Prologue

I never much cared for driving, especially not at night, but it's amazing the things you deplore that money will drive you to do anyways. It was one such drive home from the institution that paid me just enough money to overstep my discomfort and partake in a 40 minute commute through the middle of absolutely nowhere that it happened. It was an especially awful night to make the drive that I despised so much. Heavy rain like distant gunfire slamming into the windshield of my poor little sedan as it carried me down the near pitch-black country road. Saying that the weather was bad on this particular day was like saying that Antarctica was a bit chilly in the winter. The rain came down with force that might have belied murderous intent, and as if that weren't bad enough, hail and sleet had decided to join in the assault. To make matters worse, this leg of my commute was the longest and it just so happened to take place on a backwoods road with damn near no streetlights and forest woven so tightly to its sides that it gave the illusion of an alleyway with picket fence to either side. After a nearly smashing into a deer on this very road not even three months prior to this particular evening, I drove the road with a cautious impatience that i was sure would inevitably pay off, I just didn't have any idea how soon. As I continued down the road, ever nearing the gleam of civilization, I came to a winding section of the road that was well known among the locals as a deer deathtrap, and so as a natural force of habit, I eased off the accelerator more than one might consider necessary for the gentle flowing curve I was to follow. As I came around the bend at a moderate pace, a silhouette practically threw itself into the road in front of me, causing me to slam onto the break pedal as hard and fast as my reactions and sore muscles would allow. The tires made awful squealing protest as they attempted to bring the mass of metal to a stop in time, the car teetered left and right, threatening a fishtail if not a full on spin through the middle of the road. I was entirely convinced that this is how I would die, spun off the road into a ditch to avoid hitting some dumb animal that had decided that two in the morning was a perfectly reasonable time to cross the road in the middle of Mother Nature's water based attempt at Armageddon. To my great relief the momentum of the metal death trap I was strapped into finally sputtered out and I came to a stop only a few inches from a steep ditch at the side of the road. Sighing with relief I slumped into the steering wheel to catch my breath. No one else was ever on this road at night so I figured I had some time to catch my breath without fear of some other poor genius that expected their breaks to work on ice and water careening into the tin can I was currently occupying. Just as I was finally catching my breath, my heart nearly leapt from my throat as a frantic knocking sounded from my passenger side window. I looked over to see a girl knocking on my passenger side window. Her clothes belied that she was entirely unprepared for the weather she found herself in, wearing no coat or hat in this monumental downpour had left her hair plastered to her face and had no doubt rendered the value of her clothes as thermal insulators to just about nil. As I collected myself I cracked my passenger side window just a little bit. Noticing my action, the woman moved to put her face closer to the gap in the glass and spoke.

"Please, can you give me a ride the rest of the way to town?" she panted. "It's my boyfriend, I have to get out of here before he finds me, you can drop me off anywhere, please, I just need to get out of here." she pleaded.

Now I'm not completely heartless and I definitely held some empathy for this woman, but at the same time my natural instincts warned me against allowing the stranger into my car. As I weighed risk against the moral implication of leaving a potentially innocent woman stranded in the middle of the rainstorm to end all rainstorms, I studied her face. She was definitely not hard on the eyes, a high cheek boned, slim face, long brown hair drawn into a pony tail, and wide brown eyes so dark they nearly appeared black in the dim lighting. As I studied the woman, I noticed she was shivering from the cold and this tore down any logical argument I had built against leaving the stranger on the side of the road with a final and absolute tug on my heartstrings. With a defeated sigh I unlocked the passenger door and announced to her

"Hop in, I'll drop you off at the police station, as long as you're not a wanted serial killer or something." i joked

"Thank you thank you thank you so much!" she said in a relieved excitement

As she climbed into my car I saw the the lower half of her clothing was no more adequately equipped to handle the current weather situation and opted to turn the heater up and switch on the passenger seat heating for her. We drove in a maddening silence for a few minutes before I tried to break the awkward atmosphere

"So if you don't mind my asking..." i trailed "care to share how you ended up out here?" i implored. She seemed to grow a little apprehensive as she considered her answer.

"I'm in a bit of a..." she paused, choosing her next words "an unhealthy relationship. Things kinda came to a head and I walked off on him." she finished. After she had spoken, she let out a deep sigh and slumped a bit in her seat. I thought over what she had said, and while it did sort of make sense, it didn't really explain why she was wearing a tank top and shorts in the latter half of a particularly frosty October, but I decided not to pry any further on the subject. We continued our ride in silence for a few more minutes before I noticed a strange noise. At first I thought the girl to my right was sobbing, but as the fitful sound continued to grow in volume I realized she was laughing. I tensed in my seat, not daring to turn my head.

"Is everything alright over there?" I asked, trying to hide the concern from my voice but failing miserably. Instead of responding to my question, she just continued to laugh louder and louder, building up to a full on maniacal cackle.

"Stop the car." she sad flatly, her laughter coming to an abrupt stop.

"Um, what?" I said

"Stop the car, Steven." she said back, venom creeping into her tone

"How do you... I never told you my n-" I began

"Stop the fucking car, right NOW Steven." she spat, a powerful stress in her tone. Who was I to argue with the psychotic hitchhiker? I slowly pulled off to the side of the road and stopped the car, fearing what was to happen next, I shut the engine off and held my hands up in surrender before looking over at my passenger. It was probably a smart move that I did all of this very slowly, because I turned to be greeted with the barrel of a pistol on a few inches from the bridge of my nose.