Prologue.
The fog was heavy.
It was late, around twelve thirty, and it was raining. The roads were slick and icy from the rain. It was hard to see more than a few miles ahead of you, despite fog lights. The weatherman had said that driving conditions would be dangerous that evening and to avoid spending much time on the road, but if you had to, make sure you were concentrated and focused while driving.
"Talk dirty to meeeeee, yea, yea, yeaaaa! And Baaaaby: Talk dirty to- Weh, weh weh, oooooh yea!" The driver, Richard Stanley, yelled along to Brett Michaels on the radio, causing his girlfriend, Rachael McKay to laugh.
"Rick!" Rachael gasped out between giggles. "You are too funny!"
The eighteen year-old laughed, taking a hand off the wheel to hold his girlfriend's. "And you are too beautiful for your own good!" He kissed her hand, making her blush. He glanced over at her, their eyes meeting. Rachael leaned in to kiss him, but when she saw the person out of the corner of her eye, she instead looked out the windshield and screamed.
"Rick, watch out!"
"What?"
"STOP!" Rachael screamed again as the car collided with the figure in the middle of the road, plowing directly into him at at least ninety miles an hour- thirty miles over the legal limit for the road they were on.
The man went flying over the hood after making a sickening thud on impact. After being momentarily stunned, Rick slammed on his brakes, the tires squealing under the sudden pressure. Rachael screamed again as the car slid against the ice, turning in the middle of the road so it landed in a perfect horizontal line as it came to a stop
Gasping, Rachael grabbed the door handle, the reality of what they'd done coming down on her. It had all happened so fast- only five seconds had passed since they'd hit him. "Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no." She moaned. "Oh, Rick!" She cried.
He looked over at her, horror filling his eyes, and draining his face of color. They'd been going so fast, there was no way that man could have survived the impact. It was like he'd come out of nowhere. One second, it had been just them on the empty road, and the next BAM! -no pun intended- there he was.
He had to go see if the man was… He didn't even to think of the possibility. God, he'd only had one drink at the party they'd just come from. Could they use that against him in court? They couldn't. He was only eighteen, for God's sake! He couldn't have just killed someone. There was no possible way. Rachael continued to cry and mumble incoherently next to him. He had to go check. Slowly, he climbed out of the car, mumbling to Rach that he'd be right back and to stay there.
The night air was freezing, but he hardly felt it as it whipped against his skin. He was completely numb as he made his way over the body. From what he could see, there was no blood. That was good. But the man wasn't moving either. He got closer, bending down to… to what? What would he do, poke him with a stick? Rick froze, poised over the body, nausea turning his stomach. No movement. Did that mean he was…? Rick checked for a pulse on the guy's neck, cringing when he touched the cold skin.
Nothing. God, nothing at all. He had no pulse.
The man was dead.
And then, faster than his eyes could see, Rick was lifted off the ground, his air circulation cut off. He couldn't breathe, couldn't figure out what was going on. He made a grab for his throat, only to close his fingers around the icy wrist of the man that had been dead only a moment ago.
Rachael sat in the car, completely beside herself. She had no idea what to do.
Rick will know, she thought. Rick always knows what to do.
Rachael wiped her eyes, in no way stopping the tears. Rick had left only a minute earlier to see if the man was okay. He hadn't come back, and Rachael didn't know if that was good or bad. She looked into the rearview mirror, trying to get a view of Rick or the man in the darkness.
She didn't see anyone.
"Rick?" she whispered., knowing he couldn't hear her. "Rick, where are you? What's happening?"
CRASH!
Rachael screamed as the roof of the car caved in, nearly touching her head. Shock registered in her mind first. What in the hell was going on? And then, Rachael screamed again.
Because there, sliding down onto the windshield along with an excessive amount of blood, was her boyfriend, Rick.
"No! Oh, God, no! Rick!" Rachael screamed, tears pouring down her face. Not thinking, she wrenched open the door, stumbling out of the car. Trying not to look at Rick's mangled body or the blood beginning to run down the side of the car, Rachael turned, trying to find what had done this to her boyfriend.
But they were alone. Not another person, no animal, no cars, and, the scariest part, no body of the man they had hit. He was no where to be found.
Rachael cried out, whimpering. She leaned against trunk of the car, putting her head in her hands. It was quiet for a moment, only the sounds of the night and Rachael's occasional whimper.
And then a piercing scream rang out, shattering Rachael's eardrums, not to mention the car windows. It was not her own scream, nor anything human. It was way too loud, to high pitched. Half deaf, Rachael took off at a dead sprint, running as fast as she could to get away from the car, and from the horrible screaming.
"Our Father, who art in Heaven, hallowed be thy name," Rachael panted as she ran, reciting the prayer her mother had taught her. She didn't know why she did it, only that she was scared and didn't know what else to do. Her heart hammered against her chest. The screaming didn't stop.
But Rachael did.
Before she'd realized it, she had slammed head on into a wall of solid rock. She looked up, confused.
And screamed.
Because instead of it being a wall of rock she'd run into, it was the man they'd hit a few minutes ago, his chest as hard as marble. She stared into his red eyes, as bright as the blood that coated his lips, throat, and clothing. Rick's blood.
Rachael felt like she would pass out.
The man smiled a beautiful smile, showing off perfectly white teeth. "What father, child? Who do you speak to? Who do wish to save you?"
Rachael whimpered, more tears falling.
The man tsk-tsked with his tongue, shaking his head. "No one can save you. No one."
And then he went for her throat.
