Chapter 1: Stranded
The car died without warning.
One second the headlights cut through the dark mountain road, the next they flickered and went out. The engine coughed once, then nothing. Just the quiet and the first drops of rain hitting the windshield.
I sat gripping the wheel. No lights. No houses. Nothing but black trees and a road that had already taken me too far from town.
“Come on,” I muttered, turning the key again. The starter clicked. “Don’t do this.”
Nothing.
I pulled out my phone. One bar. I found the local garage’s after-hours number and called. It rang four times before a low voice answered.
“Yeah.”
“My car just died on Ridge Road, past the lookout. I’m stuck. Can someone come?”
A short pause. “Be there in thirty.”
He hung up.
I stayed locked in the car while the
