over his teeth before spitting out,
"Sure." He then proceeded to yank the Bowie knife out of the dash board, he slammed the drivers door shut before making his way over to the passenger side. I was almost shaking by now, hand holding tightly onto Wade's, I felt a shoot of panic rush through me as the man approached the door next to Wade, suddenly the door was flung open making both me and Wade jump back.
"Well get out then. Try and do something nice for someone." He snapped glaring slightly.
"It's nothing like that okay? We appreciate it-" Wade began but the man cut him off,
"Yeah I can tell." He spat spitefully,
"Thank you so much!" I said with a small smile before making my way across the water, Wade close behind. When we got to the other side Wade wrapped his arm protectively around my shoulder pulling me to his side.
"Is he still staring?" I asked, too nervous to look back,
"Yeah, just keep walking"
"Oh like I'm gonna stop," I teased
We continued to walk round the bend until a sign saying 'AMBROSE' came into view, a small town behind it.
"Wow, now I feel like an asshole." Wade said with a sigh,
"I don't care, that guy was a freak." I replied with a shiver.