Her hands clenched the steering wheel as she took a turn a little sharper than she should have. The curves in the road had gotten sharper and sharper as she progressed further into the mountainous woods. While Rey had lived in the city for over five years, she had never driven this far upstate before and she was more than a little shocked at the vast mountains she had been driving through for a little more than 4 hours. The landscape was very different than the English countryside she was used to, and she found the twisting roads and high altitude extremely disorienting.

Daring to take her hand off the wheel on a blessedly straight bit of road, Rey pulled out her cell phone and hit the speed dial for Finn. After all it was his fault that she was making this drive in the first place.

"You better be on your way by now!" The familiar voice answered.

"I'm on my way!" she replied exasperated. "Can you remind me why your getting married in the middle of nowhere again?" She heard Finn laugh momentarily, "It's not my fault Poe comes from a long line of Hill People."

"Hey! I heard that." Rey heard her other friend's voice cut through the phone.

"Wait till you get here Rey, it really is beautiful." Finn reassured her, "We would have planned the wedding in the city but most of Poe's family wouldn't have been able to make it!" he explained.

"I know, I know." She sighed, "As long as I don't get lost in these woods forever I'm sure it'll be alright."

Finn laughed, "Just stick to the main road and you should be fine!" Rey bit her lip nervously, the GPS on her phone had directed her off the highway and into the hills about thirty miles ago.

"Finn…" She started, hearing a static crackle emit from her phone, "I'm definitely not on a main road."

Her friend paused, "Uh… Can you turn around and get back to the highway?" he asked, the amount of worry in his voice sending a shiver down her spine, she swallowed and nodded to steel herself.

"I I think so, I've only made like three turns since turning off the highway."

"Okay, good, good…" Finn muttered, sounding relieved. "You've got a map right? Just incase?"

"Yeah it's in the trunk." Rey nodded, thanking herself for remembering to pack the map of the state. Rey pulled into a small dirt pathway to turn the car around. It had been the first turn off of any kind she had seen for quite a while and looked somewhat like a driveway but the lack of mailbox seemed odd.

"Give me another call when you're back on the highway, okay?" Finn asked.

Rey looked over her shoulder as she backed out of the not-driveway and almost jumped out of her skin. For the briefest of moments she could have sworn she saw a grayish face between two trees. She cursed and slammed her foot on the break.

"You okay?" Finn asked urgently. It took rey a moment to answer as her eyes scanned the forest for a glimpse of something she could have mistaken for the misshapen face that felt burned into her retinas.

"Just thought I saw something…" she sighed between belabored breaths. "My eyes are probably just tired from driving."

"Just keep driving and take a break when you get back on the highway Rey." Finn muttered, still sounding worried. She nodded and rubbed her eyes briefly before putting her foot back on the gas and pulling her car back onto the narrow road.

"Alright, I'll do that and give you call when I do." she sighed.

"Alright, love you, see you soon."

Rey smiled, "Love you too."

"And drive safe!" Finn exclaimed before she hung up, and plugged her phone into the AUX cord. She needed some cheerful music to shake the eerie feeling the woods gave her.

"Rey" A voice came, seemingly from her car speakers.

She grabbed the phone thinking she hadn't hung up on Finn but when she picked it up the call was certainly not connected. Trying not to over think it, she pressed play on her most upbeat playlist and concentrated on finding the correct turn back towards the highway.

The first turn was easy to find, she remembered it because there had been a small covered bridge, and the GPS must have re-routed her way back to the highway. The music helped calm her nerves and she sped along towards the second turn.

"Re-routing" The familiar female voice chimed. Rey's brows knit together in concern, had she missed the turn?

"Re-routing" The the voice came again. Rey slowed the car and turned down the music, muttering under her breath about the stupid phone.

"Re-routing."

"Damn it, I get it!" she exclaimed, picking up the device. As she looked at the screen her heart sank. The little white letters along the top of the screen read, 'No Service'.

"Fuck!" Rey shrieked, throwing her phone onto the passenger seat.

She thought to herself that she could drive for a while longer and try to find the right turn so she continued, it had to be coming up soon.

She passed the rundown shack that looked completely abandoned, that she had passed in the other direction so she knew she was heading the right way and had not missed the turn. When she finally came upon the next turn she couldn't be sure it was the right one, there was nothing remarkable about the location, and no street marker.

Rey took a deep frustrated breath as she pulled to a stop at the three way intersection and checked her phone for service. If she had come this way before, why was there no service now? She rolled her eyes and resigned herself to get out of the car and grab the map. It was starting to get marginally darker and she did not want to be stuck in the woods when the sun set.

A light noise from outside grabbed her attention, her head snapped around and she saw the stick which had fallen on the trunk of her car. She took a deep breath and turned back around, as she did so, she caught a glimpse of the same grey face from before in the rear view mirror. She felt her eyes get wide with fear and she immediately stepped on the gas and sped down the road, she needed to keep moving. She couldn't just brush off the appearance of the face a second time and her mind worked a mile a minute to rationalize the apparition.

Of course the first thought that crossed her mind was, ghost. She groaned audibly, annoyed at herself for even thinking something so stupid. But then realized the other possibility was even more frightening. If it wasn't a ghost it was a physical being, one that could run fast enough to keep up with her care for ten miles. She cursed under her breath and tried to trick herself into thinking it had been a hallucination caused by the high altitude and her exhaustion.

She glanced at her gas gauge and was pleased to see her tank was still mostly full, the last thing she needed was to run out of fuel. Finally when she calmed down enough Rey gathered her courage and pulled over. As quickly as she could, she popped the trunk and jumped out of the car, being sure to take her keys with her incase of getting locked out. The air was crisp and there was a soft breeze as she shuffled through the contents of the trunk. It would have been enjoyable if the feeling of being watched wasn't so prominent.

"Ah!" She cried in triumph as she found the map. However her victory was cut short for just as she slammed the trunk lid shut she was shrouded in an all encompassing coldness. She froze in fear and every hair on her body stood on end making her hyper aware of her surroundings. A slight rattling noise to her left made her head snap around and look in the direction of the sound.

While she saw nothing, her instincts told her she had to keep moving. She lunged for the car door and fumbled with the keys for a moment, her panic making her clumsy and slow. She had the distinct feeling that someone was standing directly behind her and chanced a glance into the reflection of the car window. With in a second she felt a pressure on the back of her neck and Rey's head was forced into the glass, making contact with a sharp crack.

As she slid to the ground against the car her mind registered what she had seen behind her in the reflection. It was the same as it had been in the woods before, a man's face, skin greyed with decomposition and skull sunken in on the side as if struck with an axe. The impact had made her head swim with confusion but Rey got the distinct impression that this was not just some crazy hill person, this was something else all together,

She hit the gravel road with a thud and curled in on herself, cradling her head where it had impacted with the car. She kept her eyes clenched shut as she lay there, paralyzed with fear. There was a moment when she felt the coldness descend over her again, but it was brief, quickly replaced with a warmth that enveloped her as completely as the cold. Rey chanced a peek through one eye and only saw a new face. If you could call it a face, it was more of a mask made from twisted metal and black leather.

"Help…" She managed to whimper before darkness claimed her and she passed out cold.

Author's note: So this is my foray into writing some horror! I really enjoyed doing it, especially since I just returned from a similar drive on some equally creepy mountain road and halloween is just around the corner. Three guesses as to who shows up at the end of this chapter! Let me know what you think!