Slasher Summer(58)

Carrie’s face heated. Jason seemed to deflate. “Tiff—” he said tiredly. There was no conviction behind the name, only a syllable uttered out of habit.

He let out a tired groan and turned to Carrie. “Sorry. We’re going to have to go after her. Not because I want to make up, but because we have to stay together.”

Carrie nodded, although she dearly wanted Tiffany to leave them alone. “I understand.”

They set off through the woods, following the bright beacon of Tiffany’s swinging ponytail. “Listen,” Jason said, fidgeting with the compass in his hand. Was he nervous, too? Carrie’s stomach fluttered. She couldn’t remember the last time they’d spoken to each other one-on-one, if ever, without Tiffany’s close scrutiny.

“About the photo—Tiff! Stay to the left! You’re veering too far north!”

Tiffany answered with her middle finger, but she redirected her current course.

“About the photo—” Jason continued. Carrie held her breath with anticipation. Was this finally it? The moment she’d been hoping for?

He scratched his head. “For what it’s worth, I’m really sorry about how things went down.”

The apology drifted to Carrie’s feet like a deflated balloon. How many years had she longed for those words? For him to recognize the magnitude of what he’d done? And now that he’d said I’m sorry, it had no effect on her. It didn’t lift the weight of her regrets.

Her therapist had warned that simple words wouldn’t be enough, and she couldn’t depend on them for closure. Words wouldn’t change the past. All she could do was focus on the present.

“I don’t know what else I can say,” he added. “I should’ve and could’ve handled it better.”

Carrie’s throat felt like it was full of broken glass. “Yes, you should have.” Her voice squeezed out in a small and pained drip. “But it was a long time ago. I’d like to forget it and move on.”

“Yeah. Me too. We good?”

She turned to him with an angelic smile. The Care Bear smile. The Jordan Knox smile. Tiffany was wrong. Carrie didn’t need saving. She was doing a good job of saving herself. “We’re good.”

Jason smiled back and then bumped her shoulder companionably with his. “High school, huh? Best and worst time of our lives.”

The affectionate gesture completely took her aback. She laughed in surprise, her cheeks warming. “Yeah. Best and worst. But it taught me how to take my knocks and get up again.”

Jason chuckled, no doubt thinking of his time on the football field. “Me too. Literal—”

A dark figure came barreling through the trees and slammed right into him.

Carrie screamed. Tiffany turned around and yelped as Jason collapsed, grunting from the impact.

“Jason!” Carrie cried.

“Run,” he croaked under the weight of his attacker.

Tiffany was a frightened hare, paralyzed in place. Carrie moved first, but instead of running, she raised the bread knife. Recognition suddenly flashed in Jason’s eyes. He weakly lifted an arm as if he could block her. “Wait! Carrie, don’t! It’s Patrick!”

Patrick sprawled on top of Jason, their startled faces mirrors of each other.

“Patrick!” Carrie lowered the bread knife. What on earth had happened? She barely recognized him. His clothes were filthy and his hair a nest of cedar needles and cobwebs. “Oh my gosh. We thought you were Russ.”

“Holy shit, am I glad to see you,” Patrick said, eyes still locked on Jason. He suddenly seemed to realize he was flopped on Jason’s chest. He coughed, rolled off Jason, and scrabbled to his feet, holding out his hand. Jason took it and let Patrick haul him up.

Carrie was able to get a better look at the rest of Patrick then. What a shocking state he was in. His Oxford shirt had become partially untucked from the waistband of his khakis, and one of the points of his collar was unbuttoned. Patrick never had so much as an eyebrow hair out of place. Something—or someone—must have scared him.

“What happened?” Tiffany asked as Jason plucked a spray of cedar needles out of Patrick’s unruly curls.

Worry gripped Carrie’s chest. “Where’s Jen?”

Patrick took a great gulp of air, uncharacteristically fidgety. “I lost her. She was heading for the highway and wasn’t planning to come back.”

“Not a surprise,” Jason muttered.

“Has anyone seen her?” Carrie asked, searching her friends’ faces. She hadn’t thought before to ask about Jen, since all this time she’d assumed she was with Patrick.

“Tiffany and I have been mostly staying on the lakeshore,” Jason said.

Tiffany smacked Patrick on the shoulder. “How could you lose her?”

Patrick took her punishment, a guilty expression crossing his handsome features. “I tripped, and when I looked up, she was gone. And then I heard someone calling for help and tried to find them.”

“Was it Michael?” Carrie was uneasy that they hadn’t found him by now. Was he okay? And had Jen made it to the highway?

Patrick wet his lips. “I don’t know. Might’ve been. I didn’t find him, though. I’m sorry, Jason. I tried and then I—” He shook his head. “You’re going to think I’m nuts. But I saw the Slasher. A guy wearing the mask and jacket and everything.”