Prologue 001

October 31st, 2014

Smoke rose in snake-like tendrils from the dying embers of a single cigarette on the side of a highway in the middle of nowhere. You could also call it the outskirts of Las Vegas, but to many people, they were the same thing. The farther you got from the Strip, the more the state of Nevada seemed to fade into nothingness and desert. The scent of tobacco hung in the cool evening air, despite the embers being promptly snuffed out by the toe of a tattered combat boot. The figure attached to said combat boot, a teenage girl, sighed heavily, before reaching into her jacket pocket and lackadaisically flipping the lid to her zippo lighter, allowing small darts of flame to be ignited and then snuffed in a lulled cycle of clear boredom. Every so often, she would rub her thumb over a faded Air Force insignia that was etched into the side of the lighter.

After a few moments of flickering the lighter on and off, the girl stuffed the lighter back into their jacket pocket and walked around to the side of a Chevrolet pick-up that had seen better days. The dark blue paint was peeled, revealing rusted metal underneath and the windshield was cracked at all four corners. With a gesture of frustration, she flung the door to the pick-up and put the key in the ignition, only for the truck to produce a few sad, sputtering wheezes and then, simply nothing. She huffed in defeat, slamming her head onto the steering wheel. This would mean she'd have to walk. Alone, alongside a highway, by herself, on Halloween night. I don't have a choice, she thought to herself, No cell service and a missing car, mom must be having the time of her life right now. She chuckled dryly at the last part before launching herself out of her seat and out of the car. She locked the door, not that it mattered much, her being the only person around, and began her walk down the side of the highway.

After walking for half a mile with no people in sight, she fumbled for her lighter and pack of cigarettes, only to remember much to her disdain, she'd left the cigarettes underneath her seat back in the truck. Fan-fucking-tastic. She peered around, the lighter now grasped firmly in her hand, only to be met by visions of the desert cloaked in night. She frankly had no idea where she was. She'd taken off in the truck with her fucks thrown to the wind, and screaming mother not too far behind. She had to get out, that was all she knew in the moment so acting on pure impulse (as she did on most occasions) she drove and drove and drove and drove until the hours passed like minutes and the truck came to a wheezing halt. Which, unfortunately for her, had landed her smack-dab in the middle of nowhere. She knew had to find someone, anyone, and soon. It was already bad enough she was out alone at night, but she'd heard of people who'd gone wandering out into the desert and never come back. Or if they did, they were severely whacked, and the last thing she needed was to be the crazy bitch communing with cacti.

The girl was jolted from her thoughts when the flickering buzz of the highway lights didn't drown out the soft pad of approaching footsteps.